Making 菠蘿麵包

Today, December 3, 2023, Mei-O decided to make 菠蘿麵包 (pineapple bread). Though it's called pineapple bread (the literal translation from Chinese), it has no pineapple in it. (You'll see later why it's called pineapple bread.) As she went through the various steps, I took pictures as she went along.

There are two distinct parts to making 菠蘿麵包. The base, the "bread" part, is first mixed in a bread machine, and the top is made and combined with the base more traditionally by hand. Here we go.


Mei-O has to carefully consult her recipe before starting.


She actually has two recipes, an English one and a Chinese one, that she goes over.


She starts by loading the bread machine with the ingredients for the bread base: bread flour, quick rise yeast, sugar, warm water, margarine, milk, an egg, salt, and powdered milk. (If you want to try to make these, it's probably best to contact Mei-O for clarification of the recipe and the ingredient amounts and even the bread machine setting.)


Once everything is loaded, ...


...she starts the bread machine to knead the dough and allow it to rise to the right consistency. It takes about an hour.


While the base is rising, Mei-O butters and flours some cookie sheets, getting them ready for baking.


Then she starts mixing the ingredients for the tops; first the margarine, powdered sugar, and an egg, ...


...mixing everything together, ...


...then adding the dry milk and flour, ...


...then beating some more...


...until you can turn it into this. You're done with the top prep for now.


When the bread base is done rising, take it out, ...


...roll it out like this, ...


...slice it into 16 pieces, ...


...and shape them and place them on a cookie sheet like this.


Then it's back to the tops. Cut them into 16 pieces too, and...


...flatten them by hand to make little hats for the bread bases...


...like this.


Now score the tops like this. This is to make it look like a pineapple which gives it its name 菠蘿麵包, pineapple bread!


Finally, separate the yolk from an egg, add a little milk and mix it well, ...


...and brush it on top of each pineapple bread.


Place one tray in the oven at 375° for around 15 minutes. Check in on them occasionally. When they're a beautiful golden color, they're done.


Complete the second cookie sheet, and when that one's done, you'll have 16 delicious 菠蘿麵包 (minus one we already tasted)! Yummm!