Thursday, March 29, 2012

Natural Yeast Bread Loaf

With courtesy of Cathy, I am now a proud 'owner' of natural yeast too. It is really so fun to see the yeast bubbling, full with liveliness. :)

With this, I made this wonderful bread loaf. I have no problem when handling the dough as the dough is really soft and reaches the membrane stage easily. :)



Natural Yeast Bread Loaf
Adapted from: Cathy's Joy

Ingredients (Makes a loaf)
200 g natural yeast
230 g bread flour
20 g plain flour
20 g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
90 ml milk
30 g butter

Method
1. Combine all ingredients except butter, in a mixer and beat until a non-sticky dough is formed.
2. Add in butter and continue to beat until the dough is smooth, elastic and non-sticky. Do the window pane test.
3. Place the dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it proof for about 1.5 hrs, or until double in volume.
4. Remove the dough from the bowl and give a few light kneading to punch out the gas in the dough.
5. Shape into round, cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.
6. Roll out the dough into a long rectangle, with the shorter end to be the same length as the length of the loaf pan. Roll up the dough from the shorter end in a swiss-roll style. Pinch and seal the seam.
7. Place the dough in a lightly greased loaf pan and let it proof for the second time for about 1.5 hrs, or until double in volume.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C for 45 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven, unmold immediately and let it cool completely before slicing.

Notes
- I divided the dough into 2 portions after the first proof.
- I sprinkled some water and Nestum cereals on top of the dough before popping it into the oven to bake.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Baking Together

I had a great time with Cathy last last Friday. I guess most of you would have already seen the photos of our bakes. :)

Matcha Swiss Roll with Red Beans
I finally get to join the swiss roll craze made popular by Junko's 彩繪蛋糕卷, thanks to the guidance from Cathy. Look at the beautiful swiss roll that we have made. Trust me, it not only looks pretty, it tastes fabulous too! You have my word on it. :)

Steamed Dual-Coloured Buns
Mantous (Chinese steamed buns) are normally shaped in round spiral. Due to my inconsistencies, these mantous have been transformed to triangular instead, which remind me of onigiri (a Japanese rice ball which are normally formed into triangular shapes). Soft and fluffy, they go well with a cupof green tea too! A new food fusion perhaps? :)

Please refer to Cathy's Joy for the recipes of the Matcha Swiss Roll with Red Beans and Steamed Dual-Coloured Buns. :)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

I am back!

Hello everyone, here are just some updates from me. Of course, you can skip this post totally and you won't be missing anything. :)

A small confession, I haven't been baking actively during my MIA (i.e. missing in action) from blogosphere. And even if I did, I find little motivation in grabbing the camera, since I wasn't able to check the quality of the photos taken. Hence that isn't much backlog either.

Haha... I know, that is me and my excuses. :)

Anyway, I am happy to announce that I am back to blogosphere finally! Stay tuned! =)

P/S: I miss all of you! :)