Braided Coconut Bread

This bread has somewhat similar taste with the pan de coco that we are used to.  This time I just mix together dessicated coconut, butter and caster sugar.

Dough
Choose among the different basic dough recipes in my foodblog. Click view.
You can also opt to use the dough recipe I used for the cinnamon

Filling
1/2 c dessicated coconut
1/4 c butter or margarine, softened
1/2 c caster sugar

Procedure
Mix the filling ingredients in a bowl.
Set aside.
Divide the dough into 6 to 8 pcs depending on how big you want your bread to be.
Roll out each dough into a 8 - 10 inch rectangle or oblong. 
Place a tbsp of filling and spread it in the surface of the dough.
Fold the dough towards the other end making a smaller rectangle or oblong.
Press together so the filling will get stuck in between the folded dough.
Now imagine that you are doing a braid of your hair.  Leave half an inch of the dough still together and then cut from this toward the other end.  Make 2 or 3 cuts.
Braid the dough like you are braiding your hair.
Pinch the edge on the other end (the edge that got separated because of the cuts) to seal it.
Place in a baking sheet or pan lined with baking paper.
Make sure that there's one inch of space in between each dough.
Cover with clingwrap and let rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm and dry place.
Brush with beaten egg.
Bake for 15 minutes in a 180C preheated oven or until shiny and golden brown.
A comment or two will be appreciated...

Read More

Yummy Custard Bun

 I had first had a taste of custard bread in Bread Top, a Chinese bakeshope which has quite a number of branch here in Australia.  They offer freshly baked pastries, bread and cakes at reasonable prices.  Unfortunately, although I have been here for a number of years, I only go to a branch in Brisbane CBD at Myers Building. I wonder where are the other 11 branches here in QLD.

I wanted to try if I could at least copy the same bread and filling and turned out ok and now, I bake them every 3 days experimenting with different fillings.

Ingredients

Dough
Choose among the different basic dough recipes in my foodblog.  Click view.
You can also opt to use the dough recipe I used for the cinnamon rolls.

Filling
Custard
Ingredients:
1 C milk
4 egg yolks
1 C thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp cornflour
1/3 C confectioners sugar

Procedure:
In a saucepan, mix milk, cream, and vanilla. Stir until hot enough but not boiling. Remove from fire and set aside.
Beat egg yolks, cornflour and sugar in a bowl until mixed evenly. Pour hot milk mixture to the egg mixture while whisking continuously.
Place the mixture back into the saucepan and cook in avery low heat for 15 minutes or until custard form. Set aside and let it cool.

Note:
One thing difficult about making custard is that you need to make sure that you have the right amount of heat to cook it and that you have to whisk it non-stop until you reach your desired consistency. There is always the danger of curdling the mixture so it is very very important to follow the procedure by heart.

Assembly
Divide the dough into balls (golf ball size).  Roll out each dough ball.  Roll away from the centre.  Make sure that the centre is thicker than the edge as you would gather the edge together to seal the bun.  Don't worry if the shape is not a perfect circle.
Place a tbsp of custard in the centre.
Gather the edges by pinching them together making sure that the edge does not touch the filling because if it does, it would be difficult to seal the bun.  Seal the edge together by pinching.
Place each bun (with the sealed side at the bottom) in a baking sheet or shallow baking pan lined with baking paper. 
Make sure that each bun has at least an inch of space between them.
Cover the buns and let rise for an hour in a warm and dry place.
Beat an egg and brush each bun with this.
Put the remaining custard in a piping bag and pipe out in a circular motion the top of each bun.

Baking
Bake the buns for 15 minutes ina 180C preheated oven or until the top is shiny and golden brown.
Bake
A comment or two will be appreciated...

Read More