Sweet Bread over the Weekend

First Attempt at Chinese Sweet Bread

I had chanced upon a website that had a recipe on Chinese Sweet Bread a long time ago .. trust me it was a really long time ago and i made my dad buy me some milk powder as the recipe called for it. Then there was the whole scare on melamine in milk powder and it kinda put me off. So the milk powder and my bread flour sat in the kitchen for a really long time collecting dust.. okay not really i'm just exaggerating here...

Anyway, one saturday my dad came home at four in the morning and i woke up because lets just say his entry wasn't really discreet. The whole house including Josh was asleep and for some odd reason i just wanted to bake bread.. it's weird that a feeling like that such crops up out of nowhere..

So i took out the recipe, and began measuring my ingredients... bread flour .. check.. plain flour.. check.. and then... milk powder.. er.. a said a little prayer hoping that this batch of milk powder is not tainted with melamine .. pathetic i know .. but hey you can never pray too much..

Then i began kneading and holy moly it was a tough job.. my arms started aching and i started to perspire at five in the morning when the air is pretty still and cool. Hmm a workout i thought to myself..Then i placed the dough in the warm oven to prove and i went into my room to browse other websites and bam ! i fell asleep.. again! .. oops.. didn't expect that but then when i got up at about ten in the morning the dough had doubled in size.. yippee

Proving Caterpillars

So i shaped it and made Hot Dog Bread, a version that is really popular in Asia. The bread was a little hard.. it was still soft but not spongy soft like the bread in the shops .. nevertheless my dad and uncles gave them a thumbs up and i am now determined to get them right!

I got the recipe from Fresh from the Oven

Chinese Sweet Bread

Ingredients

480g bread flour
120g all purpose flour
1 pack rapid rise yeast
110g caster sugar
20g dry milk powder
300ml warm water (about 105F)
1 egg
1 tablespoon salt
60g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Add yeast to warm water in a medium bowl, and set aside for 10 minutes. Make sure the water is lukewarm because if the water is too hot it will 'kill' the yeast. The water is warm if you can leave your finger inside it without cringing. It should froth up and be foamy.

Next, add the bread flour, all purpose flour, granulated sugar and dry milk powder into a large mixing bowl. Slowly mix in the water and yeast mixture with the help of a scraper.

Add in egg and softened (not melted) butter. Mix well and knead to form a smooth and elastic dough.

Okay the dough id first really sticky, i mean seriously it sticks to everything. And the way you knead it is very different to other kneading techniques. Do not add flour just because its sticky. Grab it with your hands and smack it on the worktop (hence the banging noises in the middle of the night) then the dough sticks to the surface so you jab it on both sides with your fingers like your're about to lift it and pull it a little into the air then fold over. Then grab the whole thing (there will be dough stuck to the worktop .. don't worry they'll come out eventually as you keep kneading) and smack it again.

If it sounds too confusing, check out Fresh from the Oven, there's a video

http://novice-baker.blogspot.com/2008/02/pork-floss-buns-for-home-sick.html

After kneading, leave the dough to prove for 1 hour, or till it doubles in size. Try pressing a finger into the dough, it should leave a clear mark when it's ready. The dough is now ready to be shaped.

Let it prove a second time after shaping.

Bake in a moderate oven (180 Degrees Celsius) for 15 to 20 mins.

Enjoy!