Selena's Kitchen Talk: Taiwanese Bread

In Taiwan, the Russian Buns is a hot product in bakeries. Because this kind of buns uses lots of butter to enrich the flavor, people love them. Look at the name, you may wonder if it originated from Russian. Although some people say yes. I tried to look some Russian websites and ask my Russian friends. They have no idea what it is. ANYWAY. No matter who invented this kind of bun, I need to say thank you.

Oven Setting Temperature: 180 degree C, Baking Time: around 20 minutes

Recipe: Serve for 4 ea

Steps

(1) Weight all the ingredients

(2) Put strong and plain flour, sugar, salt, and instant yeast into the bowl. And mix it well.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: Different instant yeast manufacturers have different instructions. Please check it.)
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: If you need to add yeast before adding any liquid, I always mix flour, sugar salt well. And then, mix yeast again.)
(3) Add the egg and 80 ml milk into the bowl. Mix the dough into a ball

(4) Mix 40g butter on the dough and knead it into the dough

(5) Add the rest of milk into the dough several times when kneading it.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: This can make your dough absorb liquid very well. And make it softer.)
(6) Knead the dough into a ball when it is ready. Brush water on the surface. And leave it in a warmer place around 60 ~ 90 minutes to grow up.

(7) Divide it in half and then wait for another 15 minutes.

(8) Roll the dough into a long and narrow strip, around 50 cm by 10 cm.
(9) Have a diagonal cut.

(10) Roll the dough towards the pointed end.

(11) Cut the dough, but not cut through it. Almost to the middle of the dough. Wait for the second grow-up. Around 40 minutes.

(12) Brush egg on the dough. Heat it at a pre-heated oven at 180 degree C around 10 minutes

(13) Take it out from the oven. Brush melted butter. Bake another 10 minutes
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: You need to use out all of it.)

I know it is a little complicated, but it is definitely worth of it. This is my first time to do this. My cutting was not so good. But, it doesn’t affect the flavor. So, challenge the perfect shape again. May, I can do a cheese flavor. Enjoy it.

In Taiwan, or I can say in most Asian cities, we prefer softer buns or bread. Of course, I like crispy breads, like baguette. Sometime, I still miss those soft buns.

Having a life in a foreign country means you can’t eat your hometown food easily. Even, it might be sold in a foreign country, the taste will be changed to fit local people’s taste. Pineapple bun is very popular in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan that it is sold in every bakery. There is no huge different on baking, but the way people eat it will vary. Most people eat is directly as a breakfast in Taiwan, while people eat it with a layer of butter in between in Hong Kong.

So, let’s just do it today. Ingredient is reference Carol 自在生活 : 湯種菠蘿麵包

Oven Setting and Time: 170 degreeC, around 20 ~ 22 minutes

Ingredients - For 8 buns

Check here for Hot Batter (http://selenaskitchentalk.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/hot-batter.html)

Steps for Buns

(1) Put yeast into 50ml milk. And then, put milk into a hot water bowl to warm it up. It takes around 5 minutes

(Selena's Kitchen Talk: Check your manufacturer and check their instruction.)

(2) Weight all ingredients well before starting our brilliant work

(3) Put Strong Flour, Plain Flour, Granulated Sugar and Salt into a big bowl. And then, stir a while. (Selena’s Kitchen Talk: Every time I bake the bread, I will mix dry ingredients firstly. Salt will kill yeast if it touches to yeast directly )

(4) Then, add Hot Batter, Large Egg and item (1) into the bowl as well. Stir and mix into well until there is no flour.
(5) Now, having the rest 30ml milk into the jar. (Selena’s Sharing: If there is any yeast leaving on the surface of jar, you can get a small piece of dough to stick the rest yeast.)

(6) Move the dough ball into a lightly floured work space. And put butter on the dough. Then, start to knead it.

(7) Add 30ml milk several times when you knead the dough into a smooth and elastic dough ball. (Selena’s Sharing: Adding milk into dough several times can make sure that the dough totally absorb the milk. I tried to add once at the beginning when I started to bake. It was okay, but the dough ball was very dried. )

(8) When the dough ball has a smooth surface, moving it back to the lightly greased bowl. And brush some watch or milk on the surface of the dough ball. Wait around 1~2 hours until it doubles the size. Either you cover the bowl with wet towel or you can put into a cold oven or microwave.