Panettone

I made this Italian bread for Christmas breakfast to cheer up the Christmas atmosphere.

Recipe:

(A) 80g raisin / 80g apricot / 150g rum

(B) 200g bread flour / 30g honey / 3g yeast / 90g water / 20g apple puree

(C) 100g bread flour /20g sugar /1/2 tsp salt / 1 tsp rum / 30g eggs / 20g milk

(D) 80g unsalted butter

(E) 30g sugar powder / 50g plain flour / 5g milk powder / 40g unsalted butter

Methods:

1. Soak the ingredients (A) with rum for 5 hours or overnight. (If you don't fancy about liquor, replace it with orange juice)
2. Mix ingredients (B) at low speed using a dough hook mixer till everything just combine. Place the dough in a clean bow with cling wrap to sit for 3 hours.
3. Mix ingredients (C) with (B) and knead at low speed then turn to medium speed until it become a smooth dough.
4. Add in the butter and knead at low speed until the butter combine with the dough. Turn to medium speed continue the kneading process until it become a smooth and elastic dough.
5. Drain the ingredients (A) then add into (4) until the dough fill up with all the raisin and apricot.
6. Place the dough into a lightly grease bowl and cover with cling wrap to proof for 60 minutes.
7. While waiting for the dough, mix the ingredients (E) with finger tips until it become crumbly texture. Set aside and ready to use.
8. Divide the dough into 3 portions and round them into balls. Place each dough into the Panettone cases and proof for 60 minutes.
9. Egg wash the doughs and sprinkle over some crumble on the doughs. Bake at 180'C preheated oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.

Fruity Fruit Cake

Before the Christmas, I was requested by a friend to make a tray of fruit cake and wrap it as little small gifts. I really have no idea what fruit cake recipe to use as there are so many version of fruit cake recipe. Finally, I used a traditional fruit cake recipe from Nigella Lawson. I managed to buy some natural dried fruits from the market and I think natural sweet would be better than artificial sweetness. Furthermore, I reduced the sugar from the original recipe and the cake turn out just nice. The cake was really chewy with the natural sweetness and the cake crumbs wasn't too sweet and buttery. You could see from the picture the dried fruits are more than the cake crumbs which was the purpose of just to bring all the drieds fruits combine together. I baked a tray and finally I'd cut into even size of 49 pieces.

Log Cake

It's been very busy time for me in the pass few weeks. Perhaps now is the time to take a break and enjoy my baking diary. This is my first year of x'mas in this little land. I'm glad that my family could celebrate with me. We enjoyed the x'mas dinner and gifts exhanged. Although it's very tiring but absolutely worth it.

Here is my log cake for the x'mas. I used my previous roulade recipe to make this log cake simply place a few little snow man, x'mas trees and deers to make it looks a bit interesting. This log cake remind me a very old log tree I saw in the jungle during the winter years ago. It looks like a very damp, cold and old tree. I guess the Oreo crumbs make it looks so alike. But, I simply forgot to sprinkle some icing sugar so that it looks more alike :(

Well, I'm so glad they enjoyed the cakes and play around with those little snow man and deers. Very fun!

Creamy Braided Bread

These are the super soft yet tasty bread as it's produced by the cream, milk and butter. I know it's a bit unhealthy as its contain lots of fat in there. Well, I've promised to myself will not make this so often. I've given away a loaf for my friend and left one for our breakfast.

This was my first attempt on making a braided bread, it looks very ugly. Unlike the one I read from the recipe book of 孟老师的100道面包. But, I'll try to make better next time if I found a chance to give away a loaf again :P

Other than the appearance, it taste really good with the soft texture and buttery flavour.

Recipe:

(A) 200g bread flour / 30g sugar / 1/4 tsp salt / 18g egg yolks / 3g yeast / 100g cream / 40g milk / 20g butter

(B) For the crumble toppings: 30g sugar powder / 50g plain flour / 5g milk powder / 40g cold butter

How I made it:

1. Mix ingredients (A) except butter at low speed using a dough hook mixer, then turn to medium speed until it become a smooth dough.
2. Add in the butter and knead with low speed until the butter combine with the dough. Turn to medium speed continue the kneading process until it become a smooth and elastic dough.
3. Place the dough into a lightly grease bowl and cover with cling wrap to proof for 80 minutes.
4. While waiting for the dough, mix the ingredients (B) with finger tips until it become crumbly texture. Set aside and ready to use.
5. Divide the dough into 6 portions and round them into small balls. Let them rest for 15 minutes.
6. Roll each dough into longish shape about 28cm and form a braiding. Tighten up both side of the dough and proof for 30 minutes.
7. Egg wash the doughs and sprinkle over some crumble on the doughs. Bake at 180'C preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

Chiffon cake is my favorite dessert. It's light and taste very refreshing after storing in the fridge. I've some leftover pumpkin in the fridge and thinking to make this pumpkin chiffon last weekend. For this recipe, the pumpkin suppose to be steamed with its skin which is in green color but I peeled it days ago. So, I replace the green skin with some pumpkin seeds. Normally I'd bake all my chiffon at 160'C according to my oven thermometer. After reading my friend's blog, she recommended to turn the heat down to 140'C as the fan oven we are using is quite heat. It works! The previous chiffon I baked rise up very quickly and cracked till nobody business whereas this time it rise up slow and steady. Although it's cracked but not so serious. I like the cotton soft chiffon combine with the sweetness from the steam pumpkin with bits of crunchiness from the pumpkins seeds, yummy! Recipe for 17cm round chiffon For the egg whites mixture: 110g egg whites 55g caster sugar 5g corn flour For the egg yolks mixture: 40g egg yolks 24g milk 36g vegetable oil or olive oil 24g mashed pumpkin 10g sugar 55g plain flour 80g pumpkin cubes How I made it:

1. For the mashed pumpkin, wash and core the pumpkin. Cut in big chunky portion and steam until tender. Peel some of the steamed pumpkin and mash. Cut others steamed pumpkin about 1cm cubes with skin. Weight the ingredients follow by the recipe above.
2. For the chiffon cake, mix all the egg yolks mixture except flour and pumpkin cubes. When everything well combined then gradually add in sifted flour (I used electric mixer, its came very handy for this process). Mix everything well combine and no lumps left. The mixture would be very thick and and smooth. Gently mix in the pumpkin cubes.
3. Beat the egg whites in a clean large bowl until peak foam. Gradually add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Then finally add in corn flour. Make sure the corn flour mix well in the egg mixture. The egg whites mixture should be peak foam, smooth and shiny.
4. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks mixture. When everything well combine then gently fold in the 1/2 of the remaining egg whites mixture. Lastly, fold in the remaining egg whites mixture. (Note: This stage took some times and patient and practice. Make sure all the egg whites mixture well combine with the egg yolks mixture without breaking the egg whites. Little egg whites left will cause a big hole in the cake during baking. And, over mixing will cause it hardly rise during the baking.)
5. Pour the well mix mixture into a 17cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 160'C preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. After baked, let the baked cake turn upside down for cooling before unmold it. . Keep the cake in the fridge it could last for 4 - 5 days. Best serve in 3 days.

Onion & Sweet Corn Rolls

These rolls taste very good probably because of the onion. A boy couldn't resists to have one when it's freshly bake from the oven (but he was only allowed to eat after an hour when the rolls cool down). I reheat a leftover roll in the 2nd day at 100'C for eight minutes, it's still very soft and yummy :) Probably is chemistry from the potato mashed

Recipe: (A) 200g bread flour 20g plain flour 15g caster sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp yeast 20g egg whites

100g water

20g potato mashed

(B) 15g unsalted butter

(C) 5g butter

20g finely chopped onion

100g sweet corn

1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

(D) Mayonnaise

1 teaspoon dried parsley

How I made it:

1. For the fillings, finely chopped the onion and fry it in a pan at low heat until soft but not caramelize. Drain the sweet corn and add to the onion fry for another minutes. Add pepper to season. Set aside to cool and ready to use.
2. Mix ingredients (A) at low speed using a dough hook mixer, then turn to medium speed until it become a smooth dough.
3. Add in the unsalted butter and knead with low speed until the butter combine with the dough. Turn to medium speed continue the kneading process until it become a smooth and elastic dough.
4. Place the dough into a lightly grease bowl and cover with cling wrap to proof for 80 minutes.
5. Divide the dough into 5 portions and round them into small balls. Let it rest for about 10 minutes.
6. Roll out each doughs into a longish shape and fill with the onion and sweet corn. Roll in into a sausage shape and proof for 25 minutes.
7. Egg wash the doughs and mark few oblique line at the surface with a sharp knife at each doughs then squeeze some mayonnaise at the oblique line and sprinkle with some dried parsley. Let it continue for another 5 minutes.
8. Bake at 180'C preheated oven for 18 minutes until golden brown.

Wholemeal Bread 全麦土司

I'd failed on making this bread before until recently I'd like to give myself another try as I'm very keen about wholemeal bread. This time, I've got the right texture and better appearance unlike the failed one which was rough crumbs and the shape was rectangular rather than square.

I think I could bake this bread quite often now for my breakfast as I probably know the mistake which is insufficient kneading. The recipe extracted from 孟老师的100到面包. After reading this recipe book, I've understand some the bread making technique and that's increase my confidence on making bread. Although it's not hundred percent similar with the commercial one but it's good enough as a homemade bread. I'm quite happy with the result as I've got the soft crumbs and right texture, it could be even store until the 3rd day and yet soft.

The recipe could be extracted from Happy Home Baking, she is one of my idol chef and very experience in making bread. Happy browsing!

Tarte au Chocolat

I like this rich chocolate tart especially its smooth and creamy texture. The chocolate filling has to be produced by a good quality of chocolate in order to get a rich and cremeuse (cremy) texture. I used 85% Lyndt chocolate for the tart and hazelnut paste that I bought from Sainsbury's. Its original recipe is actually arrange some chocolate curls on the tart but I'm quite lazy to do the chocolate curls so I toasted some chopped almond, hazelnut and walnut for the toppings.

Recipe from BBC Olive magazine:

Make 4 x 10" tartlets

For the pastry:

220g plain flour

110g unsalted butter

20g sugar powder pinch of salt

2 egg yolk + 2 tbsp cold water

For the fillings:

275g hazelnut paste (or Nutella)

125g 70% dark chocolate, plus a block for brushing the pastry

300ml double cream

450ml milk

3 eggs, lightly beaten

some chocolate shavings or toasted nuts for topping

Making the tart case:

1. Mix the eggs yolks with 2 tbsp cold water stir with a fork until well combine.
2. Place the flour into the bowl of a food processor, followed by the cold butter and the salt. Turn the processor on and pulse several times until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add the egg yolk/water mixture and pulse again. Be careful not to overwork the pastry. Stop pulsing when the mixture has the consistency of chunky breadcrumbs.
4. Turn the pastry out onto a clean, floured work surface and, with floured hands, bring together to make a dough, but don't knead.
5. Shape into a flattened ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. You can keep the pastry at this stage for 2-3 days if not using it immediately.
6. 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.
7. 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. Line the tart with a piece of parchment and chill it for 20 minutes so it doesn't shrink when you cook it.
8. Heat the oven to 200'C. Add baking beans or rice and bake it for 15 minutes, then lift out the parchment and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the pastry is dry and a good brown colour. You must cook and colour the pastry properly, once the chocolate goes it it won't colour any further. Turn the oven down to 160'C.

Making the filling

1. Put the hazelnut paste and chocolate in a bowl. Bring the cream and milk to a boil and pour it over., mix everything together with a whisk until you have a smooth liquid.
2. Whisk in the eggs. At this point you'll find it hard to believe that the filling will set but it will end up with a beautiful creamy texture.

Putting the tart together

1. Melt a little chocolate and use it to brush the inside of the tart, this will make the pastry leak-proof and stop it from going soggy. The secret to this bit is to brush the tart while it i still warm so the chocolate soaks in and fills any little cracks.
2. Put the tart back on the oven shelf and pour in the filling right up to the top. Cook for 40 minutes, the tart should still be very wobbly but not liquid. Once its completely cool down, it'll set.
3. Top with chocolate curls or toasted nuts.