Brown Sugar Cinnamon Mantou(紅糖肉桂花卷)

Redefining Recipes for the Digital Age

Ingredients

250 g plain flour
30 g brown sugar
3 g instant yeast
45 g boiling water
80 g cold water
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
50 g brown sugar
10 g ground cinnamon

Steps

Brown Sugar Dough
Start by melting brown sugar in 45 g of boiling water, once the sugars are fully melted, then add remaining 80 g of cold water
Add in instant yeast into the liquid
Pour the liquid into the flour
Turn the mixing machine to the lowest setting to incorporate all into for about 1-2 minutes
Once a dough is formed, turn it up to medium tier and mix for about 6 minutes to form a smooth dough. The secret here for making the brown sugar dough darker is to add a bit of dark soy sauce. Don’t worry it doesn’t bring any saltiness to the dough, colours only
After 6 minutes, you should get a smooth dough like this
Let rest for about 5 minutes
Cinnamon sugar fillings
Add ground cinnamon to brown sugar and mix until well blended
Dough construction
Take out the dough onto a surface with flour to avoiding sticking
Roll the dough out Into a long thin rectangular sheet
Prepare some water, and slightly dampen the sheet with a bit of water for better sticking of the cinnamon sugar filling
Then spread out the cinnamon sugar fillings evenly onto the sheet
And press gently so that the fillings adhere onto the dough better
Then fold the top 1/3 of the dough to the middle, followed by the bottom 1/3
After that, cut the dough into about 2 fingers thick. It is best to have even numbers of strips here
And stack them into pairs as shown
To shape, use a rod shape item to press in the middle of the stack
And pull and stretch the dough very gently so the it doesn’t break
After that, twist the both ends
And fold it into a ring shape like this
Repeat for the remaining doughs and place them into a steamer
Let them proof for about 1 hour or until the dough has grown 1.5x in size
Once done fermenting, let steam over boiling water for 12 minutes. Turn the heat off and let them sit for another 3 minutes before opening the lid so the bread doesn’t shrink
Once done, they are ready to serve. Eat while hot!