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Monday, August 31, 2009

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.. ;-<




Saturday, August 29, 2009

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.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

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.

Monday, August 24, 2009

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.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

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.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

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.

Friday, August 21, 2009

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

Thursday, August 20, 2009

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.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

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

Sunday, August 16, 2009

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

Saturday, August 8, 2009

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!

Friday, August 7, 2009

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.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

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!