Homemade Asian Sweet Bread

Lunches are a little forgettable in my house.  When I cook, I usually cook dinners and then we scour the fridge for leftovers for lunches.  The other day I was shopping at Sam’s Club and found a great deal on some Lean Cuisine frozen meals.  I love these because my husband and I are watching what we are eating these days and I know these entrees won’t break the calorie limits that we have set for ourselves.  I picked up a 6 pack of Asian inspired meals for only $9.98 and a 4 pack of Italian inspired meals for $6.98.  If you see the math it is less than $2 per meal.

While an entree is nice, I needed something to complement it.  I have been wanting to try my hand at baking Asian sweet bread since I pinned a recipe a few months ago, this was my opportunity.  What better to go with Asian food than Asian sweet bread?

While Asian Sweet Bread is a staple in Asia, I was not familiar with it.  The secret is the tangzhong which is a paste made from flour and water that makes the bread very moist while keeping the crust crunchy.  I adapted my recipe from a instructables tutorial.

Homemade Asian Bread

Author: A Mom's Impression

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time 2 hrs

Cook Time 30 mins

Total Time 2 hrs 30 mins

Servings: 6 people

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A light and fluffy bread recipe that can be adapted in multiple ways.

Ingredients 

• 5 1/2 cups bread or all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 6 tbsp butter
• tangzhong recipe
• For the tangzhong:
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup of water

Instructions 

• Make the tangzhong by mixing the water and flour together in a small saucepan. After completely dissolving the flour, cook on medium heat until mixture thickens enough to see a line when putting a knife through it. Remove from heat.
• Combine the flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl.
• Add wet ingredients and kneed for about 30 minutes. I used my Kitchen Aid dough hook and ended up doing it by hand after about 20 minutes. I added some flour as I went to make sure the dough wasn't too sticky.
• Place dough in greased bowl, cover and let rise for about 40 minutes.
• Separate the dough into 4 balls, cover and let rise for another 20 minutes.
• Create shapes and place them into greased pans. I made a loaf and about 18 rolls from one recipe. Let dough rest in pans and rise for 50 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.
• Brush a beaten egg over the top of the bread and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

Sharing of this recipe is encouraged and appreciated. Copying of full recipe to any social media is prohibited.

The bread was delicious and the perfect side for a pasta or rice dish.

With all of the calories I saved from eating light, I decided to treat myself to a Skinny Cow ice-cream sandwich!  Each one of these are only 150 calories and 2g of fat!  While it is light, the flavor is not.  They taste just as good as a regular ice-cream sandwich. Sam’s Club sells these in boxes of 20 with vanilla and cookies and cream flavors for only $8.98… less than 50 cents per dessert!

Can you believe that I got everything I needed for 10 lunches for under $26?

What are some of your creative lunch ideas? Do you have any #FrozenFavorites meals you rely on in a rush?

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Nestle Lean Cuisine  and Skinny Cow #cbias #SocialFabric