The little boy is always full of tricks up his sleeves. The older he gets, the more scheming he becomes. And so I guess the best thing to do is to get him involved in small little ways so that he keeps himself entertained and engaged in the best possible ways that could contribute constructively. Just like how he volunteered to pose for pictures for this post. His reward? The buns that he posed with.
And it’s become very challenging to get him engaged recently especially because of the COVID-19 epidemic. I’m sure I’m not alone because most people would have already felt the strain of this situation in our daily life. We can’t go to crowded places anymore because this means taking a silly, unnecessary risk of catching the virus and placing everyone around us at risk. We need to stay home as much as possible and keep ourselves healthy. You can’t possibly explain these things to a five year old whose mind is not fully developed yet to think logically, so you need to find other means and ways to coerce and convince him with little tricks and treats.
Just this week, having to work from home (and in such short notice) was emotionally challenging because there is a sudden realisation that I will not get to see many of my colleagues in the other split-team for months to come. The people whom I work with and meet every day, the vendors and contractors whom I say hi and bye to frequently, the face-to-face meetings that I schedule regularly – these are the things that we have been taking for granted and things that we have to forgo all of a sudden.
It certainly took me a while, especially on the first day of compulsory WFH (work-from-home) to come to terms with how things will be for the next month(sss) or so, and to convince myself that life has to go on anyhow so that we can pave the way for a better future to come. But in a different way now because we need to embrace new tools and technology to be able to do so. And to push myself to start getting things going again so that everyone else will do similarly. It’s not going to be easy, but if we encourage each other to try, we could all move along, slowly but surely.
And there are always blessings in disguise that we have to keep looking out for and believe in, just like the many posts that people have been putting online to cheer each other on. The bluer skies, the quieter cities, the cleaner roads, the humane acts – these are the acts of love and the positive things that emerge to let us know that we will all survive this episode. The best thing is that once this is all over, we will all emerge stronger and better. For sure.
To everyone who’s reading this post, thank you for doing so, and I wish all of you a safe and sound journey through this leg of your life.
Ingredients:
- High protein bread flour: 400g
- Milk powder: 20g
- Instant dry yeast: 8g
- Sugar: 40g
- Salt: 8g
- Cold water: 240g
- Unsalted butter: 40g, softened at room temperature
- Parmesan cheese: 20g
- Egg glaze: 1 egg white
- Cheddar cheese: 80g, grated
Method:
- Mix together bread flour, milk powder, instant dry yeast, sugar and salt. Combine using a dough hook on low speed for 1min.
- Add cold water to flour mixture. Combine on low speed for 1min, then another 5min on medium speed.
- Add softened butter and mix for 7 – 10min.
- Add parmesan cheese. Mix on low speed for 1min.
- Round up dough on floured surface with two hands. Proof for 1hr in airtight container in warm place till doubled.
- Divide dough into 40g pieces (about 7 pieces). Proof 10min.
- Round up doughs again. Place into greased tin with 1 in the center and remaining 6 around center. Cover and proof for another hour till doubled.
- Preheat oven at 200 degrees Celsius.
- Brush with egg glaze, then sprinkle with cheddar cheese on top of dough.
- Bake for about 15 – 20min till glossy and golden brown.
Disclaimers:
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This recipe was kindly adapted from Don Yong’s Celebrity Chef’s Cookbooks: Bread Winners.
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The recipe calls for 6g of bread improver to be added. I did not do so but the bread turned out very well nonetheless!
Serving:
1 loaf of 7 buns
