Blueberry Bagel

Here is my second attempts on bagel. The recipe had a bit different from the previous bagel I've made. Not only its blueberry flavour but it's made by milk to produce a different texture. I made big bagel this time and used it for our main course sandwich. I blended some fresh blueberry into paste to produce a blueberry flavor bagel. It smell very blueberry and soft yet chewy. But I still have problem shaping it into a perfect round shape. I heard a guru said those commercial bagel was form by a round mould but for homemade we've got to use our fingers to make it. Anyway, I don't mind the rustic one but still trying the best to make as round as I can. Recipe makes four big bagels: Bread flour 250g Caster sugar 20g Salt 1/4 teaspoon Yeast 3g Milk 95g Blueberry paste 50g Unsalted butter 5g Method:

1. In a large bowl of a stand mixer combine all the ingredients. knead dough with the dough hook until elastic, about 10 minutes on a low speed.
2. Divide the dough into 4 portions and shape each piece into a tight balls. When all the balls are shaped, place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 40 minutes.
3. Get ready a large bowl of 1L hot water with 5g sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of syrup. Preheat the oven to 180'C.
4. Once dough balls have rested, poke a hole through the center of each dough ball with your fingers. Stretch out the dough into a ring and make sure the hole is slightly larger than you want the finished bagel to have, as the bagel will expanding during the baking process. Let bagels proof for about 30 minutes.
5. Drop the bagels into the boiling water at about 90'C. Boil for 10 second at each side then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until golden brown.

Homemade Kaya

I've been using this recipe for years and now I would like to share with you. I suppose many of you might have your own recipe already but just a sharing. I used 2/5 of the ingredients from the original recipe just for both of us. I like this recipe because it don't need to be stirred all the time so that I can continue with other stuffs while cooking it. With the double boiling cooking method I always got a very smooth kaya. I reduced some sugar from the original recipe as I found it's too sweet for me. But it's very depends on you.

Little Burger

This is a fantastic recipe from Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Dinner". After followed his recipe I don't feel want to buy those frozen burger anymore. Nothing can be better than making your own homemade burger and it taste much better than those frozen one. His recipe is simply the best! This suppose to be a large burger but I intentionally make it into small portions to match with the little homemade buns I've made. Ingredients for the burger: (Makes Approx. 8 Burgers) (book reference: Jamie's Dinner) 1kg minced pork (I used lean minced pork) 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped Olive oil A pinch of cumin seeds (powdered) 1 tablespoon coriander seeds (powdered) sea salt and ground black pepper a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese 1 tablespoon english mustard (I used D-jon mustard) 1 large egg 115g breadcrumbs (I used fresh bread and pulse in a food processor) For the Buns: (makes 10 buns) 300g bread flour 7g yeast 9g sugar 6g salt 4g milk powder 190g (1 egg + water) 20g butter Method for the burger:

1. Fry the onion with some olive oil in a pan for few minutes until softened. When the onion completely cool down, mix it to the meat.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. (if the mixture is too sticky, add a few more breadcrumbs). Shape the meat into the eight fat burgers and place on a tray with greaseproof paper.
3. Sprinkle some bread crumbs on top of each burger and press down gently. Chilled in the fridge for 3 - 4 hours.
4. Fry the burger in a little oil on medium high heat for few minutes, depending on the thickness of the burger you shape. (here is a little different from the book, I grill it at a preheated oven 190'C for 15 minutes)

Method for the buns:

1. Knead all the ingredients with a dough hook for 15 minutes. Proof for 40 minutes then divide it into 10 portions.
2. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Then shape it into little bun and proof for another40 minutes or double in bulk.
3. Bake in a 190'C preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Bagel 犹太面包 (贝果)

I remember the first bagel sandwich I had was at the Heathrow Airport. Till now, I still remember the chewiness of the bread. There are many recipes of bagel and different ways to form the bagels into a donut shape. Some people likes to roll the dough into a “snake” and pinching the ends together. The other way is to shape the dough into tight balls and poke a hole through the center then stretch out the dough into a ring with fingers.

Since this is my first attempts I would like to go for the basic and simple one. This rustic bagel I made didn't looks very round in shape.

By the way, did you realize that there were actually five bagels in the above image?

These aren’t the giant-sized bagels as I purposely make it for breakfast or a snack.

I am now looking for whole wheat bagel recipe. Would you please share with me if you've got one. Cheers!

Method:

1. In a large bowl of a stand mixer combine all the ingredients. knead dough with the dough hook until elastic, about 10 minutes on a low speed.
2. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 1 hour.
3. Get ready a large bowl of hot water and preheat the oven to 400F.
4. When dough has risen, divide into 10 portions. Shape each piece into a tight balls. When all the balls are shaped, let the dough rest for 30 minutes covered with a clean dish towel.
5. Once dough balls have rested, poke a hole through the center of each dough ball with your fingers. Stretch out the dough into a ring and make sure the hole is slightly larger than you want the finished bagel to have, as the bagel will expanding during the baking process. Let bagels rest for about 10 minutes.
6. Drop the bagels into the boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip and boil for an additional minute.
7. Transfer bagels to a clean towel to drain for a moment, then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Egg wash the boiled bagel bake for 20-24 minutes, until golden brown. (I garnished it by adding some sesame seeds)

Nectarine & Plum Tart

These supposed to be Plum tarts but ended up was a few Nectarine Tarts as the plums I bought was over riped. So, I replaced it with a few leftover nectarines from the fridge. Luckily there was one plum still can be used.

Now, the plum tart become a protagonist.

I think any fresh fruits would be delicious with the combination of frangipane and rich shortcrust pastry. I love the color of plums, its sharpness of color had pampered my appetite.

For the rich shortcrust pastry:

2 eggs yolks

2 tbsp cold water

220g plain flour

110g unsalted cold butter, diced

pinch of salt

For the frangipane:

143g ground almond

25g plain flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

125g butter

125g sugar

1 1/2 large egg

Method:

1. For the pastry, add 2-3 tbsp cold water to the egg yolks and stir with a fork.
2. Place the flour into the bowl of a food processor, followed by the cold butter, sugar powder and the salt.
3. Turn the processor on and pulse several times until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Add two-thirds of the egg yolk/water mixture and pulse again. If the mixture is still too dry, add the remaining egg and water mixture (you may not need to use all of it). Be careful not to overwork the pastry. Stop pulsing when the mixture has the consistency of chunky breadcrumbs.
5. Turn the pastry out onto a clean, floured work surface and, with floured hands, bring together to make a smooth dough, but don't knead.
6. Shape into a flattened ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes. You can keep the pastry at this stage for 2-3 days if not using it immediately.
7. Remove the pastry from the fridge. On a clean, floured work surface, roll it out with a floured rolling pin until it's slightly larger than the flan ring. Using the rolling pin, lift the pastry and lay it over the flan ring.
8. With your fingers, lightly press the pastry into the sides of the ring. Run a rolling pin over the top of the ring and pull away the excess pastry at the edges. Using your fingers, gently press the pastry up to slightly build up the height of the pastry at the edges. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork.
9. For the frangipane, blitz the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a food processor until light and creamy.
10. Add in the ground almond, plain flour and beaten eggs and whiz until completely mixed and smooth.
11. Place in the fridge to firm up for at least half an hour.
12. Chopped some over riped plums and cook gently unil softened, with jammy consistency. Let is completely cool down and ready to use.
13. Cut others plums or nectarines into slices and maceratet them for 5 minutes by sprinkling them with sugar.
14. Spoon some plum jam into the pastry case then spread the frangipane over the plum jam.
15. Arrange the plums or nectarines on the surface of the frangipane, pressing them in lightly.
16. Bake the tart in the 180'C preheated oven for about an hour. Remove tarts from th oven and leave it to cool.

Polo Bun 菠萝包

I was inspired by a Hong Kong drama as I saw the actors ate the polo buns are so delicious. Then, I looked for this recipe from the internet and finally I've got this wonderful recipe with full explanation and step by step decriptions. The bread was made as usual, proof for one hour then punch out the gas and portion it to rest for 15 minutes. Then cover with the polo pastry and proof for another one hour and just wait for the 15 minutes of baking you could have a yummy polo bun. It's really smell good while I was waiting for it to come out from the oven. I like its cottony soft texture, and the crumbly polo pastry outside the bread. It's so tasty! PS: It's yummy to eat plain as it is. I tried insert a piece of cheese and bake in the oven for the next day and it's wondeful. My other half likes to eat it with kaya. Whatever it is...it's delicious! Recipe makes 4 buns: For the bread: 150g bread flour / 1 tbsp milk powder / 1/4 tsp salt / 30g sugar / 1 tbsp beaten egg / 1 tsp yeast / 70g water / 15g butter For the polo pastry: 50g plain flour / 25g sugar powder / pinch of salt / 1 tbsp beaten egg / 30g butter

How I made the polo bun:

1. Knead all the bread ingredients with the dough hook mixer for 15 minutes then proof for one hour.
2. Punch out the gas and divide it into 4 portions then rest for 15 minutes.
3. Make the polo pastry: beat the butter until pale and fluffy then gradually add in sugar powder, salt and milk powder.
4. Gradually add in beaten egg till everything combine.
5. Gently fold in plain flour, don't over mix the pastry. You might find it too sticky, add a little flour but not too much.
6. Divide it into four portions. I let it sit in the fridge for half and hour. (it would be much easier to handle later on)
7. Take a polo pastry on the left hand and a dough at right hand. Push the dough into the polo pastry from outside to inside by turning the palm of your left hand until 3/4 of the dough has place inside the polo pastry. (follow the photos show at the original website)
8. Place the dough seal side down and egg wash it then use a sharp knife gently draw chequer pattern on the pastry surface.
9. Let it proof for 1 hour then bake at 180'C preheated oven for 15 minutes.
10. It's delicious when you eat it fresh. I did reheat in the oven for couple of minutes on the next day and it's still yummy!

Gateaux Basque

Gateaux Basque is originated from a town in south of France. It is now famous at everywhere and different flavors of Gateaux was created by different chefs. I read this recipe from a french recipe book, the chef was using the traditional recipe by adding some cooked apple to make it more interesting. I noticed many people add blueberries, cherries or other fruits instead.

It has a crumbly texture from the outside and soft texture from the inside which has contained with some cooked apple and custard. French named the custard as "Cream Patissier". European will love this cake as it's rich and buttery flavor. I would love it when I'm looking for something rich to fill my appetite and this is the one!

Recipe for one round tin 18cm x 3.5cm

For the Basque Pastry: 133g Butter / 133g plain flour / 67 ground almond / 2.6g Baking powder / 46g Egg yolks / pinch of salt / 100g sugar powder / 6g rum

For the Cream Patissier: 333g milk / 33g sugar / 1 teaspoon vanilla extract / 53g egg yolks / 33g sugar / 26g plain flour / 6g corn flour / 8g butter / some egg wash

Cooked apple : 2 large cooked apple / some sugar and butter / 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method for the Cream Patissier:

1. Warm the milk with sugar in a sauce pan.
2. In another mixing bowl, mix the yolks with sugar then slowly add in plain flour and corn flour.
3. When the sugar melted in the warm milk, add it to (2) the yolks mixture. Add little by little until everything combine.
4. Pour it back to the pan at low heat. Keep stirring with the hand whisk until its thicken.
5. Off the heat and keep stirring for couple of minutes, add in the vanilla extract then the butter.
6. When everything combined. Pour it into a bowl and cover with cling film. Let it completely cool down and place it into the fridge for 4 hours or overnight and its ready to use.

Method for the cooked apple:

1. Peel the apples and cut into 8 slices. You would have 16 slices.
2. Grease a baking pan with butter then sprinkle with some sugar. Place the apples into the baking pan.
3. Place some butter on top of the apples and bake at 180'C for about 1 hour. Sometimes it depends on what apples you are using. So keep an eye on it, the apple should have a little soft. Sprinkle with some cinnamon powder on the apple after 40 minutes baking.

Methods for the Gateaux:

1. Mix the egg yolks with salt and rum together.
2. In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar powder.
3. Mix the egg yolks mixture (1) to the butter mixture (2). (Add little by little)
4. Add in flour and mix until everything combine.
5. Wrap it into a cling film and flatten it into 1cm thick. Place it into fridge to sit for 3 hours.
6. After 3 hours, cut out 2 pieces of 18cm round shape and place one into the tin. (Do this with a cling film would be much easier)
7. Continue to make about 3.5 cm long shape to fit the side of the cake tin. (If the mixture start to melt, place it back to the fridge until it could be easy to handle)
8. Fill in the cream patissier then follow with some cooked apple. Cover with another piece of pastry on top. (You might not need all the cream patissier, I used 2/3 only)
9. Egg wash the top and use a sharp knife to draw some pattern on it if you like. (I didn't draw it nicely so you couldn't get what I actually draw.)
10. Bake in a 180'C preheat oven for 90 minutes or 2 hours. (place a piece of aluminium foil on top if you find it is burning too much on top after some times of baking, it is better to bake at the lower part of the oven)
11. Let it completely cool down before cutting it into slices. It's best to serve the day after.

Chocolate Moist Cake

Chocolate moist cake was one of the most frequent buying product from the "King of the Belgians Restaurant". I suppose its enchantment for those chocoholics is heaven! I would normally leave the cake plain without any decoration but this time of year I must add something in order to look like a celebration cake for my friends birthday. I don't have any piping skills so I gave it a floral arrangements to produce a better look. However, the flowers is unedible, it's just for decoration. The texture was very moist with rich chocolate flavor. Perhaps the instant coffee had enriched the cake flavor and it wasn't too sweet for the birthday girls.

Recipe for 8 inches cake tin:

Ingredients for the cake:

220g cake flour / 50g cocoa powder / 1 tsp baking powder / 1/2 tsp baking soda / 1/4 tsp salt / 190g butter / 280g sugar / 1 1/2 tsp vanilla / 3 large eggs / 250ml cold water / 1 tbsp instant coffee (dissolved with some water)

Ingredients for the chocolate fudge:

50g cocoa powder / 125ml water / 200ml evaporated milk / 100g sugar / 1/2 tsp salt / 1 tsp vanilla extract / 2 egg yolks / 60g cornflour / 1 tbsp instant coffee / 60g butter

Method for making the cake:

1. Beat the butter, gradually add in sugar then vanilla extract until the mixture become fluffy.
2. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Add shifted dry ingredients and water alternately to beaten mixture and mix well till well combined.
4. Pour mixture into two 8 inches greased and lightly floured round baking pans.
5. Bake at 180'C for 20 - 25 minutes. (do not over cook in order to produce a moisture texture)

Method for Cooking the Fudge:

1. Mix everything in a double boiler and keep on stirring with a hand whisk until the mixture thickens.
2. Lastly add in the butter until a smooth consistency.
3. Spread 1/3 of the fudge on a piece of 8 inches moist cake then sandwich with another piece.
4. Gently spread the fudge on top and side of the cake.
5. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours then start your creative decoration.

Coffee Panna Cotta

I had some left over cream in the fridge so I decided to minimize all the ingredients from the original recipe that just enough to make two cups. I felt the panna cotta was too lonely standing alone so I simply process few oreo biscuits in the food processor, until the mixture has the consistency of fine breadcrumbs then placed it beside the coffee panna cotta. The oreo biscuit crumbs are just so match with the puddings especially the smooth and wobbling consistency, really attractive! I think this dessert is simple and nice for serving guests as it could be made in advance and keep in the fridge until the dessert time.

Recipe for 8 of 80ml cups

Cream 400ml / Milk 300ml / Sugar 75g / Gelatine powder 9g (1 tbsp) / Coffee 2tbsp or more / Oreo biscuits

1. Dissolve 60ml of water with the gelatine powder for about 10 - 15 minutes.
2. Cook the cream, milk and sugar in a saucepan. Use a wooden spoon to stir while it is cooking.
3. Add in coffee when the mixture start bubbling, cook until the coffee dissolve.
4. Off the heat and add the dissolved gelatine. Stir until everything dissolve.
5. Strain the mixture into a bowl then stir the mixture under another bowl of ice water until its cool down.
6. Pour the mixture into the pudding cups and place into the fridge for 3 to 4 hours.
7. To serve, dip the cups into hot water for few seconds then transfer onto a plate.
8. Serve with some oreo biscuit crumbs, enjoy!