Enough of European bakes – time for some Asian bread! Finally had some time and decided to dig out the bread recipe book ‘Don Yong Celebrity Chef’s Cookbooks: Bread Winners’ that my good friends gave to me as present…. probably more than 4 years ago. I have been rather resistant about trying out any of the recipes in this book because the chef employed professional dough mixers to do the work for him. Nevertheless, this attempt has shown me that my own hands can do the job as well as the kitchen machines.
Ingredients:
- Strong white flour (bread flour): 600g
- Milk powder: 16g
- Bread improver: 6g
- Instant dry yeast: 10g
- Sugar: 55g
- Salt: 6g
- Egg (small): 1/2
- Cold water: 225g
- Butter: 60g
- Dried cranberries: 200g, roughly chopped
- Honey mixture: 1 tbsp honey + 1 tbsp butter
Method:
- Blend dry ingredients together for 1 min.
- Add egg, then water. Continue mixing on low speed for 1 min.
- Increase to medium speed and mix 5 min.
- Add butter and mix another 7-10 min till dough is fully developed.
- Mix in cranberries on low speed over 1 min.
- Transfer dough onto floured surface. Round up with hands.
- Leave to rise in air-tight container and warm place for 1 – 1.5 hrs till doubled in bulk.
- Divide into 2 doughs. Leave to rest for 15 min.
- Press down and roll out each dough with rolling pin. Then roll each one into a cylindrical shape.
- Prove in warm, draught-free room for another 1 – 1.5 hrs till doubled in bulk.
- Bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees for 25-30 min till golden brown.
- Brush honey mixture onto surface top of bread half-way through the baking.
Tricks:
- While proving and baking, place seams of doughs at the bottom to allow them to expand fully.
- The honey mixture helps give the bread its sweet taste and fragrance; brushing the mixture onto the surface halfway through the baking helps prevent the surface from becoming burnt.
- I didn’t chop up the cranberries this time, as it was my first time baking such a bread. Chopping it up would probably give it a finer overall texture.
Serving:
2 loaves
