Chocolate bread : Roped and Loaf

I just realized that I have not been posting any bread or chocolate recipe for ages! Super unlike me, hahaha! So today I shall "kill 2 birds with one stone"...a chocolate bread post, heehee. :D I found this great recipe book in the library the other and fell in love with it! There are countless recipes inside that I cannot wait to try out! Title of book is "Bread顶级风味面包书" and it is published in Chinese. Anyway, my first one will be this yummy Chocolate bread with some modification ...just to make it a wee bit healthier. ;)

One of the thing I love about this recipe is it's a straight dough method, no pre fermented dough or Tangzhong required. ;) I really love the texture of this bread, so easy to handle and yet so soft and yummy. Not to mention it is packed full of chocolaty flavor too! I had replace some of the bread flour with wholemeal flour to make it healthier, here is my version  of the recipe:

Ingredients for Chocolate Bread: (makes one 9x5x4 loaf, and 5 roped buns)
400g bread flour
60g wholemeal flour (I used Prima)
40g organic brown rice powder
7g salt
60g caster sugar
20g milk powder
15g honey
20g cocoa powder (I used Valrohna)
50g egg without shell
300-325ml water (add as per needed)
8g instant active yeast
40g unsalted butter, room temperature
50-80g raisins (depending how much u like)
80g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks

•  In a large mixer, add in all the ingredients except for water, butter and chocolate chips. 
• Gradually add in 300ml water and start mixing. If needed, add in the additional 25ml water and continue to knead till dough is not sticky and very elastic which will pull away from the sides.
• Add in the butter and continue to knead till it reaches window panel.
• Cover and let proof for 1-2hrs or till dough doubles in volume.
• After proofing, punch out the air and weigh out 600g for the loaf and the remaining dough for the buns.
• Grease the loaf pan. Roll out the loaf dough portion into a large rectangle. Sprinkle the raisins all over the surface. Then roll it up like a swiss roll  and seal up the edges. Then fold the log into half like a skinny U shape, then take the two tips and start twisting it till it is like a twisted rope, then seal the two ends tightly. Gently lay the loaf into the loaf pan. Cover and let proof till it reaches the rim.
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• Next roll out the bun portion into a large long rectangle as well. Again sprinkle the chocolate chunks all over the surface. Then gently fold it into 3 fold like a letter, seal the edges. Then using the rolling pin, roll it slightly flat.
• Using a knife, cut the dough length wise into 5 long strips. It will be a little tricky if your chocolate chunks are big.
• Take one strip to shape: Take about 5 cm worth of the tip and fold it up like a U shape. Then the longer end tip and start twirling around the U until all used up. Seal the tip to the center of the dough. Repeat till the remaining 4 portions are all shaped. (Sorry forgotten to take pics this time)
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• Let dough proof till double in size. Preheat oven in the meantime to 175-180C.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes for the buns while 28-30 minutes for the loaf. I did an open loaf, so no cover. You can cover if you wish. 
• Once baked, remove from oven and let cool completely on the rack.

I had to admit that I did not do a good job on the shaping, haha! But I still had fun nonetheless and it does look a little bit likes ropes, ya? ;) The bread still turned out soft and awesome with chocolaty taste even with the addition of the wholemeal and brown rice powder. Note that you can purchase brown rice powder in Organic Shops.

The twisted loaf also turned out great too. :) Although one end of the loaf was taller then the other, haha!

 It is almost mandatory that I show a sneak peek of the inside of the bread, haha! So again proving that healthy can be tasty as well! Yums! But no worries if you have no brown rice powder or you don't fancy wholemeal in your bread, just use 500g of bread flour. :)

Okay, that's all folks! Hopefully you all will try out this recipe as well. Happy baking all!

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Healthy Treats: gedang and Oat Muffin

When you have that 2 or 3 overly ripe gedangs in your kitchen, "looking" at you every time you walk pass. You know it ain't that tasty anymore since it's too ripe and mushy when you peel it. And kept emitting that ever so fragrant gedang scent, telling you it's now or never! Never because it might just rot before you can get to it. :P I am sure everyone of us experience this all too often! Well, as I always say, there's never enough gedang recipes to go around! So here I am again, after trying to justify why I am posting this yet another gedang cake recipe on my blog, (busted! lol!!) share with you this wonderful and healthy muffin cake that you will not feel guilty chowing down 2-3 of these babies.

Actually I got this recipe idea from Veronica from Peng's kitchen. I believe she got her recipe from Kevin Chai's  book. I decided to modify it to even healthier version by not using butter and adding some wholewheat flour. Check it out:

Healthy gedang and Oat Muffins (makes about 10-12 small)

120ml vegetable oil

70g dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 whole egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup low fat plain yoghurt / fresh milk

140g ripe and mashed gedangs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

100g cake flour

25g wholewheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4tsp baking soda

90g instant oat 

Walnuts(roughly chopped) and chocolate chips each 1/4 cup

• Preheat the oven to 175C. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the oil, egg and sugar together till brown sugar has melted. If sugar did not melt properly, place mixture over double boiler to help speed up the process. 
• Add milk, vanilla extract and salt and stir well.
• Sift in cake flour, baking powder and baking soda and stir well. 
• Lastly, add in wholewheat flour and oats, stir well till combined
• Add in walnut and chocolate chips in desired and stir to mix.
• Scoop batter into muffin cups or baking trays. Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes till tester comes out clean.

I actually divided the batter into 2 portions and half for walnuts and the other half for chocolate chips. Since my hubs and I wants the healthier version, we opted for the walnut ones...:D

I was surprise these muffins turned out moist and delicious! I really enjoy the walnut chunks and the slight chewy texture given by the oats. I am already planning to bake these again for my parents knowing that they will enjoy them and also not harmful to their health. :)

 See that chunky walnut in there? Yummy! Nom nom nom...I love walnuts! And don't get me started on how healthy they are to us...so snack on them walnuts! :D

Alright, gonna keep this short since tomorrow is still another school day. *sigh* And there's much to do. :P Will try to be back with another post real soon...hopefully before end of the month! *Fingers crossed*

Have a good evening then everyone!

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Almond wholewheat Piggy buns & loaf

Another week gone, and I am still slacking! I really need to get my emakentum going on my posting. I have not been blogging much but I have been more active on my new "passion"....Instagram, lol! If you are too an Instagram user, do come look for me and search for "honeybeesweet88" and you will find me. :P Do drop me a comment if you find me there ya?

Okay, back to my posting. It's been more then a month since my last bread post...geese, so unlike me! Lol! Anyway, I bake bread at least once a week...but this particular recipe has been my favorite lately. After my "Snake buns" episode, I decided to bake something fun again this time...piggy buns!!! *Oink* (ok, it's not a hint about my personality ah, lol!)

 

I just love these chubby-face piggies, haha! I had fun fun fun making them too! My kids were picking off their eyes, ears and snout when they eat their piggies, haha! This recipe is pretty much similar to the multigrain snake buns I posted earlier. But instead of almond+walnut+oats puree, I used almond+brown rice and wholewheat. :) But I do apologise that I didn't get to snap any pictures while I was shaping the piggies. :P But its not too complicated...read on. :P

Ingredients for Healthy Piggy Buns (recipe by HoneyBeeSweets)
Filling:

2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
5 slices of think ham, cut into small squares
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp powder sugar

• Boil the potatoes in a pot of water till it is fork tender. Scoop out and mash well.
• Then mix together with the rest of the ingredients and set aside for the buns later.

Dough:

420g bread flour
55g brown rice powder/ flour (you can sub this with rice flour)

40g wholewheat flour (I used Prima)
50g caster sugar
6g salt
7g instant active yeast
150g almond+brown rice puree  (I got this from my soymilk machine, you can use okara too)
160ml fresh milk
200ml water (+- 15 ml ; add as per needed )  

30g unsalted butter

3 slices of kraft cheese, cut into 4 squares in each slice (yields 12 small squares)

some mini chocolate chips for eyes 

• In a large mixing bowl, add in all the ingredients except the butter. Stir and mix till everything comes together to form a pliable dough.
• Continue kneading till the  dough becomes elastic and pulls away from the side of the bowl and not sticky anymore.
• Add in the butter and continue to knead till it reaches window stage. 
• Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover to let proof for 1.5-2hrs till it doubled in size.
• Punch out the air and divide the dough into 50g & 18g portions. (Note:  I made ~9 piggy buns & a plain loaf (9x4x5).)
• First take the pig head, take a 50g portion and roll flat into a flat disc shape. Place one cheese square at the center, then 30g of the filling over the cheese. Seal up the edges into a roll ball.Then using your palm, press it down slightly to make it a slightly flat for more face "area".
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• Take the 18g portion, divide into 5g, 5g & 8g. The two 5g are for the ears and the 8g for the snout. Roll round and stick the snout and ears on the main face dough surface.
• Using tooth pick, dip it in some masak oil (prevent sticking) then poke the nose to create the nostrils. For the ears, use kitchen scissors to snip the lower end to create an opening.

• Lastly stick 2 mini chocolate chips above the snout to make the eyes. Let it proof for at least 15 minutes and preheat the oven to 175C.
• Then bake these buns in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes till slight golden brown. 

I really love the filling! I wondered why I never use that combination before, lol! 

With the remaining dough, I made a plain loaf as well. :) I guess I can just let the pictures do all the talking ya? :D

Hope this recipe will also become a favorite for you and your family too. And have fun baking those piggy heads too! :) Have a fantastic day everyone!

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