Water Roux Buns

Highly encouraged by my successful Water Roux Bread, I eagerly repeated the recipe, but this time I made buns.  You know those familiar buns we get from the bakeries with creative and amusing names in our neighbourhoods?  That is my goal.

Well, it doesn't quite look as attractive and as professional as those in the bakeries, but I think I'm getting there (I hope).  I reckon for smaller pieces of bread, the temperature needs to be dropped 10*C to 170*C.  And I probably should not be lazy and give the bread an egg wash before it bakes.

There'll be more water roux.  It's the best thing since baking powder  :)


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Fun Animals and Cocktail Sausage Mini Buns

This is a fun activity that you can make with kids aged 5 and above. My basic bread dough is the "sweet" local version, unlike the "unsweetened" slightly saltish European type.

Ingredients:

• 500g high protein flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 60g sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 250g fresh milk (lukewarm)
• 50g butter
• 1 slice of cheese singles

1. Mix all the ingredients and knead till smooth and shiny. This takes about 15-20 minutes. If you are not using instant yeast, you need to mix the yeast with some lukewarm water and wait for it to froth (about 5-10 min).
2. Put dough into a big bowl and cover with a cling wrap or kitchen towel. This is important so that the dough surface does not dry out.
3. Proof for about 1 hour, or until double in volume.
4. Punch down and cut into small pieces, ready to shape into fun animals and sausage buns.
5. When shaping, be careful not to over-knead the dough or the bread will be chewy.
6. After shaping, proof for another 1 hour or so. It is okay if the dough does not expand till double the volume. It will rise further in the baking process.
7. Bake at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Tip: By using fresh milk instead of water, you will get a finer and softer bread texture. Add a slice of cheese to enhance the flavour and this also helps to make the bread soft.