SNAFU

We learn from mistakes. If we don't ever make them, we won't learn or grow, or become better. The greatest danger is to stay dormant, to stunt our own growth, to lead a terribly uneventful life that does absolutely nothing for yourself and anyone. We are always told to be satisfied, to be content, to treasure what we have and to accept that we cannot have everything. That is wise, especially when it comes to materialistic wants, but it does not apply for everything. I, for one, am not satisfied with my music (therapy) skills and aim to improve. I'm not content with the knowledge that I already have in regards to the world, news, politics, history. I want to know more about cooking and the chemistry behind foods.

Someone once told me that parroting is stupid. By parroting, he meant listening to someone else's opinions or "facts" and "truths", and taking it in as your own. We all need to hunt for the truth ourselves, and develop our own way of thinking. Do as much research on everyone else's differing opinions before forming our own beliefs and truths. 

From cookkk

Why am I talking about mistakes? Because of this. This is a recipe I will use again. Even though I succeeded in making it today, I also failed. Will I make the same mistakes again? You bet I won't, because I'm writing it down here, laying out my mistakes and ironing it for next time.

From cookkk

The dough itself is not hard. Much like any other bread dough, start with 140mL warm water, 3 tsp sugar, 1.5 tsp yeast. Mix and set aside. Combine 2.25 cup plain flour, 0.5tsp baking powder, bit of salt if using, and 1 tbsp oil, add in the yeast mixture, and knead till you get a dough. By hand (because I still do not own a Kitchenaid), it takes about 10-20 mins, depending on how strong you are.

Oil the surface and leave in a warm place for about an hour till it has doubled in size. I used my oven, which I heated a bit. Turned it off when the dough was sitting inside of course, because it needs to rest in a draft-free place. I used this time to walk to the shops near me to get some coconut milk, which I didn't have. It was about an hour and a half by the time I got back. Dough was fine.

From cookkk

I know, most people would make the filling first so it can cool by the time the dough's ready. I didn't because I didn't have all the ingredients yet. On the stove in a pot, combine 0.25tsp salt, 2 tbsp custard powder, 0.5 cup sugar (use less!) and 0.5 cup cornstarch. Stir in 0.5cup coconut milk and 2 tbsp condensed milk. All these ingredients I had at hand, except for coconut milk. Stir over medium heat till it thickens. I use a whisk because it gets rid of lumps a lot easier than spatulas. It takes about 5-6 mins to thicken, then add 2 tbsp butter and once it has all melted, take the pot off the heat. Add 2 egg yolks, mix well and put back on the heat. 

Stir constantly till it pulls away from the sides and you get the consistency of choux pastry. leave to cool before dividing into 16 portions. The funny thing is, even if your filling is warm, you can still wrap it. The warmth actually helps with the second rising. Just make sure it's not hot.

And there's my first problem right there. There isn't enough dough for the amount of filling I have. Technically, you can portion the dough into 16 pieces, I only managed to get 14 out of my dough, so I guess rolling out the dough thinner would be better. 

From cookkk

Grab the dough, roll it out into a flat circular shape, then press the edge around the circumference even thinner (so the dough is thicker in the middle, thinner on the edge). A ball of filling in the middle, enclose. Those folds on the bun goes on the bottom so you get a smooth top. Custard buns are like upside down char siew baos. Put them on grease-proof papers.

Leave them in a warm place for the second rise- 20 mins till they've grown before steaming around 10 minutes.

Second problem: when working with yeast, timing and temperature is crucial. Too hot, yeast dies. Too cold, yeast refuses to activate. Timing- too short, dough doesn't rise, too long- dough rises and then shrinks. I steamed two of the buns immediately after the second rise for my parents, but the rest, I thought I should keep them because we won't be consuming them so soon. 

Wrong thing to do. This bao is so delicate, if you leave them for too long, they lose the air which the yeast worked hard to make and you end up with a deflated bun. Correct thing to do would have been to steam them all immediately and then leave them to cool. Re-steam when ready to eat, or chuck them into the freezer. If I had stopped to think about it, this is very much common sense. Instead, I was left with deflated buns. When I put them into the steamer after I realised my mistake, it was too late. Handling the bun after its second rising is also a mistake- you don't want to push any of the air out of the dough or it won't be fluffy. 

Ah well. This culinary interest is going to be a steep learning curve always. We can never stop learning. At least my parents loved it.