Roti Boy Wannabe with Tangzhong Method

During the Easter long weekend, I have been testing a few Roti Boy “Wannabe” recipes I found on the web and whilst all of them resulted fluffy bread, I am still not very happy with the topping. I reckon there must be a secret ingredient to the original roti boy recipe (¬_¬) Note that I usually just make half of the recipe when trying out new ones, also for roti boy, it is best to have them fresh. So by making half the recipe, usually they are gone within the same day or latest the day after baking.

I have posted a recipe of roti boy copycat before in here and I was pretty happy with the recipe. But since then I have experimenting with few more recipes and in my opinion, nothing really beats the tangzhong method to result in super soft bread and actually stay soft for longer. No magic in here, it is just the fact that the dough contain much more liquid than the usual recipe and you will have to knead it longer to achieve the flexible stage – hence the super soft bread texture.

On my third attempt, I realized why not I use my favorite tangzhong method to make the bread. Whilst I really can not do much about the topping, at least make the bread super soft and fluffy would be nicer (っ˘ڡ˘ς), so here we go the recipe below:

Bread, the source is here:

  • 300 grams bread flour
  • 30 grams sugar
  • 8 grams instant dry yeast (I used 1 teaspoon)
  • 25 grams milk powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 egg, lightly whisked
  • 50 grams whipping cream/thickened cream
  • For the roux: 20 g Bread flour and 1/2 cup water

Filling:

  • 10 small cubes of cold butter (if using unsalted butter, sprinkle tiny pinch of salt to each cube of butter)

Topping:

  • 50 grams butter at room temperature
  • 50 grams icing sugar
  • egg white from 1 egg
  • 60 grams all-purpose flour
  • 10 grams milk powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground coffee
  • 1 teaspoon coffee mocha paste, for darker colour

Prepare the water roux at least few hours before you start the bread dough, so that the water roux is at least at room temperature.

I prefer to combine my yeast in the slightly warmed milk and 1 teaspoon of sugar (from the 30 grams as recipe calls for) and let it becomes frothy before adding in to the flour.

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and let the mixer does the hard work until it form a ball.

It will still be quite sticky at this stage, so you’ll need to knead the dough a bit on floured surface until it is smooth.

Then, let the dough to rise in warm place for about 1 hours until it becomes double in size.

Release any trapped gas from the dough then divide to 10 equal smaller balls.

Flatten each dough ball and add in the filling, close them up then roll again to a smooth ball. Repeat for all dough balls.

Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and let the rest for 30 – 45 minutes, meanwhile we prepare the topping.

Topping: combine all ingredients together, whisk until everything is incorporated well. If it is too thick, add water a little at a time (started with 1 tablespoon, then mix well, and add again if needed). The consistency should not be too runny either that you will not able to pipe it onto the top of the bread. Place in a plastic bag or piping bag and snip off the end a little bit.

Pipe the topping in swirl motion starting from the middle all the way down the side of each bread. Repeat for the rest of the bread.

Bake in preheated oven at 170C for about 20 minutes.

roti boy tangzhong2

Crispy Choux – Beard Papa’s Wannabe

We have had moody weather lately here in Sydney, where some days it would reach up to 38 – 40 C degrees  then suddenly dropped to 20s C degrees the next day for a couple days then gradually gets to higher temperature and the whole circle starts again. I don’t usually enjoy summer here that much, for the heat and insects (especially flies that always come near your mouth); but must admit I love those fresh fruits available in this season such as varieties of berries, cherry, mangoes, plums, nectarines and the list goes on.

Continue reading “Crispy Choux – Beard Papa’s Wannabe”

Moist Rolled Cake

I always think of rolled cake as a tricky (or challenging) recipe and have never even think of attempting any roll cake recipe. Lately, I have seen a lot of videos on Youtube and they seem not overly scary as I once thought. After gathering more courage, I decided I want to try it out just to fulfill my curiosity and I do love these rolled cake. There is another recipe that mom gave me, but it used four times more eggs for the same size of cake as this recipe below. Although that one taste much softer and better, I just can’t bring myself to take on such risk!

First thing first, here is the recipe I copied from here, there are even pictures to help along the way of making this cake.

  • 3 eggs, separated yolks to whites in separate bowls
  • 70 grams of sugar
  • 20 grams of butter, melted
  • 40 grams of flour
  • For the cream filling: 200 grams of heavy cream, kept in fridge until whipping time and 20 grams of sugar

Beat egg whites until foamy and add the sugar in batches while keep beating continuously until it turns stiff peak.

Whisk the egg yolks in separate bowl just so they are all loosen before adding to the meringue. Carefully fold in the egg yolks and sift in the flour with a spatula. Add melted butter and fold everything together to combine, do not over-mix the batter.

Pour the batter into a baking tray of 30 cm x 25 cm, which has been lined with baking paper.

Tap the baking tray to your kitchen bench a couple of times to release any trapped air bubble before put into pre-heated oven at 180C. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until cake is cooked but not brown on the top surface.

Once you take out the cake from the oven, let it cool to room temperature.

For the cream filling: whip heavy cream together with sugar until it forms whipping texture.

* I added dash of rum and mocha paste to my whipped cream for extra flavour*

Trim off the uneven-sides of the cake, and spread the cream filling generously. Then, gently roll it starting from the end that is closer to you. Once it is rolled, wrap with baking paper or cling wrap and secure the both ends so it help to hold the cake. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

This recipe results in light spongy cake and really doesn’t break easily. I am actually impressed that I can make pretty good rolled cake with this recipe and will definitely make these again in the future; or, until I have enough courage to use mom’s recipe ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

moist rolled cake2

moist rolled cake1

Baked Cheesecake with Mocha Marble

Ever since I tried baked cheesecake, I have grown to love it. Among all varieties that I have tried, my favorite is baked cheesecake, especially new york cheesecake. I have gathered varieties of cheesecake recipes but have never had the courage to try them out, mainly because of the amount of cream cheese needed and to think that what if people don’t like it then those ingredients will just go to waste On top of that, I used to live just with my younger brother who are not a big fan of cheesecake, so there are more restrains to try out those recipes. Now that my dear hubby is in the picture, I tend to cook/bake things to suit his liking. This is one of the case. I started with basic original baked cheesecake and add some mocha paste to small amount of the batter hoping to create the marble effect then some Nutella swirl on top, also chocolate cookies crumbles for the base. I must admit we love this! It is smooth, creamy, rich, but not too sweet, the chocolate cookies crumble works really well with the mocha flavour. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Hope you give it a try and let me know how it turns out 🙂 Continue reading “Baked Cheesecake with Mocha Marble”

Coffee Sugar, Anyone?

coffee sugar

I have only discovered this new type of sugar in the office this afternoon. My colleague was making her shopping list and mentioned “coffee sugar”, which at first I didn’t pay much attention to. I only noticed it when she came back from her shopping trip and loading stuffs to the office pantry. What the heck is coffee sugar?!?! It looks so similar to raw sugar in term of color but it is more coarse in texture.

Continue reading “Coffee Sugar, Anyone?”