Buns, Buns, Buns!

My family has a palate for soft and fluffy Asian-style bread. And if we can choose, we'd go for white instead of wholemeal bread. :P Nonetheless, I'd personally go for wholemeal ones just because of its higher nutritious values.

Since I started making bread 1.5 years ago, I've come to realize it's been a bumpy ride and I pick up something new each time:

• Use 70-80% plain bread flour and 20-30% wholemeal/whole-wheat flour of the total amount of flour called for in the recipe if you're planning on making wholemeal bread
  Never ever use 100% wholemeal flour even when you've extra vital wheat gluten added to the whole deal to increase the gluten content. Nothing but fiber will only stop the network of gluten from forming, and you'll end up with flat, malformed, rock-hard cooked dough! When there's either not enough gluten or the network is too weak and improperly formed due to low gluten content even after you've kneaded the dough like crazy, your "bread" loaf isn't going to slice properly--it'll be dense, crumble and look dry. Furthermore, the dough isn't going to rise properly.
  
  
• Use Pullman loaf tins for the best results This is especially true when it comes making loaves and pull-out buns or rolls. Of course, this doesn't apply to buns or rolls that are meant to be baked on baking sheets so that they'll still retain their own shape and "identity." Bread loaves and buns baked in Pullman loaf tins have really thin crust and soft, fluffy crumbs. Definitely worth the investment!
• Never pull your bread dough by hands--ALWAYS use a sharp thin-bladed knife to help you with dividing the dough! And, only slice to divide the dough up in one direction and in a sawing motion. These will not pull and damage the gluten network that you've built through kneading.
• Let the dough rest for 10~20 minutes each time after working with it. This is to relax the gluten and minimize the chances of dough shrinkage later on
• ALWAYS seal your dough properly for proofing Expect flat, rock-hard cooked dough to appear before you if you don't follow this rule. Dough that's not been properly sealed is like a punctured tire: no matter how much air you're trying to pump into, it'll just leak out and the end product will not be in its maximum volume

OK, enough said! I'm starting to sound long-winded *sigh.* Back to the business, I'd like to share with you my two recent bread projects. I've actually made something similar before. But after seeing Grace's, I became motivated to try making milk crisp buns again. Coincidentally last weekend, my family friends were planning on a concert trip, which pretty much took up the whole Saturday. So, I jumped on the chance and offered to make something to take along. I did--I couldn't believe I made three different things in one day! (I'll talk about the third baked goods here sometime in the future.)

These milk crisp buns were still soft and fluffy the next day, and I used 70% bread flour and 30% wholemeal flour--all thanks to the good old trusted tangzhong (湯種) method. The filling was very milky and creamy, not too sweet and tasted like custard. The desiccated coconut on the outside was a perfect match and actually enhanced the custard, milky flavor of the filling. Though for some reasons, I still can't figure out why they're called milk crisp buns. Are they supposed to have a crispy crust? Did I do something wrong?

In the meantime, I doubled the sweet bun dough recipe that came from the milk crisp bun recipe and turned the rest into ham and cheese buns with spring onion topping. Because pictures speak better than words, I'll just have you hop over here and check out the method for shaping these savory buns. They were inspired by fellow Malaysian SeaDragon, and I've been a big fan of his work since my first days in the kitchen. I guess the only thing different that I did was I spread some of them with Dijon mustard, some with sweet chili sauce while the remaining with ketchup to create variety. But, this is optional.

 
Wholemeal Sweet Bun Dough recipe (adapted from Grace's)

(A)
372g bread flour (70% of the recipe's flour amount)
160g wholemeal flour (30% of the recipe's flour amount)
40g milk powder
84g sugar
1 tsp salt
12g yeast

(B)
60g eggs, slightly beaten and at room temperature
268g tangzhong (湯種), at room temperature
64g warm water, at 43C/110F

44g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. Combine (A) together, then stir in (B) and mix together till a dough forms
2. Turn the dough onto a working surface--don't flour the surface! Knead till gluten starts to develop, then knead in the butter and continue kneading till the dough reaches the windowpane stage--that is, the dough should not stick to your hands and when pulled, it should be able to stretch out slightly into a thin "membrane" before it breaks and for the light to pass through
3. Round the dough up into a smooth round ball and place into a big oiled bowl, cover and let it proof till doubled in size
4. Deflate the dough and divide into 18~20 equal portions. (I did it by weighing the entire dough and working on math 101 to get the answers if you get what I mean ... It's been a while. So, I don't remember how much each portion weighed. :P By the way, half the batch became the milk crisp buns and the other half became the ham and cheese buns.)
   Round each portion up into a smooth round ball and cover to let rest for 10 minutes; then, proceed with the remaining steps depending on what type of buns you're planning to make

Milk Crisp Buns 奶酥麵包 (adapted from Grace's)
 

For the milky filling:

(C)
70g butter (I used 40g butter and 30g shortening by referring to here, which I believe the filling would've been much better if I'd used all butter. Learned my lesson LOL!)
30g powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
30g eggs, slightly beaten

(D)
1 tsp corn flour
80g milk powder

Desiccated coconut, for coating the buns

1. For the milky custardy filling: beat (A) till light and pale, then, mix in the eggs gradually to blend well
   Stir in (D) by hands using a rubber spatula till just combined--don't overmix it. Divide into 9~10 equal portions. (Once again, I weighed the whole mixture and did math 101 to get the answers.)
   Roughly roll each portion into a ball and arrange to place in a covered container, chill in the fridge till ready to use (I did mine the night before.)
2. To assemble: roll each portion of the bread dough out into a disk with its center being thicker than the edges, wrap in one portion of the milky filling and seal the edges tightly to enclose the filling; repeat with the remaining dough and filling till used up
   Dip the surface of each filled bun into some water and coat evenly with some desiccated coconut, arrange them on prepared baking sheets--leaving some room for dough expansion
   Cover them and let proof till almost doubled
3. Bake at 180C/350F for 15 minutes or till the buns have turned golden brown; immediately transfer them to cool completely on cooling racks before serving
   
   

Ham & Cheese Buns with Spring Onion Topping 火腿芝士蔥包 (adapted from Grace's & SeaDragon's)

enough ham enough finely shredded Cheddar cheese

(E)
1 stalk spring onion, finely chopped
1/2 egg
ground white pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
ketchup/Dijon mustard/sweet chili sauce

(F) [for egg wash, optional] 
1/2 egg
1/2 tsp water

1. To assemble: roll each portion of the dough out into an oval shape; cut out ham so that it fits over the oval-shaped dough--but of course, leave some edges for sealing later on
2. Position a slice of ham over each oval-shaped dough--leaving some edges for sealing, then spread one of the three sauces (e.g. sweet chili sauce or ketchup) over the ham evenly--this actually acts as a "glue" to the shredded cheese--but don't be too generous on this!
   Evenly sprinkle some shredded cheese over the ham, then roll it up from the shorter end in Swiss roll style and pinch seams tightly to seal the dough; repeat with the remainder
3. Arrange each filled bun onto prepared baking sheet--leaving some room in between each for expansion Use scissors to make a lengthwise cut across the middle of each bun to expose the inside--but, leaving about 1cm (about 0.5 inch) uncut
4. Cover them up and let proof till almost doubled
5. When the buns are almost doubled in size, mix together (F) for the egg wash and mix together (E) for topping; egg wash each bun's surface, then spoon some of the mixture over the "cut" of each bun--careful not to overfill them
6. Bake 180C/350F 15 minutes or till golden brown
7. Immediately transfer buns to cool on wire rack completely before serving