Purple Sweet Potato Chia Seeds Bread

The first quarter of the year will be gone in a matter of days (in fact just 1 more day before April arrives). Where did all the time go to? Can we slow down the clock? 

On a happier note, its Good Friday today, an extra day off this week. No work, no school (though the little boy had to go for extra math tuition today) and I had some free time. Hee.. Was in the mood for some kneading and so I decided to try out this recipe from My Mind Patch

Very glad to say that it was a success! 成功! Yay! Soft & fluffy! Not too sweet - suits my taste buds 😊 but for those with a sweet tooth, you may want to increase the amount of sugar.

Happy Easter long weekend! 

Purple Sweet Potato Chia Seed Bread

Panasonic Breadmaker - Menu 9 Bread Dough

(After 1 hour cycle)

Punch down and knead to remove excess air

Divide into 3 portions, rest for 10 mins

Divide into 12 portions of approx 45g each and shape into desired shape

Spray water on surface, cover and proof for 1 hour

After 1 hour proofing

Egg wash and bake for 13-15 mins

Golden brown freshly baked purple sweet potato chia seeds buns, ready to eat!

Purple Sweet Potato Chia Seeds Bread
(using Panasonic Breadmaker SD-P104)
* servings: 12 buns

Ingredients

• 140g cold fresh milk
• 25g beaten egg
• 30g sugar (can increase sugar if prefer sweeter bread)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 20g coconut oil 
• 100g steamed purple sweet potato paste
• 225g bread flour
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 3/4 tsp instant dry yeast

Method

1. Steam 1 medium size purple sweet potato until soft
2. Peel off skin, blend or mashed into paste
3. Add all ingredients into breadmaker
4. Select Menu 9 Bread Dough (full cycle takes about 1 hour to complete
5. Remove dough from bread pan
6. Punch down the dough to remove excess air
7. Divide into 3 portions, cover and let it rest for 10 mins
8. After 10 mins, divide further into 12 small dough of approx 45g each
9. Shape dough into desired shape
10. Spray some water on the bun, cover and proof for 1 hour
11. After 1 hour, apply egg wash 
12. Bake in preheated oven 180deg for 13-15 mins until golden brown

Alternatively, you can also bake a loaf!

Baking Time: 30-35 mins

Before proofing

After 1 hour proofing

Egg Wash before popping into oven

Tadaa! After 35mins in the oven

Freshly baked loaf!

Banana Cake with rolled oats

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

CNY is almost over and CA1 Term assessments are round the corner. So, we are again... all grounded at home.

To cheer everyone up abit, I decided to whip out my recipe book to bake this moist banana cake (or bread some may call it).  

Banana Cake. Yums!

Moist and flavourful

This is a super easy recipe. You don't even need a mixer to combine all ingredients. 

Dry ingredients combined

Size of the bananas I used

Just mix the wet and dry ingredients together with a spatula and voila!

Batter ready to pop into the oven

The boys loved it. The hubs gave a thumbs-up. The helper said it's very nice. This recipe is definitely a keeper! 

Now I know what to do when I have bananas to clear. Will try out with wholemeal flour and add Chia seeds or walnuts the next time. 

Recipe adapted from Diana Gales

Ingredients

Dry

• 188g plain flour, sifted
• 150g raw sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 45g rolled oats (can increase amount to your liking)

Wet

• 120g butter, melted
• 180ml milk 
• 1 large egg
• 2 medium size bananas, mashed

Method

1. Whisk together all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Whisk together all wet ingredients in another bowl until well combined.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 
4. Gently fold until combined. Be careful not to overmix.
5. Pour the batter into a lined 9x5 inch loaf pan.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg for 55 to 60mins or until an inserted skewer emerges clean.
7. Cool the cake in the pan for 10mins before transferrig to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Note

• Reduce milk to 120ml if you prefer a drier cake
• Adjust the baking time according to your oven

Soft Milk Buns

Finally had time to try out this milk bun recipe shared by Nasi Lemak Lover, using overnight sponge dough method. 

Soft Milk Buns

Instead of kneading by hand or using mixer, I used my trusty breadmaker. Texture of the buns was soft, everyone liked it.. but there is still much room for improvement before I can attain the same standard as Sonia.

Round shaped dough (60g each)

Proofed and ready to go in the oven

Fresh from the oven

Soft pull-apart buns

Recipe (using Panasonic Breadmaker)

Overnight sponge dough
Ingredients
- 215g bread flour
- 125ml cold milk
- 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast

Method
1. Mix all ingredients together to form a dough.
2. Cling wrap the dough, keep in an airtight container.
3. Chill in fridge for min. 12 hours
(Dough can be kept in fridge for 7 days)


Milk Buns Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 portion of overnight sponge dough
- 90g bread flour
- 60g sugar
- 30g egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp instant dry yeast
- 1 tbsp cold milk
- 45g butter

Method

1. Tear the sponge dough into small pieces
2. Add all ingredients (except yeast and butter) into the bread pan
3. Add yeast in the yeast compartment
4. Select Menu 9 for dough cycle 
5. Press Start
6. Add butter into the bread pan few minutes after yeast is dispensed (about 45min remaining time)
7. Leave the dough in the breadmaker for 10mins after the cycle ended
8. Remove dough from bread pan
9. Punch down the dough to expel air
10. Divide the dough to 9 portions (60g each) and shape into round balls. 
11. Place dough in a square pan, cover with damp cloth.
12. Proof for another 30-45mins.
13. Bake at preheated oven at 170 deg for 20mins

Sweet Milk Buns

When you have real supporters at home to try your bakes, you can liberally try out as many recipes as you can for you know that the finished goods will not be gone to waste 😛.

As someone who likes to bake, naturally I'm drawn to bread making. In my opinion, bread making is a level up from cake making. Kneading and proofing are acquired skills that cannot be learnt overnight.

I had tried kneading by hands before and boy! It was really very tiring. I felt like I was kneading forever and yet still couldn't get to the window pane stage. Needless to say, the end product turned out to be as hard as rock. 

Ever since then, I gave up on bread. The only time I braved myself to try again was when there was an online hype about the 40 mins recipe. It was easy and in my opinion, fail-proof!

That was before the hubs decided to grant my wish and bought me a Panasonic Breadmaker! 

Panasonic Breadmaker SD-P104

Since then, I've tried out many several recipes. I must say that the breadmaker really helped in the kneading and proofing, which made my most of my bakes successful. I was really thankful. 

Imagine waking up to a loaf of freshly baked bread in the morning. The smell of the bread was heavenly! Bliss! 

The recipe that I'm sharing in this post is a milk bun that tastes good on its own or you can pair it with kaya and butter.

Sweet Milk Buns Recipe 

(adapted from My Mind Patch)

**makes 6 large buns

Ingredients

• 160g cold milk
• 50g fine sugar
• 25g beaten egg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 225g bread flour
• 25g cake flour
• 3/4 tsp instant dry yeast
• 30g cold unsalted butter

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients (except butter and instant dry yeast) into the bread pan
2. Add instant dry yeast into yeast compartment 
3. Select Menu 9 - Dough menu, press Start 
4. Add in butter after yeast is dispensed (timer showing 45mins left)
5. When the program ended, let the dough sit in the breadmaker for another 30mins
6. Remove dough from bread pan. Shape dough into 6 buns of 92g each (adjust according to your preference)
7. Sprinkle some water on the dough, cover with a damp cloth and proof for 40mins
8. Preheat oven to 180 deg
9. Bake at 160 deg for 10mins 
10. Lower to 150 deg and continue to bake for another 10-12 mins
11. Transfer to wire rack to cool

Lemon Chiffon

My younger boy has a very sweet tooth (that explains the many tooth decays he had when he was younger 😜).

He is my No. 1 fan for everything I bake. And since he requested for a cake, any cake, I decided to pull out this recipe from my shelf and bake this Lemon Chiffon. It was a hit, again! Although I felt that the taste of lemon could be stronger.

Recipe adapted from
The Domestic Goddess Wanababe

Ingredients

•  7 egg yolks
•  50 sugar
•  60ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
•  1/2 tsp salt
•  60ml cooking oil - I used canola oil
•  2 tbsp grated lemon zest
•  110g cake flour

•  7 egg whites
•  130g sugar
•  1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Method

1. Beat egg yolks and sugar till light and pale.
2. Add the oil and continue to beat till combined.
3. Add the lemon juice, followed by lemon zest.
4. Add the sifted flour and mix till just combined.
5. In a separate clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites till foamy, add cream of tartar.
6. Gradually add the sugar and whisk till stiff peak.
7. Mix 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the lemon mixture to "loosen" the batter.
8.  Fold in remaining 2/3 of the egg white (gently) in 2 separate additions until no white streaks. 
9.  Pour the batter into an UNGREASED chiffon tin.
10. Drop the chiffon tin on the table top few times to release air bubbles
11. Bake at 180°C for 65mins to 70mins. 
12. Cover the cake with a piece of aluminium foil if the cake top is too brown. 
13. Cool the cake upside down until it is completely cool before unmolding.

Banana cupcakes

What do you do when you have a bunch of bananas turning black? I used to throw over-riped bananas away, what a waste! I have since learnt to bookmark banana cake recipes for times when I need to "save the over-ripe bananas"!

This was one of my bookmarked recipes from Sonia a.k.a. Nasi Lemak Lover. Her blog is one my go-to sites for recipes. I love her blog! 

I baked these cute little spongy banana cupcakes for my helper's birthday. She had been with us for 3 years and was returning home to "fulfil her duties" to get married. The boys were real sad to see her go for they had forged a great friendship, even my in laws were sad. We treat her very much like our own family.

Since her birthday was round the corner and I had some over-ripe bananas, so let' pull this recipe out from the shelf and put the over-ripe bananas into good use!

spongy banana cupcakes

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients 
- 3 large eggs
- 180g ripe bananas
- 150g cake flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 120g caster sugar (I used brown sugar)
- 100g canola oil

Method

1. Sift cake flour with baking powder and baking soda, set aside (for finer texture, sift 2 times)
2. Mash bananas, set aside
3. Beat eggs and sugar on high speed till thick and pale 
4. Add in mashed bananas and mix well to combine
5. Fold in sifted flour and mix well
6. Add in corn oil and mix till well combined and batter is shiny and smooth
7. Pour into cupcake liners till 90% full
8. Bake at preheated oven 160 deg for 25 mins until golden brown or till a cake tester comes out clean

Birthday cakes

Collection of the birthday cake decorations I did in the past. It was tiring and back-breaking but worth every effort! 

In our hot Singaporean weather, it was no easy feat trying to decorate the cakes with fresh cream. Nevertheless, I'm glad the cakes held up very well.

I enjoyed the process very much, especially the moulding of the fondant characters. Seeing the smiles and thrilled expressions on the kids' faces was priceless! 

Tiramisu

Oreos overload cake

Durian vanilla sponge

Mango sponge

 

Vanilla sponge cupcakes

Rainbow cake

 

3D cake decorations for my boy's birthdays

Wished I had more time and energy to do more!