W – Wife Cake / Sweet Heart Cake – Chinese Sweet Bread – A-Z Flat Breads Around The World

When it comes to the final week in any A-Z series, it gets harder finding recipes. Most of the time we twist the names or search in Chinese cuisine for suitable recipes. That is how I landed on this flaky bread. At first I thought it as some kind of cake, but when I saw a video, I was so happy that it could fit the theme. You can call this a bread or pastry and it is made with a laminated dough. If you have worked on puff pastries, then you would certainly know how hard it is to laminate the dough. This is an easier version of laminating the dough. Even a beginner can do it and it turns out amazing. The bread has a sweet filling usually made of winter melon. Winter melon is nothing but the white pumpkin we get. The recipe has so many stages and may sound complicated, but trust me, it is so interesting and once you start making you would find it easier. After making the bread, I have decided to use the same recipe for puff pastry. I guess it would turn out amazing.

The first thing you need to do is make the filling. It needs to cool down in fridge for an hour. Once the filling is done and refrigerated, you can start making the dough. There are two types of dough to be prepared. One is made with fat and water and it is the main dough. The other one is totally made with fat and it is used for laminating. Usually Chinese recipes use lard, but I used ghee which made the bread so flavourful. Check out the step wise photos to understand the laminating properly. For the filling glutinous rice flour is used, but as I don’t get that in Madurai, I used half rice flour and half corn flour to get the stickiness. If you can get glutinous rice flour, then use it instead.

Makes 8 Breads

Recipe Source: Garden Time Homemade Cuisine

Ingredients:

For The Filling:

White Pumpkin – 300 gm

Sugar – 1/4 cup

Salt – a pinch

Ghee – 1 tbs

Rice Flour – 2 tbs

Corn Flour – 2 tbs

Vanilla Essence – 1/4 tsp

For The Outer Dough:

Maida/ All Purpose Flour – 3/4 cup

Ghee – 2 tbs

Salt – 1/4 tsp

Water – as needed

For The Laminating Dough:

All Purpose Flour / Maida – 1/2 cup

Salt – a pinch

Ghee – 3 tbs

Sesame Seeds

Milk

Procedure:

For The Filling:

Peel, deseed and cube the pumpkin.

Grind it to a fine paste.

IN a saucepan, mix together ground pumpkin, sugar and ghee.

Cook on medium flame until it becomes thick.

Now add rice flour, corn flour and vanilla and mix well.

Cook on medium flame until it comes together as a sticky thick dough.

Remove from flame, transfer to a bowl or a pan, cover with cling film and refrigerate for an hour until set.

For The Outer Dough:

Mix flour, salt and ghee.

Add enough water to make a soft and smooth dough.

Cover and set aside for 15 minutes.

Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.

Cover and set aside.

For The Laminating Dough:

Mix together maida and salt.

Add ghee and mix to form a crumbly dough. You should be able to shape it into a smooth ball. If needed add a little more ghee.

Laminating The Dough:

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Now take the outer dough and divide it into eight equal portions.

Take the laminating dough and again divide it into eight equal portions.

Roll the outer dough into a circle, place the laminating dough in the centre and gather the edges to cover it.

Make it into a smooth ball and set aside.

Repeat it with the remaining portions.

Now roll out the ball into a oval and roll it into a tight log.

Turn it 90° and roll it again into a thinner oval.

Roll it again tightly into a log.

With the seam side facing up make a depression with your finger in the middle and fold the dough into half.

Now with the folded side facing down press to form a disc.

Filling and Shaping The Bread:

Now remove the filling from the fridge and divide it into eight equal portions.

Shape each portion into a ball.

Take a laminated disc, roll it slightly, place the filling inside and bring the edges together to make an enclosed ball.

Place the seam side down and roll it into a thick disc.

Place it on a greased baking tray.

Once all the discs are shaped, with a sharp knife make three slits on the discs, going all the way through to the bottom.

Brush the top of the bread with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until the top is golden.

Remove from oven and serve it hot or at room temperature.

Wife Cake Recipe

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Chinese, International

Servings 8 Breads

Ingredients

  

• For The Filling:
• White Pumpkin - 300 gm
• Sugar - 1/4 cup
• Salt-a pinch
• Ghee-1 tbs
• Rice Flour - 2 tbs
• Corn Flour - 2 tbs
• Vanilla Essence - 1/4 tsp
• For The Outer Dough:
• Maida/ All Purpose Flour - 3/4 cup
• Ghee - 2 tbs
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Water - as needed
• For The Laminating Dough:
• All Purpose Flour / Maida - 1/2 cup
• Salt-a pinch
• Ghee-3 tbs
• Sesame Seeds
• Milk

Instructions

 

• For The Filling:
• Peel, deseed and cube the pumpkin.
• Grind it to a fine paste.
• IN a saucepan, mix together ground pumpkin, sugar and ghee.
• Cook on medium flame until it becomes thick.
• Now add rice flour, corn flour and vanilla and mix well.
• Cook on medium flame until it comes together as a sticky thick dough.
• Remove from flame, transfer to a bowl or a pan, cover with cling film and refrigerate for an hour until set.
• For The Outer Dough:
• Mix flour, salt and ghee.
• Add enough water to make a soft and smooth dough.
• Cover and set aside for 15 minutes.
• Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.
• Cover and set aside.
• For The Laminating Dough:
• Mix together maida and salt.
• Add ghee and mix to form a crumbly dough. You should be able to shape it into a smooth ball. If needed add a little more ghee.
• Laminating The Dough:
• Preheat oven to 180°C.
• Now take the outer dough and divide it into eight equal portions.
• Take the laminating dough and again divide it into eight equal portions.
• Roll the outer dough into a circle, place the laminating dough in the centre and gather the edges to cover it.
• Make it into a smooth ball and set aside.
• Repeat it with the remaining portions.
• Now roll out the ball into a oval and roll it into a tight log.
• Turn it 90° and roll it again into a thinner oval.
• Roll it again tightly into a log.
• With the seam side facing up make a depression with your finger in the middle and fold the dough into half.
• Now with the folded side facing down press to form a disc.
• Filling and Shaping The Bread:
• Now remove the filling from the fridge and divide it into eight equal portions.
• Shape each portion into a ball.
• Take a laminated disc, roll it slightly, place the filling inside and bring the edges together to make an enclosed ball.
• Place the seam side down and roll it into a thick disc.
• Place it on a greased baking tray.
• Once all the discs are shaped, with a sharp knife make three slits on the discs, going all the way through to the bottom.
• Brush the top of the bread with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until the top is golden.
• Remove from oven and serve it hot or at room temperature.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 92

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