Savings

My neighborhood pharmacy is CVS.  I like going there because the pharmacy staff is friendly and helpful.  I also buy my vitamins at CVS. And if you have the ExtraCare Card, then you are saving a good chunk of money. CVS typically has coupons when you have the ExtraCare Card. There is usually a sale going on where you buy 1, get 1 free.  I buy my calcium and prenatal vitamins at CVS.

I got all this for $12.62!  What a deal!

It is so hot here, likes in the 90s and with high humidity. I must admit it is terribly unpleasant.  Why are the winters here so cold and the summers so sticky?  That's a BOO all around.  After work today, I did my work out and showered.  Then I just laid around the couch trying too cool off.  Boy, I'll tell you microfiber fabric insulates a lot of heat in this humid climate.

I've had a pretty eventful week since I have been back.  This past Friday and Saturday, I worked a Demo gig with Oral B promoting an Electric Toothbrush. It's sales experience which I can add onto my CV.  It was really tough standing for 6 hours. I was in a lot of pain after the first day. The next day, my demo table got trashed so I made due with a table and decorated it with the product. Unfortunately, that's when someone was checking up on me.  But she was cool about it and said I did a good job.  Phew!  I also had a mystery shopper.  It was an eventful Saturday.

My demo table

My impromptu demo table after it got trashed.

After work on Saturday, I also committed to volunteering at the Summer Celebration at the parish we have been attending. It was actually quite fun manning the Ice Cream Station.  We got all suited up as you can see.

I head back home today.  Just chilling at my sister's place until my flight. Even though this has been one of my shorter trips, I felt like I have been out here a while.  When I checked in yesterday, I contemplated extending my time out here.  But alas, I have an appointment tomorrow so it is time for me to return home.

It will be nice to be back in my element and return to my daily routines.  I noticed every time I am back in Cali I indulge too much in desserts. I went to Porto's yesterday, had Half and Half, got macarons the day before and etc. Perhaps, next time I shall limit these indulging habits.

I don't know when my next trip back will be.  Perhaps in November or sometime next year.  I have already been back 3 times this year.  During this trip, I went wedding dress shopping with my sister and mom.  My sister was such a trooper, so kudos to her!  This isn't her favorite activity. There's another place that I want to take her to, so I'll have to play that by ear or get someone to go with her if I don't return anytime soon.

I got my In-N-Out fixl and my shaved snow.  My usually spots that I like to hit up are:
1) In-N-Out
2) Shaved Snow (Class 302 or Tasty 2 go)
3) Din Tai Fung (for the Juicy Pork Dumplings)
4) Cheese Rolls (from Portos)
5) Bottega Louie (for the Earl Grey Macarons)
6) Half n Half Tea House
7) Baked goods or coffee jelly milk tea from 85C
8) Bibingka from Josephine's (over at Island Pacific)

These are all the things I cannot get in Chicago.  Thus, it is important to get my fill while I am here, eh? I knocked out 7 out of the 8 which isn't bad at all.

Sunny SoCal

I am beyond tired!  This usually happens when I make a trip out to Socal.  The good news is, I am all done with the working part of my trip.  How fortunate!  The rest of my trip is seeing family, hanging out with friends and etc.

Tomorrow, I am getting a haircut.  I can't wait.  I feel like my hair has lioness on me. I will probably just trim it enough for my next cut when I head out here again.  I have noticed that it is so dry out here!  I wake up with a very dry throat.  It's painful.  Perhaps, I need to stay better hydrated!

I had some cronuts today and brought some in to share with my coworkers.  They enjoyed it and I was quite glad. I am not a big cronut fan.  I actually like donuts and croissant individually, but not as a hybrid.  I just wanted to check this place at referred to by one of my colleagues.  They have a lot of varieties at DK's donuts on Santa Monica Blvd in between 16th and 17th.

Refreshing Snack or Breakfast

I must be crazy because I am baking bread in this 90 degree weather! It is so hot and humid today that my dough just wanted to melt away. Fortunately, the bread just came out of the oven so the kitchen isn't crazy hot anymore.

I wanted to share a great snack/breakfast with you guys.  I typically will have this for breakfast and top it with some fruits.  It also makes a great snack.  Really perfect for the summer heat out here.  It's Chia Pudding.

This is a really easy recipe.  You don't have to be super exact and you can play around with the pudding consistency.  For example, if you like a thick pudding consistency, then add more chia seeds, like 1/2 cup or so. If you like a thinner pudding consistency, then add less chia seeds.  Also, if you prefer a stronger vanilla flavor then add more vanilla extract.

I'll add mangos, strawberries, blueberries and whatever fruits I just happen to have.

What is Chia?  Chia is an edible seeds that comes from a desert plant. They have healthy omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, antioxidants, calcium, and proteins. It is super easy to add chia seeds into your diet.  I often add it onto my yogurt, fruits, and baked goods.

Chia Pudding Print

Yields: 2-4 servings

Ingredients:

1/3 cup chia seeds

2 cups milk

1 tsp honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine chia seeds, milk, honey and vanilla extract in a pyrex measuring cup.  Stir to combine.  

2. Let sit for 10 minutes and stir again.  

3. Place in a container and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours.  

4. Top with your choice of fruits and enjoy!

I have also used pandan which will give you Pandan Chia Pudding. You get get a nice green hue.

Topped it with mangos and blueberries

Summers in the Midwest

Where did the week go?  It's almost Sunday and I feel like time is just breezing by.  Mondays is when I usually do the laundry.  This past Tuesday, I had an interview.  On Wednesday, I had another LASIK consultation.  I have to go back again in two weeks because the doctor wants to check my left eye again. He said I have chubby corneas which I thought was really funny.  Thursday was a day in the kitchen, I made strawberry ice cream, pecan tarts, and mexican wedding cookies/russian tea cakes. Friday was an eventful day at Target.  Today, I went to a picnic with some of the parishioner at this parish I have been attending.  It was nice to meet some people from the parish and get to know them.

A while back, one of the parishioners came up to me and welcomed me to the parish and got my contact info and invited me to check out their Young At Heart Adults Group.  I thought it was pretty cool, since growing up Catholic, I was never really part of the church.  Coming up in a few weeks there is a Summer Celebration going on at the Parish.  We might check it out and even volunteer at the ice cream sundae stand.

For two weeks, I won't be able to wear my contacts since the doctor wants to check my eyes in its natural state without contact manipulation.  So I am going to have to sport my glasses.  Sadly, Frank just accidentally punch my glasses into my face so now the bridge on my nose hurt.

It has been quite warm with days, like in the 80s and 90s with high humidity.  The lake effect is really nice with the humidity.  Even though it is hot, a cool breeze is welcomed.

It's Friday!

Last week, I had a gig as a Brand Ambassador Dental Hygienist in which I promoted the Sensodyne Dental Health Spa at Fiestas Puertorriquenas (Puerto Rican Festival).  It was pretty cool because Humboldt Park isn't my usual stomping ground.  I got to step outside my comfort zone and experience another part of Chicago.  I got to meet a lot of really cool people and spread the word out about how to help prevent acid erosion.  I was able to network with local hygienist which was ideal because I am looking for work out here now.

I had Puerto Rican food for the first time.  I really enjoyed the arepas.  Here are some pictures from the festival.

Combo Plate: Rice, Chicken and Plantains

I call this Lechon

Arepas, YUM! The corn and cheese fusion!

Sensodyne Dental Health Spa

Humboldt Park

I thought this week was going to be pretty chill, but it was quite the opposite.  I ended up going on a casting call, had an interview then followed up with a working interview.  I also got some good news this week.  I am a licensed RDH in Illinois, that's why I was able to do that working interview.  I found out earlier this week.  I honestly thought I wouldn't find out until next week.  Hence, I assumed I would be pretty free.

I also got a call back from the casting call.  The clients were very happy with me, but I was unable to commit to the shoot day because I will be out of town and already have commitments for those dates. So I am kinda sad about that because it was a good opportunity.  Oh well, perhaps next time.

I am hoping next week will be a bit more chill.  I just have one event that I know of.  I am super excited because sushi is involved.

I am waiting for my other half to come back from the gym so that we can get some strawberry custard ice cream. It's my reward for such an eventful week.  Off to make some dinner, it's going to be chicken salad or chicken wrap.  We'll see what happens in the kitchen.

Multigrain Bread

Last week, I was experimenting with adding chia seeds and flax seeds into my bread recipes.  I was really happy with how it turned out.  In fact, that's how this multigrain bread was born.  I pretty much used the basic foundation of my Honey Oat Bread Recipe and added the chia and flax seeds.  With this recipe, you will get a nice soft texture and the bread will be delicious because of the butter.  

Now, let's say you want a more dense multigrain bread that has a lot of chew.  Then you would not use the butter or only use like a tablespoon and add 6 tbsp of flaxmeal.  This will give you a denser bread and you will not get as much rise out of it.  It will still be very delicious and you may just have one slice instead of two because you will feel more satisfied.  

Multigrain Bread Print

Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

1-1/3 cup warm water

2 ¼ tsp yeast

¼ cup honey

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

3 cups bread flour

1 cup Old Fashioned Oats

1/3 cup milk powder

2 tsp salt

2 tbsp chia seeds

3 tbsp Flax seeds

2 tsp honey (warmed)

2 tbsp oats

2 tsp flax seeds

Directions:

1. Combine warm water, yeast, honey, and butter in a small bowl and stir.  Let sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.

2. Using a stand mixer bowl, add bread flour, milk powder, salt, chia seeds, flax seeds, and yeast mixture.

3. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the dough for 10-12 minutes on setting 6-8 or until it comes together. (Start off slowly so you don’t get a flour cloud).

4. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and continue to knead until the dough is nice and smooth.

5. Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough in the greased bowl, forming the dough into the shape of a ball.  Coat the top with some oil to prevent getting a film on top of the dough.

6. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm draft free spot and let rise for an hour or until it has doubled in size.

7. Grease a 9X5” loaf pan with some oil and set aside.

8. Form the dough into a loaf by rolling out the dough into an 8X8 and rolling it like a jellyroll.  Pinch the seams together and place it in the greased loaf pan seam side down.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise for another hour or until it doubles in size.

9. Lightly brush the top with honey and coat with oats and flax seeds.

10. Preheat oven to 350 degree and bake for about 40 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Rotate halfway through and if the bread starts to brown before it is done, loosely cover it with foil. Allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.

I was playing with Flipagram and made this video of my bread rising.  I love a good proof!

Honey Oat Dinner Rolls

Dinner rolls are quite delicious!  Everybody loves those King's Hawaiian Rolls.  You really just can't have one.  The only down side is that each of those King's Hawaiian roll has about 100 calories.  Now, I haven't actually calculated the calories count on my Honey Oat Dinner Roll, but I can tell you that they have nutritious value.  Plus it is homemade!

I really enjoying making bread these days (especially when I get an awesome rise). There is a difference when you have homemade bread versus the store bought bread.  Homemade bread taste fresh and your kitchen will smell amazing! I know exactly what went into what I will be consuming.

I decided to make dinner rolls because it is the perfect size for my turkey burgers.  The sandwich bread was always a little big for the patty.  So this was the perfect solution and we really like the bread to burger ratio. These are like sliders size more or less.

Dinner rolls make great burgers.

Dinner rolls also make great snacks. What I also like about these dinner rolls is I won't gorge on a ton of them; they contain oats which are are more filling and leaves me satisfied with just having one.  I brushed the top with melted butter to soften the crust, you can leave that out if you want a harder crust. 

Also, make sure that you use warm water around 110-115 degrees to activate the yeast.  If your water is hot you will kill the yeast.  If it is not warm enough, then you will not activate the yeast.  Here's what it looks like when your yeast has activated.  

This recipe is just like my Honey Oat Bread; I just made them into dinner rolls.  Enjoy!

Honey Oat Dinner Rolls Print

Yields: 12 rolls

Ingredients:

1-1/3 cup warm water

2 ¼ tsp yeast

¼ cup honey

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

3 cups bread flour

1 cup Old Fashioned Oats

1/3 cup milk powder

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine warm water, yeast, honey, and butter in a pyrex measuring cup and stir.  Let sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast. (Make sure that the water is around 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit; if the water is too hot, you will kill the yeast and your bread will not proof.  Wuah Wuah)

2. Using a stand mixer bowl, add bread flour, milk powder, salt, and yeast mixture.

3. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the dough for 12 minutes on setting 6-8 or until it comes together. (Start off slowly so you don’t get a flour cloud).

4. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and continue to knead until the dough is nice and smooth even.

5. Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough in the greased bowl, forming the dough into the shape of a ball.  Coat the top with some oil to prevent getting a film on top of the dough.

6. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm draft free spot and let rise for an hour or until it has doubled in size.

7. Grease a 13X9” pan with some oil and set aside.

8. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into the shape of a ball and pinch the seams together (if necessary) and place it in the greased pan seam side down. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise for another hour or until it doubles in size.

9. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Rotate halfway through and if the bread starts to brown before it is done, loosely cover it with foil.

10. When you tap on the bread and it sounds hollow, you know it is done. Brush the top with melted butter.  This will soften the crust. Allow it to cool completely.  (You can also dig in, but I would wait 5-10 minutes at least)

Wanderlust Chicago & CHGO DSGN

This past weekend, one of my dear friends came to visit me.  She introduced me to Wanderlust.  We did Yoga in the City at Grant Park.  It was a great event and the day was perfect, sun and all.  I've never done one of these and am really glad I did.  Thanks Linh!

We snagged some great freebies and got to try some new products.  I would definitely come out to another one of these events and would encourage anyone to.  Since it was quite warm that day, I got a little sunburned.  Next time, I will have to use the sunscreen spray.

Here are some pictures from our Wanderlust adventure. #WLChicago +Wanderlust

Butler Field. Wanderlust Chicago.  What a great backdrop to practice yoga!

Yoga in the City

Getting ready to unleash our inner yogis.

After Wanderlust, we checked out the CHGO DSGN exhibition going on at the Chicago Cultural Center. This is really cool exhibition featuring pieces of recent objects and graphic design curated by Rick Valicenti.  I would highly recommend checking this exhibition out if you are in the area or planning a visit to the Chicago area.

Here are some of my favorite pieces. 

Symbols 

Honey Oat Bread

This morning I woke up with absolutely no expectations.  Those are the best days because your day is unwritten.  I was thinking about dusting the house; I ended up not doing that. I'll be dusting tomorrow I suppose.  

The weather was favorable so I decided to make some bread. Around the 60s is perfect because it doesn't get too hot in the kitchen.  And I was really impressed with the first rise.  I think I finally perfected this proofing stuff.  My second rise resulted in a favorable proof.  I was very happy with the results today.  Most of the time, I tend to go rogue with recipes, but today, I followed it to a tee.  

I adapted this bread recipe from Laura in the Kitchen.  She has some really great recipes. So I would recommend checking her out.  She has a youtube channel where she shows you step by step how to make things.  It is very helpful.  

If you are craving homemade bread, this is a great one and it is super easy to make.  Your home will smell divine and it will make you smile.  

Honey OaT Bread Print

Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

1-1/3 cup warm water

2 ¼ tsp yeast

¼ cup honey

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

3 cups bread flour

1 cup Old Fashioned Oats

1/3 cup milk powder

2 tsp salt

2 tsp honey

2-3 tbsp oats

Directions:

1. Combine warm water, yeast, honey, and butter in a small bowl and stir.  Let sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.

2. Using a stand mixer bowl, add bread flour, milk powder, salt, and yeast mixture. 

3. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the dough for 12 minutes on setting 6-8 or until it comes together. (Start off slowly so you don’t get a flour cloud).

4. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and continue to knead until the dough is nice and smooth.

5. Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough in the greased bowl, forming the dough into the shape of a ball.  Coat the top with some oil to prevent getting a film on top of the dough. 

6. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm draft free spot and let rise for an hour or until it has doubled in size. 

7. Grease a 9X5” loaf pan with some oil and set aside.

8. Form the dough into a loaf by rolling out the dough into an 8X8 and rolling it like a jellyroll.  Pinch the seams together and place it in the greased loaf pan seam side down.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise for another hour or until it doubles in size. 

9. Lightly brush the top with honey and coat with oats.

10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 40 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Rotate halfway through and if the bread starts to brown before it is done, loosely cover it with foil. Allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.

Citizen Schools

Yesterday, we had the WOW! Spring Showcase 2014.  Over the past few months, Frank and I have been Citizen Teachers for Citizen Schools teaching a Comic Apprenticeship.  This was a very valuable experience that I would recommend.  If you have some expertise and want to give back to youth, this will be a most rewarding experience.

Over the past few months, I have learned a lot from these students. It brings me back to my middle school days and what life was like back then.

Citizen Schools is an after school program targeted at low-income communities, so on top of regular school hours, these students have a supplemental post session.  To learn more about how you can make a difference, click here.

At the end of our apprenticeship, there is a WOW! event in which the students demonstrate what they have learned in their apprenticeship.  Our students created their very own Comic Books.  They have a lot of imagination and some came up with really great stories. I am definitely going to miss seeing their faces!

WOW! Presentation

Comic Book Covers by the students

First Day at Burger King: loved the passion of the comic artist!

Big Foot vs. Chewbaca Part 2: This student made two, I was so impressed!

Robbed: a comic about Bob and Bob.

Chi-Town Shy Guy: graffiti art/sending a message

The Missing Book: very well done, like all the work and though put into this.

Pancake and Attack of the Waffles: Great story, very well done!

I really enjoyed reading their comics and more importantly, I loved how they enjoyed reading each others.

Craft Beer Week in Chicagoland

Whenever it is a nice sunny pleasant day, Frank and I do a lot of walking. So much so that we were both tired from this weekend. We walked to Half Acre on Saturday then checked out this coffee and tea shop and made our way over to Lakeview.  

It's Chicagoland's Craft Beer Week so there are a lot of happenings that Frank wants to check out.  This weekend we went to Metropolitan's Brew Tour.  They are a local brewery in Andersonville specializing in german lagers.  So if you like german lagers, you will most likely appreciated Metropolitan's beers. I surprisingly liked the Arc Welder which is a seasonal beer made during this time of year. Metropolitan runs an operation team of 6 people.  They emphasize "fresh" in their beers, which is commendable.  Typically, Metropolitan Brewing doesn't have any public brewery tour, but since it was craft beer week, we got to check out their space and their beers.

Metropolitan Brewery centerpiece made of industrial/beer part things.

Living out here, there are so many craft breweries that Frank would dare admit that "he gets tired of drinking..." We are fortunate to be so close to the sources and taste the freshness and local releases on tap.  

Metropolitan had these cute robotic statues on tap.

Ouch!

Oh man!  I just had some ice cream and it resulted in an ice cream brutality. The ice cream scooper took a large section of my lips.  So painfully!  I was bleeding like mad.  It still stings!  So don't bother licking or getting that extra bit from the scooper.  It will sting you like a scorpion.

Homemade Bread

Today the weather allowed for baking bread.  It wasn't hot at all, in fact it was quite breezy and a bit nippy.  I decided to make some whole wheat bread because I bought some whole wheat bread flour at Whole Foods.  I also wanted to see the difference using whole wheat.  It is suppose to be more nutritious than white bread.  

I adapted my recipe from Laura In the Kitchen's YouTube channel.  She has some pretty solid recipes. I substituted 1 tbsp of vegetable shortening for 3 tbsp of flax meal.  In the future, I might not use any vegetable shortening and just use all flax meal.  I think the vegetable shortening really made it easy for the dough to come together though.  I was also thinking about using 1 cup of oat flour and 3 cups whole wheat flour instead of using all whole wheat flour.  This way it adds even more grains and fiber. Chia seeds also sounds like a great idea.  

Whole wheat breads are not light and airy, they are more dense than white bread.  They will most likely make you feel fuller longer compared to white bread. I been craving a peanut butter sandwich, so I am exciting to try it out on this creation.

Whole Wheat Bread Print

Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

1-1/3 cup warm water

2 ¼ tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

¼ cup honey

2 tbsp vegetable shortening, melted

3 tbsp flax meal

4 cups whole wheat bread flour

1/3 cup milk powder

2 tsp salt

2-3 tbsp oats (optional)

1 tsp honey (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl.  Let sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.  Add shortening and honey to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. 

2. Using a stand mixer bowl, add whole wheat bread flour, milk powder, salt, and yeast mixture. 

3. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the dough for 6 minutes on setting 6 or until it comes together. (Start off slowly so you don’t get a flour cloud).

4. Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough in the greased bowl, forming the dough into the shape of a ball.  Coat the top with some oil to prevent getting a film on top of the dough. 

5. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm draft free spot and let rise for an hour or until it has doubled in size. 

6. Grease a 9X5” loaf pan with some oil and set aside.

7. Form the dough into a loaf by rolling out the dough into an 8X8 and rolling it like a jellyroll.  Pinch the seams together and place it in the greased loaf pan seam side down.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise for another hour or until it doubles in size. 

The top 2 pictures are from the first rising, see how it has doubled in size.
The bottom 2 pictures are form the second rising, it has doubled in size.

8. Lightly brush the top with honey and coat with oats (optional).
9. Preheat oven to 350 degree and bake for about 45 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Rotate halfway through and if the bread starts to brown before it is done, loosely cover it with foil. Allow it to cool completely on a wire rack. 

Once cooled, slice away and enjoy!

Getting Old

I threw out my back yesterday.  This has been happening to me pretty often.  I must be getting OLD! Unfortunately, I had an appointment down at the Loop today so I just couldn't lay around. In cases like this, I am thankful for Motrin.  I was able to make it to my Lasik consultation appointment.

I am planning to get the Lasik procedure done in the next few months.  Right now, I am debating which doctor to go with.  It's about $1000 difference in price.  Also the method between the two doctors.  Microkeratome vs. IntraLase.  Both surgeons come very highly recommended.

I am excited to get this procedure done because I won't have to worry about contact lenses, contact solutions and my husband crushing my glasses.  

Red Bean Bread

Earlier today, I made some Red Bean Bread.  The past few days, we been eating clean with salads and such.  This was a nice treat.  This bread really isn't unhealthy.  After all it has red bean.  This is a great alternative to cupcakes and cookies.  You still get a little bit of sweetness; its a great compromise.  Plus it makes a great snack or you can have it for breakfast.

Typically, my recipe makes a loaf of bread. Sometimes though, I make 4 little buns and 1 loaf.  That just means, my loaf will be a little smaller since I took one of the sections to make 4 little buns.  If you just wanted buns, then this recipe will yield about 16 little buns. 

Personally, I think the loaf taste better because it has more texture.  I usually divide my dough into 4 parts, thus I will have 4 small sections loafs.  Great for portion control and easy to snack on.  However, you can also just make one section and fill it with red bean paste then roll it up like a jellyroll and you will have bigger swirls of red bean.

If you don't have a stand mixer, you can also use a food processor to get the dough to combine and then knead, and if you have neither, then there is always the old-fashion knead the dough by hand.  

Here's my recipe for Red Bean Bread, it's pretty much like my Hokkaido Milk Bread recipe but with a red bean filling.  

Red Bean Bread Recipe Print
(Makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

2½ cups bread flour

4 tbsp sugar  

½ tsp salt

2 tsp active yeast (1/4 oz packet)

1 egg

½ cup milk, warm

½ cup tangzhong, room temp

3 tbsp unsalted butter (cut into small pieces, room temperature)

¾ cup red bean paste

1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp of milk

1 tbsp melted butter (optional)

Tangzhong (water roux): make ½ cup of tangzhong

1/6 cup of bread flour

¼ cup milk

¼ cup water

Let’s make some bread!

1. First, make the tangzhong.  In a saucepan, whisk bread flour, milk and water well.   Heat over medium-low heat.  The mixture will thicken.  Stir consistently to prevent it from burning. Swirly lines will appear and when you have a pudding like consistency (ideally the temperature here is 149°F), take it off the heat.  You can transfer it into a small bowl.  Set aside and cool to room temperature.

2.  In your stand mixer bowl, combine bread flour, sugar, salt, and yeast.  Quickly mix using a dough hook, just to combine.  

3. Add warm milk, egg and tangzhong to the dry ingredients.

4. Knead on medium (6 on the stand mixer) for 5 minutes to let the gluten develop.

5. Decrease to speed to 4 and add in the butter while mixer is still kneading.  Continue to knead for an additional 10 minutes.

6. Once the dough is done kneading, form into a ball and place into a greased bowl.  Cover and let sit in a warm place for 40-60 minutes or until doubled in size.

7. Divide dough into four equal portions and form into the shape of a ball.  This will deflate the dough. Cover and let rest for another 15 minutes.

8. Prepare loaf pan by lightly greasing.  This will make it easier for your loaf to come out.  

9. Now it’s time to form the rolls!  Flour a nice clean working area. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into an oval.  Then fold 1/3 from the top to the middle and 1/3 from the bottom to the middle.  Rotate 90 degrees; roll out with the rolling pin.  Spread 3 tbsp of the red bean paste.  And roll dough like a jellyroll.  Place the roll with seam side down into loaf pan. Repeat with the remaining dough.

The lower left picture is where the filling would be added.

10. Let sit for another 30-60 minutes in a warm place, or until the dough doubles in size. 
11. Preheat oven to 350°F.

12. Brush loaf with egg wash and bake for 30 minutes on center rack.  Rotate halfway through and if the bread browns before it is done, loosely cover it with foil.

13. When done, place on a wire rack and brush the top with melted butter.  This will soften the crust and add some deliciousness.  After 5 minutes, remove from loaf pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Here are the little red bean buns. I put roughly 1 tbsp of the red bean paste and baked them for about 18-20 mins at 350 degrees. If you are planning to make buns, then use about 1 cup of red bean paste and fill with about 1-1/2 tbsp of the filing.