Comfort Food

Haven't been updating my blog for about a week. I was feeling a bit lazy, until today. Here are my two bakes for the past week.

Sesame Sweet Bun Ring

I really like this bread dough recipe(see below for recipe), it's soft and not too sweet, just the way I like it.

Cranberry Sweet Heart

In case you're wondering, this is not made for Valentine's Day. I was just playing around with the design :p

Sesame Sweet Bun Ring

Ingredients (A) – mix well
200g bread flour
50g TopFlour/Cake flour
1 tsp bread improver
6g milk powder
50g sugar
½ tsp salt

Ingredients (B)
6g dry yeast – dissolve in 25g tap water
28g egg (beat, then measure)
120g iced water – you may not need all of it
15g melted butter or canola oil

30g toasted black sesame seeds

1)Dissolve yeast in 25g water and wait for 5 mins to become frothy. Stir well
2) Mix the yeast with the remaining ingredients in A and B(except butter/oil) together to form a dough. Then add butter/oil and knead into a smooth and elastic dough. Add in black sesame seeds towards the end of kneading.
3) Round the dough, cover and ferment until double in size, about 45 mins to 1 hour.
4) Punch down the dough to release some air. Shape (see notes)*
5) Cover with plastic wrap and prove for 45 mins to 1 hour.
6) Brush top with beaten egg(additional) and bake in preheated 190C oven for 15 to 20 mins or until cooked

*For shaping:
To shape into a flower like mine, divide dough into 8 equal pieces and place in a greased 9 to 10 inch tube pan
To shape into a regular loaf, flatten the dough into a rectangle and roll up, swiss-roll style. Place seam-side down in a greased 8x4 inch loaf pan.
You can also make them into individual buns. Just note that the baking times will differ accordingly.

With this dough, you can add in dried fruits like raisins, or chopped nuts etc.

Note: fermentation and proving times may differ