Asian Milk Bread

I always found Asian bread to be much softer than Belgian bread. I like Asian bread more. When I'm in Hong Kong I can really enjoy that bread, which I can't find here in Belgium. So what's the solution? Make it myself of course. I used this recipe. It takes almost 4 hours to do it, so do it when you have too much time.

The ingredient that makes that bread soft is called: Tang Zhong.

It looks like this: It is pretty easy to make.

Just mix the following for 5 minutes while on low heat:

• 25 g flour
• 100 ml milk

Let it rest in the fridge for 1 day.

Then I mixed the following ingredients. Knead it for 20 minutes:

• 330g bread flour
• 115g chilled water roux (TangZhong
• 1 large egg, about 60g
• 5g active yeast + 35ml warm milk
• 70ml heavy cream
• 50g sugar
•  4g salt

This is the result:

 Then I add butter and knead it for 10 minutes:

• 30g butter, softened in room temperature

This is the result:

We let it rest for 1-2 hours in a warm place.

Then we knead it for 5 minutes and make 4 balls of it and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Then we roll them out with a rolling pin and fold them like this.

We let it rest for another 10 minutes.

Then flatten them out with a rolling pin again and roll them up afterwards. We put them in the casserole and let it rise for 1.5 hours.

Then we add egg wash on it and bake it for 15 minutes at 180 °C. Then put an aluminum sheet on it and bake further for 20 minutes.

This is the result.

 

You can even make these pineapple buns with it:

There is also a more easy way to make the bread. Try this recipe:

Make the dough and let it sit for an hour:

- Half cup milk

- 1 cup flour

- 1 pack of yeast (7 g)

Then add and mix for 25 minutes:

- 6 room temperature eggs

- 2 tea spoons of salt

- half cup of sugar

- 3 cups of flour

Then add and mix butter another 25 minutes until the dough is very elastic:

- 1 cup of butter

Let it rise for an hour. Fold it, let it rise again and bake it at 190 °C for 25 minutes.

Ramen Noodles

I always wanted to eat Japanese ramen noodles, while not being in Japan. So either you go to a Japanese restaurant and buy a bowl of noodles for 15 euro or you make it yourself. I prefer to make it myself if you know what I mean.

Ingredients:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tea spoons baked soda
- 100 ml hot water
- 100 ml cold water

So apparently making real ramen is not just adding water to flour, but you need to add a special ingredient which is "baked soda". To make this baked soda, you bake baking soda in the oven for 1 hour at 120 °C. This way, the natrium bicarbonate will shed its water and carbon dioxide and will create natrium carbonate which is more alkaline. This is the secret ingredient that will give that special flavour to the ramen and make it yellow.

By adding an alkaline component to noodle dough, we increase the pH rather significantly from a range of neutral 6–7 to a basic 9–11. As the pH rises above 9.0, natural yellow pigments in flavonoid compounds that are otherwise colorless at neutral pH are liberated, giving the noodles a characteristic golden hue. The yellowness depends on how many pigments there are in the flour.

When you cook it, it will be slippery in your mouth. And yes, the yellow colour is not from the egg.

That's what I did and I get this white powder.

Then I take 4 tea spoons of this baked soda and mix it in 100 ml warm water. Then I add another 100 ml of cold water in it. Then pour it in a bowl of 3 cups of all purpose flour. I knead it for 5 minutes, let it rest for 20 minutes at room temperature. Then knead it again for 5 minutes and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour. This is a great workout for you!

Then you are ready to make the noodles. See this video.