Soft Sesame Seed Buns

So we finally fired up that giant 4 burners + 1 stove barbie grill that we bought 2 months ago .The heat was so strong that my bro Joe burnt half the ribs and lamb chops and we were done eating within 1 1/2 hours. Talk about efficiency. Gas grills are so convenient aren't they. And my hair didn't smell of smoke, unlike using charcoal grills. Only bummer is the cleaning up, and should the grease plates under the grill be cleaned up each time after use, or should the grease be left to contribute flavors to future grilling? Please advise, anyone.



We had baby back ribs basted with a sauce that Wey had cooked for more than an hour. The sauce was supposed to be a clone of that by the American chain restaurant Roadhouse Grill but we had substituted the Jim Beam whiskey with Harvey's Bristrol sherry and we couldn't get hold of any liquid mesquite smoke so it turned out tasting like tomato puree and cider vinegar mix. That confirmed it for me: making your own barbie sauce is a waste of time. Just buy the bottle. Still, the baby ribs were good. We also had some bratwursts my other bro Clive had brought in from Singapore. I liked the big green prawns best, grilled to almost charred outside and moist and springy inside. The head of the prawn was intense with flavor. But when Joe started serving his pork belly marinaded in red bean curd and wine, everything else tumbled to second place. The belly pork was savory sweet and juicy, with a strong red bean curd flavor.

My sesame seed buns were a hit. I've often used the same sweet dough recipe for making garlic rolls and cheesesticks but tonight's buns were extra cottony soft. I know it's not the Gold Medal bread flour. The secret was in the water-flour ratio. I've always added extra flour to the recipe (which is from a book called Make Your Own Bread--author's name is in Chinese) because it makes a messy, sticky dough but this time, I stayed true to the recipe (except for reducing the sugar and cutting short the steps) and what a big difference it made. I have simplified all my bread making into one step, no matter what recipe. As long as the yeast is good, I throw all the ingredients into the mixer without making a starter mix or adding the ingredients in stages and the bread'll still come out good.

This is a great recipe I treasure and which I'm sure you would too once you've tried it. You can add some raisins or cheese or garlic and butter or meat floss, or red bean paste...It is simple and easy to make yet yields amazingly soft, light and moist bread that stays soft without the use of bread improver and whatever else the commercial bakers use.






Soft Sesame Seed Buns
500 g bread flour
1 1/2 t dry active yeast
50 g castor sugar*
1 t salt
1 medium-sized egg
50 g cold butter
260 ml cold water (lukewarm water if room temp is low)

Topping/glazing:
1 egg yolk, white sesame seeds

*reduce or increase according to the type of bread you are making

1. Put all the ingredients into your mixer bowl and knead at medium speed for 12-15 minutes. The dough will be very wet and sticky at first and gradually becomes less wet but still sticky. Take out the dough hook, cover the bowl with a cloth and leave in unheated oven for 1 hour until all puffed (they always say until dough doubles but really the dough triples).

2. Take the dough out and put on a lightly floured surface. Use a pastry cutter and cut into 10-12 equal pieces (I made 13).

3. Lightly flour your hands and roll each piece of dough on the counter in a circular motion. Press the dough out (using hands or rolling pin) into an oblong shape and roll it up, swiss-roll like, from the shorter side. Tuck in and press the open sides firmly to seal. Repeat for all dough pieces.

4. Pull the dough pieces lightly to lengthen and put them on a greased baking tray about 1 cm apart and let them rise in an unheated oven for an hour.

5. Take the tray out, heat the oven to 200 C. Brush the tops of the buns with a beaten egg yolk and sprinkle some sesame seeds over.

6. Bake until golden, about 13-15 minutes.

Some bread-making tips I've learnt:

--unless you have iron arms, kneading by machine using a dough hook gives best results
--make sure your yeast is active by 'growing' some of it in sugar, water n flour. If it bubbles & foams, it's good
--after the final/second proofing, be very careful when handling the proofed dough. If you bang it or give it a thud, the dough will deflate and the bread will be hard
--a wet dough gives softer bread