Toyoko Inn Hotel Tokyo

I have been delaying this post for some time as I was busy trying different method in making soft buns =). Really hope that all Japan posts will be useful information for anyone who like to travel to Japan for trip. In this post, I would like to recommend the hotel we stayed during our trip to Tokyo last October. In fact, I have been staying in this hotel, Toyoko Inn for all my previous trips to Tokyo.

Toyoko Inn is one of the famous hotel chain in Japan and it has numerous of branch throughout whole Japan. Lately I also found out that, they also already spread their wings to Korea! As we all know, accommodation is not cheap at Japan especially in big metropolitan like Tokyo and normally the room size is pretty small. Fortunately, Toyoko Inn offers a decent room price with average of about 5900Yen per night (please check their website for latest rate).

Twin Room

What I like most about Toyoko Inn is that all the hotel is located close to the nearest train station which is important for free & easy traveler like us. Beside, the rooms are really really CLEAN and I just feel like home when staying in the hotel.

Like other hotel, every room come with a FREE internet access, electronic toilet and breakfast is included. Yes, they provide Japanese style breakfast together with western style. Love their breakfast to the max because they serve various flavours of onigiri with pickles and miso soup. What a hearty meal.

Breakfast at Toyoko - Onigiri with radish pickles, salad and miso soup

Another best part of Toyoko Inn is they have a complete room reservation system at their website with English language which make it easier for foreign travelers to reserve their rooms. Besides, for room reservation, no charges will be applied during online reservation, payment only require during check-in. This give us a flexibility for us to change the reservation in case of any changes in the itinerary.
However please do not abuse in using this facility! We should only reserve the rooms when our itinerary is confirmed and inform the hotel in advance in case of cancellation.

Besides, Toyoko Inn is offering a membership program whereby Toyoko Inn Club Card Members will get a 20% discount on Sundays and Holidays of the lodging country, and also 5% discount on weekdays and Saturdays! With this card you can accumulate points with number of nights at Toyoko and in return you could use the point to redeem a free night stay at Toyoko Inn.

Do visit their website for more information. Definitely a recommended hotel to stay when you are traveling around Japan!

Soft Sweet Bun - Worth a Try!

As mentioned in the previous post, I've been into bread baking frenzy mode. Was searching the best method to make a pillow soft bread texture. Made lots of bread loaves and buns within the month. In previous post, I posted a bread recipe using Tang Zhong method. I found that Tang Zhong method is a good recipe for soft loaves. However I found that Tang Zhong bread turn out to be slightly coarse and a little dense after a overnight. Not sure is it because of the weather at Melbourne (which is quite cold now) and because of that I continue to search recipe from the internet for a soft bread texture.

Finally I cam across to Cheah's blog and saw her post on Meat Floss bun using the gelatinized dough recipe. Her bun looks absolutely SOFT with a cotton look like texture. Got motivated by her post and decided to give it a try =). The result? Excellent! The bun are superb soft with cotton fine texture. I'm really impressed with the recipe and satisfied. This is indeed another recipe to keep beside the Tang Zhong method. Do give it a try. I'm sure you will never regret with it.

Soft Sweet Bun

Soft Sweet Bun Recipe


(A) Gelatinized Dough

1. 100g bread flour
2. 70 ml boiling water 

 Method:

1. Mix the bread flour and boiling water together till form a dough.
2. Cover the dough with cling wrap and place into the fridge for 12 hours.
3. Thaw the dough before adding it into the main dough mixture. 

(B) Main Dough

1. 400g bread four
2. 75g sugar
3. 2_1/4 tsp instant yeast
4. 1 tsp salt
5. 170ml cold water / cold milk
6. 1 egg
7. 75g butter

Method:

1. Mix all the wet ingredients (except butter) and place it into bread maker/stand alone mixer.
2. The follow by all the dry ingredients. 
3. Tear the gelatinized dough into small pieces and add in into the mixture. Draw a wall in the middle of the dry ingredients and put in the yeast.
4. Start mixing the dough using the bread maker (dough mode) / stand alone mixer. Kneading bread dough is not easy, therefore for this step, I used the bread maker to do the job. If you do not have a bread maker, you can use a powerful stand alone mixer like Kitchen Aid to knead the dough.
5. Add in the butter after 3-5 minutes of kneading.
6. Bread machine will knead the dough for 1 hour and do the 1st proofing for 1 hour. Different bread maker might have different settings.
7. When the dough is ready, poke a hole in the middle to release the gas. Knead the dough briefly and form the dough into a ball. 
8. Divide the dough into small size ball based on preferred size. Cover it with cling wrap and let it rest for 10 mins.
9. Shape the dough and place the buns on a greased baking sheet, lightly cover with cling film, and let rise in a warm place until double in size.
10. Bake in preheated 180°C oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Hong Kong Style Sausage Bun

Lately I have been crazy into making bread after visited Christine's blog and saw her success in making homemade bread using special Tang Zhong method. Tang zhong is a technique origin from Japan to create soft and fluffy bread.

Another motivation into making bread is that because Asian style breads and buns are selling expensively back in bread shops in Melbourne. Haha! Thus, I get my husband to get me a brand new bread maker which only cost us aud $69 and there it goes my exploration in making bread =)

HK Style Sausage Bun

Tang zhong method involves cooking flour with water over the heat till the batter reaches 65°C as a starter dough. Basically here is the recipe for HK Style Sausage bun. For more details on the steps and more Tang Zhong bread recipe, you can visit Christine's blog.

HK Style Sausage Bun Recipe ( Tang Zhong method)

Ingredients:

(A) Tang Zhong / Starter Dough

1. 50g bread flour
2. 250ml water

Method:

1. Mix the bread flour and water together until dissolved without any lump.
2. Heat up the mixture on the stove with medium heat. 
3. Keep stirring the mixture till it start to thicken. Mixture is ready when the temperature reach 65°C or alternative way to recognize is when lines is observed at the mixture during stirring.
4. Cover the mixture with cling wrap and keep it in refrigerator. Let the mixture return to room temperature before using it. It can be kept for 3 days.

(B) Main Ingredient

1. 350g bread flour (high protien flour)
2. 55g castor sugar
3. 5g salt
4. 1 egg
5. 125ml milk
6. 120g starter dough
7. 5-6g instant yeast
8. 30g butter

Method:

1.  Mix all the wet ingredients (except butter) and place it into bread maker/stand alone mixer.
2. The follow by all the dry ingredients. Draw a wall in the middle of the dry ingredients and put in the yeast.
3. Start mixing the dough using the bread maker (dough mode) / stand alone mixer. Kneading bread dough is not easy, therefore for this step, I used the bread maker to do the job. If you do not have a bread maker, you can use a powerful stand alone mixer like Kitchen Aid to knead the dough.
4. Add in the butter after 3-5 minutes of kneading.
5. Bread machine will knead the dough for 1 hour and do the 1st proofing for 1 hour. Different bread maker might have different settings.
6. When the dough is ready, poke a hole in the middle to release the gas. Knead the dough briefly and form the dough into a ball. 
7. Divide the dough into small size ball based on preferred size. Cover it with cling wrap and let it rest for 10 mins.
8. Shape the dough into a slim roll and roll it over to the sausage. Place the buns on a greased baking sheet, lightly cover with cling film, and let rise in a warm place until double in size.
9. Bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Last 5mins before the baking time end, brush in the egg wash on top.