Milky Cinnamon Rolls 牛奶肉桂卷

This may well be the last blog post from Auckland. By the time this post was published (I set scheduled post), it would be our last day in New Zealand. Very heavy hearted to leave but with family commitments back home, we had to make our move. Farewell New Zealand, it has been a truly fantastic 2 years here, picturesque sceneries, pleasant weather and most importantly warm and friendly people especially the great friendships we had that made us felt so homely and cared for as if this was our first home. We will cherish all these for life!

E noho rā Aotearoa, Goodbye New Zealand! Till we meet again.

This was my last batch of homemade bread using our Auckland kitchen. As can be read from my last few posts, lately I was quite diligent in baking especially into bread making. This was partly because I needed to clear the baking stock in my pantry besides attempting as many bread recipes as I could knowing that I might not have the proper oven facility when I got back to my own Malaysian kitchen.

In my time here in Auckland, this small kitchen especially the oven stove meant so much to me. Not only did I expand my interest in cooking with it, it also helped to take me out of my cooking comfort zone into the baking world. Besides expanding my cooking skills, it brought me into the blogging world. Fingers crossed that I would have the time and opportunity to continue this baking interest.

This milky cinnamon rolls recipe was another Tangzhong recipe I adapted from 65度C汤种面包, 陈郁芬. After a few successful batches of bread making using Tangzhong starter with outstanding result, I was encouraged to try more.

For this recipe, I increased the quantity of the ingredients in proportion to the original recipe to make 15 rolls instead of 9 rolls.  I made this last Sunday afternoon. Ming Ray was the first to taste the rolls. He devoured 3 rolls in one go and even ordered to reserve another two rolls for his Monday school lunch. After he had finished, he came to me and said “Mommy, do you know how many points I give to this roll?”  “I give 8 out of 10 points”.  When I asked him why and how to improve to perfect 10, he gave me these suggestions, “I will give 9 out of 10, if there is ice cream topping and 10 out 10 with chocolate chips in it too! “ J

MILKY CINNAMON ROLLS (makes 12-15) INGREDIENTS: A 350g High grade flour (bread flour) 55g Caster sugar 5g Salt 9g Instant dry yeast B 40g egg, lightly beaten (1 egg reserve the leftover for egg wash) 110g Tang zhong (water-roux)* 110ml milk C 22g unsalted butter *Tang zhong (water-roux) starter 25g bread flour 125ml milk (Refer here for making tanzhong, substitute water with milk) Filling: 1 tbsp Cinnamon powder (to your liking ) 30g Brown/Raw sugar ( I would add more) 80g raisin (optional, I didn’t add as my son doesn’t like it) 25g unsalted butter, melted   Hand Knead Method: 1.       Mix all the A dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add in egg and Tangzhong mix well. 2.       Slowly add in milk, mixture will really sticky, use spatula to mix for 5 min, dough will form rough dough. 3.       Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough till smooth. This should take about 10mins.It helps to have a dough scraper or butter knife on hand to scrape up the dough as your knead. 4.       Knead in melted butter, be ready to deal with oily dough and be persevering to knead until dough becomes smooth and elastic. This should take about another 10-20 min (much depend on your kneading skill). Test doneness, if dough can be pulled into a thin membrane without tearing/breaking apart easily, dough is ready to set aside to proof. 5.       Place dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with light greased cling wrap and let proof in room temperature or warm spot around 28 to 30 degree Celsius for about 2 hour, or until double in bulk. 6.       Mix cinnamon powder and sugar together. Reserve about 1 teaspoon of the mixture. 7.       Once dough double test doneness using finger test, slightly poke a finger into dough and if impression remained, dough has nicely risen. Remove and punch down the dough from the bowl. 8.       Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 25cm by 40cm. Brush surface with melted butter. 9.       Sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture over the dough surface. Roll over the surface with a rolling pin; this is to make sure the fillings will stick onto the dough. 10.   Roll up the dough to form a log shape. Pinch the edges to seal. 11.   Place the log seam side down, trim off the two ends. With a sharp knife, cut the roll into 15 equal pieces. 12.   Arrange the rolls cut-side up lined with parchment paper (or in a greased) square pan or any suitable baking tray. 13.   Leave some space in between the rolls to allow further expansion. Cover with damp cloth or cling wrap and leave shaped dough to proof for the second time for about 45mins, or until double in size. 14.   Brush top with egg wash (mix leftover egg with 1 tbsp water) and sprinkle the reserved cinnamon sugar mixture over the top. 15.   Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for 15-20 mins or until golden brown. Remove from oven and once cool store immediately in an airtight container. 牛奶肉桂卷 香甜可口奶味浓的汤种肉桂卷， 吃了齿留香！ A、面包粉 350克、细砂糖 55克、盐 5克、干酵母 9克 B、全蛋 40克、牛奶水 110克、汤种 110克 C、无盐牛油 30克 D、细砂糖 30克，1 大匙肉桂粉（份量随你的喜好）、 葡萄干 80克 （可选） 作法： 1、所有A料+B料入盆揉成面团，注意盐和酵母不能碰到，不然酵母会死掉。牛奶水最后慢慢加入揉约10分钟。 2、作法1中加C料继续揉到三光（面光、手光、盆光）到扩展阶段，盖湿布室温（室温26-28度）发酵至2倍大。 3、面团排气后拍平，擀成长方形（25cm*40cm），下面要撒手粉。用毛刷在上面刷一层牛油。 4、D料中的糖和肉桂粉拌匀，均匀撒在刷过牛油的面团上，将葡萄干均匀撒上（我没有用）。 5、面团由上往下卷起，收口处捏紧，分割成12-15等份，切面朝上将面团放在纸模中进行最后发酵。 6、发到2倍大后约45分钟，表面刷全蛋液，入预热180℃的烤箱，烤15-20分钟至表面金黄。 7．出炉后表面刷一层熔化的牛油。