Tuesday, June 14, 2011

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!

30 comments:

  1. This is so cute and creative!

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  2. They are so cute! You are always very good with all these decorating ideas!

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  3. I bet your children were thrilled by them cos the buns are sooooo cute! And I like the fact that you used pumpkin too - a healthy alternative :D

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  4. WOW! this is so cute! (: and the bread look so soft and fluffy! i watched the musical! so nice (:

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  5. These buns are very cute and I bet they taste good!

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  6. 南瓜做面包我也很喜欢也,颜色黄金黄金的很吸引人。

    这个面包真的好可爱哦。你的这个点子真不错。:))

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  7. Haha, so lovely little lions! *roar* ;)

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  8. I want to learn to make this, so cute :D

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  9. so so so so cute.
    I love the different eye brows the lions have instead of being all the same. It gives the lions different 'personality'.

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  10. This is so creative and cute!!! It is no doubt that your kids will love them so much.

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  11. Looks really yummy. The bread texture looks so light and fluffy. Great job. I recently baked pumpkin bread buns too. My boys loved them. Will try your recipe with the floss. 

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  12. This is definetely the BEST one!! They were too cute to eat and not to mention the texture....from the picture they look so soft. I just can't imagine if you let me have a bite...I'll take the whole tray...haha!

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  13. These lion king breads are sooooo cute... copy down the pattern... thks for sharing... hehe

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  14. Hi HoneyBeeSweets,
    Your buns look too cute. I guess no kids can turn away from them :).

    Can I ask you a question? If I want to make buns like yours, do you think I can leave the dough in the refrigerator for the first rise? For example, in the evening, I would knead the dough with a standmixer like you wrote, then leave the dough in the refrigerator, fully covered. Then I would take it out, say, in the next day's afternoon, leave it at room temperature for a while, then would let it prove (second rise) or shape the buns then bake etc. I've had this question for a long time but haven't found an answer, can you help me? I'm a full-time working mum with 2 kids, that's why I need a way to make breads/buns which better suits my schedule. I hope I don't sound so silly here. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  15. Thanks Wen!

    Hahaha! Zoe, I love coming up with fun ideas. ;)

    Thanks Swee San!

    Thanks Janine. :) I love using pumpkin or root vegetables in my dough, it makes it softer and tastier.

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  16. Thanks Jasmine. Oh really? You watched Lion King already? Okay...hope my family and I will have a great time enjoying the Musical.

    Thanks busygran!

    Thanks Edith!

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  17. 谢谢茄子!我还有点儿担心这狮子看起来象猴子呢!哈哈!不过做这面包还蛮好玩的。 ;)

    Thanks Cathy! ~Roar~! Lol!

    Thanks Ann! It's actually not too hard..hope you'll have fun baking it! :)

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  18. @Wendy: Heehee, I was actually cutting the face features using free hand & scissors(no special cutter) So that's why every piece is different and thus all the unique looks on the lions, heehee. :)

    Thanks hanusi! Yes, my kids loves it very much...still asking for it even though all finished. :P

    Thanks Shaz. :) I love using pumpkin, it gives the dough a bright golden color. Hope you like this recipe, it's pretty yummy!

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  19. Reese, I can bake you a tray if you come visit me again, heehee! Try it lah...with any bread recipe you like, the lion decoration is pretty fun to do...ask Cheryl to help!

    Hahaha, thanks neyeeloh! Hope you have fun trying this out. :)

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  20. Hi RPVN,

    Sorry for my slow response. I usually take quite awhile to reply the comments nowadays. ;P

    To answer you question about chilling the 1st proofed dough in the fridge is YES. I believe you can leave it up to 6-8hrs. But to leave it the night before then until to next day afternoon is a bit too long. That will be like 10+hrs! It might become sour dough and over proofed. I suggest you try it with only 6 to 8 hrs of chilling and see how it goes from there. Good luck!

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  21. Look like you had a fun time making this lion king bread with your kids huh. You are so creative, and this bread look so fluffy and healthy , good job my friend.

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  22. you're a musical fan! i've not been to a real musical play. I also read in someone's blog that she went to an opera show recently, if i were to go to one, i think i wld need to read or at least know the story a little to enjoy the real show. Your kids sure have lots of fun helping you out! I probably eat all the hair first!hmm.. let's see..i can spot papa lion, mamalion and granpapa lion! hahaha!

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  23. Hi HoneyBeeSweets,

    Thank you, thank you so much. I've been searching everywhere for the answer to that question and now you confirm it, it's like taking a burden off my mind :). I'll go on and try to make the dough early in the morning, then leave it in the fridge, and take it out early in the afternoon. I'll make sure to tell you how it goes :).

    By the way, I baked the marble bundt cake using your recipe the other day. I prepared the dried cranberries but then forgot to mix them in :p. Anyway, the cake turned out really good, very soft with a nice flavour. I'll post it in my blog soon :).

    Thank you for keeping on sharing. You're so kind.

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  24. OMG! So cute! Love the color of the bread. Thanks for sharing.

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  25. cute little lions! I must try this ...

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  26. Bee, these buns look really cute! And I love meatfloss as well. It's a great combination. Thanks for sharing. Hoepe you're enjoying your weekend.
    Kristy

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  27. They are so cute and creative! I bet they taste great with the pumpkin inside as well.

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  28. Hi pastapieandpirouettes,

    thanks for dropping by, appreciate it. Yes these lion buns were quite fun to bake. :)

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