Bread Making

After the successful panda bread attempt which was purely aesthetic as I didn’t like the taste of the cocoa that was used for the panda eyes and ears, I decided it was time to make bread that I’d eat. Well, sort of, cos I’m not really a fan of bread.

I also have to admit that after making the panda bread, my husband made me watch Yakitate! Japan! And it fired me up to bake bread again.

As a refresher, I read up on bread making. Here are some links:

• Homemade Bread Without a Machine
• Bread Baking (also check out the sourdough article)
• Wikihow
• The Fresh Loaf

Haven’t tried these recipes but keeping them in my file:

• Buttery Bread Recipe
• Potato Roll Recipe
• Potato Rolls
• Tender Potato Rolls
• Easy Potato Rolls
• Sweet Potato Rolls

If you try them, let me know which ones work like a charm 🙂

Panda Bread – NEED TO POST PIC –

Since I like to bake and mix, whisk everything by hand, I decided that it was time for me to try my ‘skill’ at baking bread. The only thing that put me off at first was the kneading part as I thought it would be tiresome. However after trying it out, I found that kneading is quite fun — of course only if I have to do it once in a while.

The first bread I tried to bake was this adorable Panda Bread. I didn’t want to try out normal, plain bread because I like to challenge myself at times. I remember the time when I had to slice it. I was kind of scared because I don’t like to fail and wouldn’t be happy with myself if the panda face didn’t turn out well. Thankfully it did! And I was ecstatic. *pats self on back*

macarons — success

Broke 2 eggs from the fridge and collected their whites in a small bowl. Did it in the afternoon and started baking after dinner.

Preheated oven to 150C. In a bowl, mixed 1/2 C + 2T almond meal with 1 C confectioners/icing sugar. Didn’t sift nor dry nor blend. Just measured them and dumped into bowl and mixed together. Placed aside.

In a stainless steel mixing bowl, placed some salt and poured in the room temp egg whites. Started to whisk. When foams started to form, dumped 2T sugar in and whisked a little more until dissolved and then dumped 3T sugar more. Used regular white sugar. Didn’t use caster nor icing/confectioner’s sugar because that would make it too sweet. Whisked by hand with big balloon whisk until stiff peaks. Took a while and arms got a great workout.

Dumped half the almond+sugar mixture in the stiff egg whites and folded using spatula. Mixture will be clumped and dry. Just scrapes the sides and bring down to the middle. Did a few times until well blended and then dumped the rest of the mixture in and repeated. You will see the stiff and dry mixture become soft and runny, magma-like. I read people saying not to overmix, so I stopped once it looked like it could pipe easily. Also, when you pick the mixture up with the spatula, it didn’t drop like clumps. Instead, it dropped off slowly and absorbed itself into the batter.

Poured the batter into the piping bag. Baking tray already lined with baking paper. Piped from side (not from top) to make the batter flow into circles and repeated with space between each piped circle until the tray was full. Piped all the batter and got 2 sheets.

Immediately placed the 1st tray in oven for 15 mins. The 1st batch cracked. Brought the tray to the living room and then rinsed the empty tray with cool water. Placed the 2nd sheet onto the tray and placed in oven. This time, left the oven door ajar — gap is enough to place a puffy oven mitt. The macarons rised well and had cute feet. After 12 mins, checked to see if they were done by trying to pick the corner one up but it was still stuck firmly to the sheet. So I closed the door with just a very small gap and left it for 3 mins. When I opened again, the macaron lifted off easily and there were no cracks on the shells. Success!

Notes:

Did this in Dubai’s early summer heat and did all the whisking, mixing, piping in the air-conditioned living room.

Korean Bowl for 2

5 beef slices
1/3 cup soy sauce
3T sugar
1/2T sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion
2 green onions including white parts, finely slice
red pepper flakes as much as you wish
3T water
3T honey

Marinate beef with this mixture.
Cook. Add to white rice, fried egg and sauteed asparagus. Yum.

Healthy Hollaindaise

I LOVE hollandaise sauce. That’s mostly cos I LOVE poached eggs. Anyway, I’ve always known that hollandaise sauce is not healthy due to the amount of butter and egg yolks used but since I never made it, I didn’t give it much thought.

When I started baking, I’d see how much butter and sugar goes into each cake, brownies, etc. So when I made macarons and had leftover egg yolks, I figured that I could finally make some hollandaise sauce for myself! YAAAY!

That is, until I read the recipe and decided against it. A 2/3 cup of sauce uses 1/2 cup of butter and 3 egg yolks. Eek! So I tried to find a healthier alternative and found this Yogurt Hollandaise Sauce. And hey, it keeps! Unlike the real hollandaise recipe, you have to use immediately as it doesn’t keep long. Anyway, I have yet to try this recipe though. Keeping this in my files for future reference.

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped dill or 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• fresh ground pepper

Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 25 mins

1. Beat eggs, yogurt, lemon juice in double boiler.
2. Cook for about 15 min or until thickened.
3. Note: Sauce will become thinner after 1o min of cooking, then will thicken again.
4. Remove from heat and stir in dill, salt, pepper and mustard.
5. Serve warm.
6. Can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.
7. Reheat over hot not boiling water.

April Fools’ Cake

I’m bad at pranks, but this seems like a fun one. Have yet to try it out.

April Fools’ Cake Recipe

• 8 Servings
• Prep: 15 min. Bake: 40 min.

Photo by: Taste of HomeApril Fools’ Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 jar (14 ounces) pizza sauce
• 1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled
• 1 package (8 ounces) sliced pepperoni
• 3 cups biscuit/baking mix – (substitute : For each 1 cup of biscuit/baking mix called for in a recipe, use 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening [changing it to 1 T butter].)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 5 to 6 slices mozzarella cheese

Directions

• In a bowl, combine the pizza sauce, sausage and pepperoni; set aside. In another bowl, combine the biscuit mix, milk, eggs, butter and garlic salt. Spread half of the batter on the bottom and up the sides of a greased 10-in. fluted tube pan. Spoon meat mixture over batter; cover with remaining batter.
• Bake at 375° for 35-40 minutes or until browned and a toothpick comes out clean. Invert onto a baking sheet. Arrange cheese over cake. Return to the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Using two large metal spatulas, transfer cake to a serving platter; serve immediately. Yield: 8 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 piece) equals 497 calories, 33 g fat (13 g saturated fat), 113 mg cholesterol, 1,776 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 18 g protein.

April Fools’ Cake published in Country Woman March/April 2002, p24

Fudge Sundae Pie

With your homemade frozen yogurt that you have, you can try out this Fudge Sundae Pie from Taste of Home and let me know if it’s good :p

Fudge Sundae Pie Recipe

Photo by: Taste of Home

• 8 Servings
• Prep: 20 min. + freezing

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons light corn syrup, divided
• 3 tablespoons reduced-fat butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2-1/2 cups crisp rice cereal
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup fat-free hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed
• 1/4 cup chopped unsalted peanuts
• 4 cups fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt, softened

Directions

• In a large saucepan, combine 1/4 cup corn syrup, butter and brown sugar. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute.
• Remove from the heat; stir in cereal until blended. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9-in. pie plate.
• In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, hot fudge topping and remaining corn syrup. Set aside 1/3 cup for topping. Spread remaining mixture over crust; sprinkle with half of the peanuts. Top with frozen yogurt and remaining peanuts. Cover and freeze for 6 hours or until firm.
• Warm reserved peanut butter mixture; drizzle over pie. Let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before cutting. Yield: 8 servings.

*This recipe was tested with Land O’Lakes light stick butter.

Prawn Laksa

Waitress Pie Recipes

I like to bake, but I’m not a fan of pies. I guess it’s because I don’t like the pie crust which I usually find is hard and thick and just not to my liking. Maybe I haven’t had the best pie in the world yet. I’m pretty sure they’re nice but I guess it could be because the ones I’ve tried were baked using shortening or margarine (I prefer real butter!).

Anyway, a friend mentioned about these funnily named pies in the movie Waitress and asked if I’ve ever seen the movie. She also said the recipes for those pies can be found online. I do remember surfing the TV once and the movie was on but it didn’t catch my attention to continue watching. So the other day when I caught it on TV again, I decided to see it. Fortunately, it was still in the beginning of the movie.

It was a cute story but not a favorite. However, my friend was right about the quirky named pies and they intrigued me to google the pie recipes. Am posting them here but I haven’t tried them out yet. If you do, please let me know.

Strawberry Oasis
A dark and velvety chocolate experience. In the movie, this pie used a chocolate cookie crumb crust which you can certainly also use but in this first testing, I went with a buttery, baked pastry pie crust. This is filled with luscious, dark and silky chocolate filling and topped with a double strawberry filling. It is a sparkling romantic pie of decadence and the fluttery of spring – all in one bite. You can make the elements a day ahead and the assemble a few hours before serving.

1 baked 9 inch pastry pie crust(or chocolate cookie crumb pie shell)

Chocolate Silk Filling

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped, semi-sweet chocolate, (5 ounces)
1 package miniature marshmallows
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

(Whipping cream as required)

Fresh Strawberry Filling
2 cups strawberries, slightly crushed
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon strawberry or raspberry extract, optional
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 1/2 cups strawberries, diced if large, or halved if small

Garnish
2 cups whipping cream; whipped with 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
Diced Strawberries

Bake and cool the prepared pie crust. Set aside.
In a small saucepan over lowest heat, slowly melt the chocolate and butter together over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in the marshmallows to melt and then the cream and vanilla. Refrigerate while making strawberry filling.
For the Strawberry Filling, crush or mash the first amount of strawberries. Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk. In a medium saucepan, heat the crushed berries with sugar until they start to get a little liquidy. Cook and then add the cornstarch mixture until lightly bubbling and thickening. Remove from heat and stir in extract and vinegar. Cool 15 minutes and then fold in fresh strawberries. Refrigerate 2 hours.To assemble pie, spoon chocolate filling into pie shell. If the filling is too thick and cold, put it in a food processor and whiz with some whipping cream drizzled in, until it is soft enough to use as filling (but not gloppy). Top with the strawberry filling and then offer with dollops of sweetened whipped cream. Dust top with chocolate crumbs and diced strawberries. Serve at once or chill up to two days.
Serves 6-8

The rest I got from here:

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

9 graham crackers
1/2 C. sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted
5 Tbs. butter or margarine, melted
34 lg. marshmallows (8 oz.)
1/2 C. whole milk
1 1/2 C. heavy or whipping cream
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form. Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack. Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.) In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight. Top with mini marshmallows, maraschino cherries and rainbow sprinkles.

Falling in Love Chocolate Mousse Pie

9-inch baked pastry shell
1 14-oz. can condensed milk (not evaporated)
2/3 C. water
1 (4 serving) pkg. chocolate pudding mix (not instant)
1 1-oz. square unsweetened chocolate
2 C. (1 pt.) whipping cream, stiffly whipped

In large saucepan, combine condensed milk, water and pudding mix; mix well. Add chocolate. Over medium heat, cook and stir rapidly until chocolate melts and mixture thickens. Remove from heat; beat until smooth. Cool. Chill thoroughly; stir. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into prepared pastry shell. Chill 4 hours until set.

I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby Pie

1 pie crust
4 Tbs. butter
3 slices ham
8 green onions
1 C. brie cheese

1 C. parmesan cheese, grated
4 eggs
2 C. heavy cream
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover pie crust with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake 5 minutes more. Remove crust and reduce heat to 325 degrees. Julienne ham. Chop green onions. In skillet, saute ham until brown. Remove and set aside. Saute onion until tender. Remove with slotted spoon and combine with ham. Spread on bottom of pie crust. Spread brie over ham mixture and sprinkle with parmesan. Combine eggs, cream and nutmeg; pour over cheese. Bake 30 minutes or until set. Cool slightly, cut into wedges and serve.

Baby Screamin’ Its Head Off In The Middle of the Night & Ruinin’ My Life Pie

4 8-oz. cream cheese, softened
1 C. unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 C. sour cream
1/2 C heavy whipping cream
1 3/4 C. white sugar
1/8 . cornstarch
1 fl. oz. amaretto liqueur
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 C. chopped pecans
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Bring all ingredients to room temperature. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap outside of 9-inch springform pan with foil. Generously butter inside of pan. In large bowl,beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in sugar and cornstarch. Blend in sour cream and whipping cream. Add amaretto and vanilla. Stir in eggs and egg yolk one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition. Pour batter into pan. Place pan in another pan at least 1 inch wider and add water to outside pan (prevents cracks). Bake on center rack for 70 minutes. Turn oven off and let cool with door open for 1 hour. Remove cake from water and chill at least 3 hours before removing cake from pan. Top with crushed pecans and dust with nutmeg.

I Can’t Have No Affair Because It’s Wrong & I Don’t Want Earl to Kill Me Pie

2 1/2 C. graham cracker crumbs
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. melted butter
2 large eggs
1/3 C. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C. milk, scalded
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 egg whites
1/2 C. white sugar

Mix crumbs, brown sugar and butter until well-blended. Press mixture into a 9-inch pan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Beat eggs slightly in a large bowl. Add sugar and salt. Slowly stir in hot, scalded milk. Add vanilla. Strain mixture into pie crust. Sprinkle top with cinnamon. Bake on lower shelf 25-30 minutes, or until custard is firm. In larger glass mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 C. white sugar, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie after custard is set, return to oven until meringue is slightly brown. Cool 15 minutes.
Lonely Chicago Pie
Cinnamon, spices and sugar underneath rich melted chocolate and smashed berries. Inspired by the movie “Waitress”.

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp melted, salted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
1 (10 inch) unbaked deep-dish pie crust
1/3 cup fresh strawberries or blackberries, lightly crushed
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp salted butter

Preheat oven to 400F.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add the beaten egg, butter, and vanilla. Mix well and add the milk.
Pour mixture into crust.
Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F and bake 40 minutes.
Top pie evenly with crushed berries, return to oven and bake 10 minutes longer.
Let cool completely on rack.
Melt together chocolate chips and 1 tsp butter, pour thoroughly over baked pie. Allow to chill in fridge before serving.

Sticky Date Pudding

I’ve only recently tried sticky date pudding and I must say, “WOW!” It’s really good, especially with vanilla ice cream. The other day I was craving it and it didn’t seem like we’d be going out, so I googled some recipes and tried it out. The finished product was YUMMY and it tasted exactly like the pudding I had at the restaurant! Haha.

Sticky Date Pudding
adapted from Exclusively Food
Serves about 8

270g (1 1/2 cups) deseeded dried dates
312ml (1 1/4 cups) water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
60g (1/4 cup) butter, roughly chopped (we use salted butter)
2 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
188g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour
150g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

Butterscotch Sauce
180g (3/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons, firmly packed) brown sugar
300ml (1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons) cream (35 to 40 percent fat)
25ml (1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon) golden syrup
25g (1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon) butter (we use salted butter)

Place dates in a bowl and add bicarbonate of soda and 60g butter. Pour in the boiling water, stir and set aside for 25-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Celsius fan-forced) — I preheated to 170 degrees.

Grease pan and line the base and side with baking paper.

Mix the cooled date mixture to form a chunky paste. Add in eggs and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, stir flour and 150g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar together. Add date mixture to the flour mixture and gently fold the ingredients together until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake the pudding for about 25-35 minutes, or until it springs back when lightly pressed in the centre. A thin-bladed knife or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the pudding should come out without any batter attached.

Meanwhile, make the sauce (instructions below).

Leave pudding in the pan and allow it to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Using a skewer, pierce several deep holes in the pudding. Pour about 125ml (1/2 cup) of the hot butterscotch sauce over the pudding. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.

Reheat sauce if necessary. Serve pudding with hot butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Store leftover pudding and sauce in the refrigerator or freezer (we freeze the sauce separately). Suitable to reheat.

Butterscotch Sauce
Place sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir mixture over medium to medium-high heat until the mixture comes to the simmer. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove sauce from heat and set aside until required.

Notes:

•  My date mixture method is easier because I didn’t need to pulse it in a food processor. The dates I used easily became a nice and chunky paste after it cooled down. My dates were the moist kind and not fully dry.
• I used my 9×9 pan.
• My baking time wasn’t as long as required in the original recipe. It seemed to cook fairly quickly. I LOVE my oven!