Tuesday 4 August 2015

No More Big Ass.....and An Award!


I wish I could say the same about my behind. But no, that one didn't shrink. Not one bit. Even after the dieting and huffing and puffing in the morning. It must be due to eating too much of these d**n buns. Hmmph!!

After the small success of my 5,000 Dollar Big Ass Buns, I baked this bread another 4 times. Practice makes perfect. If I bake these often enough, I should improve. Do these look improved?



My buns are still out of shape (yeah, that one too) but they do look lots better than the first one. I shaped the buns smaller this time. Another thing I did was to leave the starter dough in the fridge for a day or two.


I find that it smells better because the starter dough that I used the first time (immediately after it doubled in size) had a very strong yeast smell. But after a day or two in the fridge, the smell mellows and is very fragrant. 


I also find that the dough is firmer and easier to mix when the cold starter was mixed into the main dough straight from the fridge. But this is just my own observation and it could be due to other factors. The dough is still sticky of course but I find that I handle it much better now. No more drama.


It is still difficult to shape the dough. This time I divided the dough into 16 rounds - as unequally as possible hah...hah...hah... The professional thing to do is to weigh the dough. But you know my style.


I covered the dough with cling wrap and the second rise took slightly more than an hour because I made these buns on one cool morning. It had rained during the night.


These buns took 22 minutes to bake and I was happy with what came out of the oven. 


The texture is soft and cottony and it smelled and tasted wonderful! I love this recipe and I am more confident about moving on to other bread recipes.


Another thing I observed is that in my later attempts (like the one in this post), the amount of water I used is about the same as the recipe source I followed. I don't know why the dough seemed drier in my first attempt. Maybe it was because I did not mix the dough properly.


Anyway, I am very pleased with what I have achieved so far. Hopefully, we'll see some other types of breads and buns in this space soon, eh?



For the recipe, please refer to the previous post here.

And by the way, I want to extend a very big Thank You to my friends Veronica of Minty's Kitchen and Kimmy of Cooking Pleasure for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award



This is my second time receiving this nomination and it feels just as wonderful as the first! I am very low key about these things and you can read my sentiments over here. What can I say? It is awesome to be recognized and acknowledged by friends who are loads more talented than I am!

58 comments:

  1. Hi Phong Hong
    Yeah...practice makes perfect. At least I can see that your buns look so soft and fluffy .. and no worries because its homemade!!

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    1. Hi Mel! I love these buns. They are so soft and fluffy and moist. Really cannot resist eating at least half a dozen hah..hah...

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  2. I didn't bake bread for quite a long time liao, as takes quite few hours to do it...

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    1. Ya lor, can only do it when have time during the weekends.

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  3. Who says they are out of shape? To me, they look so buttery, soft and moist.. Look at the shining glaze on the top layer, I want to eat all of them! Who doesn't like homemade buns? Cannot finish also last last can finish one, dunk in milk or Milo, or eat with butter and kaya, sure habisttt.. I can eat 5 with butter, maybe 10! You know, some place serve buns+butter before the main course, like The Ship.. I love their soft warm buns, and I always ask for more.. I can put 2 chunks of uncut butter inside leh !!

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    1. Louiz, I think you can easily wallop the whole loaf with your Milo. These buns are very light and airy. I think I ate half the loaf that afternoon. hah..hah...

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  4. WOW.. those buns look perfect and soft! Really makes me want to try some :D

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  5. Clap, clap, clap....yes, I can see the improvement! Look forward to more bun making from you. After seeing how difficult it is to get them evenly sized, I now appreciate the evenly sized buns that I buy from the shops! ;)

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    1. Thank you, Kris! This particular dough is too soft and sticky, hence the difficulty. But it yields fantastic buns. Yes, will bake more varieties of buns and get fatter in the process hah..hah...

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  6. Hi Phong Hong, it's great reading your post, You deserved to be nominated...

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    1. Kimmy, thank you! Coming from you, someone who cooks and bakes so well, it means a lot to me! I will try you pau recipe one day soon. I just bought a box of pau flour and hope it does not hibernate in my pantry hee..hee...

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  7. Hi Phong Hong, your buns look absolutely soft and fluffy. Well done, it look good and very well baked. Keep up the good job.
    Due to flour humidity, when making bread/pau you need to adjust the water/milk plus minus 5 to 10%.

    Have a nice day, regards,

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    1. Amelia, thank you for the tip! I am still getting used to getting my water measurement right. This calls for more practice and more excuses to eat buns!

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  8. Your buns look so good to me, it looks so fluffy and soft. I love this type of plain bun to go with my coffee. Lovely bake, Phong Hong, as usual.

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    1. Thank you, Yannie! But I bet Yannie will only eat one if I offer to her. Good discipline!

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  9. They looked good too the first time around. The texture sure seems absolutely perfect, this one. Ummm....they say big bums/hips...good for child bearing - an important consideration when choosing a wife. Muahahahaha!!!!!

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    1. Thank you for the compliments, Arthur! Ah, I am way beyond child bearing years, I'm afraid hah..hah...

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    2. P.S.:
      Congrats on the award.

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  10. I thought the picture where the bread was sitting on the wire net looks most tempting (fresh out of oven?). Look at that sparkly glaze OMG!! Is it the same bread as the other pictures?

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    1. RG, yes the one on the wire net was fresh from the oven. Looks so shiny hee..hee... And yes, it is the same bread as the other pictures. And if you looked carefully, you will note that one strip of buns is missing muahahaha!

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  11. Hi Phong Hong,
    Freshly baked ! definitely looks fluffy soft ... and tasty too. Yes practice makes perfect.

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    1. Hi Karen! It looks like I am getting better hee..hee... Yes, must practice all the time!

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  12. It looks like it has cheese on top. And I love cheese. Hihihi

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    1. Lina, this one has no cheese but can be tweaked to make it cheesy!

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  13. The buns look yummy, love the shiny top!!

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    1. Thanks, Hayley! You and your boys will love these buns :)

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  14. Miss Diva Phong Hong! Congratulations to you on your successful baking on 4th attempt and the awards given to you!
    I am waiting to get the Most Foul Mouthed Blogger Award from SK Thambee.

    I think dieting won't help your behind but you need a lot of serious hard core exercises like joining the boot camps. Everything will shrink 2 sizes smaller. What is your huffing and puffing in the mornings????

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    1. TM, Thank you! Boot camp huh? No thank you. hah...hah..hah....

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  15. Hi Phong Hong,
    Look at the shining glaze on the surface, the buns are so tempting !
    Congratulation for nominated by 2 friends as Versatile blogger award's winner. Gambateh!

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    1. Thank you, Aunty Young! I am happy with my buns so far :)

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  16. Congrats to you, Phong Hong for being nominated for the award. You deserve it! Your glossy glazed buns are really tempting me to go out and buy some buns now.

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    1. Thank you, Nancy! Hah..hah.. I thought you would say the glossy buns are tempting you to bake :D :D

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  17. haha, I've never hoped for "no more big ass" but as long as it's "no more bigger ass" then I'm fine!! and definitely you have to have this mentality if you continue to bake this $5000 big ass bread.. hehehe :p

    so you are successful after 4 attempts?? wow, this auntie secretly did so many attempts in private and finally she can show us a successfully better one, bravo and well done!! looks like you can already have a good grasp on the recipe and untold tricks to make the process easier and the end-product better.. yeah, that's what we call practice makes perfect as we gain experience and learn through mistakes..

    i see, it's so soft and cottony and now I wonder how many balls this auntie actually walloped into her stomach, and whether she was "mercy" enough to leave some for her partner?? hehe..

    I would say the bread looks good and very well done indeed.. the color of the skin is golden brown and the inside looks snowy white and can even feel it's softness just from the photo.. I know I am evil but I think slicing the bun into halves, putting a splat of butter and kaya and then "kiap" them together, that would be heavenly, agree?? and what's more?? to go with s cup of tea, hehehe~~ :p

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    1. hahahaha...ya lor, better don't get bigger hor? I baked it 4 times because I love these buns and I want to improve on my bun making skills. Don't worry, this time I actually left some for the man hah..hah... Oh yes, it would be heavenly to kiap with a thick blob of butter and kaya!

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  18. Your buns are sure looking fine... ;) You must really love them to bake them 4x already.

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    1. Thanks, Yen! Yes, I LOVE these buns!

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  19. Out of shape or not, these buns looks so good to me! Home made fresh from the oven are the best! Hey, not so sure about your bump. hahaha.. never seen you before but no worries.. as long as happy, right???!!

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    1. Thanks, Claire! Well, it makes for good cushioning hah..hah..hah...

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  20. I don't like ironing too! (This comment is meant for your old post when you acknowledge the awards you received from your friends, and in response to the 7 facts about yourself).

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  21. I have no talent in cooking and baking

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    1. But you have talent in teaching. You should be proud of that!

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  23. Hi Phong Hong,

    You are so funny calling these delicious buns big asses... I have tried baking this recipe before but I baked it in a less fussy way and it works too! I love these buns. You must be loving them so much more than me and that's why you have baked them for 4x!

    Don't say bye bye leh... If you like it, you can bake it as many times as you want :)

    PS. Sorry about the previous delete... Typo error :p

    Zoe

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    1. Hi Zoe! I wonder how you managed to make them in spirals because it is so, so sticky! Anyway, I'll stick to rounds. I'll be baking these buns many more times!

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  24. Nampak like paung...pit majerin/ butter inside best

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    1. I was thinking of that but I forgot. Yup, next time can make paung style.

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  25. Congrats on both the bun and award! Bun looks really soft and cottonly. More bread baking please.

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    1. Thank you, Mun! There will be more bread making for sure :)

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  26. oh that buttery glaze ♥♥♥.. I would love to pair it with peanut spread and match it with hot choco or coffee... perfect meal in rainy season
    Congratulations to your award.. you deserve it

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    1. Thank you! I've had the buns with butter. I wonder why I forgot about peanut butter. I'll be sure to remember in my next bake :)

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  27. Phong Hong....! Those pull-apart buns look soft and fluffy I wanna sink my teeth into them! Welcome to bread and bun making. Enjoy the fun process and with each time, you will soon become an expert! *nom nom nom*

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    1. Hi Janice! I'm getting the hang of it and enjoying every moment!

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