Chicken Floss Buns

Kenwood sevice centre called yesterday to inform me that my mixer could be repaired & it would cost me $105. Hurray! That's less than 10% of the price of a new similar set! But more important, I get to keep my 30-year-old Kenwood mixer! When you have something for that long, it sure   has some sentimental value... don't you think? Besides, it's a hand-me-down from my mum. In fact,  I was the only one who has been using the machine ever since my mum bought it. This is only the second time I've sent it for repair. Even then, it's because it had a bad fall... . It happened about two weeks ago when I was mixing the dough for my cinnamon roll. It's normal for the machine to move about when mixing dough. But I didn't learn my lesson .... as I turned my back to wash my hands, suddenly, ....the loud thud! I was dumb with disbelief.  I did it again! Yup, that was the second time it fell from the cabinet top! Previously, the machine was still working after the fall. But this time, it went kaput. Anyway, I'm happy it's ready for collection, but I don't think I'm going to use it to mix any bread dough again. Don't think I want to take the chance.

I sent the mixer on Saturday, so on Sunday, I mixed the dough for my chicken floss buns using my bread machine. This time I used a recipe by Alex Goh. The method to prepare the dough is quite different from the ones that I've ever tried before. We've heard of the Tanzhong method. Now we have the gelatinized method. You can refer to Miss B's blog  for more details about this method.

Chicken Floss Buns
Recipe by Alex Goh of Magic Bread & The World of Bread.
Source: Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.

Basic Sweet Bread Dough
[Makes about 1000-1100 grams of sweet bread dough]

INGREDIENTS A - this is for the scalded or gelatinized dough.
100g bread flour
70g boiling water

INGREDIENTS B
300g bread flour
100g plain flour
80g sugar
6g salt (about 1 tsp)
20g milk powder (about 2 tbsp)
9g instant yeast (about 1 tbsp)

INGREDIENTS C
175g cold water
60g cold eggs (1 large egg)

INGREDIENTS D
60g butter (diced)

Topping:
Egg - beaten
Mayonnaise
Chicken floss

Method:

1. Add the boiling water from A into the flour and mix until well blended to form dough. Cover and set aside to cool. Keep in the fridge for at least 12 hours. (Scalding the dough with boiling water increases the water-binding capacity of the dough, so that less moisture is lost during and after baking. Resting and chilling the dough overnight helps to make the dough stronger and more extensible, and hence easier to stretch and form into different shapes. ) 
2. After 12 hours, mix B until well-blended. Add in C and knead to form rough dough. Add in A (cut into small pieces) and knead until well-blended. 
3. Add in D (cut into small pieces) and knead to form an elastic dough. 
4. Leave dough, covered, to rise for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. 
5. Divide dough into 60g portion, shape into balls & leave to rest for about 10 minutes. 
6. Shape dough into round or oval shape & place them on a greased baking tray. (I line my baking tray with silicone paper.) Leave to prove for 45 minutes. 
7. Brush with egg wash & bake on the center rack of the oven at 190 deg C for about 12 minutes or until cooked & buns turn golden brown. 
8. Transfer buns to a wire rack & leave to cool. 
9. To make Chicken Floss Buns: Once cooled, spread some mayonnaise on top of buns. Then top buns generously with meat floss. Serve. 

PS:  I used my breadmaker to mix the dough. I threw in all ingredients B & C into the bowl, except salt. Once a dough is formed, I threw in the butter. Once well mixed, I added the salt. (Salt has a retarding effect on the yeast, so always add it last whenever mixing bread dough. We practised this during the bread-making course at BITC.)

Lapis Chocolate Mint

Lapis Chocolate Mint
Souce: Bro Rozzan

Ingredients:
300g butter
120g fine sugar
6 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
80g kaya
250g sweetened condensed milk
80g malt powder (Horlicks)
160g Hongkong flour (I used cake flour.)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp hot water - mixed with cocoa powder
2 tsp peppermint essence
green colouring

Directions:

1. Line & grease bottom of a 7 x 7 inch pan. Set aside. (I doubled the recipe & baked in a 10x7 pan.)
2. In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar on high speed until light & fluffy. 
3. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition.
4. Reduce speed & beat in vanilla essence, condensed milk, malt powder & kaya. Mix until well blended.
5. Stop machine & fold in flour.
6. Divide mixture into two parts. Add cocoa into one & peppermint & green colour into the other. Mix well.
7. Preheat oven at about 180-190 deg C, top & bottom heat. Pour 2 ladles of cocoa mixture into baking pan & spread mixture evenly. Bake for about 6-7 minutes or until cooked. Once cooked, remove pan from oven & press top of cake gently using a lapis presser or bottom   flat  surface of glass. 
8. Then adjust oven setting to grill (top heat only) at temperature of about 200-210 deg C.
9. Pour 2 ladles of peppermint mixture into baking pan & spread evenly. Bake untill cook. Continure baking alternate layers until finish. (I baked 2 layers of cocoa mixture followed by 2 layers of  peppermint mixture.) 

Cashew Nut Chocolate Cookies

It feels like it's been ages since I last posted an entry in this blog. That's because it's been more than a month since my last entry, the longest break I've had. The month of Ramadhan is traditionally a very busy month for me. Work  & family commitments, coupled with Ramadhan activities & lots of baking during the weekends, left me hardly any time to keep up with my blog...... Likewise, the Eid celebrations had kept me busy during the weekends with visits to our relatives & friends' & guests who came over to my place. 

I'll be sharing with you the recipes of my Eid bakings, especially those I've  not shared yet, in the next coming entries. For a start, I'm posting a Hari Raya cookie recipe that was hugely popular in Singapore about 30 years ago. Remember Chocolate Chip Cookies? Not the American version, I think it's the Asian version...  I remember making them every year for Hari Raya. It was so popular that there was nothing left by the second day of Eid, Back then, during the pre-internet era, one way to get hold of this prized recipe was to attend the weekend baking classes. I was lucky, there were a few generous people who shared the recipe with me, all from different instructors. Amazingly, the recipes were all identical! I wonder who created the recipe...

Anyway, my source of  this recipe is Mdm Zaleha Osman, the name printed next to the recipe. It was given to me by my best friend then.  I've decided to change the name of this recipe to Cashew Nut Chocolate Cookies so as not to be confused with the Chocolate Chip Cookies that we all know.

Cashew Nut Chocolate Cookies
Recipe by Zaleha Osman.

Cookies:
4 oz butter
2 oz powder sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 oz ground cashew nut (I toasted it lightly & left to cool before adding to mixture.))
4 oz top flour (I used plain flour.)
2 oz chocolate block - grated

Topping:
renchoco / mohrenglanz chocolate or any compound chocolate - chopped  (I used Selbourne.)

Place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir chocolate until melted. Ensure that bottom of bowl doesn't touch the water. Also, ensure that not a drop of water goes into the chocolate as that will affect the consistency of the chocolate. Once melted, remove bowl from pot & wipe bottom of bowl dry.

Method:

1. Combine butter, sugar & vanilla in a bowl & mix until mixture turned pale. 
2. Add groud cashew nut,  flour & grated chocolate. Mix until just incorporated. 
3. Cover bowl with plastic & leave aside to allow dough to rest for half an hour. 
4. Shape dough into  balls. Place each ball into a mini foil cake liner & press slightly. (Note:  the size of the balls should be such that, after baking, the cookie will fill up about 3/4 full. The cookie will rise slightly after baking.) Bake at 180 deg C for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven & leave to cool.
5. Pour melted chocolate over cookie & leave aside until chocolate hardens. If you wish, you may sprinkle colourful jimmies or chopped toasted cashew nut on the chocolate. You may also place the cookies in the fridge for about 5 minutes, but not more than 10 minutes,  to accelerate the hardening process. 
6. Store cookies in an air-tight container in room temperature.