UPDATED POST ON 13-10-2014
In last year, Singapore bakery have a new item called Hokkaido Dome. It started by a famous bakery and soon followed by many local bakeries. It is a big mass of bread top with some soft cookies dough like the Mexican coffee buns. It was a hit and I am searching for a recipe for the this special bread. Since I can’t find a recipe for this bread, I have decided to replicate this bread today based on this recipe. Please scroll down towards the end for an update post with the inclusion of Hokkaido Dome.
INTRODUCTION
Much have been said about the Hokkaido Bread about its softness and bloggers have been blogging and “promoting” this bread for its softness and tastiness. Some even claimed to use the milk imported from Hokkaido to achieve that effect of softness. For me, I am just doubtful about some of the claims and wanted to testify about the highly talk about characteristics of this bread.
It has been in my to do list to prepare the bread for quite a while and yesterday, after my two bakes (Gingerbread Man and Choux Pastry), I have decided to do my 3rd bake of the day for my family’s breakfast today. Yes, the bread indeed is softer than traditional bun. And if you analyse the ingredients closely, there were not much difference with the ingredients except the substitution of water with milk and butter or cooking oil with cream. Therefore, effectively, the softness come from the usage of more liquids and fats. The taste of course will be slightly more aromatic than traditional bread with some creamy milky flavour.
The preparation do not differ much from the baking of other buns. I have prepared this using a stand mixer as I do not have a bread machine. However, if you have a bread machine, just use the dough function and to knead the dough.. Since I have always underutilize my chiffon cake tin, I therefor decided to use the tin for proofing and baking the bread. If you wish, you can use the loaf tin and follow the different set of instructions detailed towards the end of the recipe.
WHAT IS REQUIRED
Recipe adapted from: Hokkaido Soft Bread Milk Loaf
Servings: Make 2 bread loafs or about 24 buns of 60 grams each
- 470 grams (4.5 cups) of bread flour
- 63 grams (0.5 cup) of plain flour
- 250 grams of milk
- 200 grams of whipping cream
- 50 grams (1 egg) of eggs
- 2 tablespoons of milk powder
- 4 tablespoons of fine sugar
- 3 teaspoons of dry yeast
- 0.5 teaspoon of salt
STEPS OF PREPARATION
- Put in all dry ingredients together in a stand mixer whisking bowl, make a well and add in the wet ingredients. Use a spoon to lightly stir it until it form a paste, use the stand mixer’s dough hook to beat it using slow speed for 2-3 minutes and follow by high speed for 10-15 minutes. or when the dough did not stick to the wall of your mixing bowl and do not break when you pull the dough.
- In the flat surface dusted with normal or bread flour, take out the dough from the mixing bowl and slightly knead it using hand for 1-2 minutes and shape it into a ball.Lightly oil you mixing bowl and place the ball in the bowl. Cover with damp cloth or cling wrap (to prevent moisture loss).Leave it to proof until almost double in size. This should be about 30-45 minutes depending on the day’s temperature.
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Take the dough out, punch into the dough to let any trapped air escaped. Knead for one minute and divide equally according to your desired ball size. (For this illustration, I have used a chiffon cake tin and I have shaped 7 balls of about 100 grams each. For the remaining I have divided into 16 equal balls and placed them in a 6’’ x 6” baking tin.) Place the balls into a lightly greased desired cake tins. Cover with wet towel of clingy wrap and let it proof until it double in size. It took me about 1 hour 15 minutes but you can let it proof slightly longer until you have the time to bake it.
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Pre-heat the oven to 190 degree Celsius.
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Egg wash the buns and baked in the oven for 20-30 minutes or when the fragrance of the bread starts to permeates the house. If the top start to turn brownish too soon, turn off the top heat.
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Egg wash – Crack one egg yolk and mixed with 3 teaspoons of water and 2 drops of oil, slightly beat and sift into a small container, use a brush to brush on top of the surface. The purpose is to let the buns looks shinny and golden brown.
INSTRUCTIONS IF USING A LOAF TIN WITH COVER
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After the first proofing, shape the dough into a long rectangular shape following the shape of the loaf tin. Let it proof until the dough reaches at least 75%-80% the height of the loaf tin. Baked in the pre-heat oven of 200 degree Celsius for 30-45 minutes.
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At about 35 minutes or when you start to smell the aroma of the bread, use an oven thermometer and insert into the bread and see if the temperature inside the loaf is more than 90 degrees Celsius. If it is less than 90 degrees Celsius, your bread will not be cooked and it is likely that when you take out the thermometer, there will be some wet dough stick with your thermometer. In this case, continue baking until when you inserted again the oven thermometer, the thermometer shows at least 90 degrees Celsius. If you find that the top starts to turn brownish, you can lower the temperature by 10 degree Celsius. General rule of thumb is that if you are unsure, rather bake slightly longer than under cooked.
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If you don’t have an oven thermometer, one way of testing is after about 45 minutes (which is a reasonable timing for this size of loaf), take out the loaf from the loaf tin and try to use your finger to knock the bottom of the loaf. If it is a hollow sound, your loaf is cooked, otherwise, the loaf is uncooked. Put it back into the loaf tin and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes until you are certain that the dough is cooked. Again, if the top layer has signs of getting burnt, lower the temperature slightly.
PREPARATION OF HOKKAIDO DOME
Bread dough – Please use half of the recipe as per above.
Toppings
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100 grams of butter, melted
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20 grams of top flour, sifted
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80 grams of milk powder, sifted
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80 grams of icing sugar, sifted
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50 grams of eggs, lightly beaten
- Put sugar, melted butter and eggs in a bowl. Whisk until well combined. Add in the sifted flour and milk powder. Stir until well combined.
- Please follow the above for the preparation of bread dough. After first proofing, shape the dough into a ball and place it in a baking tray or baking tin. Let it proof until 2-2.5 size the dough size.
- Pre-heat the oven to 190 degree Celsius.
- Pipe the toppings on top of the proofed dough and baked in the oven for 25-30 minutes or when a skewer inserted comes out clean. Place the dough at the lowest rack during baking.
CONCLUSION
This loaf is moist and soft and if you are preparing some bread for yourself, you should try preparing this much talk about recipe. It is no difference with other bread recipes but the cream and milk have the effect of enhancing the fragrance and texture of the bread. As far as my family is concerned, we can just having these simple plain buns without any breakfast spreads. Possibly in my next attempt to prepare these buns, I will increase the sugar quantity to make it a sweet buns. Well, since it can be eaten as a plain bun, spread with butters and jams will definitely bring you to another level of enjoyment.
Hope you like the post today.
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For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 8 June 2014) here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.
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GUAI SHU SHU 