taro bread loaf

Soft Taro Milk Pullman Loaf

| San

Soft Taro Milk Pullman Loaf // Mono + Co

Adapted from this recipe from almost a year ago, I have since made 2 changes to this recipe.
– using plain flour sold in bulk from the wet market
– substituting fresh milk with milk powder

With these alterations, I have done away with the need to recycle the plastic bags from bread flour as well as plastic bottles and paper cartons from fresh milk purchase.  Less time spent on rinsing and sorting recyclables, more time for a longer breakfast.

Soft Taro Milk Pullman Loaf
300g plain flour
1/2 tablespoon instant dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons organic raw sugar
2 tablespoons milk powder
135g steamed taro, mashed
1 egg **
130g water
25g cold unsalted butter, cubed

** I use egg that weighs 55g with shell

In a mixer bowl, mix well the dry ingredients: plain flour, yeast, sea salt, raw sugar, and milk powder with a hand whisk.  Add cooled mashed taro, egg, and half of the water to the dry ingredients, and knead with a dough hook attachment on the lowest speed (KA 1).  Slowly add in the remaining of the water, with the mixer running, until the ingredients come into a ball.  You might need more or less water stated in the recipe, depending on the moisture content of the taro.  Let the dough stand for 15 minutes, covered.

Start the mixer running on its lowest speed again, and knead the dough for 1 minute, before adding cubed butter, one by one.  Knead until the dough reaches window pane stage, this is when the dough becomes very smooth and elastic, and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  Remove the bowl from mixer, cover and bulk rise for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

After an hour, the dough should have expanded, punch it down to release the gas, and transfer to a clean work top.  Flatten the dough to push out gas trapped inside the dough, either by hand or a rolling pin.  Shape the dough into a log and place it in a greased bread tin, seam side facing downwards.   Let this sit in a draft free place to rise for another 50-60 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 30 minutes.  Remove the bread from the pan immediately after baking, and let it cool on a rack completely before slicing or serving.

Store in an airtight container if not consumed immediately, to keep the loaf soft and the crumbs from drying out.

Condensed Milk Wholemeal Taro Sandwich Loaf

| San

Condensed Milk Wholemeal Taro Sandwich Loaf // Mono + Co

It’s always more exciting to bake Pullman loaf in a covered tin.  The bread dough is left to rise without a view during the last 15 minutes of proofing time, leaving this baker hoping hard that it will fill up to the brim without a hitch, preferably reaching all corners, producing a perfect squarish sandwich bread which sliced.

So it’s natural for my heart skipped a beat when I uncovered the lid after baking and saw this browned top crust, perfect.

Condensed Milk Wholemeal Taro Sandwich Loaf // Mono + CoCondensed Milk Wholemeal Taro Sandwich Loaf // Mono + Co

I adapted a recipe from Zoe, a cheerful mom who bakes for her happy kids in Melbourne.  The latest bread recipe she lauded to be soft and chewy is one with condensed milk added.  I simply love the sight of the tight crumbs in her photos, so I halved the recipe, added mashed taro (my secret to fluffy bread) on top of condensed milk (Zoe’s magic ingredient), switched 1/3 of the flour to wholemeal, and started kneading away.

Glad to have another reliable and versatile sweet loaf recipe in my (almost) daily bread baking repertoire.

Condensed Milk Wholemeal Taro Sandwich Loaf // Mono + Co  Condensed Milk Wholemeal Taro Sandwich Loaf // Mono + Co Condensed Milk Wholemeal Taro Sandwich Loaf // Mono + Co Condensed Milk Wholemeal Taro Sandwich Loaf // Mono + Co

Condensed Milk Taro Pullman Loaf
adapted from here

200g plain flour
100g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 heap tablespoon milk powder
100g condensed milk 
68g steamed taro, mashed 
120g water 
20g cold butter, cubed

In a mixer bowl, place plain flour, wholemeal flour, instant yeast, sea salt, and milk powder and mix with a hand whisk to mix these dry ingredients well.

Add condensed milk, cooled mashed taro, and half of the required water, then turn on the mixer to start kneading with a hook attachment while pouring the remaining water slowly, stop the mixer when the ingredients have come into a ball.  Let this dough rest aside for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, turn on the mixer again to knead the dough for 1 minute, before adding the cubed butter one by one.  Continue to knead when all traces of butter are gone, until the dough reaches window pane stage, it will be very elastic and smooth and pull away from the side of a very clean bowl.

Stop the mixer and remove the bowl, let the dough bulk rise for 60 minutes covered with a pot lid or clean towel.

After an hour, the dough would have risen to double its volume.  Punch it down to release gas, transfer to a clean worktop.  Divide the dough into 3 equal portions (mine weighs about 212g each.)  Flatten each dough to push out gas trapped during the bulk rise stage, then roll out into a long oval strip.  Roll it up like a swiss roll from the shorter end, and placed it in a well greased Pullman loaf tin, seam side downwards.  Repeat with the other 2 portions of dough.

Cover the tin and leave it aside to proof for 60 minutes.  Bake for 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 160C.  Remove bread from tin immediately after baking and let it cool completely on a rack before slicing to serve or storing in an airtight container.

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Soft Taro White Loaf

| San

Soft Taro White Bread // Mono + Co

I like adding taro to bread recipes as it gives the bread a milky white shade.  I add quite a bit of butter (20-40g depending) to my bread doughs, so the end bake usually ends up with a slight tinge of yellow.  But not bread with taro added.  The texture will also appear more cottony soft because of its white crumbs.  The bread is definitely soft, of course, like all other bread baked with root vegetables added.  I had to cool the bread on its side which has the largest surface area, as the bread was collapsing under its own weight.  By the time it completely cools down, I realised that rack marks have been made on its side!

Soft Taro White Bread // Mono + Co

To buy a whole taro for my small family will be too much.  Only a 100g is needed for this recipe, so I usually ask the grocer to sell me a third or half of a big taro, that’s why I love buying my supplies from the wet markets, everything is negotiable! I will then steam the whole thing, use 100g of it to bake bread, chop the remaining into large chunks so that they fit into my  airtight container and keep in the fridge, to be used up within a week.

Soft Taro White Bread // Mono + Co Soft Taro White Bread // Mono + Co

I adapted from this taro bun recipe that is baked in an 8-inch round pan.  My Pullman tin is smaller, so I used 200g of bread flour instead of 230g.

Soft Taro White Loaf
200g bread flour
1/2 tablespoon instant dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons raw sugar
100g steamed taro, mashed
1 large egg **
30g water
30g cold butter, cubed

** I use a large egg weighing 70g.

In mixer bowl, combine bread flour, yeast, salt, and sugar well with a hand whisk.  After the dry ingredients are mixed, add cooled mashed taro, beaten egg and half of the water.  Start the mixer and knead on its lowest speed (KA 1) .  If the ingredients do not come together into a ball, slowly add more water, spoon by spoon, once a ball dough starts to form, stop.  Let the dough sit for 15 minutes.  If your kitchen is windy, cover the bowl with a clean tea towel.

After 15 minutes, start the mixer again and knead for 1 minute before adding cubed butter, one by one.  Knead this until the dough reaches window pane stage; when the dough becomes very smooth and elastic.  Remove bowl from mixer and bulk rise this for 1 hour.  It will rise to double its original volume.

Punch the dough down and transfer it to a clean work top.  Flatten dough with a rolling pin to push out gas inside the dough.  Shape the loaf and place in greased bread tin, seams side facing downwards.  Let it rise in a draft-free place for 50-60 mins.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 30 minutes.  Once done, invert pan carefully and remove bread from the pan and let it cool completely on a rack.

Store in an airtight container.

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