FLOSS BUN

Meat floss or Rousong as they call it becomes our favourite addition in baking especially bread. It comes in pork, beef, chicken, mutton, fish or squid. A light, fluffy dried meat prepared with spices, sugar, salt and soya sauce to produce a sweet and savoury meat wool. 

Today, i am using meat floss to garnish an ordinary bun into an extra ordinary delight. Here's how--

FLOSS BUN
Makes   1049 g raw dough, yields 13 buns at 80g each

 

Tan zhong, mix to combine

1 c bread flour

1 c boiling water

 

Dough

2 ½ c bread flour

1 c milk

1 egg

1/3 c sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp instant yeast

¼ bar butter (50 g) softened

 

Fresh milk for brushing before baking the dough

 

For topping

1/3 c Japanese mayo

2 tbsp condensed milk

1 tbsp light corn syrup

1 tbsp lemon juice

 

1 c Pork floss, you can mix with a little of white sesame seeds and shredded seaweed (Furikake)

 

Place all dough ingredients in a bowl of stand mixer. Mix and knead for about 15 minutes to achieve a smooth dough. Proof for an hour or until dough doubles its size. 

When done, punch the dough and divide dough into 80 grams each.

Flatten and roll the dough to form a log.   Place the log buns on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Rest for about an hour. When ready, brush with fresh milk.

Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes. Cool before finishing it with the toppings.

Enjoy!

PAN DE SAL

Pan de sal (Pandesal) as we know it is considered an indigenous bread in the Philippines. Wherever you go, there is always pandesal to consume at any time of the day. This bread is nothing special to it except for the "ingenuity" of this bun. The mixture of flour, yeast, egg, sugar and salt is nothing new in this bread making, but the crumbs that goes around the dough and the flashback of memories after each bite --- that makes it extra special! 😊

I have been challenging myself to make recipes to my liking and every creation is a piece of delicious art. Kinda poto (pride of the owner)😁. This sure deserves the archive. Sharing this piece--

PAN DE SAL

Another original recipe

Yields  about   806g raw dough, makes about 20 pcs pan de sal at 40g each

Placed in a 12x16 baking tray at (4x5)

 

Ingredients

2 ½ c bread flour

1 tsp instant yeast

1 large egg

1/3 c caster sugar

1 c fresh milk

1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt (Hao-chi😉, or any seasoned salt you prefer)

 

Additional

1 tsp oil to grease the bowl

Bread crumbs to coat (I used the Parmesan Bread Crumbs)

 

Equipment:  Stand mixer

Method

Place flour, yeast, seasoned salt and sugar in a bowl of stand mixer. Mix to combine at low speed. 

Stop the mixer and add milk, egg, butter and vanilla. Knead to a rough dough. 

Continue to knead and start the clock of 15 minutes until you achieve a smooth dough (the clean bowl is an indicator that you have been kneading it correctly).

When done, take the dough out of the bowl, form into a big ball.

Grease the same bowl with 1 tsp oil before putting back the dough in it or grease another bowl where you will proof your dough. 

Cover the bowl with cling wrap. Proof dough for at least an hour or until double in size. 

Yup, that's the parmesan bread crumbs you see!

When done, divide into 40g each. Roll into a ball and dredge with bread crumbs. 

Place the mini balls in a baking tray  at least an inch apart to rest for another hour.

Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

Bake pan de sal for about 15 minutes or until lightly brown.

Serve hot with spread or eat it plain.

Enjoy!

To warm it up... you can heat it up in a microwave for 10-15 secs or pop in the oven at 175 degrees C for 5 minutes to re-heat and you'll have as good as fresh Pan De Sal.

CINNAMON QUEZ-O ENSAYMADA

I love cinnamon rolls and i love fusion. Thinking of combining two delectable flavours is always a challenge, some of my adventures failed but majority succeeded and all of my successes are impeccably delicious! Well, who else is going to appreciate it but Moi 😆!

If you are craving for your favourite cinnamon roll & ensaymada, then you want to have both worlds but time is a constraint, well, this is for you --

CINNAMON QUEZ-O ENSAYMADA

 

QUEZ-O Ensaymada Dough use this recipe

 

Filling

½ c unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ c brown sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp cornstarch

 

In a bowl mix brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch.

Take ½ of the cinnamon mixture and combine with butter.  Cream to incorporate.

Then set aside.

 

Frosting

1 bar cream cheese

¼ c unsalted butter, softened

1 c powdered sugar

½ tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp salt, optional

 

You can use a stand mixer or a whisk and manually mix the ingredients, sort of obliging yourself to do exercise!

Cream butter and cream cheese.

Add powdered sugar and mix to combine.

Add lemon juice, vanilla and salt if using.

Set aside.

Back to the dough recipe to assemble...

Grab one dough ball and flatten it. Spread the butter cinnamon mix, then sprinkle with sugar cinnamon then roll and coil the dough. Place it in a mould and let it rest for another hour or until size doubles or triples. Then, proceed with baking at  175 degrees C for about 10 minutes. Cool and finish it up with frosting and cheese toppings.

Coiled and Resting before baking

Frosted with Cream Cheese

Enjoy your share 😋

QUEZ-O ENSAYMADA

Ensaymada is another staple bread in my community. There are dozens of variants in dough and several flavours flooding the market nowadays and each one looks delicious as the other. I got challenged.  Although I already perfected my own recipe, the thirst for searching and creating new ones is always calling. So, I decided to create another ensaymada recipe to have variations too. And this is where the fun comes in, create, re-create and test my creations. And if it passed the test, it goes to my archive. Yay!

Cheese is important in ensaymada making and there is no hard and fast rule on what cheese to use. Cheese is always subjective and of preferential taste, if  a particular kind of cheese impresses your palate, then use it. 

Sharing to you today is  another recipe which EDAM CHEESE is the key😊.  Surprisingly, our famous Christmas red waxed ball cheese called Queso de bola is a semi-hard Edam Cheese from Netherlands. What a coincidence 😋! 

Here it is --

QUEZ-O ENSAYMADA

Yields  about 988g raw dough

Makes about 19 pcs of 50g dough

3 c bread flour 

2 tsp instant yeast

½ c caster sugar

1 tbsp powdered milk

1 c fresh milk

1 tbsp honey

4 egg yolks

¼ salted butter, cubed (if you use unsalted butter, add ¼ tsp salt )

1 tsp vanilla

½ c grated cheddar cheese

1 tsp oil for greasing the bowl when proofing – to prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl if this concerns you much, otherwise this is optional.

 

Topping:

2 tbsp powdered sugar

¼ c softened butter

Edam Cheese, grated (I used a zester to get that shreds of cheese as compared to the classic Ensaymada which I have with longer cheese ribbons or strands).

Cream butter and powdered sugar. Spread on a cooled ensaymada buns then top with Edam Cheese.  Ready to Serve.

 

Method for Dough

In a stand mixer, pour flour, yeast,  sugar and powdered milk. Using a low speed, mix to combine. 

 

With the mixer running, slowly add fresh milk, honey, eggyolks, butter and vanilla. Continue mixing and slowly add cheddar cheese.  Increase speed and continue kneading for at least 15 minutes to create a smooth dough. 

 

When done, take the dough out and transfer to another bowl then pour 1 tsp of oil in the bowl to grease it (again greasing with oil is optional)

 

Mould the dough into a big ball and return to the greased bowl.

 

Proof for at least 1 ½ hr or so (I proofed mine for 3 hrs cause I have other things to do ) until dough doubles or have risen properly (mine is when my dough reaches the top rim of the bowl, that’s good enough for me😉).

 

When done, punch the dough, place it in a chopping board (or your working space) and divide the dough into 50g each. Prepare the bread flour in case you need some for dusting.   Some other times, In my case of having a small kitchen space, I usually leave the dough inside the bowl (this way I don’t have to clean a lot of space afterwards) after punching and just scoop some dough, weigh it for 50g. then--

 

Roll small dough into a nice small balls.

 

Flatten using a small rolling pin, brush with softened butter (you can have other spread according to your preferences: Fruit Jams, Nutella, Kaya, Ube Halaya, Matcha,  etc)  Starting from one side, roll dough into a long cylinder and coil. Slightly Tuck the edge under or just stick the edge to the dough this should be fine especially if you are using mamon cups. You will have a nice twirled ensaymada even after baking. BUT, if you rest it freely on a baking tray, make sure you tuck it under securely so it won't come out while the dough is expanding.

Place this buns into a mamon liner, or cupcake liner or a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Let it rest to triple its size, at least an hour or so, this will give you more time to finish other chores😉

 

Pre-heat oven at 175°C and bake ensaymada for at least 10 minutes each.

Cool and finish it off with topping.  Enjoy!😉

BACON GARLIC BREAD

Bread is making a come back since the countries imposed lock down because of the global pandemic, here in Singapore, we call it Circuit Breaker, well, baking for that matter.  Suddenly, the whole wide world is into baking... literally, people from all walks of life, regardless of age become instant bakers and they honed this skill in just few weeks, which the professionals learned it in months (no offense). Can you believe it? It can be done right? Flours, yeasts, butters, oils, all of the baking ingredients disappeared from the grocery shelves. Families and friends from miles away would hunt and even trade for yeast! Whew! 
This is historical {madness, ehem, excuse me 😄} milestone, indeed!

Anyway, that does not exclude me from this global madness of baking 😉.
So here's my take--

Bacon Garlic Bread

for the bread i used this basic bread dough recipe. 

Garlic Butter Mix

100g butter, softened

3 cloves garlic, minced & pressed

Salt & Pepper

Dried parsley 

Mix together and spread over bun.

Beaten egg with water for egg wash

Slices of Bacon

Sesame seeds (Black and white)

Mayo Surprise

1/3 cup Mayonnaise around  4 tbsp

2 Tbsp Condensed Milk

1 Tbsp Light Corn syrup

1/2 tsp Lemon Juice

Mix until well combined.

Place in a piping bag or your diy ziplock.

Set aside. Ready to use.

Assembly:

Make oblong bun and rest for another hour.

When done, brush the buns with eggwash.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Snip in the middle and spread  garlic butter mix. 

Add chopped bacons and sprinkle more dried parsley.

Bake at 175 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly brown.

When done you can serve it hot naked or ...

Pipe with mayo surprise and this bun is twisted into something sweet savoury delish!

Pandesal Negra

It's been a while since i published another entry and today i'm breaking it.  There's so much to share but either the lack of right words or the absence of inspiration deprived me to upload one. This moment of reconnecting is the presence of the latter blame it on the food trails, trends and craze.  I may be a bit late for this but i believe i'm still one of the (pinoy) pioneers of black beauties. Presenting ULING!  yup you read me right CHARCOAL but this time its edible and healthy. Did you know that charcoal powder can treat insomnia and a good antidote for poisoning? hhhmmm interesting! So next time you'll find yourself in these situations, you know what to do (!... hahaha, NO!) get some help!

Kidding aside, charcoal trend has been in the air since few years back but i guess it wasn't that appealing to the consumers in the Philippines or should i say none of the celebrities has made it that popular. Before the trend will move to extinction, i will savour its contribution.

Have you heard of this BCP --Bamboo Charcoal Powder? I can of loving this black ingredient since i had those charcoal burgers from food chains. Honestly, there is in no way this powder had any effect on flavour nor aroma. It's tasteless but the dark look surely dominates the market aesthetically. The reason why i am lured to the band wagon of charcoal fanatics. To kick off my own food trail, i am officially introducing my Pandesal Negra -- "Black is still beautiful." 

PANDESAL NEGRA

My Personal Recipe
Ingredients: makes about 28-30 pcs pandesal

2 1/2 c bread flour + 2 tbsp bread flour (you can use wheat flour)
1 tbsp charcoal powder
1/2 caster sugar ( you can use honey of the same amount)
1/2 sachet instant yeast (about 6 g)
1 c buttermilk (DIY: 1 tbsp lemon juice placed in a 1 c fresh milk)
1 whole egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp salted butter

Method:

1. Place flour, charcoal powder , sugar and yeast in a stand mixer and mix to incorporate.
2. Add  milk, egg, vanilla and butter and mix at low speed. When the butter melted and invisible, increase speed and start counting the "at least 15 mins clock kneading."  When the dough resembles like a big ball inside the mixing bowl and the bottom of mixing bowl is clean then the dough is ready. Stop the mixer and take the dough out and form into a big ball. Return the dough into the mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap. Proof for 1 hour.
3. After dough doubled its size, punch the dough, then take it out of the mixing bowl.
4. Divide the big dough into smaller dough of about 30-35 grams each.
5. Roll into ball and dust with panko or bread crumbs.
6. Place in a tray lined with parchment paper.
7. Rest the dough for another hour, afterwards the dough is ready for baking.
8. Bake dough at 175 degrees for about 15 minutes. Since you can't see any browning, at least 15 mins is the safest baking  time.
9. Remove and serve hot with your favorite spread.

Pecan Cinnamon Roll

It's been a while since I posted my recipe not that i don't have anything to post it's just that before I can make the write up here comes another recipe...and another .... and another one. And finally, i would end up publishing only the latest recipe I made... Uh-Oh!   Just like this baby-- which I made a week ago and i just realized I haven't press the enter button-- (hahahah) But anyway, I'm back and so is my kitchen. So let's get started.

SOUR CREAM ENSAYMADA

I have been keeping a cup of sour cream for a cheesecake craving but the absence of "baking adrenaline" causes delays.  With its expiration date draws near, I decided to make use  rather than waste it but not on cheesecake. As they say, reducing calories is a key to weight loss, huh! so I am thinking of ensaymada instead. Still cheesy but lesser evil. {wink}

Since it's been a while since I made ensaymada for our little rascals, so I decided to knead some to salvage my cup of sour cream. So here we go...

Pan Milk

BreadTalk becomes popular in the Philippines i think sometime in 2004 at Glorietta 4, Makati. I can't forget this since I was so amazed with its green tea cake --a small size cost about 700++, well the price struct me actually.  Made me wonder who would patronize their cakes when we have Red Ribbon and Goldilocks or even Becky's Kitchen to turn to. That green tea cake hit me like... You had me at green!  Ssssshhhh... the truth, I only bought once and never did it again. My naiveté disregards the value of the cake not even its elegance, or probably my fondness of green tea as a concoction supersedes the vast possibilities of this flavour.  Though i love its physiognomity but that's all there is.

Going back to BreadTalk, it never fails to amaze its fans with its innovative baking. The soft, moist delicious breads magnetized anyone in just one bite. Now its my quest to discover or at least mimic its bread in my own addictive way.

Buttermilk Pandesal

Spur of the moment is what bread making is for me.  The thought of kneading, resting and proofing always disappoint me. The craving is there but the thought of its process kills the craving. So its better to buy good RTE (ready-to-eat)  bread than going thru the process.  Though sometimes ego prevails and the process of kneading, resting and proofing come in handy. So once in a while,  we have hot tasty bread/ pandesal at mi casa out of varying recipes. 

True enough, every pandesal is a unique experience. Tonight I was thinking of what would pandesal taste like if I use buttermilk instead, so here is the verdict: compact, soft, smooth, and yummy!  It passed the test of aging with flying colors! It's softer and delicious after a day even without the spread or filling.

Try this and let me know your verdict.

Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll

I made bread pudding today but it never occurred to me that such outcome is a curse because I was expecting  the "BAGAFORO" way of pudding.  I know my gradeschool classmates can relate to this. =)

To appease myself of this devastation, I have decided to make my cinnabon cinnamon roll,  a baking schedule I have long been postponing for those "days of cravings." 

With grateful acknowledgment to the makukulits--Bart and Paige who brought walnuts and raisins from the grocery last friday-- an honest mistake marketing, whew!  Btw, this is how they get me to bake/cook their desires in an instant.  

Anyway, how is this done check this cinnamon roll recipe  from one of my favourite chefs Michael Smith, D' Chef at Home.  I love his show and his kitchen -- he got this walk-in cabinet of spices and all. So much for this envious--ness.

Basic Bread Dough

Since we started baking or should I say bread--ing in 2009, I laid my eyes on bread then I shifted to cakes and now back to bread-- ing again.  Seeing how breadtalk  transform doughs into spectacular ways inspire me.  So now, back to basic...

I will give you a basic dough recipe which you can use into generic breads like  rolls, pandesal, spanish breads, bread with fillings and even ensaymada.

So if you are looking for bread that tastes like breadtalk here it is--

BREAD DOUGH 

Ingredients: 

A. 
     240 g  Breadflour
       60 g  All-purpose flour
       40 g  Sugar
         5 g  Instant yeast

B. 
         1 pc     Whole egg
      150 ml   Fresh milk

C.   30 g  Unsalted butter


Procedure:

1. Place A in a bowl (stand mixer). Using dough paddle (hook), blend the ingredients until  incorporated. Then add B and knead for 5 minutes. This is how it would look like after 5 minutes-- 

Kneading a rough dough after ingredients A+B are incorporated 

2.  Add C and knead for at least 15 minutes, it will look like a glossy dough and elastic like this ...

After adding the butter, dough is glossy like this

Elastic dough

3. Roll dough into a ball, return to the mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap.
Then, proof dough for 1 hour.  

Proofing for an hour

This is how it looks like after an hour

An hour is just enough to double the size of the dough.

Afterwards, punch dough at the center, take it out of the bowl and divide it into 30 grams each and mould as desired. 

4.  Place the moulded dough on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and let it rest for another hour before baking.