Sweet Vanilla Bowknots

This recipe calls for a vanilla beans , except i didn’t have them on hand . As a result , i replaced it with 2 Tbsp. of vanilla extract , and it tasted really vanilla-y !

I love making bread , they make your house smells so good . I made these buns last night , it didn’t take me long to make the bread dough . Instead the regular use of my standing kitchenaid mixer , i ended up using food processor for this . Still i had to finish up to knead the dough manually , since the food processor gets hot too quick . Like i mentioned in the previous entry about making bread dough in the food processor , you want to make sure that all your ingredients are chilled . Not warm like when you make them with standing mixer .

I guess you could always make this with the mixer , but the process of the dough here is only for food processor .

Basic Sweet Dough Recipe :

2/3 cup of milk

2 large eggs

1 tbsp. of sugar

Mix these ingredients together in a small bowl . Then set aside

2 3/4 cup of bread flour

1 3/4 tsp. of active dry yeast

4 tbsp. of sugar

a pinch of salt

In a food processor , pulse these ingredients together until blended .

Keep pulsing and pour the egg milk mixtures into the food processor until it’s blended . Then add 6-8 tbsp. of softened butter . If your processor can handle this , keep pulsing until the mixture becomes glossy , add flour as needed if it’s too sticky . If for some reason your processor stopped and wouldn’t run because of overheated , take the dough out , and finish kneading manually ( adding flour as needed ) for about 5 minutes . Then butter your bowl , let your dough rest in the bowl , cover loosely with plastic wrap . Let it rise for about 1 hour to 1.5 hours in a warm room .

That’s your basic sweet dough recipe , if you want to want to make vanilla bowknots , in the egg milk mixture in the basic sweet dough recipe , add 2 tbsp. vanilla extract or scrape off from 1 vanilla beans . ( vanilla beans would be a great choice )

After 1.5 hours of resting , the dough should rise , and it should look like this

Contrary of what they say to punch the dough down , from what read , you shouldn’t do that , instead you should just take the dough out and flatten it out to rest couple of minutes .

Flatten it out , and then roll them into a log

Then , using your own hand , cut the dough into 4 small portions , and then cut each portions into 2 small balls .

Working on each small ball , roll it into snake

Time to shape it into bowknots , do the rest with others

Do the same with the rest of the doughs , and put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

Once you’re done making these bowknots , cover with kitchen towel or plastic wrap , and let it rise , double in size . About 1 hour or so 

They should be bigger than the original size , preheat your oven to 375 F and brush the bowknots with milk , and then sprinkle with sugar all over . Bake for about 15 minutes .