Honey Toast Box
4.20.16
After finishing my second year of high school my family and I took a road trip to Disneyworld. Since my little brother had finally reached the minimum height requirement for the fun rides and was old enough to enjoy the park more. When I got tired of listening to the same ten Top 40 songs on the radio I popped in Daft Punk’s Discovery album. After the third song in I fell asleep. When I woke up, my dad who was driving asked “How on earth can you sleep through this music?! It makes my heart race like I’m about to have a heart attack!”
While EDM isn’t everyone’s idea of a lullaby, for me it’s exuberant and uplifting. Or if you’re a Kygo fan, you know it can also be chill and relaxing. And while I’m not a college-educated white dude with Beats headphones, it doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it. I love the upbeat lyrics and the driving beat that makes you unconsciously tap your foot. Honestly though, it just helps get me those THOSE days. Days where it I just don’t want to deal with it. Days where I’m as moody as a teenage anime protagonist piloting an ultra powerful mech suit.
Listening to music helps me get pumped and motivated to tackle those onerous tasks, like pushing myself out of my comfort zone. So one of the reasons why I moved to Seattle was to press the reset button and change careers. The process has been more difficult and frustrating than I initially expected. Whether it’s from interviewers grilling me to the point where I feel incompetent or the depressing thought that I’m completely unqualified for any of the roles posted online. But I am making progress albeit it’s small and incremental, at least it’s a step forward. That’s what’s important. To always be looking ahead and working towards that ideal future.
So this week I tackled the Honey Toast Box. It’s a Taiwanese dessert that’s fun, whimsical, but splendid like EDM. Where it’s basically a sundae plus all the trimmings piled atop a “healthy” chunk of white toast. It’s the sweet version of a bread bowl but stuffed with fruit, candy, and biscuits. The main recipe is for Pain de Mie, which is a basic fine crumb bread that serves as the base of this dessert. The remaining the toppings were bought from a typical grocery store or Asian market. It’s a fun and crazy dessert! So go wild like a child building their own yogurt cup!
While EDM isn’t everyone’s idea of a lullaby, for me it’s exuberant and uplifting. Or if you’re a Kygo fan, you know it can also be chill and relaxing. And while I’m not a college-educated white dude with Beats headphones, it doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it. I love the upbeat lyrics and the driving beat that makes you unconsciously tap your foot. Honestly though, it just helps get me those THOSE days. Days where it I just don’t want to deal with it. Days where I’m as moody as a teenage anime protagonist piloting an ultra powerful mech suit.
Listening to music helps me get pumped and motivated to tackle those onerous tasks, like pushing myself out of my comfort zone. So one of the reasons why I moved to Seattle was to press the reset button and change careers. The process has been more difficult and frustrating than I initially expected. Whether it’s from interviewers grilling me to the point where I feel incompetent or the depressing thought that I’m completely unqualified for any of the roles posted online. But I am making progress albeit it’s small and incremental, at least it’s a step forward. That’s what’s important. To always be looking ahead and working towards that ideal future.
So this week I tackled the Honey Toast Box. It’s a Taiwanese dessert that’s fun, whimsical, but splendid like EDM. Where it’s basically a sundae plus all the trimmings piled atop a “healthy” chunk of white toast. It’s the sweet version of a bread bowl but stuffed with fruit, candy, and biscuits. The main recipe is for Pain de Mie, which is a basic fine crumb bread that serves as the base of this dessert. The remaining the toppings were bought from a typical grocery store or Asian market. It’s a fun and crazy dessert! So go wild like a child building their own yogurt cup!
Notes:
- This recipe was designed for a Pullman loaf pan. The sliding lid gives you a uniform brick look. You can try DIYing it with a small sheet pan with a weight on top.
- For larger 13x4x4” Pullman pans use the full recipe on KAF. As a reminder this was adapted for a smaller 9x4x4” pan.
- I used grams as measurement units as this is was the best way to convert the recipe. Again you can refer back to KAF for volume units (cup, TBSP).
- To hollow out the bread loaf, please refer to the diagram below and the assembly instructions.
Pan de Mie
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Makes one 9x4x4 inch loaf
Ingredients
Instructions
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Makes one 9x4x4 inch loaf
Ingredients
- 106 g milk
- 160 g water, lukewarm
- 60 g butter, cubed
- 2 tsp salt
- 25 g sugar
- 25 g dry milk
- 25 g potato flake
- 390 g flour
- 2 tsp instant yeast
Instructions
- Combine yeast, sugar, and water together in mixing bowl and set aside for 10 min. If your yeast are alive and well it should be foamy and bubbly.
- Add the remaining ingredients and if using a stand mixer, knead on medium speed for 5 min.
- Transfer to a greased bowl and allow to proof for 60-90 min till almost doubled in size. This can vary depending on the ambient temperature.
- In the meantime, grease the Pullman loaf pan and lid. As well as a piece of plastic wrap.
- Roll dough onto a floured surface and form a 9-inch log.
- Place in a pan and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to proof again for 60 min till the dough is just below the lid level. If too low, it won’t fill the pan and you won’t get that perfect flat top.
- When there is 30 min left in the second proofing process, pre heat oven to 350F.
- Cover pan with lid and bake for 25 min.
- Then remove the lid and bake uncovered for 20 min or till golden brown.
- Cool for 5 min in the pan. Then turn out loaf onto a cooling rack to fully cool down.
Honey Toast Box Assembly
Ingredients
Instructions
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp honey
- ice cream
- fruit (strawberry, blackberry, bananas)
- assorted candy (i.e. Pocky, biscuits, macarons)
- sprinkles
Instructions
- From any end of the loaf, slice a 4-inch portion of bread.
- Place the crust end down as this will be the base of the toast box.
- Using a paring knife, cut into the top of the loaf and make a small cube roughly 3 ½ in. (See above diagram)
- Then make another 3 ½ in cut along any one of the outer walls. (See above diagram)
- Make sure to run the knife along all of your cuts several times. This will loosen the cube to where you can gently shake the inner bread cube out.
- Slice the inner bread cube into slices or small cubes.
- In a small bowl, warm butter in microwave for 5-8 sec till softened but not melted.
- Stir in butter till it becomes a loose paste consistency.
- Using a knife or pastry brush, coat the box and bread cubes with the honey butter spread.
- Toast everything in an oven at 350F for 5-7 min till golden brown. Be sure to check on them near the end of the cooking time to ensure nothing browning too quickly (aka burning).
- Assembly: Place toast cubes back into the center along with some sliced fruit.
- Top with 2-3 ice cream scoops and decorate as you like!