Monday, June 27, 2011

Pandan Coconut Buns

I bought a few of Alex Goh baking books when I went back to Malaysia last year but have yet to bake anything from it. Finally, I tried out his sweet dough recipe to make these coconut buns. This method is new to me as it calls for the scalded flour to be chilled in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours before being used. I looked in the book but there were no explanation on the reason why the need of doing that. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this. The dough is easy to work with but as for the texture of the bread I still prefer the Water Roux/Tang Zhong method as I find them much softer than this method.

Ingredients:
Adapted from Alex Goh Magic Bread

Scalded Dough:

100g bread flour
80ml boiling water

Pour boiling hot water over flour and stir with chopsticks or spoon until combined. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.


Main Dough:

300g bread flour
100g AP flour
80g sugar
1 teaspoon salt
20g milk powder
7g (2 1/2 teaspoons) instant yeast
1 egg
1 few drop of pandan paste
127ml (approx.) water adjust as necessary
60g butter, chopped into small pieces

Egg Wash:

1 egg - beaten



Coconut Filling:
400 gram of fresh grated coconut
130 gram of palm sugar (gula Melaka) or brown sugar – cut into chunks
4 tbsp of water
2 tsp of cornstarch + 2 tbsp of water

1. To make the filling cook the palm sugar and water until sugar dissolved. Add in the grated coconut, stir and cook until almost dry, then add in the cornstarch mixture and stir until the mixture thickens. Set it aside to cool
2. To make the bread dough, combine all the main dough ingredients except water and butter in a mixing bowl. Add the scalded dough (cut into small pieces), and then gradually add just enough water to mix into dough. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
3. Add in the butter and continue to knead until smooth and incorporated. Form the dough into a round ball and let it rise until doubled in size in a large greased bowl, covered with cling film (should take about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months).
4. Punch down the dough; divide the dough into 15 equal portions. Form each into small balls and let them rest for 10 minutes.
5. Flatten the dough and fill it with coconut filling. Place all finished buns on a greased baking sheet, lightly cover with cling film, and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months). Egg wash if necessary according to recipe just before baking
6. Bake in pre-heated 350 degree F oven for about 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.

Note: These buns can be kept for up to a week in airtight container in the refrigerator, re-heat in the microwave before serving

I am submitting this bread to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction June 2011 hosted by The Sweetilicious .

I am entering this post in the Muhibbah Malaysian Monday roundup, created and hosted by Sharon of Test with a Skewer and Suresh of 3 Hungry Tummies.

25 comments:

CaThY said...

I love those little green buns, cute n yummy ;)

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Hi Gert, this method is actually an offshoot of the Water Roux method. Easier to handle. I actually like this method for my buns... but my ratio is a little different.... your buns look so neat, I am still trying to get mine to look less like 'dog food'.

Jeannie said...

Lovely green buns, I like recipes from Alex Goh, his recipes are very simple to follow.

ReeseKitchen said...

I'm having some coconut buns right now for breakfast, but its from the bakery store..hehe! I'm too lazy for baking breads now...;p

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

so nice to enjoy these yummy and healthy homemade buns at home! and your knead is neat and nice.

shaz said...

Homemade bread is always best  thanks for sharing! I've been thinking of baking bread all day today 

WendyinKK said...

I tried this method before too.
Have yet been able to decipher the best between tangzhong and this method as my bread results have been going up and down, still experimenting with the new mixer and and oven to get everything right.

ann low said...

Gert, I just bought Alex Goh's book just because I want to try to make bread. Your coconut buns look so good and soft... I better start to make some more breads..

hanushi said...

Really soft looking. Was trying to locate where did ur green comes from, is it from pandannjuice or paste? Didnt see it in your ingredient list. :)

Shereen said...

Nice buns, gert ( no pun intended..lol).I've stopped making any kind of breads for the time being as it's cold here.I so malas to wait and it gets dark early here too.Feels weird to be in the kitchen tengah-tengah malam buta when actual fact it will only be 5pm..hehehehe.So,I'll just drool at yours saja la.

Anonymous said...

Hi!Gert

The green is nice. Did you add coloring or just only fresh pandan paste? Looks yum yum.

Yen

lena said...

you must be referring to ' magic bread' yeah unfortunately there's no explanation on the gelatinised dough. I prefer this to the tangzhong method as i find the dough easier to handle and results wise, both still give very good results , water roux bread could be a little more fluffier!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Got to agree with you I like the tang zhong method more. Sone how this method from Alex goh wasn't as soft as I hoped for.  but I love the green color! I wish you had tear open one of the buns to show us the coconut filling.... Yum yum!

mycookinghut said...

I love this kind of bun especially with coconut and pandanus flavour!

ilovecooking said...

Hi, I was browsing through your blog and I'm amazed by the ingredients you are able to find in US. I am in Pittburgh but I always has difficulty to find the ingredients at the local Asian stores.

Joyce @ Chunky Cooky said...

I love coconut buns too ! Yours look really nice with the pastel green look !

My Little Space said...

What a great looking buns! Pandan flavour is simply irresistible. Yummm... Hope you're enjoying your day.
Blessings, Kristy

ICook4Fun said...

Cathy, thanks.

Shirley, yea they are not that stiky. All your food looks great and they don't look like 'dog food'

Jeannie, yea but lack of explanations though :)

Reese, I baked these so I can give it to Diana as she can have it for her breakfast :)

Sonia, thank you.

Shaz, hope you try this out someday :)

Wendy, yea sometimes my bread will turn out great sometimes not either. I guess making bread also depend on your mood :)

Ann, thank you. Looking forward to see your bread.

Hanushi, ooops. Forgot to include the pandan paste in the ingredients. I already added it in.

Shereen, yea cold weather is not good for bread making. I know you like to bake bread late at night.

ICook4Fun said...

Yen, I used pandan paste.

Lena, I got it mixed up :) I prefer fluffier texture for bread.

Bee Bee, I forgot to take a shot of how it look like inside. Maybe next time when I make this again :)

Leemei, me too. Reminds me of home :)

Ilovecooking, I am in PA and I am able to get most of the ingredients here. Certain ingredients I have to get in from NY.

Joyce, thank you.

Kristy, thank you.

Biren @ Roti n Rice said...

These pandan coconut buns look so soft and yummy. I just dscovered pandan paste not too long ago and I really like it :)

Ponder Stibbons said...

Ilovecooking:

I am also in Pittsburgh. You can find many Southeast Asian ingredients, including pandan paste, in WFH market at 23rd and Penn. And Lotus at 17th and Penn has palm sugar.

Anonymous said...

Hi
I love your blog and your recipes!
Thanks for sharing them with us.
Can I ask what AP flour is?

ICook4Fun said...

Biren, yes there are.

Ponder Stibbons, pandan is a common ingredients we used in our dessert and bake goods. Glad that you try it out.

Anon, thank you. AP flour means All Purpose flour (regular flour)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your clarification of what AP flour stands for. I made the pandan coconut buns tonight and they came out quite good for the first attempt. However I found the filling too dry, and its probably because I didn't use the fresh coconut like you suggested. Its just quite expensive and harder to find in Australia. Do you have any suggestions about how to compensate for using the dessicated coconut, ie. more palm sugar or water perhaps?
Thanks for any advice you can offer!

ICook4Fun said...

Anon, if you are using the dried dessicated coconut you most definitely need to use more water reconstitute it.