Brioche Bread

Yan February 18, 2016

中文： Brioche 面包

I just can’t get enough of soft, sweet, light and fluffy bread. Brioche is also one of my favorites. So I never stop trying different ways to make it.

The recipe is adapted from http://forums.huaren.us/showtopic.aspx?topicid=1400907. According to the author, she adapted from somewhere else. Anyway, many thanks to the both authors who have contributed to this recipe!

PS. I didn’t expect this piece of eggy dough to rise so high in the oven. That is why we have a giant mushroom shape loaf here. O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup warm water
3 eggs
2egg yolks
6 tablespoons softened butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoon yeast
1/4teaspoon salt

For the filling：

2/3 cup raisins
4 to 6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 to 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
egg wash for brushing the top
white sesame seeds (optional)

Directions：

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add water with yeast, eggs, egg yolks, flour, sugar and salt to the bread machine . Start dough process. My bread machine will knead the dough for 20 minutes.

Stop the machine after kneading by pressing stop button for seconds. Add diced softened butter, start dough process all over again. This time, allow the machine to knead and proof the dough as programmed.

It takes about 2 hours for the dough to double in size.

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

Equally divide the dough into 4 pieces. With a rolling pin, roll each one flat and thin; sprinkle with brown sugar, ground cinnamon and raisins; and then roll up from one end all the way to the other end.

Loosely braid them together. Proof the dough again in a greased loaf pan.

It takes about another hour or so for the dough to double in size again.

Preheat the oven to 350F/177C.

Brush the top with egg wash. Sprinkle with white sesame seeds.

Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the baking pan you are using. You might need to cover the bread with a piece of foil to prevent too dark color on the top.

Korean Style Mini Sweet Rice Cakes

Yan January 25, 2016

中文：软糯弾牙的韩式年糕

We love Korean style sweet rice cakes. If you have never had any kind of sweet rice cakes before, it might be a little hard to explain how great they taste like. They are mostly dense, al dente and [possibly a little bit chewy, in a good way of course. Asian people are so found of sweet rice that we use it in all kinds of savory and sweet dishes. Sweet rice flour and rice four, as well as wheat flours are my pantry staples.

This recipe is adapted from xiachufang.com. Many thanks to the original author!

Ingredients：

300 g sweet rice flour
200 g rice flour
340 to 350 g boiling water

Directions：

In a large bowl, add both sweet rice flour and rice flour. Gradually add water while whisking.

Knead by hand until it forms smooth dough. Be careful because the dough may be very hot.

Steam the sweet rice dough on medium heat for 50 to 60 minutes.

Or cover the bowl with microwave safe lid and microwave on high for 6 to 8 minutes in total. Heat for 2 minutes first; take it out; knead with a wooden spoon; cover; and send it back to heat for another 2 minutes. Repeat the process until the whole dough becomes very hot and semi-transparent.

For the next step, please proceed with caution, because the dough is very hot at this point. Knead the dough on wooden board until it becomes smooth and non-sticky. The tricky part is that you cannot dust the board or dough with extra flour. The constant kneading is very important in developing sweet rice cakes’ unique texture.

If you don’t want to do it by hand, go with a stand mixer or bread machine.

I use a bread machine with dual kneading blades. What a life saver! It kneads the sweet rice dough for 30 to 40 minutes. It is very smooth and not sticky at all.

With a dough scraper / cutter, divide the sweet rice dough into 6 to 8 equal pieces. Roll each of them into a small log shape, about 1/4 inch in diameter.

Cut them into one and a half long pieces.

You can eat them right away, with any of your favorite dipping sauce.

Pack any extra sweet rice cakes in a zip-loc bag; and store in fridge or freezer.

Or, you can serve them in Asian style soup. Blanch them in the soup and serve immediately. Don’t cook them too long; otherwise they will break apart. Ok, that is an issue I need to work on in the future about how to make them stay al dente when cooked in soup.

Another one of my favorite ways to enjoy sweet rice cakes is to toast them and then serve with brown sugar sauce. Continue to read the full recipe here.

Soft and Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

Yan December 17, 2015

中文：薯泥玫瑰小餐包

Unlike other baking lovers, I like to bake soft, sweet fluffy dinner rolls instead of French bread or sour dough bread. Mashed sweet potato is a great ingredient in making dinner rolls. It gives the rolls such pretty and bright vibrant yellow color, light sweetness and softer texture.

Ingredients：

250 g bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
50 to 60 g whole milk
100 to 110 mashed sweet potato
1 large egg
40 g sugar
20 g butter (soften, or heated in microwave for a few seconds )
3 to 4 gluten flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
egg wash or honey + water for brushing

Note：

You can get mashed sweet potato from baked, boiled or steamed sweet potatoes. Please remember that water content will differ greatly in each cooking ways. You may need to adjust how much bread flour is needed here depending on the mashed sweet potato. I get mine from baked sweet potato.

I add extra gluten flour to help with bread texture because 100 g mashed sweet potato is a lot for this recipe.

Directions：

Heat the milk in microwave for 30 seconds; add the milk to bread machine container; dissolve yeast into the warm milk; and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add eggs, flour, gluten flour, sugar, salt and mashed sweet potato; start dough cycle. My bread machine will knead the dough for 20 minutes and proof for an hour.

When kneading is done, abort the cycle; add diced butter; and start the dough cycle again. It will knead the dough for another 20 minutes, which should be able to get the dough past window panel test.

When the dough is doubled in size, transfer it to a well dusted wooden board. Gently press down and knead for a minutes; cover and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 32 equal pieces. Roll each piece out; and line up four together.

Roll them up from one end

Cut it right in the middle. Now you have two yellow roses!

Repeat the process until all dough pieces are turned into roses. Place them cut side down in a greased baking pan; cover; and let it proof again for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F/204 C.

Brush the bread with egg wash or honey + water. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes. Cover the bread with a large piece of foil if necessary to prevent dark color on top.

How beautiful they are!

Fire-grilled Burgers

Yan September 4, 2015

中文：自己在家做汉堡包

Ok, we were kind of disappointed last time when we went to the burger shop in Ann Arbor, which was supposed to be great according to FoodNetwork and Travel Channel. (see here ) So we decided to make burgers at home the way we like it.

I made the sesame buns and beef patties from scratch. It might be easier to just buy them from store, but it would take the fun and pride when you make your own burger, wouldn’t it?

I posted the bread recipe before. Here it is again.

Ingredients for bread:

300 g bread flour
165 to 180 g whole milk
1 large egg
20 g butter, softened at room temperature and diced
30 g sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1/8 teaspoon salt
egg wash
white sesame seeds

Directions：

Microwave the milk on high for 30 to 45 second. Stir in yeast and let it sit for 5 to 8 minutes.

In the bread machine’s mixing bowl, add milk with yeast, flour, sugar, salt and egg. Start “dough” cycle. My machine will knead for 20 minutes and proof the dough automatically for 60 minutes. When it finishes kneading, stop it completely. Add diced butter, and start “dough” cycle all over again.

This time, let the machine do the kneading and proof for you. All you need to do is to check if the dough is double in size at the end of “dough” cycle. Sometimes the dough is ready before it ends.

Transfer the dough to a well-dusted wood board. Punch it down and knead gently just until you eliminate all the big bubbles. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Roll each of them into a round shape ball. Place them on a baking pan lined up with parchment paper or baking mat, about 1 or two inches apart from each other.

Cover and let them sit at room temperature for another 25 to 35 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F/204°C.

Brush the dough balls with egg wash and sprinkle white sesame seeds on top.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes. You might need to cover them with foil for the last 4 to 6 minutes if the bread brown quickly.

Hot and fresh out the oven! Aren’t they beautiful?

Now we are ready to make beef patties.

Ingredients:

(The ingredients listed here are enough to make 6 to 8 burgers. I can freeze the extra patties so that I can simple thaw them next time I make burgers at home.)

2 pounds ground beef (80/20)
2 eggs
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon McCormick grilling seasoning
1 to 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
salt to taste

For 3 burgers：

1 to 2 onions, grilled
6 slices of bacon, grilled
cheddar cheese
3 eggs. fried
lettuce or other leafy greens
mayonnaise / ketchup

Directions:

In a large bowl, add beef, eggs, onion, bread crumbs, black pepper, sugar, paprika, garlic powder, grilling seasoning, werstershire sauce, rosemary and salt.

Mix with hands just until everything is well combined. Do not over mix.

Divide into 6 to 8 parts. Round each of them into a big meatball and press them down with your palm. And with your thumb, make a dent in the center. It helps to cook the patties evenly.

Preheat the grill to 450F/232°C. Brush the grill with oil. Place the beef patties in the center and grill for 2 minutes.

2 minutes later

Grill another 2 minutes. Top them with cheddar cheese. I prefer thick cut. O(∩_∩)O~

1 or 2 minutes later, the cheese melts beautifully. Transfer them to a cooler zone on the grill.

Turn the heat to minimum and toast the sesame buns for a couple minutes.

Ok, finally it is time a grab a plate. Pick your bread and top it with grilled beef patty with cheese.

Top it with grilled bacon, grilled onion, fried eggs, leafy greens, mayonnaise or ketchup.

Time to enjoy the burger you work so hard for. Yum!

Sticky Buns

Yan July 20, 2015

中文: 焦糖核桃面包卷

I love cinnamon pecan bread and brioche bread. So I combine both of them into this perfect sticky buns recipe. It is so much better than the tough chewy sticky buns bought from stores. I like to pair it with a cup of freshly brewed black coffee. And that is my idea of perfect afternoon tea. O(∩_∩)O~

You also need to know the calorie is sky high for this bread before indulging in. Well, that seems to be true for most tasty comfort food. Although I am not the person who counts calories in every single meal, I know this is guilty pleasure will cost me extra hours on treadmill. It is well worthy.

Brioche and caramel make everything better!

Brioche bread ingredients：

320 g bread flour
2 tablespoons honey
40 g butter, softened and diced
2 large eggs
130 g whole milk
40 g sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
1/8 teaspoon salt
brown sugar
ground cinnamon

Goo/ pecan caramel topping：

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
1 cup pecan

Directions：

Heat the milk in microwave for 30 seconds; add the milk to bread machine container; dissolve yeast into the warm milk; and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add eggs, flour, sugar, salt and honey.

Start dough cycle.

The dough is still rough.

When the first kneading cycle is done, the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

My bread machine will knead the dough for 20 minutes and proof for an hour. When kneading is done, abort the cycle; add diced butter; and start the dough cycle again. It will knead for another 20 minutes.

It should be able to get the dough past window panel test now.

When the bread machine kneads and proofs the bread, we can prepare the goo/ pecan caramel topping.

Toast pecan in a preheated 350F oven for 8 to 10 minutes; remove from oven and let them cool completely.

Chop them up.

In a medium sauce pan, add brown sugar and water. Heat the pan over medium-high heat until the mixture bubbles. Stir from time to time to prevent burning at the bottom.

Gradually add heavy cream while whisking. The mixture may splatter. You have to be extra careful not to burn yourself.

Add butter and cook for another couple minutes. Remove from heat and allow the caramel sauce to cool down.

The dough is perfect from bread machine.

When the dough is doubled in size, transfer it to a well dusted wooden board. Gently press down and knead for a minutes; cover and let it sit for 10 minutes.