chocolate mochi bread

over the long weekend i tried to bake the chocolate mochi bun/bread cause i was kind of addicted to them after eating them afew times from sun moulin bakery.... they always have those fancy bread available & all of them smell so nice but the price is much steeper than usual bakery.... so for the passed few days i have been searching on the net for the mochi bread recipes.... there were quite a number for the sesame & cheese version but very few for chocolate filling so i can only improvise from the existing recipes online....  i based my recipe on two webistes,  1 & 2..... fyi, the icook.tw website has lots of amazing recipes to try =) so now i shall share my version of the chocolate mochi bun

ingredients (make about a dozen bun, approximately ping pong ball size):
glutinous flour 125g
tapioca starch 20g
cocoa powder 15g
sugar 30g
butter 24g
milk 70g
egg 1
chocolate chips 30g or more (personal preference)

different types of flour

 so above is the pictures of the different types of flour you will need for this recipe... i included corn flour here cause initially followed the recipe from the first link but removed it for my second try... for glutinous flour i recommend this "three elephant" brand, my grandma always use this brand so i think is the best quality in the market.... i also recommend using a higher quality cocoa powder cause it will make a different to the taste....

Steps:
1) Preheat oven to 150degree celsius

2) warm up the milk & butter, you can do this using microwave or on low heat.... you just want to melt the butter

3) sift the flour and add in sugar

flour + sugar

 i feel that sifting flour is important step cause it prevent the lumpy dough formation when you add in the wet mixture

4) add in beaten egg & slowly fold the mixture

egg added

5) add milk+ butter mixture in batches

milk+ butter in

6) mix/gently knead the dough till smooth, this is a crucial step (let me elaborate)
so for my first attempt, i followed the first recipe but i was too anxious so when i see the mixture so dried after adding in the milk, i added extra egg then mixture too wet then i added more flour so end up with a very dry dough

dry dough

 you can see the dough is quite dry, not moisten so after baking, i ended up with super hard biscuit like texture rather than chewy bun... so for my second attempt, i followed the second recipe & the dough turn out much softer

moist & soft dough

can see the difference between the 2 dough!?!?! i guess the first recipe works too but you just have to be patient & follow the instructions....if you think the dough is too dry/wet, slowly add milk/flour in small portion (IF necessary)

7) roll the dough into small ball (around ping pong ball size) & put on a tray lined with baking sheet... at this step, push some chocolate chips onto the dough... you can pre-mix the chips into the dough too, either way is fine

8) bake the dough for 15min

baking

 this is another crucial step, it took me quite a few tries before i get a suitable temperature.... as you know the temperature varies slightly for different type of ovens, you might need to trial & error afew times before you get the right temperature.... for the second recipe link, it recommend 200degree for 15min... i followed it & the first batch turned out to have a very hard crust.... i slowly decrease the temperature & vary the timing before arriving to this conclusion

final product

after numerous failure, this batch is the best... let me compare the different batch

hard vs soft crust

on the left is the first batch of bun i made yesterday, right is the one i made freshly.... you can see the one on the left has a much dryer texture... honestly it's like rock hard, it kind of crumble when you try to break the bun

dry vs chewy interior

again left is the bun i made yesterday & right is the freshly made bun.... the left bun has very dried & hard interior but right side is much softer & more chewy.....

i wont say this is the perfect recipe cause it cant compared to what you get from sun moulin but at least is a good start.... you can also vary the cocoa flour with other ingredients like cheese powder or macha powder to create different flavours.... but dont give up if you fail in your first attempt... it does take some patients to perfect your own recipes =)