Mexican Buns

Sunday 24 February 2008


Was waiting for the cream for my blackforest cake to harden so I decided to make this :D



I really like making buns these days. I really wanna master the ability to make real good buns :D


Water-Roux Sweet Bun Dough

[Ingredients]

  • 375g bread flour
  • 100g plain flour (or use 80g plain flour + 20g vanilla custard powder, or cornflour)
  • 35g milk powder
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 sachet (7g or 2½ tsp) instant dry yeast
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 150ml (approx.) lukewarm water, adjust as necessary (I only needed 130ml for this batch)
  • 40g butter, cubed
Water Roux
  • 25g (just under 2 tbsp) bread flour
  • 125ml (1/2 cup) water
* Water Roux is basically 1 part bread flour to 5 parts water.

[Preparation]
Water Roux :
Mix flour and water in a small saucepan. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring continuously until it reaches 65ÂșC. It should have thickened to a paste at this stage, that is when you stir you can see the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, place a cling wrap (cling film) over the paste and leave until lukewarm, or room temperature, before using. (Alternatively if you don’t have a thermometer, cook as before until it starts to thicken, then continue to cook for about 1 more minute before removing from heat.) This water roux can be kept in an airtight container after cooling in the refrigerator for 1 day if not used immediately. However DO NOT USE if it turns grey in colour, that means it has gone bad.

For the Bun Dough:
1. Sift bread flour, plain flour, (custard powder,) milk powder, caster sugar and salt onto the working surface. Add instant dry yeast and mix well. Form the flour mixture into a well. Add lightly beaten egg and lukewarm water roux and mix in. Gradually add just enough lukewarm water to form into a slightly sticky, soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. During hand kneading, the dough also needs to be thrown onto the working surface once every few minutes between kneading to improve the dough structure. (I usually just pick up the dough to about head-high and throw it down onto the working surface 10 to 20 times every few minutes between kneading.)

2. Knead in butter until incorporated. (In many cookbooks, they mentioned that the dough at this stage should be able to be pulled and stretched into membrane, but it’s hard to achieve with hand kneading. I usually stop kneading when the dough sticks to the work surface and stretches like chewing gum when pulled!) Form the dough into a round ball and let it rise until double in size in a large greased bowl, cover with cling wrap (should take about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months). Optimum room temperature for this first prove is 28°C with a humidity of 75%. To test if the dough has risen properly, dip a finger into bread or plain flour and poke down into the centre of the dough as far as your finger will go and pull out again – the hole should remain if it is ready. If the dough springs back, then it is not ready, continue to prove further.

3. Punch down, knead briefly. Then divide into 16 equal portions. The easiest way is to first divide equally into 4 larger portions first, then divide each of these again into quarters each. Form each into balls and let rest for 10 minutes.

4. Shape and fill as desired to make into buns of your choice.

Obtained from here


Filling

  • 100g softened butter
  • 45g plain flour, sifted
  • 50g milk powder, sifted
  • 45g caster sugar, sifted
Just mix everything :D

I was not too satisfied with the filling actually, still have room for improvement!
I think the problem was that I used milk instead of milk powder, so it was too liquidy. If i were to do again, i think i would add more flour perhaps :D (damn sound so sih lai)

The toping was done using this recipe:

Topping
  • 100 g butter, softened
  • 80g icing sugar, sifted
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • coffee flavoring (available from bakery supplies shop, use 2 tablespoons instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water)
  • 1 pinch ground cinamon , can be added to the coffee flavouring
  • 100 all purpose flour, sifted
  1. cream the butter with the icing sugar
  2. add in the egg and coffee flavoring and continue beating
  3. add in the flour.
I think i would add 2 eggs instead of one, cause i felt the topping was a bit hard. I suppose it depends on your preference, if you want the toping to be biscuity, then 1 egg would be fine, if you want the topping to be cakey, 2 eggs would be better :D (OMGawd, so sih lai)

You are suppose to pipe the topping around the bun in a spiral fashion. I din have a piping bag, so you know what i used?





Bwahahahaha.. Its the water cones for the water dispenser one ah..

What to do, poor student what =.=

Anyway this is what is suppose to look like after piping :)



Woot, forgot the choco chips! :D



Its so hard to pipe without proper stuff so in the end......

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Bwahahahha..

Why am I so lazy ah.. =.=



Dont ask me what temperature and time i used to bake. There is no numbers on the dials of the oven so we just chuck the food into the oven and bake till the thing is cooked. I know lar, damn ulu right? Bwahaha..

Mexican Bun! :D

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