[KitchenAid Dough Recipe] Matcha Azuki Bun with Salted Cherry Blossom

Matcha Azuki Bun with Salted Cherry Blossom

Hi folks, it's Monday again and I hope you had a great rest over the weekend. Recently you might have realized that I am back into bread making from those Instagram posts which I have shared while testing out my new KitchenAid KSM150. And after trying a few bread recipes, I still think the best result achieved is from the “five thousand dollars starter dough” recipe which I shared last week.

So in this post, I will be using the same 5K starter dough recipe with a twist to turn it into our current favourite bread which is; Matcha Azuki Bun with Salted Cherry Blossom.

MATCHA AZUKI BUN WITH SALTED CHERRY BLOSSOM

Matcha Azuki Bun with Salted Cherry Blossom

The story behind these buns derives from my desire to visit Japan during the bloom of their Cherry Blossom season. As it is always my dream since teens to be able to experience and see these beautiful shades of pink flowers in real, sometime I do feel sad whenever I saw friends sharing photos on those beautiful cherry blossom from their social media platforms. So to comfort myself, I made these lovely Matcha Azuki Buns with Salted Cherry Blossom which is a fusion of our local Red Bean Bun that is available in most bakery.

(Yield: 6 Buns | Preparation: 3 - 4 hrs (includes proofing) | Baking: 30 mins)

Ingredients:

Starter Dough:

• 105g Bread Flour
• 45g Cake Flour
• 12g Caster Sugar
• 3g Instant Dry Yeast
• 120g Water, room temperature

Main Dough:

• 105g Bread Flour
• 45g Cake Flour
• 47g Caster Sugar
• 3/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt
• 12g Milk Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Matcha Powder
• 45g Lightly Beaten Egg
• 27g Water, room temperature
• 36g Unsalted Butter, soften

Fillings And Toppings:

• 240g Bake King Red Bean Paste
• 1/2 Tablespoon Black Sesame Seeds
• 6 - 8 Pickled Salted Cherry Blossom
• 1 Tablespoon Melt Butter For Brushing The Bread

Step-by-step on how to make starter dough

Method:
1. Mix starter dough ingredients together using a wooden spoon or spatula in a large mixing bowl and let it sit in a warm place to raise till it look like honeycomb texture (about 1 - 1.5hrs).

2. Next add starter dough together with the main dough ingredients (except butter) in a stand mixer bowl or hand knead till soft and non-sticky dough before adding in the butter and continue to knead till shiny and pass through windowpane test.

3. Leave dough in a warm place to rise till double in size (about an hour).

4. Divide dough (total weight is around 600g) equally into 6 - 8 portions depending on your preference or baking pan size (my measurement for each bun weights: dough (100g) and red bean paste (40g)).

5. Flatten each dough into rectangle shape, place one portion of red bean paste shown above on the dough. Roll it up like swiss-roll method and shape them into round balls and place on oiled baking tin and let it rise double in size (30 - 45 mins depend on the weather).

6. Before baking decorate the buns with sesame seeds and salted cherry blossom (soaked it with water for at least 5 minutes, pat dry with paper kitchen towel before use). 7. Bake in preheated 180ºC (356ºF) oven for 30 minutes till nicely brown and sounds hollow when tap on top of the bread.

8. Remove bread from baking tin, brush the top with melt butter immediately then set aside to cool.

抹茶樱花红豆面包

酵头：
105克高筋面粉
45克低筋面粉
12克细砂糖
3克即发干酵母
120克水，室温

主面团：
105克高筋面粉
45克低筋面粉
47克细砂糖
3/4 茶匙海盐
12克奶粉
1汤匙抹茶粉
45克全蛋
27克水，室温
36克无盐牛油

馅料和表面装饰：
240克红豆馅
１塘汤匙融化的无盐牛油
一些黑芝麻
一些盐渍樱花

做法：
1。将酵头的材料依照次序（面粉，糖，酵母）倒进大碗中再慢慢加入水搅拌均匀。然后盖上保鲜纸，放温暖处发至膨胀后回落，内部呈蜂窝状（整个过程大约1 － 2小时要看天气和温度，你可查看以上的酵头做法图）。

2。将酵头与主面团 （除无盐牛油以外）的所有材料放在一起揉至面筋扩展，表面光滑。（我是用 KitchenAid KSM 150 搅拌机，２号度来代替手揉面团）

3。之后加入无盐牛油（软状）再揉至扩展阶段，放温暖处发至约2倍大（整个过程大约1 － 1.5小时要看天气和温度）。

4。将面团取出，平均分割成 6 － 8份，立即将面团搓成长方形然后包入红豆馅 （每份重量大约：面团１００克，红豆馅40克）之后排列在涂油的烘盘上，盖上布或保鲜纸再进行第二次发酵（整个过程大约30 分钟到１小时要看天气和温度）。

5。第二次发酵结束（参考以上的图片）在面团上撒些黑芝麻和用盐渍樱花点缀然后送入预热180℃的烤箱（放最后第二层）用上下火烘30分钟左右直到面包表面呈现金黄色。

6。从烤箱取出后立刻在面包表面刷上融化的黄油然后放一旁冷却。

Just to share:

This is how my starter dough looks like after 1 hour of proofing in a warm place. You can refer to the step-by-step photo above on how to prepare this starter dough.

KitchenAid Artisan KSM150 Stand Mixer

I am using my KitchenAid stand mixer fix with dough hook for this recipe.

- First add main dough flour mixture (set aside 1 cup) into the mixer bowl follow by sugar and the starter dough.

- Attached bowl and dough hook, lock mixer head, turn to Speed 2 , slowly add in egg and water and mix till combined (about 2 minute).

- Continuing on Speed 2, gradually add in remaining flour (1/4 cup at a time). Mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 5 minutes.

- DO NOT exceed Speed 2 when preparing yeast doughs as this may case damage to the mixer.

Pickled Cherry Blossoms (盐渍樱花)

These are the lovely Salt Pickled Cherry Blossoms (盐渍樱花) which you could read more about it on another related post here.

Here is a short clip showing the texture of the bread after a day. If you cannot view the video above, click on my Instagram link here.

Matcha Azuki Bun with Salted Cherry Blossom

As you can see from the photos and short clip above, the texture of the bread is just as good as those store bought which is soft and fluffy. And when eaten warm, I love the oozing red bean paste which goes well with the soft matcha bun but I shall try using whole azuki bean paste next round for that extra bites.