Easy not-at-all-dry Panettone!

I'm back!!! Back to updating this blog, back to catching up with friends, and back to waking up each morning without the imprint of a medical textbook across my face. I'm done with uni for the year, and the first thing I did once I got back home from my final exam was to assemble the ingredients for this Panettone.

I love seasonal baking, and there is no other time in the year as euphoria-inducing as the Christmas season for bakers. Christmas cookies, fruit cakes, mince pies, gingerbread houses, and...panettone! Baking funsies all around. Panettone is a fruit-studded bread loaf, enriched with eggs and butter and leavened with yeast. It has its origins in Milan, Italy, and is traditionally prepared for eating at Christmas and New Year functions. I've seen them being sold all year round at small grocers, and recently popping up at the bigger supermarkets.

I baked this panettone at my brother's request. He studies Italian at school, and they must have been learning about the country's cuisine at the time, because he came home one day with an empty panettone box (a learning tool from his teacher, I presume), and lamenting over the fact that he didn't actually get to eat its contents. My grandmother offered to buy him one the very next day, at which point I intervened with the promise to make one from scratch. Homemade always tastes better!

Even though I've accumulated somewhere upwards of fifty baking texts, it was to the internet I turned for a panettone recipe. The keyword in the search box? "Easy". An easy panettone recipe was what I wanted; one which didn't require a sourdough starter, or 16 hours of proofing in the fridge. I found this recipe, and as you can see from the pictures, the result was fantastic! It still took me around 5 hours to make, but for panettone, that really is nothing. Especially considering how good it tasted.

Most of the sweetness of the panettone came from the dried cranberries and raisins, which I'd soaked in rum for two days (you can omit this step). The bread itself was buttery and soft. I was very happy with the texture of the crumb, and I give all the credit to my KitchenAid mixer, which transformed the lumpy wet mixture into a satiny, elastic dough in no time at all. I used to knead all my bread dough by hand, and I can tell you that it is almost impossible to achieve the "gluten windowpane" manually. So for y'all without nifty mixers or bread machines...just try your best :D


Recipe for Raisin & Cranberry Panettone

Makes one panettone, around 15 cm high and 10cm in diameter

Adapted from Maison Cupcake

Ingredients

7g dried instant yeast
400g strong white bread flour
75g white granulated sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks at room temperature
3 tablespoons lukewarm water
half teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of finely grated orange zest
half teaspoon salt
175g softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons rum diluted with 2 tablespoons water
40g butter to finish
1 egg for the egg wash

Method

1. (optional step) Two days before making the panettone dough, soak the raisins and dried cranberries in the rum+ 2 tablespoons water mixture in an airtight container. Store in fridge. Take out of fridge and bring to room temperature 30 minutes before incorporating it into the dough.

2. Mix 125g of the strong bread flour with the yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add two whole eggs and 3 tablespoons lukewarm water and stir until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle a little dry flour over the surface (to stop a skin from forming). Cover the bowl with cling film, and leave in a warm place for an hour.

3. Once the hour is up, stir in the two egg yolks, vanilla extract and grated orange zest. Gradually stir in 175g of strong white bread flour until a soft sticky dough (more like putty!) is formed.

4. Transfer the putty-dough into the mixer bowl and, using the dough-hook attachment, mix on medium  speed for 30 seconds. Add in the softened butter, and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add in the remaining flour and mix for another 6 minutes. You may have to stop the mixture and scrap down the sides of the bowl now and then. Dough is done mixing when you can stretch it out so thinly that light can shine through (as seen in this image).

5. Cover the mixer bowl with cling film, and leave the dough in a warm place to rise for 2 to 2.5 hours, until doubled in size.

6. Uncover the dough and punch it to deflate it. Add in the dried fruit (if you've soaked them in rum, make sure you drain and dry them with a paper towel before adding). Using your hand, incorporate the fruit into the dough by mixing and folding.

7. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a panettone tin (or some other deep round tin) lined with foil. Using a knife, cut a shallow cross into the top of the dough. Cover the tin loosely with cling film, and place in a warm place to rise for 1 hour, until doubled in size.

8. 15 minutes before you put the dough into the oven to bake, turn the oven on to preheat at 200 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit). Put the baking rack towards the very bottom of the oven. When ready to bake, brush some melted butter over the top of the dough, and put a 2cm x 2 cm knob of butter at the centre of the cross.

9. Put the panettone dough into the oven and bake at 200 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit) for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) and bake for another 40 minutes. You may have to cover the top of the loaf with a piece of foil 20 minutes into baking to stop it from burning. 10 minutes before you take the loaf out of the oven, quickly brush the top of the loaf with egg wash, and remove the foil covering the top so that the heat will turn the egg wash into a nice, bronzed glaze.

10. When panettone is done baking, take it out of the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes, before tipping it out onto a cooling rack and letting it cool completely before slicing into it.

Braided Challah (Daring Bakers Challenge, May 2012)

Here's the brief for this challenge: "May's Daring Bakers' Challenge was pretty twisted - Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from "A Taste of Challah," by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads."

With free time being so scarce these days, I like to put 150% effort into the baking projects that I take on. This particular recipe held special significance for me because it was my first Daring Bakers Challenge. I was hesitant at first to join the Daring Bakers, because I knew for sure that I would not be able to dedicate much time to this blog this year because of a massive uni workload. However, seeing other bloggers proudly showing off their masterpieces on each month's reveal date filled me with such senses of envy and longing that I caved, and signed up at the end of April. And behold - I have completed my very first challenge - a raisin and cinnamon swirl challah!

The Challah is a braided loaf traditionally eaten on Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. The bread is made with a yeasted dough enriched with eggs, sugar and oil. Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood, who is our host for this challenge, provided us with various recipes for the dough (including her own "go-to" whole wheat version), as well as helpful tips on braiding the loaf. After a little bit of research, I settled on Maggie Glezer's Chernowitzer Challah recipe, after seeing it being used by Lisa for her 'Chocolate Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Challah'. If that description alone isn't enough to get you salivating...you must be made of stone.

Cinnamon rolls are one of my very favourite carby treats, and I can pretty much eat raisins as my daily servings of fruit for the rest of my life. And so I followed in Lisa's footsteps, and made my Challah a cinnamon and raisin swirl one, without the chocolate. I was worried that it might be too much of a good thing, and anyway, I live with a bunch of mutants who don't like chocolate. The swirl pattern didn't come out at all. I think it was because the filling lacked a binding agent, which was what the chocolate did in Lisa's recipe.

This is actually my second attempt at making this recipe. The first time, I allowed the dough to rise for far too long (I think it was over 4 hours) because I'd slept right through my alarm. Whilst the bread still tasted all right, it was visually unappealing - sorta flattened and pathetic-looking. That was lesson number 1: don't over-proof your dough. Lesson number 2 was to cover the bread with foil 20 or 30 minutes into the baking, to stop the surface of the bread from browning too much. I'm in love with the burnished hue of my second loaf, but my first loaf honestly looked like poo, if you'll pardon my bluntness.

 

I really like the colour of my second loaf!

So, how did it taste? Allow me to divulge some embarrassing info about myself. For a while, I tried to convince myself that I hated the taste of bread. That it was basically a tasteless lump of gluten, and in addition to being so bad for my waistline, was terrible for my health and I would do well to avoid it for the rest of my life. Let me say now that, oh man, I was totally bullsh*tting myself. Who was I trying to kid? I LOVE bread. If I could be like my naturally super-skinny friend who habitually downs plates of pasta, I would happily eat bread for all three meals, plus snacks. 

Unfortunately, cruel fate has gifted a carb-lover like myself with the metabolism of a tortoise, and consequently, I limit myself to breadstuff only occasionally. This loaf was totally worth the carb-overload. Calling it "raisin toast" would be the ultimate insult. It's a dense, heavy loaf, and although the crumb may feel dry to the touch, it actually tastes very moist. The raisins have become all plump and juicy from absorbing the liquid from the surrounding dough, and despite all the sugar I stuffed into the dough, it is not too sweet to make a sandwich out of. In fact, I think it would go quite well with a sharp, salty cheddar. The only thing I would change is to increase the amount of cinnamon, as I couldn't really taste it.

  

Here's a walkthrough of the recipe, with accompanying pictures. I really do apologise for not posting more frequently. I truly appreciate the time you have taken to read through my humble blog. I do hope you give this Challah recipe a go, because it is fantastic and completely worthy of a Daring Bakers Challenge! :D

Recipe tutorial: Raisin and Cinnamon Swirl Challah

Makes one 950g loaf; adapted from Maggie Glezer's recipe

Ingredients

For the dough:

7g instant yeast

500g bread flour (+ extra in case your dough is too wet)

170g warm water

2 large eggs + 1 for glazing

110g vegetable oil (I used corn oil)

1.5tsp (8g) salt

55g white granulated sugar

 

Warm water not pictured

Panda bread!

As a foodie, or a baking enthusiast, you've probably seen it floating all around the food blogosphere:

Yes, I'm talking about TARO-TARO's Panda Bread. It gave me a serious case of the warm-n-fuzzies the first time I saw it. Admittedly, the panda is my favourite animal in the whole world, but any bread that slices open to reveal a surprise within will win my instant admiration. Provided it's not an explosive, of course.

What lay beneath such ugly exteriors?!

I've been wanting to make this ever since I saw it on Not Quite Nigella, and then again at Florence's Do What I Like (my go-to site for all Asian baked goods!). Trouble was, I would invariably be struck down with a sense of panic as soon as I even contemplated attempting it. My mind would be assailed by a cacophony of banshee voices dissuading me:

"It'll end up one misshapen lump - think of the waste!"

"The skills required to pull off something like this...stop kidding yourself!"

"Why is your room so messy all the time?!"

(Oh wait, that last one's from my mum.)

Anyway, yesterday I put my foot down and decided then and there that I was going to confront my demons, and try my hand at this Panda Bread. I'm okay with baking bread in general - I've made quite a few different types in the past: cotton-soft polo buns made using the tangzhong method, cinnamon scrolls involving ample amounts of butter and sugar, gluten-free varieties incorporating rice flours and almond meal, and...er, damper (back in primary school). My main concern regarding the Panda bread was the actual assembling of the different-coloured doughs. And, as you can see from my photographs, my panda face didn't come out symmetrical like TARO-TARO's. 

I used the recipe and method from Florence's blog. In case I didn't make it clear before - her website is amazing. It's full of recipes for those desserts you see only in Asian bakeries or Cantonese restaurants. Well, for me at least. People of a Cantonese background probably have their own versions passed down through generations, but since I am from the northern part of China, I am reliant on people like Florence and Ju from The Little Teochew for ethnic recipes originating in other parts of China.

Since I don't own a bread machine, I did all my kneading by hand. It took about twenty minutes of non-stop kneading to get the dough to feel 'right'; my bi- and triceps were pretty much quaking by then. It was also very difficult to work with the dough right after mixing all the ingredients together, since it was very, very sticky. Do not be tempted to add more flour. As you work the dough, gluten will begin to form and the dough will become much less sticky, to the point where you can knead it without it sticking to your hand or the bowl/work surface. If you add more flour than what is specified (as I have done before), it will ruin the texture of your bread, making it tough and all clumped together!

Another piece of advice: do not slice the bread as soon as it comes out of the oven. I'm sure there are experienced bread bakers out there face-palming as they read this, but I committed the crime of attempting to slice open my loaf while it was still piping hot, a mere minute after I took it out of the oven. I was just so excited that it had actually risen and was so eager to see if the pattern was intact that I hacked away at the tough crust with my non-serrated knife. This was what met my horrified eyes:

The voices started their recriminations anew.

What had happened was that the inside of the bread had collapsed under the pressure of my knife, as the crumb is super delicate when still hot. Once bread cools, the gluten sort of "sets", allowing for bread to be sliced without tearing the fluffy insides.

I quickly did a search on google about the proper time to wait before slicing into freshly baked bread, and apparently the recommended time is 30-60 minutes, or until the loaf has cooled completely. Some bakers apparently wait 3 days before slicing. I resisted the urge to chuck the whole thing away, and threw a kitchen towel over it instead. The next morning, I cut the bread at a point that appeared to have intact insides with my very sharp (but un-serrated) knife, and hey, guess my efforts weren't wasted after all!

Moral(s) of the story: Yes, there are the usual ones of "follow instructions!" and "listen to those who are more experienced!", but also: hope for the best despite overwhelming evidence suggesting otherwise. Had I chucked the bread away upon discovering the collapsed insides the night before, this post would never have been written, I would have thought myself a failure for the next few days, and my 20 minutes of manual kneading would indeed have been in vain. Hope for the best, and hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised :D

Recipe for Panda Bread

Adapted from Do What I Like and TARO-TARO

Ingredients

Makes 1 loaf weighing approximately 600g

230g bread flour

70g cake flour

30g sugar

1 egg yolk + milk = 210g

20g melted butter (salted or unsalted)

4.5g salt (omit if using salted butter)

4g instant yeast

8g green tea powder dissolved in 10g boiling hot water

8g cocoa powder dissolved in 8g boiling water

Method

1. Whisk together milk and egg yolk and heat mixture to 38℃, either over a gentle flame or by microwaving it on HIGH in short bursts of 10 seconds, stirring between.

2. Combine flours, sugar, milk + yolk mixture, melted butter, yeast and salt (if using unsalted butter) and knead until dough is no longer sticky. This will take approximately 20 minutes. To help develop the gluten, throw down the dough and slap it onto your work surface from a height ever two minutes or so.

3. Divide dough (which should weigh in around 560g) into three parts: 75g for the chocolate, 210g for the plain, and whatever is left for the green tea (less than 280g).

4. Add the cocoa powder dissolved in water to the 75g dough, kneading to incorporate and until uniform in colour. Do the same with the green tea powder and water to the 280g dough.

5. Place three doughs in separate greased containers and cover loosely with greased cling wrap. Allow doughs to rise for 30-40 minutes.

 

The doughs after the first rising.

 

6. After doughs have risen, punch them down to get rid of the air, and allow them to rise a second time, for another 20-30 minutes.

7. Assemble the doughs into the panda pattern in the following method (refer to TARO-TARO's site for an illustrated, step-by-step guide): First portion out 90g of the white dough. Roll it into a strip of the same length as that of your loaf pan. Next, portion out 2 pieces of 27g each of the chocolate dough, rolling into strips of the same length. These will form the eyes of the panda. Fill the hollow between the eyes with 30g of plain dough. Roll the remaining plain dough into a rectangle that will wrap all the way around the eyes and face. Next, divide the remaining chocolate dough into two pieces (around 17.5g each). Roll into strips. These will form the ears. Attach ears, then use 70g of the green tea dough to fill the hollow between the ears. Wrap the rest of the green tea dough around the whole thing.

This is what it should look like after assembling:

8. Place the assembled dough into a well-greased loaf pan and cover loosely with cling-wrap. Allow to rise for a final time for 50-60 minutes, in a warm area.

The dough before the final rising

 

The dough after the final rising

9. Bake in oven which has been preheated to 200℃ for 25-30 minutes. Bread is baked thoroughly when the crust is a dark, brown colour (but not burnt black!) and sounds hollow when the bottom is tapped.

10. IMPORTANT: Do not slice the bread as soon as you remove it from the oven!!! Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to rack and allow to cool for a further 10 minutes. After that, drape a tea towel over it and let it sit under there for at least another 30-60 minutes (I waited overnight, around 5-6 hours). Only slice (using a serrated knife is best) after loaf has completely cooled.

Cinnamon (sc)rolls with cream cheese frosting

Cinnamon bun, cinnamon roll, cinnamon scroll...whatever you choose to call them, they're all permutations of one and the same -

This was my first time working with yeasted breads, and I was delighted with the results. The recipe I used was one which Bridget over at The Way the Cookie Crumbles "hobbled together" (her own words :D) from a variety of sources in addition to her own previous experiences. The dough was all Bridget's, but I modified the filling and the cream cheese frosting slightly to suit my own tastes.

I also inadvertantly made what I consider to be a "lucky" mistake. Bridget's instructions calls for the dough to be pressed down and rolled out immediately after the first rising, after which it is filled with the cinnamon mixture, then cut into individual cinnamon rolls and allowed to to rise, or proof, for the second time before baking. I, on the other hand, punched down my dough after the first rising and then kneaded it again, before following the rest of the instructions as written. Upon discovering my error, I did a second batch without kneading the dough again after the first rising, and saw that the rolls did not proof as much as the kneaded rolls, and that the baked rolls were not as fluffy or round-looking, for lack of a better adjective, as their kneaded counterparts.

The kneaded rolls are shown on the left, and the not kneaded ones on the right:

The baked products - kneaded (left) and unkneaded (right):

In my opinion, the slightly shrivelled ones on the right would be perfect for drowning in syrup and liquidy cream cheese frosting, to be eaten like pudding with a spoon. Am I inventive or what? :D

I ended up with more cinnamon sc(rolls) than I knew what do with. Good thing my family loved them as much as I did!