After reserving the book and waiting for almost a month, I finally got a copy of 孟老師的100道麵包 from the library. Several bloggers have tried out the recipes in this book and highly recommend it. I'm glad I got the copy as the DVD that comes with the book is very useful. It gives very detailed demonstration on the steps of making homemade bread. I'm eager to try out the recipes after reading the book.
As breadmaking is still very new for me, I decided to try out the Black Sesame Buns which is simpler to make. Unfortunately, I met a major problem when making the bread. The dough was simply to sticky to deal with. I suspected it was due to underkneading so I let the machine knead for more than 40 minutes. That did not improve the result too. So I took the bread out to knead myself, leaving the machine to rest as it was overheated and refused to start. After some time of "wrestling" with the sticky dough, I threw the dough back into the machine to mix the grounded black sesame in. Luckily the result became slightly better, much to my relief.
Troubleshooting
I left a message to Happy Homebaker for advice. She did not have the same problem. I suspect it's due to the heat in the bread machine. She mentioned that she always leave the lid of the machine open thoughout the kneading cycle to prevent the dough from heating up, which I did not do so. A reader of her blog also suggests that those who use bread machine to knead, to use ice water and cold eggs or milk or butter, which will help to keep the dough temperature low. I will keep this in mind during my next attempt.
Black Sesame Buns (From 孟老師的100道麵包)
Ingredients (makes 6 buns)
Ingredients A:
250g bread flour
25g brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
10g milk powder
160g water
Ingredients B:
10g unsalted butter
20g black sesame seeds, grounded
Ingredients C:
Egg white
Black sesame seeds, for topping
Method
1. Mix all ingredients A until it forms a smooth dough.
2. Add in butter and knead until it forms a smooth and elastic dough.
3. Add in grounded black sesame seeds and mix until well-blended.
4. Place the dough in a mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and proof for about 80 minutes (I proof for 60 minutes).
5. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions. Mould it round. Brush the top with egg white and cover the top with plenty of black sesame seeds. Place them on the baking tray and proof for another 30 minutes.
6. Bake at 180 deg C for about 15 minutes.