HOW TO MAKE BREAD IN AN OIL-FREE FRYER – NO NEED TO KINK Dough

Ingredient 

• 190 grams of all-purpose flour (in the video tutorial we use Hoa Ngoc Lan flour)
• 3 grams (1 teaspoon/1 teaspoon) yeast
• 20 grams in diameter
• 1 small pinch of salt
• 125 – 130 grams of unsweetened fresh milk
• 30 grams of condensed milk
• 25 grams of unsalted butter, melted (can be replaced with an equal amount of cooking oil, but using butter makes the cake much more delicious) 

Making

1. Dissolve sugar and salt with fresh milk.

2. Mix the yeast with the flour, creating a space in the middle of the dough.

3. Add the ingredients including fresh milk mixed with sugar and salt, condensed milk, and melted butter into the flour bowl, mix until combined, dry flour is no longer visible.

4. Cover the bowl (should use a damp towel to cover the bowl).  Let the dough rest for the first time for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, fold the outer edge of the dough to the middle about 10 – 12 times. 

– Continue repeating this process 2 more times. 

– After the third fold, let the dough rest for a final 10-15 minutes. In total, let the dough rest for 55 – 60 minutes and fold the dough 3 times.

– The dough needs to be soft and flexible like the video. If when you lift the dough, the dough is “stiff” and not flexible like the video, it’s because the dough lacks water -> you need to slowly add water and knead well until the dough is soft. Flour lacking water will make the cake dry and hard, not spongy.  Each type of flour has a different water absorption level, so if you find the dough is dry, you need to add milk yourself to make the dough soft like in the video . 

5. After the resting period, the dough has now nearly doubled in size. Test the dough by pressing your finger (rolled in dry flour to prevent sticking) deep into the center of the dough. If the dent only slightly springs back, then the dough is ready. If the dent immediately bounces back, then it’s done. Let the dough rest further. 

Take the dough out and press down all the air bubbles.

6. Shape the bread and pillow:

– I used a 180 gram bread mold ( DO NOT bake a large mold in an oil-free fryer, baking for too long will easily dry out the cake and burn the crust ). If the mold is not non-stick, you need to prevent sticking by spreading butter evenly throughout the mold, covering with dry flour and then turning the mold upside down to let excess dough fall out.

– Divide the dough into 6 equal parts, each about 60 grams. 

– Create a smooth surface for the dough balls by folding the edges of the dough in the middle until the surface is smooth (see the video for details).

– Roll out the dough and shape it as instructed. 

– Put the dough into molds, each mold has 3 parts of dough. 

7. Use a towel to cover the surface of the mold to prevent the dough from drying out. Incubate until the cake doubles in size (about 45 – 60 minutes).

8. Bake a cake

– Preheat the oil-free fryer for 10 minutes. Normally, the baking temperature of an oil-free fryer will be about 15 – 20 degrees lower than the oven (because the pot is small, the actual heat inside will be quite high). With my home pot, bake at 160 degrees.

– Beat an egg and filter it through a sieve, gently brush a very thin layer of egg on the surface of the cake. Note that you need to be gentle and only apply a very thin layer to avoid burning the cake quickly. This egg scanning step is optional.

– NCKD usually has a fan blowing from above quite strongly and the pot is also small, so the surface of the cake gets scorched and dries out quite quickly. So with your pot, in the beginning you need to cover it with foil so that the cake cooks without burning. When the baking time is only about 5 – 8 minutes, I start removing the foil to bake the cake until it turns golden. 

—> Cover with foil and bake for 20 – 22 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for about 5 more minutes (for 180 gram cake). For smaller cakes (eg: just bake for 15 minutes -> cover with foil for the first 10 minutes, then remove the paper and bake for another 5 minutes)

My pot has a strong fan. If I only cover it with foil, the wind will blow it away, so I usually cover the bottom of the mold with foil, but be careful to only cover it loosely, leaving space above for the dough to rise. 

9. After taking the cake out of the oven, remove it from the mold immediately and let it cool completely on a rack.

10. Storage: Store cake in a sealed bag or box at room temperature for about 1-2 days. 

It’s best to keep the cake in the refrigerator. When eating, you can re-bake it with NCKD at 170 degrees Celsius for 4-6 minutes and the cake will be as delicious as new.