Carnation bread -- Happy Mother's Day

Isn't this bread beautiful? I use cranberry pie filling, it tastes pretty good. And, as a gift for Mother's Day, this carnation color is fantastic.

The ingredients and main procedure:

1/2 cup warm water, 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast, 1/2 cup cranberry pie filling, 1 egg, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp soft butter in small cubes, 3 cup all purpose flour and 1 pinch salt.

Proof the dough as basic bread and then shape in two loaves, proof again.

Bake @ 350F for 35 minutes.

High protein bread

Cottage cheese bread is so white, so soft, and so yummy. It tastes like Hokkaido milk loaf, and has the silimar texture. But, it is much healthier, with lower calorie, instead, higher protein.

I searched the recipe from internet and made some modification.

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients A: 1/2 cup warm water and 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Ingredients B: 2 tbsp soft butter, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 warm egg, 1 cup cottage cheese and 3 cup all purpose flour

Ingredients C: 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp baking soda

(1) Hand kneaded dough: Mix ingredients B and C, make a fountain, add ingredients A into the foutain, blend well and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover and let it proof until double in size.

Bread machine (dough mode): Add ingredients A into the bread machine, then ingredients B, make a small indentation on the top and add ingredients C. Run dough mode until it ends.

(2) Knead dough to remove gas. Divide the dough into four portions. Round each portion, roll into rectangle, and then roll up into a cylinder. Place two cylindric doughs into one greased loaf pan, cover and let proof until double in size.

(3) Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and hollow sound can be heard when it is tapped with a wooden spoon.

(4) Unmold and let cool on wire rack.

My tip:

I don't use bread machine to finish the whole procedure. Different cottage cheese has different water content, it is hard to control. If the dough is too wet, the top of bread will cave.

Bake with soybean residue -- Bread

Besides using soybean residue in my recipe of "Bake with soybean residue -- Muffin", I like to add it in bread or steamed bread to enhance the fibre content and give my family more healthy breakfast.

For soybean residue, please read my "Soy milk", you will find where soybean residue comes from.

In my recipe, I use dry soybean residue. You can dry wet residue with microwave oven (high, 10-15 minutes) or oven (400F, 30 minutes, followed by 350F, 30 minutes). The dry residue can be stored in a container and frozen in the fridge for quite a long time and above all, it is easy to use.

Okay, let's make our wonderful bread:

1. Make a water roux starter:

Add some water in the lower pot of double boiler, heat in medium power; in the upper pot, add 4 tbsp and 1/2 tsp water, together with 2 tbsp all purpose flour. Keep on whisking, until the temperature of water roux reaches 65 C (See Picture 1) and becomes thick, stir well and cover the starter. Let it cool to room temperature.

2. Add 1 tsp active dry yeast into 6 tbsp warm milk and let it stand until foamy.

3. Combine 2 1/3 cup all purpose flour (I use unbleached flour, a in Picture 2), 1/3 cup sugar (b in Picture 2), 1/2 cup soybean residue (c in Picture 2) and a pinch of salt. Add water roux starter, yeast solution and 1/2 cup milk, knead the mixture into a elastic dough. Knead into 3 tbsp trans-fat free margarine (or butter). Stretch the dough, if you can see a thin membrane or the broken hole of the membrane shows zigzag edge, the dough is well developed (See Picture 3 and 4).

4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge, fermenting the dough in low temperature until double in bulk (See Picture 5, about 6 hours). Pink into the dough with floured pointer and take the finger out, the hole does not rebound (See Picture 6).

5. Gently knead the dough to press out carbon dioxide, divide it into four portions. Round each portion and cover them with plastic wrap. Let them stand for 20 minutes.

6. Press each portion, roll into a rectangle. Fold rectangle into third, overlap to the centre. Roll firmly into a long strip, start from the short end, roll up the dough lightly, and pinch together along the crease. Roll the dough back and forth to make it cylindrical, and pinch the ends together.

7. Place the four rolls into a greased loaf pan (See Picture 7), cover with plastic wrap. Ferment the dough until the loaf pan is 90% full.

8. Preheat oven to 375F. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and hollow sound can be heard when you tap the bread with a wooden spoon.

9. Unmold immediately and brush the bread with milk (See Picture 8).

See, how fantastic the bread is!

Hokkaido Milk Loaf

This Asian style loaf is very special -- when it is taken out of the oven, it doesn't look much different from ordinary loaf; however, when the rolls are torn apart, shiny silk between rolls will definitely arouse "WOW" :)

In most recipes, water roux starter is recommended. But here, I choose an ordinary way to make the loaf -- simple procedure with fantastic result.

1. Heat 50 cc milk in microwave oven for 15s and then add 1 tsp active dry yeast into the warm milk. Let it stand for about 5 min to form a foamy solution.

2. Combine 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup cake flour, 1/3 cup sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 beaten whole egg, 1/3 cup whipping cream, yeast solution and 140 cc milk.

3. Knead the dough -- stretch the dough, if a thin elastic film forms and in the end, the broken hole has zigzag edge, the dough is fully developed. (This is the most important step.)

4. Cover the dough ball with damp cloth or wrap it in plastic wrap; and let it rise at a warm place for at least 1 hour, until doubled in bulk. Flour your pointer and pink it into the dough, if the hole does not rebound, the first fermentation finishes.

5. Gently knead the dough to press out the carbon-dioxide and divide it into four portions. Round each portion and cover with damp cloth, let them stand for 20 min.

6. Press each portion and roll into rectangle, fold it into thirds, overlapping them to the center, roll the dough down firmly into a 30-cm long strip. Starting at a short end, roll up dough lightly, and pinch together along crease. Roll the dough back and forth to make it cylindrical, and pinch the ends together. Transfer the four doughs to a greased loaf pan (14*23 cm², 1.5 L). Cover the dough and let it rise at a warm place until doubled in bulk.

7. Preheat oven to 375F (An oven thermometer is recommended to monitor the temperature).

8. Brush the dough with a glaze of whole egg.

9. Bake for 30 minutes and unmold immediately.

10. Let it cool on the rack until the inner temperature is 38-42 C.

It tastes so tender and you can feel it melting on the tongue, with the pleasant smell of cream.