Almond Raisin Bread and Ham and Cheese Buns

Almond Raisin Bread

Ever since I've exchanged my Cuisinart bread machine for a Zojirushi bread machine, I've been a little crazy about making homemade bread. When I was back in Malaysia, we had a lot of buns/bread from Bread Story, especially during our trip to Langkawi.

Anyway, whenever I go back home, I'd look for local recipe books to purchase. I saw this book in a cake decorating supply store in USJ 1 area, called Magic Bread by Alex Goh. There are some really good recipes in there. Here are the two that I have tried so far - almond and raisin bread and the ham and cheese buns. They both start with the same basic sweet bread dough.

Basic Sweet Bread Dough

A - 100g bread flour
70ml boiling water

B - 300 g bread flour
100g all purpose flour
80g sugar
6g salt
20g milk powder
9g instant yeast

C - 175ml cold water
60g cold eggs

D- 60g butter

1. Add the boiling water from A into flour, mix until combined to form dough. Cover and set aside to cool. Keep it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the hook attachment, mix B until well-blended. Add in C and knead to form a rough dough. Add in A and knead until well-blended.
   
3. Add in D and knead to form elastic dough. Let it proof for 40 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into required weight and mold it round. Let it rest for 10 minutes and read to be use. Makes about 2lbs of dough.

If you're using a bread machine, just dump everything in there. You can use the dough program, or set your own if you have a "home made setting". I have set mine as below:

Preheat - off
Knead- 25 minutes
Rise 1- 45 minutes
Rise 2- 30 mintues
Rise 3- 30 minutes

Almond Raisin Bread
Prepare 400g of sweet bread dough. (I used all of it and used two 9" pans instead)

Almond Fillings

50g butter
50g sugar
60g eggs
1/4 tsp. cinnamon powder
100g finely ground almonds
100g raisins

Adequate almond flakes/silvers for topping.

Method:

1. Mold the dough round.
2. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Roll it thin into 14"x 9" rectangular shape.
3. Spread on almond fillings and sprinkle raisins on top. Roll it up like Swiss roll.
4. Cut the dough into 10 pieces. Place it onto a 9" pan, greased and lined the bottom with parchment paper. Let it proof for 45 minutes.
5. Egg wash and sprinkle almond flakes/silvers on top.
   
6. Bake at 350F (175C) at the lower shelve of the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Ham and Cheese Buns

Prepare sweet bread dough as above.

Fillings
Ham slices
grated cheddar cheese
Sliced green onions
Mayonnaise

Method:

1. Divide the dough into 60g each and mold it round
2. Let it rest for 10 minutes, then flatten it. Place a slice of ham on top.
3. Roll it up and fold it into half. Cut the center and open it up.
4. Place it onto a greased baking sheet. Let them proof for 45 minutes or until double its size.
5. Egg wash the surface. Place some grated cheese and green onions on top. Pipe some mayo (I opt out the mayo) onto it.

Bake at 375F (190C) in the middle shelve of the oven for 12-15 minutes.

Ham and Cheese Bread