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Sorry it has been a long time since I last posted some new recipe! I have been spending a lot of time making breads, and totally addicted to it.

After a few trials, I am happy to share with you the base of the 'Tangzhong' bread and a few variations of flavours.

Tangzhong, or water roux, is a mixture of bread flour and milk, by cooking them together in a low temperature and form a 'paste' like mixture to add into the dough, this will make the bread result in an extra fluffy and moist texture.

The steps below are 100% machine free (apart from the oven of course), so it would be handy for anyone who does not have a lot equipments at home.

The recipe is a combination of a few, Just One Cookbook, Carol Easy Life and a close friend Phoebe.

You may refer to Carol's blog for a very detailed video on the kneading method!

Tangzhong Bread: (make 8pcs)

225g bread flour
25ml full fat milk (kept in 35*C)
25ml double cream (kept in 35*C)
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp fast easy dry yeast*
30g unsalted butter, in room temp, cut in to cubes
1 egg
100g tangzhong

Tangzhong: (make 100g)

1/2 cup full fat milk
22.5g bread flour

1. Prepare the 'Tangzhong' by combing the 2 ingredients in a small saucepan, stir under low heat until forming a paste. Remove from heat, cover with cling film and set aside.

2. Mix together flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

1. Tangzhong covered with cling film set aside for use

2. Butter cut in small cubes

3. Flour, sugar and salt mixed together

3. In a small bowl, combine the milk and double cream, add in the yeast and 1 tsp of sugar. Leave them alone and let the yeast react with the warm liquid. If you see little bubbles coming out around the yeast, you know they are 'alive'. Set aside for 15mins.

Before and after: Yeast mixed with warm milk + double cream

4. In a large bowl, mix together egg, tangzhong and the yeast mixture by hand (Hang on to the stickiness). Add flour, sugar and salt, mix with one hand in a circular motion until it form a dough.

Mix together 1 egg, tangzhong and yeast in a large bowl.

Add flour and mix well

Constantly scraping flours from the sides to mix well all ingredients until it form a dough

5. Transfer the dough on a clean surface dusted with bread flour. Knead the dough with the heel of the palm, push it away from your body then fold it back towards yourself. Continue this process in a anti-clockwise direction for about 10mins until the dough is smooth and not sticky.

Transfer the dough on a clean surface, dusted with bread flour

Kneading: Knead the dough with heel of palm, away from yourself

Fold it back towards yourself and rotate in anti-clockwise direction, repeat.

6. Push and stretch the dough into a long shape and place the cube of unsalted butter along the dough, roll it upwards so it form into a dough shape again. Continue with the kneading method in anti-clockwise direction for another 10 mins or until the dough is not sticky.

Stretch the dough into a long shape and place cubes of butter along the dough, roll it up and continue with kneading.

7. Now it comes to my favourite part - banging the dough against the clean surface. First, pick up the dough and bang it heavily against the counter away from yourself - do not loose grab of it. Then fold it away from yourself and grab it on the right hand side, and toss it again, so you are working the dough in an anti-clockwise direction.

Bang the dough heavily against the counter.

Fold it away from yourself.

Pick up from the right hand side.

Continue with the banging.

8. After a good 10-15 mins, the dough should be ready - you can test it by spreading a small area with the thumb and fingers, if it can be stretched into a thin sheet without breaking into holes, it means there are enough gluten in the dough for the next stage.

Test the dough with stretching in to a thin layer.

9. Make the dough into a ball shape by pulling the sides downwards and rotate on the left palm. Sprinkle a thin layer of olive oil in a bowl before putting the dough in it. Cover with cling film and rest the dough in an un-preheated oven for 1 hour. Place a bowl of boiling water in the bottom layer of the oven to keep the dough moist.

Spread a thin layer of olive oil on the bowl.

Cover the bowl with cling film.

Place a bowl of boiling water underneath the dough when resting in the cool oven.

10. After it has been doubled in size, dust an index finger with bread flour and stick in in the middle of the dough, if the hole does not bounce back and closing the hole, the dough is ready.

11. Transfer the dough on the counter, press it hard and press out air bubbles in the dough. Fold it from the 2 sides and then from top and bottom. Turn it over and make into a ball shape again. Divide the dough into 8 even pieces, press each piece flat and fold again to create the ball shape.

Press out the air bubbles.

Fold in from the sides.

Then from top and bottom.

Turn it over and form into a ball shape again.

Divide the dough in to 8 even pieces.

1. Press flat again,

2. Fold in from both sides,

3. Fold from top and bottom,

4. Turn over and form back into a ball shape.

12. Put the 8 balls on a baking tray, cover with cling film and rest for 15 mins in room temperature.

13. Press each ball flat and put filling** in the middle, fold the sides back in and make it back into a ball shape.

1. Press dough flat again and place the filling in the middle.
2. Cover the filing from all sides.
3. Knead up the closure and turn the bread over.

Rest the bread again in oven for an hour until they are doubled in size.

14. Rest in the oven like before for another hour.

15. Preheat oven in 175*C while brushing each bread with a mixture of 1 egg + 2 tbsp of water.

16. Bake in oven for 20 mins.

VARIATIONS:

Chinese Style Pineapple Bun

Crust: (make 8pcs)

50g unsalted butter
40g sugar
25g egg
100g cake flour
3g baking powder
vanilla essence

1. Sift together flour and baking powder.

2. Cream butter with sugar in 3-4 additions.

3. Add egg and vanilla essence, mix well.

4. Sift in flour and baking powder and gently fold in.

5. Press into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill in fridge for 30mins.

6. After resting the bread for the 2nd time, take out the crust dough from fridge. Roll it into a long strip and divid evenly into 8 portions.

7. Press each piece flat and place it on top of each bread. Use a knife to draw cross patterns on the crust.

8. Brush on top the egg mixture (1 egg + 2 tbsp water) before baking.

Roll the crust dough into a long strip.

Divide into 8 equal portions.

Press into a flat sheet.

Lay on top of each bun and draw cross pattern with a knife.

Raisins bun

Roll the individual dough into a long shape and sprinkle raisins on top.
Roll it back up and knead the two sides joining in the bottom.

*I am using this fast action dried yeast from Sainsbury's, it comes in 8 sachets, 1 sachet roughly equals 4 tsp. Really like the idea of packing them in small sachets - normally when I open a tub of yeast, I just leave them die in the storage cupboard. Now with this packing, the yeast can last longer!

** I am using red bean as filling, which I will share the recipe in a separate post

Looking at baking utensils has always been one of my favourite thing to do while shopping. There was this one time my husband saw a madeleine baking tray in a shop and said he would love to have freshly baked madeleine for breakfast. However, I was too cheap and waited until I was back in Hong Kong couple weeks ago to buy a madeleine tray for half the price in the UK - believe it or not, it's a lot cheaper to get baking utensils in Hong Kong (But baking ingredients are cheaper over here to be fair)

Right, so the first thing I took care of after returning to London was to bake him a fresh batch of madeleine for breakfast.

The first trail was based on a recipe found on Joy Of Baking , one of the sites that I read the most few years ago, when I first fell in love with baking, and Jamie Oliver's recipe. I used less sugar as illustrated by both sites, and the result is not only is it less sweet but a stronger taste of the eggs.

They taste best when they are fresh from oven, with a crispy skin and fluffy centre. One small tip, make a batch and store in fridge for up to 1 week, just bake them 15 minutes before serving! What's better to wake your husband up with fresh madeleine scent!

Madeleine (makes 12 pcs)

Ingredients

55g butter
65g flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/16 tsp salt
2 eggs (in room temperature)
50g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp lemon zest (optional)

For Pandan flavour:
1 tbsp pantan paste
1 tbsp full fat coconut milk

Preheat the oven to 190*C.

Melt the butter over simmering water, and keep it warm.

In a medium bowl, sifted together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolk with sugar in high speed, until it become pale in yellow and fluffy, it will take about 5 minutes. After that, gently beat in vanilla and lemon zest (Or the pandan paste and coconut milk if doing 2nd option), do not over mix. In 3 additions, sift in the dry ingredients to the egg yolk batter, gently fold in until even after each addition.

Beat together egg and sugar until fluffy.

Add lemon zest and vanilla, mix well.

Sift in flour mixture in 3 additions.

Fold in gently after each addition.

When the dry ingredients are mixed to the egg yolk batter, take 3 tbsp of the batter into the warm melted butter. Whisk it slightly so that the density is easier to mix in with the egg batter.

Mix 3 tbsp of batter with melted butter to thicken the density.

Gently pour half the melted butter mixture into egg batter and fold in. Continue for 2nd addition after evenly mixed.

In 2 addition, mix melted butter with egg batter.

Before they are ready to bake, pour the batter in tupperware and refrigerate for at least 1 hour - this step is essential if you want the madeleine to raise beautifully.

Transfer batter into tupperware and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour.

While chilling the batter, we can prepare the baking tray. Brush the madeleine shell with melted butter, dust it over with flour. Then toss it in the fridge to chill for 5 minutes.