Herman - Purple Sweet Potato Bread

It was a Thursday. A day when I would usually prepare a Herman Starter leavened bread dough for my next day baking. While thinking of what to bake for my next Herman bread, I recalled I have a bottle of Japanese purple sweet potato flour left untouched for months. As it was my first attempt in adding powder form of sweet potato to my bread dough,  I just tried out with 5g first.

The end-product was a nice sweet loaf of braided bread. Lovely texture and colour, but no distinct purple sweet potato taste. Perhaps I can increase the purple sweet potato flour in my next bake 😁

Yield: one braided loaf in a 26x10x7.5cm narrow base pan

Bread maker: Mayer MMBM 12

Ingredients

60g water
45g milk
20g beaten egg
35g raw sugar
3g fine salt

25g rice bran oil

227g bread flour

25g superfine wholegrain flour

5g Japanese purple sweet potato flour

100g Herman Starter
1g instant dry yeast

Directions

1. Mix all the 3 flours in a mixing bowl. 

Pour all the ingredients, following the sequence listed, into the bread pan of a bread maker. Select "C-11 Ferment Dough function" and start the program. When the countdown timer reads "0:45" stop the program manually.

2. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled plastic bag. Tie a loose knot and let the dough sits in room temperature for 60 minutes. 

Double protect the dough with a second plastic bag, keep in a covered mixing bowl, before refrigerate it for 12 to 14 hours, or till the next day.

3. In the next morning, invert the dough and let it thaw for about 1 hour.

4. Turn the dough onto a well-floured work top. Deflate and divide it into 3 portions.

Roll the dough into balls, cover with a lid, and let it rest for 15 minutes.

5. Roll out the dough into about 1cm thick.

Flip over,

and roll up the dough along the longer axis.

Pinch to seal the end.

Let the 3 rope shape dough rest for about 10 minutes.

6. Roll and stretch the dough into a longer rope, about 5cm longer than the length of the pan.

After finishing all the 3 rope doughs, you can start to pleat the dough ropes.

7. Tuck the two ends under the dough, and lower the dough into the loaf pan coated with butter. Spray some water over the dough,

cover with a tea towel and let it proof for about 100 to 110 minutes at room temperature.

End of second proofing.

8. Pre-heated the oven to 180°C for about 10 minutes. Dust some bread flour over the dough before baking.

9. Bake at 180°C for about 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 170°C for about 25 minutes, or till the crust becomes golden.

End of baking.

10. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack immediately after leaving the oven.

Cut and enjoy after the bread has cooled down 😋🌷

Garlic Butter Cookie 黄金香蒜饼

Chinese New Year baking usually carries an auspicious name and meaning. Since "蒜" rhymes with "算", and "花" carries the meaning of spend, so these garlic cookies carries the meaning of "有钱算，有钱花" 💰💰💰🤑

In promoting healthy eating and living, I tried to use less salt in the recipe, though the garlic cookies tasted better with a saltier taste 😀 Baked less to eat in moderation 😀

Yield: 8 precious pieces of cookies

Ingredients

5g unsalted butter
pinch of fine salt
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped finely

30g unsalted butter, softened
5~8g icing sugar*
1/8 tsp fine salt*

42g all purpose flour
8g custard powder/corn starch

* adjust the quantity of icing sugar and salt according to your preference.

Directions

1. Melt 5g of unsalted butter with pinch of salt in a mini pan, and brown the chopped garlic under low heat.

The garlic is ready when it turns golden and fragrant.
I cooled the hot garlic butter in a shallow plate of ice water.

2. Cream 30g of softened unsalted butter, icing sugar and 1/8 tsp of salt till light.

Blend in the cooled down garlic butter, and mix well.

3. Mix the all purpose flour and custard powder together, and add to the above mixture. Mix into a smooth paste.

Transfer the dough onto a sheet of food wrap. Wrap up and place in the fridge for about 30 to 60 minutes.

4. After the rest, divide the dough into 8 portions.

shape into balls.

Use a crimper to crimp out some rose petals.

Arrange the dough over a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

5. Bake at middle rack of a preheated oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes, or till they turn golden and fragrant.

Let the cookies cool down before keeping in an air tight container. Enjoy 😋