Cheese Rolls

Long time no see tang-zhong! The last time I used the water-roux method to make bread was back in April. I can't believe it is already autumn. Ever since my last post on chocolate layered bread, I've made bagel, pretzel, brioche, and Chinese bun (man-tou). What a nice little crumb path....

This weekend I am sharing cheese rolls, adapted from Rasa Malaysia's Cheese Breadsticks. I omitted milk powder and used a combination of grated parmesan cheese and Swiss cheese.

 
Cheese Rolls
Adapted from Rasa Malaysi'a Cheese Breadsticks

65g lukewarm water
2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 egg
75g tang-zhong
30g sugar
1 teaspoon salt
195g whole wheat flour
90g all purpose flour
3 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 egg yolk
grated or sliced cheese of your choice

Sprinkle yeast in water and let stand for 5 minutes or until foamy. In another bowl, mix together the egg and tang-zhong. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. When yeast is activated, pour yeast into egg mixture. Pour all the wet ingredients into the large bowl. Use a spatula to incorporate the wet and dry ingredient together.

Sprinkle some hand flour on the work station and take rough dough out of the bowl. Flatten the dough and add butter. Knead butter into dough, add a little flour at a time to draw in the butter. Continue kneading the dough with the heel of your hand till the dough feels smooth and stretchy under your hand. Snap a small piece of dough off, flatten with your palms, and stretch it out to see if you can form a thin membrane without tearing the dough. If dough isn't stretchy or it tears into uneven circle, knead the tiny dough back into the larger dough and knead for another five minute. Check the dough again to see if you've reached the desired consistency.

In an oiled bowl, roll the dough around the oil and let sit in room temperature covered with plastic wrap for 40 minutes or until double the size. Alternatively, place dough in the fridge and let proof for 4 hours.

Sprinkle flour on the work station and remove the dough from the bowl. Gently press on the dough to release air bubbles. Let sit on the station for 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 60g pieces. Pat each dough into a rough circle and tuck the sides back in to make a ball. Continue with the rest of the doughs. Roll each ball into a 6 inch long roll. Place rolls 2 inch apart on a baking sheet. Place plastic wrap over the baking sheet and let the rolls proof for second time until they double in size.

Preheat the oven to 350F right after you cover the baking sheets in plastic wrap. Right before baking, break an egg yolk and add 2 teaspoon water and a little salt. Brush egg wash over the rolls, be careful not to let the egg wash drip down to the bottom of the roll. Egg wash can glue the bread down, preventing it from rising properly in the oven. Sprinkle cheese over the egg wash. Bake for 14 minutes. Let cool on a rack before storing it in an airtight container.

Brioche is a Rich Indulgence

About a year ago, I went on a scavenger hunt for brioche because I wanted to replicate Fred 62's brioche French toast. Even though French toasts are made from stale bread, the ones at the diner absorbed so much cream beforehand that beneath the crusted skin was a moist toast. I tried looking for brioche at artisan bread shops, even visiting Whole Foods and farmers market, but it was so frustrating that none of the places I visited sold brioche. At last I resorted to a tang zhong milk bread from Yamashiro at Little Tokyo. Although I had a great breakfast, I'm still hoping to make French toast from brioche one day.

First take on brioche at Anne's

I don't recall ever seeing brioche at bread shops, although I've had some at Little Next Door for brunch. A simply rich chocolate chip brioche with a dark cup of latte made my weekend so much merrier. I love how brioche has butter coats your tongue into silk and makes every bite of bread melt in your mouth like a piece of chocolate. There's nothing more delicate than brioche...

I am very blessed to learn to make brioche bread last week from Anne Willan. This is the best summer job anyone can ask for--surrounded by food and antique cook books. If it wasn't for the recipe testing, I would have never dared to make brioche. Brioche recipe is intimidating...with the extra amounts of butter and egg,the dough is simply too sticky and far too challenging for an amateur like me.

Nevertheless, I DID IT! It was a very exciting experience. I pretended that the dough I'm throwing against the counter is the fat spy who reported me to the police when I exceeded the 2 hour parking limit. That nasty woman deserves to be slapped on the counter on all sides! And for 10 minutes long!

What you need for your brioche dough is:
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup milk, lukewarm
330g all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten together

Later you'll need 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, 100g grated cheese of your preference, and more flour.

In a rather flat bowl, let yeast dissolve in milk for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour onto workspace and sprinkle sugar and salt on top. Make a well in the center and pour egg mixture and milk into the well. With one hand mix the liquid together, then slowly add in flours.

When you get a sticky dough that's coming together, use a scrapper to cut through the dough and incorporate all the leftover flour. Gather the dough in one hand and throw it against the workspace with force. Then with the other hand repeat the same motion. Stop when the dough peels off like a rope, about 10 minutes. Pat dough into a ball.


Grease a large bowl with vegetable oil and coat the dough on all sides with oil. Lay a towel or plastic wrap on top then let dough rise for 1 hour or until double the size.

On a lightly floured surface, remove the dough from the bowl and gently knead the dough to let air escape. Place butter in center and fold over it with the dough. With your palms squeeze the dough and butter together. Butter might ooze out and the dough will reject the butter at first. Flour the surface again and knead dough for 1 minute. Gather dough and throw against counter for 2-3 minutes. Add grated cheese, reserving 2 tablespoons for topping. Knead cheese into dough for another 2-3 minutes.

Butter loaf pan. Pat the dough out into a square, 1" longer than your loaf pan. From the bottom, roll the dough away from you. Squeeze the gaps together then fold the sizes inward and squeeze the fold to seal. Insert fingers under dough and flip the dough over as you drop it into the loaf pan. Smooth the side and make sure all corners are covered by dough. Cover pan loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for a second time, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400F. Make egg wash with one egg and 1/2 teaspoon water. When the loaf pan is almost filled, brush top with egg wash, leaving a quarter inch space on all sides of the dough, so the egg wash doesn't glue the bread down during the baking process. Sprinkle on the reserved cheese and bake for 25 minutes.

Borrowing Recipes from the 16th Century

Grilled cheese isn't a contemporary goodie. It goes way back in history. I was reading Anne Willan's The Cookbook Library and came across a 16th century recipe--Pan'unto con Prouatura Fresca or Fresh Cheese Crostini. According to the translation on the book, Pan'unto means greasy bread in Italian. Although the original creator of this recipe, Domenico Romoli, didn't instruct the us to grill a thick slice of cheese between two buttered breads, he did said "fry [the slices of bread in the shape/ of kidneys] in butter, turning them once". Anne Willan's instruction to her modified version calls for 3 tablespoons of melted butter and fry the breads till all fatty goodness is absorbed then broil everything till you get a crostini. Ultimately you're making a open face sandwich, good for appetizer or brunch. Anne called for a side of fresh figs to go along this crostini.

I thought why not make fresh cheese sandwich instead of a crostini?

What I did differently than both Anne and Domenico is I glued two pieces of bread together with melted cheese and cinnamon sugar. Also instead of buttering the bread then frying the bread in butter, I reduced the amount of butter to just a thin layer on each of the sandwich. Then I bake my sandwich with butter on each side till the crust get crispy.

If you're thinking how can mozzarella--a cheese, go well with cinnamon? I was a little surprised too when I read the ingredient list. To me cheese is always part of a savory dish and cinnamon sugar on the other hand belongs to hot buns and doughnuts. Combining the two together? hmm...kind of weird. I guess it's like how bacon and chocolate go so well together. I'm glad I tried this recipe because it's easy and takes no time to prepare. If you have stale bread, make some cheesy cinnamon crostinis.

Melted mozzarella with a layer of cinnamon sugar

nothing is better than melted cheese

The recipe below is my healthier version of grilled cheese. If you want a weekend treat, then go for the grill and the butter. Adjust the amount of mozzarella according to your preference. The more you put the fatter your sandwich and the more pleasure. I also recommend provolone, less smelly cheese to go with cinnamon, but I'm thinking maybe gorgonzola and cinnamon might be surprisingly good too! Who knows?

cinnamon goes well with mocha!

A little too late for pi day

First time making a savory pie. It's amazing how you use the same butter pie base but once you change the filling, it's not a dessert anymore.

I love to make pies with my hands. I like that feeling of butter and flour crumble on my finger tips. The key to an easy and no mess pie is to work fast! Rub the butter and flour together as fast as you can. Then sprinkle some ice cold water to bring everything together. If the butter is melting, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it for 10 minutes. Afterwards, quickly roll it out thin and pat it down in the pie dish.

Since I was planning on filling my crumbly pie shell with feta cheese and garlic and crimini mushroom, I thought why not add some pepper and paprika into the pie dough? Well turned out you can't really taste the extra flavor in the pie because the butter overpowered them. I think I'll skip my fancy little additions next time and see if there's a difference.

Roasted Tomato, Mushroom, Squash Feta Cheese Pie

I didn't follow any recipe, kind of just pulled random things from the fridge. The basic ingredients is eggs, cheese, and milk. If you add frozen spinach it would turn out to be a quiche-like pie and maybe use double the cheese topped with pepperoni to get pizza pie! Yummm...let the pie shell be your canvas and food your paint. Enjoy!

Make the dough first. You can even stop after step 8 and freeze it.

Change the filling as much as you want but keep the eggs and milk.