Water Roux Starter (65°C湯種) bread

With time on hand, I decided to give this water roux starter bread a try. But without a thermometer, I was unsure how to check d temp that's required for making water roux starter. Then I saw my hot water boiler which has water temp registered on d cover & when it's on 'Save' mode, water temp is usually 65°C! whoa la!

So here's what I did - pour 50g bread flour into mixing bowl. measure out 250ml 65°C water from boiler. Mix into d bread flour slowly as I constantly whisked it. Stop when mixture is well combined. Here's how my water roux starter looks.

Then I decided to try out my fav Hokkaido Milky recipe with d water roux starter by replacing d 250g fresh milk with only 150g fresh milk + 100g water roux starter.

This is how d end result looks - not really as soft as I expected. Maybe my water roux starter 'lazy' method is not done correctly.. ;-<

Mum's scones (biscuits)

Tried out d scone recipe from Shopoholic2802 today & it turn out a failure. Not sure what went wrong but d scones were all too hard to eat. But am not willing to just give up so I searched d web & decided on this recipe from Happy Home Baking (which includes a very detailed instructions on d method)

End result – very soft & fluffy batch of scones! A bit similar to d biscuits that McDonalds used to serve during BF (which was my fav). My batch was served warm straight from oven for testing. Both Hubby & MIL LOVED it! They commented that it tasted very soft & buttery.

Keeps well too, still soft & fluffy d very next day! Just pop it into d MW to heat up.

YES! Finally a good scone/biscuit recipe that works for me ;-D

Ingredients (makes 8):

• 250g cake flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• one pinch of salt (I used ¼ tsp)
• 50g cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
• 30g caster sugar
• 1 egg plus enough fresh milk to make up 140ml (I used d bal whipping cream from Shopoholic2802's scone recipe instead)

Here’s my simplified method based on Quinn’s suggestion :

1. In a large mixing bowl, sieve flour & baking powder together. Add in salt & sugar & mix them well. Cut butter into small pieces & coat with flour be4 placing them into a mini food processor. Add more flour & do 3 pulses. Then add them back into d flour & whisk ard be4 putting d flour-butter mixture into d fridge for minimum 30 mins.
2. Lightly beat d egg & add enough whipping cream to make up 140ml in total. Remove flour-butter mixture from fridge. Add egg+milk mixture & stir until just combined. Mixture will be sticky, moist & lumpy. Gather up the mixture & place it into a zip-lock bag. Give it a few light kneading (not more than 10 seconds) so that it comes together to form a dough. DO NOT over work d dough. Place dough bag into fridge for abt 30mins.
3. On a lightly floured surface, dust hands with some flour & pat out d dough into 1 inch thickness. Cut out d dough with a lightly floured biscuit cutter. Gather scraps together & repeat until all d dough is used.
4. Place cut biscuits into muffin cups & bake at preheated oven at 180degC for abt 15-20 mins or until d tops r golden brown. Remove from oven & place on a wire rack. Serve warm.
5. They keep well overnite too. Just pop them into d MW with hot water beside it for less than 1min.

Cinnamon Sugar Bread

Have not been trying new recipe so I decided to give this cinnamon bread a try. It's really as good as stated by it's creator. Definitely keeping this recipe!

Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients

• 1 cup Low-fat Milk
• ¼ cup (57g)Margarine/butter, softened
• 1 Egg
• 3 cup Bread flour
• ½ cup Sugar
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1¼ tsp Cinnamon
• 2 tsp Yeast

Put all above stated ingredients into d bread machine & select sweet setting. The dough will be quite sticky so add more flour or water if necessary. I added 2tbsp of bread flour.

Mangyle Vest

10yrs back, I tried to knit a vest for my hubby but never get ard to finish it. So 10yrs later, am giving it a try again. Search thru d web & decided to try out this pattern by Sarah Summer. Started this last nite & I hope (fingers & toes crossing) that I will finish it this time.

Sweet Scones

I love scones & when Shopoholic2802 baked some last week, I asked her for recipe to try out. Just got d recipe today but didnt have all d ingredients. However, my hands r itching to bake alrdy so I search my old files & found a scone recipe for kid, so here goes. End result - slightly hard crust but still edible scones. Hubby said quite good actually but it becomes too hard d next day to eat unless I pop it into d microwave.
Ingredients

• 225g all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• 50g soften butter cut into pieces
• 25g sugar
• 120ml low-fat milk
• 50g sultanas

1. Pre-heat oven 220c.
2. Put flour, salt & butter in mixing bowl. Rub with fingertips till mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in sugar & sultanas.
4. Add milk & stir to make a smooth mixture.
5. Knead mixture till it formed a stiff dough.
6. Roll dough into 2.5cm thick circle, brush with milk.
7. Bake for abt 25mins.

Lemon Yoghurt Cake

Got back from groceries shopping & found out that Hayden broke 3 eggs. They r still in their shells but cracks r getting bigger as I unpack. So I search d web for a recipe that requires 3 eggs & found this recipe from BH’s blog.
Cake looks great after I took it out but then on close inspection, I realized d side r badly burned.
So I decided to slice off d bottom/top of d cake to take a closer look of d inside. Turn out ok, only d sides r slightly burned.
Believe it or not, but am sending d slightly burned cake to hubby’s ofc gals for testing. All of my testers commented that they prefer it without d lemon dressing!

Ingredients
(A) Sifted
180g all-purpose flour (I used cake flr)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

(B)
200ml plain yogurt
150g sugar
3 extra-large eggs
½ tsp vanilla essence

(C) 120ml vegetable oil

(D) cook till sugar is dissolve & mixture is clear.
65ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
50g sugar

Method

1.Preheat oven to 160C. Grease & line baking pan. (note that I have lower d temp cause my oven burns more easier, & as u can c, it still gets burned)
2.In a bowl, whisk (B) till well blended. Slowly whisk (A) into (B), mix well. Fold in (C), making sure it's all incorporated.
3.Pour batter into pan & bake for abt 50 mins.
4.When cake is done, allow it to cool in pan for 10 mins. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While cake is still warm, pour lemon-sugar mixture over it & allow it to soak in. Cool.

Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake

I have always wanted to try this recipe from BH's blog & today, I finally have d time to do it. I think d cake collapsed during baking cause when I removed d aluminum foil, I saw a big hollow gap. But when I turn it over to remove from pan, it's looks GREAT from opp view.. sigh.. guess I need to try this again..

Ingredients

• 110g mayonnaise
• 125ml buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 120g all-purpose plain flour
• 20g cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 110g brown sugar

Method
1.Line a 7" square baking tin with parchment paper (no need to grease).
2.Sift flour, cocoa & bicarbonate soda together.
3.Put sugar & d sifted flour mixture into a bowl.
4.In a separate bowl, mix d mayo, vanilla essence & buttermilk till smooth.
5.Add mayo mixture to d flour & mix till d batter is smooth.
6.Pour mixture into pan & bake at 160 deg C for 20-25 mins.

Test knit socks_III

Done! My very 1st pair of knitted socks! Never knew it's so easy to knit a pair of socks!

Here's d web for anyone who's interested to learn too.

And I added d basic Cable pattern that's from here :
Rnd 1: P1, (K3, P1) 3times. rep to end of round (rnd).
Rnd 2: same as rnd 1.
Rnd 3: P1, (SL1, K2, P1) 3times. P1, (K2, SL1, P1) 3times. rep to end of rnd.
Rnd 4: same as rnd 3.
Rnd 5: P1, (C3F, P1) 3times. P1, (C3B, P1) 3times. rep to end of rnd.
Rnd 6: same as rnd 1.

abb:
C3F = slip next st onto cable needle & hold at front of work. K next 2 sts, K1 from cable needle
C3b = slip next 2 sts onto cable needle & hold at back of work. K next st, K2 from cable needle

Sweet Potato Bread

Was gg thru d web when I came across this recipe & decided to give it a try. However, after cooking d potato, I realised that I dont have enough all-purpose flour so I replace with cake/bread flour.

End result - a very, very soft bread! Am gg to stick to this recipe for a very, very long time.

400g all-purpose flour (144g APF, 63g CF, 200g BF)
¾tsp instant yeast
1/8 tsp salt
113g potato, unpeeled weight
1 cup of potato water
¼cup brown sugar
1 tbsp butter, at room temperature

1. Peel potato & boil chunks in 2 cups of water & a pinch of salt. Drain & mash d potato. Reserve potato water for making d dough. Let potato & d water cool to lukewarm.
2. Put all above stated ingredients into d bread machine & select sweet setting. The dough will be quite sticky so add more flour or water if necessary. I added 3tbsp of bread flour.

GreenTea Milk Loaf

BH asked me to give this recipe a try so I did.

End result - a little brown in color loaf. Not sure why color is not green like BH's but it's as soft as stated by BH. Maybe it's d diff brand of greentea power that was used ;-d

Ingredient
280ml Low-fat milk
1 egg
50g brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
500g bread flour
2tsp Instant yeast
70g unsalted butter
4 tsp green tea powder

涼拌醋藕

Saw this on TVB & decided to give it a try. But have problem finding d main ingredient - plum vinegar. So I decided to use peach vinegar instead. End result - a VERY TASTY salad/ snack! This is gg to be a must-have in my fridge from today onwards!

涼拌醋藕 Lotus root vinegar salad
材料 ingredients：
蓮藕半斤 ½kg lotus，
梅子醋½杯 ½cup plum vinegar，
米醋½杯 ½cup rice vinegar，
糖2大匙 2tbsp sugar (optional)

作法 method：
蓮藕切薄片，放入滾水中加少許鹽汆燙1分鐘後，泡冰水至涼瀝乾放容器。 醋與糖混合後，加入蓮藕中
Cook sliced lotus roots in boiling water with pinch of salt for 1min. Move lotus into iced water till lotus is chilled. Drain. Then add rest of ingredients in a container & mix well. Add drained lotus roots & keep in d fridge overnite.

功效 function：
消除疲勞 eliminate fatigue
穩定情緒 stablise emotion
促進體內廢物排 promote elimination of inner-body waste

Test knit socks_II

Just an update on d socks knitting. It's actually coming along very well, faster then I originally thot it would take. I even added Cable pattern to it. Almost finished with 1 side!

Light Oat Bread

As mentioned in previous posting, I don’t have bread flour on hand & won’t be buying any till next wkend. So am still searching for non-bread-flour recipe. Then I remembered I tried this Light Oat recipe be4. Thot I give it another go but reduce d water to ¾cup with ½cup whipping cream that’s expiring soon.

End result – a rather soft loaf that does not crumples as easily but d middle still collapes inwards just like my 1st attempt.. Might need to reduce d yeast or increase d salt.

Cheese Rye bread

As I didn’t have time for groceries past few days, I only realized I run out of bread flour last nite. So I decided to use up d Rye flour instead. Looked thru d bread machine manual for recipes & decided on this Cheese Rye bread.

End result - a very dense bread but still taste ok. However, Hubby dont like it at all..

700g dough:

• 150ml water
• 150ml butter milk
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 ½ tsp yeast
• 250g all-purpose flour
• 250g Rye flour
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 44g cream cheese
• 20g grated cheese

Put all into d bread machine & select Standard with light crust setting.

Test knit socks

With friends in town visiting, I didn’t have time to try anything new till now. I have never knitted socks be4 & with Hayden growing up, thot I give it a try so I can knit socks for him as & when he grows. But after searching d web, I found out that knitting socks is NOT easy. Most ppl used 4-5 open needles & I find that troublesome. Thus, when I finally found this web that teaches sock knitting on circular needle, I grab it immediately. So using d bal yarn from my tote, I started knitting my very 1st pair of socks!