Nutella Bread

It stays soft the next day ... 

This is not the standard sliced bread size but slightly smaller. It s better to proof as one whole dough in a standard loaf pan, instead of cutting it to half and make 2 breads.

Ingredients

210ml cold fresh milk
300gm bread flour
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instant dried yeast
25gm unsalted butter (softened)
3 tbsp nutella

Method

1) Use the mixing bowl, add in milk, bread flour, castor sugar, salt and instant dried yeast, in that order. Careful not to let the yeast come into contact with the salt before mixing.

2) Use the dough hook of the kitchen machine or stand mixer, start kneading with low speed. I used Philip kitchen machine alternating between speed 1 and 2.

3) Knead until dough come together, about 5 minutes. Stop the mixer. Rub the butter into dough. Rubbing the butter into dough allow the butter to be incorporated easier and faster. It's ok if you don't want to dirty hand and just throw in the butter.

4) Continue to knead at low speed until butter is thoroughly incorporated. Add in nutella spread.

5) Knead the dough until it can be stretched to a thin membrane before it breaks. It took my kitchen machine about 12-15 minutes, alternating between speed 1 and 2.

6) When the dough is ready, remove from mixing bowl. Shape the dough into rectangular dough and put into a loaf pan. Since I don't have a loaf pan, I cut the dough into half and shape into 2 rectangular dough and put into a 7"x7" square cake pan. Do not over-work the dough at this point.

7) Let it rise until at least double the size. Time depend on how warm the environment. I turned on my microwave at high for 20 seconds, then turn it off. Put the cake pan with the shaped dough into the turned off microwave and closed the door. It took about 1.5 -  2 hours for it to rise till it reaches the brim of the pan.

8) Bake at preheated oven 170 degree C for 20-25 minutes. Note that this is just the reference setting from the original recipe. Different oven will have different behaviour. My convection oven did not need preheating, and I baked it at 150 degree C for 25 minutes. If you do not know what to put, it is safer to bake at lower temperature for longer time. When the top is browned, it is done.

9) Remove from oven and cool on wire rack before slicing with a sharp knife.

This is the original recipe shared by a friend which uses bread machine

Steamed Plain Mantou

I used "pau flour" and I think the smell of the flour is too strong. Those "Fortune" frozen mantou sold in supermarket uses wheat flour. Maybe I will test with wheat flour next round.

I half the amount to make two dough. One plain, and the other I added some pandan paste. Fresh pandan juice from pandan leafs does not give such nice green.

I also think this recipe is really too plain and it's only good for eating with curry or chilly crab or something like that. I will add some vanilla extract too next round.

Steamed for 5 minutes next morning and it's still soft.

Recipe adapted from https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_srpDyXep0

Steamed Brown Sugara Rice Pudding with Red Beans 红豆砵仔糕

This is the shape of my one only rice bowl at home. Original rice pudding uses traditional chinese rice bowls which is smaller

Good thing about homemade is you can put as much as red beans as you like. This is still not enough for me ... LOL

Recipe from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXCHnFON7dc. But I used brown sugar and bumped up the amount to 80gm because I remember those that I ate in Hong Kong was not sweet enough for me.  

I also steamed with my electric steamer for 25 minutes instead of the suggested 10-12 minutes.

Apam Balik Thick Version

Attacked before I could even take a photo

This is what will happen if you are too greedy with the filling ... All oozing out ...

Recipe from http://www.seasaltwithfood.com/2015/03/apam-balikpancake-with-peanuts-filling.html

Butter Cookies (Updated 5 June 2015)

This is literally BUTTER cookies. It's so buttery and soft, it melts in your mouth. The dough is quite difficult to shape even after refrigerated because it is soft. But softness is the key to melt in your mouth cookies. So next time I will use the piping method instead.

Melts in your mouth, not in your hands ... :)

Ingredient

345g all-purpose flour

250g butter, room temperature

112g super fine sugar or icing sugar

5ml vanilla extract
1 egg

Method

1. Cream the butter until light. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
3. Gradually blend in the flour. Cover and chill dough for at least 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.
5. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness. 
6. Cut into desired shapes, using lightly floured cookie cutters. 
7. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets/aluminium foil.
8. Bake at 175 degrees C for 8 to 12 minutes or until slightly golden.
9. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

Note: If using piping method or cookie press, do not need to refrigerate the dough mixture. Put straight into piping bag or cookie press and start piping after mixing in flour.

Note to self: Since my oven does not have heating from bottom, I have to turn the cookie upside down and bake second round until the bottom is baked.

Updated 5 June 2015

1) Lurpak is really a soft butter. Piped using the cookie press with piping nozzle is much easier than using cookie cutter. 

Not very pretty because my very bad piping skill ... =P

2) If too lazy to shape or pipe, shape into a log and put in freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and cut into pieces immediately as the dough will get soften very quickly.

Shape into a log

Wrap with cling film wrap and put into freezer for 30 minutes

Cut into pieces immediately after removing from the freezer