Making Basic Sweet Bun Dough
 

According to the resting (proving) time of making basic sweet bun dough, there are three methods.
Straight method is the most commonly used method, it need one basic proving for about 45-60 minutes.

Straight Method Dough.
Ingredients:
(A)
480g Bread flour
120g Plain flour
110g Sugar
10g Salt
20g Milk Powder
4tsp Instant Yeast 
(B)
1 Egg
300ml Cold Water
(C)
60g Butter 

Mix (A) till well blended.Add (B) and knead to form a dough.Add (C), continue to knead to form a smooth and elastic dough. Cover dough with clear plastic wrapper tightly. Let it rest for 50~60 minutes, or till it double in size. Use a finger to press into the dough. It should show a clear finger tip mark but the dough shout not sink. Now it is read to use for making bread and bun.

No Time Method
This is the fast to make bread. It does not need to go through the basic proving. Simply rest the dough for 15 minutes, then it can be divided. This method produce a smaller, denser bread which goes stale faster,Serve hot will be more tasty.  
Ingredients:
(A)
480g Bread Flour
120g Plain Flour
10g Sugar
10g Salt
20g milk Powder
4tsp Instant yeast
1 tsp Bread Improver
(B)
1 Egg
300ml cold water
1/3 ml vinegar 
(C)
60g Butter 
Mix (A) till well blended .Add (B) and mix to form a dough. Add (C) into the dough .Continue to mix to form a smooth and elastic dough. Shape into a round bun and wrap with a transparent plastic wrapper.
Let it rest for 15 minutes. Then it is ready to use for making bread and bun.
 
Sponge and Dough Method.
This method needs a longer preparation time. First a sponge dough is prepared which needs to prove for 2~4 hours or even longer. After a second mixing, it has a 15 minutes rest. Then it is divided and shaped into buns. This method produces a softer, bigger load which keeps longer. 
Ingredients 
(A) Sponge Dough
2tsp Instant Yeast
2tbsp Water
420g Bread Flour
1.2 tbsp Sugar
220ml cold Water 

(B) Main Dough
120g Plain Flour
60g Bread Flour
1 tsp Instant yeast
110g sugar
10g Salt
20g Milk Powder
40ml Cold Water
1 Egg
60g Butter

For the sponge, mix instant yeast and water and set aside for 10 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients from (A) and knead to form a dough.
Cover the dough with plastic wrapper and let it rest for 2 ½ hours.
 
Then add the sugar, salt, eggs from the main dough (B).
Mix till well blended. Then add flour, instant yeast, milk powder and the water.
Mix all all the ingredient till well blended. Knead to form a dough
Add the butter and knead to form a smooth and elastic dough
 
Shape it into a round bun and cover it again with a clear plastic wrapper.
Let it rest for 10 minutes. Then it is read for making bread or bun.
 
Tips:-
In home baking, the dough can be put in the oven, without switching it on and putting one or two small bowls of hot water in the oven to provide some heat and water vapour.
An alternative is to put the dough in a cardboard box or put it in a cupboard.
The best proving temperature is 38° C.
 
When the bread has been thoroughly proved and is ready for baking, bush the top with egg wash/water/milk
Or leave it with as it is.
Preheat the oven before baking, using top and bottom heat only.
Don’t switch on the oven’s fan when baking.
 
*If you want the buns to look more attractive and appetizing, you can glaze them while they are still
hot with butter, margarine, apricot gel, egg white or sugar syrup.
( Cook 1part of sugar with 2 parts of water till boiling).

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