Pages

Friday, August 19, 2011

Steamed Flax Seed Milk Flower Rolls 亚麻子花卷 - Steamed Buns # 3


Flax seeds are nutritious. According to Wikipedia, besides being high in fibre and omega-3 fatty acids, it also helps to lower cholesterol and benefits those who are having breast and prostrate cancer. If you're diabetic, it's also good for you because it helps by stabilizing your blood sugar. But take this with caution if you are on oral medication. It's high fibre content may interrupt with the medication and you must drink lots of water whenever you take flax seeds, if not you may end up with intestinal blockage.

Flax seeds are best taken ground. Such seeds are designed by nature to be eaten and passed out for dispersion, so, they are pretty much like the sesame seeds you ingest. They come out whole, undisturbed if you happen to never chew them. Unless you make sure you chew each flax seed, if not, it's best you eat them ground.

If you prefer your flax seeds to be finely ground, add in some flour from the recipe when you grind your flax seeds. This method helps you to attain a finer flax seed meal and reduces the stickiness due to the release of oil. Mike's aunt makes flax seed butter often and it's sticky, simply because it's purely ground flax seeds.

You know what, flax seeds is also a galactagogue.. kekekeke... I actually made these buns for my confinement breakfast. Out of the lot I made, I only get to eat a few. So many mouths to feed.... LOL.



Steamed Flax Seed Milk Flower Rolls
Recipe source: Wendyywy

500gm pau flour
220gm milk, room temperature
100gm sugar
30gm lightly toasted flax seeds, ground
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
30gm butter, softened
50gm water
2 tsp instant yeast
Small pinch of sugar
3 Tbsp of oil (I used grapeseed oil, but you can use corn oil or any other flavourless oil)

1. Mix water with small pinch of sugar. Put in yeast and let it proof. The mixture will froth and look like beer bubbles.
2. Measure all dry ingredients and put into mixing bowl. Mix dry ingredients so that everything is well dispersed.
3. Make a well in the center. Pour in frothy yeast, milk and butter. (After I pour the yeast, I measure my milk in the same container so that I can rinse the yeast out, no wastage.)
4. Mix until a dough forms and knead until dough is smooth.
5. Cover and let dough proof until double. It will take about an hour, depending on weather.
6. Punch down dough and knead it for 2 minutes.
7. Divide dough into 50gm pieces. I got about 18 pieces.
8. Roll dough flat, maybe to about 1cm thick, it will resist rolling and it will pull itself back. It’s ok. Pre rolling the dough saves rolling time later during shaping. Let dough rest for 10 minutes. Please remember keep dough covered at this point. I keep it in my cold oven.
9. After resting, roll dough flatter, to the thickness of about ¼ of an inch. If dough resist to be rolled, let it rest longer.
10. Apply a thin layer of oil over rolled dough.
11. Cut slits onto dough. Be careful not to cut all the way through. I cut them 1/2cm wide.
12. Remove dough from working surface and twist dough.
13. Twist the twisted dough into a knot. Remember to hide the sides underneath the bun.
14. Place the shaped buns onto a piece of paper. I used muffin liner.
15. Cover and let it proof until double. (I proof in my cold oven)
16. Steam on high heat for 12 minutes.




these were before steaming


See the strands? Light and fluffy!

37 comments:

  1. I've never had anything like this, but they look awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another lovely buns. Love all your buns creations and thanks for taking the time/effort to show the step-by-step method. Really useful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ohhh, another lovely recipe!!! yay, thanks a lot
    i am a total failure in bread. think mantao or bao could be my next thing to try. sigh

    ReplyDelete
  4. They look stunning! You must have spend some time doing these ups and without the steps by steps pic, we wouldn't know how to go about it at all. Thanks Wendy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. very beautiful. thanks for sharing the technique to obtain the "花卷" effect.

    ReplyDelete
  6. hi wendy,
    wow another master art piece from your magic hand...last time i added flaxseed into my steam bun too..the fragrant is sooo nice and u can just eat it on it own..but i didn't ground it..ok next time i'll ground my flaxseed..great idea from you thanks~

    ReplyDelete
  7. wow, good job such a neat flower bun. So soft & fluffy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bo,
    try chinese restaurants, but they usually have the plain version.


    Fong,
    No problem. Hope you put them to good use


    aiwei,
    Steamed buns are a lot lot easier to make than bread. Try it out


    Mel,
    My MIL was around when I made these, so she could help me see see the kids. Now she's back to US, tarak lor


    travelling foodies,
    u're welcomed


    Janetan,
    Flaxseeds if not ground are indigestable. So, it's like not eating flax seeds. The outer husk protects it, just like sesame seeds.



    amelia,
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wendy, this flower rolls are pretty and healthy. I actually add ground flaxseed to my meals almost every dinner.

    ReplyDelete
  10. First the rose and now this neat flower bun...love them all and thanks for the pictorial guides :) appreciate much :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow, these look really delicious. Thank you for sharing the steamed buns recipes lately. :) I love making man tou. I think I'll try out your different shaping methods. They are sooo pretty. I usually just shape the buns in boring rounds haha.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love your series of mantou posts lately.  too bad I used up all my purple sweet potato for my bread baking...will try ur mantou next time. Thanks for the steps foe shaping the mantou. 

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! These flower rolls are beautifully done!

    ReplyDelete
  14. another lovely mantou! ah, this i wont let it sit for display, will eat them right away!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Mmmm....you sure are one very talented lady! Amazing looking buns!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your rolls are amazing. They look beautiful and they sound delicious. How could anyone go wrong with such a lovely recipe. This is my first visit to your site, so I took some time to browse through your earlier entries. I'm so glad I did that. I really like the food and recipes you feature here and I'll be back often. I hope you have a great day.
    Blessings...Mary

    ReplyDelete
  17. wahsei, the rolls looks superb. i wish i can have a bite :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. yummy bakes,
    That's a very good habit, keep it up.


    elin,
    U're welcomed :)


    Esther,
    Round mantou seem to be denser in my personal opinion. I will at least roll it flat and roll it up again. try some minor shaping if you don't have the time to do more complicated shaping. It really makes a difference in the final texture.



    Bee,
    buy some more :)



    angel,
    Thanks



    ah tze,
    thank you



    lena,
    yalar... eat eat eat! finish it up. LOL



    Jeannie,
    Thank you :p


    Mary,
    Thank you and welcome to my blog



    Sherleen,
    TQ and please don't bite off ur screen. I hear it screaming

    ReplyDelete
  19. I saw flaxeed oil and i always wonder how it taste like. Thanks for giving us such an informative post.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Fuyoh, another creative bun! Love the spiral technique

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wendy, you are one energetic gal! Love the pretty flower buns. Won't have a chance to make such as nobody at home knows how to appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. WOW! WOW! WOW! when I see the photos I was hit by nothing but WOWs!! Now the next thing comes to my mind is AWWWWW! I WANT!! hehe

    ReplyDelete
  23. edith,
    flaxseed oil should always be consumed raw, do not cook with it.


    angeline,
    thank you


    busygran,
    Oh, no one likes steamed buns?



    quaypo,
    want ah? kekeke.....make some looo

    ReplyDelete
  24. Very beautiful...I'll shape those mantou like yours next time! Love all of them...:)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ooh...this is so pretty! And so healthy! I would really like to try this, thanks for sharing the recipe. You've really lots of energy! With two girls and a very young baby boy, you can still do so much cooking and baking! Wondermum! :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Wendy, very lovely, they are healthy also with the flaxseed. I still have a big packet of flaxseed at home, maybe I can give this a try :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Loved the braiding. Incidentally, I also just made Pau. This should be quite similar and thanks for showing the braiding technique!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Reese,
    can't wait to see them :)


    Passionate abt baking,
    Basically, I still need to eat. My kids love pau and so does my hubby.
    I did these when my MIL was around to help out, which was like some time ago


    Shirley,
    Most pau recipes are quite similiar, but I sort of stick to a certain ratio that I prefer and play around with.

    ReplyDelete
  29. This looks so pretty :) The 'strands' of bread look like noodles! haha...I've never had flax seeds before!

    ReplyDelete
  30. 一朵朵的花卷,好美;很细腻的手作.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Wendy,
    I tried last night. It turned out pretty good. I used half recipe.

    For the 1st proofing, i used warm water. Then follow as it is but using the 'hook' beater for the dough. Let it rise for about 2 hours, but not much difference. Is soft and of rising texture. But not to double size. Then punch a little and make into pieces and rolled.
    Let it stand for about 30 min. Still no much different in size. Proceed with 2nd stage rolling (easy) and slight/shaped. The dough is soft but not as stretchable. Then placed on muffin liner. Seems is not that stand firm and the slits not too stands up as yours.
    I let it rest again for 2 hours. Slightly increased the size, then steam.
    Outcome is nice, but the flower line not as yours stand firm. Is slightly harder compared when is cooked. Appreciate your expertise. TQ.. JJ

    ReplyDelete
  32. JJ,
    I also used the hook on my KA, but only knead until it looks smooth. No need to be stretchable or window pane stage as this is not made with bread flour.
    I think you might have overkneaded it as the structure is very firm to form.
    If you are using active dry yeast, you may want to use 50% more yeast and it's very delicate, gets killed easily compared to instant yeast.
    Any yeasted items if not properly risen will not be soft.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Wendy,
    If using the hook, should be till the dough is not stck to the side, right?
    Hmmm... what is active dry yeast? I used the type with few sachets in the box type.
    I will try again, thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi Wendy
    Is your dough very soft after kneading? I used only 200gm of liquid instead of 250gm (200gm milk and 50 gm water) as called for in your recipe and the dough seems good to handle. Am worried that if I use 250gm liquid, the dough might be too soft to manage. I did not, however, addd any flax seeds. Mine was just plain white flower bun. Could the flax seeds be the reason for the easier handling of dough with 250gm liquid?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Tan,
    I used 270ml liquids, 220+50. Flax seeds will absorb some water. Reducing 70ml will make the dough a lot easier to handle, but it will also create a drier bun. For me, I will prefer a slightly tacky dough in the beginning, that will eventually come off my hands as I knead. The buns are usually softer when done this way. I will only recommend reducing to 240-250ml if you're not using flax seeds. I will recommend reducing to 250 or if you want to play safe, 240ml for best results. A well kneaded dough will be elastic, smooth and soft, but not sticky.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping by my blog.
All comments are greatly appreciated.

If you have tried any of the recipes and blogged about it, please provide a link so that others may have a look at it too :)

FOR NON BLOGGERS:
Please select profile and click "Name/URL" if u do not have any profiles on any of those listed, type in the name (leave the URL empty)

It's not nice to call you ANONYMOUS, so please leave a name.
From 15/11/13 onwards, I will NOT reply comments with no name.

Only comments on posts older than 24 hours will be moderated :)
You won't see them appearing immediately if it's not a fresh post.