02 March 2008

Cream Cheese Bread: More Experiments

I've finished my experiments on the cream cheese bread. In the process, I learnt a little more about bread too.

The whole "story" started when my husband (who's super health conscious...lol...) wanted a healthier version of the nice cream cheese bread. His ideal is to have a bread that does not have too much fats, esp trans fats.

So these are the different experiments I've carried out these few days. I feel like a scientist!

Experiment 1
I tried replacing the 250g bread flour with 100g of bread flour and 150g of wholemeal flour. I also replaced the butter with corn oil.

Result: The bread couldn't rise very much during proofing, especially during the second proofing. As a result, the bread was denser than the original Cream Cheese Bread. It resembles more like the wholemeal bread which I started off with, a bit kueh-like.

Experiment 2
I thought I've changed too many ingredients in my first experiment, so this time round, I decided to just alter the flour and keep the butter status quo. I replace the 250g bread flour with 200g bread flour and 50g wholemeal flour.

Result: The bread turned out very well (see picture here).

Experiment 3
Having got the flour ratio to be ok, I decided to experiment with the butter. Keeping the wholemeal and bread flour ratio as in experiment 2, I replace the butter with corn oil.

Result: The result is similar to my first experiment, a denser bread than it should be.

So from these 3 experiments, I concluded that the butter is the crucial factor in making soft and fluffy bread and cannot be replaced with corn oil just as I like. I may try another version with trans-fat free magarine to see if it can give the same fluffy result as butter. Will document it in my blog later if I do try it.


I didn't bake any bread during the weekend as my 2 daughters are not well. The youngest one has been having fever for 4 days and haven't shown much improvement. Going to bring her to the doctor again tomorrow.

However, I managed to cook the Golden Sesame Prawns for lunch today. This was one of the recipes I've learnt from Gina during the Tekka Tour cum Seafood Cooking Demo.



I also did a simple Sardine Puff using off the shelf frozen prata skin. Great for lazy people like me...lol...




Mood: worried

13 comments:

Rei said...

wf, i posted my bread recipe using corn oil on my blog. can use as reference. mine's soft and fluffy.

rgds

sweet-tooth said...

Don't worry, your daughters will get well very soon :D

Anonymous said...

hi,

came across yr blog and realised i've attended Gina baking class (cranberry spong cake)with you.

yr golden sesame prawn looks great. wonder you can share the receipe.

my email; es_ong65@hotmail.com

many thks
esther ong

Anonymous said...

Hey, your cream cheese bread is definitely something I'll attempt BUT first, I need to get a loaf pan. Hee

KWF said...

thanks rei! I've left a comment in your blog. looks like I need more experiment to get the perfect healthy bread.

sweet-tooth, thanks! my elder daughter is getting better. but the youngest one has got pneumonia (confirmed by dr today). I need to bring her back for review tmr, hopefully she can get better so tt she does not need to be admitted.

hi esther *wave wave* the recipe is in the link in my blog entry. happy trying!

bernice, you can use the original recipe (see the link posted in my blog entry) which is a breadmaker recipe. I've just adapted the recipe to suit my own VM.

Rei said...

WF, I answered your qn in my blog. :)

rgds

KWF said...

Thanks rei! Already read your blog. :)

cocoa said...

Interested experiment about your bread, I have yet to get my bread flour to try the cream cheese bread.. shame on me :)

Nice prawnn.. and i am planning to try the sardine prata too

KWF said...

cocoa, take your time on the cream cheese bread. :) The sardine puffs make good treats when I'm lazy to bake something from the scratch...hahaha...

Anonymous said...

Hey, thanks for experimenting the recipe! Have tried making the bread and absolutely love it!

KWF said...

bernice, glad your wholemeal version turns out well.

Rei said...

Hi WF, I experimented with corn oil already.. can work leh.. :D

KWF said...

rei, I just read your post in the KC thread. I know what went wrong with mine. I replaced with 20g of corn oil instead. After I read the bread book I borrowed, I realised liquid oil must be less than solid oil. Good lesson there for me. Through all these experiments I actually learnt a lot more.

For all the readers out there, if you want prefer corn oil, can replace with 15g of it. Thanks rei for testing that out!