easy bread recipe Archives ⋆ Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby

Soft and Crusty Cornmeal Bread Rolls – step by step tutorial!

Chris-budgetpantry — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 16:02:18 +0000

We were over at Mom’s on Saturday for a visit and she decided to entice me with fluffy and crusty cornmeal bread rolls she baked the day before. I was just starting to cut down on my rice and breads.. 妈,这是对的吗?!!!

The planned 2-hour visit stretched till 8pm that night cos she enthusiastically took out all her barang barang and started to give me a step-by-step tutorial there and then! Seriously I never expected the steps to be so simple.. all you need is time for the dough to rise. Baking in the oven took all of 15 minutes. So technically you spend an afternoon producing this but only spend maybe half an hour for the work?

We used a total of 500g flour (400g bread flour, 100g plain flour). Mom also added wholemeal (the grain, not the flour) but it’s entirely optional. You can add chia seeds if you want and that’s what I’m gonna do when I bake it again. For the crispy crusty effect on the surface, dust some cornmeal (also widely sold as corn ‘polenta’) on top just before sending the bread rolls into the oven. Reminds me of English muffins, which are also dusted with cornmeal before baking. Delicious!

p/s- There are two types of cornmeal/polenta: the fine powdery type or the coarser type also called corn grits from brands like Bob’s Red Mill. Use the powdery type – we got it from Phoon Huat. But if you can only find the coarser ones, just grind them further in the food processor till fine. Here’s the label of what we used (Mom repacked this into a container):

The beautiful thing about this recipe is that once you get the base right, you can start adding your favourite ingredients like chocolate chips, raisins, oats, etc etc. I prefer mine just like this, served with cold butter or kiap-ed with roast beef (true story. mom made some roast beef that day to go with the rolls LOL)

Mom packed about 15 rolls for me to take back home.. they were still soft after 4 days. To get the crispy/crusty surface again, preheat your oven or airfryer to 180C, switch off the oven, and toast the rolls using the residual heat for 5 minutes. Watch the video (yes that’s cbb fussing at the end.. she wouldn’t even let me take a video in peace lol!):

This recipe yields 20-25 bread rolls (about 40-45g dough per roll). Of course you can shape them however you want! Enjoy with cold butter or jam (with a cup of coffee!), or make ham and egg rolls with them. Have fun!

Soft and Crusty Cornmeal Bread Rolls (budgetpantry.com)

Yields 20-25 bread rolls of 40-45g each

What you need:

400g bread flour
100g plain flour
20g wholemeal, chia seeds or your choice of grains (optional)
1 teaspoon instant yeast
300ml warm milk (UHT or fresh milk are fine – don’t use low fat)
50g sugar (4 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
30g butter
5-6 tablespoons cornmeal/super fine corn polenta for rolling
2-3 tablespoons instant oats for rolling (optional)
Oil for greasing
Flour for dusting
Cling wrap and damp cloth

Steps:

Sift the bread flour and plain flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the wholemeal or chia seeds if using. Add the yeast, sugar and salt. Mix well.

Make a well in the centre, crack in the egg and combine. Add warmed milk in three divisions and mix until it comes together. Rest this dough for ten minutes.

In a stand mixer with hook attachment, beat the dough on medium speed for ten minutes. Add 30g butter. Continue to beat until dough no longer sticks to sides of the bowl.

Remove from mixing bowl. Knead lightly for 2-3 minutes on a floured surface to loosen, then gather into a large round ball. Brush the mixing bowl with oil. Add the dough, gently press it down, and cover with cling wrap and a damp cloth. Allow to proof for two hours till doubled in size. In the mean time, prepare your baking trays by greasing the surface lightly with a brush and then dusting with a little flour. Shake off excess.

When dough has doubled, punch down the centre and roll into two long portions.

Cut and weigh into 40g-45g rolls. Dip and roll into oats (if using), followed by cornmeal. Arrange on baking trays and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Remember to leave some gap in between for further rising. Preheat your oven to 180C.

When 30 minutes are up, bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes till crispy and light brown. Enjoy with butter and a cup of coffee.

Reheating tip: Preheat oven to 180C and switch it off. Place bread rolls into oven for 5 minutes till warm and crusty.

The post Soft and Crusty Cornmeal Bread Rolls – step by step tutorial! appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Easy Garlic, Onion & Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Chris-budgetpantry — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 14:48:54 +0000

Before the KitchenAid, I’ve tried making bread from scratch once but failed miserably. The recipe seemed simple enough, but it was my amateur kneading “skills” (I have none) that destroyed the bread. I attempted sugar butter buns I think, but because I didn’t know how to knead the dough, the texture turned out heavy and dense and the “buns” were inedible.

I’ve made pretzels a few times with success though, but they’re not as complicated as bread. After that first failure, I stuck to cakes and muffins and cookies– I could make those– and never ventured into bread again.

Until I decided to put all my trust in the KitchenAid today. I was quite ambitious- I didn’t want a plain white loaf. I wanted to make focaccia. Can’t even make buns want to make focaccia? Really?

And that’s how it turned out. Fragrant, crispy and soft at the same time, infused with fresh olive oil, aromatic garlic, onion and rosemary and sprinkled very lightly with salt, this exotic bread is one of the best things I’ve ever baked.

I was eager to show Jason my creation and couldn’t wait for him to come home from his RT (thanks SAF!). He said he wanted to eat it with some ham and cheese, and I thought he meant “on the side”. But noooo.. he had to top my beautiful bread with ham and cheese singles, immediately turning it into your neighbourhood bakery’s 1 for $1 kinda bread. My heart ached the entire time I was laying the ham and cheese on top of my beautiful focaccia:

I cannot deny that it was delicious. But this thing is so ugly please! Creations are meant to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye!

There. Much better. I was absolutely blown away by how easy the entire process took. You heat up some milk, add the sugar and yeast, let it foam, combine it with olive oil, flour and salt, and let the KitchenAid do the work. After the dough rises, prod it with your index finger to make indentations, then brush on your garlic onion oil. Pop it into the oven for 22 minutes. My whole house smelled absolutely amazing this afternoon.

Please try this recipe out. I promise you’ll like it! (and oh yes, the entire pan costs me all of $1.85!)

Garlic, Onion & Rosemary Focaccia Bread
Makes one 10.5″ x 10.5″ pan
Total cost per serving: $1.85

What I used:
330ml full cream milk
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons Saf-Instant Dry Baker’s Yeast
450g plain flour (about 3 and a half cups) plain flour (plus more if needed)
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

For herb oil topping:
3 tablespoons olive oil
Half a red onion, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon minced garlic
A sprinkle of rosemary
A sprinkle of salt

Steps:
1. In a saucepan, heat up the milk til warm and dissolve sugar. Switch off the flame. Set aside for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the yeast and leave it alone for 10 minutes. The yeast should foam.

2. Sift flour and salt together in your stand mixer bowl. Add in the entire yeast and milk mixture, plus the 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Use the paddle attachment to mix well. If the dough is too sticky to form, add in additional flour bit by bit so that the dough comes together. If you don’t have a paddle attachment, you can use a spatula.

3. Now use the dough hook and knead at for 10 minutes (if using KitchenAid, use speed 2), until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. While the dough is kneading, preheat your oven for 5 minutes at just 140C).

4. On your counter top or a clean surface, roll out the dough, then carefully transfer it to your baking pan (oil it first with a bit of olive oil). Cover with a piece of cloth.

5. Remember the oven we preheated in Step 3? By now it would have switched off. Put the covered pan into the oven and let it rise in the residual heat for 1.5 hours. While the dough is rising, prepare the herb oil. Combine sliced onions, garlic, rosemary and olive oil in a bowl;

6. When the rising time is up, make indentations into the dough with your index finger. Believe me, it is wonderfully pillowy soft!

7. Scatter the herb oil on top and finish with a sprinkle of salt. Bake in a preheated 200C oven for 20-25 minutes. Cool slightly for 5-10 minutes before eating! If you can’t wait.. ok go ahead!

How much I spent:
$0.60 for milk (I bought 2 litres for $2.95 UHT milk and used 330ml)
$0.10 for red onion
$0.75 for plain flour (got a 1kg pack on sale for $1.50)
$0.40 for yeast ($1.95 for 5 sachets)
Everything else from my pantry

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