Almond wholewheat Piggy buns & loaf

Another week gone, and I am still slacking! I really need to get my momentum going on my posting. I have not been blogging much but I have been more active on my new "passion"....Instagram, lol! If you are too an Instagram user, do come look for me and search for "honeybeesweet88" and you will find me. :P Do drop me a comment if you find me there ya?

Okay, back to my posting. It's been more then a month since my last bread post...geese, so unlike me! Lol! Anyway, I bake bread at least once a week...but this particular recipe has been my favorite lately. After my "Snake buns" episode, I decided to bake something fun again this time...piggy buns!!! *Oink* (ok, it's not a hint about my personality ah, lol!)

 

I just love these chubby-face piggies, haha! I had fun fun fun making them too! My kids were picking off their eyes, ears and snout when they eat their piggies, haha! This recipe is pretty much similar to the multigrain snake buns I posted earlier. But instead of almond+walnut+oats puree, I used almond+brown rice and wholewheat. :) But I do apologise that I didn't get to snap any pictures while I was shaping the piggies. :P But its not too complicated...read on. :P

Ingredients for Healthy Piggy Buns (recipe by HoneyBeeSweets)
Filling:

2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
5 slices of think ham, cut into small squares
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp powder sugar

• Boil the potatoes in a pot of water till it is fork tender. Scoop out and mash well.
• Then mix together with the rest of the ingredients and set aside for the buns later.

Dough:

420g bread flour
55g brown rice powder/ flour (you can sub this with rice flour)

40g wholewheat flour (I used Prima)
50g caster sugar
6g salt
7g instant active yeast
150g almond+brown rice puree  (I got this from my soymilk machine, you can use okara too)
160ml fresh milk
200ml water (+- 15 ml ; add as per needed )  

30g unsalted butter

3 slices of kraft cheese, cut into 4 squares in each slice (yields 12 small squares)

some mini chocolate chips for eyes 

• In a large mixing bowl, add in all the ingredients except the butter. Stir and mix till everything comes together to form a pliable dough.
• Continue kneading till the  dough becomes elastic and pulls away from the side of the bowl and not sticky anymore.
• Add in the butter and continue to knead till it reaches window stage. 
• Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover to let proof for 1.5-2hrs till it doubled in size.
• Punch out the air and divide the dough into 50g & 18g portions. (Note:  I made ~9 piggy buns & a plain loaf (9x4x5).)
• First take the pig head, take a 50g portion and roll flat into a flat disc shape. Place one cheese square at the center, then 30g of the filling over the cheese. Seal up the edges into a roll ball.Then using your palm, press it down slightly to make it a slightly flat for more face "area".
•  
• Take the 18g portion, divide into 5g, 5g & 8g. The two 5g are for the ears and the 8g for the snout. Roll round and stick the snout and ears on the main face dough surface.
• Using tooth pick, dip it in some cooking oil (prevent sticking) then poke the nose to create the nostrils. For the ears, use kitchen scissors to snip the lower end to create an opening.

• Lastly stick 2 mini chocolate chips above the snout to make the eyes. Let it proof for at least 15 minutes and preheat the oven to 175C.
• Then bake these buns in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes till slight golden brown. 

I really love the filling! I wondered why I never use that combination before, lol! 

With the remaining dough, I made a plain loaf as well. :) I guess I can just let the pictures do all the talking ya? :D

Hope this recipe will also become a favorite for you and your family too. And have fun baking those piggy heads too! :) Have a fantastic day everyone!

CNY Bake: Multigrain Snake Buns

My, it's less then 20 days to Chinese New year!? Where did the time go? Didn't we just had a festive Christmas celebration last week? Well, nothing wrong with my sense of time, but it sure feels like last week, lol! I guess most of us home bakers are frantically baking the new year cookies in preparation for the celebration and to give away as well. As usual, I baking the pineapple tarts, almond cookies etc etc. But since there is a blog event over at Sonia's in lieu of CNY, I decided to join in the fun. :) I made snake buns! Lol, sound creepy and unappetizing isn't it. No worries, no snakes are harmed in the making of these buns. :P Haha...

 

 I know, not exactly snake looking buns...but you can imagine soft sticky dough ain't exactly that easy to mould either. :P But I had loads of bun making them! Haha, like a big kid with "play dough"!

 This dough recipe is actually similar to the one I used for my healthy cinnamon buns I baked last week. But instead of the red bean, red dates & black rice trio puree combo, I used almond, oats and walnut puree instead. I will still post the recipe here for easier reference.

Ingredients for Healthy Cinnamon Buns (recipe by HoneyBeeSweets)
420g bread flour
105g five grain flour (you can sub this with rice flour)
50g caster sugar
6g salt
7g instant active yeast
170g almond+walnut+oats puree
160ml fresh milk
200ml water (+- 10 ml ; add as per needed )  

30g unsalted butter

Filling:
mini smoked sauages

tuna mayo (1 can of chunky tuna, drained and mixed with 2-3 tbsp mayo, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2tsp sugar, pinch of pepper)

some red beans for eyes 

• In a large mixing bowl, add in all the ingredients except the butter. Stir and mix till everything comes together to form a pliable dough.
• Continue kneading till the  dough becomes elastic and pulls away from the side of the bowl and not sticky anymore.
• Add in the butter and continue to knead till it reaches window stage. 
• Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover to let proof for 1.5-2hrs till it doubled in size.
• Punch out the air and divide the dough into 40g and 50g portions. (Note:  I made at least 12 of these snakes buns. But you can make less and use the rest of the dough to make a loaf)
• First take the snake body, so take a 50g portion and roll flat into a rectangular shape:
•  
  
  
• Roll it up lengthwise and seal the edges nicely. Then roll the whole thing into a coil to look like a snake body:
•  
  
• Next, make the snake head. Cut the sausages into 3 length wise and cut the tip to make it look like a snake tongue. Then wrap the sausage with the 40g dough portion like a drumstick shape. Then place the head over the coil dough:
• 

 

 

• Repeat till all the dough portions has been used up. Let proof for 30-45minutes covered. Preheat the oven 175C while waiting. Brush egg wash if desired.
• Place 2 red beans on top of the head to make it look like it's eyes.
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

Seems a little complicated, but I guarantee you that you will have loads of fun making this. Get your kids to involve too to make it a bonding project! How cool is that?

You can use any bread dough recipe you are comfortable to work with. The one I'm using can be a little sticky and require more kneading time. But the next photo will proof that it is all worthwhile, haha!

Feel free to use another kind of puree if you don't fancy nuts. And you can also reduce the recipe into half to make a smaller manageable portion. :)

I am happy to submit this fun post to Sonia's blog event :Chinese New Year Delights 2013 新春送礼. Have you submited yours? Do join in the fun! Thanks Sonia for hosting this! :)

Have a great week ahead everyone! And happy baking all!!

Matcha red bean buns; Christmas Tree

Time is flying pass so fast and it is only 10 days to Christmas. *Exciting* Although we are home bound this time during this Christmas, I am still glad because we get to enjoy more quiet family time. Besides that, we also put up our beautiful Christmas tree which has been "hibernating" for more then half a decade! (No worries, it's still in very good condition, haha!) This Christmas tree shared lots of wonderful memories with us, of our dear friends and family. So it's always sentimental to put it up. And now that the kids are more grown up, they were a great help in decorating the tree with the loads of ornaments that we have collected over the years from several countries as we traveled. (not to mention all those magnets on the fridge as well! ~faint~)

Talking about Christmas Tree, I got in the festive mood and baked a Christmas Tree too! A tree made from Matcha (green tea) soft buns, dried cranberries and sweet red bean paste filling. It was fun making it!

I got this great recipe from yet another cookbook I bought in Taiwan. Yes, I am gonna slowly post all them nice recipes all up, lol! This book is call "糕點女王的聰明烘焙法" which consist of simple delicious daily recipes that we love baking up when we have that small pocket of time. Again I did a little change to the recipe to my liking, here is my version:

Ingredients for Matcha Buns (enough to make a Christmas Tree)

200g Bread flour

20g wholewheat flour

6g Matcha powder

40g caster sugar

4g instant active dry yeast

1 egg white

3g salt

135ml water

30g unsalted butter @room temperture

1/4 tsp green food gel (optional : only if you want it real green)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Red bean paste filling (or any filling you fancy)

• In a mixing bowl, add in bread, wholewheat flour, matcha powder, sugar, salt, water, egg white and yeast. Mix well till it comes together to form a pilable dough.
• Continue to knead till it is not sticky and pulls away from the mixing bowl. Add in butter (and green food coloring if using) and continue to knead till it reaches window stage.
• Cover dough and let proof at room temperature for 2hours or till it doubled in size.
• Punch out the air and divide the dough into 11 equal rounds. (or which ever portions you see fot to build your tree). Cover and let rest for 10 mins)
• Flatten each dough portion and place about 15g of red bean paste in the center. Close and seal nicely. Roll round and lay it on a baking pan laid with parchment. Repeat for the rest of the portions till all is filled and rolled. Remember to assemble your tree as you go along.
• Brush the dough surface with some egg white/water and press on some dried cranberries as decorations. Let proof for anothwe 30 minites covered.
• Preheat the oven to 175C.
• Bake the tree in the oven for 15minutes or till it is golden brown in colour. Remove from oven and let cool before serving.

As you can see, this is not complicated, I think anyone can bake this wonderful festive bread at home. Whether you choose green tea or pandan flavor, I am sure your little ones at home will enjoy, pulling off these soft delicious buns and munching it down happily. :)

Again another wonderful easy recipe, soft and yummy even on the following days! Do give this recipe a try. ;)

I am happy to submit this post to this month's Aspiring Bakers #26 - Creative Christmas Motif Bakes! hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies. Thanks for hosting Alan! If you have not made anything for this month's AB, get in the kitchen now and join in the festive fun! 

Okay, hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Cheers!

 

Best Vanilla & Chocolate Milk Pudding

There are so many versions and ways of making a pudding. Some people associate pudding as bread pudding, while others think of it as rice pudding. I have only tried the latter once while I was still in States...didn't really fancy it. But I had made bread puddings several times now (nice comfort food). These are usually the more hearty ones. For end of the meal, desert varieties, there is baked custard pudding, like creme brulee and non baked (no egg) chilled pudding as well. When it comes to my kids, they usually relate pudding as the non baked, chilled pudding that is made with just the simplest ingredients, like milk and cream. ;) My elder child love (the word "love" here is actually under-rated) pudding. She would bug me to buy whenever we do groceries together. Somehow I seldom make it at home...I don't know why? *bad mummy, lol!*

Since my kid is going through the "gruesome" exam week right now, I figured why not make her what she love most. Vanilla and Chocolate milk pudding....the best I've ever made so far. :))

Yeah, you might think this is such an easy recipe, why bothered to post it up? Oh no, this is really a surprise for me as well, but I have not made such a smooth, creamy and delicious pudding before! lol! Both my kids, even my hubs were going like "Mmmmm...how did you make it so so smooth and creamy?" And I was asking myself that question too, haha! 

Okay, why not just make all chocolate or all vanilla? Why mix? I guess I wanted to try both and make it the best of both worlds, hehehe. :D In fact after tasting it, I found that these two flavors actually compliments each other and not over powering over the other. Okay, in case you are wondering what is that tiny specs on the surface of the pudding in the above pic, it's just condensation going on...I'm slow with cameras. :P

I read quite a number of pudding recipes online and manage to come up with this one myself. But do try it, I guarantee you will love it as much as I do. ;)

Ingredients for Vanilla & Chocolate Pudding (serves 4, fills four 6 oz ramekins)

250ml fresh full cream milk

40g caster sugar

1/2 stick vanilla pod, slit open

10g gelatin powder

30g quality dark chocolate, chopped

10g quality cocoa powder

165ml + 50ml dairy heavy cream

• Place the chopped chocolate and the 50ml heavy cream in a heat proof bowl, microwave it for a minute. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes and then mix well. Sift in the cocoa powder and whisk well till you get a smooth, thick consistency. Set aside for use later.
• In a small pot, heat up the milk, sugar and vanilla pod over medium low heat. Once the sugar has melted and the milk is almost boiling (tiny bubbles on the side of the pot appears), remove from the heat and let cool for 3-5 minutes.
• Add in the gelatin powder and whisk well, making sure it is melted thoroughly.
• Add the 165ml heavy cream into the milk gelatine mixture. Stir well and sieve mixture.
• Pour half of this milk cream mixture equally into 4 ramekins, half way through. Chill for at least 30 minutes or till the surface is slightly firm to the touch.
• Add the chocolate mixture to the other reserved half milk cream mixture and whisk well till no visible lumps. Sieve again and pour into the 4 ramekins that already has the chilled vanilla milk pudding inside, dividing equally.
• Chill again, this time up to 2 hrs or more. Serve when ready. Enjoy!!

How about topping it off with some Oreo cookie crumbs to dress it up a little and add that extra texture? Yums! My kids really love this very much....will for sure make this again. ;) Hope this little treat will motivate my kid a little from all those annoying exams going on. :P

Of course, the shot that actually show how smooth and creamy this pudding is. This pudding is so smooth! It melts slowly in your mouth and the vanilla chocolate flavors lingers a while. Thumbs up!! ;) Chilled desert is so good in such hot weathers. Do remember the part about sieving the mixture, it does help remove tiny lumps which is definitely not desirable in such deserts.

I am happy to submit this to this month's  Aspiring Bakers #24 (October 2012)  Jellies & Puddings hosted by Charmaine of MiMi Bakery House

Enjoy your long weekend everyone! Cheers!

Princess Cake for My Little Princess

It will be about another 10 days before elder child be free from exams. Although I know she is pretty much prepared for it, but I guess just like any parent, it is still some what worrying matter for me. All I can do now is support and help her every step of the way, and hope for the best! >.< As for my younger child, no exams since she is still at her first year of primary. But it is sort of a bummer that her birthday falls near exam period. To make it a little happier for her, I took up the request she wanted for her birthday cake. What is it? A full fondant princess cake (no barbie doll) that must be made from chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. *yes, she got that chocolate thing from me*. Although I knew I had little time (1.5 days), but I figured my daughter will still love whatever I made for her, even if it's not so fantastic.

Yeah, you see right. It was raining cats and dogs that day. In fondant "land", humidity is a threat...it will literally soften your moulding and give it it's "shine" on the surface which is No good for fondant. In places like Singapore, humidity is unavoidable...unless if you blast your air con, haha! Luckily my princess cake didn't "glisten" from the wetness from the rain. *phew*

Considering the amount of time I had, I'm pretty happy with the end result. *heehee* No no, I didn't stay up till 3am in the night...I went straight to bed at midnight, lol! Somehow everything just fall into place. *thank goodness* Got some pointers from my good friend S and straighten out some issues about the fondant moulding. From then on, it was all smooth "sailing". Even managed to complete the cake before 3pm that day. Comparing with the Smurfette cake I made last year and the Tinkle Bell cake made the year before last..this cake one was actually easier! I guess learning from experience does help!

I modified Mrs NgSK butter cake recipe from Wendy's blog to a chocolate flavored butter cake.  I actually baked and tasted it before using my modified chocolate version and felt it was good. So this time I decided to use it here for the fondant cake. I reduced the sugar and up the liquid level. The chocolate butter cake is soft and yet stable enough to hold up the fondant. The recipe below is portioned to the amount I needed to fill a 6 " bowl pan and a 6" round pan. Feel free to adjust on your own if you are interested to try this out.

Recipe for Chocolate Butter cake

Egg yolk batter

290g unsalted butter, room temperature

130g caster sugar 

5 egg yolks

50ml fresh milk

20g dark chocolate, melted

200g cake flour

45g cocoa powder (I used Valrohna)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Egg white batter

5 egg whites

80g caster sugar

• Heat up the milk till it almost blubbing on the side. Add the chopped chocolate and let the heat of the milk melt it slowly. Stir well and let cool.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter till creamy, add sugar and continue to beat till the mixture is fluffy. 
• Add the cooled chocolate milk mixture into the butter mixture and beat well till combined. Add vanilla extract, combine.
• Then sift in the cake flour and cocoa powder in. Mix well and make sure no visible lumps.Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 170C and grease a 6 " bowl pan and a 6" round pan. I only lined the round cake pan. 
• Beat the egg white in a large mixing bowl till foamy. Then add the caster sugar (80g) gradually into the egg white and continue to beat till stiff peaks. 
• Gently fold in a third of the white to the egg yolk batter. Then in another 2 separate portions, fold in the rest of the whites. 
• Once everything is well combined,pour the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or till the cake tester comes out clean.
• Once baked, remove from oven and let cool completely before removing  from pan.

After the cake has cooled, slice the cake into 2 equal discs and spread the chocolate buttercream between the layers. Then spread a thin layer of buttercream so that the fondant can adhere to the cake properly. As for the rest of the fondant moulding, I will hopefully show you on other posts next time.*heehee* I forgotten to take photos while doing the moulding. :P

Showing the back view of the cake...I love the ribbon, heehee. :D As much as my girl love this cake, she still have a little complain over it...she asked why I didn't make a tiara, she said that crown looks a king's crown?! Oh well...kids now a days are really hard to please. :P

 

A look at the sliced up cake...yes, we sliced up the princess. :P My girl has no problem with that I assure you. Somehow the urge to eat the chocolate cake inside is greater, haha! The cake was delicious, not too sweet, moist and holds it's shape well throughout the whole assembling. Success!!

On my last note, I just want to say this: If you choose to bake a cake for your child. Don't sweat it if the fondant is not mould to what it looks like in the picture. Or the cake was a little lop-sided. Or even if the taste of the cake was a little drier then expected. Don't worry! Just bare in mind that the most important thing is you made it with lots of love and care...just for that person. ;) That's all that matters! So enjoy the process and happy baking!!

Have a great Sunday everyone! Cheers!

 

Summer Treat: Heavenly Milo & Oreo Jelly

The weather is getting hotter as summer heat moves in. But as much as we are enjoying nice warm weathers here with occasional showers, there are still storms and floods in parts of China, while terrible typhoons threathens the coast of Taiwan. Not to mention droughts in parts of US that results in poor crop yield and thus global food shortage. Mother nature is getting more tempermental then before as the global warming is getting more imperative, something that we shouldn't just ignore now. Have you been playing your part in helping our planet Earth? Perhaps recycling more, less usage of air conditioner or even your car might just be the first few steps. ;)

Okay, all this talk about our Earth, perhaps will trigger you a little to help out too....even in the smallest way.

Back to today's post. (^.^) Its a really simple summer treat and I think not only the kids will love it, the adults will too! ;P It's Heavenly Milo and Oreo Jelly which was posted by Rima from Bisous a Toi. When I saw this, I knew at that moment I have to try it out. ;)) But it's too bad mine didn't turn out as beautiful as hers. :P

Somehow I suspect the jelly powder I use does not "gelatinize"as well as the one Rima used. I shall up my jelly powder amount the next time I make this. Regardless the jelly was delish! Indeed heavenly and addicitive. ;))

The Milo and oreo flavor blend in really well. My kids loved it very much and so did I, hahaha! I must say I haven't enjoyed jelly this much for a long time. :)

I will repost the recipe here but with slight modifications. Thanks Rima for sharing!

Ingredients for Milo & Oreo Jelly:

15g Jelly Powder (Agar-Agar Powder)
650ml water
150g caster sugar
1 can (400g) Evaporated Milk / (400ml fresh milk is fine)
3/4 cup Milo Powder
1 pack (137g) Oreo Cookies - Break up the cookies and leaving the creme inside

• In a large saucepot, add the water and jelly powder in. Heat the mixture and stir till jellypowder has dissolved.
• Add in caster sugar & cook until sugar is dissolved. Then add in evaporated milk, stir to mix well then switch off fire once you see bubbles forming at the side of the pot.
• Ladle out 2 cups of the jelly mixture into another pot and stir in the Milo powder. Continue to stir making sure all of the milo powder is properfly dissolved in.
• Ladle about half of the Milo mixture into your jelly moulds and let the remaining half warm up on smallest fire.
• Let the milo jelly set slightly in the mould (but not too much!) on surface before pouring the milk jelly layer on. when you ladle the milk jelly in, be at most caution else might end up mainx the two layers.
• Sprinkle oreo cookies into the milk jelly layer. then let it set for awhile.
• Lastly add the remaining milo mixture as the final layer. Let cool before putting into the fridge to chill for at least 2 to 3 hours. Serve cold.

Due to the insuffucient jelly powder I used, the jelly's texture turned out to be like those soy beanurd...a wee bit soft. But I guess different brand of jelly powder probably yield different texture. I love Pearl Mermaid Brand(from Thailand), it always gives really smooth texture. If you are using other brand, perhaps you might want to use the original amount of 10g instead of 15g.

Loads of yummy Oreo inside. ;)) Hope you folks will give this fun and delicious recipe a try.

Gonna sign off now. Wishing everyone out there a wonderful and relaxing weekend! Cheers!

Easy Gourmet Pumpkin Soup

Apologies for the slow posting this week, but my laptop has been giving me problem lately. I am actually using my husband's now and have to get mine fix over the weekend. *haiz* Luckily I still have a couple of recipes in the flash drive that I can share with you all this week. Else I'll be MIA in the coming 2 weeks! Anyway, these 2 recipes are really easy to whip up and it actually took me less then 2 hours to get them on the table. First recipe is this delicious pumpkin soup that taste like from a fine dining restaurant but yet it can be so easily prepared at your own kitchen. Don't believe me? Just check it out for yourself:

Okay, maybe the presentation need some work, but I can guarantee you this soup taste really good. Don't like pumpkin? Don't fret, you won't feel like you're drinking pumpkin soup! I know most Asians don't usually fancy such thick, creamy soup since it doesn't go with the vegetables and dishes on the table. But having this soup occasionally on a lazy weekend, serving it with some salad or bruschetta is quite a delight too. :P

When I was in California, I made this so often since my husband and I love it very much. Plus having it during winter was so comforting! Downing it with some simple toast and we are already feasting, hahaha! This soup taste like restaurant gourmet soup that will surely impress your family and guests. But you will be surprise how simple the ingredients are involve, check it out:

Ingredients for Simple Gourmet Pumpkin Soup: (Serves 5-6) (adapted from Foodnetwork.coml)

1 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrots, peeled and diced
1 apple, peeled and diced
2 cups fresh pumpkin, roasted and diced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leave (omit if not available)
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup fresh cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 portabella, sliced

• To roast the pumpkin, preheat the oven to 200C. Peel and dice the pumpkin and place on baking dish. Sprinkle salt and black pepper over the diced pumpkin and coat with some olive oil. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes till tender. Note that dice the pumpkin smaller to save roasting time.
  

• In the meantime, heat up a large pot with the butter. Add in diced onions, apples and carrots. Stir and cook till slightly tender. Add in the dried thyme, bay leaf and the roasted pumpkin.
• 
• Continue to cook till mixture is slightly mushy. Add in the chicken stock and cream into it. Cook the mixture till just boil. Off the fire and let cool slightly.
• 
• Then remove the bay leave. Blend the mixture till creamy and return the mixture into the pot and heat up again, but no need to boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. (I only added pepper, the soup was already very flavorful!)

• In a saute pan, heat a tsp of oil and saute the sliced portabella till soften and cooked. Sprinkle some black pepper and salt and garnish over the pumpkin soup if desired.

If you prefer a healthier version, you can choose to omit the cream. Else, live a little...pour on the cream and taste the heavenly creamy soup. ;))

Hope this soup will be served at your dinner table too. It's really a nice simple gourmet soup that is so easy to make. Try it and you will know how delicious this is. ;)

Still not used to this laptop, so will post the other recipe some other day.
Hope to see you folks soon.....cheers all!

Chocolate bread loaf & Chocolate Ganache Buns

I realise it has been awhile since I posted something on chocolate. That is so unlike me! I guess I have been re-baking the old chocolate recipes and thus not looking out for new ones. Well, don't fret chocoholics (including yours truly), today I've just another yummy chocolate bread post, sure to quench your love for it. :) The main reason why I did this recipe was because of my younger kid whom love this particular chocolate bun which was sold in a bakery store in Malaysia. She would ALWAYS ask me to buy that chocolate bun for her. ;P So why not bake some myself?

Besides these yummy chocolate buns, I made a chocolate bread loaf as well. Both delicious!

This recipe was actually done a month back but only got to post up now. But I am already thinking of baking this again next week, heehee. :D I saw this recipe from here, but I made some changes to it. I added a pre fermented dough to the recipe to introduce better elasticity texture to the bread. I like the extra Q Q taste. :) Note that I doubled the below recipe which allowed me to bake a loaf (9x5x4) and 4 buns.

Ingredients for Chocolate bread

200g bread flour

50g cake flour

25g cocoa powder

50g pre fermented dough (refer here for recipe)

8g milk powder

5g instant active yeast

30g caster sugar

4g salt

1 large egg

130ml water

20g unsalted butter

25g dark chocolate, melted

some chocolate buttercream for the filling

• 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 consistency and pass the window panel test.
• 
• Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let it prove for 30minutes till double.
• If making a loaf: Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Flatten each portion with your hands to drive the air out. Roll it into square shape, cover and let rest for 20 minutes before shaping.
• If making buns: Divide the dough into 50g per portions. Roll round and seal any edges. Let proof for 25 to 30 minutes till double in size.
• Flatten the dough to drive the air out. Roll each out into a rectangular sheet with a rolling pin. Fold about 2cm from both sides towards the center and roll it out again. Roll the dough up like swiss roll (the width should be the same as the tin) and out them into the mould. Repeat for the rest of the dough portions. Cover with cling wrap. Let it prove for about 45 minutes or until the dough has risen to 80 to 90% of the depth of the loaf tin. You can either cover the lid or bake it open top like mine. If open top, brush with egg wash.
• Bake in 175C oven for 12-13 minutes for buns and loaf for 30 to 35minutes.

• At this point, you can pipe the chocolate buttercream into the buns once it has been cooled down completely. (Note that you can poke a hole on one side of the bun before piping in)
• 
• Then dip the filled buns into the melted chocolate and let cool. ( Oops I did the dip before the piping, haha)

Both the loaf and the buns were very soft. ;) And I was glad that I added the pre-fermented dough into this recipe. ;)

It goes with out saying that the happiest fellow in the house was my kid. She took one straight after I finished making the buns and say it's better then the bakery store....eh, OK my dear. ;)

Okay folks, gonna sign off now. Have a good day all!