Week 25 Coffee Scroll

This was an interesting week. We had only 3 items to make for the day and they were Coffee Scrolls, Doughnuts and Finger Buns. So since it was a light day, we were given an option to make something additional to the day's menu. So my partner and I decided to make Pretzels. It was something that I have never made before, so I was happy to try.

The recipe seemed rather simple, where all ingredients were mixed together and proved till doubled in size. Then we shaped it and brushed with soda water and sprinkled some salt before they were baked. 

Pretzel shaped

I had fun shaping the pretzels. Mine were the 3 on the right of the top picture and the other side were my partner's. We should have dipped the whole pretzel into the soda water, rather than brushed it on. It would have given them a more even colour. The pretzels rose beautifully in the oven. I think we should have made them a little thinner because you can't really see the holes of the pretzels after they were baked. The taste was quite good. I might try this recipe again but rolled thinner the next time. 

Pretzels

 We made 2 types of doughnuts. Ring doughnuts were coated with sugar cinnamon and the  round one were filled with raspberry jam. I think our doughnuts were a little over fried in the fryer but luckily it was still very soft. 

Frying the doughnuts

Sugar Cinnamon Doughnuts

Raspberry Jam Doughnuts

Coffee Scroll was the interesting one to make. I brought some extra ingredients to make it yummier! Ha Ha.... so our coffee scrolls had dark chocolates and roasted almonds in it. Then we drizzled coffee fondant over it to make it prettier and even sweeter. With the same dough, we made a different scroll with chocolate and desiccated coconut as the filling. Unfortunately, this one didn't rise as much. 

Coffee Scrolls

Coconut & Chocolate Scrolls

Finger Buns are sweet buns with sweeten whipped cream as the filling. Then the topping had sugar syrup, fondant and hundreds and thousands. So, all I can think of was how sweet the bun was going to be. I can see kids will love this one, not really for me. 

Overall, a good day with a lot to learn. 

Buns

Fondant toppings on buns

Finger Buns

Week 24 Sweet Bun Dough

This week is about sweet bread dough. Making bread is something very new to me. I find that every bread has it's own personality, so to speak. Even though all of us use the same ingredients to make the bread, somehow each bread has its own characteristics. Some may prove faster some may be stubborn. They come out looking different too.

 There are a lot of areas that we have to be careful about when making bread. The temperature of the ingredients has to right to make sure the yeast can grow healthily. The proving of dough has to be checked to make sure the yeast doesn't over prove and die. The consistency of the dough during kneading is also important to make sure the gluten stretches nicely. The ratio of liquid in the dough to the flour is also important to ensure a good texture of the bread. 

So, we made Polenta bread where we had to make a ferment first. Ferment is where the yeast gets to activate in a nice cozy environment. Then the ferment is added with the rest of the ingredients and proved till it becomes double in size. Polenta is made of corn and it absorbs a lot of liquid, therefore the amount of liquid used for this recipe is slightly more than orders to compensate that. 

Making bread requires patience and a lot of love. Patience is needed for the proving because it takes about an hour or more. Love is essential for the kneading process. You knead till you get the right consistency. Hmm..... it sure is a product of love. 

Polenta bread after second prove

Our baguette shape polenta bread didn't look too nice. I am guessing it is due to too many people hovering over the oven and kept opening the oven so the bread didn't get to rise properly. Luckily the 3 buns in the loaf tin had a better rise. 

Our polenta bread

We also made Lavoche. It is a type of crispbread. It is quite easy to make. Just mixed all the ingredients together and refrigerate for a while. Then rolled thinly and cut to desired shape and baked. Apparently it is very expensive to buy. 

Lavoche

Chelsea buns

Our Chelsea buns didn't get a good rise either. It does look nice in the shape of a flower in the tin. We glazed it with sugar syrup to give it a nice shine and drizzled fondant over it to finish off. It is pretty but not something that I like to eat. 

Challah and incomplete boston bun

Boston bun

From the same dough as the Chelsea buns, we also made Boston Bun. This is the one on the right which we have glazed with sugar syrup. It is cooling down on the wire rack so that we can put on a layer of butter icing and topped with desiccated coconut. The other is Challah which is a plaited bun. It is a rather plain bun but looks pretty. I think we will be making this again in 2 weeks time.

Sweet Plait Bun

This Sweet Plait Bun would be the best one of the day. I am really happy with this one. The bun is made of sweet yeast dough. It had hazelnut paste and  I brought some dark chocolate to give it an extra boost for the filling. The dough was flatten to the shape of a rectangle and the hazelnut paste was spread on. Then topped with chocolate chunks. Then rolled up. Then cut a vertical line in the centre and twisted the two till the end and joined back at the end. It was brushed with egg wash before baking. Post bake, we had sugar syrup on it and drizzled with some fondant. It was really yummy. 

Hazelnut Chocolate Plait Bun

More breads next week. I am eating too much carbohydrates! But it is also quite satisfying to be eating your own bread. I just wish they will teach healthy version of breads rather than sweet breads. 

Breads of the day