Focaccia ....how do you pronounce it?

Focaccia...this is a delicious Italian bread which is topped with herbs and other ingredients (its more like...whatever one love to put on top of the bread thingy).  I often finds it hard to pronounce this delicious flat bread.  One of my Italian friends said that her Mom taught her the Italian pronounciation and to me it sounds like "fore - car - cha".

One thing I know about this flat bread...it loves olive oil and can never have enough of it.  I love dotting these babies before I prove it.  Some people will prove it in the prover and other will let it prove just on the kitchen  bench. Olive oil is the moisturiser of this bread and it sucks it all in...amazing!!!

Focaccia is commonly use as a sandwich bread over here. However, its delicious on its own too.  Here's 2 photo of  my focaccia.

 

 Before it goes into the oven...

Just come out of the oven...

I just love the smell of these babies baking in the oven....yummylicious!!!

Apple and Coffee Scrolls

Apple and coffee scrolls....some will call it apple and coffee rolls, apple and coffee buns or even apple and coffee swirls.  Whatever name its known as, this is a sweet yeast-leavened dough which has custard spread on it. If you want to make coffee scrolls, you just have to sprinkle some coffee paste on top of the custard and then you start rolling it like how you would a swiss roll.  And if you want to make apple scrolls, you just have to sprinkle some cooked cubed apples on top of the custard and then you roll it.  Once you have rolled it and cut into individual portions, it has to be proved till it double in size. Then, you will bake it in a hot oven at 220 degrees C for 10- 15 mins.  Once its baked, you will then bunwash it with sugar syrup.  Lastly, you will glaze it with white fondant (apple scrolls) or coffee fondant (coffee scrolls) before serving it to your guests and customers.  Here's some photos of my scrolls.

Before being placed into the prover box.

After it comes out from the oven and bunwashed with sugar syrup.

This is a delicious breakfast item indeed...yummy!!!

Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is not something which my household tend to eat. However, I wanted to try and make it as I had quite a lot of old bread. Hence, I decided to use the recipe which I often use at work.  I decided to make more so that I can share it with my neighbour.  I understand from my Chef that Bread Pudding is a very popular dessert in lots of countries. There isn't any fixed recipe as per my Chef, however, we tend to use one particular recipe which delights our customers. We normally served it with caramel sauce or custard sauce. Here's a photo of the bread pudding which I made...

I am so glad to hear from my neighbour that ~ "Its just so delicious!!!"

Cream of Mushroom

Hot and creamy yummy Cream of Mushroom in a cold winter day.......hmmmm....yummmmmmm!!! That's what we had today. I also managed to bake some bread to eat with the yummy soup. The only thing I didn't do was the croutons.  I always see the canned cream of mushroom soup and my other half often mentioned that we should just buy a can or two. However, we never managed to buy any. However, yesterday, we just couldn't resist it when the mushroom were so cheap. We bought a whole plastic bag of it and made cream of mushroom soup.

When I was young, I often remember Campbell Cream of Mushroom Soup.  I just can't wait to go to the supermart to get cans of it. To me, Cream of Mushroom Soup comes from North America. When I was in my teens, my Grandma taught me how to cook this yummylicious soup and I have been having this since then.

We had 2 bowls of soup each with bread.......yum!!! Here's a photo of my dinner....

One word - delicious!!!

Bread, Bread and more Bread...

Winter is here and not surprisingly, my kiddos love having bread...its better if its MV first.  They will have it with their warm milk or chocolate milk.  So, I decided to make 2 types of bread this round.  I will do some buns and a loaf.  I just wanted to see if my kiddos prefer the buns or slices of bread.  As usual, my kiddos wanted raisins inside the bread. Hence, here's several photos of my humble raisin breads.

Last stage of proving...going into the oven very soon....

Just out from the oven.....

On to the cooling rack....

My humble raisin loaf...

Gosh...I just love the smell of the bread baking in the oven....don't you?

Raisin Buns and Scrolls

My little darling Princess was asking for raisin buns when we walked passed Bread Top yesterday and I told her that we will try and make some today.  Since we have a good old breadmaker, we should put it into good use. My little Princess got all excited and we can out with 2 different types of raisin buns.  In between waiting for the dough to double in bulk, we also tried to make some Danish scrolls. As I do not have a laminator / dough-breaker, I had to do it by myself with a rolling pin.

Here's some photos of our little project today...

Raisin Buns 

Raisin Buns

Danish Scrolls

I am pretty happy with the end results as my 2 kids ate at least 1/3 of the buns and my DH ate 1/2 of the danish scrolls...wohoo!!!

White Bread Loaf

My 2 precious were asking me if they could have some white bread and there was only 1 piece left. Hence, I decided to bake another 2 loaves of bread. My Prince has begun to request for egg sandwiches, chicken nugget sandwiches (made from home, not deep fried, baked), etc. However, he did say that he wants the bread to be as soft as those commercial ones. For me, I am trying my best not to let them eat too much chemicals add-ons (preservatives).

I have been trying quite a number of recipes...somehow, when I give it to my kids, they will immediately know its not from Breadtop. This is my quest...to make homemade bread and its similar to the commercial ones and my kids will not be able to tell the difference immediately. Gosh...this is just so hard for me.

Made another 2 recipes for white loaf bread...
It was OK for the 1st two days (very soft, just like the commercial ones)...but on the 3rd day.......... :(

Onwards...my quest for the homemade bread which is like the commercial bread continues....
Till next time...happy baking!!!

Soft Buns

My 2 precious just love Breadtop breads and I am trying so hard to bake it at home and I found another recipe  from Alex Goh and here's how it went. Even though its Spring now, the weather has turn cold....its 15 degrees C now.

As always, I used my mixer with the dough hook to knead the dough. I don't have any expensive, arty farty equipment...just my humble Sunbeam Mixmixer and a desktop oven. I kneaded the dough for 12-13 mins and once I was able to see the window (window test), I let the dough proof till it doubled in size in the bowl. It took me more than 2 hours for my 1st proof. Once its doubled in size, I punched down,divide and roll into 40g dough balls.  Then, allow it to proof till it double in size again.  The weather turned colder, down to 13 degrees C and I decided to proof it with my MV. Finally, I eggwash and bake it in the oven at 200 degrees C till its golden in colour which took me about 12-15 mins.

What's the verdict? Who are my testers? My 2 precious and of course my DH.  It was really soft and fluffy but I am really not sure it will be so tomorrow and the following day.  My little Princess loved it and asked for seconds. Will update this post in a few days time.

Here's a photo or two of the little buns:

Happy baking, everyone!!!

Our Bread Buffet, Present Dessert Buffet and Gateaux, Torten & Cakes Buffet

Wohoo...its buffet time for our three classes.  We are all excited indeed. This semester has come to an end and we end it off with a buffet finale...awesome!!!  We had the best of times, best lecturers...what more can we ask for....

Present Desserts Buffet

Gateaux, Torten & Cakes Buffet

Bread Buffet

I really learnt so much from my lecturers...thank you so much!!!

Basic White Bread, Vienna Loaves, Buns, etc

Our bread making class is just awesome!  We made a basic white bread and our lecturer even showed us what happens to the breads if its not full fully proofed. Here's a photo of it. You can see that the colour is different and I can tell you, the smell is also different...yes siree!!!

Besides the basic white bread, we made vienna loaves, buns, etc. Here's some photos which I took in class:

You know the best thing about our bread classes, we can take home our goods!!! Wohoo....

Hong Kong Sweet Bread (Pai Bao)

It has been sometime since I last posted. I have been so busy lately with work. Now that school has started, its work and study once again. My 2 kiddos have begun to eat more bread now. So, I decided to make some sweet type of bread. I thought about the Hong Kong sweet buns which we ate before when we were in Hong Kong. Just a phone call to my buddy and voila....pai bao at home.  The only item which I did not add in was the condensed milk as I ran out of it. However, it still taste so good and so fluffy soft!!!  I also made it into round buns for my prince as he loves anything shaped into a burger bun. Here's a photo of it.

Till next time...happy baking!!!

Spelt Bread (Dinkelbrot.) & My 1st Sewing Project

I heard about spelt bread from my friends from Germany and they call it Dinkelbrot.  When I went to the store to buy myself a packet of spelt flour, I asked the kind lady there about the spelt flour. She mentioned that this flour produces a softer grain of gluten thus more gentle toward the digestive system.  She also informed me that spelt flour is NOT gluten free. However, its low GI. I used the same old recipe which I often use to make white bread but substitute the flour with spelt flour.  Here's a photo of my spelt bread.

***

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, my other half bought me a sewing machine. My prince has been bugging me to sew him a Ben10 pants and my princess wants her Dora dress. I did not have any commercial patterns at hand. Therefore, the next best thing to do was to trace the pattern from their favourite pants / dress. Here's my finished sewing project.  Here's a photo of my son's Ben10 pants.

Here's a photo of my daughter's Dora dress.

So...this home engineer has another job...sewing...ha!ha!
That's all for this post...till next time.. ta-ta!

BLT Sandwich

BLT sandwich is a very popular type of sandwich here. In the metro itself, it seems like every cafe has BLT..its a must have kind of thingy.  My other half loves bacon and BLT seems the easiest thing for me to whipped up in the morning when I am plain lazy to fry noodles and such.  What is a BLT? As the name states it, B - Bacon, L - Lettuce and T - Tomato.  For me, I will pan fry the bacon with some butter till crispy as my other half loves it crispy. Then I will spread some butter, mayonnaise and stack the BLT accordingly and lastly sprinkle some seasonings.  Here's a photo of my other half's BLT Sandwich.

I am glad that my other half is a easily pleased kind of guy...if not, I really have to slave in the kitchen to whip-up a meal for his breakfast...phew!!! :)

Sandwich Bread Loaf (Pullman Bread Loaf)

I am going nuts as I could not find a pullman bread loaf pan in my area.  I went to all the bakeware shops and they do not have a pan with a lid....golly!!! I tried using the normal bread pan and used something to cover the top of the pan  but the bread did not turn out well. I guess that's why it needs the pullman bread pan to do the job.  Over here, its better known as sandwich loaf.  In french, its known as pain de mie. Oh well...here's a photo of the "failed" Pullman Bread Loaf.

Oh well....thankfully, even though the bread looked out of shape, but my family still ate the whole loaf. :)

Cinnamon Rolls and Mixed Fruits Ring Bread

I wanted to try something more creative with my bread dough and I decided to add in more sugar to make it a sweet bread dough. This enables me to create cinnamon rolls and mixed fruits ring bread.  My other half and my 2 kiddos really wallop these babies in a day. Hmm...I guess they got tired of my plain old breads....ha!ha!

Talking about cinnamon rolls, a buddy of mine calls it honey buns. It sounds delicious and she made some for me recently. It really taste and looks like cinnamon rolls. So, when I baked some cinnamon rolls and gave some to her, she thought it was honey buns...ha!ha! Oh well...cinnamon rolls, honey buns, cinnamon buns, cinnamon snails...whatever...it just taste delicious.  Here's a photo of my cinnamon buns...

Here's a photo of my mixed fruits ring bread.  I cut it into 2 as my kids wanted to look at the fruits inside of the ring bread....curiosity kills the cat as they say...ha!ha!

Bread...Plaited & Focaccia

I love making my own bread as I will not use any preservatives....not too good for my 2 kiddos. My princess was asking for plaited bread as she loves the pattern. When one of my buddies came to visit us, she commented that I made a nice looking challah but how come I made only 1. Silly me did not know much about challah and I googled to feed my curiosity. I found out that its a traditional shabbat meal on a Friday night meal begins with blessing over 2 challahs.  This is indeed very interesting.

I also made focaccia bread and from what I know, its a flatbread from Italy.  It might be similar to a pizza but it actually is not.  Most of the time, focaccia is baked flatbread with toppings of olive oil, herbs and salt.  Of course, you can be creative and you can make your own creation.

Here's a photo of my plaited bread and focaccia.....

Pita Bread

Pita bread is also known as a flat bread and I believe that its eaten everywhere. No matter which country we have visited, we have found this little baby.  When we were in Greece, we found out from the waiter that pita means "flat".  I was very excited to try this in my little oven...just wanted to test and see if it will separate to form an internal pocket and thus creating pocket pitas.  Well, well, well...amazingly, my little oven did a good job with it....here's some photos!!!

Pita bread baking in the oven...

Here's a photo of the end result....

Plaits Became Wreaths....

I know, I know...its Halloween but since we do not celebrate it in our family, we still went for a family outing. I was surprised to see brochures, leaflets and other promo about Christmas. Yup, you heard it right...its about Christmas. That got me thinking...bread wreaths on dining table for Christmas Eve dinner. It was a nice decor and a yummy bread for my family, relatives and friends last Christmas.

So..I decided to make some today. Got to get the plaits right to make the wreaths stand out during Christmas, you know? :) Well, after I plaited it like I would do for my Princess, I just pinched the ends and it becomes a wreath. My other half had other ideas though....gloss it with jam and sprinkle A1 sugar after baking it. So...here's the outcome of our breadmaking...

Finger Rolls, Plaits and Scrolls ......Sweet Bread

I had a wonderful time in my bread making class today. We made 3 kinds of sweet breads - finger rolls, plaits and scrolls. Its really yum!!! We made our sweet dough and from there, we came out with Finger Rolls, Plaits and Scrolls. We used bread improver to speed up our bread production and its commonly use in commercial breads.  The basic sweet dough ingredients are bakers flour, yeast, salt, sugar, bread improver, butter, milk powder, egg and water.

Plaits without Toppings

Plaits with Almonds Topping

 

Finger Rolls with Coconut Topping

 Scrolls with Sultanas, Raisins, Cinnamon Sugar and Apples.

Luncheon Meat Pizza

 

Luncheon meat pizza...yum!!! I have a can of SPAM luncheon meat and I was wondering what I could do with it before it expires. My other half suggested of us to make "Luncheon Meat pizza"....tadaa!!!  We just ransacked our fridge and came out with this...ha!ha!  What is luncheon meat? Its a meat which has been processed, prepacked and shaped into a loaf which is ready to eat. Pizza is something which we often do in this household.  We just knead our own dough, ransack our fridge to see what's there for our toppings, bake it and voila!!! We can satisfy our cravings!!!