Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sweet Sesame Seeds Buns 香软芝麻甜面包

My First Stand Mixer

Some of you might still remember I mentioned in my pervious post I was seriously looking for a budget stand mixer to help with dough kneading and my dilemma of not willing to get a branded mixer due to its expensive import pricing in Malaysia.

After months of surveying, finally in Oct, I was delighted to spot an awesome deal in Malaysia Groupon. The deal came from a locally manufactured stand mixer branded “The Baker”. It was on offer a while ago and back on offer again with popular demand. It was on a 40% discount, selling at only RM450 from its original price of RM750. The deal went even lower to RM400 if 2 units were purchased. I came to know my neighbour was also looking for one, hence we combined our order to save RM50 each, at only RM400 a unit clip_image001

With the price we paid, we got to enjoy a robust 6 speed 800 watt stand mixer with a 5.2 litre steel bowl which holds up to 2kg of mixture of dough or cake batter. To me this basic feature of the mixer was more than enough to meet my primary objective in dough kneading. I knew I wasn't getting a Kitchen Aid hence I wasn’t disappointed with its basic appearance when the set delivered.

 
The Baker Stand Mixer I tested the machine last week and was satisfied with its performance so far. The result I got from my 1st trial :
  • a well knead dough, no undone dough at the bottom of the bowl
  • double the quantity of flour kneaded compared to what I was able to hand knead at any one time – 600g vs 300g
  • about the same amount of time when I had to wrest my muscles to hand knead the bread dough.
  • texture of the bread was more or less similar to my hand kneaded version.
  • a transparent cover with pocket opening to prevent over spillage of flour during operation.
So, what more to ask for at only 1/5 of the price I would otherwise have to pay for a Kitchen Aid? However having said that I must also admit that the mixer has its short falls of being:
  • Noisy – the higher the gear the noisier the motor.
  • Stability – the higher the gear, the stronger the vibration. I tested up to gear 5 and decided to stop, the machine trembled tremendously even on my granite kitchen top. A very stable top is needed to place the mixer while in operation.
Other than that, I have no complaint so far. Now just keeping my fingers crossed for its durability. clip_image002
The 1st batch of bread I made using this stand mixer as pilot had was a fluffy and soft texture clip_image001[1].

sesamebuns2
Sweet Sesame Seeds Buns 香软芝麻甜面包
This time with double the flour quantity, I used it to make some sausage rolls in addition to the sesame sweet buns.

P1090621
My mistake of not checking on oven heat when I was still have not mastered our oven temperature. The buns were a bit too brown when the timer beep.
 

Shared below is the basic sweet buns dough recipe.   


SWEET SESAME  SEEDS BUNS
sesamebuns
INGREDIENTS

A – Sweet dough 600g bread flour or high protein flour 2 tsp. instant yeast 100g castor sugar 1 1/4 tsp. salt 3 tbsp. milk powder 1 small egg 300ml water
B 50g soften butter
C Some white sesame seeds Melted butter for glazing

METHOD sesameseedsbuns_collage
  1. Mix all ingredients (A) knead till it can stretch into thin sheet.
  2. Add in the butter and knead until the butter combine with the dough continue until it become smooth dough.
  3. Place the dough into a lightly grease bowl and cover with greased cling wrap to proof till double in bulk.
  4. When dough double in size, to test the dough ready or not - press dough with finger, the impression stays and the dough does not spring back it is ready.
  5. Punch down and knead again till smooth. Rest for 15 minutes.
  6. Divide the dough into 50g each portion, arrange in a greased square baking tray covered with greased cling wrap and let it double in bulk for the second time.
  7. Instead of plain buns, you may also wrap up with your favourite filling and form into balls. You can refer to my previous post in the Kaya buns recipe .
  8. When the dough rise for second time, spray with a little water and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.
  9. Bake at 190 degree Celsius for 15 minutes or till golden brown. 
  10. Remove and take out from the baking tray.
  11. Brush melted butter on baked buns.
  香软芝麻甜面包

 材料:甜面包面团

600克面包粉或高筋面粉 2茶匙速溶酵母 100克细砂糖, 1茶匙盐, 300ml 水

B 50克软化牛油

 C 适量白芝麻软化牛油, 上光


面包做法:

将所有材料面粉,酵母,糖和盐放入碗中搅拌均匀, 慢慢地倒入水。使用慢速度,拌打面团,直到面团形成可以拉得很薄又不会裂与有弹性, 直到面团光滑, 加入牛油揉至均匀。 将面团取出揉成圆形,放入抹油的碗,用抹油过的保鲜膜盖上。让它发至双倍。(放在温暖的地方,以加快发面过程。)把面团打下再揉至光滑,休面15分钟。


把面团分成50克份,做成小圆球排放在抹油过的四方烤盘用抹油过的保鲜膜覆盖让它再发第二次面至双倍大。你也可包入馅料后放置在抹油的烤盘。当面团发好, 用少量的水喷在发好的面团,撒上酥白芝麻.使用190摄氏烘约15-20分钟至金黄色后取出脱模后用少许软化牛油上光。











13 comments:

  1. Hi Yin,
    Great find!! Thank you also for this infomation. As i will be moving back to KL, i will be looking for a mixer too. Have you ever check on the price for a bread machine?? I think it could be cheaper?? i have no idea how much it would cost in M'sia but over here it's about 40Euro. May be smaller but if we use it just to knead dough, wouldn't it be enough?? what you think??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sylvia:
      Great to hear you are coming back, do look me up when you are back, will be nice to turn virtual friend into real life friend don't you think? :-)

      I did consider bread maker before but I wasn't going to use it to bake bread as I was told bread making out from bread maker not as good and soft as from oven.
      Furthermore as I know a good bread maker can range from RM300 to RM500, for that kind of price I would opt for stand mixer. Stand mixer can be more flexible in using for cake batter mixture and whisk egg white, I would still recommend a stand mixer for that reason.

      Delete
    2. Hey Yin,

      Oh yes.. this is definitely going to happen. Can't wait to learn from you :)

      Thanks for your in put.. it is actually not difficult to compare a stand mixer of only RM400 vs RM 500 for a bread maker.. I will look out for discount now..hehehe

      Delete
  2. Why spent a lot more if you can find the mixer that does a great job? Those bread look really good!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. T&T:
      Thanks and yes you are right on that. I'm getting back on bread making again since I got this good helper. Just baked another wholemeal toast bread last Sunday and it turned out great too :-P

      Delete
  3. The bread looks so yum. I have been asking myself if it's worth spending so much on Kitchen Aid because I don't bake very often or in big quantities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, Kithen Aid seem to become a signature brand in Asia now and having it in your kitchen does play some trendy effect. :-P

      Delete
  4. Can i knead the dough by using my bread maker? If half recipe, i just add in all ingredients in half?
    Thks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Penny:
      Yes, if you want half of the quantity just half the ingredients.
      And you can use your bread maker to knead, however I would advice not to use it to bake. Try to take out the dough after the bread maker has done its kneading.
      Hand knead again few minutes, shape it and let it prove and bake in oven.
      Many complaint the bread made from the bread maker are not so soft and fluffly. Hence, some tried using this way by baking in oven and the bread is much softer.
      I hope you can try both way, bake in bread maker and bake in oven and revert whether the feedback is true.
      Thanks for visiting.

      Delete
  5. Will the 面包改良剂 be any different after added in?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bread improver 面包改良剂 is used to soften the bread. I have not used before.
      I usually omitted this by replacing Tang Zhong method of proving, which naturally given softness to the bread.
      Check out my TangZhong recipes.

      Delete
    2. Sweet sesame bun recipe need any tangzhong?
      As i tried my own recipe earlier which is similar to ur recipe above, buns were soft after out from oven. After few hours, they all turn hard.

      Delete
    3. Penny:
      Yes, most traditional proving bread if not adding in bread improver, will turn hard the next day. However, tangzhong method you wont have this problem, the bread will still keep fresh next 2 days at least.
      yes, you can use tangzhong on any bread that you wish.

      Delete

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