Melon Bread

I've always loved Melon Bread (or "Por Lo Bao" as it's also known in Chinese). It has that sweet, slightly crunchy top, and is soft and fluffy, underneath the crust. The recipe I tried out has a crust that's even more "cookie" and the bun itself is very soft. I made half with some home-made azuki bean filling and sprinkled a little black sesame on top to distinguish it from the plain ones. The plain ones here have the traditional cross-hatch design on the top.

Melon Bread:

175 g bread flour
8 g fresh yeast
115 g water
25 g sugar

-mix above ingredients and leave to proof for 2 hours

50 g bread flour
25 g pastry flour
3 g salt
45 g sugar
12 g milk powder
25 g milk
12 g shortening/lard

- mix all except the shortening into the proofed dough. When mixed, add shortening and knead till elastic. Cover and proof for 30 minutes.




-meanwhile, make the cookie dough crust:

60 g sugar
25 g butter
40 g eggs
3 g rum
10 g milk
120 g pastry flour

- cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and liquids and mix till combined. Add flour last and form dough.



-Take the proofed dough and scale out 50 g each and form into balls. Flatten out a small piece of cookie dough and wrap on the top of the ball. Score a design on the dough and sprinkle with sugar. Proof for 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit till slightly golden, rotating pan halfway.



And here's the finished product:

It's A Brioche Kind Of Day

It was my day off work today and for some strange reason, I've been craving brioche lately so I thought I'd try out some new things.

I did a small batch of dough with seaweed folded into the dough and sprinkled a few on top after I egg-washed it. I was worried that the seaweed would burn in the oven but luckily they didn't. The dough, however, turned a nice glossy brown that just looked so pretty.

I left some of the dough plain because I wanted to test out some Challah. I always see these beautiful Challah that we get at work from Swiss Bakery and I've always wanted to braid bread. I looked up a few things on the internet on the braiding technique but it got a little complicated and confusing so I just sort of made it up after the 3rd attempt. It turned out pretty well though! Not very traditional but not bad either. I was very proud of myself.

I have yet to try out some green tea flavoured ones (as you can tell, I'm a bit of a green tea lover, especially when it comes to baked goods) and fill the inside with some azuki bean filling. There's always next time!