Japanese Soft Bread - Almond Cream w Fruits

Bread aren't just to be eaten as bread alone. There're far more to it . Here is one such- roll the bread dough to fit small tart baking tins and drop a dollop of almond cream before topping it with fruit. Hundreds of calories lesser, guarantee !

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65 64789746

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Japanese Soft Bread : Xmas Mistletoe

Treat yourself to a slice of  this maple flavoured mistletoe on Xmas morning with a cup of English Breakfast and let the sweetness salut to another year of blessings . The texture is pillowy soft with a gentle chew and buttery smooth.

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65 64789746

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Japanese Soft Bread: Nutella Twist

rustic golden top

Even when an early bird wakes up before dawn light to knead dough with a cake mixer, and serves freshly baked bread on the breakfast table by 7am, she'll still be loathed by household members. You'd say "of course lah" . 

Earlier on before bedtime, I read of a dough glaze from Savour magazine which is a mixture of egg white and almond flour. With immediate, I prepared a simple preferment for the next morning final mixing of the dough. By 4am , my eyes were wide opened and wasted no time to test out the new glaze. 300g flours would fit in perfectly into two loaf pans. One loaf is leaving the house in exchange for a loonie fridge magnet from a friend who has returned from New Brunswick Canada.

Mix preferment and all the rest of ingredients into a dough and knead with a cake mixer for 12 mins. Proof till double. After proofing, degas the dough and cut into two. Roll each dough into a smooth ball and bench time 10 mins.

Flatten rested dough into a rectangle (length same as loaf pan) , spread with nutella and roll up slight tightly. Pinch the longer edge hard. Make a long cut in the middle of roll keeping the both ends intact. Twist it and place in baking pan. Mix the egg white and almond flour and spread it on the white part of the dough. 

almond glaze

Toss generously chopped almonds on the top. Leave them to proof till double. Bake in hot oven 180 degrees for 12 mins.

before the break of dawn

Recipe:

Dough Starter:

50g bread flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
60g water

Main Dough:

50g cake flour
190g bread flour
10g milk powder
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
30g sugar
45g water
1 egg plus a yolk
1 tsp rum
40g chilled butter 

1 egg white beaten
2 tsp almond flour

Nutella for spreading
Almonds for topping

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Yeasted Cookies - Pistachio and Sesame Semolina

You'll dive for these cookies! If you've eaten a barazek, you know I'm not wrong about it. Sweets from the Mediterranean region  are amazingly crazy delicious. The well-known baklava is second to a barazek, patiently hand-crafted from a blend of semolina, flour, pistachio and sesame seeds flavoured with orange blossom water.  Interestingly, the combination of yeast with baking powder in pastry making is found in this cookie. By the way, this cookie isn't for new-hands baker. The coating of the pitachio and sticky sesame seeds of this cookie isn't a play play thing of baking chocolate chips cookies. My both hands were in a big mess of sticky sesame seeds and had to use my two elbows to lift up baking sheet from one location to another. 

I decided to change the recipe to make my life easier after shaping 20 pieces of barazek in my first batch, and so this one in picture isn't a barazek but taste as good as one , or if not better with a teaspoon of rum and some of my favourite spices added to the dough...totally violating the original.

Recipe:
Ingredients

80g very soft ghee or butter

20g extra virgin olive oil
100g white sugar

1 medium size egg

¼ tsp vanilla                                                  

¼ tsp orange blossom water

2 drops rose flavor

1 tsp rum

150g fine plain flour
150g semolina flour

¼ tsp cardamom powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp instant yeast

½ tsp salt

50g crushed raw pistachios

100g untoasted white sesame seeds

30g honey

Method

·      Cream Ghee, oil  and sugar till well blend.

·      Add in egg and continue blending with wooden spoon till smooth.

·      Flavour it with orange blossom water, vanilla and rose flavor / essence

·      Add in semolina, flour , cardamom powder, nutmeg, baking powder, yeast and salt.

·      Add in crushed pitachio last.

·      Use hands to mix till a very soft dough is formed.  The dough will get less soft after an hour rest.

·      Place sesame seeds and honey in bowl  and warm it in microwave oven for 30 seconds for easier mixing

·      Use melon baller to scoop dough into small balls.

·      Place some sticky sesame seeds at center of palm.

·      Take a small dough and press hard on the sesame seeds, then slide the flatten dough inwards and lift it up . Place it on baking sheet. Press the cookie again .

·      Bake in preheated oven at 160 degrees in five minutes, 130 degrees till light golden. Turn off oven and dry them till deeper golden . This will also make cookies crunchier.

·      Store in airtight container after cool.

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Hongkong Mooncakes

Olive nuts with yolk n white lotus

The celebration of Autumn Festival was wrapped up yesterday - 4 October 17. Vendors were off loading their balance mooncakes at super low prices at major malls while my six chilled salted yolks were soaking in chinese wine waiting for me to get into action. Instead, the tired body flopped on the bed and enjoyed a good sleep. 

The batch just got out of the oven and cannot be enjoyed till Sunday. I'm in no hurry to eat them as the fridge is filled up with the commercial kinds with excessive sugar. I may put them all in a bag and pass over to the daily cleaner and her friends. Eating these super sweet mooncakes is an agony. 

I had mixed grade A white lotus paste with lots of dearly expensive olive nuts and so  the sweetness would be perfect. The recipe is from blogger Christine with extra 10g flour for easier handling.

Some pointers: 

• Do Not use anymore flour , the dough is oily enough and won't stick to plastic mould. If using wooden mould , use 100g flour in dough and use as little as possible during the moulding process. 
• Toast nuts before mixing into Lotus paste.
• Buy the best grade of lotus paste.
• Use walnuts or pinenuts if olive nuts are unavailable. 

Recipe: - Six mooncakes ( Total weight  about 88g each )

Dough:

110g  Hongkong flour - sieved
60g mooncake syrup
28g oil
1/2 tsp lye water

6 salted yolks
1 tbsp chinese wine

20g olive nuts
180g grade A white lotus paste

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Japanese Bread - Crusty

Gorgeous Danish pastries baked in small pastry rings. A delicious pastry cream spooned over the top and decorated withs raspberries, blueberries or canned fruits. The danish dough can be cut into different shapes and filled with same cream and fruits.

danish pastries

tomato stick

soft pizza

olive dinner buns

olive sandwish loaf

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Breakfast Indulgences

I'm in bliss again! Waking up in the morning to these heavenly Japanese sweet dough buns and chomp them with a good cup kaffe diverted my attention away from a new neighbour's non-stop screaming baby. I was so stressed by these new noise invaders so much so I rolled down from bed in my sleep two nights ago . Three-quarters of my body touched d hard ground and the rest landed on a full laundry basket. God always watching over me, Amen!

I'm into my 16th weeks' training of baking Japanese bread. This morning I woke up much earlier than usual while Baby Boo Boo is still in Neverland, and so quickly embraced this perfect time to carry out some kitchen tests on Japanese sweet dough. I used strong European bread flour instead and these Olive Rock Salt buns were unbelievably outstanding. Light crusted and pillowy soft interior. Total preparation and baking time within two hours only. Japanese bread making techniques are just too amazing...a gateway to enjoying western breads without an aching jaw.

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

- tel : 65 64789746

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Spain Chillout

Sagrada Familia

This year our globe jetting travels explored into the Mediterranean region and basked under the blazing Spanish sun for 12 days in the month of July. With Trafarlgar Tour Director Krista on board the coach, the history of the country was clearly narrated starting  from the year of the Roman invasion, followed by the Moorish Army aggression and, eventually handed back to the Catholic Monarchy. The journey of sight seeing from Madrid to Seville, Cordoba and Granada would be meaningless without the knowledge of its past ruling empires.

Purullena@Granada

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Retirement Blues - Chillout @ ABC Cooking Studio

healthier than buttery pastry

In life regardless of age, one can still seek progress and excellence in personal development throughout the journey, even after retirement. Stagnation rots the mind and excessive time on hand may lead to accumulation of negative thoughts. Frequent indoor bound living results in a poor social life, hence turn a person into couch potato (tua pui ), or develop anti-social behaviour (joy slayer) pissing people around, or worse slip into chroni-depression / bipolar diorder (siao siao). Mental illness is a life-time struggle and no medication or a multi-million wealth can fully cure them. A woman with poor mental health and has a million is a poor pathetic woman.

Rather not blaming the world for one's declining competence and before turning into a bull dog face nagging old bag, complaining day and night of others' joys - keep daily schedule packed with fun-filled activities and human interaction to combat low self-esteem in twilight years is one of life greatest wisdom. Stay pink in mental healthy always!!!

In next eight weeks, I would be dancing in glee to embrace some knowledge of Japanese baking. All these delicious breads brought joy to my palate sensation and others in the family as well. Trial sessions priced @ $28 for friends of members. This weekend, Mat and Kris are getting their hands on these super soft dough first time and the two-hours spent would be a good family bonding for all. More significantly, none of them would be asking ignorant questions in my kitchen bakes ever.

Baby Jesus sleeping under a blanket in a cradle during a snowy winter...stollen symbolic meaning

most challenging of all bakes

so delicious!!

deliciously over sweet

fancy kinds with nutella

french cream cheese n pecan won't go wrong

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