Apple Cream cheese bread & All natural pandan butter cake

Okay, I said I was gonna wait, but I caved. Yeah, I meant to wait till I got my own kitchen to make fresh bread again, but somehow opportunity rose and I just grabbed it! Boy am I glad that I did. ;) It's been months since I last made fresh bread at home. It actually felt real good and relaxing to knead the dough again, even though I got some muscle ache around my wrist after that, lol! :) I have been wanting to try out this Apple cream cheese buns for ages. Eating it is like tasting a cinnamon bun, but with apples and raisins embedded inside. Once it was out of the oven, the smell was wonderful and biting into one was really comforting.:)

Ingredients for Apple Cream Cheese Bread
350g bread flour
100g top flour
40g caster sugar
5g salt
4g instant active yeast
20g skim powder milk
1 whole egg
180ml fresh milk

Filling:
1 apple, peeled and cut into small chunks
50g brown sugar
10g unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
125g cream cheese, room temp
4 tbsp confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup plum raisins (optional)

Method:

• Mix all ingredients in main dough except for butter together in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Place on work area to knead or mixer to do the kneading. Knead the dough till it is not sticky, about 20 minutes.
• Add the unsalted butter in and continue to knead till the dough is shiny and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, pull a small piece off and stretching it with your fingers. If dough is very elastic and pulls to almost see through without breaking, then it's done.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for at least 90 minutes to 2hrs.
• Meantime, make the filling: Cream the cream cheese, vanilla and confectioner's sugar together till light creamy. Set aside for later use.
• Mix together the apple chunks, brown sugar, melted butter, lemon juice and cinnamon powder, let stand for 30 minutes.
  
• Punch out the air and roll the dough round and let rest for 10 minutes before shaping. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangular shape about 40cm by 30 cm.
• Spread the cream cheese mixture on to the dough surface, leaving a 2 cm border. Then sprinkle the apples(without the juices) and raisins (if using) on top of the cream cheese.
• Roll up the dough like a Swiss roll and pinch the edges to seal nicely.
• Using a sharp knife, cut the log into wedges, yielding about 8 to 10 pieces. Place cut side up on to a greased baking pan. Let proof for another 45 minutes before baking.
  
• At this point you can choose to bake it after 45 minutes, or you can place in the fridge to let it proof overnight (which I did).
  
• Preheat the oven at 180°C. Brush simple egg wash solution over the proved bread. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until done. If the top browns too fast, use aluminum foil to cover it and continue to bake till done.
• Once done, remove from pan and let cool on rack till completely cooled before storing. Best eaten within 2 days.
  

I had let the dough to proof overnight in the fridge before baking it in the following morning, so the family has freshly baked bread waiting for them. ;) What's better then waking up to freshly baked soft bread! Since I added cream cheese as a filling, the inside was rather hard to cook, so I had to leave it in the oven for an extra 20 minutes after I turned the bread out from the tube pan. If you also have this problem, go ahead and bake the bread in the oven again till the inside is done.

The other item I baked a couple days back is so call all natural Pandan Butter cake. All natural because I did not use pandan essence to flavor the cake, instead I used only thick pandan juice extracted from pandan leaves which I got from my MIL's garden. :) I remember reading about it on Table for 2 or more blogspot on how to extract thick pandan juice after blending it.

I blended about 4 pinescrew leaves with about 200ml of water. I squeeze the mixture through a fine siever into this small container and let it stand for a couple days. Slowly the thick pandan "substance" decant to the bottom. From this 200ml bottle, I was only able to extract 50ml of the thick pandan juice. I know, it's like a lot of waiting and work for this small amount of juice, but through this process, it sort of satisfy the curiosity in me about using this all natural way to bake a pandan cake.

Result? The colour was not as what I expected. It was rather light in green which I presumed I had not added enough thick pandan juice for such a big cake.

So naturally the pandan taste was not too evident *disappointed*. I guess the next time round I should just double the amount of the thick pandan juice for this recipe. Luckily the texture of the cake was still real fine and soft, a nice tea break treat. :)

Ingredients for All Natural Pandan Butter Cake (makes an 8cm round cake)
250g unsalted butter, room temp
200g caster sugar
6 eggs
280 all purpose flour
180ml coconut milk (preferably freshly squeezed)
50ml thick pandan juice (should use 100ml if want more intense pandan flavor)
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 8cm round cake pan and line with parchment.
  
• Cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time making sure each one is well mixed before adding the next one.
• Next add in the pandan juice and coconut milk and stir well.
• Lastly sift in the flour and mix till everything is incorporated.
• Pour batter into the cake pan and bake in oven for 45 minutes or till tester comes out clean.
  

Hope you will try out one of the above recipes and let me know how it turns out for you all. Have a good day!