For the Love of Bread Making

I have not been baking much for the past two weeks, as I had to spend most of my time coaching both my kids for their end-of-the-term examinations. As a stay-at-home-mum, I cannot cook up even one single excuse to avoid this extremely hair-pulling task. Before the kids went on to primary school, I have never thought that I have to "study" again! No kidding, I actually picked up new things and refreshed what I have learned many years ago. I am now fully equipped with the necessary skills to tackle mathematical problem sums without having to use 'x, y and z'. Although I must say, I am still struggling with this particular mathematical method known as 'supposition', even though it was 'introduced" to me since last year. My brain has gone too rusty to understand the logic behind this method. Having the discipline to sit down and go through the entire Science syllabus has also cleared some of the 'doubts' which I carried over since my primary school years ;') I am so glad this responsibility of mine is now over, well, at least, for the time being.

Anyway, to ease the mounting stress, I managed to squeeze in some time to bake a batch of Matcha Melon Pan earlier this week.


It has been a year since I last made these Japanese Melon Pans or Melon Buns. I have always wanted to try out the various melon pan recipes, alas, I am always put off by the amount of work involved in churning out these buns.

Besides the already time consuming dough making, there is this extra step of making the pastry or cookie-like dough. After the bread dough had gone through the 1st proofing, I wrapped each small dough with some semi-sweet chocolate chips (the original recipe calls for red beans), and then covered it with a layer of the pastry dough. The job is not done before each dough is coated with sugar and then carefully marked to give the signature pattern of a Japanese melon pan. The doughs were then left to rise for the 2nd time before they were ready for baking. I must be out of my mind when I decided to make everything from scratch, by hand. Not only did I knead the dough manually, I have also chosen to use a manual whisk instead of an electric mixer to prepare the pastry dough. Anyway, I do find the pure action of kneading the dough very soothing and therapeutic, what about you?

I'm not sure whether it was due to my inaccurate measurements of the ingredients, the pastry dough was very wet. It was impossible to form the mixture into a soft dough. I suspect I could have added in more eggs than necessary. To get over the situation, I added one tablespoon of flour at a time to the mixture. It turned out that I had to add an extra 4 tablespoons of flour in order to get the consistency right. The resulting pastry dough was very sticky and I couldn't really shape them into small rounds as recommended in the recipe. In the end I simply form them into small lumps and left to chill in the fridge. I also faced the daunting task of trying to cover the bread dough with the sticky pastry dough. The pastry dough got stuck to my fingers once I lay my hands on it. I tried my best to shape each dough with the help of a piece of plastic sheet, to avoid any direct contact with the pastry dough. As a result, the amount of washing up was more than necessary :'(


Despite all the hiccups, the finished products didn't look or taste too bad.





Unfortunately, these buns didn't keep well overnight. In fact, I noticed this happened to most of my bakes that have got matcha powder in the ingredient list. Nevertheless, as long as they were reheated before serving, they tasted as good as freshly baked ones.



As much as I would like to take photos to illustrate the various steps involved, I was too pre-occupied with the entire preparation process. So, for those of you who are keen to give this a try, you may hop over to this site for some step-by-step photos. Although it's written in Japanese, you will at least get an idea how to go about it. While writing up this post, I've also managed to find a video clip here. Hope you will find them useful.

If you ever give this a go, do drop by to let me know whether you have any problem with the pastry, and how you went about making them. I've yet to attend any baking courses or workshops. As such, I am totally clueless whether I am doing things right? I would really love to hear and learn from you.

Happy Baking :)


Matcha Melon Pan(抹茶菠箩面包)

Ingredients:
(makes 12 buns)

Bread Dough:
300g bread flour
3g matcha powder ( I used 1/2 teaspoon)
30g caster sugar
5g salt
7g (about 1 & 3/4 tsp) instant yeast
210g (about 200ml) milk ( I used low-fat fresh milk)
30g unsalted butter (bring to room temperature)

Pastry layer
50g unsalted butter (bring to room temperature)
100g caster sugar
80g egg, lightly beaten
200g cake flour ( I added extra 4 tablespoons)
3g baking powder (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
6g matcha powder ( I used 1 teaspoon)

some semi-sweet chocolate chips
some caster sugar for dusting/coating

Method:

1. Sift bread flour and matcha powder into a mixing bowl. Add in caster sugar and salt. Add in instant yeast and mix the dry mixture a little.
2. Make a well in the centre and add in milk. Mix the ingredients with hand and slowly form it into a soft dough.
3. Transfer dough to work surface. Knead until the dough longer sticks to the work surface. This should take less than 5 mins.
4. Flatten the dough and add in the butter. Continue to knead. Initially, the dough will be very oily, after a few kneading, the butter will be absorbed by the dough. Continue to knead until the dough no longer feels sticky to your hand and will not stick to the work surface. This should take about 15 to 20 mins. (Alternately, you can knead the dough with your standing mixer or your bread machine.)
5. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and let proof for about 40 ~ 60mins, or until double in bulk.
6. While the dough is proofing, prepare the pastry layer. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until mixture turns pale. Add in the lightly beaten egg gradually. Beat well after each addition.
7. Sift over cake flour, matcha powder and baking powder. Mix with a spatula until flour mixture is fully incorporate. Gather to form a soft dough. Divide dough into 12 equal portions, about 40g each, roll into rounds. Place doughs in a tray and let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
8. Punch out the gas in the bread dough and divide into 12 equal portion, about 45-50g each. Roll into rounds. Cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let the dough rest for 10mins.
9. Take one piece of bread dough, flatten it into a small disc and wrap in some chocolate chips. Roll it into rounds again. Repeat the same for the rest of the remaining doughs.
10. Remove chilled pastry dough from the fridge. Take a piece of pastry dough and roll out in between 2 layers of cling wraps, big enough to cover the bread dough. (I cut out two small sheets from a clear plastic bag). Remove the top layer of the cling wrap of the pastry dough. Place one bread dough on the pastry dough. With the bottom layer of the cling wrap still intact, wrap the pastry dough around the bread dough. Carefully remove the bottom layer of the cling wrap, at the same time, smoothing the edges of the pastry dough. NOTE: DO NOT cover the Entire bread dough with the pastry dough. Leave the bottom 2 ~ 3 cm uncovered. The dough needs the space to expand, otherwise the pastry dough will burst and the resulting appearance will not be very pleasing.
11. Coat the exterior with caster sugar.
12. With a plastic dough scraper, cut out patterns that resembles the 'veins' of a leaf on the surface, or decorate as desired. Place dough on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Leave to proof for the second time for about 40 ~ 50mins, loosely covered with a damp towel or cling wrap.
13. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 deg C for 10 ~ 12 mins. (I baked mine for 15~20mins) Let cool completely before storing. Note that these buns don't keep well, if left overnight, do reheat them before serving.

Recipe source: 酥皮面包大集合by 佐藤律子