I might have mentioned here once before that I like to go to Sweden someday. I want to spend a day in Ikea just to marvel at how everything is (probably) exactly the same as back home. I want to spend hours browsing in local homewares and handcraft stores, and fill my suitcases with little treasures. And I look forward to have a fika everyday, and have a pastry, or a piece of cake, or a sweet bun with my coffee. For now though, I guess these cinnamon buns will just have to do.



Swedish Cinnamon Buns
(Adapted from The Guardian)

Makes 12

Buns
300ml whole milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
50g butter, roughly chopped
425g plain flour
7g fast action yeast
60g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 egg, beaten lightly

Filling
75g butter
50g dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping
1 egg, beaten lightly
Pearl sugar to sprinkle (Or use silvered almonds like I did if you can't find pearl sugar)

To make buns:
Put the milk and ground cardamon in a small saucepan and bring to just below the boil. Take off the heat, stir in the butter and leave to infuse until the milk mixture is just warm (about 38C).

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with hook attachment. Add warm milk mixture and egg to flour mixture. Knead on low speed until you get a smooth pliable tacky dough, about 10 minutes. The dough is ready when it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Resist adding more flour to the mixture.

Lightly grease your hands, and shape the dough into a ball. Place the dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl, and cover with cling wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature (somewhere draught-free and not too cold) until doubled in size. Depending on the temperature of your room, it can take anything between 30 mins to 1 hour. Press the dough gently with a fingertip. If the indentation remains, the dough is ready for the next step.

Meanwhile, make filling:
Melt butter and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine dark brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.

When the dough is ready, deflate the dough, cover with cling wrap and let rest for 5 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle roughly 60 x 25cm. Generously brush melted butter over the dough. Sprinkle over the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll the dough, from the longer side, tightly like a swiss roll. Position it on its seam. Cut and discard the ends. Cut roll into 12 equal slices.

Line standard cupcake/muffin pan with paper cases. Place rolls in paper cases. Cover loosely with cling wrap. Let the dough proof for the second time until double in size, about 30 mins to 1 hour. Press the dough gently with a fingertip. If the indentation remains, the dough is ready for baking.

Heat the oven to 180C fan-forced. While waiting for the oven to heat up, brush top of each roll lightly with the beaten egg and sprinkle over silvered almonds. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: This is best serve while the buns are still warm.

These pillowy apple and cinnamon hot cross buns are soft, fluffy and springy with a good balance of spice and fruit. I can't taste or smell the apple in the buns which is disappointing to be honest. But I'm guessing the apple might have play a part in giving these buns the tender crumb.

I get a sense of satisfaction from being able to now make hot cross buns as good if not better than store-brought ones. The best part though is the aroma of cinnamon, mixed spice and fresh bread that fills the house while the buns are in the oven. It is the smell, I imagine, of lazy sunday and cozy morning.


Apple and Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns
(Adapted from Gourmet Traveller)

Makes 20

Syrup
260 grams caster sugar
375 ml water
1 lemon
2 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled, cored, diced
1 cinnamon quill

Buns
700 grams plain flour (more flour may be required, see method below.)
150 grams sultanas or golden raisins
50 grams dried apple, diced (I replaced with 50 grams sultanas)
30 grams candied orange, diced
14 grams instant dried yeast
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon all spice
65 grams caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Finely grated rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon
380 ml milk
100 grams butter, coarsely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten, room temperature

Flour Paste
50 grams plain flour
70 ml cold water

To make Syrup:
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan, then squeeze in juice of half a lemon and stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Meanwhile, cut remaining lemon half into 5mm-thick slices, add to pan with Granny Smith apple and cinnamon quill. Bring to the simmer, reduce heat to medium and cook until lemon and apple are translucent (20-25 minutes). Strain, reserving fruit and syrup separately. When cool enough to handle, dice lemon, combine with apple and set aside.

To make Buns:
Combine flour, sultanas, dried apple, candied orange, yeast, ground cinnamon, all spice, rinds, sugar, reserved apple mixture and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan, warm over low heat until butter melts and mixture is lukewarm (about 38C). Add warm milk mixture and egg to flour mixture. Knead on low speed until you get a pliable elastic tacky dough. It should be sticky but not overly so. (Note: If the dough does not pull away from the sides of the bowl after 10 minutes, the dough is too sticky. Add 1/4 cup of flour, and continue to beat for 5 minutes. I find that sometimes I need to add between 50-100grams of flour depending on how well I strain the apple mixture.)

Place into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm draught-free place until doubled in size (40-60 minutes)

Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Punch dough down to its original size, divide into 20 even pieces, then knead each piece into a small ball. Place balls onto lined tray, about 1cm apart. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm draught-free place until buns double in size (about 40-60 minutes).

Preheat oven to 220C (200C fan-forced).

To make flour paste:
Combine flour and 70ml cold water in a bowl and stir to a smooth paste. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe a cross shape onto each bun.

Bake for 10 minutes, reduce oven to 200C (180C fan-forced) and bake until golden and buns sound hollow when tapped (8-10 minutes).

Brush syrup thickly over hot buns. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Savoury scrolls that require no yeast, minimum kneading, quick to make, and almost fail-proof? Sounds too good to be true? Well. This is no April's fool. These scrolls are very good indeed.

These scrolls are adapted from a basic damper recipe. Add the classic combination of ricotta, greek feta and sage, we got ourselves flavoursome scrolls that will go so well with a bowl of hot and steamy pumpkin or tomato soup.

I have to add that this is not a light and fluffy type of scroll. The texture is slightly denser and quite similar to scones. Just so you know...




Buttermilk and Ricotta Scrolls

Makes 12

450 grams self-raising flour
1 teaspoon salt
80 grams butter, cold, cut into small cubes
300 ml buttermilk
200 grams ricotta
80 grams greek feta cheese
Sage leaves (about 15 leaves)
Sea salt flakes, to serve

Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius (200 degrees celsius fan-forced). Line a 30cm x 20cm lamington tin with baking paper.

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Make a well in the centre and pour in buttermilk. Stir in until combined and a sticky dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead dough gently for 1-2 minutes until smooth.

Lightly flour rolling pin and roll dough out to roughly about 50cm x 35cm rectangle. Spread ricotta over dough. Crumble feta over top of ricotta layer, and then scatter over sage leaves. Starting from long side, roll up firmly to form a log. Cut log into 12 equal portions. Place scrolls on the prepared tray. Brush top of scrolls with extra buttermilk. Bake for 25-30 minutes until scrolls are golden and sound hollow when tapped. Allow to cool. Sprinkle with sea salt to serve.

I have not been to Norway and I would like to go there someday. Judging from the photographs in the travel guidebooks and at the Norway website, it seems like a beautiful place. I dream about spending a Christmas holiday there, and if I'm lucky enough, to go to a place where I can see the Aurora. I imagine it would be magical.

This week, I couldn't stop thinking about Skolebrød. I wanted to eat it so badly. Which is strange because I've never eaten or even heard of Skolebrød before. You see, I was searching for a recipe online for a custard bread that I've a sudden craving for. I don't know the name (and still don't) of that custard bread in question. So I typed "custard bread" in google search, as we do, and saw an image of a bun coated in grated coconut with baked custard in the middle. That is interesting, I thought. Further investigation reveals that it is a Norwegian sweet bread usually "put in school lunches as dessert" (quote from wikipedia). The name Skolebrød literally means school bread. Lucky Norwegian kids, but I bet they never had vegemite sandwiches before.

I have tested out several recipes for an authentic Skolebrød. In the end, I decided to use the tried, tested, and much loved Tongzhong method to get the soft fluffy sweet buns that I just can't get enough. Not so authentic, but what we got here is the softest and fluffiest bun with baked custard in the middle, coated with sugar glaze, and covered in dessicated coconut. If you are serving this straight away, decorate with pastry cream (leftover from making the baked custard).

This is best eaten on the day it's made. I recommend storing the leftover in the fridge because of the custard, just to be on the safe side. Unfortunately, this also means that the buns will lose some of it's fluffiness. Not a problem. You can warm the buns quickly in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, and the buns will be soft and fluffy again.

Oh, can anyone solve the riddle of that custard bread that I'm still looking for? I think it's french.

Skolebrød (School Bread)
(Bread adapted from 65 Degrees Celsius Tangzhong Bread by Yvonne C.)

Makes 12

Pastry Cream
200 grams milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped for seeds
3 egg yolks
50 grams caster sugar
20 grams plain flour

Tangzhong
50 grams strong high protein flour (bread flour)
250 grams water, room temperature

Sweet Buns
210 grams strong high protein flour (bread flour)
56 grams soft low protein flour (cake flour)
20 grams milk powder
42 grams caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 grams instant dried yeast
30 grams egg (about half of a large egg), beaten, room temperature (reserve other half for egg wash)
85 grams warm water (46 to 52 degrees celsius)
84 grams tangzhong, room temperature
22 grams unsalted butter, room temperature, soften

Coconut Sugar Glaze Topping
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoon water, room temperature
1/2 bowl desiccated coconut

To make pastry cream:
Add milk, vanilla bean and seeds to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a clean separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until mixture is slightly pale in colour (you can whisk this by hand for 2 minutes). Add flour and whisk to combine.

Add a third of the hot milk to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Add remaining hot milk and whisk to combine. Return egg and milk mixture to the saucepan, over medium heat, whisking constantly. Continue whisking until mixture starts to thicken. Press the pastry cream through a fine-meshed sieve into a plate, cover with cling film and place in the fridge to cool completely.

To make tangzhong:
Combine flour and water in a small saucepan. Place saucepan over low heat, whisking constantly with a hand whisk, until mixture reaches 65 degrees celsius. To tell without using the thermometer, the mixture is done when it's start to thicken slightly and the whisk leave trails in the liquid. Remove from heat, transfer mixture to a bowl, press cling film over the surface of the mixture to prevent a skin forming, and allow to cool until room temperature.

Tangzhong can be refrigerated up to 2 days. Allow tangzhong to come to room temperature before using. Discard if tangzhong has taken on a grey tinge.

To make sweet buns:
Note: I used instant dried yeast that can be added directly to the flour without having to go through the step of dissolving the yeast first. If the type of yeast that you are using needs to be dissolved, sprinkle yeast onto warm water. Add a pinch of caster sugar, whisk to combine, and allow the mixture to sit for about 5 minutes until the mixture is foamy and frothy.

Combine flours, milk powder, caster sugar, ground cardamom, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand-mixer. Add egg, warm water and tangzhong to the flour mixture.

Fix mixer with the hook attachment, with the mixer on low speed (#2 on Kitchenaid), knead dough until the ingredients are incorporated. Stop mixer, add soften butter, and resume kneading on low speed until the dough is smooth, elastic and tacky. This should take about 10-15 minutes. The dough should sticks to the hook and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. To check if the dough is ready, do a windowpane test (aka membrane test); pinch off a small golf ball size dough, and if you can stretch it into a paper thin translucent membrane without breaking it until eventually a hole starts to appear, the dough is good to go.

Shape dough into a ball. Resist adding more flour. For ease of handling the dough, lightly grease hands instead. Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover the bowl securely with a cling flim, and let the dough rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1-1.5 hours.

Deflate the dough, divide dough into 12 equal pieces (about 40-45 grams each), shape each piece into a ball, and place on baking tray lined baking paper. Allow plenty of space between each bun (about 10cm apart). Make an indentation into each bun with a lightly floured or greased thumb. Cover with oiled cling flim and leave to rise until doubled in size, about 1-1.5 hours.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (or 160 degrees celsius fan-forced). Press down the indentation in the bun made earlier with your thumb again to make a deep hole, careful not to deflate the bun too much. Pipe pastry cream into each hole. Brush the buns with leftover beaten egg. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden-brown. Transfer to a wire-rack to cool while making sugar glaze.

To make coconut sugar glaze topping:
Sift icing sugar to breakdown or remove any lumps. Combine icing sugar and water to make a glaze.

Brush the glaze onto the buns around the custard centre. Dip the glazed part of each bun into the coconut. Finish by placing a little of leftover pastry cream on top (optional).

It had me at coffee. This bread has all the things that I love; coffee, chocolate and soft fluffy bread. It goes well with chocolate spread or peanut butter. But I like it simply toasted with margarine and a light sprinkling of sugar so that I can still get that hint of coffee and chocolate.



Coffee and Chocolate Swirl Bread

I used a small deep loaf pan- 20cm x 10.5cm x 7.5cm deep

5 grams instant coffee granules
10 grams cocoa powder
2 tablespoons hot water
30 grams unsalted butter
210 grams milk
300 grams bread flour
30 grams caster sugar
2 grams salt
4 grams instant dried yeast (See note at the bottom of this post)

Combine instant coffee and 1 tablespoon hot water in a small bowl, stir to dissolve coffee granules to make paste. Add more water if required, set aside.

Combine cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon hot water in a small bowl, stir to dissolve cocoa powder to make paste. Add more water if required, set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter over low heat just until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat, set aside until warm (46 to 52 degrees celsius).

Combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add warm milk and butter mixture. With the mixer on low speed (#2 on KitchenAid), knead until smooth and elastic (about 8-10 minutes). The dough is ready when you can take a chunk of dough and stretch it to a very thin sheet before it breaks.

Divide dough into two equal portions. On a lightly floured work surface, knead coffee paste into first portion of dough until smooth and coffee is fully incorporated (about 3-5 minutes). Add a bit more flour if dough is too sticky. Place the dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl cover with cling wrap.

Repeat with the chocolate mixture. Place the chocolate dough in a seperate lightly greased mixing bowl cover with cling wrap.

Let the dough rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Press the dough gently with a fingertip. If the indentation remains, the dough is ready for the next step.

Gently deflate the doughs, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.

On a lightly floured work surface, knead each dough gently into a ball. Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll each dough out. The doughs should be about 20cm x 40cm (doesn't have to be exact as long as the shorter side is the same width as the bread pan).

Place the coffee dough over the chocolate dough. Starting from the shorter side, roll up the dough tightly. Place dough seam-side down in bread pan. Cover with cling wrap. Let the dough proof for the second time until double in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius (or 160 degrees celsius fan-forced). Remove cling wrap, brush bread with milk, and bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Note: I used instant dried yeast that can be added directly to the flour without having to go through the step of dissolving the yeast first. If the type of yeast that you are using needs to be dissolved, whisk yeast into 3 tablespoons of warm milk. Add a pinch of caster sugar and allow the mixture to sit for about 5 minutes until the mixture is foamy and frothy.

It has been a bad baking week for me. I made lemon bars with soggy base, brownies that tasted funny, coconut bread as heavy as brick and brioche that didn’t rise to the occasion.

This no-knead bread was my only success all week. I have made it two more times since and I'm really excited about sharing this recipe here. The bread is super easy to put together, requires only 5 basic ingredients, and the result is a beautiful crusty bread that is as good as what you get from the bakery. In fact, after making this no-knead bread, I don't think I will buy another loaf of crusty bread from the shops again.

There are 3 changes I have made to the original recipe. First off, the dough after more than half a day of resting will be very sticky. The original recipe suggests placing the dough on a floured cotton towel and covering it with another cotton towel for the second proofing. I found that the dough still stick to the cotton towels even after I have dusted the dough with a generous amount of flour. So the way around it is to use baking paper instead of cotton towels.

The second recommendation is to put the dough on a baking paper before putting it in the pot. The first time I make this bread, it got stuck in the pot and I couldn’t get it out... which is a shame because the bread was perfect otherwise. I did a search on “help, no-knead bread stuck to pot” and found that a lot of people had the same problem too. Apparently, it was because the pot wasn't hot enough when we put the dough in.

On the Martha Steward website, the recommended oven temperature is 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius). My oven doesn't go that high. I baked the bread at 425 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius) and it turned out great.







No-Knead Bread
(Adapted from Jim Lahey at Sullivan Street Bakery via Martha Stewart)

3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
Olive oil, as needed

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Coat a second large bowl with olive oil. Transfer dough to oiled bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, but preferably up to 18, at room temperature. When surface is dotted with bubbles, dough is ready.

Lightly flour work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice. Loosely cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Sprinkle just enough flour over work surface and your fingers to keep dough from sticking; quickly and gently shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a baking paper with flour; place dough seam side down on baking paper and dust with more flour. Cover with another sheet of baking paper and cotton towel on top. Let rise until it has more than doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.

After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius (425 degrees fahrenheit). Place a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot, such as cast-iron or Pyrex, in oven as it heats. When dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Remove top towel from dough and turn dough over onto a baking paper, seam side up, and place dough together with the baking paper into the pot. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover, and bake 30 minutes. Uncover, and continue baking until browned, 15 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Fairy bread is one of Australia’s interesting culinary creations. Apparently a huge hit with kids, and a common feature in children’s party. I can see the appeal. It’s colourful, sweet, crunchy, and has the word “fairy” in it. And it’s messy to eat, which is always a bonus. I think I would love it too… if I was 2 year old.

So I was surprised when J asked me to make fairy bread for his morning tea. An unusual request from a grown man, I thought.

I was told instructed by J that fairy bread MUST be made with fresh soft white bread. And it MUST be cut diagonally into 2 small triangles. And it should preferably be served, piled up on a polystyrene tray like how they did it in the yesteryears.

“So do you want the crust off or on?” I asked.

“Oh yah…. Haha…” He chuckled, obviously reminiscing again. “Crust off please.”

While I was making these, it suddenly dawned on me that my iphone cover (which I love very much) looks like fairy bread.

(Guess which one is my mobile phone...)


Not much of a recipe here. You only need three ingredients- fresh soft white bread, butter at room temperature, and 100s and 1000s (aka sprinkles). First, place 100s and 1000s on a plate. Spread a thick layer of butter evenly over the bread. Press the bread, buttered-side down, into the 100s and 1000s to coat. Cut crust off bread, and diagonally into 2 triangles.

I drooled a little when I saw photos of the cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread at Joy the Baker. My first thought was, I MUST make this IMMEDIATELY.

Just look at these soft fluffy layers of yummy-ness. It tastes as good as it looks, and everything I imagined it to be! It is like a healthier version of the cinnamon roll, but still jam packed with the same sweet sugary cinnamon goodness. The bread has a nice crunchy sweet crust, while the inside of the bread is incredibly soft.

I used my electric mixer to mix all the ingredients and make the dough. You can stir and knead the dough by hand following the steps from the original recipe at Joy the Baker. However because this is such a wet sticky dough, I find it easier to use an electric mixer to do all the messy work for me.

As usual, I didn’t read the instructions carefully and did a little boo boo by mixing all the flour in without realising that I need to do this in three separate batches. Opps! But my bread still came out perfect though. (I wonder why we need to add the flour in three seperate batches.)

I didn’t bother to take out my ruler to measure the dough exactly and cut it to size. I sort of just cut the dough vertically about the same length as the height of the loaf tin, stacked the strips of cut-out dough and cut the stacked dough horizontally roughly the same width of the loaf tin.

Because I used an electric stand mixer, I have made some modifications to the original recipe to reflect that. However, here’s the link to the original recipe at Joy the Baker if you want to do things the old fashion way.

Now the dilemma- should I eat this layer by layer, or just dive right in?






Cinnamon Sugar Pull-apart Bread
(Adapted from Joy the Baker)

The Filling
200 grams caster sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
55 grams unsalted butter

The Dough
2 cups (250 grams) + 1/2 cup (62.5 grams) + 2 tablespoons (16 grams) plain flour
50 grams caster sugar
7 grams (1 sachet) active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
55 grams unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup water
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the filling:
Whisk together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for the filling. Set aside.

Melt 55 grams of butter until browned. Set aside.

Grease and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Set that aside too.

For the dough:
To activate yeast, whisk yeast into 3 tablespoons of warm water. The water should be between 41 and 46 degrees celsius. Add a pinch of caster sugar and allow the mixture to sit for about 5 minutes until the mixture is foamy and frothy.

Stir together 2 cups of flour, sugar and the salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter over low heat just until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat, add the water, and set aside until warm (46 to 52 degrees celsius). Add the vanilla extract.

Fix stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Pour the milk mixture and yeast into the flour mixture. With the mixer on low speed (#2 on KitchenAid), mix until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition just until incorporated. Stop the mixer, add 1/2 cup of the remaining flour, and resume mixing on low speed until the dough is smooth. Add 2 more tablespoons flour and mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth, soft, and slightly sticky. (Note: The dough will be sticky. Resist adding more flour to the dough.)

Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover the bowl securely with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Press the dough gently with a fingertip. If the indentation remains, the dough is ready for the next step. (Note: The dough can be risen until doubled in size, then refrigerated overnight for use in the morning. If you’re using this method, just let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes before following the roll-out directions below.)

Gently deflate the dough, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, knead dough gently until smooth and no longer sticky. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out. The dough should be about 30 cm tall and about 50 cm long. Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter across all of the dough. Sprinkle with all of the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Slice the dough vertically, into six equal-sized strips. Stack the strips on top of one another and slice the stack into six equal slices once again. You’ll have six stacks of six squares. Layer the dough squares in the loaf pan like a flip-book. Place a kitchen towel over the loaf pan and allow in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until almost doubled in size. Press the dough gently with a fingertip. If the indentation remains, the dough is ready for baking.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 175 degree celcius fan force. Place loaf in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is very golden brown. The top may be lightly browned, but the center may still be raw. A nice, dark, golden brown will ensure that the center is cooked as well.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the bread and invert onto a clean board. Place a cake stand or cake plate on top of the upside down loaf, and carefully invert so it’s right side up.

The bread is best served the day it’s made and while it's still warm.

This Hokkaido Milk Toast is wonderfully soft, light and fluffy. The secret ingredient to the bread’s soft cotton like texture is the Tangzhong, which is a flour paste made from cooking 1 part bread flour and 5 part water to 65 degree Celsius. Sounds complicated, but it's really not that hard.

I followed the recipe from Kirbie’s Craving food blog. She has done all the hard work in providing a comprehensive guide to making this wonderful bread. So I will not post the recipe on my blog but refer you to hers instead.

There is something wonderful about the smell of freshly baked bread and eating fresh bread that you made from scratch. I like my bread, thickly sliced, lightly toasted with a generous layer of butter and sprinkle of sugar.