Pineapple buns

Basic sweet bread recipe: 

350g bread flour

10g milk powder

6g fast instant dried yeast

50g sugar

1/4. Tsp salt

1 egg

125ml milk

120g Tang Zhong (recipe here)

30g butter room temperature, diced

Method:

Place everything except the butter into your mixer and let it knead till you get a rough dough. 

Keep your mixer on slow speed and add diced butter to the dough. 

Knead for 15 minutes or until the dough is elastic and no longer sticky. 

Cover your dough with cling film or a damp cloth and let it proof at room temperature for 

1 hour or doubled in size. Proofing time varies with the temperature of your room. I usually check after an hour and decide if its needs a little longer. 

You can place your dough in a greased bowl but I always leaves mine in the mixer bowl and cover with a damp cloth. 

Once it has proofed, knock the air out and knead by hand for a few minutes and divide your dough into 12 equal pieces (around 60g each) let proof for 15-20 mins on parchment paper.

At this stage, they will still expand in size so make sure you leave enough room for this process while its resting. Otherwise they will stick to each other while baking. 

Crispy topping dough for pineapple buns.

Recipe:

120g plain flour

10g milk powder

10g corn starch

60g icing sugar 

3g baking powder

30g egg lightly beaten

60g melted butter

Pinch of salt

Method:

Mix everything together to form a dough. 

Divide your crispy topping dough into 12 balls and flatten into a disc about 1/2cm thick.

Brush proofed dough with egg wash and place a crispy topping dough  on top of each rolls and brush over the crispy topping with egg wash. 

Bake in a pre heated oven at 180c for 20 mins

Leave to cool on a cooling rack and serve. 

You can divide these into 24 pieces and make bite sizes but bake for 10-12 mins only. 

Tang Zhong for bread

 65°C Tang Zhong method makes bread incredibly soft.

I have discovered this method whilst browsing the Internet. 

People were raving about how soft this makes bread.  I wanted to know what special ingredients they use to make this Tang Zhong paste? 

To my surprise, its only bread flour and water. 

The ratio must be 1:5, so 1 part bread flour and 5 parts water. 

It's that simple. 

Anyway, I have since made bread with this method and it has delivered all the time with amazing results. Bread will stay soft and fluffy for days. 

Tang Zhong:

50g bread flour 

250ml water

The method is you cook the flour & water for the tang zhong over gentle heat, 

the starch begins to react with the water via gelatinization. The mixture will  thicken up as the starch traps and locks moisture from the water. 

 You don't need a thermometer to make this, all need to whisk til the paste leaves a trail and the texture is like baby food. 

Take it off the heat, transfer it into a bowl and wrap cling film over it so it doesnt form a skin on top.