Sunday, April 30, 2017

Mayer Breadmaker - Wu Pao Chun Bread 吴宝春面包

This week I have tried this famous recipe by Wu Pao Chun 吴宝春. One original and one wholemeal version.


I can't find the most original recipe online. But I have just borrowed his book from the library!

This recipe is taken from Baking Taitai. I believed is an adapted version.

Ingredients

198g fresh milk
24g sugar
3g salt
300g bread flour
3g (3/4 tsp) instant dry yeast
14g unsalted butter

Using soft bread, 500g, light crust.
Butter is added when the machine pause during kneading.


Baked! It's the prettiest bread so far! Lightly brown and smooth top!


Too bad it always wrinkled after cool down.



Love this Wu Pao Chun milk bread! Soft and smells good.

Wholemeal version

The same Wu Pao Chun bread, replacing with 30g wholemeal flour.


Did a little experiment. Tested a 500g loaf using 750g option.

Using soft bread, 750g, light crust.

It takes 2 hours and 55 minutes, about 30 minutes longer than a 500g loaf. The kneading time is 40 minutes, longer proofing time and I think it also bakes during the last 45 minutes (I wasn't there to monitor).




Result seems not much difference actually, in terms of size or taste.



Still looking good!

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Mayer Breadmaker - Wholemeal bread / White bread / Sugar twist bread

I have made bread 3 times this week trying different recipes.

2 are from Carol 自在生活.


Wholemeal bread

Ingredients

180ml cold water
14g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
250g bread flour
30g wholemeal flour
3g (3/4 tsp) instant dry yeast
28g unsalted butter

(Quite a bit of butter here.)


Proofing.
Using soft bread, 500g, dark crust.


Wholemeal Bread, added tiny bits of walnuts.



http://caroleasylife.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-post_12.html


White bread

Ingredients

165-170ml cold water
20g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
250g bread flour
2g (1/2 tsp) instant dry yeast
15g unsalted butter

(Less butter.)


Proofing.
Using soft bread, 500g, dark crust.


Top with a bit of white sesame seeds. This is a very small loaf.



Both recipes are reasonably soft. Still looking for the best one.

http://caroleasylife.blogspot.com/2015/04/blog-post_4.html


Sugar twist bread

Wanted to try making this bread that I often buy from bakery.

Can refer here for the shaping part, though I'm not using the same recipe.
http://mymindpatch.blogspot.sg/2015/03/sugar-twister-bread.html
http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/2016/08/twisty-sugar-bread-bread-and-chiffon-classes-alert/

I used back the first recipe I have tried. I like that it uses vegetable oil. Healthier.

Ingredients

160g cold water
45g raw sugar (I use white sugar)
3g salt
20g coconut oil (I use vegetable oil)
210g bread flour
50g top/cake flour
3/4 tsp instant dry yeast

http://mymindpatch.blogspot.sg/2016/05/breadmaker-amish-white-bread.html


Select Ferment Dough which takes 1 hour 30 minutes.


It will knead continuously for 25 minutes and then stop for 1st proofing.


End of proofing.


First time shaping and baking bread in oven ever since I bought the breadmaker.

Dough is a little sticky. Shaping not very well done though. There's always a first time!

(Wanted to take photos on the shaping part. But very troublesome.)


Take the dough out, punch out the air, and divide into 4 equal portions. Roll into balls and rest for 15 minutes.

Roll each portion into a long rope shape until length is twice of pan. Hold the 2 ends and twist until tight. Then join the 2 ends and seal.


Leave it to proof for 45 minutes. This is how it looks.


Brush with egg and sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake in oven at 170 deg C for 20 minutes or until golden brown.



Home-baked sugar twist bread!

Soft and smells good just like from bakery!

Sunday, April 16, 2017

New Mayer Breadmaker - Amish white bread / Basic white bread / Pumpkin bread

I'm starting breadmaking all over again!

After contemplating for the longest time, I bought a Mayer Breadmaker, immediately after I saw a great deal online!

Ever since the previous breadmaker broken down, I'm afraid to invest in another one. Afraid that it will break down without using much (the previous spoilt in less than 3 years). Afraid that I will not use it frequently as time goes on.

Still I have been waiting for promotions for breadmakers, searching online shopping websites for any good deals, and even thought of getting from Taobao. Looking for a basic and cheaper one to play with.

Finally, I saw the great deal and bought without hesistation! From a carousell seller who got it as free gift. It's brand new at $60! Model is MMBM12 (750g). Glove included.

It has been 1 week since I bought the breadmaker. Have made bread 3 times with it and sharing over here.



First experiment with Amish white bread

I'm using the Amish White Bread recipe from My Mind Patch as I found she's using the same Mayer breadmaker. A good read to familiarize with this breadmaker.

Simple ingredients, no egg, no milk, no butter. Great for a testing a new machine.

Ingredients

160g cold water
45g raw sugar (I use white sugar)
3g salt
20g coconut oil (I use vegetable oil)
210g bread flour
50g top/cake flour
3/4 tsp instant dry yeast



1. Put in the ingredients in the order stated, water first, yeast last.
2. Select sweet bread, 500g, light crust. Total making time is 2 hours 25 minutes.
3. Kneading.
4. Proofing.
5. Just baked.
6. Out of the machine, upside down, with a hole which is where the blade is.



Noting the timeline for sweet bread:

2:25 Start mixing and kneading
2:13 Pause kneading for 5 minutes
2:08 Start kneading
2:05 Beep for adding extra ingredients
1:50 Stop kneading (Total 35 minutes) and first proofing (20 minutes)
1:30 Beep (Optional: Can pause the machine at this time, take the dough out to remove the blade, shape, and then put it back to the machine and resume proofing.)
0:45 Start baking (Do not open machine)


My first simple white bread. Not bad! Crust a bit too light, a bit moist (maybe I cut when still warm), bad slicing! Overall it's very soft, a bit chewy, and mildly sweet.



The 2 other breads I'm using recipes from this Chinese breadmaker book which I bought even before I decided on buying a breadmaker!


Basic white bread

This is the first and most basic recipe in this book. So just try. There's no oil and butter in it at all.

Ingredients

190ml cold water
20g sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
3g (3/4 tsp) instant dry yeast


1. Using soft bread, 500g, dark crust.
2. Dough seems to be a bit wet. In fact the water content seems to be slightly higher for this book.
3. Out of breadmaker. The top always not dark enough.
4. Rougher and more crumbly. Expected. Tiny bit of saltiness.


Noting the timeline for soft bread:

2:27 Start mixing and kneading
2:17 Pause kneading for 10 minutes
2:07 Start kneading
2:04 Beep for adding extra ingredients
1:50 Stop kneading (Total 37 minutes) and first proofing (20 minutes)
1:30 Beep (Optional: Can pause the machine at this time, take the dough out to remove the blade, shape, and then put it back to the machine and resume proofing.)
0:45 Start baking (Do not open machine)


Pumpkin bread

Ingredients

200g pumpkin (I used 127g (my leftover), steamed and mashed)
50g egg
60ml cold milk (I use egg + water = 100g)
30g sugar
3g salt
250g bread flour
3g (3/4 tsp) instant dry yeast
20g unsalted butter


1. Mashed pumpkin, egg and water
2. The dry ingredients (I should add the butter only after 1st kneading)
3. Using sweet bread, 500g, dark crust.
4. After kneading
5. After proofing
6. Just baked


Looks good!




Cutting out. Nice golden yellow! Some holes, due to air pockets, and maybe the pumpkin bits.

It's quite soft, and some sweetness from the pumpkin.

Will update after more experiments.