Kendy,
Shiong to do w/o a mixer or bread maker. Super tiring. I use the recipe from Bread Magic (Y3K) by Alan Ooi. I wish I have a good mixer when I doing the bread. Think I wont attempt to do bread again unless I get a bread machine. hee
Here u go:
*Basic Sweet Bun Dough(Straight Dough Method)
Ingredient A:
330g high protein flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsps milk powder
60g caster sugar
Ingredient B:
1 egg (grade A)
Ingredient C: mixed together
120ml water
10g instant yeast
Ingredient D:
40g butter
Method:
1. Combine ingredient A together in a mixer. Give it a slight blend before adding in ingredient B and ingredient C. Beat combined ingredients for approximately five minutes to form a dough. Add in ingredient D and beat dough for a further five minutes till dough has a smooth surface. Check whether dough is fully developed by stretching a small piece of dough with your fingers. If the dough can be stretched into a thin layer without tearing, it is ready. But if it does not stretch well, beat dough further till it passes the next stretch test.
2. Remove dough and leave it in a big bowl, covered with a piece of damp cloth or wrapped the whole bowl with a plastic bag and tie bag loosely. Leave bowl in a warm place and proof dough for about 30-40 minutes till doubled in size.
Important Hints:
1. Dough must be well kneaded till fully developed whether it is a process done manually or by a machine.
2. Do not pour in all the water at once as different grades of flour have different absorbing strength.
3. Covering the bowl with clingfilm or a damp cloth or wrapping the whole bowl with a plastic bag can help to seal in moisture.
4. Bread dough can be left to proof in an electric bread proofing unit with instructed temperature maintained. But if dough is left to proof at room temperature, it must be fully developed before working on the intended recipe. Do not hasten the proofing time as a slow proof gives better results. Sometimes a place may not be warm enough, hence an extended proofing time is needed before it can doubled its bulk.