Hong Kong Sweet Bun (Pai Bao)

Oh my God!! Ohh.. myyy... God! It was totally out of my expectation. On Wed, I rushed home from work to try my hands on Hong Kong Sweet Bun, a recipe I found from christinesrecipe .She's into baking bread lately using the 'tangzhong' method. It had never crossed my mind to use my own hands to make bread since I have a very reliable Kenwood bread machine. The machine basically does all the kneading, proofing and finally baking. When I saw the pictures of the bun in christine's site, I was bowled over. The picture clearly indicated a super soft and fluffy bun and that was the very moment I told myself I have to make it coz I have to eat it. Furthermore, the bread machine will aid me in the dough making. Filled with complete confidence and anticipation, I started baking at 6pm but by 10pm, I was defeated.  It was clear that my dough wasn't going to rise any further. I knew in my gut that the tangzhong was overcooked. The bitter taste of defeat was something I couldn't stomach so today Friday, instead of taking half a day off as I intended to, I took a whole day off.  I set off my bread making at 9am and by almost 12pm, the dough was on it's 2nd proofing. At 1.45pm, I left house for hair salon and before that, I sneaked a peak at my dough and oh, how disappointed I felt. The dough size was exactly the same as 1.5 hours ago. I heaved many many sighs and left the house with a heavy heart.

Guess what? I came back at 8.15pm just now and the dough had risen to the top and was slightly overflowed! Despite my acute migraine, I gave a whoop of delight. I quickly preheat my oven, whisked an egg and brushed it lightly on the dough. If the dough had not over risen, you'll be able to see the shape clearly. But anyway, right now, I couldn't care less of the shape. The bread is definitely soft. Maybe not as soft as the picture shown in christine's recipe but it's definitely soft. The recipe yields 2 loafs and since I still have some tangzhong leftover in my fridge, I'm gonna make another bread again. Emm... time is needed for this feat. Making bread is very time consuming as it takes a long long time for it to proof. If my tangzhong is still in good condition by Monday, I'll stay up and bake the bread again. Oh yeah.. I damn will.