Anybody who has been to Hong Kong and eaten in a local cafeteria we called
"tea restaurant". It is different from "Yum Cha" where you have Chinese tea
and Dim Sum. A "tea restaurant" is usually serving western style of food
but made to a local form to suit the taste of the people. Some of the
famous items are coffee and milk tea with their own recipe, egg tart,
french toast, sandwiches and a few Hong Kong style breads. One of these is
called "pineapple bread" which contains no pineapple at all. Another one is
"Cocktail bread" which again must scratch the head of how the name is
given. Both pineapple bread and Cocktail bread are sweet bread based.
Pineapple Bread ---- a round sweet bread with a layer of sweet, crispy
covering on the top similar to "strudel" found on top of some muffins. In
the local "tea restaurant" it is often served with a slice of hard butter
of 3mm thick.
Cocktail bread----- an oblong sweet bread with a sweet filling inside.
Sweet bread dough
16 oz bread flour
1/2 oz custard powder
2 oz butter
1/2 oz milk powder
4 oz white sugar
8 oz water
1 egg
1/4 oz instant yeast
Mix the ingredient for the dough and knead until elastic. Set aside to rise
to double in volume, divide dough into 18 to 20 portions and ready to shape
into either Pineapple bread or cocktail bread.
Pineapple bread
You need to prepare the sweet pineapple crust to place on top.
Sweet pineapple crust(with no pineapple)
7 oz plain flour
1/2 oz milk powder
4 oz sugar
2 oz butter
2 oz lard
2 tsp milk
2 tsp egg yolk
2 drops vanilla essence
1/3 tsp *baking soda
1/3 tsp *cooking ammonium powder
Mix all ingredient to form something like a ball, wrap by clings and put
into the fridge to harden. Roll into a long roll of 1 inch in diameter and
cut into 1 inch. Press each portion with the flat blade of a chopper or
roll by a stick with clings on top to form a circular layer of 2 to 2 1/2
inches in diameter amd 2 mm thick. When the round sweet bread has gone
through the second rise to double. Gently brush with egg wash and place the
circular pineapple crust on top. Brush again with egg and bake in a 180 C
oven for 15 minutes until the top of the pineapple crust is slightly
browned and slit into a pattern which together with some imagination may be
considered to resemble the skin of a pineapple. Maybe this is why it gets
its name.
* the baking soda and cooking ammonium powder are the ingredients to give
the crust its characterstic texture and taste but if you cannot get cooking
ammonium powder you may try to substitute these two with one tsp of baking
powder.
Cocktail bread
1 portion of Sweet bread dough
Sweet filling
5 oz Plain flour
2 oz shredded coconut
1 oz milk powder
8 oz white sugar
10 oz butter
vanilla essence
Mix all ingredients into a dough and divide into 18 to 20 portions.
Sweet piping
3 oz soft butter
1 oz white sugar
2 oz plain flour
Cream butter and sugar until creamy and nearly white in colour, add flour
and mix. Put into a piping bag or paper funnel for piping.
Assembling the cocktail bread:
Get a portion of the sweet bread dough (about 2 oz) after the first rise
and press flat to oblong. Place a portion of the sweet filling in the
centre and roll the bread into an oblong dough to incooperate the filling
inside. It should be around 3 - 4 inch long and 1 - 2 inch wide and make
sure the filling is sealed otherwise oil will drip out. Place them side by
side on a baking tray allowing some space for the second rise. When these
are double in volume, brush with egg wash and sprinkle some sesame on top
and pipe two lines of sweet piping on the surface at right angle to the
long axis about one and a half inches from both ends. Bake at 180 C oven
for 15 min.
These breads are certainly not suitable as a daily bread due to the fat and
sugar content but they are really terrific when fresh out of the oven and
are worth indulge in from time to time.
Please try out the recipe, comment or feed back.
Regards
Cindy HK