Food For Thoughts

Assala'mualaikum wrbtuh

Welcome back to my musings !....I finally have some time on my hands today and after going through my stuff, I was able to find scribbled notes from Farah on how to add a new Post to this blog!! He! He! I am terrible I know !

Last Thursday, I was priviledged to teach and conduct a baking demo for a small group of ladies on Basic butter cake, Vanilla Cupcakes, Sweet Buns and basic white bread.
This was by courtesy of my good friend Salmah, who was generous enough to share with me her connection to a training company which does specific skills' training for under priviledge ladies. Thank you very much my dear Sal. The thought of going into this was quite daunting for me as a first timer but Sal assures me to play it by the ear and go with the flow...Should be alright kut !!

Even Ramli took leave to help me with loading the goodies in the car !! AlhamdullILLAH, he was so supportive and so into mostly everything I do.

I had Mulia accompany me to help with the ingredients and equipment, mainly oven and cooking utensils. Wow! What a day ! It was a full day affair and eventhough we came back truly tired and dragging our feet almost, it was most rewarding spiritually. We made many new friends and it was such a warm feeling for me to be addressed as "Cikgu" ! I secretly tuck a notch under my belt !! he he

In between the various demos, we were served with morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

On the whole, I felt the program went well, although I have yet to be told of my audiences' rating of me !! It was quite a task juggling the baking times for the various finish processed items into the ONLY oven we brought. AlhamdullILLAH, we completed on time and the ladies were able to bring items back for their family.


On Saturday, again I conducted another baking demo for a different group of ladies this time, namely my Ladies' Society. This time we made Savoury Baked Macaroni and vanilla Cupcakes. The ladies could not wait for their cupcakes to cool enough to begin icing them and so went ahead and decorated the still warm cakes...the result, soggy and melted icing!! They had a lot of laughs though, watching the icing drooped and fall off. Some tried to cool them first under the fan and one even put hers in the freezer but to no avail!! The thing with cakes, they take their own sweet time to cool down. No rushing please !

In this issue, I'd like to share with my viewers my recipe for Sweet Buns, which I taught the ladies last week.

Heat the oven to 200 deg C

Ingredients -

A
480 gms Bread or High Protein Flour
120 gms Plain flour
110 gms Fine caster sugar
20 gms milk powder
20 gms instant yeast
2 tsps bread improver
1 tsp bread emulsifier (optional)
Mix well in a big bowl. Make a well in the centre.

B

1 egg (A)

300 gms plain water(room temperatue)

Beaten together and pour bit by bit into flour mixture bowl, stirring all the time with cleaned right hand fingers.

C

60 gms butter (room temperature)

Add to Mixture from B and knead lightly until blended and smooth for approx 10 mins. Make a simple round shape and place in the same bowl; place the whole thing in a big plastic bag and prove for 1 hour in a warm place.

The dough should now be double its original size and when a finger is inserted into the centre of the dough , a clear print should be left behind.

Take the bowl out of the bag and knead dough lightly for approx 3- 4 mins.

Stage 1

Now, apportion the dough into 40 gms pieces. Take a piece and place on a kneading board. Place your right palm with the centre of your palm right on top of the little dough. Curve your palm a little inwards and roll the dough round and round within the circle of your right palm and the board. Get it !! Now repeat for the rest of the dough pieces.

Place the completed dough rounds in a 9" round baking mould..place one in the centre, one under it, 1/2 an inch apart and continue around it and then a second layer around the 1st layer should you have enough dough rounds.

Place the mould and its contents into the big plastic bag and further prove it for 30-40 mins.

Stage 2

Take out and brush the tops of the blobs with egg wash and rest again for 10 mins.

Stage 3

If you want the tops of your buns to be crusty, spray a little water on their tops just before popping the mould into the pre-heated oven.

Bake for 15 - 17 mins or until the tops have turned brown.

This recipe is failed-proof as I have used it for years and it has worked well for me. Simple although a little patience is necessary for the waiting and resting processes.

You may use the same recipe to do various other items :

1. fried doughnuts

Take the recipe until stage 2...after resting, make a hole in the centre with your fingers; place on paper-lined tray and rest 10 mins and fry in hot oil until golden brown ; drained off excess oil and sprinkle fine caster sugar on top ; or pour icing glaze on top and sprinkle with coloured sprinkles.

2. dutch doughnuts

Take the recipe until stage 2....fry in hot oil ; drain off excess oil. Take a plastic piping tube, fill it with jam of choice, snip a hole at the tip, make a little insertion into the round doughnut, imbue the plastic tip into the insertion and pipe enough jam into the doughnut. Roll the finish doughnut in fine caster sugar mixed with a little cinnamon powder. Yum! Yum!

3. Kacang merah, applepie filling, and sambal ikan bilis

Take the recipe to stage 1.

Take a piece, flatten the dough on your palm and place a round blob of whatever filling of your choice onto the centre and make a 'bunjut' and seal ends. Place on lined baking tray with bunjut side down and then go into stage 2 rest. Bake as for basic recipe.

4. Sausage Rolls

Take the recipe until stage 1. Instead of rolling into rounds, take a piece and roll into a long piece and wind around a chicken or beef sausage. Tuck ends underneath...Go into stage 2 rest and then stage 3.

Makes approx 20 medium size buns.

Happy baking you all and wishing you lots of smiles and everything nice !

Wassalam

ZueHussin@mabaker