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.