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Monday, January 10, 2011

Wonderfully Soft Bread


I tried making this 2 years ago during the early times of blogging…. And guess how long it took to proof?
4 hours for first proofing and another 4 after shaping!!!! Crazy right????
I guess my yeast went on holiday. It was a hot and humid night and I don’t know what happened to my yeast.

This time, the first proofing took 2 hours, 2nd proofing was 1 hour.

The name speaks for itself. Wonderfully soft bread. But once you look at the ingredients, you’ll know why it’s so soft. With that amount of coffee creamer and egg yolks… hehehehe, it’s just soft, just like having bread softeners added in. I made this cos I have 3 yolks left from my buttercream, so I used 2 here in the dough and another for the egg wash. So, if you have a few extra yolks and don’t know what to do with it, this will be a good choice.

The dough actually feels rather oily… even it’s just 40gm butter. My previous sweet bread and buns used 100gm butter for slightly more flour, but it’s less oily compared to this. Maybe due to the yolks and creamer. Again, which is why it’s so soft.

If you don’t want to do TangZhong method or use bread softeners, maybe this will be another choice for you. I don’t know which is worse, so much creamer or little bit of bread softener. Which is the less of two evils, I have know idea. I don’ t really like creamers, after I knew they were made from palm kernel oil and non dairy whipping cream is as well.




Wonderfully Soft Bread inspired from Do What I Like who adapted from Cilinbaby

(A)
310gm bread flour
60gm cake flour
40gm coffee creamer (coffeemate)
70gm sugar
2 tsp instant yeast

(B)
115gm milk
1 egg
2 egg yolks

(C )
1/3 tsp salt
40gm butter

(D)
½ egg mixed with 1 tsp water


1. Combine (A) together. Mix it around to combine.
2. Combine (B), pour into (A) and knead to form a dough.
3. Put (C ) into the dough and knead until a smooth dough forms. (I gave this a 15 min knead by hand)
4. Cover the dough and let it proof until it doubles in size (Mine took 2 hours)
5. Punch down and knead for 1 minute.
6. Divide dough into 50 or 60gm pieces each.
7. Wrap each piece of dough with preferred fillings (I used sausages and cheese)
8. Let dough proof until double again and brush with (D). Bake in a preheated oven at 170 /190C for 15 minutes or until golden.



And to show you some of their "stuffing the bread into their mouth" pics. Actually Lyanne was trying to chomp away every piece with cheese topping.


Why is Lydia's face like that??? See below

58 comments:

  1. lol!!! your daughters are really a joy to see! the bread really looks wonderfully soft~! guess i will give this a try!

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  2. Wow! What a splendid idea to use coffee creamer for the dough! I shall try making this somewhere this week.Tks for sharing the recipe! My dds love to do what Lydia does, and also to stick the stickers all over their clothes;)

    Gooday, cupcake

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  3. Hi Wendy... The girls look so cute! I have never heard of bread softeners? I have so little experience with bread dough... I wanted to make sticky buns this weekend but did not. I am always worried about how long it will take and if I have time.
    Your bread looks sweet and delicious - Thanks for the share! - megan

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  4. Wonderful indeed. They look so soft and fluffy!
    And you daughters are so cute =D. I think some kids like to stick stickers on themselves, my nephew does that too. xD

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  5. wow! tgk budak kecik tuh makan, meronta2 jiwa aku nak makan roti tuh jugak! kiut btol..amik resepi wendy....

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  6. Hi Wendy, your girls are so cute. Thanks for sharing this soft bread recipe, it really looks good. :)

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  7. These buns looks very soft indeed! I've bookmark this recipe. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Looks really soft and nice indeed. I love sausage buns. Urs look like the ones we get in bakeries. I tried the pioneer woman's cinnamon roll last weekend, it was fantastic. All bread lovers should definitely try the recipe. The best thing is no kneading required.

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  9. From now on, I will just put everything in the bread maker and select the "dough" program. Hehe...

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  10. LOL on your 'yeast went on holiday'. i have the same problems too...1st proofing 2 hrs and 2nd proof 1 hr plus it was a new batch of yeast.gosh i thought i'm gonna die waiting for it to take their nice warm sleep. baking bread really is about patience!

    seriously, with that amount of egg yolks, milk n butter...how you manage to knead the dough in just 15 mins?! i usually knead mine for half an hour or more with all those sweats and 'salonpas' later.

    same here, i don't like creamer for the same reason so i drink coffee with milk.

    hmm Lydia has the same eyes as you esp the last pic, she looks like you.

    dinewithleny : i've use this pioneer woman recipe 4 times and yes is one of the best! (yeah i heart cinnamon rolls <3) every time, i used mixed of different flours n yielded great result. no sweat!

    ps: sorry Wendy, long post here as always when commented on yer blog...can't resist! guilty here! ;(

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  11. Hey Wendy, I tried this recipe before and yes it is indeed very soft. :) hahaha, love the look on Lydia's face! So cute!

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  12. Jenn@ChasingFoodDreamsJanuary 10, 2011 at 3:14 PM

    Oo.. love homemade bread! Tried to make it few times but mine was never this soft. Thks for sharing this recipe. Your kids are so adorable because I can tell they enjoying yummy food from mummy.

    Bread flour = high protein flour?

    Btw.. you really shape the bread well, my hotdog buns look funny as the shaping is not consistent.. my family called it alien dog! :)

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  13. hi, i guess it must be a long time since you last made bread becos as far as i remember, this could be my first time seeing bread ever since i come to your blog..or maybe i missed out some..haha!ooh, how can we resist soft breads..i have no experience with bread softeners so cannot comment on that..could be just a kind of addictive to make the bread softer and longer shelf life which doesnt pose any health benefits to us..not really abt that lah. But i think it's okay just to have a little teaspoon of that in our bread once in a blue moon..

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  14. They look soft and fluffy. Good for the children and I can see how much they love your buns :)

    But how come the proofing took so long...can it be due to the coffeemate used in the recipe ? Normally , it will take 1 hour.

    4 hours ...I think your yeast expired already :)

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  15. Both your daughters are lovely :)
    Your bread looks wonderful~ *thumbs up*

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  16. They are looking good, perfectly-baked :D

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  17. So soft! I thought it was TangZhong bread! I'm hungry already!

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  18. Jess,
    They can be a pain in the ass, sometimes, LOL.



    cupcake,
    Oh no, it's not my idea. It's cilinbaby's.
    Haha, I guess all kids loves to accesorize themselves with stickers



    Megan,
    In our part of the world, chewy breads are bad breads. Here, we love it super soft, like cotton wool, something that Westerners dislike about bread. So, to make the bread super soft, additives like bread softeners are added in.




    Jet,
    Thanks, haha. My girls love to even draw on their bodies!



    Hana,
    ambik ler. Pastikan buat dan makan sambil meronta ronta jugak. huhuhuhu!!




    Hanushi,
    I guess I just revived a long posted recipe from a popular blog :)



    Kitchen Corner,
    Hope u love this.

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  19. dinewithleny,
    Oh no, cinnamon rolls probably might never appear on my blog. My husband and all his relatives alike hates cinnamonn. thanks for the suggestion.



    Little Inbox,
    If only I have a bread maker, I'll press that dough function too :p



    Lisa L,
    Oh no, Lydia has her dad's eyes, exactly!! Actually her features are all of her dad's.
    Comment as long as u like, no probs. It's interaction :p
    Actually I knead for 30 minutes too, usually.
    But this bread dough, even though you knead it for 1 hour, you can never stretch it thin. Never!!!! Cos it's so oily. So I didn't bother and just knead for 15 minutes. Cos the last time I did it, after the bread machine (aunt's), manual kneading was 45 minutes, and still..... hahaha, breakable. For what knead so long then.



    Bee,
    Nice hoh. Haha, those 2 cheeky fellas.



    Jenn,
    yup, high protein is bread flour.
    Haha, my kids love bread. But they don't love everything that I make ler.



    lena,
    Oh, we cannot avoid bread softeners, it's in Gardenia and bakery breads. I have nothing against it, but when things are homemade, it's better to be without. Just like ovalette, some say it's fine, some says no, but overdose can cause diarrhoea. But then I don't think one eats ovalette by the spoonsful. Hahahaha.
    I do bake bread, but not often, cos I'm LAZY. I knead bread manually, and I only do it in a basin, cos there is no suitable space for me to do it, no marble/glass table and my counter got slits between the tiles, so, sigh.... basin kneading is no fun. I have 3 more bread posts, not yet posted, still in draft. Wait, wait.



    Elin,
    Haha, I guess it was due to the creamer. High oil content disrupts yeast activity. That day when I proofed it for 4 hours, it seemed so flat, even after 4 hours of 2nd proofing but I dun care and baked it, but the bread came out soft and fluffy, LOL.
    Expanded during baking, so oklor, yeast not dead, just on holiday only. Needed some wake up call in the oven.



    Cathy,
    Thanks



    WyYv,
    Thanks



    Carine,
    LOL, not yet eat dinner ah?
    thanks anyway.

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  20. I have to give this recipe a shot since you said it is very soft without using Tangzhong method. Do you think I can just replace the creamer with milk powder since I don't use creamer for my hot drink? Lydia is so cute. I wonder why kids like to stick stickers all over them especially their on their face :)

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  21. Gert,
    No idea about the substitution with milk powder.
    You see, when I kneaded the bread, the whole dough was so oily. I don't know if it'll be like that with milk powder.

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  22. Your girls are cute, even with stickers on face, haha. This is the first time seeing coffeemate used in bread making, I think it really helps in making the bread softer.

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  23. your little girls are so adorable! hahah and i love how soft and fluffy your bread are, and how nicely browned they turned out to be.

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  24. The bread looks so yummy! I agree with Jean, your girls are soo cute. :)

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  25. OMG..truly soft bread over there! I wish to start making my own bread/buns too! :D

    Lovely kids ;)

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  26. you need to post papa Mike's pic...oh is he cam-shy hehe. whose more cheeky, my vote goes to Lydia but since Lyanne wanna eat all those stuffings, she can be cheeky too. oh having 3 girls in the house can be so much fun...papa Mike gettin all the love from his girls.

    for 15 mins kneading, you get this soft fluffy bun...whoa i high-five you! thx for your tips or else i might knead it forever and gettin frustrated. i dun wan my bread to feel my frustration. since it's so oily, do you think i can reduce the egg yolk or butter?

    hmmm chinese ppl tend to dislike cinnamon. a hint is ok but too much also feeling 'stuffy'

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  27. Wendy, the bread looks so soft that I wanna bite into it! You are tempting me to make bread, knead 15 mins by hand, sound so attractive :P I love the look of both Lyanna and Lydia, they must have enjoyed the bread a lot!

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  28. It is so heartful to see kids enjoying eating...worth all the mommy's effort! They both so cute & adorable...mmmuah2.

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  29. Min,
    Yeah, it's the coffee mate that does the trick.



    Jean,
    Thanks



    Esther,
    Haha, Thanks.



    Love2Cook,
    Baking bread is fun, but sweaty job, LOL. Try it, you will love the fruits of your own labour.




    Lisa.L,
    there are pics of Mike on this blog, click on labels , Birthday and My kids
    and you can catch a few of his pictures there.
    I don't think you should reduce the yolks and butter. They all contribute to the softness of the bread.
    They don't mind cinnamon in savoury foods, but not in sweet food.



    Jess Bakericious,
    So long never see you on my blog oredi. Haha, vigourous kneading for 15 mins, not cincai knead.



    HOmeKreation,
    Please post Liana's eating pics too, I'd love to see her eat your bakes and food too.

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  30. The bread does look so wonderfully soft! I especially like how the hot dog rolls look.

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  31. Hi Wendy
    I just love your recipes on the Wonderlly soft bread, but sorry I got a little bit confused not to be able to figure it out, what you mean by using Coffee Creamer, is it the liquid one or is it the power one, so would you or anyone please help me with this question so I can give this recipe a try, cause I do really love it, and love all your other recipes as well, well done, wish you and your family a wonderful weekend and thanks for sharing all your knowledge with us, and I will be greatly appreciated to receive the answers to above recipe soon, once a again, thank you

    Samantha

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  32. Samantha,
    It's the powder. If it's liquid, I'll refer it as "Evaporated Creamer" or if it's thick and sweet, it'll be "sweetened condensed creamer", exactly as per packaging.
    Thank you wish you have a wonderful weekend too

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  33. Dear Wendyywy

    Thank you so very much for your quick reply to my question, I am very greatful and very excited, I will give this recipe a world try later on in the day, and I will be back to let you know how the results on my bread will turn out, can't hardly wait, once again, thanks so much for all your recipes, and a quick reply to my confusions :), by the way, your two kids looked so cute, I think they are very blessed to have such a wonderful Mom who really put all her hard work and soul into your kid's life by being a Great Mom and Great Cook, Please take care, and Best Wishes to you and all your loved ones for years to come, have a wonderful day, my friend :)

    Samantha

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  34. Samantha,
    You're most welcomed.
    Haha, I just hope they won't grow sick of my food. Thanks for your wishes and have a wonderful CNY.

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  35. Dear Wendyywy

    I hoped you and your family were having a great week, so far as I promised to come back and let you know about the results of my bread, it definetely think it was a great recipe that you gave, but because maybe I did used the cream cheese for my filling, so it was a little challenge to wrap it up, but the end, I did accomplished it, and since the cream cheese maybe have blended into the dough so much, so it was hard for me to be able to tell the texture, cause I reallt loved your bread texture, it looked so soft and fluffy, so next time, if I do this recipe again, I will leave out one dough by itself and baked it, so I can be able to compared the texture better, till than, I loved it so much, and so do the rest of my family, once again, thanks so much for your sharing, knowledge, and espcially your time to help me out with my question, I am truly a big Fan of yours, wishing you and your loved ones a great rest of the day, and I don think your kids will be growing sick with your foods, I wished I were their ages, so you can adopt me and making me homemade foods, I sure will love and aprreciated a Bunch :) hihi, 'till thanks take good care my friends

    Best Regards

    Samantha

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  36. Samantha,
    Glad you loved the bun, very oily, but soft, right?
    Hmmm, I used cream cheese "spread" once to fill my buns, and they were fine, not blending in anywhere, but still remaining as a clump of creamy cream cheese when baked. Make sure they are really cold when you used it a filling.
    So far my kids were still ok with my food, but I've heard of other blogger's kids getting sick her her cakes.
    Happy CNY to you and have a blessed new year.

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  37. Hi Wendy,
    How are you ? This is Jo. Have been faithfully reading ur blog. i brought the ingredient for the wonderfully soft bread. I saw in Nasi lemak lover blog do think instead coffee mate can we use Crisco shortening for the softening. as she mention that shortening is high quality. Thanks in advance ur advice. Have some request, March 2011 is the mango season do you think you can make mango butter cake or any other recommendation for this mango ? Mango sambal or kuih, anything.

    Jo

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  38. Jo,
    No, you cannot replace coffee mate with Crisco. Crisco is a "fat" and if you want to replace it, you can only use it in place of the butter not the coffee mate. But if you use Crisco and not butter, you won't have the butter smell. Leaving you with buns that smell like roti kedai kopi.

    Which mango are you refering to? Different mangoes taste and smell differently. Frankly, I have never had any good results baking with mango, unless the mango is used raw and not baked into the cake. It gives an ugly colour and weird smell instead. Go for chilled desserts if you want to do something with mango. Maybe like a chilled cheesecake or mango jelly. Mango sambal will need green mangoes, I think. Sorry that I can't be of much help.

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  39. Hi Wendy,

    I tried making yesterday and it turn out failure. Me first time making bread and not very sure how to knead bread. Although you shown on the picture what to expect but after the knead i do not get the smooth surface. do i need to sieve the flour ? i did not do that. the bread is as hard as the stone. not sure what is the cause of the failure. Do i need to use machine to mix the dough. i do not have the machine and i only have for cake mixing. Please advice.

    Jo

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  40. Jo,
    No need to sieve the flour. Hand mixers will not be able to do the job, it'll burn ur machine. You will be able to get smooth surface if you knead it properly. To knead you knead to push the dough down and away from you. Like manual washing clothes with a washing board, if you understand what I mean, those old fashioned washing clothes style. You need to knead at least half an hour. Making bread manually is back breaking job which is the reason why I rarely do it. But then even if you did not knead it properly, the bread will still rise due to the yeast, you won't get stone bread, but maybe crumbly bread only. I advise you to get yeast that are packed in sachets, not in plastic bottles.

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  41. Hi Wendy,

    I think i will try one more time. Half and hour knead. How do i know is enough kneading ? I found out later my bread was not really cook on the bottom but is burn on the surface. Dunno is this the reason that make the bread that hard ?Actually I am not satisfy with the result and i want try again. I also try the alcohol-free orange fruit cake. the cake taste very nice and my sugar was only 80 not sweet. Yours were 150gm will it be a bit too sweet ? What kinda of orange should I use, i didn't get the orange aroma as describe ? - i also want to try to do mushroom soup. How do i wash portobello mushroom ? sorry i mix up all my questions here.

    Jo

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  42. Jo,

    1. If ur bread is burnt on the top but uncooked on the bottom, bake it on the lower rack. If it still burns on top, then check the heating elements, the bottom element might not be working. If you proofed it enough, it should be big and fluffy and remember not to expose the bread during proofing, either put in a enclosed area or cover with plastic to prevent evaporation.

    2. Fruit cakes are supposed to be sweet. When they are sweeter, they can keep longer. And fruit cakes are slowly eaten with small pieces, therefore a sweet fruit cake should be fine. BTW, the sugar in the recipe I concocted is far lesser then western recipes. And a sweeter cake will have better texture, in this case. Well, what I mean is that you will not feel just nice (that you can eat the whole loaf at one go), but it will be sweet, but it won't be overly sweet until you feel sore throat or a 2nd piece will be a big no no. So far, everybody has said that it's fine. Slice and eat small pieces. For best fragrance, use Valencia and not Navel.

    3. Just quickly rinse the portobello. It's not very dirty. Never soak fresh mushrooms, if not they will soak up all the water and smell weird later when cooked, plus they'll release too much water. Just a quick rinse and shake off all excess water will do.

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  43. Hi Wendy,

    Just wonder do i need to kneed the dough until elastic? please advice. thanks

    jamie

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  44. Jamie,
    Somehow with the high fat content of this bread, you won't be able to do the window pane test. But give it a thorough kneading, time it instead of judging it by its looks.
    If you knead 30 minutes usually, then do the same. The looks will definitely decieve you.

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  45. Hi wendy!
    Im a silent follower of your blog for so many years now! I just want to thank u for all the efforts in sharing your wonderful recipes!
    just 1 question can i leave this in the fridge to proof overnight so that my family can enjoy freshly baked bread in the morning?
    More power to you!

    Divine G.

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  46. Hi Wendy, How are you? I'm your silent reader for the past 2 yrs now :)

    Came across this post and wants to know what is the difference between the cake flour and the bread flour? I'm sure we can get bread flour from the supermarket in oz but dont think i have come across the cake flour. Can you tell me more about this cake flour? is it normally sell packaged as Cake flour? And will the bun be ok if i dont put the coffee creamer in? My daughter absolutely loves the sausage in bun so am trying to give this a go once i know what i need.

    Thanks in advance Wendy :)..Cheers from Voon

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  47. Divine G,
    I think.. I think you may because this bread is a slow riser, it shouldn't be a problem.
    But I haven't tried doing it this way before.



    Voon,
    Thanks for breaking the silence ;)
    Cake flour is a low gluten flour for making cakes. Also called superfine in come countries.
    I don't know how is it being sold in Oz. In UK, it's also called as Extra Fine flour.
    The coffee creamer here is the tenderizer, if you don't want to use coffee creamer, then substitute with milk powder.
    If you still can't find cake flour, you can try 280gm bread flour and 90gm all purpose.

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  48. Just tried this recipe. At first I also thot my yeast mati becos it didn't rise much. But after baking, it rose more and was indeed very cottony soft! But upon eating kinda sticky. Not unlike those soft hotdog rolls we buy from shops. I think I prefer the Japanese-style soft rolls. The 3 yolks and creamer is a just mite too much for me! :D

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  49. katclim,
    Oh you didn't wait for doubling?
    The high fat content somehow retards the yeast.
    Actually the first time I made this, I kneaded it really long more than 40 minutes by hand because I can't get the window pane stage but gave up. 2nd time, I knew it, no window pane, so didn't bother to knead it longer. But, There is a difference between the 2 attempts. The first one had much better mouthfeel. 2nd attempt with shorter kneading time, was stickier.
    but then again, it's still a better bet for manual kneaders who wants to bake soft bread. Other recipes just can't achieve the same softness for only a short kneading time (comparatively) Manual kneaders will ignore the stickiness for softness

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  50. I used my breadmaker's dough function to knead twice. First time, kneaded without butter until it almost reached its resting time. Stopped the machine, set to 'dough' again, and kneaded with butter and let it run the entire 'dough' function including resting time. So total kneading time should be around 40 mins too.

    Immediately out of oven, was very soft. After cooling, more sticky. I made plain buns. Perhaps it's better as a hotdog roll.

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  51. Kat,
    the surface sticky or during eating? Sticking to teeth?

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  52. Chee nga. Stick to the teeth.

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  53. katCL,
    Hehehehe....it happened to my 2nd batch. I also felt it stuck to my teeth.
    Dunno why the first batch didn't, but that one took so long.

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  54. im so confused with the eggs! if B mixed with the A then how we have D ?

    was that mean B is one full egg plus 2 egg yolks with butter added in A
    then later another new egg extra for D?

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  55. Anonymous (Would love to know ur name),
    D is from another egg. You can skip the glaze if you want to, it's ok. The glaze is only to make it pretty and shiny.

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  56. hahah wan yee .... i used to eat ur food since am still in primary school. u always our chef at GB camp , heard ur post from my friend sue which helps me to kill my time on my meternity leave lol.... am munying , tan mun ying.

    i made second time for the bread dunno it still thick n not soft prob neeed more kneading ....

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  57. 115gm milk is milk powder? May I know what brand you use?
    Thanks,
    Emily

    ReplyDelete
  58. Emily,
    Milk is liquid milk, fresh milk..the form it exists naturally.
    Any processed milk like evap milk, milk powder or condensed milk will be stated clearly. Don't worry :)

    ReplyDelete

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