Chocolate Chips Bun

Using the recipe I baked recently for the Hot Cross Buns and the balance toppings from them, I decided to modify the recipe by changing it to chocolate chips. Hoping that these buns would attract the girls more.

 To make the chocolate dough, I had added 1 tsp of chocolate emulco and added some chocolate chips to the dough. But I would suggest to add tne chocolate chips into the dough ONLY after the 1st proofing as we would need to knead on the dough before and after the 1st proofing. Otherwise the chocolate chips would melt a little and it would be rather unmanageable.

 As you could see in my picture below, I had added the chocolate chips before the 1st proofing and ended up with the uneven round dough.

 Fortunately, some of the "round" dough did proofed up a little nicer than the rest...hehehe....

Using the balance topping, I had also used about 1 tsp of chocolate emulco. Piped it around the dough.

  And here, specially chosen the most decent looking chocolate chips bun I had baked tonight.

These buns did not really captured my girls' attention except for Nat. She said it was delicious. And surprisingly, hubby told me it was great and he had asked me for another one... As for me, I did liked them as well.

These buns were soft and with the chocolate chips too..., yum yum yum...:))

Using the same recipe from the Hot Cross Buns with my own modifications.

Feeling Hot & Cross today???

I never thought that I can bake bread again as I was never quite successful with them. I was pretty wrong and this time, my bread was soft and fluffy and it lasted for 3 days. Yummy indeed!!!

I came across this Hot Cross Buns from the Prima Flour website. Over there, they have some good recipes for different types of flour.
And of course, with their recipes, I was finally able to bake a soft and fluffy bread.

The dough was let to proof for about 1 hour, and it doubled up in size

After which they were divided into 50g each, and left to proof for another 1 hour.

Egg wash them and pipe the crossing.

And here we have, the "Hot Cross Buns".
Well, for mine, it's probably the PLAIN Hot Cross Buns as I had omitted the raisins, sultanas and lemon peel for fear that the girls will not eat them. Hmmm, but I guessed these buns ain't their favourite as they did not touch any of them. Whereas, for my friend and I, were couldn't wait to try them after they were taken out from the oven... Boy do I love the aroma of the freshly baked buns...:))

Recipe as adapted from Prima Flour

Ingredients:

(yields about 8 buns)

HOT CROSS BUNSPart (A)
200 g PrimaFlour Bread Flour
135 ml Milk
30 g Sugar
25 g Margarine
8 g Intant Yeast
¾ tsp Cinnamon Powder
½ tsp Salt

Part (B)
40 g Raisins
20 g Sultanas
10 g Lemon Peel

Method:

Using a dough hook, mix (A) at low speed for 2 mins, then at medium speed for 12-15 mins until dough is developed. Add (B) and mix at low speed for 1 min. Knead and leave to ferment for 1 hour at room temperature. Divide dough into 8 pieces (about 60g each) and shape into balls. Place onto lightly greased baking pan. Cover with plastic and leave at room temperature for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 200°. Egg wash and pipe a cross on each bun just before baking. Bake for 13-15 mins.

Crossing100 g PrimaFlour Plain Flour
165 g Margarine
65 g Sugar

1. Soften margarine and mix with sugar for 5 mins at low speed.
   
2. Add PrimaFlour Plain Flour and mix well.

Mexico Bread - No Kneading-Method

Another no-knead bread recipe...

Upon seeing this recipe, I was very tempted to try, as you should had realised that I can't bake a bread well with my kneading skills. :-p

As this recipe did not required any kneading, the proofing period took quite awhile like 14 hours; 2 hours in the normal room temperature and 12 hours in the refrigerator. But I did not manage to wait up till 14 hours, and only a mere 11 hours as I had to rush out during that day. So this is the 11 hours-proofing dough..which was still rather wet and sticky. I am not too sure how the dough would be like if it was proven for exactly 14 hours.

I had managed to get them in small little round shaped and piped the cream on the top. Looks perfectly pretty weren't they?

Though the outlook of the Mexico bread wasn't that perfect, it was REALLY soft.
I was very amazed with it.. Too bad I hadn't proved them longer enough, otherwise, I should have gotten a more solid dough to put in some butter in the centre of the dough. I will definitely attempt this recipe again and hopefully the next time it would be a better looking and tastier Mexico Bread.

Meantime, enjoy mine:)

Recipe as adapted from DoDoCook, Innana

As the recipe is in Mandarin, please CLICK HERE for the detailed recipe.

Have fun!!!

Fool-Proof Cup Bread

Fool-Proof Bread...

How fantastic I thought when I saw this recipe... Simply an excellent recipe for a bread-idiot like me... kekekeke... Not being able to bake a proper bread usually, this recipe suits me VERY WELL!!!! lol...

I had came across this recipe from DoDoCook website and this recipe is from Innana.

After work last night, I decided to give this recipe a shot, as mentioned by Innana, she said that these bread were soft and also, the methods were sooooo easy... Not much proofing was needed, just a mere 20 minutes here and there, PLUS, NO KNEADING of the dough... How amazing...!!!

As the bread was baking in the oven, we could smell the lovely fragrant of the bread aroma, lingering around our home.. We can't wait to try them, especially Nic. She told me it smelt sooo yummy...

Yes, indeed they were...

I had baked 2 portion and I had placed them in eight 5-cm cupcake cases. Recipe had stated to put about 70% full but I would think that 50% full is just nice as the batter will proof and would rise quite well while baking in the oven.

My girls loved these cup bread very much, they were really very soft... And having them while they were freshly baked... What more can we ask for. The girls had also packed their share for school tomorrow... :)

These bread maintained their softness the next day too. :))

So if you are a bread-idotic like me, whom do not know how to knead a bread dough well, this recipe might suit you well too.

Ingredients:

(yields about 5 cup bread)

100g bread flour

6.5g milk powder

65ml warm water

1 tbsp sugar

20g melted butter

1 beaten egg

1 tsp instant yeast

Method:

1. Mix the warm water, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl and let it proof for 10 minutes.

2. In a small mixing bowl, add in the egg and the melted butter. Mix well and set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, add the bread flour & milk powder together, add in the proven yeast and mix well.

4. Add in the beaten egg mixture into the flour mixture and blend well till there are no clumps in the batter.

5. Pour the batter in the cupcake case and allow it to prove for 10 minutes.

6. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 20~25 minutes.

■Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls■ Yummy Yum Yum ■

Yummy Yum Yum!!!

I am in for a big treat!!!!

These Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls were really FANTASTIC!!!

Being a bread-idiot as usual, I hadn't been much successful in baking 90% of the bread attempts. Do not ask me why, I am as ??? as you are... I have seen many people baked wonderful, soft & delicious bread, but just not me... Probably it is just me.. hahahaha....:-p

I came across these Pioneer Cinnamon Rolls some where, but I can't remembered exactly where, but for sure, I had landed in The Little Teochew, and then Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls.

However, these Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls were really great as no kneading was needed.. And that's is just what I wanted. Even though no kneading was needed, I still had a little hiccups of rolling the dough somehow.. OK OK, I know, it was REALLY just ME!!!
I was supposed to spray the rolls before baking them, so as they would not become too dry. However, I did not have the water sprayer, so ended up a little too dry on my cinnamon rolls.

These are the rolls before and after bake.

As you could see, I did not manage to roll up nicely, and end up a little "off" the "rolls" shapes.

After the make-over with the lemon icing, these rolls looked pretty good, weren't they??

These rolls had a very soft-like bread texture and I was really impressed with them...!!!

Warning!!!!

These Cinnamon Rolls ARE DANGEROUS as they are very additive. You just can't help popping in one roll after another.

Unfortunatley, only my helper and myself were enjoying these rolls.

The big boy & the 3 girls were hiding as far as they could from these rolls:-D

For Pionner Woman Cinnamon Rolls notes, please click HERE

Recipe

(Adapted version from The Little Teochew)

(with my own measurements in blue)
1 1/3 cup whole milk (315ml)
1/3 cup vegetable oil (75ml canola oil)
1/3 cup caster sugar (45g)
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast (instant yeast)
2 2/3 cups plain flour (+ 1/3 cup) (340g + 45g)
1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
100g unsalted butter - melted 

1/2 cup brown sugar (100g)
Adequate Cinnamon powder 

Sultanas, as desired

Method:1. Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan.
2. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool for about 30 mins.
3. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but not hot, sprinkle in dry yeast. Let this sit for a min.
4. Add 2 2/3 cups of flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.
5. Add 1/3 cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. At this point the dough will be quite sticky, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two. This will give you a firmer dough. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down.
6. When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Form a rough rectangle with the dough. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape.7. Drizzle melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon powder and sultanas.
8. Starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.
9. Cut the roll to approximately 1 inch thick and lay them in a greased baking tray. Leave a little space in between the rolls for them to rise.
10. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 mins or until they look bloated, then bake at a 180℃ pre-heated oven until light golden brown, about 20-25 mins.