I had always thought of condiments as a mere accessory to dumplings (just splash some black rice vinegar at the dumplings, amirite?), but my recent dish obsession called 红油抄手 (Sichuan red oil dumplings) have changed my mind.

红油抄手 is a commonly found dish to be honest, and New Shanghai in Melbourne makes a particular terrific version with peanut butter (!) that I'm still thinking about years later. But recent cravings caused me to spend the better part of a month fervently mixing up vinegar, soy sauce and chili in different proportions to get the most flavour out of them. 

Dumpling Sauce

Original Recipe from The Woks of Life
For about a dozen dumplings

I've adjusted to the sauce to my taste, and bumped down the saltiness. I've kept all the ingredients listed in a single unit, which simplifies scaling up/down as required. If you think need a bit more sauce, use a slightly larger spoon, or a tablespoon, a serving spoon, or even a small cup. 

INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 1-2 cloves) 
1 teaspoon sugar
3 teaspoon hot water
4 teaspoon soy sauce 
1 teaspoon black rice vinegar
1 teaspoon chili flakes steeped in chili oil, such as 老干妈 Lao Gan Ma
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted 

STEPS

Mince garlic. Set aside. 

In a bowl, combine sugar with hot water until well dissolved. Add garlic and the rest of the ingredients (excluding the sesame seed) and stir to combine. 

In a small saucepan set over low heat, lightly toast sesame seeds, about half a minute. Just before serving, stir the sesame seeds into the soy mixture. Serve alongside the dumplings. 

Warning: this bread will make you take a video, so you can record yourself cutting into the crunchy blistered crust.

The bread baking craze of the pandemic has been around since last year, but because I'm a little slower on the uptake (and a backlog of other recipes to explore), I've only been able to get around to baking my own loaves of bread now. There have been batches of terrific cinnamon rolls, courtesy of King Arthur, and an English brioche-like loaf from Paul Hollywood, but this marks my journey into the world of crusty bread loaves that I adore.       

This recipe is the first crusty bread that I'd ever made, and is a success from the first go. The steps are pretty simple to follow, there are no special ingredients. As the name suggests, you just have to mix the ingredients together, and no need to knead. 

The dough has a long downtime. As the dough develops over the course of a week, each step is spaced apart by days. This is a feature and not a bug! It’s great for the days when everybody is stuffed to the brim, but you still have the itch to do something with your hands. Between each long downtime, you can bring it out and work on it a little, then pop it into the fridge at your convenience and let it flourish.   

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Kenji López-Alt's Better No-Knead Bread, with additional steps taken from his video
Makes 1 small loaf of bread

INGREDIENTS

300g bread flour or all-purpose flour
4.5g (about 3/4 teaspoon) salt
3g (about 1/2 teaspoon) active dry yeast
210g water

STEPS

Whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl until well-mixed. Add water and combine the ingredients with a spatula until no areas of dry flour remains. Cover the bowl with a lid and let rest at room temperature for between 12 to 24 hours. The dough will rise over the day and double in volume, so choose a large bowl with adequate volume. 

Place the large bowl in the refrigerator, and let rest for at least 3 days (and up to 5 days). The dough might deflate from its time in the fridge. The long resting period allows the gluten to develop, and is not meant for the dough to continue rising further.    

Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface, such as a large cutting board or a clean table. Turn it once or twice and shape it into a round loaf. Line a large bowl with a well-floured kitchen towel and nest the dough inside. Cover the bowl with a metal tray (you will be turning out the dough straight onto the metal tray and baking directly on it after). Rest it at room temperature for at least 2 hours, and up to 4 hours. 

About 30-45 minutes before you want to bake the bread, preheat oven to 230°C with a rack set in the lower middle position.

When you're ready to bake, turn out the dough onto the metal tray. Coat the blade of a knife with flour and slash the top of the dough about two to three times, 1/2 inch deep each. Set the dough with the metal tray into the oven. Lightly wet a large oven-proof bowl that can fit over the dough (Essentially, you just pour a bit of water into the large bowl, swirl the water around to coat the sides of the bowl and then pour excess water out. You can see the process here - skip to 20:00 minute.) Then set the bowl upside down to cover the dough in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes with the bowl on, then remove the bowl from the oven and continue to bake for about 20-30 minutes more, until the top and bottom is crisp and well-browned. Remove the bread from the oven. Rest on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving. 

Storing
Excess bread can be wrapped in foil and stored at room temperature for up to three days. Lightly toast in a hot oven or toaster before serving.

A Sally Lunn bun first struck me with its whimsical name. Exactly what is this bread that everybody has been low-key making over and over again? And how can I get my mittens on one? 

Well, it's a bread with a great-looking exterior, that's for sure. A deep golden brown crust, shiny from a milk glaze. It's soft and yields easily to a bread knife. The bread interior is fine-crumbed and lightly yellow, gorgeous with a daub of clotted cream or a smear of jam.  

This teacake dates back to the 17th century, and attributed to a Huguenot refugee called Solange Luyon who settled in Bath and brought this sweet yeast bun to the region. The English language butchered her name into "Sally Lunn", and 400 years later, here we are (or so the legend goes.) Others offer up another version of the teacake's origin: it was originally known as "soleil et lune" ("sun and moon" in French, representing its golden crust and white interior). . A similar amount of butchering of the French words over 400 years, (I'm sensing a common theme here), voilà, it's now known as Sally Lunn. I'll leave the origins debate to the experts, while I focus on what I do best: snacking. 

Sally Lunn Buns
Original Recipe from Paul Hollywood's British Baking
Makes 1 loaf
As good as each slice tastes, cut straight from the loaf while still warm from the oven, I find them even better when sliced and lightly toasted.   

INGREDIENTS
275g bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp granulated sugar
7g sachet dried, instant yeast
30g unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg, beaten
100-120ml milk
To Glaze: 2 tsp sugar mixed with 2 tsp milk

STEPS

In a large bowl, add flour. Add salt and sugar on one side and the yeast on the other. Make a little well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and add the butter, egg and about 2/3 of the milk. Using your hand, combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients in a circular manner, all the flour has been incorporated. Continue to drizzle in a little more milk at a time, until the dough becomes be soft and sticky (You might not need all of the milk.)

In the same bowl, continue to knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes; it will be progressively less sticky, and more cohesive and smooth with kneading. Then place the dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise for about 2-3 hours.

Lightly butter a deep cake pan, and tip the dough into it. Push the dough around a bit and fold the dough in on itself until the skin of the dough is taut and vaguely round in shape (no need to be obsessive). Leave the dough to rise for about an hour, until about doubled in size.  

Preheat an oven to 200C/180Fan/Gas6. In a rack set to the lower 1/3 of the oven, bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden brown on the top. 

Brush the top and sides with the glaze as soon as it comes out of the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. It could be sliced and served warm as is, or individual slices can be lightly toasted prior to serving, until each slice has a slightly crisp exterior.   

I've loved cinnamon rolls at a wee age when I first bit into an ethereal cinnamon roll from Cinnabon. I'd tried my best to patronise Cinnabon as often as I could (though seeing that there isn't a Cinnabon in Singapore, isn't really all that often. Get on it Cinnabon!) But back when I was touring Bangkok, I couldn't contain my joy at seeing Cinnabon in Siam Paragon, and bought enough to sustain everybody on a sugar high for the rest of the day. When I was staying in a part of California without a Cinnabon presence (!!) - I was so forlorn for a cinnamon roll fix that I bought a roll of frozen Cinnabon from Walmart. 

Despite my fondness for this snack, I'd never seemed to be able to get a hang of making cinnamon rolls at home, and they'd never turn out as fluffy and soft as the ones I remember. Each attempt turned out to be an abject failure. Until well, now.

Tangzhong is a technique to make the soft, chewy Asian breads and buns we all know and love. It's a small simple step; cooking some of the dough's flour and liquid before adding the paste to the rest of the ingredient gives the final bread a much softer texture. This lends itself perfectly to making cinnamon rolls. (The science is explored in King Arthur's introduction to the technique.) The technique must've have been around for a long time, and was finally codified in 2007 in Taiwanese cookbook author Yvonne Chen's 65 Degrees C Roux the Bread. The book was originally written in Chinese, but gradually over the next couple of decades, the technique diffused over to the English-speaking community. 

There's a bit of contention online on whether using freshly grounded cinnamon is better than store-bought ground cinnamon. The first time around, I ground up cinnamon sticks using a mortar, a pestle and a heckuva elbow grease. Despite my best efforts, the grounded cinnamon still has shards of soft cinnamon bark which distract from the texture of the buns. Using freshly ground cinnamon also didn't result in a more pronounced flavour than pre-ground cinnamon. In subsequent batches, I ditched the mortar and pestle for a box of pre-ground cinnamon, and life was immeasurably better. 

Most cinnamon sticks sold in the market are Cassia cinnamon, which are tougher and hardier than Ceylon cinnamon. They do not take kindly to neither a mortar and pestle nor a microplane. Even spice mills may have trouble with cinnamon. Another source on the internet (attributed to Alton Brown's Good Eats) mentioned that cinnamon sticks sold to the public are of a lower quality than those sold to factories for grounding. I’m inclined to use store-ground cinnamon when a recipe calls for ground cinnamon, and save the cinnamon sticks for drinks (such as mulled wine, or hot chocolate) to avoid a murky gritty residue in my cup.

It's took a few days to delve into this delightful recipe, and the upshot is that I spent my first morning of holiday drinking a strong cup of coffee from my moka pot while baking off cinnamon roll dough that I'd frozen a few days before. As the scent of cinnamon rolls mingles with the smell of coffee, there was no better way to spend the holidays. 

Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
Adapted from King Arthur
Makes 8 cinnamon rolls 

This recipe can be scaled. When you take your first bite into this bread, you'll also wish you'd made more. I'm a sucka for 100% fluffy cinnamon rolls, and my favoured version is now to bake off the rolls cramped edge-to-edge; the way that Cinnabon does it. The rolls are plenty sweet by themselves without the icing, but I'm happy to leave the icing on for the good ol' all-American indulgence.

INGREDIENTS

Tangzhong
1/2 cup (113g) milk
3 tablespoons (23g) Bread Flour

Dough
Tangzhong, as above
151g (2/3 cup) milk, cold
300g (2 1/2 cups) Bread Flour
6g (1 tsp) salt
25g (2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
6.2g (2 teaspoons) instant yeast
57g (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened

Filling
14g butter, melted
70g light brown sugar
15g Bread Flour
8g to 10g cinnamon* (*Use the lesser amount for stronger cinnamons, like Vietnamese (Saigon); the larger amount for milder cinnamons, like Indonesian/Ceylon.)
1/16 teaspoon (pinch) salt

Icing
21 + 10g butter, melted, divided
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/16 teaspoon (pinch) salt
80g confectioners' sugar, sifted
7g-14g milk*, to thin the icing to your desired consistency (*Using cream instead brings an extra layer of richness, while buttermilk adds a subtle tang to undercut the overall sweetness.)

Cream cheese frosting (optional, as below)

STEPS

1. The tangzhong: Combine both the ingredients in a small saucepan until no floury lumps remain. Set over medium heat and cook the mixture for 1-3 minutes, stirring as you do, until the mixture thickens into a paste, and drawing your spatula through the mixture leaves a trail at the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and transfer the tangzhong to a large mixing bowl (or to the bowl of your stand mixer). 

2. The dough: To the large bowl containing the tangzhong, add the cold milk, and then the rest of the ingredients for the dough. Using your hands, mix the ingredients together until well-combined, and then continue to knead the dough together for 15 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. This can be done with a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment instead, which may take 10 to 12 minutes on medium-low speed. Shape the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with a lid and let the dough rise for about 60-90 minutes. 

3. The filling: in a small saucepan, melt butter. Remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients. Combine well and set aside.

4. Assembly: Transfer the dough to a large clean work surface. Press the dough into a rectangular shape (with corners), about 10” x 12”. It should be about 1/2" thick. Scatter the brown sugar filling evenly over the dough, but leaving a 1/2” strip bare along one long side. Gently lift the long filling-covered side of the dough, and roll up the dough into a log. 

5. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, each piece should be about 1.5"-2" in length. A bench-scraper or a sharp knife is adequate, though a loop of dental floss (unscented!) will give the most even cut. Place the rolls on an ungreased 8" cake pan (ideally a loose cake pan with a removable base), and cover. Let rise for about 30-60 minutes, until the rolls are puffy and lightly pressing a roll with your fingertip should leave an indentation. 

6. Preheat the oven to 180°C for about 20 minutes, with a rack set in the middle of the oven. Bake the rolls for 16 to 18 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden. If using a digital thermometer, the centre of the middle roll should read about 87°C (190°F). While the rolls are baking, you can also slip in an oven proof bowl containing 21g (1 1/2 tablespoons) of  butter to melt alongside. Allow the butter to completely melt, about 3-4 mins, then remove the bowl from the oven.  Remove the rolls from the oven when done, and brush the tops with the melted butter. Let the rolls cool for 10 to 15 minutes before icing.

7. The icing: In a medium saucepan, melt 10g of butter. Add the rest of the icing ingredients and stir until smooth. The icing can be tightly covered and kept at room temperature. Spread the icing evenly over the rolls just before serving. 

STORAGE
Un-iced rolls can be kept in an air tight container for a couple of days at room temperature; or be wrapped and frozen for up to 1 month.

Parbaking is a process meant to freeze cinnamon roll dough and bake them off at a later date. I have mixed successes with it; it results in squatter and denser pastry, about 1-inch tall discs. It’s an additional hassle to bake and then cool off the half-baked rolls, and I’m not sure if it’s worth the fuss. In future attempts, I’m planning to cut the cinnamon log into thicker pieces (say 6 piece instead of 8 pieces), and then just freeze It straight. Cinnamon rolls dough when frozen, can be kept up to 6 weeks in the freezer. 

VARIATION

Cream cheese frosting: for a tangier frosting to offset the sweetness. Add 4 to 6 tablespoons (57g to 90g) softened cream cheese alongside the other icing ingredients (sugar, salt, butter), then drizzle in 2 teaspoons of milk. Then add more milk, a teaspoon at a time, to get it to the consistency you prefer.