Oat Wheat Sandwich Loaf

Turkish Bread stuff with Black Pepper Steak

Usually we take very light meals during weekends. I bought some Turkish bread from Cold Storage. I had some steak in the fridge and I just cut it into thin slices, and seasoned with salt, black pepper, soy sauce, garlic. Sizzled on a non stick pan for 1 - 2 minutes. Added lots of veg. and some self invented dressing (don't really remember what I used...), I recalled I used some of these: sweet sour magic sauce, miracle whip, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt, sugar.

Not actually a light meal though. Certainly simple and delicious!

Dau Sa and Yam Paste Bun

I used the same sweet bun dough which I shared before: http://shiraschoice.blogspot.com/2008/05/bread-making-4th-attempt.html

I tried playing with the filling differently. I used home cooked yam paste wrap inside one more layer of red bean paste. Taste not bad at all. The rich red bean paste complemented the yam paste well... wow, freshly from oven, superb snack!

Yum Yum Por Law Pau

I was in my kitchen @ 12:30am last night enjoying my sweet success. Before that I was so restless as I just stood in front of the oven looking at the whole baking process that lasted for about 20 mins. I was really anxious to see how the crust cracked by itself while enjoying the fragrance from the oven.

"Por Law Yau" - freshly baked Por Law Pau with a thick slice of cold butter...so sinful... I almost cried as I slowly consumed it. Oh, I was so happy to hear and feel the cracking sound as I bit on and broke the crispy top and ... Gosh!.... the bun is super soft too. I couldn't believe I could make one at my own home....This has brought back many fond childhood memories - this was always my favourite pick when my mom asked me to choose a bread for my breakfast.

In HK cha chaan tengs, you can easily find this freshly baked bread being served during tea time. I went to one HK cafe at Aberdeen called "Kum Loong" (Golden Dragon), during my last visit in HK. Their milk tea as well as Por Law Pau are heavenly. A queue will form outside the cafe around 3:30pm and their bread will come freshly from oven trays after trays. If you have chance to go there, there are other "must try" for you: "Chu Chai Bau" (Piglet bun) and egg tarts.

I've tried this bread in many so called HK cafe in Singapore. I get disappointed most of the time. Of course Crystal Jade's is still my best choice as the taste is really close to the original HK Por Law Pau. But now I can crunch my thrust by baking one by myself ;> (blush, blush)...

A big thank to Eddy, my hubby's nephew, who is a professional baker in HK. When I shouted for help after the first few horrible failures http://shiraschoice.blogspot.com/2008/05/bread-making-2nd-attempt.html, immediately he gave me a very good recipe that leads to my success here.

Another Good Book - Bread Making

I bought another bread making book last week. The book title is "Tsang Mei Chi Teaching You How to Make Bread the Very First Time". And the small print on the book cover says, "Super Simple, the Most Fundamental, Sure Success."



I think it is a very well written book as it comes with simple, clear, intelligently written illustrations. The flow charts showing est. time for each and every process are really good. The whole learning process is complete with lots of photos.


For the start, I didn't want anything fancy, so I tried out the wholemeal Bread Loaf recipe and I'm very pleased with the result. It is soft and it tastes just like those bread you could get from the bakeries. We finish the whole loaf in 3 days and the last slice was still soft.





Then I tried out the Pullman Bread (Toast Bread/Sandwich Bread). I'm getting more confident at the end of each trial with very encouraging results. I even told my hubby and my kids that from now on all bread on our table will be home baked ..... hmmmmm.....maybe 80%......we'll see...

P.S. I'm also more familiar on how to operate my mixer and I've come to know how to do a proper stretch test and can tell when the dough is ready. The old saying "Practice makes perfect" is once again proven very right! So don't give up, guys!

Bread Making (5th Attempt)

I gave it a special name: "80-year-old granny bun"

My sweet success doesn't last long. I couldn't wait to retry Florence's 65 degree C bread (http://wlteef.blogspot.com/2008/03/65c.html) because I really like the taste and the texture.

This time I was a little bit over-confident due to my earlier success. The bread dough was a bit wet and not very elastic when I sent it for proving rather than kneading them for a while longer. So the dough was not very smooth and was difficult to handle.

Although the yeast worked well, I do not understand why it ballooned up uncontrollably. There were bubbles on the bread surface. I should have taken some photos to show u! So when the final proving was done, I brushed some egg wash on top and the bun surface just shrinked and wrinkled like a granny face...

As usual, the taste is always right but it is my bread kneading skill and the wrong decision made that led to this failed attempt. I'll not work on this recipe so that I could reflect on what have caused this failure before another attempt... I'll not give up!

P.S. I let my eldest little angel choose over the successful sweet sausage bun or this wrinkled bread. Without hestitation, she said she liked this wrinkled bun more but the very hard one was the best!!! Oh... this really helps me carry on. I'm doing some research to get recipe for making hard bread consistently, not those made by mistake... wish me luck...any help out there?

Bread Making (4th attempt)

Mini Sausage Buns and Mini Lotus Paste Bun

Hurray!!! I got it, I made it and I'm delighted! Wow! To my surprise, this sweet success comes quite suddenly. The bread is soft and nice just like the ones sold in bakery shops.... no no, my hubby says they are better than the "real" bread.

Like those who give long speech after they go onto the stage to collect their trophies or awards, I would like to specially mention David Ong who is professionally trained in bread making as he guided me through endless SMS in this 4th attempt. A little help comes from a new book (Hand-made Bread--Asia) that I bought at Popular book store. It has detailed explanations complete with photos to guide the readers along e.g. speed of mixer and when to add what ingredients etc. Although I don't quite like the recipe and the way they compiled the photos and explanation, it is still helpful.

Some tips to share if you plan to start self learning:

1) Do not buy those instant yeast that is packed in small boxes. (They usually come with 5 sachets). I recommend the blue coloured "Bruggeman" dry yeast from Phoon Huat. I believe one of the reasons for my earlier failures comes from the yeast. This time round, I can see the dough prove within the suggested time. Previously it took 2 hours and it still could not "grow" double in size. And smell from the yeast is more pleasant.

2) Make sure your dough knead until it is no longer sticky. It should turn smooth and become stretchable without breaking/tearing.

3) Buy a bread mixer if you'll make bread more than 2 times a week. It helps save lots of time and it is foolproof. Just press a button and it is done.

Credits: Recipe from Y3k by Alan Ooi

Ingredient:

A)
300gm high protein flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsps milk powder
50gm caster sugar

B)
125ml water
1 1/2 tsps instant yeast
1 egg (B grade)

c)
40gm butter

Glazing
1 egg beaten, ketchup or chili sauce

Filling:
8pieces chicken sausage

Method:

1. Combine A in a mixer and mix for 1 min till mix well (low speed). Add in B and beat till a dough is formed est. 2-3 mins (low speed) . Add in C and beat till dough is smooth (medium speed 3) , you'll see and dough slapping the bowl (est. 10-15 mins). Make sure do a stretch test before sending the dough to prove. It should be able to stretch to a thin membrane without breaking/tearing.

2. Leave dough in a big bowl covered with damp cloth or cling wrap to prove. It should rise till 2 - 3 times in size (I proved mine for an hour, cox it was a rainy day, you should leave the yeast do its work and prove to required time)

3. Divide dough into 35gm portions, rest further 15 mins before flatten and roll out reach portion of dough into a longish shape. Place a halved sausage roll in the centre, roll up and seal. Arrange on a greased baking tray, sell spaced apart. Cover and rest for the next 40 mins - 1 hour till buns double in size.

4. Glaze with beaten egg wash and decorate with chili sauce or ketchup. Bake buns in a preheated oven at 16oC for 15 - 20 mins.

Bread Making (3rd Attempt)

This time the bread look less awful and it is eatable. Ironically, my eldest girl said, "mommy, I like your bread this time because it is so hard that I need to keep chewing and chewing. I like it very much." This is the actual quote of what she said that came with her exaggerated facial expression... a mixture of sweet and sour feelings rose from my heart upon hearing what she said...

The last thing I want is a "HARD" bread. It is meant to be soft ... sob, sob again and again. I was once again disappointed not to see a "real bread". However, my little angel brought me laughter over my failure. She's really a true joy that gives me the utmost reason to carry on baking/cooking. Sometimes they really want to try and eat those snacks that I made.

Rest assured, I will keep trying. At least I still have an admirer for the "HARD" bread.

She just told me to make more of those bread tonight, but she asked if it could be a bit softer this time. Ha! Kids never lie.....

Bread Making (2nd Attempt)

Aiya .... needless to say much. Just take a good look at the photo and you'll know I have failed again... sob sob... Oh! By the way, it is supposed to be the famous, popular HK "ball low pau" or "polo bread". My helper says she likes the top part of the bread as it is sweet and crunchy - so nice of her. I can't bear to taste it cox it looks like pizza rather than bread...

Something went wrong and I believed I didn't knead the dough to a stage whereby I could stretch it to a thin membrane without breaking it... also the yeast failed to prove... but I'll not give up until I get it right!!!

P.S. For the benefit of those who don't know what "Ball Low Pau" look like... pls see below.... so u know why I sob....

Bread Making Failure (1st attempt)

This is my 2nd blog. My last one failed as I didn't really keep it up cox I don't like the name - chan-mari-chan. So here I'm with a better name rather than chan-mari-chan. Start with a new series of cooking journal mainly for myself to keep track of what I've baked so far. This was inspired by Florence (thanks to you). http://wlteef.blogspot.com/ found out her blog before Chinese new year. I'm looking forward to see her new baking creation whenever I'm online since then.

I started baking and cooking since 2005 (though I like to cook since young, it was with many year cultivation fm my mum). However, I became seriously interested in it only when I was having my confinement at beginning 2006. I watched many Jamie Oliver cooking TV series then and realised cooking could be fun too. Also with my newly renovated kitchen (fully equipped with a full size confection oven) ... I started, even with my hectic working and family commitment. I still find that my kitchen is a place to "relax". I mean you may find it weird, but stepping into the kitchen really helps me not think of anything else but just focus to cook or bake some good food.

So as a start, I want to share my failure, which happens all the time, so don't give up. Florence has shared a golden bread by using 65°C TangZhong. The end results look fine but the skin was thick and turn hard after it cool down. I like the soft texture inside the bun though and I've turned some plain bun into "pork floss bun" (my girls have less expectation and love it anyway) which is a very famous creation from Breadtalk (not sure if I've violated any piracy).

I took some photos... and remember don't give up. I'll try again tomorrow!