A very close friend, E., is getting married in 10 days. I'm in charge of cooking most of the food and baking the wedding cupcakes. *gulp* Luckily for me, someone with no catering experience whatsoever, the wedding is small so I won’t be cooking for tons of people for the first time, when the most I’ve cooked for is a grand total of five. And don’t worry, she knows this. I would be a craptastic friend if I volunteered for this job and said “by the way...” a few days before the wedding.
I'm trying to keep my cool for as long as possible and not flip out-verrryyyy important at this point. I finished testing all of the food last weekend (thank goodness for the 3 day weekend) and finished the yellow cake last night (there will be both chocolate and yellow cake). At least I thought I finished it. First attempt went in the compost bin because I did my math wrong, sad realization that mental math is not like riding a bike. Major fail. With the second attempt, the flavor is good, but the texture didn't meet my standards. Finals are T minus 5 days and as much as I love experimenting with recipes, I’m obviously running out of time! So dear readers, I’m going to do some thinking out loud, or rather, on this blog and please let me know what you think!
Here’s the recipe I used last night, which I adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated yellow cupcake recipe. I really respect Cook’s Illustrated, they usually never fail me so their recipe could be solid and the texture could have been compromised by the changes I made. I hate to be that person that rags on a perfectly good recipe even though I made x, y, and z changes.
(Almond) Yellow Cupcake
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 C buttermilk
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp amaretto
My Adaptations:
- Original recipe called for 8 Tbsp butter, but I switched 2 Tbsp of that with 2 Tbsp of oil because I read somewhere that oil will make cakes taste moister at slightly chilled or room temp? Not sure how true this is.
- Decreased the sugar from 1 C (way too sweet) to 1/2 C
- Subbed 1/2 C sour cream for 1/2 C buttermilk
- Added almond extract and amaretto and took out vanilla extract
General idea: cream butter and sugar, add an egg at a time, beat throrougly, add oil and buttermilk. Sift in dry ingredients, and fold gently. Bake at 350F for 20 – 24 minutes.
The problem is the cake I made with all purpose flour turned out like a pound cake, which is good for breakfast, bad for wedding cake, or wedding cupcake in this case. I hate to say this, but boxed cake mix had a better, cakey texture. *hangs head in shame*
One thing I tried to avoid from the beginning is cake flour. Don’t get me wrong, I heart cake flour, it certainly makes cakes magical (called cake flour for a reason!) but it’s also more expensive compared to all-purpose flour. E. and I are trying to keep costs as low as possible.
Right now I have a few options:
- Mix of all purpose flour + cornstarch: I found a recipe in my Martha Stewart book that calls for 1 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of cornstarch (6 eggs beaten to ribbon stage, yadda yadda...).
- Another option is to mix parts all purpose flour and cake flour (again saw a few recipes in Martha Stewart’s book that did that).
- And the third option, one I have been trying to avoid, is to just use all cake flour.
Comments?
Also:
- Should I be using milk instead of buttermilk? I always thought buttermilk was superior and we rarely have milk in the house because neither Steven nor I drink it, but I'm having a hard time finding a reliable fluffy, buttermilk, yellow cake recipe. Dorie's party cake calls for buttermilk, but that's a white cake with cake flour (see cake flour above).
- Is it redundant to use both almond extract and amaretto? I had both so I just used both but I wasn’t sure if there was a taste difference or if it’s better to use one or the other.
- If I do a Genoise style cake, then I'll have to use oil, or melted butter, or a combo of both. I usually learn towards a combo of both for flavor and moistness.
What do you think? Any suggestions?
Showing posts with label Experiments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Experiments. Show all posts
Cha Shao Bao Chronicles Part 1: Trials and Tribulations
One purpose of this blog is to document my culinary endeavors. By endeavors I meant experiments, the good and the bad. It’s easy document the successful experiments, the ones that turn out well after the first attempt, like the strawberry lemon bars. It’s more difficult to document the experiments that fall short, the well... how should I put this... the failures.. Usually, I keep experimenting until I achieve the happy ending of a desired result. Unfortunately, Chinese steamed buns have me stumped so I’m wondering if anyone has any tips to make soft and fluffy steamed buns.
Last time I made cha shao, Steven and I ate it all before I could make bao. I promised that next time I made the pork, I would specifically set aside some for bun making. I have tried to make Chinese steamed buns many times in the past, during my inexperienced but ambitious teenage years, only to obtain less than stellar results. Emboldened by my recent successes with sticky buns and brioche (more on this later), I figured I was on a roll (I guess that pun was intended). Now that I’m older and wiser, at least I would like to think that I am, I figured I would have no trouble reproducing the soft and fluffy pristine white buns served at dim sum and Chinese bakeries. Boy was I wrong…
I must have looked at least a dozen recipes. Many recipes called for yeast raised dough made with a starter. So I decided to take this approach. I made a basic starter, then made the dough, let it rise, shaped it into buns, proofed, then steamed them. They looked a little… odd. Frankly they weren’t the prettiest buns on the dim sum trolley but looks aren't everything! I was hoping they would taste good. Well… the good news is that I did a decent job with the filling but the buns themselves tasted chewy and doughy, not the light and airy interior I was hoping for.
The recipe I used came from Ellen Leong Blonder’s Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch. This seemed like a pretty decent recipe to me. The use of baking powder and baking soda would provide additional leavening power along with the yeast raised dough. The author states that the vinegar makes the dough more tender.
(Half of the original recipe)
Starter
1 tsp active dry yeast (I used instant yeast)
1/2 C lukewarm water
3 Tbsp sugar
3/4 C cake flour
Dough
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1 C cake flour
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp shortening (I used oil)
- The recipe is not entirely to blame for my poor results because I did not have any cake flour, so I substituted AP flour, which I suspect was mistake number one. The lower gluten content in cake flour would result in more tender buns. Also cake flour is bleached so the buns would be whiter than those baked with unbleached AP flour (mine were a bit yellow).
- Another possibility is that I overkneading the dough, leading to gluten formation. I used my Kitchenaid to knead the dough for a good 5 minutes. In retrospect this may not be good for bun dough because Chinese buns are not as chewy as oven-baked bread. Perhaps, less kneading the better.
- I also found some conflicting information about what leavening is best buns. Some say that using a yeast dough is unnecessarily because restaurants use only baking powder and cake flour. On the other hand, some sources attest that using only baking powder will yield bao that are less fluffy than those made with both yeast and baking powder.
- The grind of the flour also seems to be important. Some recipes call for Hong Kong flour, which is bleached, superfine flour. Maybe I'll look into buying this at my local Asian grocer but I think, cake flour would be an adequate substitute. Buns made entirely from cake flour are sometimes too lumpy, thus cake flour should be mixed with some AP flour.
- Some recipes call for milk instead of water. Maybe milk would create a more delicate dough.
What should I do for next time?
- Flour: Hong Kong/special bao flour? Cake flour? 50/50 cake and AP flour?
- Leavening: Yeast + baking powder or just baking powder?
- Liquids: Milk or water?
- Less kneading?
- Longer rise? Longer time for the starter?
- More baking soda + vinegar for an even higher rise?
And the final question? How do I get the bao to look like the ones served at dimsum. The bun itself looks like it blossomed, the filling isn’t entirely encased. Do I snip after I steam? I snipped before I steamed this time and it was pretty far from what they look like at dim sum.
Last time I made cha shao, Steven and I ate it all before I could make bao. I promised that next time I made the pork, I would specifically set aside some for bun making. I have tried to make Chinese steamed buns many times in the past, during my inexperienced but ambitious teenage years, only to obtain less than stellar results. Emboldened by my recent successes with sticky buns and brioche (more on this later), I figured I was on a roll (I guess that pun was intended). Now that I’m older and wiser, at least I would like to think that I am, I figured I would have no trouble reproducing the soft and fluffy pristine white buns served at dim sum and Chinese bakeries. Boy was I wrong…
I must have looked at least a dozen recipes. Many recipes called for yeast raised dough made with a starter. So I decided to take this approach. I made a basic starter, then made the dough, let it rise, shaped it into buns, proofed, then steamed them. They looked a little… odd. Frankly they weren’t the prettiest buns on the dim sum trolley but looks aren't everything! I was hoping they would taste good. Well… the good news is that I did a decent job with the filling but the buns themselves tasted chewy and doughy, not the light and airy interior I was hoping for.
The recipe I used came from Ellen Leong Blonder’s Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch. This seemed like a pretty decent recipe to me. The use of baking powder and baking soda would provide additional leavening power along with the yeast raised dough. The author states that the vinegar makes the dough more tender.
(Half of the original recipe)
Starter
1 tsp active dry yeast (I used instant yeast)
1/2 C lukewarm water
3 Tbsp sugar
3/4 C cake flour
Dough
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1 C cake flour
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp shortening (I used oil)
- The recipe is not entirely to blame for my poor results because I did not have any cake flour, so I substituted AP flour, which I suspect was mistake number one. The lower gluten content in cake flour would result in more tender buns. Also cake flour is bleached so the buns would be whiter than those baked with unbleached AP flour (mine were a bit yellow).
- Another possibility is that I overkneading the dough, leading to gluten formation. I used my Kitchenaid to knead the dough for a good 5 minutes. In retrospect this may not be good for bun dough because Chinese buns are not as chewy as oven-baked bread. Perhaps, less kneading the better.
- I also found some conflicting information about what leavening is best buns. Some say that using a yeast dough is unnecessarily because restaurants use only baking powder and cake flour. On the other hand, some sources attest that using only baking powder will yield bao that are less fluffy than those made with both yeast and baking powder.
- The grind of the flour also seems to be important. Some recipes call for Hong Kong flour, which is bleached, superfine flour. Maybe I'll look into buying this at my local Asian grocer but I think, cake flour would be an adequate substitute. Buns made entirely from cake flour are sometimes too lumpy, thus cake flour should be mixed with some AP flour.
- Some recipes call for milk instead of water. Maybe milk would create a more delicate dough.
What should I do for next time?
- Flour: Hong Kong/special bao flour? Cake flour? 50/50 cake and AP flour?
- Leavening: Yeast + baking powder or just baking powder?
- Liquids: Milk or water?
- Less kneading?
- Longer rise? Longer time for the starter?
- More baking soda + vinegar for an even higher rise?
And the final question? How do I get the bao to look like the ones served at dimsum. The bun itself looks like it blossomed, the filling isn’t entirely encased. Do I snip after I steam? I snipped before I steamed this time and it was pretty far from what they look like at dim sum.
