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Benito

Those who know me know that adding seeds especially black sesame seeds is one of my favorite inclusions to add to my sourdough breads.  For this loaf I’ve added poppy seeds, toasted sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds.  I’ve used my country sourdough recipe except that I’m trying a new flour which as you know is always a challenge.  I’m using Anita’s Organic All Purpose Flour for all of the white flour in this loaf.  It has a protein of around 12% so it should be up to the challenge of a bread.  As you know, Canadian flours are pretty strong so even most of the AP flours are strong enough for bread.  I also did a gluten test on this flour and found it more extensible than the bread flour I usually use but less absorbent of water.  I’ve reduced the hydration to 78% because of that change, but otherwise it is my usual country loaf with 15% whole red fife and 5% rye.  The pre-fermented flour is 9% and the seeds totaled 10%.  Because I’ve been overproofing lately I didn’t go for quite as much bench proofing before cold retard especially since I’m not that familiar with this flour, so I only allowed a 45 min bench proof.  Given the size of the baked loaf I’m thinking it won’t have my coveted lacy crumb that I so elusive to me.  I hope over time with this extensible flour that I’ll find the sweet spot for lacy crumb.

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Benito

I hope I’m not boring you guys with these swirled milk breads, but the flavor combinations seem like endless possibilities.  This one is a great combination that you’ll find in any good bubble tea house.  Something about matcha and anko just go so well together.  The anko (red bean or azuki bean paste) is homemade and I’ve been gradually making my way through the batch I made weeks back.  It freezes and defrosts very well so if you’re interested in making some don’t worry that you’ll have to use it up all at once.

Overnight levain build

14 g starter + 86 g cold water + 86 g bread flour left to ferment at 74ºF overnight.

Take butter out when build levain.

 

For the Matcha paste

 

Mix 8.5 g Matcha 25 g sugar and 10 g water until smooth, cover and set aside until the morning.

 

The next morning mix the following except for the butter.

282 g bread flour

1 large egg

30 g sugar

126 g milk

6 g salt

180 g levain 

 

Separately mix your room temperature 30 g butter with 30 g bread flour and put aside.

 

Using a standmixer, mix until incorporated at low speed.  Then mix at higher speed until gluten well formed.  Then gradually add the flour butter mixture and mix until the dough is elastic, shines and smooth.  Because we premixed the butter with flour this step of adding the butter will go very quickly.

 

Remove the dough from the mixer, shape into a ball and divide into approximate thirds.  Shape the largest third into a boule and set aside covered with a towel.

 

Take the smallest third and combine with the anko and knead by hand until the anko is well incorporated.  Shape into a boule and set aside under a tea towel.

Finally take the third dough ball and using the mixer add the matcha paste and mix until well combined.  Shape into a boule and place under a tea towel to rest for 5 mins.

 

Lightly flour a work surface and the plain dough boule.  Roll out to at least 12” in length and almost as wide as the length of your pan, set aside.  Continue to do the same with the other two balls next rolling the black sesame dough out to 12” and placing that on top of the plain rolled out dough.  Finally rolling the anko dough out again to 12” and finally placing that on top of the black sesame dough.

 

Roll the laminated three doughs out to about 16-18” in length.  Next tightly roll the laminated doughs starting with the short end until you have a swirled log.  Place the log in your prepared Pullman pan with the seam side down (I like to line it with parchment so it is easy to remove from the pan).  Place in the proofing box set to 82-84ºF to proof until the dough comes to approximately 1 cm below the edge of the Pullman pan.  This takes about 8-8.5 hours at 82ºF, the yeast isn’t likely to be osmotolerant so it will take longer than you would normally expect.

 

At about 30 mins before you think your dough will be at 1 cm below the edge of the pan, preheat your oven to 355ºF with a rack or baking steel/stone on the lowest rack.  At this time prepare an egg wash and gently brush it on the top of the dough.  When the oven is ready 30 mins later, brush the top of the dough again with the egg wash.  Bake for 45 mins turning once halfway through.  Keep an eye on the top crust and be prepared to shield it with either aluminum foil or a cookie tray above if it is getting dark too soon.  After 45 mins remove from the pan to check for doneness.  Place the bread back in the oven for another 5 minutes to ensure that the crust on the sides is fully set and baked.

 

 

Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool completely before slicing.

 

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Benito

Shisaido black sesame sourdough, shisaido is seaside in Japanese.  I called it this because of the seaweed, the nori flakes that are in this bread.  The smell of this bread just out of the oven is divine, you can smell the nori and the black sesame seeds.  This is my country loaf with nori and black sesame seeds, so my base sourdough recipe.

The levain build is overnight along with an overnight saltolyse for convenience.  In the morning add the levain to the dough and do Rubaud kneading for a few minutes.  Rest and then slap and fold until full gluten development.  500 done.  Rest 20 mins.  Bulk temperature 82ºF.

Bench letter fold, rest 30 mins. Set up aliquot jar.  

Lamination add black sesame seeds and 10 g of crushed nori sheets.  Rest 30 mins and do coil folds about 30 mins apart waiting for the dough to relax.  Four and a half coil folds done.

Shaped into batard when aliquot jar showed 60% rise.

Warm bench proof until aliquot jar 95-100% rise then cold retard for 7 hours.

 

Preheat oven 500ºF with dutch oven inside.

Once over reaches temp, turn dough out of banneton, score and bake in dutch oven for 20 mins at 450ºF with lid on.  Drop temperature to 420ºF and bake 10 mins with lid on.

 

Remove lid band bake for 20 mins or until done with the bread out of the dutch oven on rack directly.

 

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Benito

This is the first time I’ve eaten an Ichigo Daifuku so I can say it the best I’ve ever eaten ?. This is the second time making mochi and I don’t think I’ve shared the method I found on the net that makes this so easy to prepare.  Normally, the traditional Japanese method is to prepare glutinous rice and then pound it for hours and hours.  OK I do NOT have time for that so there is a shortcut.  Does the shortcut make exactly the same chewy texture we so love about mochi, not quite, but it is good enough for most of us except diehard mochi perfectionists (not me).

Ingredients

115 g glutinous rice flour

60 g sugar

125 mL water

8 tbsp anko

8 small strawberries

1 tbsp potato starch (preferred by Japanese) or cornstarch

 

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, mix together the 1 heaped cup of glutinous rice flour, 4 tbsp of sugar and 1/2 cup of water until combined.
  • Loosely cover with cling wrap and microwave for 1 minute.
  • With the spoon, give it a quick mix, re-cover and pop back in for another minute.
  • Get a spatula, and wet it in water. Pull the mochi away from the sides and fold it in until it's a rough dough ball shape. It should be sticky and pliable, with the colour turning from bright white to a more translucent cream.
  • Spread the cornstarch on a clean dry surface, and pop the mochi onto it using the wet spatula. Cover it with cornstarch until it's no longer sticky, molding it into a thick and flat disc, and allow to cool for a few minutes.
  • make 8 tbsp size balls of anko and place on a plate
  • Clean and hull 8 small strawberries
  • wrap each strawberry with the anko all around leaving just the tip of the strawberry exposed.
  • Repeat until all the strawberries are wrapped in anko.
  • Sprinkle the top of the dough lightly with more cornstarch. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces, ideally with a bench scraper (it can be easier to visualize if you cut the round into fourths and then divide each of those in half).

  • Dust your hands with a little cornstarch before handling the sticky dough (an excessive amount will dry out the dough too much and make forming the balls harder). Roll a piece into a ball, then flatten into a disc 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide. The dough should be soft and malleable. Place the anko covered strawberry in the center of your disk of mochi with the exposed tip of the strawberry pointing down.  Then gradually and careful fold the disk of mochi over the anko covered strawberry twisting to seal the dough.

    It can help to flip the round seam side down to form it into a neater ball. Roll the mochi in the cornstarch pressing a little to help it adhere, reshaping the ball as needed. If your hands are feeling sticky, just dust again with cornstarch. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling (you may have some filling left over, which can be stirred into yogurt or oatmeal). Work as quickly and confidently as you can so the dough doesn’t get too cold.

    Serve immediately.

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Benito

This recipe is an adaptation of Maurizio’s cardamon sweet roll recipe.  The dough is enriched and uses a Yudane to gelatinize some of the starches to make for a more shreddable soft crumb.  After the delicious cake I made last week using yuzu lemon I was trying to think of other ways of using lemon and yuzu and thought about sweet rolls.  So these are filled with lemon sugar and iced with a yuzu vanilla cream cheese icing.  Let’s hope this works and tastes good. 

8”x8” square pan, lined with parchment.

Total Dough Weight

1,200 grams

Sourdough starter in final dough

30.00%

Yield

Nine large rolls (baked in an 8 x 8″ square pan)

Total Dough Formula

Desired dough temperature: 76°F (24°C).

Weight

Ingredient

Baker’s Percentage

101g

Yudane: All-purpose flour (~11% protein, King Arthur Baking All-Purpose)

20.00%

106g

Yudane: Water, boiled

21.00%

404g

All-purpose flour (~11.7% protein, King Arthur Baking All-Purpose)

80.00%

136g

Butter, unsalted and at room temperature

27.00%

131g

Milk, whole

26.00%

131g

Eggs

26.00%

25g

Sugar, caster

5.00%

3g

Cardamom, ground

0.60%

10g

Salt

1.90%

152g

Sourdough starter

30.00%

1 large egg is about 50 g 

 

Need 152 g levain

Levain build overnight 

11 g + 72 g + 72 g

And prepare Yudane so it is cool and ready first thing in the morning.

 

Yuzu cream cheese icing

CREAM CHEESE ICING

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 226 g 
  • 4 tablespoons softened butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2-1 cup powdered sugar - more if too thin, less if too thick
  • 3 tablespoons Yuzu tea (will need to taste)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

 In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat until completely smooth and combined. Add confectioners’ sugar, yuzu tea, and vanilla extract with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, more yuzu tea or lemon juice if frosting is too thick, or add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. (I always add a pinch of salt!). Can top with extra lemon zest after iced.

Method

1. Pre-cook Flour (Yudane) – 8:00 a.m. or night before and cover tightly.

Be sure to make this yudane ahead of time to give it time to cool before mixing. The texture of the mixture seems to improve if left to rest for at least one hour.

 Do ahead:  Alternatively, you could make the yudane the night before, let it cool, then cover and place it in the fridge. The next morning, let it warm to room temperature before mixing it into your dough.

 

Weight

Ingredient

101g

All-purpose flour

106g

Water

Yudane

Boil the water and pour it over the flour in a small heat-proof mixing bowl. Stir with spatula (not a whisk as the Yudane will get stuck in the tines) until the mixture tightens up and all dry bits are incorporated. Let the pre-gelatinized flour cool on the counter until you mix the main dough. 

 

2. Mix – 7:00 a.m.

Because I used a KitchenAid stand mixer to quickly and efficiently mix, and because I'm not looking for added extensibility, I decided against using an autolyse for this enriched dough.

Weight

Ingredient

200g

Yudane (from above)

404g

All-purpose flour

136g

Butter, unsalted and at room temperature

131g

Milk, whole

131g

Eggs

25g

Sugar, caster

3g

Cardamom, ground

10g

Salt

152g

Sourdough starter

Add some lemon juice 1.5% = 8.7 g 

 

Mix room temperature softened butter 136 g with 136 g of flour, set aside.

Mix 136 g of eggs, 25 g of sugar , levain, Yudane, cardamon and 131 g milk with 268 g flour and

mix until the dough is fairly well developed and clumps around the dough hook.  You should almost be able to do a windowpane.  Then add the butter/flour mixture  gradually to the dough in the stand mixer waiting until the previous addition is fully absorbed.  Pre-mixing the butter with flour makes the butter easier to incorporate.

The dough should be strong and smooth at the end of mixing.  

 

Transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover.

3. Bulk Fermentation – 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

At warm room temperature, around 76°F (24°C), bulk should take about 3 hours. If your kitchen is cooler, place the pan to rise in a small dough proofer, or extend bulk fermentation as necessary.

Give this dough three sets of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation at 30-minute intervals. The first set starts after 30 minutes from the start of bulk fermentation. For each set, wet your hands, grab one side and stretch it up and over the dough to the other side. Rotate the bowl 180° and perform another stretch and fold (this forms a long rectangle in the bowl). Then, rotate the bowl 90° and do another stretch and fold. Finally, turn the bowl 180° and do one last stretch and fold. You should have the dough neatly folded up in the bowl.

After the third set, let the dough rest, covered, for the remainder of bulk fermentation.

 

4. Chill Dough – 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

At this point, your dough should have risen in your bulk container, be puffy to the touch, and have smoothed out. If the dough still feels dense and tight, give it another 15 minutes and check again.

Place your covered bulk fermentation container in the refrigerator for at least one hour to fully chill the dough.

 

5. Roll and Shape – 11:30 a.m.

Before removing your dough from the refrigerator, make the filling. In a small mixing bowl, combine the following. It may seem like it's not enough filling to cover the entire surface of the dough—spread it thin.

Lemon Sugar Filling 

2 tablespoons lemon zest

¾ cup sugar 

To make the filling. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and the 2 tablespoons lemon zest. 

Make this filling when your dough is chilling in the fridge. 

Melt 30 g of butter.

Be sure to give it enough time to let the melted butter slightly cool.

 

The dough should be cold and firm to the touch; give it more time to chill if necessary.

Next, butter your baking pan (even if it’s nonstick) to ensure the rolls remove cleanly after baking or line with parchment paper.

This dough is very soft. Act quickly to roll, spread the filling, and cut before the dough warms and softens further. If it begins to soften, place it in the fridge to firm.

 

Remove your bulk fermentation container from the fridge, lightly flour your work surface in a large rectangle shape, and the top of the dough in the bowl. Then, gently scrape out the dough to the center of your floured rectangle. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour, and using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 15″ x 15″ square.

Brush the top of the dough with the melted butter, then sprinkle the lemon sugar on evenly as in the photo above.  It may look and feel like not enough filling, but there's plenty when the dough is rolled up.

 

Starting at one of the long sides of the rectangle in front of you, begin rolling up the dough as you move across. Be sure to tightly roll the dough by gently tugging on the dough as you roll.

Once finished rolling up the dough, divide it into nine 1 1/2″ pieces using a sharp knife. Transfer the pieces to the prepared baking pan and cover with a large, reusable bag.

 

6. Cold Proof – 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. (Overnight) As you can see above, the nine cut pieces are placed into the square pan, ready for their overnight proof in the refrigerator. Also noticeable is how soft the dough is—it's ok if they're not neatly placed into the pan. As they rise, they'll fill the nooks and crannies.

Place the covered pan into the refrigerator and proof overnight.

7. Warm Proof – 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. (next morning)

In the morning, take the pan out of the refrigerator about three to four hours before you want to bake the rolls, depending on the temperature in your kitchen.

Be sure to start preheating your oven about 30 minutes before you feel the rolls will be fully proofed. For me, the final warm proof time was about 3 hours in my 77°F (25°C) proofer, so I started preheating around 9:30 a.m.

8. Bake – 10:00 a.m.

Preheat your oven, with a rack in the middle, to 400°F (200°C). After the warm proof, uncover your dough and gently press the tops of a few rolls. As you can see above, the fully proofed cardamom rolls will look very soft. The texture of the dough will be almost like a whipped mousse. Be sure to give them extra time in warm proof if necessary. If the dough needs more time to proof, cover the pan and give the dough another 15 to 30 minutes at a warm temperature and check again.

Once your oven is preheated, remove your pan from its bag, slide it into the oven, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

While your rolls are baking, prepare the yuzu vanilla cream cheese icing.

 

CREAM CHEESE ICING

 

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 226 g 
  • 4 tablespoons softened butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2-1 cup powdered sugar - more if too thin, less if too thick
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Yuzu cream cheese icing - yuzu tea instead of lemon juice and zest

     In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat until completely smooth and combined. Add confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, more lemon juice if frosting is too thick, or add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. (I always add a pinch of salt!). Can top with extra lemon zest after iced.

     

    9. Ice the rolls

    While the rolls are still slightly warm, ice the rolls with the yuzu vanilla cream cheese icing.  Optionally, you may top with either yuzu peel from the yuzu tea or lemon zest.

These are now in cold retard until tomorrow and will be baked midday.

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Benito

You may know my frustration with this grain and trying to learn to bake with it at 100%.  With much advice and good helpful suggestions from many here, you know who you are so thank you, I think my fifth bake is the best so far without having seen the crumb.

So what changed with this bake?  First was a drop in hydration from 80% to 75%.  This really did seem drier than I am used to dealing with and now that I think I have the fermentation a bit better figured out, I think I would increase this back up.  The dough was so NOT sticky that I didn’t really need to wet my hands to do the coil folds.  I still did a fair number of slap and folds, but I didn’t do a lamination.  The reason for this is that I was worried about the gluten and didn’t want to stress it by doing a lamination.  Whether or not that was a good thing to leave out, who knows.  I did four coil folds during bulk after an initial bench letterfold and ended bulk at only 40% rise in the aliquot jar.  Other than for baguettes where I end bulk at 20%, this is the lowest I ever end bulk.  But for this flour going to 50% was too far.  Then the dough was shaped and left for 30 mins on the bench until the aliquot jar reached 45% and then placed in the fridge at 3ºC.  After a few hours in the fridge I noticed that the dough had risen further which I’m not used to seeing in my cold retarded doughs.  So after a short for me 8 hour cold retard I decided to bake.  This is what came of all of this.  

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Benito

I wanted to try baking a 100% (or close to 100%) white flour only hearth loaf as I don’t think I’ve done this before.  It isn’t perfect, the scoring was off center in a way that altered the ultimate bloom and shape of the loaf.  Despite the great blisters, I wonder if I allowed sufficient fermentation.  I had to cut final bench proof short because of life getting in the way of baking LOL.

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Benito

I found this recipe at Eater.com and since it had yuzu in it, I had to make it.  It uses the Yuzu Honey Tea which is essentially a yuzu marmalade.  These can be found in Korean grocery stores.  For those unfamiliar with yuzu, it is a type of lemon grown in Japan and Korea, it is quite delicious and has a distinct fragrance and flavour.

 

This cake turned out really well, we both loved it for dessert tonight.

 

Lemon-Yuzu Cake

Yield: One 9-inch round cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (120 grams) all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt 

1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar

1 or 2 teaspoons lemon zest, depending on how much lemon flavor you like

2 large eggs, at room temperature

¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons jarred citron (yuja) tea, such as this one (strain out the peel and seeds before measuring, and reserve the peel for garnish)

½ cup (120 grams) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature

Scant ¼ cup (40 grams) whole milk, at room temperature

 

For the yuja cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold

3 tablespoons citron (yuja) tea (strain out the peel and seeds before measuring, and reserve the peel for garnish)

Pinch of kosher salt

For the topping:

Yuja peel from the jarred tea, reserved after straining

Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray, line the bottom with parchment paper, and grease the parchment. Place the cake pan on top of a baking sheet.

Step 2: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Step 3: In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until smooth. Add the sugar and lemon zest and cream the mixture until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Step 4: Add in the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until combined. Scrape the bowl once more, then beat in the almond extract (if using), lemon juice, and strained yuja tea until smooth.

Step 5: Sift half of the dry ingredients over the butter mixture and beat until just combined (a few flour patches are fine). Carefully beat in the sour cream and milk, then sift in the rest of the dry ingredients and beat until just combined and the batter is smooth. Take care not to overmix.

Step 6: Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a small offset spatula or rubber spatula.

Step 7: Slide the pan and baking sheet carefully into the oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then gently loosen the edges by running a small offset spatula or paring knife around the edge. Carefully invert the cake onto a cooling rack.

Step 8: While the cake is cooling, make the yuja cream: Combine the heavy cream, strained yuja tea, and pinch of salt in a large bowl. With an electric hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream until soft to medium peaks form, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Step 9: When the cake is completely cool, spread the whipped cream on top and garnish with the reserved yuja peel.

 

Note: If you plan on consuming the cake over a few days, I recommend keeping the unfrosted cake at room temperature tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, then slicing and assembling with the whipped cream and garnish when ready to serve. If you do refrigerate the assembled cake (covered), allow it to soften at room temperature for 45 to 60 minutes before enjoying.

 

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Benito

My first time making buns and also first time making filled buns. Most Asian people will have fond memories of these types of buns from their childhood, I certainly do.  I still crave these on a regular basis but seldom get to Chinatown to have one.  I decided that I would do a mashup and adapt two recipes, one for a Tangzhong bun and the other for the bbq pork filling and combine them to make these.  I wasn’t able to find a decent sourdough cha siu bao recipe.

I decided to use Maurizio’s soft sourdough rolls recipe and the Omnivores cookbook bbq pork filling recipe and general formula.  However, I will say that following the baking proceedure from the Omnivore website led me astray.  Their baking temperature was 350ºF and was a brief 12-15 mins.  At twenty minutes they were far from done so I had to extend the baking for probably close to 40 mins.  Next time I would bake as I have written below.

 

Overnight sweet levain build  76ºF 12 hours to peak.  This was way too long, the levain was way past peak at this time.  I assume that Maurizio found that his levain was slow to ferment because of the sugar, I would change the ratio to do an overnight in the future.

 

Take butter out of fridge before bed.

 

Prepare Tangzhong first step next morning and allow to cool.

Mix room temperature butter 69 g with 69 g AP flour.  Set aside.  This makes incorporating the butter much quicker.

 

Mix in a mixer until well developed gluten

131 g water

All Levain

54 g Bread flour 

Use 223 g AP flour (69 g of flour used to mix with butter) so total AP flour as in chart 

All Tangzhong

8 g salt

28 g sugar 

 

Then add butter AP flour mix until dough nice and strong.

 

At 76ºF bulk ferment the dough until almost doubled in size about 3.5 hours, dough should be smooth and puffy.  Do 3 sets of coil folds at 30 mins intervals.

 

Will be chilling the dough at the end of bulk to make it easier to shape.

Make the Filling 

 

Filling Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons chicken stock
  • 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
  • 1 clove garlic , grated
  • 1/8 teaspoon five spice powder
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 heaping cup (180 g / 6.5 oz) homemade char siu , diced (or store-bought char siu) 1.5 cups is better 

Garnish

  • Sesame seeds (optional)
  • Egg wash

 

 

  • While the dough is resting, combine all the filling ingredients in a small pot except for the diced char siu. Mix until the cornstarch is dissolved fully.
  • Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until thickened, so you can draw a line on the bottom of the pot with a spatula, about 1 minute. Take the pot off the heat and let the mixture cool off. Once cooled, add the diced char siu and mix until it is evenly distributed.

Place dough in fridge for 15 mins chill to allow easier divide and shape after bulk fermentation is complete.  The longer it is chilled the longer it will take to come back up to temperature to complete final proof.

Divide dough into 12 equal pieces rolling each into tight ball, cover with a towel until used.

 

 

Shape the buns

  • One piece at a time, pull and pinch the edges of the dough to the top until the dough is round. Flip the piece so that the pinched part of the dough is on the work surface. Place your palm and fingers over the ball forming a domed cage, move the dough in small circular motions while applying light pressure to seal it.
  • Once all the pieces are formed, you can begin filling them. One at a time, use your palm to flatten the ball, then gently spread the edges until the dough has a 4 to 5” (10 to 13 cm) diameter. You should keep the center a bit thicker than the edges so the buns will be shaped evenly once wrapped.
  • Place a tablespoon of filling in the center. Gather the edges over the filling and pinch them together to seal it on top. Flip over the bun and roll it in the same circular motion as before to seal, but be gentle so the filling doesn’t tear through the dough. (If a piece of pork starts to poke out or looks like it’s about to you can pinch the dough over the trouble area and smooth it out with your finger.)
  • Place the buns on a parchment-lined baking tray, at least 1” (2.5 cm) apart, and cover them with plastic wrap or in a plastic bag. Let the buns rise until they’re fully proofed, judge proof by finger poke test.   At 72-74ºF 2.5 hours to fully proof longer if dough was cold retarded.

 

Prepare egg wash 

Beat one egg with a bit of milk.

 

Bake

  • Preheat the oven to 425°F. 
  • Gently brush a thin layer of egg wash onto the top of each bun. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds to garnish, if using.
  • Bake for 20 minutes rotating halfway through.  Then decrease the temperature to 350ºF and bake until rich brown colour.
  • Let the buns rest until slightly cooled. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Store and reheat

 

  • Once the buns have fully cooled, you can place them in a large ziplock bag. It’s OK to leave the buns at room temperature for a day. Store them in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
  • To reheat the refrigerated buns, heat them in a microwave or a 350°F (176°C) oven until warmed throughout. For frozen buns, reheat them in a 350°F (176°C) oven without thawing until warmed throughout, 10 minutes or so.

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Benito

I wanted to gift a loaf of bread to some friends, and I knew that one of them has seen my last swirl bread and loved it.  So I wanted to bake another version of this but with another variation as I wasn’t sure if they’d like anko or knew what it is.  Since purple sweet potatoes are one of my favorite inclusions after black sesame and go so well with the black sesame’s nutty flavour it was the perfect combination.

Overnight levain build

14 g starter + 86 g cold water + 86 g bread flour left to ferment at 74ºF overnight.

Take butter out when build levain.

 

For the Black sesame powder

 

Grind 86 g of toasted black sesame seeds (I used a coffee grinder) then combine with 18 g of sugar.  Cover and set aside until the morning.

 

Steam and mash a purple sweet potato, you’ll need about 60-80 g or as much as you’d like to make a nice purple dough.

 

The next morning mix the following except for the butter.

282 g bread flour

1 large egg

30 g sugar

126 g milk

6 g salt

 

180 g levain 

Mix to full gluten development.

 

Blend 30 g of room temperature butter with 30 g of bread flour.  This makes it easier to incorporate the butter into the dough.  Add this to the dough until it comes back together. The dough should be shiny, smooth and elastic.

Remove the dough from the mixer, shape into a ball and divide into approximate thirds.  Shape the largest third into a boule and set aside covered with a towel.

 

Take the smallest third and combine with the black sesame powder and knead by hand until the black sesame powder is well incorporated.  Shape into a boule and set aside under a tea towel.

Finally take the third dough ball and gradually combine with the mashes purple sweet potato smearing it on the surface and folding it in.  Knead until the dough is a uniform colour and smooth.  Shape into a boule and place under a tea towel to rest for 5 mins.

 

Lightly flour a work surface and the plain dough boule.  Roll out to at least 12” in length and almost as wide as the length of your pan, set aside.  Continue to do the same with the other two balls next rolling the black sesame dough out to at least 12” in length  and placing that on top of the plain rolled out dough.  Finally rolling the purple sweet potato dough out again to 12” and finally placing that on top of the black sesame dough.  

 

Roll the laminated three doughs out to about 16-18” in length.  Next tightly roll the laminated doughs starting with the short end until you have a swirled log.  Place the log in your prepared Pullman pan with the seam side down (I like to line it with parchment so it is easy to remove from the pan).  Place in the proofing box set to 82-84ºF to proof until the dough comes to approximately 1 cm below the edge of the Pullman pan.  This takes about 8-8.5 hours at 82ºF, the yeast isn’t likely to be osmotolerant so it will take longer than you would normally expect.

 

At about 30 mins before you think your dough will be at 1 cm below the edge of the pan, preheat your oven to 355ºF with a rack or baking steel/stone on the lowest rack.  At this time prepare an egg wash and gently brush it on the top of the dough.  When the oven is ready 30 mins later, brush the top of the dough again with the egg wash.  Bake for 45 mins turning once halfway through.  Keep an eye on the top crust and be prepared to shield it with either aluminum foil or a cookie tray above if it is getting dark too soon.  After 45 mins remove from the pan to check for doneness.  Place the bread back in the oven for another 5 minutes to ensure that the crust on the sides is fully set and baked.

 

 

Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool completely before slicing.

 

Hopefully my friends will send me some photos of the crumb that I can share.  Fingers crossed that they enjoy this bread and that it was properly proofed and baked.  This is the first time they are having any of my bread that I’ve baked.

Benny

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