Sundays are for Baking: Aya Kneads Dough for the Very First Time (Matcha-Azuki Twists!)

Sundays are for baking! During (f)unemployment, I’m doing my best to create + learn new things. Today’s task was trying this recipe from Peaceful Cuisine. I had some koshian (mashed azuki/red bean paste) in the fridge and was looking for some recipes to try when I came across the Peaceful Cuisine video a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve never kneaded dough before, but it ended up okay (I think). It was tiring, but also somehow therapeutic.

I pretty much followed the recipe exactly. However, I wanted a little more rise and color to my bread twists, so I opted to add 2 eggs as well as an egg wash to finish. Peaceful Cuisine is about vegan cooking so, needless to say, I kind of ruined that portion of the recipe. I also added a tad of green coloring gel to give my matcha color a greener color (rather than the sort of green-brown situation that can happen). Oh, and I had no “whole bread flour,” so ended up only using regular bread flour. And I added a spoonful of brown sugar to the 20 g of regular sugar…

Hm. I guess I didn’t really follow the recipe exactly. 🙂

Tips + Tricks + Things to Watch Out For

• Kneading dough takes some time. I’m still not really sure if I kneaded it for long enough. Basically, you should google and watch videos to see if your dough is approximately the right consistency and springiness.
• When proving the dough, I found that about 40 minutes was long enough. In comments, I noticed that Ryoya from Peaceful Cuisine said that it didn’t take longer than an hour.
• Roll out your dough to a couple of millimeters when it comes time to make the layers. My layers were quite chubby, and while they turned out okay, I’d already stacked them (with the anko) by the time I realized the layers in the recipe video were much thinner.
• When you’re slicing the layered dough, have a wet towel/paper towel nearby so that you can wipe off the azuki paste after each slice. It’s not crucial, but you’ll get a prettier result if your layers aren’t completely smeared with paste on every surface.

• It took me like 2.5 hours to make this. In general, it takes me a long time to try recipes for the first time. However, I highly suggest you get a friend/family member to bake with you! It’ll make the kneading + twisting process faster.

That’s all for now! If any of you out there are feeling overwhelmed with the world/the stupid/bad/awful things that are happening (to you personally or just in society), maybe you can find a bit of time for baking. The process can be calming, and the end result sweet 🙂