Black sesame bun with sunflower seeds

I found the perfect bread for my organic peanut butter!! It's this black sesame bread! The nice nuttiness from this black sesame bun topped with sunflower seeds seems to be the perfect bread that matches nicely with my creamy organic peanut butter. I actually mix together the peanut butter with white tahini so I get lots of the omega goodness while I indulge in something that tastes so good!

 

This black sesame bread recipe is a recipe I worked out by accident. I was supposed to use my normal soy milk bun recipe for this, but my weighing scale was dirty and I had no time to wash it before I could weigh out my liquid ingredients, so I just put in one cup of the black sesame cereal milk into this recipe and the bun turned out 'oh! so fluffy!'. This dough was kneaded using my breadmaker. Its hydration level is very high. First, I'm not sure if it works kneading by hand, I have a feeling it's gonna be very messy (or sticky), and secondly, I'm not sure if it works on other breadmaker. Try it at your own risk, but the results are worth it.

 

 

 

Instead of using black sesame powder (which you can obtain simply by grinding toasted black sesame seeds), I used a sachet black sesame cereal drink powder (see photo below). I made up the black sesame drink with a cup of warm water and chilled it slightly before using it in this recipe. This drink is made up of black soya, black sesame, black rice, walnut, blackcurrants, pine nuts, black mu-er 黑木耳 and 何首乌。 I felt that drinking this drink is better than drinking black sesame alone, cos there are a multitude of other antioxidants and nutrients available from other iron-rich grains, seeds and nuts. Black soya, black mu-er and 何首乌 are also great for hair health. I have also used it to bake my favorite chiffon cupcakes recipe for my MIL's birthday.

 

 

Here's the recipe adapted from Alex Goh's scalded dough method

Scalded dough/ starter dough

·         100g bread flour

·         70g boiling water

To prepare the starter dough, pour boiling hot water over flour and stir with folk until combined into a slightly tacky dough. Cover and chill in the refrigerator. Chill for 20min before use, can keep up to 12hours in refrigerator.

Main dough

• 2tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1cup of black sesame cereal drink (made with 1 sachet in 1 cup of warm water), chilled before use
• 2.5tbsp brown sugar or dark muscovado sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200g bread flour (hi protein flour)
• 50g all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp instant active dry yeast

* about 2-3 tbsp. raw, untoasted, organic sunflower seeds.

 

1.       Remove the breadpan from the bread machine. Fit in the kneading blade.

2.       Add all the ingredients in the order listed above, except for the scalded dough prepared earlier.

3.       Insert and lock the breadpan into the bread machine.

4.       Select mode no. 7 (dough)* the display panel will display defaulted time of 01:30 (1hr30min). Press start.

5.       When all the ingredients has combined together (about 5min), add in the starter dough in small pieces.  

6.       After 1 hour 30min, a beep alert will sound indicating that the dough is ready.

7.       Remove the dough from the bread maker.

8.       On a floured surface, punch the dough a few times to remove trapped air. Knead and throw a few times. Let rest for about 5min, then form about 150-200g portion of dough into ball shape. (Cover your palms with vegetable oil if you find the dough is too sticky to knead or shape)

9.   Repeat with the rest of the ball.

10.   Brush the top of buns with beaten egg wash and sprinkle generously with sunflower seeds.

11.   Cover buns with damp cloth or cling film (or in the oven) and proof for the second time for about 45min, or until double in size.

12.   Preheat the oven to 175deg C. Bake the buns for about 15-20min.