How adorable are these bear-shaped buns made with yummy cocoa dough? Here’s the recipe courtesy of Little Miss Bento Shirley Wong.
Ingredients
- 1 portion basic bread dough using 200 g bread flour
- 5 g cocoa powder, mixed with a little milk/water into a paste
- Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, as needed
- White and dark brown/black chocolate pens
Steps
Prepare basic bread dough (more details on making your own basic bread dough can be found in Shirley Wong’s book Kawaii Bread; or you can also buy frozen bread dough from the supermarkets to use).
Colour dough brown using cocoa powder paste.
Set aside for first fermentation.
Degas dough and divide into 6 equal portions. Reshape into balls, cover and let rest for 10 mins.
Gently punch each portion of dough again to remove gas and further divide each portion to get a head (35 g), a body (17 g), 2 ears (2 g each) and 4 limbs (1.5 g each).
Flatten dough for heads and bodies, then stuff with chocolate. Reshape heads into balls and bodies into ovals. Arrange sealed side down on a lined baking tray.
Shape ears into balls and limbs into long ovals and arrange with heads and bodies. Be creative in arranging poses of bears.
Set aside for final fermentation.
Preheat oven to 170 C (top and bottom heat, no fan).
Place tray on lowest or second lowest rack in oven and bake for 18 to 20 mins.
Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.
Draw eyes, muzzle and nose with chocolate pens.
Tie a ribbon around each bear if desired.
More details of making these buns can be found in Shirley Wong’s book Kawaii Bread, available at leading bookstores.
Recipe: Shirley Wong / Photo: Calvin Tan/Marshall Cavendish Cuisine