Japanese milk tea bun with raisin & cinnamon sugar

Here's a very beautiful yet soft and fluffy Japanese milk tea bun with very generous amount of raisin. I replaced the liquid in this recipe with Japanese milk tea (as in photo). I have also replaced the sugar in this recipe with cinnamon sugar (made up with 1:1 ratio of brown sugar and cinnamon powder). The bun turns out smelling very fragrant and soft. A friend of mine A whom had this wasn't sure if her son would like it due to the alien spice (ie cinnamon) in it, the next morning she called me up and told me that her son loved it! Made my day :) 

Take more cinnamon. It's great. Cinnamon may help lowers risk for diabetes. It also helps fight against fungal and bacterial infection. Some researchers had also done research which revealed that diets rich in cinnamon can help reduce the body's negative responses to eating high-fat meals (Source). 

Here's the recipe 

Prepare scalded dough

• 100g bread flour (Hi protein flour) 
• 70g hot water 

Combine both in a bowl. Stir with a chopstick or folk to ensure both combine thoroughly. Cover and keep in fridge for about 15-25min. 

Prepare the main dough (I kneaded this in my breadmaker) 

• 3tbsp rice bran oil 
• 250g Japanese milk tea (made up with one sachet) 
• 2tbsp cinnamon sugar (made up with 1tbsp brown sugar and 1tbsp of cinnamon powder) 
• pinch of salt 
• 300g bread flour (Hi protein flour) 
• 100g all purpose flour (plain flour) 
• 1tsp instant active dry yeast 

4tbsp raisins, chopped

2tbsp butter, melted with 1tsp cinnamon powder and 1tbsp brown sugar  

1. Add all the ingredients (in the order listed above) in bread pan, except for scalded dough and raisins and butter. 
2. Select mode for dough 发面。 The display panel will display defaulted time of 1hr30min. Press start. 
3. When the ingredients have combined together (about 3min) add in the scalded dough by pieces. 
4. After 1hr30min, the breadmaker will beep to indicate that the dough is ready. 
5. Remove the dough from the breadmaker. 
6. On a floured surface, punch the dough to remove trapped air. Knead and throw a few times. Divide into 6 equal portions weighing about 130-150g each. 
7. With a rolling pin, flatten the portioned dough into a flat oval disk. Spread 1tsp of butter-cinnamon spread on the disk. Sprinkle with chopped raisins. Cut the flat disk into 4-5 strips but leaving one end intact (not cut). Roll up the entire strip disk to form a long twig. Twist one end, 3-4 times, and form the twisted twig into coil. Place the bun on a baking tray. Repeat with the remaining portioned dough. See my facebook link for a short video clip on this step. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154491536890352&set=vb.577660351&type=2&theater&notif_t=like 
8. Brush top of bun with water. Sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar. Let rise until the bun double their original size (takes about 30-45min). 
9. Preheat the oven to 170deg C. Bake the buns for about 18-20min. 

The last 2 steps are re-illustrated using table cloth in the following diagram. 

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up (August 2014 Event: Flour) - organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe.