Monday, April 7, 2014

40 minute bread rolls

I must browse through hundreds of recipes every week. It is a hobby, you see.

And once in a while I chance upon a recipe that just looks too good to be true. Indeed, I try out dozens of recipes and many simply don't work.

But those that do, well, they really make my day.

This particular recipe has been in my to-make folder for a while. Because I was so doubtful that I could make edible (much less delicious) rolls in 40 minutes, I didn't make them. But after having cooked dinner last night, I had a bit of time to spare, so I thought, why not? The worst that could happen was that I would waste some flour and yeast.

So I made them.

And for something that can be made in such a short time, these rolls are so, so soft, and so, so fragrant!

The LAM and my helper were both impressed. Hell, I was impressed with what came out of my oven!!

You might be skeptical too, but let me show you how I made these rolls in about 40 minutes.

Into a mixing bowl, I added yeast, water, oil and sugar.
I stirred everything together, then walked away for 15 minutes for the yeast to come to life.

After 15 minutes, this was what the mixture looked like.
Below the foam, there was still liquid.
 Then I added bread flour, salt and egg.
And using the bread hook on the mixer, I mixed this.
Until the dough started coming together and was smooth. This took about 3 minutes.
If you do not have a mixer, hand knead the dough for about 5 minutes.

Using lightly oiled hands, I transferred the dough onto a lightly oiled work surface.
I kneaded the dough with my hand. I like doing this, but you can skip this step if you wish.

Step 1: I pushed the dough outwards away from me.
Step 2: I folded about 1/3 of the dough towards me.
Step 3: I folded again.
Step 4: I turned the dough 90° anti-clockwise.

I did this 3 times.
I formed 12 balls and placed them in a greased 13x9-inch casserole (or baking pan).

They were left to rest (covered with a piece of damp cloth) for 10 minutes and then glazed with egg wash.
Then they were baked at 220C for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
And that was it!!

Because they were so soft, even the next day, I went to buy some kaya to make kaya butter bread for breakfast as well.

Only to find there was none left.

Guess what I shall be baking again today? :)

Variations:
Sausage Rolls
Luncheon Meat Buns
Otah Buns
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RECIPE
40 Minute Bread Rolls (Makes 12)
Adapted from YourHomeBasedMom

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (280ml) warm water
1/3 cup (83ml) oil
2 tablespoons (about 16g) active dry yeast (or instant yeast)
1/4 cups (56.25g) sugar
1 1/2 (9g) teaspoons salt
1 egg
3 1/2 cup (or about 476g) bread flour (seems to work better but all purpose flour will also work)

Method:
1. Heat oven to 220C.
2. In your mixer bowl combine the water, oil, yeast and sugar and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Using your dough hook, mix in the salt, egg and flour.
3. Knead with hook until will incorporated and dough is soft and smooth. (Just a few minutes) The dough will be a little sticky. I oiled my hands, knead it one to two times, and it became really easy to shape. If your dough is too wet, add a little more flour and knead a few times.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A MIXER, just hand knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
4. Form dough into 12 balls and then place in a greased 9 x 13 pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Glaze with egg wash. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

NOTE: 
To keep rolls soft, wrap with cling film and keep in an air-tight container (I keep the rolls in cling film in my oven.)
If you keep the rolls in the fridge, warm in the microwave oven for about 20 - 30 seconds to soften.

TROUBLESHOOTING:
1. Dough is too wet or sticky? Add a little oil and hand knead a couple of times. The dough should become easy to work with. Still too wet? Add a little less water.
2. You can use any oil. Maybe not peanut oil. Unless you want a peanut-y bread. Olive oil, Canola oil, Sunflower oil, Grape seed oil... all can be used.
3. Personally, I have not had any problems with the bread being too yeasty. If you find it so, change the yeast and try different ones till you find one that you like.
4. Conversion of flour from cups to grams: This is a conversion I got online. You may still need to adjust.
5. Oven temperature: Every oven is different. You need to understand your oven, so if you have one that tends to be hot, lower the baking temperature, and vice versa.
6. I do not recommend that you reduce the yeast quantities because this is a quick bread. You need the yeast to make it work. Similarly, you need the sugar to feed the yeast so it works.
7. You can put any filling you like in this bread. It is very versatile.
8. You can also glaze with milk (full-fat, low-fat, skim, etc), sprinkle any toppings you like.
9. I don't recommend that you rest the dough for more than 10 minutes. From feedback I received, the bread may be less soft.
10. You can use 1/2 bread flour, and 1/2 wholemeal flour, or 100% plain flour. The results are the same. You can't use top flour. There isn't enough protein to form gluten. 
11. Every environment differs. You may live somewhere humid, or dry, or hot, or cold. If in doubt, check what other bakers recommend that you do for the weather conditions you live in, and experiment! You may need to tweak timings/ baking temperature, etc. Don't give up!


111 comments:

  1. I just have a hand mixer . No bread hook. Do you think I can just use the hand mixer on the dough ?

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    Replies
    1. Hi GT you can also mix by hand. Just knead about 5 minutes, or until smooth. Oil your work surface and hands!

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  2. Wah sounds really easy this one! Must try! I will! Soon!

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  3. I'm going to have to give these a try. I'm pinning, and will take your advice and make them sooner rather than later :)

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  4. I am gonna give this a try soon!

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  5. These were brilliant, I just had one & am well impressed (& I'm fussy about bread)
    Would work well as a hotdog bun & asian style filled rolls, too soft for a hamburger bun though

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  6. What a quick bread that's so easy. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. What is the cup measurement to grams? Thanks

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  8. Thanks for sharing this quick recipe. can check if this will be suitable to make buns with filling?

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    1. Wendy, for sure!! The sky is the limit when it comes to filling!

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  9. Im gonna try making these bread. Maybe I can sprinkle some cheese on it! :)) My favorite cookie will be chocolate chip cookie.

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  10. Thanks Diana, I hope to be able to start making bread and this recipe you shared on CK is perfect especially when I am nursing a bad wrist injury and cannot do kneading. Cheers, Joelyn

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    Replies
    1. Sorry to hear that Joelyn!! Hope your wrist recovers soon, and in the meantime, let your KA do all the work! :)

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  11. Thank you very much for sharing the recipe! Yes, admittedly, I initially had doubts if this will turn out well. But, voila! Within and hour, I was eating soft and fluffy buns. A hit with my kids and hubby as well. Definitely a keeper, thanks!

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  12. Hi Diana, I am making these now, but the dough seems very slippery to work with, i added almost 2 cups of flour already but it doesn't seem to be able to shape at all. I oiled my hands but they seem to fall in shape. Any idea what happen? :(

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    Replies
    1. Hey Flo, the recipe calls for 3.5 cups of bread flour..

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  13. I'm gonna try this tonight!! I hope it works on Philips Airfryer as my oven died on me last week...

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  14. Air fryer don't work well for this recipe. I tried 6buns. It is quite yeasty and moist inside. Not airy.

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    1. oh dear, I did see someone using the AF. if I recall, she used a lower temp but baked longer. Better luck when your oven's been repaired?

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  15. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! Its really soft and my hubby initially said he didn't want before I start making ate 3 after its out from the oven. Sometimes after my kids sleep I wanted to make bread for breakfast but looking at the clock I will have to bake till midnight from kneading to proofing. With your recipe i can have my beauty sleep and nice soft bread the next day! Thank you thank you!!

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    1. Jen - thank you for having faith and trying! so glad your husband likes the bread. mines does too, and it makes life loads easier!

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  16. What a tempting recipe! Will be trying this soon. As for my favourite cookie, please make that a chewy chocolate chip!
    Colortypes Sophie
    Colortypesink@gmail.com

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  17. Hi. .I want to place otah filling in the bread. Can I ask when I can insert it into the dough?

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    Replies
    1. make into a ball, flatten, use a rolling pin, roll out into a rectange. place otah, roll and pinch the ends to seal.

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  18. My favourite cookie is chocolate chip cookie :-)

    kayetky@gmail.com

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  19. Love this recipe and gona try it! But may i check if i can substitute Oil with melted butter?

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    Replies
    1. Theorecticall, yes. But I have not tried because I find oil a lot easier. Lemme know if you try? Cheers.

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  20. I have to try this!!! Sounds so easy! Thanks for sharing

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  21. Hi Diana

    If I want to make it into chocolate bread rolls, what would you recommend? How much cocoa powder to include and do we have to take away certain amount of bread flour? at which process do we add the cocoa powder?

    Appreciate your advice! - Gina

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    Replies
    1. Hi one of my readers replaced one tablespoon of flour with one tablespoon of cocoa and it worked. :)

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  22. Hi,
    to add the filling such as luncheon meat, do we only wrap with the dough after we allow it to rest for 10 mins? Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Hi no, once dough is formed, you divide, roll out and fill. then you rest 10 minutes, glaze and bake.

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  23. excellent recipe; bread roll turned out so great dear how can i join your blog.. just a suggestion do add some join my site gadget so we can get updates and join your site; glad to hear you are sher kay's friend.. fantastic blog :)

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  24. I'm a noob Baker and decided to give this a shot. I used my hands to knead the dough but it was so sticky. I had to add lots of oil to make into a consistency where I could form them into the balls. 1 question, how did you make your dough balls so nicely? Mine looked terrible and odd sized and by the time they poofed, they looked like pancakes instead. Lol

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    1. ok, i will post soon on how i roll into balls and show you how :) actually no need a lot of oil. I updated the pictures and you can see - very little oil used!

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    2. Thanks! After doing some researching on kneading bread dough, I realized I did it completely wrong the first time! But they still turned out pretty alright. Now I can't wait to try again!!

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  25. Thank you so fast..almost give up baking bread...its super soft n really boost up my confident. No need to invest in breadmarker.

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    1. hahah yah, much cheaper to make it this way! Glad it worked out well for you :)

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  26. Hi Diana,

    If I want to make pandan rolls with pandan paste or extract, how do I go about doing it? Do I have to remove any flour? Thanks for your advice!

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  27. May I know why my yeast never become foam after 15 mins?

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  28. Hi Diana, I love the simplicity of this recipe and in such short time...got to try this soon!

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  29. Loved the recipe! Was suspicious at first because it was so easy and the dough was quite wet rather than a nice smooth and stretchy ball, but the bread really comes out soft and stays that way even till the next day.

    I have used the tangzhong and 16hour polish methods before and this recipe produced similar results without the inconvenience!

    I baked mine at a lower temperature though. 170 degrees for around 16min. That way the buns don't brown so much and the skin remains soft.

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    1. nice!!! I am so glad you tried - I was really skeptical too, but I am really glad I did try it after all!

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  30. Hi Diana,

    Tried this recipe today. It was great! The bread is so soft that everybody loves it! Why is the bottom of the bread burnt? And the top is slightly whitish.

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    Replies
    1. Hi there, you need to adjust your oven - this could be due to uneven heating. Good luck!

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  31. Hi Diana, thanks for the recipe! I had my first attempt yesterday, the breads turned out to smell very 'yeasty', may I know why? I followed the 15 minutes rule strictly, would it be that my spoon size is bigger hence there were more yeast in the mixture?

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kweely, apparently from feedback. the yeasty smell is due to the yeast that you use. So you can try another brand of yeast. So far I have not had any problems with the yeasty smell :)

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    2. Ic, I was using some organic yeast...not easy to find replacement, will see how then, thanks a lot!
      One more question, the bread also turned out to be slightly harder than it should be, what did I miss here? :p

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    3. It could have been over-kneading, over-proofing or left out for too long before baking.

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  32. Hi Diana, what brand of yeast did you use? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Siena I have tried Fleischmann's, Saf-Instant and Bruggeman.

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  33. I tried this n yes it turn out absolutely delicious n soft! just a quick question can I use wholemeal flour only.would the texture be same. ..soft?

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    1. Hi I have tried 50% of each of wholemeal and bread flour. it worked fine, but am not sure about 100% wholemeal flour though.

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  34. hello, may i know where did you get the otah to make the otah bread? looks very yums..

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  35. May I know if I can replace the oil with melted butter? Can't wait to try out the recipe!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Joanne I have not tried this. If I have time next week I will try. :)

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  36. Love the recipe! I baked them this morning, just in time for my kids' breakfast. Have a couple of questions:
    1. I hand kneaded the dough as I don't have a dough hook. Do I have to use a lot of effort to knead it well? I'm not sure if I under-knead the dough as the bread does not seem as soft as what I can get at bakeries.
    2. Some of my buns are more brown than others due to uneven heating of my oven. Do I lower the temp of the oven at the start, or do I turn the tray halfway during the baking?
    3. The measuring spoons you use... 1 T = 15 ml or 20 ml? I notice there are different volumes even for measuring spoons.

    Thank you!

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    1. Thanks, I love this recipe too :)
      Here's the answers to your questions:
      1. It will take 5-8 minutes if kneading by hand, You can use the windowpane method to test if your dough is ready.
      2. If the overall browness is to your liking, you can always rotate after the bread has been baking for 2/3 of the time. you can also adjust the oven temp, but won't that still mean that some buns will still be bowner than others?
      3. 15ml! :)

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  37. I'm total noob baker but I decided to try as it sounded so easy. I hand knead as I don't have mixer. I'm now waiting for it to proof and it's been 10 minutes but doesn't seem to rise much. Don't if I should wait any longer or just put it into the oven and cross my fingers. What have I done wrong?

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    1. Hi did you check if your dough had reached the windowpane stage? (you can google this to see what the dough should look like). Also, your yeast may no longer be working very well. You can try again maybe with another pack or brand of yeast. There is no reason why you cannot make perfect buns by kneading with your hands - don't give up! Good luck!

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  38. Hi any idea why my bread didn't brown after 15mins of baking? I glazed it with egg wash(whole egg only) prior.

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    1. Hi Kerine you need to check the temperature of your oven. It may not be as hot as it was supposed to have been. Another reason could be the position of your oven rack. Every oven is different so you will need to experiment a bit until you get it right. Good luck!

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  39. Hi Diana, thanks for the recipe, it was nice! however i tried to make white loaf bread out of this recipe in the breadmaker i failed. Do you by chance have any experience with breadmaker?

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    1. Hi Weilin, unfortunately, I don't have a bread maker. But I have seen people make this bread with bread makers and they came out soft too!

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  40. Hi do u thinj i can omit egg orreplace with something else? Thx.

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  41. Wowwwwowww....... Just try it and my family luv it..... Super SOFT....Thank for sharing <3

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  42. Hi! Your buns look lovely! Just to ask if I were to halve the recipe, how can I adjust the egg?

    Jessica

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    1. Hi Jessica, easiest way is to beat the egg and measure half to use!

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  43. this is a real good recipe! i tried other recipes, this is by far the best!

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  44. Hi, I baked this recipe few time, it really nice and soft, also using 1/3 whole meal flour, it much easy to knead, it turned out so yummy! My husband love it so much, also save a lot of time, as a working mum like me.
    Thank you for sharing!

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    1. Hi Soh, I am glad the recipe is working out for you! Good idea - I shall try that 1/3 whole meal flour soon! Thanks for sharing :)

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  45. Hi, Thank you for this good recipe and I'm on a bread baking craze...

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  46. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! I used it to teach the kids at my daughter's school. This recipe is so forgiving (imagine 6 year olds squashing and pulling and playing with the dough) and it turned out great.

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    1. Wow, how awesome is that!!! Thank you for sharing with me! Made my day! :D

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  47. Hi Diana, thank you for sharing :) Its really soft and easy to bake!
    I have a question here, do I need to apply some oil or flour on my bake pan?

    From Jess :)

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  48. Tried it today, it's soft with a crust outside. Wonder if I can replace oil with butter as it tastes a little bland.

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    1. Hello! I have not done so before, but you can always try!

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  49. Hi Diana! With this versatile recipe, I can bake more bread for my family now as compared to those time-consuming ones. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  50. Hi Diana,
    Thank you for your recipe. I've tried twice. Here are my findings -
    First trial - I used yeast from Germany. Very yeasty. I used plain flour. The dough was sticky. I continued to add flour and oil until it was easy to form into individual pieces. Bread texture was sporous but a bit dry.
    Second trial - I used local made yeast (from Singapore). No yeasty taste. I used top flour (500gms) and melted butter (110gms). The dough was not sticky at all! And very easy to roll into balls. The result - nice bread texture with a tinge taste of butter. My daughter cannot stop eating it.
    Sincerely Ethal

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    1. Thank you for your feedback Ethal! Glad to hear that your daughter liked the bread! :)

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  51. Hi Diana ! I used the hook of my KA mixer to knead. After three mins when the dough came together, I stopped kneading. However, it was so sticky and I couldn't handle the dough at all. This was despite after oiling my hands and the table top. I couldn't do the stretch test too..could you advise why it turned out so sticky ?

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  52. Hi Diana, thanks for the recipe! I tried today n is successful! Just a question, your recipe list shows no milk but 2nd pic stated warm water/milk...does that mean either warm water or milk? Or both?

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  53. Hi, may I ask which brand / model of mixer do you use? It seems an essential your baking blogs. Thanks!

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    1. Hi there, a mixer just makes life easier and baking a lot faster :) I have been using my Kenwood Chef for about 10 years now. :)

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  54. Hi
    I have not tried this but can we achieve window pane stage for the dough based on only 3 times of kneading the dough (as shown in your pics) if we hand mix the ingredients? Thanks!

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    1. Hi The pictures are to show how to knead. you need to knead until you reach the window pane stage. definitely will be more than 3 times.

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