Baking #128: Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast

Felt like baking bread when I came home from work yesterday evening. Of course, I did not hand knead the dough myself although a lot claimed that dough kneading can be very therapeutic especially after a long day of work. I tried manual kneading before and the outcome was unsuccessful as my dough was unable to reach the window pane stage.

Bread machine is a godsend invention to me and it definitely saves me from muscles sore. LOL! I decided to try out this famous recipe of Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast after reading so many raves and compliments of the said recipe. The recipe was straightforward and I happened to have all the required ingredients to make this bread loaf.

Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast (adapted from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe)

Without further ado, let’s get started with the ingredients and how to make this bread!

Ingredients: 

• 198g fresh milk
• 1 tsp (3g) salt
• 24g organic raw sugar or caster sugar *raw sugar*
• 14g unsalted butter
• 300g bread flour
• 1 tsp (3g) instant yeast

Directions:

1. Measure all ingredients in advance with measuring cups and spoons.
2. Remove bread pan from bread machine and install collapsible paddle.
3. Pour in ingredients in the following sequence – milk, salt, sugar, butter, bread flour and instant yeast.
4. Wipe spillage outside the bread pan, if any.
5. Return bread pan into the bread machine and close the lid.
6. Choose setting (Basic – Normal) and press START.
7. Wait for bread machine to finish all cycles before removing the bread pan from the bread machine.
8. Leave bread loaf to cool on a cooling rack prior to slicing.

So, this was how the bread looked like when it was done baking. The house smelled so heavenly as the bread was baking in the oven. It smelled like a bakery accompanied with slight buttery smell.

I could not figure out what was the cause for the uneven coloring of my bread loaf. I wondered if the dough was not properly kneaded before it goes into proofing stage? Despite the uneven coloring, the bread was extremely soft and it tasted great too.

I made my colleagues sandwiches with the bread. They said the bread was yummy but the sunny side up were awful. It was funny when they asked me which bakery did I bought the bread from. They were half skeptical when I told them I home baked the bread myself. LOL!