I baked these yesterday, using Florence's Wonderfully Soft Bread recipe. I fell for it immediately, well who wouldn't fall for soft bread? Look at the tear above? My only complaint would be the lack of taste, I would probably add a piece of cheese next time. I have another 7 pieces of dough (60g each) in the freezer. I would probaly make cinnamon rolls with it.
The bun doesn't have much taste and I prefer the other recipe which I used for the an-pans. I ran out of cake flour so I used plain flour instead. Not sure if there is any significant effect with this change. Considering the amount of ingredients used, I expected a slightly tastier bun: condensed milk, low-fat milk (Meiji), milk powder on top of the 1 egg + 2 egg yolks! I think I may switch to using the Hokkaido Milk Bread recipe for sweet bun in future.
I promised one of my tasters that I would make a chocolate pie for him to share with the other tasters. As I had expected, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Z and gang, apologies k? Hope that the cheesecake that you guys are baking for J turns out to be a success. About the pie, MT2 will last for a while more, I will definitely bake it for you.
Last week's baking class was full of "bonuses", not only did we bake 4 cakes, Gina brought some rempah to cook Sayar Lodeh, and even demonsrated her version of nasi lemak. I told her that I would try the nasi lemak when I get pandan leaves to bake the Pandan Chiffon Cake.
I blended the pandan leaves in the morning, and even reserved those used for baking the cake to cook the rice. I remembered how fragrant the nasi was last week and was really excited to make this a success. Then I would have more recipes when the need to entertain arises.
I tried to be a smart alec, and fried some Kee's chicken rice mix with garlic and added to the nasi. I thought there's no harm since my mom would normally add fried garlic, shallots and ginger whenever she cooked nasi lemak. While the rice was cooking, there was a weird smell which I won't classify as fragrant nor aromatic. I'm not sure if the coconut milk has gone rancid or was it that chicken rice mix didn't go with coconut milk? In any case, I had reduced the amount of coconut milk as well, though the rice had a nice tinge of pale green.
The most popular item turned out to be the fried chicken wings! The number complaint was that everything was too dry. Obviously, soup was absent tonight. I may have to learn how to make soto ayam to accompany this nasi lemak. As for the nasi lemak, one important lesson I learnt was that one cannot scrimp on ingredients, namely coconut milk. Another fault was that there wasn't enough liquid to cook the rice. Sometimes, cannot really too much on helpers to estimate water to cook rice. Well, this won't be the last time I'm cooking this anyway. Now I have to of ways to finish the remaining coconut milk.
So, I went out early this morning to the market to get pandan leaves. As I had very limited time to bake, I told myself not to waste any time. But I had a shock when I mixed the dry ingredients with the egg yolks, oil and pandan juice. It came together as a paste! Omg, I had missed this part of the class and wasn't sure if this was to be expected. I tried to stir the paste hoping to "loosen" the paste. Instruction read: "mix till satin smooth" :(
I tried not to think about it but images of my first try at baking the banana cake came flooding to my mind. But this time, I am very sure the ingredients are regular and according to the recipe. Anyway, I think the egg whites reached stiff peaks. I made sure I took a photo for my shifus to comment. With a silent prayer, I went on to mix the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture. I could have deflated the egg white somewhat, and the batter became less pasty and more runny.
Finally, the batter was in the oven. I managed to fill 2 cupcake trays and one oval baking pan, which I collected last week. (This time I didn't take any pictures of my new toys.) As I had to rush out to pick my boy from tuition, I left the cakes to cool in the pan, on the table. I would probably not use these cupcake trays for chiffon cakes or sponge cakes anymore. There isn't enough fat and I'm not sure if I should grease the pans for chiffon cakes (I read that trays should NOT be greased when baking chiffon cakes).
Taste-wise, it's a far cry from the original :( Other than the absence of pandan taste (it was aromatic while baking, alright), the cake was dry. Perhaps I had over baked the oval tray. The first cupcake tray (roses) turned out alright, thought they were somewhat sticky (I baked it for 15 minutes). Perhaps 40 minutes is too long for the tiny oval tray. The final cupcake tray was so over baked, they were HARD (baking time 15 mins, cool in oven 10 mins).
Overall, I guess this is a really good learning experience. Perhaps to avoid getting the paste, I should perhaps mix the dry ingredients with eggs first, then add oil then pandan juice. Hopefully that would solve the mysterious of the "dry" cake as well. As Rei told me, must practise more.
Sorry, haven't been baking much lately. Initially, it was due to the large amount of stock from previous bakes still in the fridge. I handled everything over to mom this morning for her to savour. She is the best, she takes everything without complaints.
As I had to go for chiffon cake class today with Gina, I didn't bake anything. However, due to some silly mistake of mine, I was 1.5 hours late! Gosh! I had overlooked the timing of this class, and presumed it was the same as the previous class. Anyway, Gina tasked me to beat the egg white for the Green Tea sponge cake, and I believe I did a rather good job *pat on own back*. Sadly, the photo didn't turn out sharp so I cannot post it here. However, with this small success, I am itching to bake again! Perhaps tomorrow...
I was at Popular bookshop the other day, and came across a *book on bread making that comes with a VCD. I thought it would be a good idea to watch someone knead the dough. So I paid SGD30 for the set. The VCD is informational but the narration was quite monotonous. But it serves its purpose, I realised where I had gone wrong, or rather could have gone so wrong. I must thank God for all the successful breads and buns in the past few weeks. I probably should look for some reputable teachers to learn from ...
*Photo and title would be up soon
Yes, I was bored and been surfing around. Many interesting bakes caught my eye, such as Amanda's Steamed Banana Cake, kwf's Orange Bread, as well as Florence's No-bake Oreo Cheesecake. So many to bake, so little time... Besides, just as hubs said, "who's gonna eat all these... didn't you just bake?" (He was referring to the American Carrot Cake.)
Back to how I ended up making this choice, very simple, I don't have ripe bananas, don't have time to make bread, don't have cream cheese nor oreo. But I remember having a can of condensed milk which will expire soon (well, in July 08). I've always wanted to bake pound cakes anyway, so I jumped at this chance.
I was blog-hopping when I landed at Simply Anne's and saw the recipe of Condensed Milk Pound Cake. I was curious to see what texture this cake would be as this would probably be the first cake recipe featuring condensed milk. I cannot remember why I bought the condensed milk in the first place.
The only "regret" I have is not spending $5.70 for a block of Lurpak unsalted butter. Perhaps a block of SGS butter would do, or even the block of Buttercup butter. (I used Anchor unsalted butter.) That's the only complaint I have about the cake, it was a little bland, although it gives off a very pleasant aroma of vanilla. I had used Bake King's vanilla essence, cannot imagine if I had used better quality vanilla.
On the whole, the cake is quite soft and moist and not too sweet. I could have over-baked it a bit or the oven temperature was a little high. I hope the cake will stay good tomorrow, but I was planning to put it in the fridge or freezer, just like the usual Sara Lee pound cake. One other thing I like about this recipe is the simplicity. I used the mixer from begining to the end, and there wasn't much to wash as well once you've figured out how to "cut corners" :P
I didn't think I would be baking this cake, I was never really a fan of it anyway. I had tasted a few really good American Carrot Cake in the past and imagined that it would be a tough cake to bake.
I came across a thread on KC with the recipe from Aunty Yochana. I know from experience that Aunty Yochana's recipes are always winners, though some can be challenging. I've had my share of not so successful bakes, so with a prayer in my heart, I proceeded with this attempt.
Recipe called for eggs to be beaten with sugar till creamy. Now, I was wondering when it would be creamy enough :P My old gf told me her carrot cake recipe did not require the use of a cake mixer. I had done some research on the internet and narrowed down my choices to 3 recipes, with Aunty Yochana's right on top. Both the other 2 did not require any beating. I felt more secure with beating of eggs. The only thing I did differently was leaving out the vanilla essence and added 1 tsp of ground nutmeg. I gave the walnuts a miss and added crushed pineapples.
It's also the first time I used the mixer up to mix in the flour. I used a pair of chopsticks to stir in the carrots, crushed pineapples and raisins. I am sure I can improve on this for my next attempt. The raisins were all at the bottom of the pan and some cupcakes did not have any raisins.
I'm convinced that recipes that use cinnamon are most aromatic in the oven. With nutmeg, that becomes even more aromatic. The fragrance of the spices kept me near the kitchen!
Then it was time to taste it. To be honest, I didn't wait for it to be cooled. When I bit it, it was still warm and the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg made the cake so alluring. The cake is sooooh light! I can't say that it is close to the real thing, but it is a lighter version. I honestly can't put my finger to what is lacking but I love this version! I like the lightness of the cake, and in future, I would use diced pineapples instead of crushed pineapples. On the whole, this recipe is a keeper! I may also use brown sugar for my next attempt though, the cake is a little, erm, light (in colour, that is).
15 April: Wow, this recipe is an absolute winner! I've even received compliment about it's authenticity by a true blue US citizen. The cake was also given an almost "two-thumbs-up" rating. I am very happy with this cake, and it would be a good choice as a gift. Besides, I shall be experimenting with soy milk and may be even soy flour in an attempt to make it a healthier choice :D
It was really sticky, no matter what I did, oil or flour didn't help. Perhaps I cannot simply use the breadmaker for ANY recipe. I first saw this recipe on KC but eventually used the recipe by Alan Ooi (found out that Baking Mum aka Hugbear has it posted as well).
My original plan was to make buns instead of a loaf. However, after wrestling with the dough for almost 30 minutes, I was ready to surrender. I had to roll the dough up and leave it to proof. I had used the breadmaker's dough function.
After that, I went to prepare dinner and forgot all about the bread! When I saw the dough again, I was shocked! While I had a flat loaf last night, I was shocked by how much today's dough rose. Ok, it wasn't all that much but was a nice sight to behold. I quickly pre-heated the oven, and sent the dough to bake. Not much aroma to speak of, just smelled like bread. Or perhaps dinner was more aromatic. As I was busy with the American Carrot Cake, I didn't slice the bread till much later. It felt soft, but I didn't taste it as I was too full from dinner.
Here's a closer look at the texture:
Horrors! It doesn't look like a loaf, does it? Omg, I certainly hope it's a case of using too big a pan and nothing else. I had followed Cocoa's recipe exactly, except that I used 100g of yogurt (Swiss Premium of course) and 100 ml of Meiji full-cream milk.
In terms of method, I followed closely to Cocoa's as well. Right up to the first proof stage (when the dough doubled, but I didn't poke the dough to test). All along, I wasn't sure if it was right as there wasn't any plain flour or bread flour. So I wondered about gluten and the structure and became worried when the dough still looked somewhat wet and sticky. I quickly removed it from the breadmaker, poured some plain flour and started to knead it (well, almost). Then I tried to roll the dough into one swiss roll. After that, I left it to proof in the fridge as I had to go out to get dinner.
When I checked the dough after dinner, it had nicely risen to almost 80% the height of the loaf pan. So I let it come down to room temperature, preheated the oven and put the pan to bake. I could smell the whole wheat fragrance all the way from the room. But when I went to take a look, my heart sank. The loaf was exactly the same height as before. This is the first time that a bread didn't rise. I didn't think that would be possible due to the yeast :(
Looks like the two attempts in slowing down the proofing didn't yield favourable results, although yesterday's cinnamon rolls wasn't that bad. Breads need a lot of patience and time, no short-cuts huh?
