Chinese Sweet Bun Dough

For the past two weeks I've been experimenting in the kitchen with this dough recipe. Baking may sound scary to some people, I remembered a couple years ago vowing to never bake (after a couple failed attempts) but now I bake at least once or twice a week! Of course I cannot eat everything I make, so I've been sharing them to friends and family and let me tell you I'm sure they love me more now (jajaj).

This month I'll dedicate it to baking. I'll post a couple recipes using this dough and probably a couple cookie recipes. Hope you are all excited as I am! 

Makes 8 buns

Ingredients

• 2 cups bread flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon powdered milk
• 2/3 cups milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

• In a large bowl sift bread flour, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, powdered milk, and salt together 3-4 times to lighten the flour. Set aside.
• Microwave milk until warm to touch and stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar and instant yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam (about 5-10 minutes).
• Mix in proofed yeast and butter into the dry ingredients and mix until a ball forms. 
• Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead the dough until smooth. If the dough is too tacky, sprinkle a tablespoon of flour and continue kneading.
• Put the dough in the same large bowl and cover with saran wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place (inside the oven) for an hour. 
• Once the dough has risen, it should look something like this