I LOVE BREAD. I wish bread is protein or fibre instead of carbs so I can have plenty of them everyday. It has been a long time since I last baked a bread and I am excited about baking them again. I remembered that my virgin attempt baking a bread back then cost me my electrical mixer because I overworked it and there was another time when I forgot to add in yeast and left it to proof for an hour (Of course the dough did not rise and I googled every way to salvage the dough). As I do not own a heavy duty electrical mixer or bread machine, I had to knead the dough by hand and it was really tiring. I took about 40 mins to hand knead my dough and by the time I finished kneading, I was sweating like a horse, as if I just ended my work-out. Although it takes a lot of time and effort to bake your own bread, the sense of accomplishment when you bake it yourself is definitely more than just merely buying from any bakery outside!

Although not yet perfect, this is my most successful attempt at baking bread so far. They finally do not taste as compact as my previous attempts. In fact, they are pretty soft. I was so excited that I wanted to bake so many so many different flavors. So, in the square tin you see above, there are actually 3 different flavors: Red bean, cranberry and plain. I used the following recipe to make assorted pull apart bread and a loaf of braided butter sugar bread. Personally, I prefer sweeter bread so I would probably increase the sugar level the next time I bake with this recipe. If you do not fancy sweet bread, you can stick with the original sugar level. 

Recipe: Adapted from Ellena Guan ( Makes 7 buns and a loaf) 

350g Bread Flour 

10g Milk Powder 

6g Instant Yeast 

50g sugar 

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten lightly 

120g Tang Zhong 

125ml Fresh Milk 

30g Butter, soften

Topping: 

Egg wash 

Filling (I bought my Red Bean Paste from Phoon Huat)

1. Mix flour, milk powder, yeast, sugar and salt together

2. Make a well in the centre and add in all the wet ingredients: egg, tang zhong and butter. Stir or mix them till they form a sticky dough and slowly pour milk into the mixture. 

3. Hand knead it until it is a smooth and elastic ball and drizzle a little oil on the surface of the dough.

4. Leave it in a warm area to proof for 45mins - 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. 

5. Punch the doubled sized dough and simply hand knead it and leave it to rest for about 3-5 mins

6. Divide the dough into 12 balls and flatten each dough. Add your desired filling or topping and roll into your desired shape. Place it in a lightly oiled baking pan and proof it for another 45 mins. 

7. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees

8. After 45 mins, brush the surface with some egg wash. Pop it into the oven for about 20 mins or until golden brown.