Dual Tone Butterfly Mantou

With the few new recipe books that I have on hand, I am kept busy reading and going through them. There are just so many recipes that I wanna try my hands on, and one of them is this dual-colour butterfly mantou which I came across in the Chinese style bun recipe book my colleague help buy for me from her Taiwan holiday.

I must say that I was not disappointed at all with this recipe.  The mantou were good. They were soft and fluffy.  No need for us to buy mantou anymore!  It was my first time at making mantou and I was abit jittery about it.  Hmm, but my worries were unfounded. It was a breeze making these butterfly shaped darlings. It was way easier than bread making, plus the time to prepare and steam it was all done under 80 minute. More mantou making soon!

Will provide step by step photo tutorial next round. Was rushing to finish making them and leave for an appointment.

雙色蝴蝶捲
(Recipe by 彭秋婷的创意手作中式發面)

分量  60g x 12个 

A   面团
速溶酵母 --- 7g
鲜奶 --- 260g
细砂糖 --- 50g
中筋面粉 --- 500g
奶油 --- 10g

B   红麹粉 --- 2g (我用可可粉)

1   搅拌 
先将细砂糖与配方中 3/4 的鲜奶充分搅拌均匀， 酵母与配方中 1/4 的鲜奶拌均匀， 将其他材料 A 放入盆中， 再倒入液状材料揉至呈光滑面团。

2   松弛
盖上湿布或保鲜膜， 让面团基本发酵 5-10 分钟。

3   延压
面团分成两等份，一份面团再加入红麹粉揉至光滑，两分钟面团分别擀成相同大小的长条形。

4   整形
a   将两份面皮用水重叠组合，修整四边，再将面皮由长向密实捲起， 在距离收口 1cm 处刷上水，固定好。
b   用刀切取约 1cm 长度， 在两两背面相对， 用筷子夹住成蝴蝶形状， 并捏出蝴蝶翅膀造型。

5   发酵
执上烘焙纸，间隔排入蒸笼層中，最后发酵 20-30 分钟。

6   蒸製
移入热水蒸锅， 以中火蒸 8 分钟，时间到后将蓋子打开一个小缝 1 分钟， 移出蒸锅再放置 2 分钟后掀蓋。

Below is the English version which I tried to translate to the best of my ability :)

Dual Tone Butterfly Mantou 雙色蝴蝶捲
Servings: 60g × 12 pcs

A. Dough
7g Instant yeast
260g fresh milk
50g caster sugar
500g plain flour
10g butter

B. 2g red yeast powder (I used cocoa powder)

1. Mix caster sugar with 3/4 of fresh milk (195g) and stir well to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle instant yeast over remaining 65g of fresh milk and let it sit for about 2 minutes before stiring them to dissolve yeast. Place all other dry ingredients in A into a mixing bowl, pour in the wet in ingredients and mix well to form a rough dough. Knead dough till smooth and shiny.
2. Place kneaded dough in mixing bowl and cover with clingwrap to let proof for 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Knead red yeast powder (or cocoa powder) into 1 portion of dough till colour is even and dough is smooth and shiny. Roll out 2 of the dough till flat and almost even size.
4. a) Brush water on 1 side of each flattened dough and place 1 dough of top of the other. Trim off sides of layered dough to get a rectangular shape and carefully roll up layered dough like rolling swiss roll. About 1cm at the end of the dough, brush on some water and gently press down dough to flatten it a little. Leave a tip of the end unrolled.
b) Using a sharp knife, make precise cuts of about 1cm each. Place 2 pieces of cut dough together, sides of the dough with unrolled end facing each other. Place 2 chopsticks by the sides of the dough and press in chopsticks to meet (to form wings of butterfly). Repeat the same for the rest of the cut dough.
5. Place baking paper under dough and leave dough in steamer to proof for 20 to 30 minutes.

See how my "butterflies" grew!

6. Steam mantou on medium high heat for 8 minutes. Make sure water is boiling before placing in mantou. Place lid cover sideway for about 1 minute. Remove steamer with lid covered slideways away from stove and let cool for further 2 minutes or so to cool - this is done to prevent mantou skin from crinkling up with the sudden temperature change. Serve warm!

Mantou steaming in progress!

To store, place cool mantou in ziplock bag and keep in freezer. Put mantou to steam again and it will turn soft and fluffy to eat again.

The leftover dough which I trimmed out were not wasted. I twirled the dough and twisted them to form different shaped mantou.