I love homemade buns :D

It has been quite some time since I last made some homemade buns. I had the whole sunday afternoon so decided to get down to making it. :D

I was attracted by this 'wonderfully soft bread' posted by Florence - Do What I Like. I had all the ingredients on hand, and the reviews were good.

The dough looked rather yellowish in colour probably because of the egg yolks used. I must say this dough is rather elastic as compared to other recipes I had tried before. I kneaded by hand and after 30 minutes, I just gave up. Although I would say I did reached the windowpane test to some level, it was not totally very stretchable and elastic. I had seen in some books where they could achieve really elastic dough that can be stretched for a rather long distance without tearing. Is this actually achievable? I did not have a power mixer and my hand power is all that I can do.

Here's the recipe adapted from Florence's blog.

Ingredients:

• 312 g bread flour
• 60 g cake flour
• 40 g Nestle Coffeemate (I used milk powder)
• 115 ml skim milk
• 20 g condensed milk
• 55 g castor sugar
• 3 g salt
• 7 g instant yeast
• 1 egg + 2 egg yolks
• 40 g butter
• egg glaze - 1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water

Method:

1. Sift flour mixture.
2. Add in all the ingredients except butter.
3. Mix till a dough is formed.
4. Knead in butter until the dough is soft and elastic (window pane test).
5. Prove for about about 50 minutes.
6. Divide dough into portions and shaped or wrap in fillings as desired (See below).
7. Proof for about 50 minutes.
8. Brush with egg wash. Baked at 190C for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked.

Cinnamon Buns

• Weigh 255 g dough, dust a work surface and roll it to a 20 cm by 25 cm rectangular flat dough.
• Brush the top with water; sprinkle 1 tsp of cinnamon mix with 1 tsp castor sugar. (Used more if you like cinnamon. For me, I felt it's not cinnamon-ny enough)
• Top with raisins; I added some walnuts as well.
• Roll it like a swiss roll and seal the ends.
• Trim the sides. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.
• Mix 24 g icing sugar mix with 1 tsp of warm water and drizzle onto cooled buns. (I omitted this)

Red Bean buns

• Divide into 8 portions (about 55 g to 60 g) each.
• Shape as desired.
  

Recipe Source: Florence - Do What I like

Yield: 4 Cinnamon buns and 8 red bean buns / 12 buns portions

I measured out some dough to make a few pieces of cinnamon buns while I shaped the remaining dough and wrapped it with red bean paste from Daiso. The whole kitchen was filled with a nice aroma of freshly baked bread especially from the one infused with cinnamon.

Red Bean Buns sprinkled with white sesame seeds

Cinnamon Buns

Verdict? The buns were very soft when out fresh of the oven. I couldn't wait to try it! Hehe...However after it cooled down, it hardened a bit, especially on those buns which were a little burnt on the surface due to uneven browning. I find that the interior were always not as fluffy as those sold outside; you know those that were really soft and fluffy that when you squeeze it, it literally can't return to its original form. LOL don't know if you know what I meant...

I'm having problems with my oven as well; there is uneven heat distribution, causing the upper left side to brown first. Thus, I always have to put a piece of aluminium foil halfway during baking. This is giving problems for those delicate cakes where opening of oven doors is a no no. :(

Can see that the surface is very glossy? Haha cos' I glazed it too liberally with egg wash. I had too much of it from one large egg and I do not want to let it go to a waste...

I also forgotten one thing - I did not line the baking tray. Well actually I did not know whether it was necessary or not. I had always been doing that but I simply forgotten about it that day until I placed the buns on the tray. Thinking it would not matter, I didn't lined it. My poor buns had their bottom badly burnt. :( I even called my brother to come get the buns as he liked red beans. lol. In order not to disappoint him with a bitter-taste buns, I salvaged the buns by carefully scraping away some of the burnt bottom! heheh...:P

This is my first post of year 2008!

Here's wishing everyone a great year ahead! Happy Baking!!! ;)