Mochi Bread.. か？

Last evening, had a small chat with Edith, she mentioned about a particular bread from Sun Moulin, Mochi Bread. She was kind enough to send me a recipe from a website which I can't access to. Later, I found out that the recipe can be found here too (search under page 2 of bread category).

Being curious about the bread, I embarked on an experiment last night. I haven't tasted this bread before (sua ku??) and I forgot to ask her the texture of the bread. Turned out that; Sun Moulin's Mochi bread is supposed to be crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Okay, so I got the chewy part right. But what about the crispy part? Based on the recipe, it is using the 'Sponge Dough' method. It's supposed to give bread a more lasting fluffy texture, even more so than the usual 'Straight Dough' method. But crispy?? How ar?? Deep fry?? Edith said no. Wrap with puff/filo pastry?? Really no idea. Think I must go down to Sun Moulin to look for this bread. I catch no ball. Ahahaha..

Anyway, having said that, this recipe still works. The bread is fluffy and the mochi is chewy. I concocted the mochi part as the original recipe does not state how to go about it. This type of bread also suits my temperament as I cannot just sit down, do nothing and wait for the bread to prove. While waiting for the 1st proofing, you can prepare the mochi. This is how it looked like :





I halved the original recipe knowing that my mixer cannot handle the whole load. I made some adjustments and shaped the bread my way. I figured if I were to distribute out to the testers, it would be more convenient to make into individual portions.

Raisins Mochi Bread

Ingredients (yields about 650 ~ 660g of dough)
Starter Dough
250g Bread Flour
150g Water
2 tsp Instant Yeast

Main Dough
70g Bread Flour
40g Water
40g Caster Sugar
20g Egg (beaten and weighed, reserve the remaining for egg wash)
10g Milk Powder
3g Salt
40g Corn Oil
30g Raisins (soak in some water to plump them up)

Some flour to dust
Some butter to grease pan

Filling (yields about 230g ~ 240g of mochi)
80g Mochi Flour (Japanese Glutinous flour, I bought from Daiso)
150ml Water
2 tbsp Caster Sugar
2 tbsp Milk Powder
1 tsp Corn Oil

Some cornflour to dust

Method
1) Mix all ingredients for Starter Dough in a mixing bowl, use dough hook, using low speed, beat to form a dough. Increase to medium speed, beat dough till it doesn't stick to the side of the bowl and appears to be smooth. Roll the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with cling wrap, leave aside to proof for 90 minutes.

2) In a non-stick saucepan, add water and sugar. Add milk powder and mochi flour by batches till there are no lumps. Add in corn oil and heat up the mixture using low heat. Stir the mixture constantly till it forms a dough using a wooden spoon. Continue to stir till it reaches a QQ consistency. Turn off the heat and let it cool. When the mochi is warm to touch, wear a plastic glove, knead the mochi further. The mochi should be smooth and can be pulled for an arm's length without breaking. Portion the mochi into 12 portions and dust with cornflour, set aside.

3) After 90 minutes, transfer the Starter Dough to a bowl. In the mixing bowl, add all ingredients for Main dough, except salt and corn oil. Beat at medium speed, gradually add in Starter Dough in small batches to the Main dough until well corporated. Add in salt and corn oil slowly and beat to a smooth, elastic dough (Do the pinch test to check if it is ready). Add in the raisins towards the end of kneading.

4) Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Roll the dough into a ball and rest it for 10 minutes. The dough will be quite sticky; either dust with some flour or oil your hands. Divide into 12 portions. Wrap the mochi with the dough, place on the greased pan. Cover with damp cloth and proof for 45 minutes or till double in size.

5) Apply egg wash and bake them at 170 degree C for 15 minutes.

*Note : to make it more interesting, maybe you can wrap some peanuts with mochi, then it up wrap with the dough during shaping. By doing so, you will get 3 different textures in 1 bread.

Verdict : I like it but I feel that I can improve on the mochi. Maybe I should try using milk instead of water + milk powder. I should also increase the raisins to 50g. Still, I need to figure out how to achieve the crispy exterior. @_@

Wish me luck. それじゃ~~

*Update : Japanese Glutinous flour, a.k.a. Mochiko (もちこ), in my opinion is finer than the regular ones.