What you need:
Soup dough:
90g strong white flour
65mL water
40g salted butter
5g sugar
Main dough:
210g strong white flour
60g cake flour (I substituted with 40g plain flour, and 20g cornflour)
20g skimmed milk powder
40g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6g instant dried yeast
1 small egg, lightly beaten (about 40g without shell)
85mL water
85g "soup dough"
25g unsalted butter
Filling:
70g unsalted butter
30g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
1 small egg, lightly beaten (about 40g without shell)
1 tablespoon cornflour
80g skimmed milk powder
What you do:
Soup dough:
- Put flour in a big bowl.
- Put the remaining ingredients in a saucepan. Heat gently until simmering. Turn off heat and pour into the flour.
- Quickly stir to mix and shape into dough. Cover with clingfilm and leave to refrigerate until cool (it says 24 hours, but I gave it about 2 hours)
Main dough:
- Put all ingredients except butter in a big bowl in the order specified. Add in butter, and knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic - about 5-10 minutes. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover with clingfilm.
- Allow to rise for about 40-60 minutes in a warm place or until dough has increased to 2-3 times its original size. (As with the original recipe, I placed the bowl in a SWITCHED OFF oven above a baking tray filled with hot water).
- When ready, gently knock-back the dough to release the air. Divide into 9 portions. Roll into balls, place on a non-stick baking tray and prove for another 10 minutes.
- Flatten the dough and put in filling. Roll back into a ball. (See below) Place on the baking sheet and allow to rise for another 40 minutes, or until it is twice its original size.
- Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for 15 minutes.
Filling:
- Cream butter, sugar and salt until creamy.
- Add egg in batches, mixing well each time.
- Stir in cornflour and skimmed milk powder, mixing until well-combined.
This is only my second attempt at making bread, after last time's rather unsuccessful baked jam doughnuts. Of course, I was a bit worried, especially since this recipe was slightly more complicated than the jam doughnuts, which only needed one rising. This recipe, on the other hand, needed THREE risings. Which makes this a pretty long recipe, really.
But it was soooooo worth it! The resulting bread was soft and fluffy and tasty - unlike the tough, tasteless dough of the jam doughnuts. Either its because of the use of strong white flour instead of plain flour... or maybe because of the second "soup" dough? I don't know enough about bread, so I wouldn't know. (I glean most of the tips from reading/watching Yakitate!! Japan, a Japanese comic about making bread. Really funny! A recommended read, ahahaha.) But yeah, the bread was really tender, and I didn't even knead it all that properly (I think). It rose very nicely as well. The unbaked dough was very soft, although a bit wet from the hot water, hehe.
But, the main point of this, of course, was the filling. I actually made a few mistakes there. I didn't cream the butter and sugar properly, making it a bit lumpy. I used SALTED butter, and should've cancelled out the extra salt, which I didn't. I think I used a bit too much egg. But but but! The result was still good! Not excellent, but good! The buttermilk filling was a touch too salty and gooey, but I could definitely taste the buttermilk taste, hehe. In the picture above, it looks very wet, but it dries and firms up as the bun cools. Hadi, of course, really really liked it.
This particular recipe was definitely a success, I must say. Not as good as the ones you can buy from the shops (yet) but when you're in a place where you can't find buttermilk buns... hehe, this is definitely a good enough substitute. So... Yay~ :D
Quote of the day: The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.
