Wholemeal Milk Buns
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These mini buns are made from a basic sweet dough recipe originated from Vinnie Baking Paradise. This recipe has been very popular among the local food bloggers. It uses sponge dough method which has many similarities with the 17-hour sponge dough method I shared previously.
Sponge dough method has always been my preferred method in bread making as compared to direct method for two simple reasons (if you want to know more about sponge dough method, please refer to my pesto bread post). First, the bread making process for sponge dough method can be done in two separate sessions sometimes overnight. It’s unlike direct method which must be completed within the same day. Secondly, it yields more refined bread with softer texture and better taste.
I have been baking these mini buns with a few variations for the past two weeks. Regardless of which variations, the end results are very satisfactory. The buns still remain soft the next day. My family loves them very much as they are soft and have wonderful buttery taste. The aroma of these buns fills up my entire kitchen when they are freshly out from the oven.
These buns can be eaten either plain or with jam. They can also be turned into sandwiches with filling inside. My favourite way to enjoy is dipping it into my morning coffee. If I cannot finish them all at once, I will freeze them for later consumption.
As the level of difficulty is low, I would recommend it to all beginners in bread making to give it try. Once you have mastered this recipe, you can easily come out with a zillion of creations. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I can’t wait to experiment with other flavours and shapes in my future attempts and shall the outcome with you.
Recipe
Adapted and modified from
Vinnie Baking Paradise
and Siew Hwei’s Kitchen
Yield: 15 buns@38g each
(Size of baking tray: 12.5” x 9” x 0.5” ( 32cm x 23cm x 1.5cm))
Ingredients
Steps
- Place all the ingredients in a bowl. Use hand or kitchen mixer to knead until dough is formed (about 2-3 minutes). Transfer to a lightly greased bowl, spray some water on the dough and cover the bowl with cling wrap. Let it prove at room temperature for 4-5 hours or in the refrigerator for 14-16 hours (note 4).
- Place all the ingredients (except for butter) for main dough into the mixing bowl. Tear starter dough (no need to thaw for overnight dough) piece by piece and add to the bowl. Fix on the dough hook and switch on the kitchen mixer. Let the machine knead with low speed (speed no. 1) till a rough dough is formed. Increase speed to medium low (speed no. 2) and knead until the dough is soft and stretchable (but not at the “membrane test” stage (note 5)). Add butter, change speed to low (speed no. 1) and continue kneading until the butter is fully absorbed into the dough. Increase speed to medium low (speed no. 2) and knead until the dough is stretchable and reaches the “membrane test” stage (note 5).
- Round the dough, transfer to a lightly greased bowl and spray some water on it. Cover with cling wrap and let it rest for 25 minutes at room temperature until it is doubled in size. Test the dough to see if it is ready (note 6).
- After resting, gently punch down to deflate the dough. Divide the dough into 15 portions with 38g each (note 7). Round each portion into a ball shape and seal the bottom tightly.
- Arrange the buns on a baking tray (greased with softened butter). Spray some water onto the buns. Place the tray inside the oven with door close and no heat. Proof for one hour until double the size. Place a cup of boiling water inside to create moisture.
- 10 minutes before the proofing ends, remove the tray from the oven and preheat the oven at 170°C (note 8).
- Bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Spray some water onto the buns before transferring to the oven.
- Remove the buns from tray and let them cool down on a cooling rack.
Notes
- You can use 100% bread flour.
- Baker’s dry milk (milk powder) is high heat treated and make your bread better in term of texture, flavour and colour. It can be purchased in local baking supplier shops. Do not use normal baby milk powder as substitute. If you don’t have, you can replace with bread flour. (Click on the link to read more: Prepared Pantry)
- Break your egg into a bowl and beat with folk until the yolk and white are well mixed. Take 30g from the mixture.
- I had stored my initial dough for more than 2.5 days and it still worked well.
- Take a small piece of dough, gently stretch it outwards at all the directions to form a thin layer of “membrane”. This is called “membrane test”. If not, continue kneading until it reaches this stage.
- With a flour dusted finger, poke a hole into the centre of the dough. If the hole remains, it’s ready.
- You can divide the dough into any sizes you want. For example, 16 portions with 35g each to fit into a square cake tin of 9”x9”x 3″.
- The stated temperature and time should only be used as a reference. Different ovens have different temperature setting. It also depends on the size of buns and baking tray you use.
- If the buns show uneven colour, turn the tray 180 degree after baking for 10 minutes.
- If the surface of the buns become too brown after 10 minutes, cover the top with a piece of aluminium foil and continue baking.
- You can keep these buns in the freezer for future consumption. Cut them into half (slice horizontally) and place into an air-tight bag. You can either toast it (do spray some water onto it before toasting) or steam it.