Hotdog Buns 腸仔包 & Ham Buns 火腿蔥包
This will be my final post on bun making. Well, for the time being anyway.
I thought I will finish with a few different ideas on the shaping of the buns with savoury filling using ham and hotdog.
Hotdog Buns
Hotdog Buns – 5-petal flower shaping.
Hotdog Buns – 5-petal flower shape.
Hotdog Buns – Spiral shaping, before final proving.
Hotdog Buns – Spiral shaping, after final proving.
Hotdog Buns – Spiral shape.
Ham Buns
Ham & Onion Buns – Roll shaping, roll up with a piece of ham inside, then make a cut on top, see the next photo below.
Ham & Onion Buns – Roll shaping & 3-petal flower shaping, before final proving.
Ham & Onion Buns – Roll shaping & 3-petal flower shaping, after final proving.
Ham & Onion Buns – 3-petal flower shape, same method as 5-petal flower shaping for the Hotdog Buns but make only 2 cuts.
Ham & Onion Buns – Roll shape.
Ham & Onion Buns – Roll shape, inside texture.
Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes
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Japanese-Style Sweet Bun Dough 湯種甜麵糰
This is another version of the
Japanese-style 65°C water-roux bun dough. This version is sweeter and is more suitable for use with sweet fillings.
Although I don’t see why it can’t also be used for savoury fillings as other straight-dough or sponge-dough versions of the sweet bun dough has been used to make sweet and savoury buns. So I have used this dough to make sweet Coconut Cream Buns and also the savoury Pork Floss Buns. Apart from the sweeter taste of this dough, I really can’t taste much difference between this dough and the other one I posted previously. The other one is probably slightly softer due to an extra egg and more butter but it is hard to judge without tasting both side by side. So it is up to you which version of the water-roux doughs you prefer.
Adapted from the recipe '基本65°C湯種甜麵糰' in '65°C湯種麵包' by 陳郁芬.
Water-Roux Sweet Bun Dough 基本湯種甜麵糰
Makes 16 portions.
[Ingredients]
375g bread flour
100g plain flour (or use 80g plain flour + 20g vanilla custard powder, or cornflour)
35g milk powder
75g caster sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 sachet (7g or 2½ tsp) instant dry yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
150ml (approx.) lukewarm water, adjust as necessary (I only needed 130ml for this batch)
40g butter, cubed
Water Roux * (湯種):
25g (just under 2 tbsp) bread flour
125ml (1/2 cup) water
* Water Roux is basically 1 part bread flour to 5 parts water.
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Water Roux (湯種):
Mix flour and water in a small saucepan. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring continuously until it reaches 65ºC. It should have thickened to a paste at this stage, that is when you stir you can see the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, place a cling wrap (cling film) over the paste and leave until lukewarm, or room temperature, before using. (Alternatively if you don’t have a thermometer, cook as before until it starts to thicken, then continue to cook for about 1 more minute before removing from heat.) This water roux can be kept in an airtight container after cooling in the refrigerator for 1 day if not used immediately. However DO NOT USE if it turns grey in colour, that means it has gone bad.
For the Bun Dough:
1. Sift bread flour, plain flour, (custard powder,) milk powder, caster sugar and salt onto the working surface. Add instant dry yeast and mix well. Form the flour mixture into a well. Add lightly beaten egg and lukewarm water roux and mix in. Gradually add just enough lukewarm water to form into a slightly sticky, soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. During hand kneading, the dough also needs to be thrown onto the working surface once every few minutes between kneading to improve the dough structure. (I usually just pick up the dough to about head-high and throw it down onto the working surface 10 to 20 times every few minutes between kneading.)
2. Knead in butter until incorporated. (In many cookbooks, they mentioned that the dough at this stage should be able to be pulled and stretched into membrane, but it’s hard to achieve with hand kneading. I usually stop kneading when the dough sticks to the work surface and stretches like chewing gum when pulled!) Form the dough into a round ball and let it rise until double in size in a large greased bowl, cover with cling wrap (should take about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months). Optimum room temperature for this first prove is 28°C with a humidity of 75%. To test if the dough has risen properly, dip a finger into bread or plain flour and poke down into the centre of the dough as far as your finger will go and pull out again – the hole should remain if it is ready. If the dough springs back, then it is not ready, continue to prove further.
3. Punch down, knead briefly. Then divide into 16 equal portions. The easiest way is to first divide equally into 4 larger portions first, then divide each of these again into quarters each. Form each into balls and let rest for 10 minutes.
4. Shape and fill as desired to make into buns of your choice (to make Coconut Cream Buns or Pork Floss Buns, see below, or click here for making Polo Buns). Place all finished buns on a greased baking sheet, lightly cover with cling wrap, and let rise until double in size (about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months). Optimum room temperature for this final prove is 38°C with a humidity of 85%.
Plain buns before final proving..
Plain buns after final proving (double in size).
5. Bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Plain buns after baking.
Texture inside.
Pork Floss Buns
Makes 8 buns.
[Ingredients]
½ portion Water-Roux (Sweet) Bun Dough
½ egg, lightly beaten for eggwash
White sesame seeds
Mayonnaise
Pork Floss
[Preparation]
Take each of the 8 small divided balls and roll out with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Roll up, Swiss-roll style, from the short side into a olive shape. Make sure the end is pressed down to seal or else the bun will open up after proving. Space them apart on a greased baking sheet or tray, sealed side down. Let rise until double in size. Brush with eggwash and sprinkle with some sesame seeds. Bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown in colour. Let cool on a cooling rack.
When cold, make a cut lengthwise on the top down to about ¾ deep. Spread some mayonnaise inside the cut and also around the side of the bun. Fill inside and also around the side with pork floss.
Coconut Cream Buns
Makes 8 buns.
[Ingredients]
½ portion Water-Roux Sweet Bun Dough
½ egg, lightly beaten for eggwash
Sweetened whipped cream
Desiccated coconut
[Preparation]
Take each of the 8 small divided balls and roll out with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Roll up, Swiss-roll style, from the short side into a olive shape. Make sure the end is pressed down to seal or else the bun will open up after proving. Space them apart on a greased baking sheet or tray, sealed side down. Let rise until double in size. Brush with eggwash and bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown in colour. Let cool on a cooling rack. When cold, make a cut lengthwise on the top down to about ¾ deep. Spread some sweetened whipped cream around the side of the bun. Dip the coated bun in some desiccated coconut to coat. Open the cut and pipe more sweetened whipped cream in the opening.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes
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Japanese-Style Bun Dough 湯種麵糰
Pai Pau
Mexican BunsThis is the Japanese-style 65°C water-roux bun dough that has been floating around the Chinese cyber world for the past 2-3 years since a Chinese cookbook called ‘65°C湯種麵包’ was published around 2004. It has been very popular with the Chinese cyber baking community because all sorts of recipes using this bun dough have been popping up all over the Chinese websites the past couple of years.
The innovation of this dough is the inclusion of a ‘water roux’, that is cooking portion of the flour and water first (as opposed to cooking flour and butter for a proper roux in the traditional sense) before adding it to the rest of the ingredients. The water roux is supposed to allow the dough to absorb more liquid due to the gelatinization of the starch in the flour, thereby allowing the finished buns to have a fine soft texture and not get stale as quickly. I have been meaning to try it out for a while now but just never got around to it as I rarely make my own breads or buns since I don’t have a bread machine. So every time I want to make breads or buns, it is always hand-power all the way! I was hankering for some Chinese-style sweet buns recently, so I finally decided to try the recipe out. So out it came from my cookbook files for a trial run. I decided to make two different types of bun from the dough, one the Row Buns or ‘Pai Pau’ in Cantonese and the other the ubiquitous Asian-Style Mexican Buns.
Well, I am happy to report that the buns are really soft and fluffy without the use of any artificial bread improver or bread softener. Although any Asian-style buns made from the more usual Sweet Bun Dough can be made using this Water-Roux Bun Dough, but note that this dough has a slightly higher proportion of egg and butter, so the buns made from it will be richer! I have adjusted the original recipe and also included some vanilla custard powder into the mix to provide a very fragrant aroma to the finished buns.
Adapted from the recipe '基本65°C湯種麵糰' in '65°C湯種麵包' by 陳郁芬.
Water-Roux Bun Dough 基本湯種麵糰
Makes 16 portions.
[Ingredients]
325g bread flour
130g plain flour + 20g vanilla custard powder, or cornflour (or just use 150g plain flour)
20g milk powder
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 sachet (7g or 2 1/2 tsp) instant dry yeast
2 eggs, lightly beaten
100ml (approx.) lukewarm water, adjust as necessary (I only needed 75ml for this batch)
75g butter, cubed
Water Roux * (湯種):
25g (just under 2 tbsp) bread flour
125ml (1/2 cup) water
* Water Roux is basically 1 part bread flour to 5 parts water.
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Water Roux (湯種):
Mix flour and water in a small saucepan. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring continuously until it reaches 65ºC. It should have thickened to a paste at this stage, that is when you stir you can see the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, place a cling wrap over the paste and leave until lukewarm, or room temperature, before using. (Alternatively if you don’t have a thermometer, cook as before until it just starts to thicken, then continue to cook for about 1 more minute before removing from heat.) This water roux can be kept in an airtight container after cooling in the refrigerator for 1 day if not used immediately. However DO NOT USE if it turns grey in colour, that means it has gone bad.
For the Bun Dough:
1. Sift bread flour, plain flour, custard powder, milk powder, caster sugar and salt onto the working surface. Add instant dry yeast and mix well. Form the flour mixture into a well. Add lightly beaten eggs and lukewarm water roux and mix in. Gradually add just enough lukewarm water to form into a slightly sticky, soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. During hand kneading, the dough also needs to be thrown onto the working surface once every few minutes between kneading to improve the dough structure. (I usually just pick up the dough to about head-high and throw it down onto the working surface 10 to 20 times every few minutes between kneading.)
2. Knead in butter until incorporated. Form the dough into a round ball and let it rise until double in size in a large greased bowl, cover with cling wrap (should take about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months). To test if the dough has risen properly, dip a finger into bread or plain flour and poke down into the centre of the dough as far as your finger will go and pull out again – the hole should remain if it is ready. If the dough springs back, then it is not ready, continue to prove further.
3. Punch down, knead briefly. Then divide into 16 equal portions. The easiest way is to first divide equally into 4 larger portions first, then divide each of these again into quarters each. Form each into balls and let rest for 10 minutes.
4. Shape and fill as desired to make into buns of your choice (to make Row Buns or Mexican Buns, see below, or click here for making Polo Buns). Place all finished buns on a greased baking sheet, lightly cover with cling wrap, and let rise until double in size (about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months).
5. Bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 12-15 minutes.
Row Buns / Pai Pau 排包
Makes 8 rows.
[Ingredients]
½ portion Water-Roux Bun Dough
1 egg, lightly beaten for eggwash
Melted butter
[Preparation]
Take each of the 8 small divided balls and roll out with a rolling pin to about 15-18cm long. Roll up, Swiss-roll style, from the long side into a long cigar shape. Tuck both pointy ends down under for a better presentation. Arrange close together side-by-side almost touching each other, sealed side down, on a greased baking tray. Let rise until double in size. Brush with eggwash and bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown in colour. Brush with melted butter immediately after removing from oven.
Mexican Buns
Makes 8 buns.
[Ingredients]
½ portion Water-Roux Bun Dough
Mexican Topping:
100g butter
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon mocha coffee paste (optional)
1 egg, lightly beaten
100g plain flour
[Preparation]
1. To prepare the Mexican Topping: Cream softened butter and sugar until pale. Beat in coffee paste and egg until combine. Fold in flour. Transfer into a piping bag fixed with a 1cm round nozzle.
2. Let the 8 divided balls rise until double in size on a greased baking sheet. When ready, pipe the Mexican Topping onto the risen balls – start from the centre top of each ball and pipe in a spiral fashion to cover about 2/3 of the surface area from the top.
3. Bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 12-15 minutes.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes
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Bun Susi / Pan Susi
The first time I have ever heard of these buns was a recipe in Mrs Leong Yee Soo’s cookbook, ‘The Best of Singapore Cooking’. It stood out because of its name, Bun Susi… ‘Susi’, what does the name mean? Til this day I never found out… Does anyone know?
Aside from the curiosity of the name, I later discovered that this was actually an Eurasian snack from the Portuguese descendents, the Cristangs, of Malacca. In Mrs Leong’s book, it is translated as ‘Meat Buns’. So maybe ‘Susi’ is an Eurasian word for ‘meat’ or maybe ‘pork’, just my guess, who knows… By the way, I have also seen it written as Pan Susie or Pan Soo See, or even Susie Buns… ‘Susie’ could be a ‘beautified’ name, or is it just an incorrect spelling? Another curiosity is that the word ‘Pan’ is actually Spanish for ‘bread’ and not Portuguese, which is ‘Pão’!
I have wanted to try making this snack for a while now, but never got around to it. As I have never tasted it before, I wanted to search for another recipe to compare with the one in Mrs Leong’s book. After googling all over, I could only find one other recipe posted at Diana's Desserts Forum. So armed with both recipes, I mixed-&-matched and even threw in a few inspired ingredients to come up with my own version of Bun Susi!
Although, I had done it my own way, I still tried to keep at least to its authenticity. I have read in a few articles about Eurasian cuisine that this bun is made with sweet potato pastry. Now in Mrs Leong’s recipe, the pastry is made from pure sweet bun dough without the addition of sweet potato – probably a Nyonya adaptation of the recipe. The one from Diana's Desserts Forum does use sweet potato in making the pastry. I also did some more googling and found tons of recipes for Portuguese Sweet Bread (known as Massa Sovada or Pão Doce and they use mashed potato in their recipes). So I adapted them into my recipe as well – thus the addition of eggs in the pastry which is not used in the one at Diana's Desserts. As for the filling, I adapted the one in Mrs Leong’s book which is a pork based filling, since from what I’ve read most mentioned using pork as the filling, so I guess this is probably more authentic. I think maybe the chicken version is created for halal consumption. But then I could be wrong… that both types of meat are used traditionally.
The sweet potato pastry is really nice to eat with a hint of the sweet potato aroma as you bite into it. The filling is slightly on the sweet side with a peppery aroma, my own addition of a few extra spices made it really yummy. Luckily in comparing the recipes, I reduced the amount of ground pepper used in the filling, or I think it could have ended up being too overpowering. All in all, the taste came up triumph, I scoffed down 3 buns as soon as they came out of the oven! The only problem was my wrapping skill. Half of the buns split open along the seal after baking… Well more wrapping training needed for next time…
The sealed ends split open after baking.
Even without using the bread improver, and the buns were all made using hand power, they still stayed reasonably soft the next day… but I love to heat them up in the microwave for about 30 seconds before eating, so they become hot and soft again anyway…
Makes 24 buns.
[Ingredients]
Pastry:
500g bread flour
2 tablespoons milk powder
1 teaspoon bread improver (optional, I didn’t use)
1 sachet (7g) instant yeast
¼ teaspoon salt
60g caster sugar
100g steamed, mashed sweet potato
2 eggs
(In a coincidence, I cracked 2 eggs to use for this recipe and both are double-yolk!)
½ cup (approx. 125ml) lukewarm water
75g butter
1 extra egg, lightly beaten for glazing
Filling:
300g minced pork
125g potato, boiled then diced
1 tablespoon canola oil or lard
3-5 shallots, chopped
(I used 3 French échalotes, which are bigger than Asian shallots)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon tapioca flour mixed with 2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fried crispy shallots
Spices:
2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, pounded
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
2 green cardamom pods, discard pods, use seeds only, pounded
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Filling:
1. Heat oil until hot in a wok. Sauté shallots and garlic until fragrant. Add all the spices, except nutmeg, and stir briefly. Add minced pork and stir-fry about 5 minutes. Add the diced potato and cook briefly.
2. Add light soy sauce, sugar, salt and water. Continue to stir-fry until the meat mixture is almost dry. Add nutmeg and fried crispy shallots. Pour in the tapioca mixture and cook 1 minute. Cool before using.
Pastry:
1. Sift bread flour, bread improver (if using), milk powder, salt and caster sugar onto the working surface. Add yeast and mix well. Form the flour mixture into a well. Add mashed sweet potato, lightly beaten eggs and enough lukewarm water to form into a soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth.
2. Knead in softened butter until incorporated. Form the dough into a round ball and let it rise until doubles in size (about 1 to 1½ hours in warm weather) in a large greased bowl, covered with cling wrap.
3. Punch down, knead briefly. Divide dough into 24 pieces (each about 40-45g). Form each into balls and let rest for about 10 minutes.
4. Flatten each dough ball and fill with about 2 teaspoons of the meat filling. Wrap into an oval shape.
5. Space the wrapped buns out on a greased tray, allowing room for expansion. Leave to rise, covered with cling wrap, for 20-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 190°C.
6. Glaze the buns and bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes
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Peanut Pancakes (improved version) 麵煎粿
Peanut Pancakes (strong flour, direct proofing)After some more experiments after my last
attempts to find a recipe that produces good honeycomb structure in the pancake, I can say this is the closest I have come to of being able to taste it as I remember the texture a good Peanut Pancake should be – that is, soft in texture but still with a bite or chewyness (Q texture) to it, and of course that distinct faint smell of the alkaline water – well, that’s the type I grew up eating anyway.
This time, I did batches using sponge dough proofing method and batches using direct proofing method, I found it not too much of a difference, except maybe the sponge dough method producing a bit more stable honeycomb structure. So I will post the direct proofing method here as the sponge dough proofing method takes longer to make.
Then I tried with using different type of flour, low gluten to high gluten. Again not too much differences also, maybe with a more slightly, mind you just very little, chewyness as the gluten is increase. But it is very hard to tell without tasting them side by side as comparison though. Although this recipe I’m posting here is still not 100% as I remember the texture from back home in Malaysia, it is close enough for me to cure my craving for now.
Makes approx. 4 small pancakes of about 15cm diameter each.
[Ingredients]
Pancake:
150g plain flour (see Tip)
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
35g (2 tablespoons) caster sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
200ml tepid water
2 eggs (at room temperature), lightly beaten
60ml (3 tablespoons) canola oil
½ teaspoon alkaline water 梘水
extra tepid water if necessary
Sesame Peanut Mix:
100g peanuts
25g white sesame seeds
50g caster sugar, or to taste
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Pancake:
1. Mix together flour, dry yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Add in 200ml tepid water and stir to mix well. Put in a warm place, cover loosely with a piece of cling film, and let proof until bubbly and double in size.
Peanut Pancake batter after proofing, before adding eggs, oil and alkaline water
2. Once the batter is double in size, add lightly beaten eggs, oil and alkaline water (if alkaline water is not available, I think you can replace with ½ teaspoon baking soda dissolved in ½ teaspoon water – but I haven’t try this myself). Beat to mix in well. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before cooking. The pancake batter at this stage should be of pouring consistency. You can check when cooking the first pancake, the batter should immediately flow into a circle as soon as you pour into the pan. If it is too viscous and takes a little while to flow into a circle, mix another tablespoon or so of tepid water into the batter.
This is Crêpe Pan I used to make my pancakes
3. Heat a non-stick crêpe pan (top about 20cm diameter) until hot, pour a little canola oil into the pan then wipe over the surface with a piece of kitchen paper (paper towel). Pour about ½ cup (125ml), or more if you want it thicker, of pancake batter into the hot pan. Cover the pan with the lid and cook over medium to low heat for about 3 to 4 minutes (if you use bigger pan, you need to pour in more batter and will takes longer to cook), or until the top is bubbly and just set.
4. Spoon about 2 heaped teaspoons of Sesame Peanut Mix onto half of the pancake. Lift the other side of the pancake and fold over. Best serve hot or warm.
Sesame Peanut Mix:
1. Dry roast peanuts (in skin) over moderate heat in a frying pan for 5-8 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly brown. Cool, then skin the peanuts.
2. Dry roast sesame seeds in the same way for 3-5 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly brown.
3. Blend or ground the peanuts and sesame seeds into powder.
4. Mix in sugar and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
[Tip]
For a very slightly softer or chewy texture, although the difference in texture is really very little:
- replace plain flour with 125g plain flour + 25g tapioca starch (softer), or
- replace plain flour with strong (bread) flour, or add 1 teaspoon gluten flour to the plain flour (chewy).
Peanut Pancakes (plain flour + tapioca starch, direct proofing)
Peanut Pancakes (plain flour, sponge dough proofing)
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes, Kuih-Muih
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Streusel Crusted Buttercream Buns 菠蘿奶酥麵包
I don’t bake breads that often, for one thing I do not own a breadmaker, so when I do occasionally bake breads, it is done with manual power.
I love Asian-style buns as they are usually filled with sweet or savoury filling, so it is easy to carry about or bring out as lunch or snacks.
To make soft buns that stay soft for at least a couple of days, it is necessary to add bread improver, emulsifier or softener to the bun dough. However it is sometimes hard or impossible to buy these additives from supermarkets or grocery shops. Another problem for me is the availability of bread flour which is sometimes difficult to find or it comes sold in bulk. As I don’t bake bread that often, I don’t want to buy 5kg or 10kg of the flour. So what I have done is to use bread mixes which are easily available from the supermarket shelf in 1-kg or 2-kg bags. These bread mixes already contains these additives and make it so much easier.
The bread mix I use usually is the Defiance brand as shown above. As you can see from the ingredients listed on the package, the additives are already included in the mix.
Makes approx. 12 buns
[Ingredients]
Sweet Bun Dough:
425g white bread mix (I usually use Defiance brand but any soft white bread mix can be used)
75g plain flour
30g milk powder
7 or 8g-sachet instant dry yeast
50g caster sugar
1 egg
250ml (approx.) tepid water, adjust as necessary
50g ghee or unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
Buttercream Filling:
120g ghee or unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
100g soft icing mixture (icing sugar)
120g milk powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ egg
Streusel Crust:
60g ghee or shortening, softened at room temperature
60g soft icing mixture (icing sugar)
2 teaspoons milk powder
60g plain flour
30g cornflour
30g custard powder
pinch salt
½ egg
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Sweet Bun Dough:
1. Sift bread mix, plain flour, milk powder and caster sugar onto the working surface. Add dry yeast and mix well. Form the flour mixture into a well. Add lightly beaten egg and enough water to form into a soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth.
2. Knead in ghee until incorporated. Form the dough into a round ball and let it rise until double in size in a large greased bowl, cover with cling wrap.
3. Divide dough into 80g each, about 12 pieces. Form each into balls and let rest for 10 minutes.
Buttercream Filling:
Cream ghee and icing mixture, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Divide into 12 equal portions.
Streusel Crust:
Cream ghee and icing mixture, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Divide into 12 equal portions.
To make Buns:
1. Take a piece of streusel dough and roll or press into a round disc. Put a bun dough ball on top of the streusel disc. Hold with both your hands. Start pressing and pushing the streusel disc up to enclose the bun dough until the streusel covers half the bun dough. Take a filling ball and put it in the centre on top of the bun dough and press it down lightly. Now continue to press and push the streusel layer to enclose both the bun and the filling. The filling should be enclosed inside the bun dough as you do the pressing the pushing. Repeat making the rest of the buns.
2. Place all finished buns in a greased baking sheet, lightly cover with cling wrap, and let rise for about 1 hour, or more time if the whether is cool.
3. Use a small knife to make criss-cross patterns on the streusel crust. Bake in preheated 200°C oven for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the crust is golden in colour.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes, Asian Fillings
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Savoury Onion Pancakes 蔥油餅
I first learned to make the Chinese Savoury Onion Pancakes using this
recipe at 克萊兒的點心小棧.
Translated from the Chinese recipe '蔥油餅' (originally from 中華穀類食品工業技術研究所, Taiwan, with additional comments by Tracy Poling) at 克萊兒的點心小棧, Canada.
Makes 4 pancakes.
[Ingredients]
Pancake Dough:
250g plain flour
100ml boiling (100°C) hot water
90ml (approx.) cold water *, adjust as necessary to get a soft dough
* The cold water may be substituted with 1 egg (lightly beaten) + about 30ml - 40ml cold water.
Filling:
3 - 4 stalks green onions (scallions), use green parts only
1 - 2 tablespoon(s) cooking oil, melted lard or melted ghee
1 tablespoon salt, or adjust to taste
sugar (original recipe use MSG)
sesame seeds (optional)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Pancake Dough:
1. Sift plain flour. Pour hot water into the flour and use a chopstick to stir until all the flour is moistened. Gradually add cold water and knead in until a very soft, smooth dough is formed, you may need more or less water.
2. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Round each into a ball and rest for about 1 hour, covered.
3. Grease the working bench and your hands with cooking oil. Take a ball of dough and press down to flatten, then press out slowly on the bench into a very thin dough layer of about 20cm x 25cm rough rectangle. The original recipe suggests not using rolling pin for this, as apparently the pancake will taste better if you do the stretching using your hand! Of course if you know how to throw and spin to stretch the dough into thin layer like the roti canai/prata man, that should work even better!
4. Rub the dough layer with about 1 teaspoon cooking oil, then rub about 1 teaspoon salt and a pinch of sugar over that, then sprinkle enough chopped green onion evenly over the surface. Make into a pancake as shown in the step-by-step images below. You may sprinkle a little sesame seeds on the surface of the pancake if you like. Repeat with the rest of the dough layers. Rest the pancake for about 30 - 40 minutes before pan-frying. At this stage also, the pancakes can be frozen if you make extra.
5. Heat a little oil in the frying pan, put the pancake in (how thin or thick the pancake is up to you), cover with lid and pan-fry until golden brown, turn over and pan-fry the other side. If you are pan-frying frozen pancake, no need to defrost – pan-fry straight out of the freezer, but sprinkle a little water over the pancake when pan-frying. Once the pancake are fried, you can pressed it lightly towards the centre to separate the layering inside the pancakes before serving.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes
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Peanut Pancakes 麵煎粿、滿煎粿
The Hokkien Peanut Pancakes (is it Hokkien? Not too sure… ) are one of the more popular kuihs of Malaysia and Singapore. I grew up eating these pancakes quite often.
They are usually quite thick, springy pancakes with beehive-like tunnels and each pancake is folded in half sandwiching a layer of delicious peanut sugar filling.
I have been trying to find the recipe for making these pancakes I grew up eating for quite a while now since I haven't been able to buy them here. I have tried a number of recipes without coming anywhere close to the texture I remembered them to be. Over the weekend I finally decided to do something about it. I made a whole lot of experimenting and after making 5 batches of the pancakes, finally producing something at least with honeycomb effects in the pancakes. Boy oh boy, am I now sick of eating them after craving for them for quite a while!
After making pancakes that were too sticky, too glutinous, too tough, too thick and most of them with no honeycombs, I was almost giving up the quest when finally the fifth batch gave me some hope. I cooked half of the batter and finally a hint of some honeycombs but the pancakes was a bit too thick and viscous. So I added more water to the rest of the pancake batter. Crossed my fingers and cooked a thin layer of that. It came out soft and when I cut it in half, voila, honeycombs, lovely honeycombs in the pancake… I was over the moon even though the texture was still not quite right as it was a bit too cakey, not springy (Q) enough for my taste. As the recipe still need fine tuning, I won't publish it for now. Let me have time to crave for them again and tinker with the recipe next time, then hopefully if the texture is right, I will post the recipe.
1. The sponge batter.
2. Sponge batter mixed with main batter and ready to prove.
3. After proving
4. The failed version on the left. The one on the right was after I added extra water to the batter and finally success with honeycombs!Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes, Kuih-Muih
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