做面包真简单, Really?!!

One thing leads to another.

During our stay at the service apartment in Beijing, we had our complimentary breakfast at the lobby every morning. The spread was not fantastic but I was quite happy with it since my usual breakfast at home is nothing more than 2 slices of bread and a cup of coffee. Two weeks down the road, I got tired of the ham, sausages, hard boil eggs and porridge. So I went for the cereals. I have never liked cereals, especially muesli. But those available at the breakfast counter were quite 'kids-friendly', ie cereals for kids. Since I have not had any corn flakes for ages, it was a nice surprise to find them so crunchy and tasty! I like it so much that I had to get a box of corn flakes right after we got back to Singapore.

Since it is the start of the school term, I found myself wondering into the local bookstore...to get some assessment books for the kids. As usual, before heading to the assessment book section, I spent some time browsing the cookbooks on the shelves. There were quite a number of new books, and I was able to pick up 4 books within a few minutes. One was on bread making, one on sushi making, one on Chinese buns and dim sum, and another on everyday simple meals. I wanted to buy all four, but in the end, I bought only one...and it is no surprise that I chose the one on bread making. Every single recipe in this book, 做面包真简单  (making bread is easy), looks good to me!

By the time I got home, I have already decided that the first recipe I would try from this cookbook would be the loaf bread covered with corn flakes! However, after reading through the ingredients, I realised that it is made with this drink "Calpico". I googled and learned that it is quite similar to Yakult or Vitagen. Since I hardly see this product on the local supermarket shelves,  I would made do with Vitagen.

Just when I was almost ready to give the recipe a go, I received an email with links to video clips showing how iron powder can be extracted from fortified corn flakes (see here). It certainly makes me think twice about having corn flakes! Nevertheless, I still went ahead with my bread making ;)

Little did I know that it took me three attempts to get the bread right! On my first attempt, I used my bread machine to do the kneading, the dough was still very sticky after 30mins of kneading. I made a 'clever' decision to add a tablespoon of flour to the dough and let the machine run for another 10mins. The dough was still sticky and very soft. Since I was rushing to get my other chores done, I took the dough out and left it to proof. After 30mins there was still no 'activity'. The dough didn't rise and it became a sticky, slacken mess. It was then that I realised I could have let the machine over-knead the dough. I was left with no choice but to dump it into the thrash bin. Undeterred by the failure, I went on to prepare another portion right after. I placed all the necessary ingredients into the bread machine, but the kneading blade couldn't move. The machine must have been over-heated and it had refused to start work again. The only way to get around was to knead it by hand. My next half an hour was then spent working hard on the dough. It was quite a wet dough indeed, but soon it became smooth and elastic and no long sticks to my hand. My hard work didn't really paid off though :( The yeast didn't work this time! The first rise took more than 2hrs, and the second proofing took another 2hrs, and yet the dough didn't even come up near the rim. Despite a 'shorter' loaf, the bread tasted quite good.

Two days later, I made another attempt. I bought a fresh bottle of yeast and I made the dough by hand again. This time, the yeast was working so well that within 30mins, the dough had already doubled in size.

The second proofing took no longer than 30mins as well. While waiting for the oven to preheat, the dough had rose over the rim!

Here's a comparison of the two loaves...the one on the left didn't proof well...

look at the vast difference in height between the two!

Although this bread does not have super soft and cottony texture, it is very delicious and smells good especially when it was baking in the oven, I could smell corn flakes! My kids love the bread, it has a slight sweet taste and the corn flakes gave an interesting texture to the crust.

I am sharing the recipe with all of you who loves making and eating bread. I hope this recipe will not disappoint anyone of you who are keen to give it a try. Happy baking!




Corn Flakes Bread Loaf

Ingredients
(makes one 7" x 4" x 4" loaf)

300g bread flour
6g instant yeast
18g caster sugar
6g salt
9g milk powder
150g lukewarm water
35g vitagen
20g egg
30g unsalted butter
some corn flakes, crushed
egg wash (mix 1 tbs egg with 1 tbs water)


Method:

1. Stir bread flour, caster sugar, salt, milk powder and instant yeast in a mixing bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre and add in water, egg and vitagen. Mix the ingredients with hand and slowly form into a dough.
3. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead until the dough comes together and becomes smooth, about 10mins. (The dough will be quite wet and sticky initially.)
4. Knead the butter into the dough. The dough will become greasy, wet and sticky again. Continue to knead for about 10 - 20 mins until the dough no longer sticks to your hand, becomes smooth and elastic. Do the window pane test: pinch a small portion of the dough, pull and stretch it. It should be elastic, and can be pulled away into a thin membrane without tearing/breaking apart.
5. Place dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let proof in room temperature (around 28 to 30 degC) for about one hour, or until double in bulk.
6. Remove the dough from the bowl and give a few light kneading to press out the gas in the dough. Divide into 2 equal portion, about 290g each. Roll into rounds. Cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let the doughs rest for 10mins.
7. Flatten each dough into a small disc and roll each into a rectangular shape, about 12" x 7". Roll up from the shorter side (7') swiss-roll style to form a log, pinch and seal the seam.
8. Place crushed corn flakes on a tray. Brush the top of the doughs with the egg wash and roll it over the crushed corn flakes.
9. Place doughs in a greased loaf pan (7" x 4" x 4"). Cover with damp cloth or cling wrap and leave doughs to proof for the second time for about 30mins, or until the doughs almost reach the rim of the loaf pan.
10. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 deg C for 35 mins or until golden brown. Remove from oven and unmold immediately. Let cool completely before slicing. To help the bread stay fresh store in airtight container.

Recipe source: adapted from 做面包真简单, 太 田ひとみ