Asian Peanut Butter and Brown Sugar Bread

中文食谱: 花生酱红糖小发面饼

This is another one of my comfort foods.  Whenever I am under the weather or exhausted, I crave for these little bread rolls loaded with deliciousness and calories.  Or sometimes I just want them, no excuses needed O(∩_∩)O~

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions：

Microwave the milk on high for 20 to 30 seconds.

Add warm milk, along with flour, oil and salt to the bread machine.  Sprinkle yeast on top.

Choose dough cycle and start the bread machine.

In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and peanut butter together

Try to mix as smoothly as possible

Allow the dough to proof for 20 minutes

Transfer the dough to a large well-dusted wooden board

With a large rolling pin, roll the dough into a large flat sheet , 1/4 inch in height

Roll it up

Roll from one end towards the other into a big lollipop of dough.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 15 to 20 minutes

Roll the dough flat and thin again with the rolling pin

Roll it up again

Cut into 1.5 or 2 inches long pieces

Shape each piece into a ball

Gently roll them flat a little bit.  Transfer them to a cookie pan lined up with silicone baking mat

Cover with plastic wrap and allow them to proof for another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F / 204C

Bake in the oven for 14 to 16 minutes

The whole house smells so good when the bread is baked in the oven.

Soft Pretzel Bread Buns

中文菜谱：PRETZEL小面包

We love soft pretzel bread, and I also loving making them from scratch in my own kitchen.  I love seeing those little cute buns turning out dark golden brown in the oven, smelling the freshly baked bread aroma and tearing apart the soft and a bit chewy bread buns and they taste so good and satisfying! 

Ingredients：

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
egg wash (for brushing the bread)
white sesame seeds

For boiling water：

2 quarts water
1/4 cup baking soda

Directions：

Microwave the milk on high for 20 to 30 seconds until the milk is lukewarm but not too hot to touch.

Add the milk to bread machine.  Sprinkle with dry yeast. 

Add flour, salt, butter and sugar 

Start dough proces

I like to restart the dough process right after the machine finishes the kneading and about to proof the bread.   Twice knead bread will have slight better and finer texture which I like. 

The dough doubles in siz

Transfer the dough to a well-floured board.

Equally divide it into 8 pieces and knead each piece into a small round dough ball.

Place them onto a half sheet baking pan lined with baking mat, 2 to 3 inches apart. 

Cover with greased plastic wrap and proof under room temperature for about another 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425F/218

Bring the water to boil.   Add baking soda.

Add bread dough.  Cook each for 20 to 30 seconds. 

Drain well and put them back onto the baking mat.

With a sharp knife, make some cuts on top.  Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with white sesame seeds.  The cuts I make here are a bit too shallow.  I should have cut a little bit deeper. 

Bake in the oven for 16 to 20 minutes or until they are dark golden brown

Aren’t they beautiful? 

They are soft and a little bit chewy.  Smell great too.  I love everything about these tiny cute pretzel buns. 

You can eat them plain, or with jam, cream cheese, peanut butter; or you can do what I do: I make fire grilled cheese burger sliders with them.  Please stay tune for the next new recipe! O(∩_∩)O~ 

Pan-fried buns with Pork and Zucchini Filling

中文：猪肉西葫芦烙饼

It is zucchini season!  There are zucchinis everywhere in the farmer’s market.  They are fresh, they are cheap, and the most important thing is that they go well with almost everything. 

Next time you don’t know what to do with your zucchinis, try this pan-fried version.  They are pretty awesome! O(∩_∩)O~

For pork and zucchini filling：

5 large zucchinis
350 to 400g ground pork
3 to 4 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger / ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 stalk of green onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 cup of chicken stock
1 to 2 tablespoon oil
salt to taste

For the buns：

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 to 3/4 cup of water
oil (for pan frying)

Directions：

 I posted zucchini dumplings before

Zucchini is a high water content vegetable.  Adding zucchini directly to the filling might turn the filling into a mushy mess.  So I use half-dried zucchinis in both dumplings and buns.   The flavor is more intense and texture is better too.

Slice the zucchinis and dry them under the sun or in a food dehydrator until the volume reduce to half or one third. 

Add to a food processor

Finely chopped

 In a large bowl, add ground pork, soy sauce, rice cooking wine, oyster sauce, ground ginger, ground white pepper, green onion, sesame oil, chicken stock, oil and salt.  With a pair of chopsticks, whisk the pork and seasonings until everything is well combined. 

Add chopped zucchini

Mix well again. 

Whiling preparing the filling, I use a bread machine to make the dough.

Add flour, water, salt and oil to the bread machine.  Start dough process.

After the dough is done, leave it to rest in the bread machine for 10 minutes. 

Transfer the dough to a well dusted wooden board

Equally divide into 8 pieces 

With a small rolling pin, roll each piece thin and flat.

Add pork filling

Wrap them up

Cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow them to rest for another 10 minutes.

Use a small rolling pin to gently roll the bun into 1/3 or 1/2 inch thic

Heat a small cast iron pan over medium low heat.

Add oil and then buns.  Cover with lid.  Pan fry the bun until both sides are golden brown.  It takes about 4 to 6 minutes each side. 

Serve immediately. 

You don’t need fork and knife.  Our traditional way is hold it in hand like this. 

Bon Appétit!  O(∩_∩)O~

Cranberry Bagels

中文： 蔓越莓贝果

What I love about bagels is that they are soft and chewy at the same time.  Cranberry bagel is one of my favorite flavors.  I wrote this recipe a few years ago and it has been getting good reviews.  It is getting improved over the years. I also retake step by step photos when I am making them.

Ingredients：

3 1/2 cups bread flour (500g)
1 1/4 to 1 1/3 cups water
2 teaspoons yeast
5 tablespoons sugar (use more if you have sweet tooth)
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of dried cranberry  (or raisins, dried blueberries, mango or any dried fruits of your choice)

For boiling the bagels：

1/2 gallon water
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Direction:

Microwave the water on high for 30 to 50 seconds.  Add the water, along with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon flour to the bread machine .  Stir them together.  Sprinkle yeast on top.  Let it sit for 5 to 8 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and start dough process. 

In five minutes, everything starts to come together.

The bread machine kneads for another 20 minutes.  The dough is very smooth and elastic now.

Wait until the dough doubles in size.

Transfer the dough to a well dusted wooden board.  Knead gently to get rid of big air bubbles.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 16 pieces.  If you prefer bigger bagels, divide it into 8 to 10 pieces.

With a small rolling pin, roll each one flat.

Roll up from one end.

Tightly seal the seam.

Put two ends together and roll into a circle.

Lay the bagel dough pieces on the cookie pan lined with silicone baking mat.

Cover with greased plastic again.  Proof in the refrigerator overnight; longer proofing time at low temperature gives them finer texture.  If you don’t want to wait, just proof them at the room temperature for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to425F/220 C

In a large pan, add water, honey, salt and baking powder.  Heat over high heat until the water boils.  Reduce the heat to simmer.  Add bagels.  Boil each side for 30 to 60 seconds depending on their sizes.

Drain well and put them back to the baking pan with silicone mat.

Bake in the oven for 16 to 20 minutes or until the bagels are golden brown

Now you have a batch of cranberry bagels freshly out of the oven!

I prefer to eat them just like this.

They are both soft and chewy at the same time.  And the light sweetness and tartness from cranberries is a really nice touch.

Or you can also slice them open.  Toast in a toaster for a couple minutes.  Spread with your favorite cream cheese or jam.

Chocolate Ganache Glazed Donuts

中文： 巧克力甜甜圈

I suddenly crave for fresh donuts, but the only donut place in town went out of business two years ago.  So I decide to make my own chocolate ganache glazed donuts. O(∩_∩)O~

I make a batch of donuts.  The inner circle dough balls cut from donuts don’t go to waste either.  I fry them along with donuts, top with icing sugar and sprinkle with ground cinnamon  and sugar, yum!

Ingredients：

2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup luke warm whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
1 large egg
3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
oil for frying

Donuts toppings：

Chocolate ganache
sugar
ground cinnamon
icing sugar

Directions：

Add flour, sugar and salt to the bread machine.  Mix together.  Make a well on the top of flour mixture.  Add milk, sprinkle with yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add egg and melted butter.

Start dough process.

The bread machine finishes kneading.

It also automatically proofs the dough.

Transfer the dough to a well-floured wooden board.  Gently knead it with hands to get rid of any big air bubbles.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough to about half inch thin.  Use round biscuit cutters to cut it into donut shapes.  When done, cover them with plastic wrap again and let them rest for about another 20 minutes.

Add oil to a wok  or pot.  Heat it over high heat.  When the oil gets hot, fry the donuts until both sides are golden brown. Each side takes about 1 minute, more or less.

Dip them in the chocolate ganache.

Cool on a cooling rack.

Now it is time to enjoy！O(∩_∩)O~

I know you want a bite of these too!

Do not waste the center part cut from donut dough.  Fry them to golden brown too.  Top with icing sugar and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and sugar.

They are surprisingly tasty too! O(∩_∩)O~