Pancakes with Maple Syrup

My little Prince who is in Year 1 came back one day and asking me to allow him to flip the pancakes. I asked him to tell me everything about it and he mentioned that his school had a pancake day and they were allowed to make their own pancakes.  He informed me that he is a wonderful pancake maker and he can really flip a pancake like an expert. I promised him that we will do it on a weekend and we did.

Since he was so interested in pancakes, I decided to wear one of my many hats as a Mother (the educator hat) and explained to him that a pancake is a thin, flat, round cake made from a batter and  cooked on a hot frying pan.  We made the pancake batter together (me explaining to him each of the ingredient used) and my little Prince managed to keep the kitchen table pretty clean while doing most of it by himself...haha!

Here's a photo of my little Prince's pancakes.  He really did a superb job, I must say.  My little Princess ate quite a number of pieces of it and she thought it was from Mc Donalds...

My little Prince...we will be doing this again real soon....

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, 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?

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!!!

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!

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.....

Christmas Stollens

Its Christmas soon and one our last class we made stollens. It looks like a loaf of bread and it has mixed fruits in it and its covered with a rain stormed of icing sugar.  According to my lecturer, its a tradition from Germany.  Once we take it out of the oven, we actually soaked it in a bowl of melted butter.  Once the stollens are cooled, we will shower it with icing sugar.

Here is a photo where the stollen is soaked in a big bowl of melted butter....

Here's a photo of the end product.... we actually ate one loaf in class...ha!ha!

Well...one thing for sure...this stollen is really good and delicious.  Don't mind making it for Christmas this year...

Brioche

My lecturer explained to us that brioche is an enriched bread which has high egg and butter content in it. This makes the bread rich and tender. Even though its a bread, it taste more like pastry as it has a sweet flavour and flaky texture. One thing about brioche, it suppose to be "retarded overnight".  However, when we did it in school, we used the prover box instead...short-cut way.

Here's a photo of my little brioche... we only made 6 per bench and we ate it as soon as it came out from the oven...ha!ha!

Babas & Savarins

We made babas and savarins in our yeast product class the other day.  It seems that some people calls babas as savarins  and vise-versa. Oh well...I guess to each its own...

For my lecturer, babas are baked in a tall baba cylindrical moulds and have raisins in it. Savarins on the other hand looks like a donuts. Once its baked, it will be soaked into a syrup solution and the centre will be piped with whipped cream and decorate with fresh fruits.

Here's a photo of the babas that we made in school. It taste pretty nice, actually.

 Now, for the savarins...here's how we did it.

We piped it into the savarins donut moulds and baked it.

Here's a photo of our savarins after its baked.

The next step is to submerge it into a pot of syrup solution.

Let the syrup solution drip dry.

To finish it off, pipe whipped cream in the centre and decorate it with glazed fresh fruits.

Donuts, Donuts, Donuts

It has been awhile since I last posted....
Been so busy....work, school, etc...
A little catch-up...
Over the last few weeks, we made donuts...yup, donuts in school. This was the very first time that I used "pork fat" for the donuts. You heard it right...its fat from the little piggy (some calls it lard).  It does smell a little but boy oh boy was it fantastically nice after its done-do....We made jelly donuts, ring donuts, long johns, etc.  Here's some photos which I took at school.

Assorted Donuts Ready To Be Brought Home

Assorted Donuts

Assorted Donuts

Croissants....is it French?

Had a wonderful day in my yeast products class the other day. I also learn that croissants are NOT from France. According to my lecturer, croissants are from Budapest, Hungary. Google it and I am sure there will be stories about it. However, there's several versions to this story though....ha!ha! So, I am all confused once again...

Croissants are not that easy to bake though. I found out that there are several problems when making croissants. We had croissants that did not puff up fully when baking. I found out that the possible causes are "under proofed", "lack of humidity" or "oven too cold" from the internet. My lecturer also commented that it might be due to "lack of yeast" or "to much pressure when we roll the dough out between turns". Here's some photos - before we baked them and after we baked them...

Croissants before we sent them into the oven to be baked.

Hot, Hot, Croissants!!!

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!!!

Bienenstich with Bienenstich Topping and Custard Filling

Bienenstich....its a german word. It means bee sting cake.  This is a made from sweet yeast dough. It is a yeast product but I can't call it a bread though.  The sweet yeast dough consist of bakers flour, yeast, sugar and water which makes the sponge. And we have another dough which consist of bakers flour, butter, milk, sugar, egg and salt. Just combine both set together and knead it till its developed. Scale it, mould it and rest it for 10 mins. Then roll it out and apply the custard filling and the toppings. The topping is made from butter, sugar, honey, cream and almond flakes. Bake it in the oven for 20 mins @ 210 degrees C.  This photo is taken in my school just after we finished baking this bienenstich.  Its delicious!!!

Tamagoyaki Burger

Ever since I found "water roux", I have baked all my bread with this roux. It is indeed so soft and fluffy. Even my 2 kiddos will ask for 2nds. Today, I decided to make myself some tamagoyaki burger.

I am one of those who loves everything simple and a buddy of mine told me that I could make myself some tamagoyaki within minutes without buying a tamago pan. Now...I was all ears.  Its quite simple actually. For the tamgoyaki, the ingredients which I used were eggs, water, soya sauce, bonito flakes and oil for cooking in a non-stick frying pan.  The above photo is the tamagoyaki...see the layers....yummy!!!

Now...the fun part, stack my burger.  Firstly, my lovely soft bread being buttered on both side, mayo, cheese, shredded lettuce, pickles and tamagoyaki. Some love it just the way it is but for me, chilli sauce is a must...ha!ha! So, here's my version of the tamagoyaki burger. Now...where's my green tea........