Ingredient A:
Flour (For making small decorative pieces, regular flour is sufficient; high-gluten flour is not necessary. The type used for making steamed buns or mantou at home will work.) – 100 grams
Yeast – 2 grams
Salt – 1 gram
Water – 55 grams
Sugar
2 grams
Freeze for about 15 minutes. Remove from the freezer and dip in lye solution for 30 seconds on each side. Then proceed to the oven for shaping. Refer to the shaping video provided later. Preheat the oven with the top heat at 230°C and the bottom heat at 200°C. Bake for about 8 minutes, depending on your oven’s characteristics. After baking, spray a layer of water on the surface using any small spray bottle. This will give the bread a glossy appearance. Allow the bread to cool and air-dry in a ventilated area until it becomes very hard and firm, then proceed with assembly. Once dried, it is best to apply a layer of gloss oil. After the gloss oil has dried, use instant adhesive to attach the magnet. Choose the magnet size based on the size of your finished bread product. In this case, 10mm or 8mm magnets are used. Larger magnets provide a stronger hold. For the horn-shaped bread, a few shaping videos are randomly provided. Apply a small amount of water to the seams to bond them together.
Bagel rings, this is the first of two. When baking, score the surface as desired according to personal preference. Final product presentation: ensure it is thoroughly air-dried before brushing with oil.
Tips for Small Decorative Pieces
Working at this scale is closer to modeling than to bread baking, and a few habits keep it manageable:
- Weigh every portion. At 10-15g, eyeballing drifts fast, and mismatched pieces look off once assembled.
- Keep the dough you are not using under wrap; small pieces skin over and crack at the surface within minutes.
- If shapes go soft and floppy while you handle them, return them to the freezer or fridge for a few minutes.
- Join seams with the smallest dab of water — too much and the joint slides apart in the oven.
- Do all scoring before baking; the marks bake in as permanent character lines.
What Usually Goes Wrong
Pieces thicker than about a centimeter stay soft inside and can take days to dry right through, so keep them slim. Skipping the 15-minute freeze leads to shapes that slump or twist the moment they hit the hot oven. If tops brown too fast at 230°C (445°F), your oven likely runs hot — drop the top heat a notch and judge by the color of the piece rather than the clock. Magnets that pop off later almost always trace back to gluing before the gloss oil had fully cured.
Drying, Sealing, and Assembly
After the post-bake mist, give the pieces room to breathe: spread them out somewhere dry and ventilated, and expect one to three days depending on thickness. Press one now and then — when there is no give anywhere and it sounds like wood, it is ready. Brush the gloss oil in a thin, even coat, let it cure completely, then roughen the spot slightly, apply a small drop of instant adhesive, and press the magnet on for a good half minute. The order matters; adhesive on an oily or damp surface never bonds properly.
Two Quick Questions
Are these edible? No. Between the baking-soda dip, the gloss oil, and the adhesive, these are display pieces only — treat them as kitchen ornaments, not food.
Can I color the dough? Yes. Stir a little cocoa powder into part of the dough for brown tones, or work a drop of food coloring into the initial mix. Colors bake darker, so go lighter than the shade you want.
