Bread Rolls? Rolled Bread?

I had some time for bread making yesterday morning, and the weather was warm, suitable for yeast fermentation. So I gathered all the necessary ingredients and equipment, off i go.

I used a recipe from Giselle, a member of KC. Giselle produces some fantastic breads and takes great pictures. Best of all, she kneads her bread dough by hand! It's a lot of hard work to knead bread dough by hand, I can vouch for that. That was what I did before I got my trusty KitchenAid mixer, and I could never knead to the correct consistency, something so important to produce the fine honeycomb structure of a loaf of bread. So, I salute all of you who hand-knead your bread dough!

Back to my bread, this is a recipe for 'Pai-Pau' - 排包, 排 means roll, and 包 is bread/bun, so this recipe loosely translates to Rolled Bread. This is a pretty rich sweet dough, with 2 egg yolks and about 20% sugar. I added in some toasted black sesame seeds, which added a nutty aroma. The result? Soft, fluffy rolls which are queue-ing up (排隊) to be eaten, by yours truly.

Fresh rolls from the oven. Can you smell the aroma?

Close up (not really?) of the interior