Brown Sugar Banana Bread 黑糖香蕉面包

I seem to have a habit of buying recipe books and not "using" them. So I left clear instructions to the kids NOT to eat the last banana left. I need the last one to try out a new recipe from my newly bought bread maker book (麵包機新手的第一本書).

The original recipe was for a sandwich loaf. But I was feeling a little creative that afternoon, so I made the recipe into little individual bear buns instead. I was on the fence on whether to add fillings to the buns or not. But since there's banana and brown sugar inside, I decided to just make it plain.

The recipe is so easy to make and the bear was so cute! But I would definitely skip the egg wash the next time as it turned out too brown!

90g Milk
90g Banana Puree
20g Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
230g Bread Flour
20g Wholewheat Flour
20g Unsalted Butter
3/4 tsp Instant Yeast
black food colouring

1. Put all ingredients in to the bread making machine and select "DOUGH" mode. This will mix, knead and proof the dough for you. If you don't have a bread maker: 
• Make sure all ingredients are in room temperature. 
• Mix the yeast with the milk and wait for a few minutes until the yeast blooms. 
• Put all ingredients except butter into a mixer with a paddler attachment and mix it all up. 
• Once the ingredients are well mixed, add in the butter. Switch to the hook attachment and knead the dough in medium speed for about 10-15min. 
• Remove the hook and cover up the bowl with cling flim and proof until the dough double in size.
2. When the dough is ready knock out all the air and weight it. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces.
3. From each piece cut out about 5 grams and cut it into 2 pieces for the ears.
4. Roll all the dough into balls. Place them into muffin tins, add the ears. 
5. Cover the muffin tin with a clean tea towel and let it rise again for about 20 minutes.
6. Using a toothpick and black food colouring, draw eyes and nose on the bears.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degress celsius for 15 minutes.
8. Cool on a wire rack before eating!

The next morning, I toasted the bears a little and spread a little peanut butter for the kids. They loved it! For me, I'm a Nutella fan, and Nutella on banana buns was SO DIVINE! Maybe next time I'll wrap it inside the buns.

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Bread With Cheese

I was recently in Hong Kong and I came across this big bookstore in Hysan Shopping Centre. As usual, I headed straight to the cookbooks section and a book caught my eye. It says 麵包機新手的第一本書 (The first book for bread making machine amateurs). Hmm sounds like me. Haha.. But I do like it that the author has alot of interesting ideas for different flavours. I also like it that it has alot of step-by-step photos.

This is the 1st recipe I'm trying from the book and so far I like it. Well, I did make slight adjustments to the original recipe, but it still works.

1. Original recipe uses 40g of cream cheese instead of butter. I don't have any, so I opt for butter. Will try cream cheese next time.
2. Original recipe is actually a sandwich loaf. I divide into 12 pieces and wrapped cheddar cheese cubes in them. YUMS.

They say sweet potatoes are super food, so I guess this must be one nutritious bun! Because it's supposed to be a sandwich loaf, it's not sweet. So if you like it sweeter, you can add some more sugar. I like it as it is. Soft, fluffy and goes well with the salty cheese in the middle. Thumbs up!

110g milk
120g sweet potato mash
15g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Whole wheat flour 30g
Bread flour 220g
Butter 40g
3/4 tsp Instant yeast

Cheddar cheese cubes (about 2cm cubes)
Extra milk for brushing

1. Cut sweet potatoes into small cubes and steam them under high heat for about 10mins, or cooked through. Mash them up and set aside 120g to cool. 
2. Place all ingredients except for the cheddar cheese cubes into the bread making machine pan and select "DOUGH" function. 
3. When the dough is ready flatten it out and roll it up again into a log. Cut out 12 equal portions. (I weighed the whole dough and divided the weight by 12. Which is about 45g each.)
4. Flatten each dough, place a piece of cheese in, pinch it together to close and gently roll the dough to smoothen it. Place it seam side down into a muffin tray. 
5. Proof for 30-45mins. 
6. Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 10-15mins. 
7. Gently brush milk on top of buns before baking in a preheated oven for 20mins. 
8. Remove buns from muffin tray to cool on wire rack. Best eaten warm!