Thursday 14 June 2007

Pork Floss Loaf

A couple of weeks ago, we planned to have breakfast at Toastbox...a local cafe chain that offers toasts with pork floss toppings and serves really good kopitiam-style coffee. However, we were too lazy and woke up way too late. To save myself from the cravings for pork floss toasts, I bought a loaf of bread from Toastbox that day and tried to replicate it the following morning.

Here's my replica of the pork floss toast. I lightly toasted the bread, added some butter, and cut the slice into 9 squares. Then topped with pork floss and drizzled some condensed milk over. It tasted not bad, I really liked the bread...very soft and came with a nice milky fragrance.


I also tried making the milo toast. Actually I have not tasted milo toast from Toastbox before...so I wasn't sure whether this came close to the real thing?



It was almost 3 weeks ago since I last baked a loaf of bread. I simply couldn't resist the urge to bake a loaf yesterday. I used a Pullman bread recipe to bake a plain loaf with pork floss filling.


The bread tasted very good when fresh from the oven, the texture was rather soft and light. The crumb was very airy as well. However, when left overnight, without toasting or warming it, I find the bread a little dense and slightly chewy. So it's advisable to toast the bread before serving, if it is left overnight. I will certainly add more pork floss next time, as I find the filling a little too thin.

Ingredients:
(adapted from Bread Magic)

330g bread flour
30g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
190ml fresh milk
25g butter
some pork floss

Method:
  1. Place all ingredients in the bread pan of the bread machine, according to the sequence stated in the instruction manual of your bread machine. Select the Dough function to knead and proof the dough (about 1hr 30mins). You may also choose to let the machine do the kneading and remove the dough to proof at room temperature.
  2. Take out the dough and punch out the gas produced. Shape dough into a big ball. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
  3. Roll out the dough into a rectangle (about 15in by 8in) on a lightly floured work surface. Cover the dough with pork floss. Roll up like a swiss-roll and seal the edges tightly.
  4. Place dough, seam side down in loaf pan. Tuck in the sides underneath to give a neater look. Cover with a damp cloth and let proof for another 30mins or until the dough rise to about 80% of the loaf pan.
  5. Preheat oven to 180 degC and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes. Remove from oven and unmould immediately. Let the loaf cool off before slicing.


22 comments:

Anne said...

I always see long queues at Toast Box and I've always wondered why. I have eaten there yet but for sure it's definitely good.

I like the beautiful swirl on your loaf :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anne, you should go try the toasts at Toast Box. It's worth the wait. If u are a coffee person, they serve very good kopi!

The trick to get the swirl is to roll out the dough as long as you could before rolling it up swiss-roll style.

Mandy said...

like the porkfloss in the loaf! I will try when I am not too lazy. There's no Toastbox here :( everything have to DIY!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Mandy, will you be able to get porkfloss over at your place? I once stayed in LA area for about 3 mths, and I can understand the "frustrations"...when you crave for some food but couldn't even get the ingredients!

Everything4sweets said...

That is a good ideas using pork floss :)

bossacafez said...

hi SH jie, that toast look yummy! i think if we use normal thin bread slices it wouldnt be that nice. glad you're back, hope u had a good trip in japan =)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi everything4sweets, thanks for dropping by :)

Hi Evan, yes I agreed with you, the thick slice of bread did enhance the taste a great deal! We had a wonderful trip, must say it was one of the most exciting and fun-filled trip we had =)

Helene said...

Absolutely great! looks great and hearty!

Happy Homebaker said...

hey Helen, thanks for your kind words and it's so nice of you to link me up :)

Yujai said...

Hello! I am first time visitor :D

Did you put your bread in airtight container afterwards? I found it really helps on keep the bread soft overnight. I tried some recipe that can the bread soft for at least 2 days. Check out my blog.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi YuJai, thanks for your tips! I usually keep the bread in a plastic bag...have never tried keeping then in an airtight container. Will sure try it out next time, thanks so much!

sweet-tooth said...

mmm the pork floss loaf looks good :D

Anonymous said...

Dear HHB

Your pork floss loaf looks lovely. I am thinking of taking the lazy way out, and just dump the pork floss into the bread machine together with the other ingredients.

Do you have any idea if it will work, other than the floss will not be nicely arranged like yours??? :)

Thanks.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Rita, it is really not advisable to dump in the pork floss...I guess the pork floss will be 'infused' with the dough, and you will probably not be able to taste is from the finished loaf and this is speaking with experience! I baked a so-called oreo loaf two days ago, I simply dump in crushed oreos into the bread machine and it became a chocolate loaf, super dark and ugly, lolz! and it didnt taste anything close to oreo! ;p

Anonymous said...

HHB,

Yeah you are right! I couldn't wait for your reply and I carried out just that, and what I got was brown bread instead and I couldn't taste any of the bowl-full of floss. What a waste!!

Thanks for ur advice anyway!

Anonymous said...

wow! thats a good floss,,,, and I think it's yummy..... I like foss a lot but i dont know how to make it,, can you tell me how is it??? thanks...
happy cooking

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, I'm sorry, I don't know how to make pork floss, I use store bought ones.

Anonymous said...

Hi happy home,

Your pork floss loaf really looks perfect and so beautiful!
I did the same loaf as yours but the outcome was that there was an empty pocket between the top most layer and the pork floss. Did twice, still don't get a perfectly rolled one like yours:(

Please give me some advice.. Thanks a billion.
Ailing

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Ailing, I had the same "tunnel effect" for my "Matcha Red Bean Loaf"! I realised later it was due to the trapped air bubbles in the dough. After the 1st proof, do knock down the dough to release all the air inside. During shaping, while rolling out the dough, try to press out any trapped air bubbles, sometimes I even need to pierce the dough membrane so as to 'burst' the bubble. After spreading the dough with the pork floss (or any other fillings) remember to roll it up as tight as possible. Hope this helps :)

Esther said...

Hi Happy Homebaker, Thanks for this awesome recipe. I really enjoyed making it. I'll make this bread again and again. Although I did have the tunnel effect too, I'm still very satisfied. I wrote a post on my blog about it with the recipe. I hope you're ok with it. :)
http://x3baking.blogspot.com/2010/07/pork-floss-loaf.html
Esther

Anonymous said...

Hi Happy Homebaker. I tried the recipe the other night and I have to say it was very good it was a little on the heavy side but I guess I can reduce the flour. I just want to let you know that your recipes are very helpful and they cater to home baking which is great. One quick question, I want to try the steam bun but I don't think we have the Pau Flour here in New York. can I substitute it with regular flour instead? Thanks again

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, you can use regular flour, but the pau skin will not be as white.