Bear wholemeal Pull-Apart bread_Natural yeast天然酵母_小熊小面包

My bread baking journey has begun with natural yeast, i guess it is quite hard for me to use back instant yeast to bake bread. There is nothing wrong baking bread with instant yeast, at least still homebaked bread. Since i have natural yeast, and i need to keep it active and alive, so i have to bake more often with it. Furthermore it has more nutritious than normal bread.

This time i added some wholemeal flour in this recipe, this is one way to hide healthy ingredients and bake healthy bread for my kids.

With added wholemeal flour, i find the buns slightly on dried side and more dry after keep it overnight. You can use all bread flour instead. If you don't have natural yeast, you can refer here for the recipe using instant yeast.
When using natural yeast to bake Asian soft bread, you have to use more sourdough starter as we need to let dough proof faster so to avoid sour taste in the bread after long fermentation .

Bear wholemeal Pull-Apart bread_Natural yeast天然酵母_小熊小面包

*makes 16 small buns and 5 medium buns

For the bread

275g bread flour

75g wholemeal flour

200g natural yeast from sourdough starter (culture with bread flour)

30g organic sugar

1/2tsp sea salt

35g egg

25g cocoa powder

150g milk

40g butter

Nutella for filling

For decorate the bear face

10g White chocolate

10g Dark chocolate

Method

1. Bring out starter from the fridge. Feed it with 20g bread flour and 20g water ( if you have less starter, you can feed more). Allow to peak, take less than 2hrs. You may perform a float test. Drop a small spoon starter into water, if its float, that means you may start to use the starter.
2. In a stand mixer, add in bread ingredients except butter, mix and knead till smooth.
3. Add in butter, knead till elastic and shining dough. Cover and set aside to proof till double in size.
4. Punch down the dough to expel air, to weight 35g each for 16 portions for the body and shape into round ball. And also to weight 2g each for the ear for 32 portions, rest for 15mins.
5. Take 35g dough and fill in ~1tsp Nutella, wrap and shape into ball, place into a baking pan (9’x9’), repeat till finished.
6. Brush milk on the dough, then place two 2g dough for the ear, lightly press to stick. Repeat till all ear dough finished .Cover and let is proof for another 1-2 hrs.
7. Bake at pre-heated oven at 185C for 25mins, remove from baking tin, set aside till completely cool down before decorate it.
8. Melt white chocolate, then use a Chinese brush or piping bag to paint at the centre. Melt dark chocolate, fill in a piping bag, then make the eyes, nose and mouth.
9. Store in air-tight container to avoid bread buns turned dry quickly.

Recipe by Sonia a.k.a Nasi Lemak Lover  

If you prefer softer buns, you can use below recipe that without wholemeal flour:-

Bear Pull-Apart bread_Natural yeast天然酵母_小熊小面包

*makes 16 small buns and 5 medium buns

For the bread

350g bread flour

200g natural yeast from sourdough starter (culture with bread flour)

30g organic sugar

1/2tsp sea salt

35g egg

30g cocoa powder

170g milk

50g butter

Nutella for filling

For decorate the bear face

10g White chocolate

10g Dark chocolate

Method

1. Bring out starter from the fridge. Feed it with 20g bread flour and 20g water ( if you have less starter, you can feed more). Allow to peak, take less than 2hrs. You may perform a float test. Drop a small spoon starter into water, if its float, that means you may start to use the starter.
2. In a stand mixer, add in bread ingredients except butter, mix and knead till smooth.
3. Add in butter, knead till elastic and shining dough. Cover and set aside to proof till double in size.
4. Punch down the dough to expel air, to weight 35g each for 16 portions for the body and shape into round ball. And also to weight 2g each for the ear for 32 portions, rest for 15mins.
5. Take 35g dough and fill in ~1tsp Nutella, wrap and shape into ball, place into a baking pan (9’x9’), repeat till finished.
6. Brush milk on the dough, then place two 2g dough for the ear, lightly press to stick. Repeat till all ear dough finished .Cover and let is proof for another 1-2 hrs.
7. Bake at pre-heated oven at 185C for 25mins, remove from baking tin, set aside till completely cool down before decorate it.
8. Melt white chocolate, then use a Chinese brush or piping bag to paint at the centre. Melt dark chocolate, fill in a piping bag, then make the eyes, nose and mouth.
9. Store in air-tight container to avoid bread buns turned dry quickly.

Recipe by Sonia a.k.a Nasi Lemak Lover