Green tea or Matcha flavoured anything can be either a love or hate thing. Being from an Asian background, it is definitely a love for me. If you have been to Japan you know you will come across almost anything that has Matcha flavour in them: Canned Matcha Coffee, Matcha Ice Cream, Matcha Swiss Rolls, Matcha Crepe, even Matcha flavoured noodle! One of my all time favourite combination is sweetened red bean stuffed in a super delicious soft Matcha bread roll.
The recipe here gives enough kick with the green tea and red bean flavour, but if you are a crazy lovers of the tea, you can definitely up the green tea powder. The tip here is to use the best quality matcha powder with that deep dark intense natural green colour to it. This will not only give you that flavour but also the colour as well.
When making sweetened soft roll, I like using the Tang Zhong Method. If you would like to know more about the Tang Zhong method, check out my post on "Soft Coffee Roll".
RECIPE
The recipe below makes 16 x small baguette shaped rolls. This recipe will just fit in a standard size stand mixer (I use Kitchen Aid). Any recipe more than that will require a larger machinery or making them in two batches. For smaller recipe, simply halve all the amount.
Green Tea Tang Zhong
Full Cream Milk 150 g
Cake Flour 30 g
Green Tea Powder 10 g
Make the green tea tang zhong by adding all ingredients into a pot over medium heat. Heat the mix while constantly whisking until it thickens and form in to a paste. Transfer the tang zhong in to a clean bowl wrap with cling film to avoid drying out and let cool in the fridge.
Yeast Sponge
Full Cream Milk 30 g
Instant Yeast 10 g
Castor Sugar 5 g
Heat milk and instant yeast until it reaches 30°C, then stir in the yeast and let sit until it becomes frothy. This process should take roughly around 5 minutes or less.
Final Dough
Full cream Milk 160 g
Full cream 50 g
Cake Flour 90 g
Baker's flour 450 g
Castor Sugar 70 g
Salt 7 g
Red Bean paste For fillings
Method
1. Place all the ingredients including the cooled tang zhong and yeast sponge into a stand mixer bowl attached with a dough hook. Start by mixing on low speed for 4 minutes until all the ingredients have come together and form in to a dough. Scrape the side and the bottom of the bowl if necessary the mix on medium speed for a further 10 minutes. Alternatively, do a window test to ensure gluten have been developed.
2. shape the dough in to a smooth rounded ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl, large enough for the dough to double in size. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to bulk ferment or double in size. This process take roughly around 1 hour give or take depending on the ambient of your kitchen.
3. Once the dough have doubled in size, portion the dough in to 8 x 60 g individual portion. Pre shape the portion in to a ball, cover with tea towel to relax for 5 to 10 minutes before proceeding to final shaping.
4. To shape the roll, start by flattening the ball of dough and rolling out the dough in to a disk roughly around a female palm size.
With an ice cream scoop or spoon, scoop some red bean paste (roughly around 18 g per roll) in the center of the flatten dough. Fold over both ends and seal the seam tight. If you have dusted some flour on your dough and it is not sticking, use a dip a pastry brush in water and lightly brush over the edges.
Make sure that you push out any air that may be trapped in the center. Fold them like a dumpling, then fold it again and tighten the seam.
With the seam side down, gently roll with both pals to form in to a mini baguette shape.
Cut 3 lines vertically with a dough lame or a sharp Stanley knife.
Cover with a tea towel for final proofing.
5. Once the individual rolls are ready, brush with egg wash, then bake in the preheated oven at 170°C for approximately 15 minutes. The side should start to slightly turn golden in color. Do not over bake too much or at a too high temperature otherwise you will lose that natural green tea green appearance on the rolls.
Transfer the hot rolls onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
So, I just really wanted to make a baguette shape for my Matcha rolls only because my new bread lame just arrived and I want to find an excuse to use it. You can definitely wrap the red bean paste around and roll it in to a ball or any other desired shape. There is really no rule!
How to do a Window Test
To know when your dough are fully developed during mixing, simply tear a decent size dough, gently stretch it the dough. If you are able to stretch to the point where you can see through the dough (like a window), you dough have developed the necessary gluten needed).
If there is too much resistance when you try to stretch the piece of dough and it easily breaks, it is a good indication that you need to mix your dough a little longer.
