CHICKY BUNS

I had intended to make Chicky Buns yesterday but life threw a passion fruit seed at me. It hit me hard. 

Still, the pain didn’t stop me from putting together the chicken filling last evening. I also prepared an Old Dough and left it to ferment overnight in the fridge. 

Today, after lunch, I mixed and kneaded the dough.  Then I attended an hour of Pilates.

When I got back about 90 minutes later the dough had finished its first proof.  It was wise use of my time.

*****

Makes 7 (after holding back 115 grams of dough to act as starter for my next batch of bread) 

Bread dough: 17 grams caster sugar, 1 packet (5 grams) Shirakami Kodama Koubo, 5 grams salt, 250 grams Reve de Lapin flour, 30 grams low fat milk, 160 grams water, 10 grams butter (softened), 115 grams Starter 

Pâte fermentée (old dough): 125 grams bread flour, 75 grams water, 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast, 1/4 teaspoon salt 

Placed in a lightly oiled plastic bag to rest overnight in the fridge 

Brine for the chicken thighs: 150ml apple cider, 300ml water, 20 grams salt 

Marinated for 5 hours 

Filling: 2 (should’ve bought 3) boneless chicken thighs (roasted and diced), 1 tablespoon dried cranberries, shredded cheese 

Topping: milk, dried rosemary 

Proofing: 90 minutes + 15 minutes + 75 minutes 

Baking: 200 degrees C, middle rack, 17 min

ADVANCED BREAD BAKING ONE BY DEAN BRETTSCHNEIDER

Back to school to enjoy the 2nd instalment of Christmas gift from my boss, Caspar.  2-day Advanced Bread Baking. Seriously intensive stuff.

Bread making is exhausting.  Was on my feet all day (10AM to 4PM) for both days.  Dean worked the class really hard.

And I loved every minute!

Day 1 (Saturday)

The very first thing we did was got started on the Pain Miche Sourdough.  The prep of sourdough begins with a levain (pre-ferment), a combination of flour and water made several hours (sometimes days) in advance of mixing the final dough.  In view of time, we didn't make the levain in class.  Instead, Dean provided each of us with with the amount of levain required in his recipe.

Miche is a combination of flours, levain, salt and chilled water, mixed together to form a dough.  Then left to proof for 3 hours.  There was a lot going on since we would be making 6 different breads over the two days.  So it was important that we marked our own doughs.

Mixed 11AM - Ferment 3 hours - Knock back 2PM - Rest for 1 hour - Scale 3PM

While Miche was proofing, we made baguettes.  I never knew baguettes could be done so quickly.  

Mixed 12PM - Proof 1 hour - Knock back 1PM - Rest for 30 min - Scale 1:30PM

My baguettes turned out weird-shaped.  Knew I had no talent all along! :-)

Churned out some Feta, Caramelised Garlic, Tomato & Basil Rolls using baguette dough.

Everything else needed long fermentation so the rest of the day was spent prepping for the breads that we would be making the following day:

o Ciabatta. Made a biga (Italian Starter) to be used in making ciabatta the following day.  The biga was covered with plastic wrap and left under our work bench to ferment overnight.

o Fruit & Nut Rye Loaf.  Soaked the grains that would go into the Fruit & Nut Rye Loaf.  This was covered with plastic wrap and left under our work bench.

o Beetroot & Thyme Bread.  Made a Starter dough using flour, instant yeast, dried thyme and cold water.  This was covered with plastic wrap and left under our work bench to ferment overnight.

o Pain Miche Sourdough.  After Miche was knocked back and had a chance to rest (for 1 hour), we placed it in a proofing basket and bid it good evening.  It would spend a night in the fridge for slow fermentation.

Day 2 (Sunday)

9:30AM: Arrived in class and saw that Miche had found its way from fridge to bench, where it had been waiting since 8AM.  

10:30AM: Into the oven goes Miche.

Having left Miche baking happily we proceeded to make the Fruit & Nut Rye Loaf, ciabatta, and Beetroot & Thyme Bread.

Here's how the Pain Miche Sourdough (made with rye, wholemeal and white flours) turned out.

Comparing crumb structures (from the top): baguette, ciabatta, sourdough

ROUX STARTER (TARO PASTE)

I yam what I yam, and what I yam is a taro.

One thing is for sure.  I won't be able to make bread for a living.  After an afternoon of toiling, I churned out only six buns.  Six!  If my life depended on it I'd be dead by now.

Today I made bread with a taro filling using Showa HI-NEON bread flour and taro paste that I bought from Taipei. 

I began by making a roux starter.  Mashed taro, flour and water were stirred over low heat until the water was reduced and the ingredients came together to form a paste.   It was then placed in the fridge for about 60 minutes before adding to the rest of the ingredients.

For the filling, I mixed a little butter into the taro paste to give it an extra creamy texture and rich flavor.  Since the store-bought taro was quite sweet I didn't add more sugar.  

Roux starter: 20 grams store bought taro paste, 10 grams Showa HI-NEON, 50 grams water

Bread dough: 210 grams Showa HI-NEON, 3 grams instant yeast, 20 grams caster sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 100 grams water, 15 grams butter

Filling: 150 grams taro paste, 15 grams butter

Finish: Egg wash

Crumb topping: 10 grams all-purpose flour, 15 grams almond meal, 10 grams granulated sugar, 10 grams salted butter

ANPAN BUNS AND RAISIN BUNS

A couple more experiments using Custard Roux Starter.

First I made some Anpan.

Then I made some raisin buns with a super fluffy interior.  The raisins had been plumped with Cointreau.

ROUX STARTER (CUSTARD)

Other than laziness, I cannot think what prevented me from using a Starter before this.

Adding a roux starter to the bread dough really boosts the moisture and flavour of the bread.

Akan datang for more bread adventures.

*****

Custard roux starter: 1 egg yolk, 10 grams caster sugar, 15 grams Showa PROMINENT, 65 grams milk

Bread dough: 250 grams Showa PROMINENT, 40 grams caster sugar, 4 grams instant yeast, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 50 grams water, 50 grams milk,  25 grams butter

Filling: 200 grams red bean paste

Finish: egg wash