Halloween Special - Vegan Pumpkin Bread - Baking Partner Challenge #15

Come the month of October, it's festival time !! Dussera & Diwali here in India & the infamous Halloween in US. For me Halloween means kids in scary outfits & pumpkins carved in funny shapes ;) Actually I get reminded of the Harry Potter Halloween dinner scene :D Since pumpkin is such an inevitable part of Halloween, we Baking Partners decided to bake some Pumpkin bread for the occasion. So when Swathi announced the recipes & asked us to choose from among the three variants of pumpkin bread, my eyes & heart fell for the Vegan version. 

It is such a breeze recipe, just like a normal cake where in you combine all wet ingredients & dry ingredients separately & eventually mix them both & bake ! I was so much in love with the end result ! It was so soft & tender & tasty. I even took some to my send-off party (by the ladies gang ;)) back in Norway & all the ladies loved them. When they ask you for the recipe, you know that they too loved it to the core. So what you waiting for my pals, try this out soon & you too are gonna enjoy baking & eating them like us :)

Recipe Source: Here

I Took: 40 + 50 minutes

Serves: 1 loaf

I Used:

All purpose Flour	-	1 cup
Whole Wheat Flour	-	¾ cup
Dark Brown Sugar	-	1 cup (I used normal sugar)
Baking Soda	-	1 tsp
Baking Powder	-	½ tsp
Salt	-	½ tsp
Nutmeg	-	½ tsp
Cinnamon	-	½ tsp
Allspice	-	½ tsp
Cloves	-	¼ tsp
Pumpkin Purée	-	1 cup (Refer first 2 steps)
Oil	-	½ cup
Maple Syrup	-	3 tbsp ( I omitted this)
Water	-	3 tbsp
Walnuts or pepitas	-	½ cup - chopped (I used almonds)

The Way:

1. Peel the skin off the pumpkin & rinse them well. Cut them into big chunks and pressure cook or microwave with ½ cup water for 15 minutes
2. Allow them to cool. Then blender it to make a fine puree. If you want to remove the extra moisture, strain the puree using a cheese cloth. Set aside
3. For this recipe, you can also blend the spices along with the boiled pumpkin !
4. Preheat oven to 175 °C. Grease and flour a loaf pan
5. In a large bowl mix together the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices (Nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves & allspice)
6. In a small bowl whisk together pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, and water
7. Add wet mixture to dry, combine until just moistened. The batter will be very thick, it is not a problem!
8. Fold in nuts and pour the batter into the prepared pan
9. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until top is browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. It took 50 minutes for me
10. Allow it to cool for 20 minutes. Use a butter knife to gently loosen bread from sides of pan & then invert onto a cooling rack

Cheers,

Chitz

Chinese Almond Cookies - Baking Partner Challenge #13

Here comes yet another beautiful challenge from the Baking Partners. This time it's cookies from around the world & I chose to go Chinese with these beautiful Almond cookies. I have baked Ameretti cookies (Italian) before, so I was sure that this would also be acceptable to our taste buds. And as I had expected this tasted crunchy & great with the lovely almond flavor. It's very easy to make & I found the method quite similar to the Indian flat bread 'Chapathi/Roti' :) Try this out as your yummy tea time snack !

Recipe from here

Makes: 8-12 cookies

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Refrigeration Time: 1 hour
Baking Time: 20-25 minutes

I Used:

All purpose flour	-	¾ cup + 1 tbsp
Butter	-	4 tbsp
Sugar	-	¼ cup
Almond paste	-	2 ½ tbsp
Baking powder	-	½ tsp
Vanila Essence	-	½ tsp
Grated lemon zest	-	1 tsp
Salt	-	¼ tsp
Egg	-	1 tbsp
Beaten egg white	-	of 1 egg
Almonds	-	8-12 no

The Way:

1. In a large bowl sift together all purpose flour, baking powder & salt together. For even mixing sift for two or three times
2. Beat the egg nicely & keep aside
3. In another wide bowl cream the butter until pale yellow. You can use an electric mixer or whisk. I used whisk
4. Add ¼ cup sugar, almond paste, lemon zest & amaretto (or vanilla essence) & mix until it is smooth & lump free
5. Now add about one third of the beaten egg and mix well. Now gradually add the flour & mix well until everything is fully incorporated. Use hands instead of whisk while incorporating flour
6. Transfer the dough into a parchment paper & refrigerate it for about an hour
7. Preheat the oven to 175 degree C in conventional mode. Adjust the rack to the lower third of the oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper
8. Once the dough is chilled, prep your working surface with 1 tbsp of sugar. Roll the dough over the sugar and then make small balls out of it (like you do for Indian flatbread or chapathi)
9. Flatten out the balls into cookie shapes of your desired diameter & thickness using your palm. Place them two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets
10. Brush each cookie lightly with beaten egg white and press a whole or chopped almond into the center of each 
11. Bake for 15- 20 minutes or until golden brown around the edges
12. Remove the baked cookies from the oven and allow to cool  to room temperature before serving

Notes:

Almond paste is nothing but powdered almond. Grind around 15-20 almonds in a mixie to get the above mentioned almond paste

Cheers,

Chitz

Eggless Strawberry Banana Muffins | Strawberry Banana Yogurt Cupcakes

I love strawberries, but they have to be sweet. Now that's an ambitious request right? Very seldom I come across fully sweet strawberries. Most of the times it will be semi-sweet or sour. Then I resort to milkshakes or smoothies or yummy bakes, as they would need a small amount of sugar & would taste out of the world :) Last week we had a guest for lunch & they bought us a lot of fresh berries - blue, black, red & straw ;) And also we had a small outing to a nearby lake during the weekend. Then I thought I would bake some of these muffins & make it a tea outing that day ! I should admit that I thoroughly enjoyed baking these cuties, as they filled my whole house with a yummilicious smell. Do try them out as they are very simple & less time consuming and also you are guaranteed of a fabulous outcome !

Recipe Source: Joy of Baking 

I Took: 25 minutes (Prep) + 25 minutes (Baking)

Makes: 12 regular sized muffins

I Used:

Strawberry - ½ cup - cut into bite sized pieces Banana - 1 big sized - mashed All purpose Flour - 1 cup + 2 tbsp Butter - ¼ cup Yogurt - ¼ cup Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp Granulated Sugar - ¼ cup + 2 tbsp Baking Powder - ¾ tsp Baking Soda - ¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon - ¼ tsp or an inch stick mashed with banana Salt - ½ tsp

The Way:

1. Mash the bananas. If you do not have ground cinnamon then add the cinnamon stick to the banana & mash it
2. Melt the butter (in an oven or saucepan) & allow it to cool to room temperature
3. Pre-heat the oven to 175 degree Celsius in conventional mode 
4. In a bowl whisk together yogurt, vanilla essence & mashed banana. Add the melted butter & stir to combine
5. In another large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon (if available) & salt. You can sift it for 3 times for even mixing of the dry ingredients
6. Then gently fold in the strawberries into the flour mixture making sure that they are coated well with the flour. This helps the berries to prevent from sinking during baking
7. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients & stir gently so that they are combined. Do not over mix, else the muffins might become hard
8. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or butter the muffin cups in the pan 
9. Place 2 spoons of the batter in each cup using a spoon 
10. Bake it for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted through it comes out clean. Do not mistake the fruit within the muffin to be wet batter. Mine was done in 25 minutes

Cheers,

Chitz

Lemon Glow Chiffon Cake - Baking Partner Challenge #12

So Baking Partners are back with a bang to celebrate it's one year anniversary of successful baking.. Yes, we have turned 1 year old. And this time there were 2 suggestions for baking the recipe of the month 'Cakes'. Humi suggested 'Medovik/Russian Honey Cake' & Saraswathy suggested 'Chiffon Cakes'. As I had an eye on baking Chiffon or Foam cakes from a long time, I chose Chiffon cake for this month's challenge. Thanks Saraswathy & Swathi for this wonderful challenge. Now let me share some facts with you that Saraswathy shared with us on Chiffon cake.

Chiffon (pronounced She-fon) cakes are a type of foam cakes and are light & soft & definitely yummy !! They contain egg yolks and whites separately whisked and folded in together with vegetable oil, all which makes them moist, soft & light.. This cake doesn't call for butter & the lower quantity of sugar gives me an extra reason to savor this low cholesterol cake;) Use of oil instead of butter aides in the airy quality of the cake & gives a longer shelf or refrigeration life. Refrigeration makes the oil in the cake soft & the cake becomes all the more tender. Deeps liked to have it chilled & directly from the fridge. He said, 'It tastes better when chilled'. Even my neighbor & friend 'P' was very happy with the cake & said it tasted awesome :D

The chiffon cake was created by Harry Baker, a Los Angeles insurance agent, in 1927.  Baker carefully guarded his secret technique for almost two decades, only selling his cakes to celebrities and the famous Brown Derby restaurant. The popularity of his cakes grew quickly, and he eventually sold the recipe to General Mills in 1947. 

I have halved the recipe here & used some substitutes for ingredients not available in this town. Refer the notes too while baking this cake, as they can help you get a perfect cake on your first attempt itself. The whisking of the egg whites is the most important part.. U get that right, consider half the work done. So lets see how to make this soft & tender cake. I have used normal buttercream icing & strawberries for serving.

Recipe Source: Adapted from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Serves: An 8 inch round cake pan with a ramekin in the middle

Store: Stays fresh for 3 days in room temperature, 10 days refrigerated, 2 months frozen

 

I Took:

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Baking Time: 50 minutes

Cooling Time: 85 minutes

I Used:

Dry Ingredients All purpose Flour - 1 cup (refer notes) Corn flour - 2 tbsp Caster Sugar - ¾ cup Salt - ¼ tsp Baking Soda - ¼ tsp Lemon Zest - ½ - 1 tbsp Wet Ingredients Canola/Sunflower Oil - ¼ cup Large Egg yolks - 1 no / 65 g Water - ⅓ cup Lemon juice - 1 tbsp Vanilla Essence - ½ tsp For Meringue Cream of Tartar - ¾ tsp (refer notes) Sugar - 1 tbsp Large Egg Whites - 3 nos
The Way:

1. In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients. First work the sugar & lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is grainy & very aromatic. Add the all purpose flour, corn flour (or the cake flour - refer notes), baking soda and salt to it
2. Whisk together until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. If you have a stand mixer, use the beater attachment & beat on low
3. Then make a well in the center of the ingredients and add the oil, egg yolks, lemon juice and vanilla. Mix until the batter is smooth & has no lumps. In a stand mixer, mix for about 1 minute on medium speed
4. In a second large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Add lemon juice (or cream of tartar) & beat (if on stand mixer, beat on medium speed) until they reach soft peak stage. This happens when the whisk or the beater start to leave a trail or when the peaks fall over when the whisk is raised
5. At this stage add the 1 tbsp sugar & continue to beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks when the whisk is raised
6. Using the balloon whisk (or a slotted spoon) add ⅓ of the egg whites to the cake batter & gently stir until incorporated. Add the remaining egg whites to the cake batter and very gently fold them into the batter until they are incorporated and no trace of egg whites remain
7. Pour the batter into an ungreased tube pan and run a metal spatula or knife through the batter to prevent air pockets. If you do not have a tube pan but would like to have a similar shape, then place an oven usable ramekin in the centre of your round pan and pour the batter to the sides of the ramekin as I did
8. Preheat the oven on conventional mode at 165 degrees
9. Bake in the lower rack of the oven for 50-55 minutes (refer your oven manual too) or until the cake bounces back when lightly pressed in the center
10. Once cooked, take the cake pan & immediately turn it upside down on a bottle (or another ramekin or tumbler - whichever suits best for the pan). Allow to cool completely which took about 85 minutes for me
11. Use a palette knife and loose the sides of the cake. Pull out the sides and work similarly on the bottom. Turn it over on to a plate upside down & sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar or a topping of your choice & serve

Notes:

• Do not grease or line or flour the cake pan. This will hinder the cake from rising up
• Always use large eggs as called for in the recipe. Do not use medium or small sized eggs
• Try to use castor sugar than normal ones 
• The recipe calls for cake flour, but since I could not get it here, I used the substitute. Take an equal amount of All purpose flour. Remove 2 tbsps of flour from it & replace it with 2 tbsps of corn flour (NOT corn meal). This works just fine
• Cream of tartar is used to stabilize the egg whites while beating up. Since I couldn't get those, I used the substitute lemon juice. Works perfectly OK
• Make sure that the bowl used to whisk egg whites are clean & grease free. Traces of grease or egg yolks will not guarantee you proper whisking of whites
• Proper & correct whisking of egg whites is essential to ensure the texture of the cake. Under or over beating can cause the cake to collapse or become too hard. Do the 'Overturn bowl test' to ensure that your whisking is the right amount. When you overturn the bowl of the whisked egg whites, it should hold & must not fall off
• Do not let the egg whites sit for long once whisked. Immediately fold it onto the cake batter as this stage of stiff peaks is short lived
• Take care while folding in the egg whites as over folding can cause the egg whites & thus the cake to deflate. Fold in gently using a whisk
• Before pouring the batter into the pan, take the bowl and hit against the kitchen counter. This will cause bubbles to rise up to the top and pop. Do not hit the pan after pouring the batter as this may cause the formation of more bubbles

Here are some links that helped me greatly. Hope you guys too find it useful !

http://allthatmatters2rei.blogspot.no/2008/07/chiffon-cake-tips-and-trouble-ii.html

http://www.ironwhisk.com/2012/07/tutorial-chiffon-cake/

http://www.ehow.com/info_8399101_chiffon-cake-tips.html

Cheers,

Chitz

Wanna see what the others in the Baking Partners group baked?? 

The French Laundry's Gougère - Baking Partner Challenge #11 | Cheese Puffs

It's time for yet another Baking Partner Challenge. This time it was to learn to prepare Pâte à choux - the light French pastry dough, which is used to make sweet and savory delicacies. The challenge was to make Chocolate Eclairs or French Gougère or both using Pâte à choux. I was in deep confusion on which one to choose to bake this time & the problem was I have not had both before, so it was kinda difficult to decide.. If time had permitted, I would have done both. After much thought & research I zeroed in on the savory Gougère a.k.a the Cheese Puff.

So foremost, a small note which I had gathered on the pastry dough & the savory appetizer, before I take off on the recipe. Gougères are made all over France though they are said to have originated from Burgandy. They are small & light on the outside and soft, eggy & cheesy on the middle or inside. These puffs are best served warm & usually as an accompaniment to Wine. Some like to fill them up with some stuffing or sandwich them with ham. I personally enjoyed having them with Nutella (Nugatti) ;) And you must be wondering what's with the name 'The French Laundry's Gougère', it's nothing else but Thomas Keller's Michelin 3-star restaurant 'The French Laundry' in California. There these famous little Gougère appetizers are served with wine.

And talking about pâte à choux, here the dough is cooked first before baked. That's instead of using a raising agent it uses the heat from cooking the dough to puff the pastry. Also cooking the dough dries it out a bit & makes it easier to absorb the eggs. And while baking it uses two different temperature that allows it to first puff and then dry into crispy little delights. So that's a lot of information for now I guess, so quick into the recipe  ..

Recipe Source: Adapted from Bouchon Bakery Book

Makes: 30 bites

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 20 minutesBaking Time: 30 minutes

I Used:

Water	-	½ cup + 1 ½ tbsp
Butter - Unsalted	-	4.5 tbsp
Kosher Salt	-	½ tsp
Freshly ground pepper	-	¼ tsp
All purpose flour	-	½ cup + 2 ½ tbsp
Eggs	-	150 gm / 2 large nos
Gruyere Cheese (Aged & shredded	-	scant 1 cup

The Way:

1. Preheat the oven at 220 degrees for 10 minutes
2. In a saucepan, combine water, butter, salt & pepper and place over medium heat and stir until the butter is melted
3. Increase heat to medium high once the butter has melted. Then bring to simmer and remove from fire
4. Using a wooden spatula stir in the flour for about 2 minutes until it has a paste like consistency
5. Now place this saucepan again over medium-high heat and stir rapidly for 1 minute, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan and the bottom of the pan is clean. Remove from fire
6. The dough should be glossy and smooth but not dry
7. Now beat in the eggs, ONE AT A TIME, beating until each addition is completely absorbed by the dough. Use only large eggs not extra-large or jumbo or small as this may cause the puff to be too liquidy or be under-baked
8. Mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl pulled with the spatula but immediately grabs back on again. When the dough is lifted, it should form a bird's peak- it should hold it's shape and turn down on itself but not break off
9. Now add the cheese and mix to incorporate
10. In a baking tray place the baking sheet and take a tablespoon of the dough & drop on into the baking sheet with a distance of at least 1 ½ inches in between each drop. Use wet fingers to smooth the surface of each drop
11. Bake for 10 minutes and then turn down the temperature to 190 degrees and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until they are completely golden brown. Make sure they bake until they’re completely browned up the sides so that they don’t sink when cooling

Cheers,

Chitz

Cheesecake - Baking Partner Challenge #9

Hello, my dear pals.. Hope u all had a wonderful Vishu or Tamil Puthandu or Pohela Boishakh or Gudi Padwa or Ugadhi. Yes, the names are very different. But they all mean the same and every one of them is celebrated in a very similar way with their own lil' twist & turn. Just like how we tweak our recipes to suit our individual taste buds or to incorporate the ingredients available at hand or locally !! So now that the festive mood is over, let's get back to business :D

Challenge of the month for the 'Baking Partners' group was Cheesecake.. U could have your pick from Japanese Cheesecake or Eggless Cheesecake or No Bake Fruit Cheesecake or the Perfect Cheesecake ;) Yup, you guessed it right, I went for the Perfect Cheesecake. Yea, you could say that the name fancied me, alright !! But the actual reason ,was the tiresome & grueling chore of shopping with a Norsk translator in hand and many a times some normal ingredients are exotic ingredients at this small beautiful village ;) So finally the Perfect Cheesecake seemed to fit into the profile..

But did it turn out to be actually perfect?? That's now an interesting question.. Coz, I don't know to judge this particular piece. I have not had cheesecake before. And certainly it did not appear similar to the pictures I have seen or from the source. I could feel a slight taste of the eggs & the sourness from the sour cream. And it was a litttttle dense too, not on the very fluffy side !! Having said all these, I must also admit that Deeps & I enjoyed having it. though it was a different taste from the normal cakes ;) So I don't know, is this a success or disaster or semi success story, you experts tell me :)

Recipe Source: Simply Recipes (in turn from Dorie Greenspan cookbook)

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Baking Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Idle Time: Overnight

Yields: 8-12 servings

I Used:

Crust
Digestive biscuits	-	1 cup / 8 nos (original recipe calls for Graham Cracker biscuits)
Sugar	-	1 tbsp
Salt	-	A pinch
Unsalted butter	-	35 gm (omit salt if using salted butter)
Filling
Cream cheese	-	450 gm
Granulated sugar	-	135 gm
Salt	-	a pinch
Vanilla Essence	-	1 tsp
Eggs	-	2 large
Sour cream	-	80 ml
Heavy whipping cream	-	80 ml
Topping
Sour cream	-	200 ml
Powdered sugar	-	20 gm
Vanilla Essence	-	1 tsp

The Way:

Prepare Springform pan

1. Prepare a 16*16 inch square of aluminum foil. Place the springform pan in the middle of the foil
2. Gently fold up the sides of the foil around the pan
3. No holes should be created in the foil as you do this as the presence of holes will allow water to get into the pan and ruin the crust. Press the foil around the edges of the pan
4. Place a second large square of foil underneath the pan and repeat gently folding up the sides of the foil around the pan and pressing the foil against the pan 
5. Gently crimp the top of the foil sheets around the top edge of the pan

Prepare Crust 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with the baking tray in the lower third of the oven
2. Blend the biscuits to a fine powder
3. Place in a wide bowl and mix in sugar and salt to it
4. Stir in the melted butter and mix well into the biscuit powder
5. Place this biscuit powder mix in the springform pan. Use your fingers to make an even layer at the bottom with a slight rise along the inside edge of the pan
6. Place this in oven for 10 minutes
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool
8. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degree F

Prepare Filling

1. Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature. Then beat on medium speed them till smooth, soft & creamy
2. Add sugar and beat for 4 minutes
3. Add salt & vanilla essence beating after each addition
4. Add eggs one at a time. Beat for a minute after each addition
5. Add sour cream, beat until incorporated
6. Add heavy cream, beat until incorporated
7. Pour this into the springform on top of the biscuit crust and smoothen the top with a spatula

Cook Cheesecake

1. Prepare 2 L of boiling water
2. Place the springform pan in the baking tray, Pour the boiling water into the baking tray to create a waterbath for the cheesecake
3. Water should reach halfway up the springform
4. Cook for 1.5 hours or until it turns slight golden on the top. In my case it took 1 hour and 15 minutes
5. Turn off the heat. Open the door of the oven 1 inch and allow the cake to cool for another 1 hour. This is to prevent the cheesecake surface from cracking
6. Cover the top of the cake with aluminium foil so that it doesn't touch the cake and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight

Prepare topping

1. Stir in the powdered sugar & vanilla essence into the sour cream
2. Unmould the cake form the springform and spread the topping over the cake. If interested you can top it up with a fruit coulis of your choice

Cheers,

Chitz

Wheat & Rye Bread - Scaled Flour Method - Scandinavian Bread - Baking Partner Challenge #8

Never in my life had I imagined that I would ever bake a loaf of bread. And little did I knew what was in store when I told Swathi that I wanted to join 'Baking Partners'. That I would have to bake a bread for my first challenge itself.. But it should say, it was lots of fun and even more of knowledge that I gained :) I am happy that I took the challenge and lived up to the first one. But I should admit that I was skeptical till the last moment of how I was going to pull this through.. Had a very busy two weeks that involved some travelling and a marathon of baking that I still was in dilemma deep inside, of how this is gonna work. 

So I woke up yesterday morning ready to bake.. But felt like the weather cheated on me. It was snowing like anything. Then I thought to myself 'This is the price you pay for procrastinating things.. See what happened coz u waited for the nth hour !!' It was shining pretty well for the past two weeks and little did I expect that it would snow. But no. This is not going to stop me. So I whipped up some hot chocolate and set off to work. 

For this month's challenge we were asked to choose from two different methods of bread baking. Tangzhong or Scaled Flour method. First is Asian and the second Scandinavian method of bread baking. I choose Scandinavian as I am residing in one presently and having tasted their bread often, I wanted to know if I could reproduce one :) The taste was not very close.. But it was nice and I enjoyed having it !!

And I would definitely bake the Tangzhong bread, maybe some time in the coming week. Yup, I will post that too. And now without further mumbling, on to my experience :)

Adapted from: Cornercafe

Yield : 1 loaf (23*10*10)

Consume: Best within 3-4 days

Storage: May be frozen to keep longer, defrost before serving

I Used:

For Scalded Flour:

Bread flour     -  100 gm (I used coarse wheat & rye flour) Boiling water  -  100 ml

Main Dough:

Bread flour	-	350 gm (I used coarse wheat & rye flour)
Milk powder	-	20 gm/2 tbsp
Caster sugar	-	35 gm
Salt	-	5 gm/1 tsp
Instant yeast	-	8 gm
Lukewarm water	-	200 ml (adjust as required)
Butter	-	35 gm (chopped into small pieces at room temperature)

The Way:

Scalded Flour:

1. Take bread flour in a bowl. Add the boiling hot water all at once over the flour and stir quickly with a fork until fully combined. There should be no more visible dry flour & it should be a doughy clumpy mixture
2. Set aside for 5 minutes for the dough cluster to fully absorb the heat and the moisture
3. Cover with cling film and let it cool to room temperature (Takes about ½ - 1 hour)

For the Main Dough:

• Sift bread flour, milk powder, caster sugar and salt onto the working surface
• Add instant dry yeast and mix well 
• Make a well in the flour mixture and add the scalded flour mixture
• Then gradually add just enough lukewarm water to form into a slightly sticky, soft dough 
• Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic
• During this kneading, the dough also needs to be thrown onto the working surface once every few minutes to improve the dough structure
• You can pick up the dough to about head-high and throw it down onto the working surface 10 to 20 times, every few minutes between kneading

• Knead in butter until incorporated
• Form the dough into a round ball and place in a large greased bowl and cover with a cling film
• Allow the dough to rise until double in size (1st proofing)
• This will take about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months
• To test if the dough has risen properly, dip a finger into bread or plain flour and poke down into the center of the dough as far as your finger will go and pull out again – the hole should remain if it is ready. If the dough springs back, then it is not ready, continue to prove further.
• Once the dough is ready, roll it out into a long oval shape. Divide it into three equal portions

• Take the first portion and using a rolling pin roll it up (Pic 4). Then roll up from the short end like a Swiss roll (Pic 5 & 6)

• Continue the same rolling process with the other two portions of the dough
• Place the rolled-up dough into the oiled bread loaf mould (23 cm (L) x 10 cm (W) x 10 cm (H))

• Cover loosely and allow the dough to rise to almost the top of the tin, which is the secnd proofing (would take around 45 minutes - 1 hour)  
• Once proofed, bake at 175°C in a preheated oven for 30 - 35 minutes or until golden brown

Cheers,
Chitz