Hokkaido Milky Loaf

I have finally found the bread recipe that yields the "right" texture!!

I really like my bread to be cottony soft and fluffy. I found this recipe from this site sometime back, but didn't get to try it till now. I have seen another Hokkaido Milky Loaf recipe from a cookbook, but that is made with Hokkaido's Furano fresh milk, which of course is not available here. This recipe uses ordinary fresh milk.


I followed the recipe exactly but only halved the portion as we wouldn't be able to finish such a big loaf. The special thing about this recipe is that it uses whipping cream. I guess this makes the bread soft and increases the moisture. The bread was still moist when left overnight even though no additives such as bread improver is used! This bread can be made by using the straight dough method or the Water roux method. I find the Water roux method too troublesome, although it will yield a much softer texture.

It was a breeze making this loaf using the straight dough method. I simply added all the ingredients into my bread machine, set it to the "sweet bread" function and let it run on its own. Do note that if you are using a bread machine to do the kneading, you will have to scrape down the side of the pan from time to time. The dough appeared to be very sticky and wet in the beginning. When the loaf is done, do remove it from the pan carefully. When fresh out of the oven, the loaf was very delicate! It was so soft that I deformed it when I tried to remove the kneader at the bottom :'(


A closer look at the texture of the bread. This is the best bread I have made so far. The texture is truely cottony soft, and it tasted even better than the sweet bun bread that I have made earlier. The bread is delicious eaten plain and it is not necessary to warm or toast it even though it was left overnight. This is the kind of bread that I will make and give it away to friends and family members :))

Durian Muffins

I have been wanting to take part in the Muffin Monday (MM02) blog event but was too busy making bread over the past week. I finally managed to find some time to get the main ingredient for my muffins...DURIAN!

The durian season seems to be around already, but there is still no sign of them at the fruit stalls near my place. I was lucky to spot them when I went to the supermarket. This is the first time I bought durians in a ready-packed form. All along I have eaten durians that came with the thick, horny husk. To me, eating durians means you have to do some work before eating the flesh, that is, to pry open the huge fruit with a knife (sometimes a screwdriver can do a better job), and at the same time, guessing whether the flesh will be sweet, bittersweet or bitter. After eating the fruits from the first section, the next fun thing is to open up the various segments, and guessing whether there is any fruit in it. The ready-packed ones that I bought were Thai durians, the flesh were in bright yellow and tasted very sweet. Some people prefer the slightly bitter type, but as for me, I like both :)) For those of you who are have not heard of this fruit, you can read about it here.

I used a banana muffin recipe and replaced the banana with durian pulp. I mixed half of the durian pulp into the batter and filled the middle of each muffin with a spoonful of the remaining durian pulp. In this way, you get to bite into the durian pulp when you reach the centre of the muffins :))

I was rather disappointed when the muffins failed to create the wonderful aroma from the durian while they were baking. There was only a very slight hint of durian fragrance coming from the oven. Apparently, the Thai durians are less fragrant as compared to those from Malaysia. When the muffins were finally cooled enough to handle, I couldn't wait but to try them with my boy. Yes, only one of them likes durian, the other one simply hates it. The taste of the muffins was very good, we liked the soft texture, and the fragrance of the durian was rather dominant. My boy, a durian-lover like me, was squealing with delights, and was actually kicking his legs and fists around after he took the first bite. The next thing he said was to request me to make durian breads, durian cakes, durian cookies and even durian brownies! This really got his brother very upset ;)

Well, I am not too sure about durian breads or cakes, but I will certainly try my hand on a durian choux pastry when the durian season is finally here!


Ingredients:
(Makes 9 muffins)

300g all-purpose flour
100g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
75g butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk
300g durian pulp

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degC. Position rack in center of oven. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
2. Melt butter over low heat in a saucepan. Set aside.
3. Separate durian pulp from seeds, mash slightly with a fork and set aside.
4. Add egg to the melted butter. Stir till combine. Add in milk and half of the durian pulp. Stir to combine.
5. In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Use a spatula or whisk to mix the dry ingredients completely (to prevent having lumps of baking powder/soda).
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are just combined. The mixture will appear very lumpy. Do not over mix the batter otherwise the muffins will become tough.
7. Spoon batter into the muffin cups, filling half full. Add 1 teaspoon of durian pulp to each, top with remaining batter. Fill up with the remaining batter to about two thirds full. Fill any unused muffin cups halfway with water to prevent warping of the pan or uneven browning of the muffins.
8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool for 10 mins in the muffin tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Do not leave the muffins in the muffin tin otherwise the base will be soggy.

Everyday Bread

I have been mad about baking bread for the past week. This is already my third loaf this week! The bread maker has really transformed bread making into something so simple that I can't help but keep trying out new recipes. Even my boys couldn't understand why I have been making bread, bread, and bread! My elder boy questioned why I have to make bread since we can get it easily everywhere. I had to come up with some lame excuse that store-bought bread contains additives which is no good for health...I find the excuse quite lame as I have been eating these kind of bread since young ;) Anyway, he seems to buy that idea and didn't question anymore.

As I am still in my quest to search for an everyday bread, I tried this Farmhouse White Loaf recipe from the book "The Bread Book" by Sara Lewis. This is a really simple recipe which anyone can make. However, I didn't follow the recipe exactly, thanks to the bread machine, I am now very adventurous when it comes to bread making! I replaced water with fresh milk, and replaced 30g of bread flour with cake flour. I read from floggers that cake flour will give a softer texture, while the use of milk will give a tender crumb.


I shaped the loaf by following the instructions given in the same cookbook. This is done by rolling the dough into a rope and then tuck in the ends underneath the dough before placing it in a loaf pan. My loaf pan appeared to be slightly bigger than the 1 lb loaf size, as such, the dough didn't really rise fully up to the brim after the second proofing.

Nevertheless, the loaf still puffed up well above the loaf pan when it was done. I didn't use any egg wash on the surface, as I prefer the loaf to have a matte look...anyway it is also not called for in the recipe. Next time I may sprinkle some flour on top before baking...to give it a more rustic, country-style look.



The crust made the finished loaf appear rather like a baguette, but it didn't taste anything like a french bread. The crust is rather thin, and the bread was easy to slice.


The texture was light and fluffy. I tasted one plain slice and it reminded me of the usual sandwich bread we have for breakfast. The bread did not taste "yeasty" or sourish.


I had them toasted and served warm with my favourite blueberry jam. Very Yummy! This recipe is going to be a keeper, well, at least for the time being, before I chance on another everyday bread ;p

Ingredients:

270g bread flour
30g cake flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
170ml milk
1 tablespoon (about 14g) butter

Method:

1. Assemble the pan and kneader blade in the bread machine. Add in milk and butter, followed by sugar and salt. Spoon in the flour and make a slight indentation in the centre of the flour. Add the yeast in the indentation.
2. Shut the lid and set to the "Dough" function. The machine will do the mixing, kneading and proofing within 1 hr 30mins (The setting and timing vary among different brands of bread machine).
3. At the end of the programme, remove the dough from the pan. The dough should have doubled in size.
4. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and and punch to deflate it.
5. Roll the dough back and forth with your palms to form a rope. Fold the ends of the dough under so that it is even width and the exact length of the tin. Lightly grease the pan (not necessary if it is a non-grease pan) and lay the dough in it.
6. Cover with cling wrap and let it proof for another 30 mins, or until double in bulk.
7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 25 ~ 30mins. The bread should be well risen, golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on wire rack before slicing.
   

Nutella Milk Loaf

I made another loaf again! I will be trying out different bread recipes for the next few weeks so that I can get one that's easy to make, with little shaping, with the use of minimal ingredients and most importantly comes with the "right" texture and taste.

This is supposed to be a plain, milk loaf...a recipe from the same Japanese cookbook as the butter loaf I made two days ago. What attracted me was the photo of the finished loaf...it's in the shape of a nice rugby ball. With very nice, clean slits on the surface. It's very obvious that I didn't do a good job in shaping the dough and cutting the slits. My loaf looked more like some strange-looking melon than a rugby! Anyway, I added in nutella spread as filling in the loaf as I wanted the bread to be able to be eaten on its own.


I used the bread machine to do the kneading and proofing. When the dough had risen, I added in the nutella and shaped it before baking it in my oven. Unlike the loaf baked by the bread machine, this loaf was not evenly browned. The top was darker, and the bottom was not fully browned. The bread machine did a much better job in getting an evenly browned loaf than the oven.

The bread is a little dense, and taste better when served warm. The nutella spread certainly enhanced the flavour of an otherwise plain bread.

Ingredients:

250g bread flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
3 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
170ml milk
30g butter (softened at room temperature)
Nutella spread as filling
15g butter (for decoration)
egg wash

Method:

1. Assemble the pan and kneader blade in the bread machine. Add in milk and butter, followed by sugar and salt. Spoon in the flour and make a slight indentation in the centre of the flour. Add the yeast in the indentation.
2. Shut the lid and set to the "Dough" function. The machine will do the mixing, kneading and proofing within 1 hr 30mins (The setting and timing vary among different brands of bread machine).
3. At the end of the programme, remove the dough from the pan. The dough should have doubled in size.
4. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and and punch to deflate it.
5. Flatten the dough and roll out to form an oval shape (about 25cm by 18cm). Spread nutella evenly on the dough. Roll up tightly like a swiss roll. Close up all gaps and place dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Shape the dough to form an oval-shaped ball.
6. Cover with cling wrap and let it proof for another 30 mins, or until double in bulk.
7. Remove cling wrap, and make 5 long cuts (length-wise) on the dough. Slice 15g of butter into thin, long strips. Place strips of butter onto the slits of the dough. Brush with egg wash and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 30mins. The bread should be well risen, golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on wire rack before slicing.
   

Butter Loaf

Borrowed a few cookbooks on breadmaking from the library and I'm now more familiar with the functions of my new bread machine. At least I know that you could actually open the lid while the machine is kneading the dough. I wanted to try the full function of the machine, ie mix, knead, proofing and bake. However, I am not too keen to make a plain white loaf and was happy to find this sweet bread or butter loaf recipe from a Japanese translated cookbook. The recipe is rather straight forward and I used the "Sweet" function to make the loaf. As sweeter breads tend to brown more quickly, this function make sures that the dough has sufficient time to rise and is baked at a lower temperature. I set the crust colour as "Light" on a safer side as I didn't want to have a dark crust.

I measured out the ingredients and place them in the pan following the sequence as stated in the manual...first to go into the pan are the wet ingredients such as water, milk, and eggs (lightly beaten), followed by butter, sugar, salt...and then the flour...with finger, make a small indentation on the centre of the flour and add the yeast to the indentation. The important thing is not to let the yeast come in contact with the wet ingredients...this is especially so if you are using the delay function.

After reading through the manual and cookbooks, I have a better understanding on how the various ingredients work together:

- sugar is the vital food for yeast to ferment...but too much sugar may slow down the fermentation, as such, sweeter bread needs a longer rising time.
- Salt is used in bread recipe to improve flavour and the crust colour. Too much salt can inhibit the fermentation...as such when adding in the ingredients, avoid letting the yeast come into contact with salt. if salt is omitted, you will get a larger bread.
- eggs can improve the texture of the bread and make it larger in size.
- butter and oil can make the bread softer and keep bread fresh for a longer time.

Dough proofing in the bread machine.


After 3 hours, the loaf was done, and it looked so pretty fresh out of the oven ;)


The down side of using a bread machine for baking is that the kneading blade actually got embedded in the loaf. I removed the blade from the loaf when it was still hot as I wasn't sure whether it would be difficult to remove if the bread was completely cooled. The blade made a small hole on the base of the otherwise almost perfect loaf.

The crumb is rather yellowish as two eggs are used in the recipe. It looks almost like a butter or pound cake. The texture is just right...light and fluffy with a thin, crisp crust. On it's own, the taste is a little plain, not sweet at all...it's almost like a plain white bread. I guess it will taste much better with some peanut butter or jam.

Ingredients:

250g bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
3 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (medium)
50g butter (soften at room temperature)
50ml milk

To make with a breadmaker:

1. Assemble the pan and kneader blade. Add in milk, lightly beaten eggs and butter, followed by sugar and salt. Spoon in the flour and make a slight indentation in the centre of the flour. Add the yeast in the indentation.
2. Shut the lid and set to the "Sweet" function, select loaf size as 1 lb, and set as Light crust.
3. At the end of the programme, lift the pan out of the machine and turn out onto a cooling rack. Leave to cool before slicing.

Tip: Do check the kneading progress from time to time. If there are pockets of ingredients at the sides of the pan, open the lid (while the machine is still kneading away), scrape down with a spatula, make sure that the spatula doesn't get in the way of the kneader blade. Refrain from opening the lid when the dough is rising or baking.

To make by hand:

1. Place flour, sugar, yeast, salt in a mixing bowl. Add in eggs and warmed milk (around 45deg C). Mix till a soft dough is formed. Knead in the butter.
2. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 mins or until it is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a smooth round ball.
3. Lightly grease a mixing bowl with salad oil and place the dough in it. Cover with cling wrap and leave it to rise for 1 hour or double in size.
4. Remove cling wrap and punch the risen dough in the bowl to deflate it. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and shape it to form a rope. Cut into 3 equal portions and shape into round balls. Rest for 10 mins.
5. Flatten each dough and roll out to form a rectangular shape. Roll up tightly like a swiss roll. Line the doughs side by side in a lightly greased 19cm x 9.5cm x 7.5cm loaf tin. Cover with cling wrap and let it proof for another 40 mins, or until double in bulk.
6. Remove cling wrap, brush with egg wash and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 30mins. The bread should be well risen, golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on wire rack before slicing.