7 April 2020

3Y Thomas is a student I always feel proud of. He is focused, responsible and pretty competitive (in a good way). Having said that, Food Science doesn't seem to help him change his diet yet.

I was uncertain when I got his message two weeks ago - "I have tried to make pineapple buns twice (with two recipes) but the bread was not fluffy. It was not very hard but I couldn't make it as fluffy as the ones we buy outside."

On one hand, I was so pleased with his learning attitudes. On the other hand, I was worried that he might have a sweet tooth. What should I do? To make it or not to make it? I had never made it before and I honestly told Thomas that Bolo Bao was one of my unfavourite foods because of its oversweetness. I don’t let my 78-year-old mom eat that either. Who’s gonna eat that if I bake it?

Okay, let’s stick to three principles when we make desserts -

1) Half the total amount of sugar.

2) Shrink the size. 少食多滋味！

3) Remove nasty chemicals. (The pineapple bun crusts from Cha Chaan Teng have ammonia bicarbonate - “stinky powder”臭粉！) Who wants that???

I ended up with three tiny pineapple buns - two with crust, one without. It was pretty successful. The bread was fluffy and buttery and the crust was crispy. The sweetness didn't overtake the flavours of other ingredients. I like it more than I expected. Thank you Thomas for getting me out of my comfort zone. :)