Bread Maker V Mixer

When looking back to my previous post, I was quite amazed by all the bread that I've baked few years back. I remember the first bread I bake was in 2008 and ever since after I've started my bread making journey, there are no stall bought bread at home anymore but with different types of freshly bake bread almost everyday. However, this has become a history after I got my little boy. I still bake but no more everyday.

Recently there are many people come to me and ask how I make my bread, with bread maker or by hand or ?? All this while, I'm using my KitchenAid mixer that attached with a dough hook to knead all my bread dough and shape them by hand then bake in the oven. Some of the friends and relatives ask me how to operates their bread maker but to be frank I've no idea how it works. According to some people, bread maker is very convenient as it can do all the job for you from kneading to rest and proof and shape. Wow, I wonder how good it is when I have no time to make a bread and let the machine do all the job for me especially after I have a little one to attend. Making a bread without a bread maker could be quite time consuming as you need to wait for the dough to knead until a right consistency then wait for it to proof and rest and shape then bake. All these process might take up to 4 hours. I believe for anyone staying at home for not rushing to everywhere else could be easy to WAIT for the whole process whereas for working people or those rushing here in and out the house will be quite difficult to achieve the task. 

To be frank, I will never thought to own a bread maker at home especially I'm quite satisfy with the mixer in kneading a good dough and I also believe
kneading by a dough hook from a mixer can produce better bread texture than bread maker. No doubt, it has testified by many baking friends who are making artisan bread at home. I believe they don't like to knead the dough by a bread maker but a mixer. 

Sometimes, things will changed when come to a situation or circumstances that will change your thought. I will never believe I will get a bread maker. Yes, I bought a bread maker lately after did a long and deep survey of it. Some people don't believe I will get a bread maker too. Well, for my current situation, I really need a bread maker. My son started enjoy bread, my husband want to eat bread everyday and they have been eating stall bought bread for some time. I feel bad and guilty when I saw them eat stall bought bread but I really have no much time to have freshly bake bread for them everyday. I only can make once a week but that wasn't enough for them until lately my husband suggest to get a bread maker and let it do all the job. As for me, I hardly convince myself to get a bread maker as I don't believe it will do a better job than my mixer. I did lots of study of different bread maker and ended up I got a Panasonic bread maker. I have tried a few bread maker from my in law, friends and relatives. The result really not what I get from a mixer. A good bread need to have good kneading process until a right consistency which bread maker couldn't make it. Bread from a bread maker stay soft and nice in the day it bakes and also the next morning but it will turn dry and rough on the 3rd day that will make me sad because my bread from a mixer stay fluffy soft up to 3 days.

After we got a bread maker at home, it's really convenient indeed. I make bread more often. My husband keep mention he don't mind to have a very soft texture bread and for him bread maker bread is good enough for him and my son didn't complaint anything too. The reason I choose this "P" bread maker because it has a small capacity. For a small family like 3 of us, we need average 2 loaf for 3 days. As I know bread maker bread wound't stay fresh and soft for many days, I choose the most smallest capacity so that we could have fresh and soft bread everyday before it lost the nice texture. The person who design this bread maker is quite smart too as he understand the yeast can't stay too long in the machine so it come out with a yeast dispenser to dispense the yeast for the dough in the right time.

I went through few experiments with different recipes to yield the best result by letting the machine run throguh the whole process. So far, this recipe, potato bread comes out with good texture with the soft bread function from the machine. It is really soft just like the one I made manually until it hardly stand still when I slice it out and also stay soft before we finish the whole loaf. I need to modify a bit of the recipe as the bread maker capacity is smaller than my previous loaf pan. I'm quite satisfy with this machine so as my family too. However, I would still use my mixer manually to produce a good fresh bread when I got the time to do so because the feeling of satisfaction in making manually is so different. The feeling of touching a smooth dough, looking for it to rise, punching the air out, shaping the dough until the final result is so much accomplishment. You would understand how I feel if you are also making your bread manually. 

Thank you for my hubby for this mother's day gift that makes my job so much easier nowadays. Not only that, he could have fresh bread to eat everyday with no preservatives and no any softening agent added. And of course, no more guilty watching my son having homemade bread too.

For the potato bread recipe, I use pumpkin and sweet potato to replace the potato and the outcome is even softer. For those who are using the same brand of bread maker as mine, this recipe is really a good one to go for the program 3 (soft bread program). However, my friends who has tested this recipe using Kenwood, Tesco brand, Noxxa from Amway, they came back with good feedback. One thing to remember is the bread from bread maker has to be store at airtight container in order to keep the freshness and don't slice the bread until serve.

For Panasonic Bread Maker:
If want to start process immediately, adjust the timer to 0:00 
Adjust the maker function to program 3 "Soft Bread", and crust "Medium" then press Start button
The whole process may take 4 hours 20 minutes

165g bread flour
60g plain flour
23g caster sugar
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon salt
100g cold water
3g yeast (1/2 + 1/4 teaspoon)
55g mashed pumpkin
1 egg yolk
23g butter

Others large capacity of bread maker:

220g bread flour
80g plain flour
30g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
140g cold water
4g yeast (1 teaspoon)
60g mashed potato
2 egg yolk
30g butter

Lemon Tart

I find myself is quite a citrus person. Any food with orange, lemon or lime I will definately give them a try. 

There are different citrus dessert recipes on my blog such as orange chiffon, lemon gateau, lemon hokkaido cupcakes, lemon cheesecake etc. However there wasn't a lemon tart which is one of my favorite dessert. I decided to jot it down here as my preference and also share this good recipes with you as some people tasted with good feedback.

Before I get a better recipe, here is the one I would go for it. 

Ingredients for a pastry fit 14 X 6 inches  rectangular tart pan

330g plain flour

70g sugar powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

70g whole beaten eggs

160g cold butter (cut into small chunk)

For the pastry, mix the flour, sugar powder and salt in a food processor until combine.  Add the butter and pulse the food processor in few times until everything become fine bread crumbs. Add in the beaten egg and pulse again for few times until it almost come to a dough. Take out the dough and flatten it to become a round disc. Cling wrap it and chill in the fridge at least 1 hour before use.

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 tart pan ring. Using the rolling pin, lift the pastry and lay it over the ring.

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.

Make a cartouche (a circle of greaseproof paper) slightly larger than the base of the tart pan and line the pastry case with it. Place some ceramic baking beans inside to weigh the pastry down. Place in the fridge to relax for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the pastry in the oven and bake blind for about 20 minutes.  Take of the tart pan amd remove the grease proof paper and baking beans then place it back to the oven to bakebfor another 10 minutes until fully cooked. Once it done, let it cool on a wire rack and make the lemon filling.

For the Lemon  filling:

7 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

1 cup (7 ounces) sugar

¼ cup grated fresh lemon zest (4 lemons)

⅔ cup fresh lemon juice (4 lemons)

Pinch salt

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

3 tablespoons heavy cream, chilled

Whisk the egg yolks and eggs together in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the sugar until combined, then whisk in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt. Add the butter and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly and registers 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 5 minutes. Immediately pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl and stir in the cream.

5. Pour the lemon filling into the warm tart shell. Bake the tart on the baking sheet until the filling is shiny and opaque and the center jiggles slightly when shaken, 10 to 15 minutes. Let the tart cool completely on the baking sheet and chill in the fridge then serve.