Three Milk Loaf 奶香吐司

A milk-rich loaf of bread which included fresh milk, condensed milk and milk powder as part of the dough ingredients. The crust was brushed with fresh milk just before baking, and brushed with melted butter after leaving the oven for the final touch.

This recipe baked my ideal milk bread in terms of colour, texture and shape. The bread has a nice and soft golden crust that encased the entire bread.

The crumb had an appealing soft yellow hue which I loved very much. The softness of the bread crumb could maintain till the 4th day 😜

Although the bread was soft, it still can hold its shape after cooling down 😃

Sponge
15g bread flour
2g instant dry yeast
15g water
20g natural yeast *

* natural yeast can be replaced by 10g each of bread flour and water.

Mix all the ingredients and let it stands for about 60 to 90 minutes.



Milk Dough
Ingredients
200g bread flour
80g Prima plain flour plus
30g raw cane sugar
3g low-sodium fine salt
7g milk powder

52g sponge from above
20g beaten egg
10g condensed milk
150g fresh milk, cold
10g cold water, added depending on dough condition

30g unsalted butter, added after gluten formed

1 tsp milk as milk wash
3~5g melted butter to be applied after baking

Directions
1. Mix all the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl of stand mixer.

2.  Add all the wet ingredients, except the unsalted butter, into the mixing bowl. Add the softened butter after gluten has formed. Continue to knead till reaching window pane stage.

3. Transfer the kneaded dough to a mixing bowl coated with a thin layer of oil. Spray some water over, cover and let the dough proof for about 1 hour, or till double in size.

End of 1-hour proofing

4. Invert the dough onto a floured worktop. Deflate and divide into two portions. Shape the dough into two balls, cover and let them rest for 15 minutes.

5. Take a dough and roll flat to about 0.5cm thick. Roll up into a log, cover and and let the dough rest for about 10 minutes.

Roll out the dough into a long dough of about 0.5cm thick again. Roll up like a swissroll and seal at the end.

Lower the dough into the bread pan (Jamie Oliver 1.5L bread pan 21x13x10 cm) coated with a thin layer of butter. Spray some water, cover with a tea cloth, and let them proof for about 1 hour, or till reaching the rim of the pan.

End of 1-hour second proofing

 6. Preheat the oven to 190℃. While waiting, brush a thin coat of milk over the top of the dough.

Bake at low rack of a preheated oven at 190℃, lower temperature to 180℃ for 20 minutes, further lower to 170℃ for 10~15 minutes, or till the top has become golden.

7. Transfer the bread out of oven, and remove from pan immediately.

Let the bread rest on a wire rack.

Apply melted butter to the entire hot crust immediately.

Let the bread cool down completely.

Cut and enjoy 😋

Cranberry Orange Butter Cake

An orange juice and orange zest flavoured butter cake topped with rum flavoured cranberry bits 😋

Yield: one loaf of cake
Pan size: 21.5x11.5x5.5 cm
Baking temperature: 160°C at second upper rack for 30 minutes, shift to middle rack and increase temperature to 170℃ for 10 minutes.

Ingredients

All ingredients in room temperature
Using 56~59g Omega 3&6 eggs

110g unsalted butter, softened
Pinch of salt
88g caster sugar

3 eggs

80g top/cake flour
30g Prima plain flour plus/plain flour
8g semolina flour/plain flour
5g milk powder
3g baking powder

25g fresh orange juice

12g golden syrup/honey
5g orange zest


Toppings
20g dried cranberries
1/4 tsp rum essence, optional

Directions

1. Grease the cake pan with butter. Set aside.

2. Mix top flour, plain flour plus, semolina flour, milk powder, and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Combine orange juice, and golden syrup in a small container. Set aside.

Soak dried cranberries in boiling water for 30 seconds. Pat dry, and cut into small bits. Coat with rum essence and set aside.

4. Cream softened butter, pinch of salt, and caster sugar till light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, to the butter cream, using the electric hand mixer.

6. Fold in the sieved flour mixture from Step 2.

7. Mix in the orange juice mixture from Step 3. Mix the batter till smooth.

Fold in the orange zest.

8. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Sprinkle the prepared cranberry bits over the top of the batter.

9. Bake at the second upper rack of a preheated oven set at 160℃ for 30 minutes, bring down to the middle rack, and continue to bake for another 10 minutes at 170℃, or till golden.

10. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack to cool down for about 5~10 minutes, or till the sides of the cake shrink away from the wall of the baking pan.

Invert out the cake and let it rests on a cooling rack.

Wrap a sheet of cling wrap over the cake to keep the moisture in.

11. Slice the cake after it has complete cool down. Enjoy 😋

Scallion Bun 葱花面包

A popular Taiwanese bread baked with an aromatic scallion and egg crust. The over-flown egg topping would be browned to form a thin egg skin at the base of the buns. The recipe was quite simple to prepare. And I adjusted the recipe to bake 8 buns using just one egg, instead of the usual 2 eggs - one for the dough, and one for the crust 😉

Video showing the buns just out of oven 😀

Yield: 8 buns
Raw dough weight: 365g
Baking temperature: Middle rack of a preheated oven at 200℃ for 5 minutes, reduce to 180℃ for 10 to 12 minutes.

Water Roux
3g bread flour
2g glutinous rice flour
25g hot water

Mix and stir the mixture over low heat till it gelatinize into a smooth and translucent paste. Let the water roux cool down to room temperature before use.

Dough Ingredients
105g bread flour
80g Prima plain flour plus
5g milk powder
2g instant dry yeast
30g raw cane sugar
2g low-sodium salt
20g water roux from above
15g beaten egg
20g natural yeast, 100% hydration *
50+15g cold water
20g rice bran oil

* natural yeast can be replace by 10g each of bread flour and water.

Scallion-Egg Topping Ingredients
2g rice flour
4g hot water
~ combine into paste, optional

40~45g beaten egg (the remaining beaten egg)
28~30g scallion, cut into 0.8cm length
1/8 tsp low-sodium salt
dash of Knorr HaoChi or chicken stock
dash of pepper
4g rice bran oil

Directions
1. Knead all the Dough ingredients into a smooth dough. Place in a big mixing bowl coated thinly with oil, cover and let the dough proof for about 60 minutes, or till it double in size.

End of first proofing

2. Invert the dough onto a floured worktop. Deflate the dough and divide it into 8 portions. Shape them into 8 balls, cover and let them rest for 15 minutes.

3. Take a dough ball and roll flat to about 0.5cm thick.

Roll up from the shorter edge into a log, and pinch to seal up all the ends.

Arrange the shape dough onto a non-stick baking tray.

Slit a deep 1cm groove along the central line of the shaped dough, keeping the two ends intact.

Spray some water and let the shaped dough proof in a cold oven for about 30~40 minutes.

4. Remove the tray from the oven and start to preheat the oven to 200℃.
Brush a thin coat of egg wash over the shaped dough.

Just about to start baking, combine all the scallion-egg ingredients together.

Scoop the scallion-egg topping over all the shaped dough.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200℃ for 5 minutes, reduce the temperature to 180℃ for 10~12 minutes, or till the buns turn golden.

5. Transfer the hot buns to a cooling rack to cool down.

Enjoy it warm 😋

Video showing the finished buns

Recipe adapted from Carol葱花面包 with great appreciation 😍