Focaccia Bread

 

Focaccia is an Italian flatbread.  I love Focaccia as it is infused with various aromatic herbs and olive oil.  It does not require any spreads as it is itself very tasty.  You may be surprise, but I find that Focaccia taste best after it is being reheated in the oven.

 

Focaccia

 

Ingredients

 

448g       All Purpose Flour

2tsp        Sugar

1 tsp       Salt

1 tbsp     Active Dry Yeast

1 cup      Warm Water

¼ cup    Olive Oil

1              Egg

1 tsp       Dried Oregano

1 tsp       Dried Thyme

1 tsp       Garlic Salt

1 tsp       Onion Powder

1 tsp       Dried Rosemary, crushed

 

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Proof yeast in warm water and sugar till bubbles form - around 5 mins.
3. Combine flour, salt, dried oregano, dried thyme, garlic salt and onion powder.  Mix well.
4. Combine the yeast mixture, egg and olive oil in a mixing bowl.
5. Mix in the flour mixture and using a hook attachment, mix till the dough is smooth and elastic, around 10 mins.
6. Turn the dough out on a working table and fold over itself a few times.
7. Cover with cling wrap and proof for 45 mins or till doubled in size.
8. Line an oiled greasproof paper in a sheet pan.
9. Turn out the dough, roll and stretched the dough out to an oblong or round shape, about ½ inch thick.
10. Lay the dough on the pan and cover with cling wrap.
11. Let it rest for 15 mins.
12. Bake in the bottom rack for 15-20 mins. 

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Pandan chiffon cake is unique to Singapore.  Many tourists tend to buy this uniquely Singapore cake back to their hometown.  It is a very light cake with the aroma of pandan leaf and coconut.  I find that most bakeries do not bake chiffon cake well as it tends to be dry - I prefer cakes that are moist.  If you follow my receipe below and beat the egg white properly, you will get a moist chiffon cake.  If you do not have pandan juice, you can substitute with 1 tbsp of water plus a few drops of pandan paste.

This is an adapted receipe from Agnes Chang's book "Baking Made Easy".

Please make sure you beat the egg whites to stiff peak.  Don't overbeat as the cake will become dry.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Ingredients

150g       Self-Raising Flour

140g       Sugar
5             Egg Yolks
5 tbsp    Thick Coconut Milk
4 tbsp    Water
2 tsp      Pandan Juice
5             Egg Whites
½ tsp    Cream of Tartar

Directions

1. Combine sifted flour, thick coconut milk and pandan juice in a bowl.  Use a whisk to stir well and set aside.
2. Put egg whites and cream of tartar in a mixing bowl, beat on medium speed till stiff peak.
3. Fold egg whites into (1).
4. Pour batter into a 22cm chiffon cake tin.  Do not grease or line the tin.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 15 mins till lightly brown.  Then increase the temperature to 160°C and continue baking for 10 mins.
6. Remove from oven, invert, and leave to cool completely before removing cake from the tin.

Homemade Pure Pandan Juice (纯斑蓝叶汁）

Pandan leaf, also called screwpine leaf, is commonly used in Southeast Asia as it is very fragrant.  It is normally used in desserts, to wrap chicken, meat, etc, and to cook rice (which is called lasi lemak).

Homemade pure pandan juice is easy to make.  You just need to leave the raw solution to sit in the fridge untouched for 2-3 days and you will get your purest pandan juice!

The blended solution

 After straining the blended solution 



Transfer the strained solution into a bottle/container

 After sitting in the fridge for 2 days, you can see that the solution has separated into 2 layers

After pouring out the top layer, you get your purest pandan juice!

Homemade Pure Pandan Juice (纯斑蓝叶汁）

Ingredients

12 Strips         Pandan Leaves
½ cup               Water

Directions

1. Cut the pandan leaves into small strips.
2. Put the pandan leaves and water into a blender and blend till you get a green solution.
3. Strain the solution to remove the blended pandan leaves.
4. Put the solution in a bottle/container and leave in the fridge for 2 days.  Do not touch or move the bottle!
5. You will see that the solution will be separated into 2 layers - a dark green solution which is at the bottom of the bottle, and a murky solution which is on top of the bottle.
6. The dark green solution is the pure pandan juice which you want.
7. Remove the murky solution on top by slowing pouring it away, and leave the pure pandan juice in the bottle.
8. Use the pure pandan juice within 2 days.

Micro Butter Bun

Saw this receipe from Siew Hwei's blog.  It is a lovely bun and her photos were gorgeous.  This originate from a microwave oven receipe, thus the name of micro butter bun.  I tweaked the receipe as I was looking for a softer texture.  I find that it is important to allow sufficient proofing, including the final proofing of the shaped dough before sending it to the oven as this will result in a softer and fluffier bread.

Roll your proofed dough into small balls

Roll into a swissroll

Ball rolled into swissroll

 

 Proof the rolled swissroll, cover it with a clingwrap or a damp cloth

Finished product!

Micro Butter Bun

Sponge Dough (A)
201g         Bread Flour
4g             Instant Yeast
16g           Milk Powder
50g           Egg
73g           Milk

Bun Dough (B)
67g          Cake Flour
54g          Brown Sugar
4g            Salt
27g          Water
43g          Butter

Directions

1. Mix all ingredient (A) together in a mixer using the hook attachment.
2. Cover it with cling wrap in an oiled bowl and let it proof for 1-2 hours or till doubled in size.
3. Mix all ingredient (B) in the mixer.
4. Tear dough (A) into pieces and mix in the pieces of dough (A) into (B) slowly.
5. Knead the combined dough till smooth, around 15 mins
6. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough and roll it up again.
7. Cut the dough into small pieces - 40g each
8. Roll each piece into a ball.
9. Start from the 1st rolled ball, roll out the ball dough into a rectangle and roll it back like a swiss roll.
10. Start from the 1st swiss roll, on the shorter side, roll into a long rectangle and roll back to form  swiss roll again.
11. Arrange the rolls in a baking tray and proof for 50 mins.
12. Bake in a 170°C preheated oven for 15 mins or till slightly golden brown.
13. Brush the buns with butter immediately when they are out of the oven.

How to Shape Flower Mantou

In my post of mantou, I have a picture of flower mantou.  Here, I will show you how to make the flower from the dough.

Roll out your dough.

Using round/flower shaped cutters, cut out 4 different sizes of flower/round shaped dough.  You can see right below there is a short log dough, which is supposed to be the inner bud of the rose.

Roll up the dough.

Cut the dough into half.

Voila!  You have 2 roses! ;)

Chantilly Cream

Chantilly cream is actually fresh cream mix with sugar and vanilla extract/essence.  However, most bakeries only mix in sugar, without the vanilla.  If you want your Chantilly cream to taste out of this world, please use vanilla extract (not essence).

Chantilly Cream

Ingredient

1 cup        Whipping Cream
2 tbsp      Powered Sugar
1 tsp         Vanilla Extract / Essence

Directions

1. Put all ingredients in a cold mixing bowl.
2. Using medium speed, whipped till stiff peak.

Berries Patisserie Cake



I love colours and thought different berries would produce a wonderful combination, thus the birth of this design 2 years ago!  Isn't it pretty?  ;)

 

This is how the interior looks like.  Strawberry shortcake using vanilla sponge, covered with chantilly cream.  This is an extremely appealing cake with the patisserie look, and it is not difficult to make. :)

 

Berris Patisserie Cake

 

8" Sponge Cake :

4             Egg

110g       Sugar

70g         Flour

20g         Corn Flour

30g         Butter

20ml       Milk

 

Simple Syrup

 

Chantilly Cream :

1 1/2 cups       Whipping Cream        

3 tbsp              Powdered Sugar  

2 tsp                Vanilla Extract

 

Decorations :

250g            Raspberries

250g            Blackberries

250g            Blueberries

250g            Strawberries, sliced

24 pieces     Sponge Fingers

 

Directions :

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C.
2. Line an 8" round pan with parchment paper - on the base and sides.  Line the sides higher as the cake will rise higher than the pan. 
3. Sift the cake flour and corn flour.
4. Warm the milk and melt the butter, set aside to cool.
5. Mix the eggs and sugar in a large bowl over a double boiler till it is slightly warm, around 38-40°C.
6. Remove the egg mixture from the double boiler and beat it up using a mixer till very light and fluffy.  You will notice that the colour changes to almost white.
7. Fold in the sifted flours, add in the warm milk and melted butter.
8. Do not overmix the batter as it will lose its foamy consistency, resulting in a cake that will not rise.
9. Pour the cake batter into the cake pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

Assembly :

1. Once the cake is done, cool it for 15 minutes before slicing it in half horizontally - makes 2 pieces.
2. Whip the whipping cream, sugar and vanilla extra till stiff peak.
3. Put a piece of cake on a board and brush the top with simple syrup.
4. Cover it with a layer of Chantilly cream before topping it with sliced strawberries, then cover it with another layer of Chantilly cream. 
5. Put the 2nd piece of cake on top and cover the whole cake with Chantilly cream.
6. Line the finger sponges around the cake and tie it together with a pretty ribbon.
7. Pour all your berries on top of the cake and refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours before serving. 

Quick Dinner Roll

I have always been looking out for a quick, easy and soft bread recipe without the addition of bread improver, which s a type of food additive that increase the speed of dough rising, and used in factory baking and most bakeries.  However, I prefer not to use bread improver as longer fermentation will produce a greater depth of flavour.

I found a 30 minutes quick bread recipe from www.allreceipes.com, and adapted the recipe to suit my taste. :)  For me, the whole process of making this dinner roll takes around 45 mins to an hour as I added a resting period before baking, which I think is important in order to produce a softer texture roll.

Quick Dinner Roll

Ingredients

256g           Bread Flour
120g           Cake Flour
½ cup        Whipping Cream (can replace with milk)
½ cup        Milk
80g             Butter
2 tbsp         Instant Yeast
¼ cup        Warm Water
65g              Sugar
1 tsp            Salt
1                   Egg
½ cup         Cranberries (optional)
½ cup         Raisins (optional)
 
Directions

1. Heat oven to 200°C.
2. Bloom the instant yeast in warm water for around 5 mins.
3. Sift the bread flour and cake flour together, then put into a mixer bowl.
4. Add stir in salt, then cranberries and raisins.
5. Combine heavy cream, milk, butter and sugar in a saucepan and heat till butter dissolves.
6. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture.  Add in egg, instant yeast mixture and warm cream mixture.
7. Mix the batter with the hook attachment till it forms a soft and smooth dough, around 5 mins.
8. Form dough into 25 balls of 40g each and place in a greased 9 x 13 pan and allow to rest for 15 mins.
9. Bake for 5-8 mins till the bread turn golden brown.
10. Brush the bread with butter immediately.