It's indeed soft, moist and fluffy! That's despite the fact that I knead the dough by hand and did not seem to be able to pass the windowpane test with flying colors even after kneading for 25 minutes. I am usually able to pass the windowpane test after a 20-25 minute workout with the bread dough. But having said that, the dough is easy to handle as it is not sticky.
In preparation to see if this bread is suitable for the older folks of my family who prefer less buttery flavored bread and preferably made with less sugar, I adapted the recipe from Aunty Young.
Ingredients:
300g bread flour
15g caster sugar
3g salt
15g unsalted butter
200g fresh milk
3g instant yeast
1/2 tsp matcha powder dissolve in 1tsp water to make a paste
25g purple sweet potato puree (steam sweet potato until soft and mash)
Steps:
1. Combine all dry ingredients excpet yeast in a large bowl and mix well. Add in yeast and mix well.
2. Pour milk into the dry mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until a rough dough is formed. Pour onto a non-stick mat and knead until smooth. About 5 minutes. *(Alternatively you may use a breadmaker or stand mixer to do the hard work for you).
3. Gradually knead the butter into the dough and continue kneading unil the dough is smooth and elastic and passes the windowpane test. Mine was somewhat stretchy and able to form a membrane but not as elastic as my previous attempt at breadmaking. I kneaded for 25 minutes and decided to stop.
4. Proof the dough in a lightly greased bowl and covered loosely with cling wrap for an hour.
5. Punch down the dough and knead a few times to expel trapped air. Take 60g of dough and knead the matcha paste into it. Take 100g of dough and knead the purple sweet potato puree into it. Add a bit of bread flour if the purple dough gets too sticky to knead. Set aside all three balls of dough to rest for 10 minutes.
Love the natural colors!
6. Roll the plain dough into a long rectangle with the width about 3cm shorter than the length of a loaf pan, and the length as long as possible.
7. Divide the purple dough into 5 balls and green dough into 2 balls (this is a little arbitrary so you don't have to follow. You can choose not to divide the colored balls at all). Roll these into logs or rectangles with the length equal to the width of the rolled out plain dough. Place the colored dough at regular intervals along the plain dough and roll the plain dough into a log.
8. Place the log into a loaf pan lined with baking sheet. Proof for 50 minutes at room temperature (Singapore's room temperature in the kitchen is about 28-30 degrees Celsius) and covered loosely with cling wrap.
9. Brush the top of the loaf with some milk (optional) and bake in preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
10. Cool on a cooling rack before slicing the loaf.
While the bread was still a little warm, I couldn't resist slicing it to see how it looks like and hubby couldn't resist trying a slice after commenting that it looks pretty....and he didn't stop at one slice! The bread is still soft and moist the next day. I will definitely try this recipe again and pay more attention to my kneading technique.
With love,
Phay Shing
* Check out my second attempt at this recipe. Added a bit more sugar and the bread is tastier. Detailed instructions for assembly of a rose loaf can be found there too.
Hi Phay Shing, u are adventurer indeed and no venture no gain.
ReplyDeleteIn fact I like this Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast if compare to the 5 thousand~dollar starter dough bread recipe 五千块老式面包 which is more popular with food bloggers. The reasons I like Wu Pao Chun recipe cos it consists of very little butter and more milk. Milk is healthy and very nutritious, good for diabetics, elderly and children. Moreover, Wu Pao Chun recipe does not need pre-fermented dough which is good for impromptus baker like me.
The 5 thousand dollars recipe has large amount of butter. Any dough with large amount of butter coupled with pre-fermented dough, needless to say sure turned out soft.
In future, incorporate wholemeal flour to the Wu Pao Chun toast, ideal for older folk in your home. If I am not wrong, Baking Taitai has the wholemeal version.
Blessings
Priscilla Poh
Haha, Phay Shing, after I sent you above comments, Nasi Lemak Lover's creation using Wu Pao Chun Champion recipe surfaced. Like me, she too mentioned that for the time being, she will stick to Wu Pao Chun recipe for the reason that it yielded soft texture and lasted well on top of it, no need to prepare pre-fermented dough such as 17-hour overnight dough, tangzhong, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am so thrilled with Wu Pao Chun Champion recipe that I will use it as my bread base for all my bread making venture.
Blessings
Priscilla Poh
Hi Priscilla,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your wonderful recommendation! Yes I am pretty adventurous with baking now :p. I am wary of adding wholemeal flour for my first try and also some of the older folk in my family have no teeth to chew chewier bread. But for my hubby and kids can definitely add :). Will checkout the recipe for wholemeal version. I am also not so keen to try the 5 thousand dollars recipe due to the high butter content when I first saw it. Thanks again for pointing me to the recipe! Learning much!