Baby Girl

My baby girl is borned on 22 Sep 2011. Both mother and baby are well. I will take some break for few weeks and will update my blog once I'm ready.

Three Colours Loaf Bread/ Straight Dough Method

Recently I had posted a lot of recipes on steamed buns. This time let me switch to bread. Actually I had kept this draft for quite sometimes. Now let me share with you this multi colours loaf bread. They are three colours in one loaf bread. The original recipe is using green tea, curry powder and 红鞠酱‏. To make it simple I retain one part as plain, cocoa powder and strawberry paste for the other two parts of dough.

 

Adapted and modified from 孟老师的‏ 100 types bread cookbook

Ingredients: yields about 510g dough
(A)
300g bread flour
20g sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp yeast 
180g water

(B)
20g margarine/ butter

1 tsp strawberry paste

1 tsp cocoa powder, 1 tsp hot water
* Dissolve and set aside

Methods:

1. Put all the ingredients (A) inside kneading bowl. Knead to form dough.

2. Add in margarine and knead to form smooth and elastic dough. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions (about 170g each). Retain one part plain. Add in strawberry paste for red portion and cocoa mixture for cocoa portion. Mix till well combine. Shape into balls. Cover and leave to rest for 1 hour 15 minutes separately.

3. Transfer plain dough on to working surface. Slightly knead to remove air bubble. Shape into ball and rest 10 minutes. Repeat the same process for red and cocoa portions.

4. Flatten the plain dough into rectangle (about 20cm long). Roll into strips. Repeat the same process for red and cocoa portions.


5. Braid the strips into plait as shown. Make tight seal at the end.

6. Place the plait inside a greased tin (I'm using cake mould L23cm x W13cm x H8cm) and rest for 45 minutes.

7. Bake in preheated oven 170C for 25-28 minutes. Once cooked, immediately remove from mould and leave to cool on wire rack.

I'm submitting this post to Natural Colours Bakes hosted by Hankerie.

 

 

Dumplings (Shanghai Jiaozi-饺子)



Dumplings with pork filling

I had been bookmarked this recipe for quite sometimes. At last I manage to make these dumplings as our lunch. I reduced the dough portion into half. I hardly shape into 10g each like Sonia and end ups 15g each. As a result, I try to wrap as much as filling that I can handle. These dumplings skins are chewy and not like ordinary dumplings that we ate in the restaurant. Overall we like it!  

Dumpling with chives. Serve with ginger in black vinegar

Adapted and slightly modified from Sonia aka, Nasi Lemak Lover

Ingredients: yield about 15g x 30 pcs dumplings
~ Filling
(A) Pork
150g minced pork
100g minced prawn
1 tbsp Chinese wine
2 tbsp green onion
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
 
(B) Chives
A bunch of chives (chopped)
1 egg (slightly beaten)
3 shallots (sliced)
Seasoned with salt and pepper
Some oil
 

 

~ Dumpling dough

200g plain flour
100g high protein flour
170ml water
 

Methods:

~ Filling

(A) Pork

1. Mix all ingredients together with a pair of chopsticks till sticky. Keep in fridge 30 minutes before used.

(B) Chives

1. Heat oil in a pan, fry the beaten egg till golden brown. Cut into small pieces. Remove and set aside.

2. Heat oil in pan, fry the shallots till fragrant. Off the heat, add in chopped chives, pieces of fried egg and seasoning. Mix well, remove and set aside to cool.

~ Dumpling

1. Mix all together and knead to form smooth dough. Set aside to rest for 1 hour.

2. Divide the dough into 15g each. Shape into round with rolling pin.

3. Wrap in spoonful of filling, seal tight and shape into dumpling. Repeat the same for the rest of the dough.

4. Bring a pot of water to boil. Gently drop the dumplings into the water. Make sure stir continuously to prevent dumplings stick to each other or bottom of the pot.

5. Once all the dumplings float at the surface (means cooked), add in ½ cup of cold water and bring the water to boil again. Once boiled dish them out and ready to serve.

Purple Sweet Potatoes Angkoo Kuih

 

Are these purple sweet potato angkoo look familiar? If you happend drop by Lena’s blog you might have seen these pretty bright purple angkoo kuih.

 

This angkoo recipe is not complicated. For those who know about traditional angkoo recipe you might know the method of adding some “cooked dough” into the dough in order to get chewy texture. But with this recipe you only need to mix all well to achieve soft dough. The dough is really easy to handle and not sticky at all! The result is as good as sold outside! I definitely will make again. Make sure you cover the dough if you not working on it while you doing the shaping as it easy to get dry after expose to air.

Lena does not fry her mung beans filling. Initial I plan not to cook the filling too. Since I’m using rice cooker to cook (instead of stemmed) mung beans, it turns out wet after process with food processor. Therefore I take extra steps to cook them.

 

Adapted from Frozen wings

Ingredients: yield about 22 pcs angkoo
~ Filling
250g split mung beans
100g sugar
20g butter
 
~ Angkoo skin/ Dough
300g purple sweet potato (cut into small pieces)
200g glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
160ml water (you may not need all)
 
Methods:
~ Filling (yield about 750g paste)

1. Clean the mung beans until the water runs clear. Soak in water at least one hour.

2. Drain the beans, put into rice cooker with 500ml water. Press the “Start” button to cook.

3. The beans should be soft after the rice cooker indicates “Keep warm”. Leave to rest inside the rice cooker about 10 minutes.

4. To achieve fine texture, blend the beans with food processor till fine.

5. Put the blended beans paste into wok or frying pan together with sugar and butter. Cook the paste with medium-low heat by stirring continuosly. The paste is done once it separate from the side of the wok.

6. Remove from wok and leave aside to cool. Shape them into 20g ball.

~ Dough

1. Steam the sweet potato till soft. While it is hot mash them with a fork (I’m using electric mixer with “K” hook).

2. Add in glutinous rice flour, rice flour, sugar, oil and slowly add in water to achieve soft dough.

* Do check the dough from time to time by feel by hand. It is done once can easily shape into dough but not sticky.

3. Weight 30g ball for each angkoo.

~ Shaping and Steaming

1. Grease the angkoo mould by dust with some flour (you might brush with some oil).

2.Wrap the filling with the dough. Shape into ball.

3. Place the ball in the middle of angkoo mould. Press evenly and knock out. Place on greased banana leaf.

4. Arrange the angkoo on steaming tray and steam for 8 minutes at medium heat. Once the steaming time over, open the lid slightly to release hot steam. This is to prevent sudden decrease pressure inside the steamer. Then open the lid totally, off the heat.

5. While the angkoo is hot, brush them with vegetable oil to make them more shining and pretty. Serve.

I will sending this recipe to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday Event hosted by Shaz

Char Siew Pau Making in Three Ways: #3-Overnight Sponge Dough Method

Inspired by 阿芳的3杯面粉 cookbook recipe

Ingredients: yields about 600g dough
~ Char siew filling

½ pieces onion (diced)

Some oil

250g diced char siew (homemade)

5 tbsp char siew sauce (homemade)

2 tbsp white sesame seeds

* Do refer Chinese roasted pork (char siew) on how to make your own char siew.

~ Pau Dough

(A) Overnight sponge dough
100g of dough from here (Hong Kong flour/straight dough method)

(B) Main dough

300g Hong Kong flour

1 tsp yeast

3 tbsp sugar

150ml water

(C) 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Methods:
~Char Siew Filling

Fry onion with oil till fragrant. Add in the diced char siew and sauce. Cook till well combine. Off the heat and add in white sesame seeds. Mix well. Keep the filling in fridge for an hour before use.

~ Pau Dough

(A) Sponge Dough
Mix all till form a dough. Weight 100g of dough. Immediately store in greased plastic bag (no proving needed). Make a tight knob without leaving any space for the dough. Store in fridge at least 4 hours. It can be kept up to 7 days. Thaw it for 10-15 minutes at room temperature before use. You can prepare the sponge dough one night before. Tear into small pieces before use.

(B)Main Dough
1. Put all ingredients (B) together with pieces of sponge dough into kneading bowl. Knead till form dough. Add in the oil and continue knead to form smooth dough. Cover and leave aside to prove 45 minutes or double in size.

 

2. Transfer the dough to working surface. Slightly knead to remove excess bubbles. Divide the dough into 40g each. Shape into balls and rest for 10 minutes.

3. Flatten balls into round shape. Wrap in filling and place on lined paper. Rest the pau in steamer for 15 minutes.

4. Bring the water to boil. Steam at high heat for 15 minutes. Once the steaming time is over, off the heat, leave the pau inside the steamer for 1 minute before open the lid.

Char Siew Pau Making in Three Ways: #2-Sponge Dough Method

Adapted and lightly modified from My LittleSpace

Ingredients: yield about 700g dough

~ Char siew filling

½ pieces onion (diced)

Some oil

250g diced char siew (homemade)

5 tbsp char siew sauce (homemade)

2 tbsp white sesame seeds

* Do refer Chinese roasted pork (char siew) on how to make your own char siew.

~ Pau Dough

(A) Starter dough

100ml lukewarm water

2½ tsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

130g plain flour

(B) Main dough

300g plain flour

3 tbsp sugar

120ml water

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp vinegar

* mix just about to use

1 tbsp vegetable oil

 

Methods:

~Char Siew Filling

Fry onion with oil till fragrant. Add in the diced char siew and sauce. Cook till well combine. Off the heat and add in white sesame seeds. Mix well. Keep the filling in fridge for an hour before use.

 

~ Pau

(A)Starter Dough

Put all into kneading bowl. Mix all till form dough. Cover and keep aside for 10 minutes.

(B)Main dough

1. Put all ingredients from (B) except oil into the starter dough bowl. Knead till all form into dough. Add the oil and continue knead till form smooth dough. Cover and rest for 1 hour.

2. Transfer the dough to working surface. Slightly knead to remove excess air bubbles. Divide the dough into 40g each. Shape into balls and rest for 10 minutes.

3. Flatten balls into round shape. Wrap in filling and place on lined paper. Rest the pau in steamer for 15 minutes.

4. Bring the water to boil. Steam at high heat for 15 minutes. Once the steaming time is over, off the heat, leave the pau inside the steamer for 1 minute before open the lid.

Char Siew Pau Making in Three ways: #1-Straight Dough Method

I always wonder how is the pau texture made with Hong Kong flour. Recently I make my own “char siew” and decide to make char siew pau. Therefore I bought a packet of Hong Kong flour and give it a try.

 

I expected the pau texture should be very soft and fluffy. However the result was not really surprised me. Because I can get the similar result with plain flour using My Little Space, Kristy pau recipe (sponge dough method).  To double check the result I made the pau with plain flour the next day (2^nd method).

 

For the 3^rd method I used overnight sponge dough with Hong Kong flour. I reserved some of the dough from 1^st method (straight dough method with Hong Kong flour) as the starter dough.

 

So I had make char siew pau in 3 batches within two days :D Luckily my family members manage to clear most of them. My six years old son can eat two pieces at one go! Well I think the filling is most attracted to him :D

 

Here are the pictures taken for the methods that I used. One of them is using plain flour and the other two is Hong Kong flour (straight dough method and with overnight starter dough).

 

I involved my hubby in the tasting experiment. I served him 3 char siew pau from each method at the same time. From the outlook he can’t spot which one is made from plain flour. After tasting he told me the texture is very near. However he managed to guess which one is made from plain flour.

 

The price of a kilogram of Hong Kong flour is about 4 times more than plain flour. If the result is not far..far..better than plain flour, why I need to spend more? Therefore I will still remain using plain flour for my pau making in future. If you have any experience on using Hong Kong flour or pau flour in pau making do share with me.     

 

For the coming posts I will share with you on the other 2 methods that I used for making these char siew pau. You can use this recipe for making mantou too.  

 

Ingredients: yield about 16pcs x 40g
~ Char siew filling
½ pieces onion (diced)
Some oil
250g diced char siew (homemade)
5 tbsp char siew sauce (homemade)
2 tbsp white sesame seeds
* Do refer Chinese roasted pork (char siew) on how to make your own char siew.
 
~ Pau Dough
(A)
3 cups Hong Kong flour
3 tbsp sugar
1½ tsp yeast
1 cup water
 
(B)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
 
Methods:
~Char Siew Filling
Fry onion with oil till fragrant. Add in the diced char siew and sauce. Cook till well combine. Off the heat and add in white sesame seeds. Mix well. Keep the filling in fridge for an hour before use.
 
~ Pau Dough

1. Put all ingredients (A) into kneading bowl. Knead till all form dough.

2. Add in the oil and continue knead to form pliable dough. Cover and leave aside to prove 45 minutes or double in size.

3. Transfer the dough to working surface. Divide the dough into 40g each. Shape into balls and rest for 10 minutes.

4. Flatten balls into round shape. Wrap in filling and place on lined paper. Rest the pau in steamer for 15 minutes.

5. Bring the water to boil. Steam at high heat for 15 minutes. Once the steaming time is over, off the heat, leave the pau inside the steamer for 1 minute before open the lid.

Flaky Mooncakes (Fookchow style)

 

This year I made quite numbers of mooncake however most of them given out as present to friends. Since now is still Mid-Autumn month I think is never too late to have more mooncakes.

I was tempting to make flaky mooncake again once I read Lena’s Fookchow mooncakes. I used purple sweet potato as filling instead.

I will participate in Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011) hosted by Happy Home Baking .

Adapted and slightly modified from Frozen Wings

Ingredients:

~ Purple sweet potato filling

400g sweet potato

40g brown sugar

Pinch of salt

20g margarine/ butter

~ Water dough: about 10 x 22g each

120g plain flour

15g icing sugar

40g vegetable oil

50ml water

 

~ Oil dough: about 10 x 11g each

90g plain flour

15g lard

15g vegetable oil

Methods:

~ Sweet potato filling

1. Steam the sweet potato till soft . While it is hot, add in brown sugar, salt and margarine. Mix well and mash into paste.

* I used electric mixer (with “K” hook) to do the job.

2. Leave aside to cool. Divide into 30g each.

~ Water dough

1. Mix the sifted flour and sugar together. Add in the oil and mix roughly. Pour all water at once and knead to form soft dough.

* I found that it is easier to get soft dough by adding all water at once.

2. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

~ Oil dough

1. Mix all ingredients together and knead to form dough.

* Do not over knead.

~ Shaping

1. Divide the water and oil dough into 10 portions (water dough 22g each and oil dough 11g each). Shape them into balls.

2. Wrap each oil dough with water dough and form a ball. Repeat the same for the rest.

3. Roll out the ball (start from the 1^st ball from step 2) into oval shape. Then roll up like swiss roll. Keep aside to rest. Repeat the same for the next ball.

4. Back to the 1^st roll, flatten into long oval shape (do flatten by apply pressure from the middle, up and down). Again roll up like swiss roll. With the closing facing up, slightly press with finger in the middle to form ball (instead of roll). Keep aside to rest. Repeat the same for the rest.

5. Flatten the ball into round. Wrap in the filling. Shaping by slightly flatten the dough. Repeat the same for the rest of the balls.

6. Apply egg wash and bake in preheated oven 180C for 20 minutes.