Lion King Bread; Wholemeal Pumpkin Buns with Seaweed Pork Floss

It's been more then a week since I last updated my blog. I guess it's no surprise that holiday time for the kids is double the work load for the mums. :P Now besides having to take care of the daily chores, I have to keep my kids busy and entertained as well. Not that I'm complaining since I get to spend more time with them but sometimes it can be pretty "challenging" to think of quality stuff for the kids to spend their time. Anyway, today I have this small pocket of time for myself to post up something fun for you all to see. "Lion Face Bread" made from soft wholewheat pumpkin buns with seaweed pork floss. :))

You may be wondering why make Lion face, why not any other animals? Cuter ones maybe? Well, I made these Lion face buns mainly because I got the inspiration from the Musical Event that is going on now in MBS Singapore; The Lion King. Don't get me wrong, this is not a paid advertisement, lol! I guess its mainly because of all the excitement that my family and I are going to watch this Musical at the end of the month! It's been dog years since I last watched a Musical show! But if you ask me which...I've seen it all! Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera and Cats, you name it! I remember the last one I watched was Beauty and The Beast Musical that was showed in San Francisco downtown...can't remember how long ago was that! Lol! So you can say I am a Musical fan. :))

Enough with the Musical, back to our delicious buns! I have to say although these buns are quite time consuming to make, it was still a whole load of fun! Not to mention, the most tedious part of making these was the cutting out the face features of the lion using seaweed. :P My kids had fun helping me sticking the seaweed on....well, another fun kids project!

The recipe was adapted from Carol's "The Second Book of Baking for Beginners" . But because the amount & kind of pumpkin(some has more water content) I used was different from the recipe, I made several adjustment to it. Here is my version:

Ingredients for Lion Face Bread : Wholemeal Pumpkin Buns with Seaweed Pork Floss (makes about 9):

150g pumpkin puree (I used 188g)

240g bread flour (I used 375g, much more because mine was high in water content)

30g wholewheat flour (I used 40g Prima Wholemeal flour)

30g caster sugar (I used 38g)

1/2 tsp instant active yeast

1 large egg ~50g (I used 64g of beaten whole egg)

1/8 tsp salt (I used 1/4 tsp)

90ml fresh milk (I used 114ml)

30g unsalted butter (I used 38g)

Filling and topping

A large seaweed sheet

4 to 5 tbsp mayonnaise

~2 cups worth of floss of your choice

Method:

1. Place the peeled, steamed and mashed pumpkin puree into the mixing bowl. Add in all the ingredients for the bread dough except for butter.
2. Knead everything together until it is not sticky and elastic. Add in the butter and continue to knead till it pasess the window panel test. About 20 minutes on the stand mixer to reach that, you can let the machine rest 5 minutes between the kneading in case it over heats.
3. Cover the dough to proof for a good 1.5hrs till it doubled in size.
4. Once proofed, punch out the air and divide the dough into 9 equal portions or more if you make smaller ones.
5. Roll round the portions and let rest for 10 minutes covered before shaping. In the meantime, get ready the seaweed and floss filling. Preheat oven to 180C.
6. Roll out each dough portions into a flat disc and place about 1 heaping tbsp of floss filling in the center. Seal up nicely and roll round. Repeat till all the dough portions has been filled and shaped.
7. Brush the bun surface with a little bit of water, not too much, just enough to moist it. Cut out the face features of the animal / lion, then stick it on the bun top. Repeat till all the bun top has been nicely decorated.
8. Bake the buns in the preheated oven for ~13 to 15 minutes till it is golden brown.
9. Let the buns cool before proceeding to do the next step of decoration.
10. After 10 minutes, squeeze some mayo around the edges of the bun. Then spread it out evenly, making sure you don't smear on to the animal face. Then roll the buns on a plate of floss to coat it well to create the mane around the Lion's head. Repeat till all is coated.

Besides being so fun to make, it turned out pretty yummy too. ;)) My kids loved it very much...soft bread with mayo and floss, you can't go wrong with that! And little did they know I added wholemeal flour and pumpkin in to it, making it just a bit more wholesome.  Even my picky eater ate one big bun all on her own this morning, at record speed! Lol!

Not convinced? Check out the photo to see the fluffy texture. :) Love the air pockets in the bun which makes it light and easy to eat.

Besides, this is definitely a fun project you can do with your kids at home, make any kind of animals you fancy. I guarantee you and your children will have a fun filled day baking and eating it. :))

I am submitting this post to this month's Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction (June 2011) hosted by Jasmine from Sweetylicious.

Cheers all!