Purple Sweet Potato Bread

I came this book at the library and I know that I must have the book! So off I went to buy the book at Page One. The author is a Hong Kong lady and the book specialize in baking bread using a technique called 17 hour low temperature pre-fermented dough. The result is a more moist and chewy texture and a yeasty fragrance. It also last longer then your average home made bread!

天然面包香 by 獨角仙@藍色大門 (Natural Bread Made Easy by Kin @ Blue Gate)

Hubby asked me to make pandan raisin bread, but I really wanted to make this one instead. Look how pretty it is!!!



I have never eaten purple sweet potatoes before, I think the original was from Japan. I found a cheaper version at Cold Storage, which was from Vietnam, and only a few cents more then your average sweet potatoes.



Did you know that it is also a SUPER nutritious food? Check it out!

Anyway, on with the recipe. Another thing that I LOVE about the book, every recipe has a BAKER'S PERCENTAGE, which allows you to adjust the portion according to your liking. Awesome... So this recipe is adjusted to about half of the original portion.

Pre-Fermented Dough
Bread flour 210g
Warm water 120g
Instant yeast 6g
Salt 3g
Skim milk powder 6g

1. Dissolve yeast in water.
2. Add flour, salt, skim milk powder and knead until soft.
3. Cover the dough in cling wrap. Refrigerate to let it prove for 17 hours.

Dough
Bread flour 90g
Skim milk powder 9g
Salt 3g
Sugar 36g
Warm water 75g
Instant yeast 3g
Unsalted butter 24g
Sweet potatoes 150g

1. Cut the pre-fermented dough into small pieces.
2. Steam the purple sweet potato with the skin on. Peel and mash it. Save some for filling.
3. Knead all ingredients of dough together (except the butter). Add pre-fermented dough piece by piece. Knead after each addition until soft and smooth. Add butter. Knead until stretchable consistency.
4. Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with a cling wrap. Let it prove for about 25-30minutes.
5. Divide the dough into eight small portions and round them. Set aside to rest for about 20mins.



6. Flatten each piece of dough with your hands to drive the air out. Round them again. Press flat. Stuff them with mashed sweet potato. Round again. Place dough into greased chiffon mould. Cover with cling wrap.
7. Let it prove for about 45mins or until the dough has risen to about 80 percent of the depth of the mould. Brush egg wash on top.



8. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for about 30-35mins.

太好吃了!!! It's moist, chewy and oh so delicious! Definitely my BEST bread yet.



Will bring some to parents tomorrow, I'm sure they would be super impressed! Oh, I will also be submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction. It's my very first submission, as I just missed last month's theme, which was CHOCOLATE. DUH right, I've got so many chocolate creations! Anyway, I'm quite pleased with this latest bread creation, so it's perfect! :)

内在美 Chocolate Mud Cupcakes

I made this for a friend's birthday. Kind of lazy to bake a cake, so I thought it would be better to bring chocolate cupcakes instead. This recipe was adapted from Baking Library. The original wasn't supposed to look so... ugly. I think either my oven was too hot or the cups were filled too full.

Anyway, it was the flavour that matters, thus the name, 内在美, which means "inner beauty". Haha... It's either that or my second choice, which was PMS chocolate mud cupcakes, because they were the perfect for dark and gloomy days when you have PMS...



Anyways, here are the ingredients:
30g cocoa powder
120ml boiling hot water
110g dark chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 63%)
110g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
165g brown sugar
100g ground almond
80g egg yolks (thats about 4-5 eggs, depending on size)
120g egg whites

1. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners and preheat the oven at 175 degrees C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the hot water and the cocoa powder. Stir well to remove the lumps and ensure cocoa is well dissolved. Next, add in melted chocolate, melted butter, brown sugar and ground almonds. Stir to obtain an evenly mixed mixture.
3. Beat in egg yolks on medium low speed, one at a time, ensuring each egg yolk is well combined before adding the next.
4. In a separate clean metal bowl, beat egg whites on low speed until it turns foamy. Gradually increase the speed to medium high when the volume increases. Continue to beat the egg whites until they form medium-firm peaks. This is when the beaters are lifted from the egg whites, snowy egg white peaks are formed and they are slightly wobbly when the bowl is shaken.
5. Fold one third of beaten egg whites gently into egg-yolk batter to lighten. Incorporate the remaining egg whites and fold gently to obtain a smooth, watery-foamy batter. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl to ensure even mixing.
6. Spoon batter into cupcake liners until they are nearly filled. The batter will not rise much. Bake cupcakes at 175 degrees C for about 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cupcakes will sink noticeably in the middle when cooled.

Since they were for a birthday, I made it more pretty by dusting some icing sugar on top.



Then I piled it up and made it a cupcake tower!



My friends loved it! It was awesome, and it was clean and easy to eat. Happy Birthday PL!