Espresso Choco Chip Mantou

Bad hazy periods like these have seriously affected me by quite abit. With an already not-too-good respiratory system, the nose just got worse with the ever increasing PSI. I cannot wait to get out of here for the fresh air man!!!

Now, bad weather not only cause me to have bad blocked nose, it has also dampened my mood to bake and cook! These steamed buns were a result of forced baking, but fortunately they still turned out well and fit for brekkie.

Wanna make them again when the weather and my mood gets better.

Espresso Choco Chip Mantou

5g Instant yeast
60g espresso, cooled (without sugar)
123g fresh milk
35g caster sugar
340g plain flour
5g butter (room temp)

3 tbsp unsweetened chocolate chips


1. Mix caster sugar with all of espresso and part of fresh milk to make 137g and stir well to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle instant yeast over remaining 46g of fresh milk and let it sit for about 2 minutes before stirring them to dissolve yeast. 
2. Sift plain flour. Place all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, Pour in the wet ingredients and mix well to form a rough dough. Knead dough till smooth and shiny.
3. Place kneaded dough in mixing bowl and cover with clingwrap to let proof for 10 minutes.
3. Do a quick knead on the dough to remove the air then using a rolling pin, roll out dough to form an even rectangular shape with even thickness of 0.5cm and 70cm in length.
4. Trim off sides of dough to get a nicer rectangular shape, sprinkle chocolate chips over rolled dough evenly and carefully roll up 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. 
5.  Using a sharp knife, slice rolled up dough into 10 equal pieces. (I got 9 pieces)
6. Place baking paper under dough and leave dough in steamer to proof for 20 minutes.

7. 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!

To freeze - Allow mantou to cool and then place in ziplock bag, press out air, zip and freeze.

Dual Tone Butterfly Mantou II

And so it is the return of the dual tone butterfly mantou! I love the making process of these butterfly buns. Love to see the transformation of a plain dough into a butterfly shaped bun.

Super LOVE this creative buns recipe book by 彭秋婷 so much it is like a bible to me. I need to flip and read it like everyday!

I did the chocolate flavour ones once more. No change from the last round, except that I included the pictures on how to make those butterfly shapes this time.

Had wanted to try making matcha flavour ones since I have lotsa matcha powder from my Hokkaido trip but shun that thought. I was too afraid of weird tasting buns, so I fell back onto using cocoa powder - don't think I will go wrong with that hehe!

So addicted to making them but I needa put a halt to these. I have so much more things to try so mantou making have gotta take a backseat for now. Till next time!

I am submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books #19 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

Dual Tone Butterfly Mantou 雙色蝴蝶捲
Servings: 60g × 12 pcs
(Scroll down for original recipe in Chinese)

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.

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!

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 once more.

雙色蝴蝶捲
(Original Recipe in Chinese 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。

Brown Bear Mantou

I am kinda hooked on making mantou nowadays that I have put a temporary stop to bread making.  Seems like. Nah, I will get back to making bread soon I guess. Hubby will get sick of eating my cute creations too hahha!

Mantou. They are often being referred to as Chinese steamed bun or bread. They are so easy to do and somehow gives me a gratifying feel more so than bread. Not sure why too but I guess it is because I can make them and keep them away in the freezer, put them to steam and eat them rightaway when they are at their softest taste.

I took a pic of this along with some X'mas deco to give it some Christmasy feel.

This time, I made a dozen of cute brown bear mantou using 彭秋婷的创意受1作中式发面 book. I definitely had fun making them! Best of all, you need not have to own an oven to make these.  If you are in for some cute bun making, this should be it :)

Again, I did a simple translation of the original recipe by 彭秋婷

Brown Bear Mantou
Servings: 90g × 12 pcs

A. Dough
7g Instant yeast
270g fresh milk
50g caster sugar
500g plain flour
10g butter
24g cocoa powder

B. Dough
50g flour
5g caster sugar
1g yeast
25g water

1. Mix caster sugar with 3/4 of fresh milk and stir well to dissolve sugar. Mix instant yeast with remaining 1/4 fresh milk. Place all other dry ingredients in A into a mixing bowl, pour in the wet ingredients and mix well to form a rough dough. Knead dough till smooth and shiny. In a separate bowl, put all B ingredients and mix well to form a dough. Set aside.
2. Place kneaded dough in mixing bowl and cover with clingwrap or moist cloth to let proof for 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Roll put main door to rid air bubbles and roll till 1cm thick, and 40cm in length.
4. Cut rolled main dough into 12 equal pieces, about 80g each. Out of each 80g dough, I cut out 2 pcs of 6g dough for the bears' ears (68g will be used for bears' heads). Cut 10g of dough from B dough and add in charcoal powder to make bears' eyes and noses, while remain B white dough will be used for bears' mouths.

5. Roll bears' head into a round shape, place them on cut out baking paper and slightly flatten dough.
Shape bears' ears (6g dough) and stick it into bears' head - I used a chopstick to shape ears and stick it into bears' head.
Divide white dough into 12 pieces, flatten each piece of white dough into an oval shape and adhere it on bears' face. You can brush on some water and place on dough for them to 'stick' better. Place on eyes and noses.
6. Place all deco brown bear mantou into steamer and let proof for 20 to 30 minutes.

7. 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!

After the steamed mantou have cooled, I packed them into a ziplock bag and freeze them. Put the mantou to steam rightaway without the need to defrost them and you can enjoy piping hot buns with a good cuppa coffee in no time!

熊大创意馒头
(Recipe by 彭秋婷的创意手作中式發面)

分量  90g x 12个 

A   面团
速溶酵母 --- 7g
鲜奶 --- 270g
细砂糖 --- 50g
中筋面粉 --- 500g
奶油 --- 10g
可可粉 --- 24g

B   面团
中筋面粉 --- 50g
细砂糖 --- 5g
酵母 --- 1g
水1 --- 25g

1   搅拌 
a 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。
b 另将面团材料B 全部搅拌均匀备用。

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
取出面团用杆面棍或压面机将面团气泡压出，成厚约1cm约40cm的长条状光滑面皮。

4  分割
A 面团分割80g 12个，B面团切取10g 加入竹灰粉做眼睛，其予白面团做嘴巴。

5   整形
a 面团整形成圆的馒头形状再压扁执上烘焙纸。
b 在头部1压出耳朵位置，用 A 面团以圆的花嘴模压出耳朵，一端捏尖后压扁以工具按压固定在脸部。
c 鼻子用白面团整形后固定在脸部，以竹灰粉面团整形出眼睛及鼻上装饰固定好。

6  发酵
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， 以大火蒸 12 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。

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.