Friday, November 9, 2012

Assorted Multigrain Rice Bread (五糙米面包) and Orange Buttercake with Grand Marnier

As expected, once the kids' exams are over, I'll be again tight down other stuff. I guess any SAHM will know that it's actually more hectic when your kids are free from school work and idling at home versus them busy with studies. :) But again, I welcome this, because at least the mood is more relax and the kids can have loads of fun at home or out. I am so looking forward to our little getaways, friends to meet and places to go (not to mention all that eating and shopping, lol!) So you probably will see much less posts from me this month...I'll be lucky if I can put up another post before end of November!(*.*) BTW, this will be a super long post (greedy me), so bare with me...

Anyway, back to today's post. I have again baked another healthy bread loaf this week and very eager to share with you all (despite skipping through all those backlogs!). I got this fabulous recipe, Assorted Multigrain Rice Bread (五糙米面包), from my favorite bread recipe book, "Natural Breads Made Easy", which mainly uses the pre-fermented dough technique. Long wait of 17hours but all worth while when you taste the delicious end product.
I am such a huge fan of bread making...but mostly soft Asian breads, because of it's soft fluffy texture plus my kids love eating them. Again this technique did not disappoint, the bread was again soft, bouncy and delicious. Even with the addition of the multigrain rice, the bread texture was still light and fluffy. Although there are still bits of grains (which I think it adds wonderful texture), my kids still chow down the bread happily, not knowing the wholesome goodness it has for them.

Ingredients for Assorted Multigrain Rice Bread (五糙米面包): (Makes 2 loaves 9x4x5)
Pre-ferment Dough:
404g bread flour
231ml water
12g fresh yeast (I used 6g active dry yeast)
6g salt
12g skim milk powder

Dissolve the yeast in water. Add bread flour, sea salt, skim milk powder and knead until soft. Cover the dough in cling wrap or a big zip log bag. Refrigerate to let it prove for 17 hours.


Main Dough:
173g bread flour
6g sea salt (I added only 3g)
58g caster sugar
144ml water
3g fresh yeast (I used 3g active dry yeast)
40g unsalted butter
231g cooked multi-grain rice
Note: I bought my mutligrain rice from Sheng Siong in Singapore. Here is a picture of it. Product is from Taiwan.
Cook your multigrain rice in your rice cooker and set to brown rice option (if there is). The cooked rice should look like this:
You can very well cook this the day before and chill it together with your pre-ferment dough in the fridge. Remember not to add hot steamy rice to your dough when mixing, let it cool before use.


Method:
  • Knead all ingredients of the main dough together, except the butter. Add pre-ferment dough piece by piece. Knead after each addition until soft and smooth. Add butter. Knead until stretchable and pass the window panel consistency.
  •  
  • Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let it prove for 30minutes till double.
  • Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Each halve should weigh about 600g. With one of the portion, divide into 8 equal rounds.  Flatten each portion and roll round, sealing any edges. Repeat for the rest of the dough portions.P lace the 8 round doughs into the loaf tin and let proof. 
  • As for the other 600g dough portion, you can either bake another loaf or make egg mayo buns like me.
  • I again divide 600g into 10 equal dough portions of 60++g. Flatten, roll round and seal and edges. Place in the paper liners to proof. Make an indent in the center using aluminium tins(optional). Scoop the egg mayo in to the cavity and contiue to proof till double in size.
  • As for the loaf dough, let it prove for about 45 minutes or until the dough has risen to 90% of the depth of the loaf tin. You can either cover the lid or bake it open top. If open top, brush with egg wash (I didn't do that because I want it to be vegetarian version). Bake in 175C for 30 to 35minutes.
Instead of making 2 loaves, I made some egg mayonnaise buns for my parents and sisters with the other loaf portion.
I love the way I shaped the dough this time...with all the bumps on top makes the bread loaf even more "attractive", hahaha!
I think I might have slightly under baked the loaf a little this time. Perhaps another couple more minutes in the oven would have brown the sides more nicely. However the inside was still very fluffy and nice...doesn't this photo makes you want to try it out yourself? (^.^)

I am going to be a little ambitious today and post up another recipe. It's actually a simple everyday cake, Orange Buttercake with Grand Marnier. I guess the Grand Marnier part is probably not an everyday thing though, lol! Bought this large bottle of Grand Marnier at DFS and trying to find ways to use it, so decided to spike the orange buttercake!
This recipe is actually a favourite of mine which I have used over and over again. The first recipe was my Passion Fruit Yoghurt Pound Cake, which I did years back. Then I modified it to using sour cream (I only had sour cream that time!) version; Passion Fruit Sour Cream Cake. I figured replacing the passion fruit with orange will be no biggy and the texture should be equally yummy. And I was right!
Ingredients for Orange Buttercake with Grand Marnier: (makes 2 loaves of 7x3,5"x3.5")
150g plain flour
150g cake flour
170 g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder 

220g unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs
100g low fat sour cream
70ml fresh milk

Zest of 1 large orange 
Juice of 1 large Navel Orange
2 tbsp Grand Marnier
pinch of salt


Method:
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter and line a loaf tin with parchment paper and butter it again. (I used a 7" by 3.5" loaf tin )
  • In a mixing bowl, beat butter, orange zest and sugar together till light and fluffy.
  • Add eggs, one at a time till well mixed in.
  • Add in sour cream and stir till incorporated. Then add in the orange juice and mix well.
  • Add in flour, baking powder and salt and stir till just blend in.
  • Pour the cake batter into the loaf tin and bake for 40 to 45 mins or till the cake tester comes out clean.
  • Cool on rack before slicing.
With the addition of sour cream, this cake is indeed lighter then other buttercake. Fine crumbs and melt in your mouth texture is the winning points for me to go back to this recipe over and over again. Love the orangy citrus scent although not overly powering. I added bittersweet chocolate chunks into one of the loaf. Orange + chocolate = perfect marriage! No worries about the addition of alcohol in the cake batter if you are serving this to young kids, it's probably all evaporated in the baking process. :)

Okay, shan't go much further to make this any longer! Hope this two homey bakes will trigger you to bake them for your love ones over the weekend. ;) Before I forget, Happy Deepavali to all my dear Indian friends and readers out there! 

Cheers!


20 comments:

Mich - Piece of Cake said...

Your bread really does look very nice, love how fluffy it is. How did you achieve the bumps on top?

Edina said...

looks awesome! Wish I could make bread that looks that nice ><

ann low said...

I love both recipes. The multigrain rice bread looks so soft and healthy. The orange cake too looks very pretty and I bet the cake must be very fragrant with the grand marnier.

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Don't worry about posting just enjoy your holidays ..Now I have too many kids to take care, need to wait one more week then I only have time to bake , hehehe ..your family is lucky to have you, prepare such a healthy bread for them , and I love any type of butter cake.

Anonymous said...

hi,HBS
may i know what type of mixer do u use to knead the bread dough cos i'm thinking of investing in a good mixer but don't know which type to choose fr,thx ya

Anonymous said...

Hi.HBS
may i know which type of mixer are u using to knead the bread dough?cos i'm thinking of investing a mixer which can help to reduce my work load..haha

lena said...

good evening my inspiring friend, yeah today you are very rajin, two in one post. Enjoy your holidays, shopping and eating. I think i will probably take a break too in december. i've seen that multigrain rice here before, i actually like the visible grains in the bread. That's nice buttercake too. It's been really long i last baked a real buttercake like this. I may bake that mrs ng's cake and this one too some day.

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi Anonymous, (pls kindly leave a name next time for me to address u better)
I'm using a Kitchenaid at the moment to do all my mixing and kneading. It's one of the best tool I've invested since 2002.:))

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks ya Lena! No la, I'm so not inspiring la! Keep baking the same kind of bread and cakes, lol! Hopefully I'll break out of the shell and do an Artisan bread or something. :)) hope you have a nice break too!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi Mitch, actually I just divided the dough into eight equal portions, roll round and lined then 4 by4 side by side into the loaf tin, and let rise, simple right?

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Edina, thanks! Of course you can! You just have to start trying and baking, good luck. :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Ann. :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Sonia, you know me best la! Indeed not easy to blog and have a busy life, lol! Hey, you must be busy now with all the work in the kitchen, but happy right. :))

Zoe said...

Hi Bee,

Although the exams are over, you must be busy too looking after "running" kids. Totally can understand that it's never easy being a mum...

Both your cakes and breads are so beautifully made. You are always top class in your baking :D

Zoe

ReeseKitchen said...

Long time never make bread, hope I still remember how...haha! Anyway, Ilove your orange buttercake...yumz!

Angie's Recipes said...

Both recipes are fantastic! That buttercake looks so fine and smooth.

My Little Space said...

Both your bread & cake look absolutely tempting, dear. Hope you're going to have a fabulous weekend.
Blessings, Kristy

Anonymous said...

Hi Honey Bee,

I tried baking the Orange buttercake with grand marinier, but my cake turned out very dense and looked uncooked. What do you think could be the problem? Any advise? I am not really a regular in baking :)

Phoebii

hanushi said...

Interesting and v healthy bread loaf! :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Well I can't really troubleshoot with just the info u give me. But I suspect your oven temperature might be too low. Note that every oven is different, so pls take note.