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Friday, July 17, 2009

Bak Kwa Bun



Although ABin5 is easy, traditional bread making is fun. I really enjoyed the repetitive motion of folding, turning, and pushing... a perfect way for me to de-stress at the end of a hard day work!

Moreover, the artisan bread in ABin5 is gravitated towards angmoh's eating habit. We people here prefer bread with soft crust and filling.... YES, the filling. The artisan bread is too soft (almost fluid) to hold any filling :-)

So I am getting back to my same old bread that takes a long proofing, kneading and shaping!

Basic Sweet Bread Dough (adapted to be eggless)
http://forum.kitchencapers.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1265
Original Recipe from Alex Goh - The World of Bread

Ingredients
(A)
Bread flour 480 gm
Plain flour 120 gm I use self rising cake flour as I ran out of plain flour
Caster sugar 110 gm
Milk powder 20 gm
Dry yeast 4 tsp - I used 2 tsp, sufficient to rise
Bread Improver 1 tsp (optional)


(B)
Cold water 350 ml


(C)
Unsalted butter 60 gm
Salt 10 gm
30g salted butter


Method
1. Mix (A) till well blended (just use a spoon to stir to mix well). Add (B) to form a dough. Add in (C) and knead until dough is elastic and smooth.
2. Gather dough to form a ball and cover dough with cling wrap and let it rest for abt 50-60 mins or double in size.
3. Divide dough into portions of 50 or 60 gm each. Shape into balls and leave it to rest for abt 10 mins.
4. Roll out dough and wrap with desired fillings. Shape as required and let it proof on lined or greased baking tray for another 50-60 mins or until dough is double in size.
5. Egg wash dough. Bake dough at 180-190C for abt 12 mins

To freeze:
1. For those who would like to freezer unused dough. Stop at Step 3. After shaping dough into balls straight away keep the dough properly in container in the freezer compartment for later use.
2. When ready to use, slightly flour the tabletop and take the dough out to thaw. When dough is thawed, roll out the dough and add in fillings and shape it. Leave it on baking sheet to prove for abt an hour or until it is double in size. Bake as per normal.

Baker’s Notes:

  • This recipe produces a very pliable dough. There's no need to add more oil or flour when handling it. For this, I believe will be THE recipe for beginners.
  • The bread is soft on the first day, but start to get drier thereafter.



PS: Sheen says the bun looks like a frog with it's dangling tongue! I really have to brush up on my bread shaping.

2 comments:

petite nyonya said...

hi, thks for stopping by too! i always admire home bakers who make such soft and nice bread and buns. yours look so pro! i'm more inclined to cakes as am not very good with bread. i have 3 bread books but have not even tried 1 single recipe from it. haha. btw, happy to know that you too love animals. it was really a great thing what you did volunteering for the animal organisation. last mth there were some publicity in Straits Times abt abandoned & injured stray dogs as some really bad people went to set up traps and one of the dogs lost its leg. very sad. i thk it's ok if one doesn't like animals, but just don't hurt them. btw, since you make bread, do you use any stand mixer in your kitchen? if you own one, would appreciate your feedback on my blog as i'm collecting reviews on cuisinart, kitchenaid and kenwood mixers.

Cookie said...

Hi Little Nonya,

The greatest of the nation is judge by how the animals are treated.

In SG recently, we have some cases of cat being tortured to death too. I despise the act of those people; there are many means to vent your frustrations... why on the helpless creatures? *tsk tsk*

I only make bread with my 2 hands... but use stand mixer for chiffon cake etc. Happy to give my feedback!

Cheers,
Cookie