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.