J's Kitchen

Dadar Unti (Crepes with Palm Sugar-Coconut Filling)

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000+11:00

One of most popular Indonesian snacks. Crepes with sweet coconut filling, from palm sugar-simmered coconut flakes. The combination of plain, a bit salty crepes and the sweet filling is just lovely. It is quite rich, though. I can't eat much of them in one sitting even when I am accompanied by a good cup of black tea. Let's consider that as a portion control then.

A note about palm sugar: look for one that has a high ratio of palm to cane sugar. The ones with more cane sugar will cost less, but it will have a paler colour and it will have less intense taste of palm sugar.

What if my palm sugar is too dark? I usually start with half the amount, and see what happens. If it is not dark enough, I'll keep adding more palm sugar, but if it gets too dark, I'll switch to white sugar. If you only want a hint of palm sugar taste, but still prefers to have a dark mixture, use brown sugar in part of the total amount. It involves quite some eyeballing, actually, since I have never seen a generalized standard of palm sugar, unlike what we have for brown and white sugars.

Dadar Unti
for the crepes:
120 gr plain flour
320 ml thin coconut milk or water
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
pandan paste or green food coloring (optional)
butter or oil, to grease

1. Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Make a hole in the center. Add egg, coconut milk, and pandan paste or green food coloring, if using. Whisk until batter is no longer lumpy. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat a small nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Grease with butter. Pour 1/4 cup of batter. Swirl to cover base. Cook until crepe starts to pull away from pan. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter.

notes:
- adjust the amount of batter per crepe with your pan size
- to prevent crepes from sticking to each other, place a sheet of parchment paper between crepes

for the filling:
75 gr dessicated coconut
75 gr palm sugar (or brown sugar if you can't get palm sugar), thinly sliced
1 pandan leaf or 1 tsp pandan extract
50 ml coconut milk

1. Heat palm sugar and coconut milk in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat until dissolved.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Press down the dessicated coconut so that it soaks up the sugar mixture.
3. Cook until coconut mixture starts to dry up.

Cherry Kuchen

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000+11:00

I have made this yeasted cake once, and it was around 2 years ago. Can't believe it has been two years. I must have baked this cake several times during the two-year period, though the cake never made it to the blog. I must have gobbled it up before taking photos.

The original recipe from Gourmet uses plums, but I used canned cherries instead. The original recipe also places the fruit in the bottom when baking, but I dotted the cherries at the top of my dough.

I loved how I could place the cherries neatly, which means easier cutting as well, but next time I would probably use twice as much fruits. Bigger ratio of fruit to dough would be nice, even more when the fruits are fresh. I reckon it's the "canned" factor that made this kuchen a bit bland. Or perhaps I could try sprinkling the cherries with lemon juice and/or sugar and/or salt to improve the taste a little? Well, let's see if I still remember all these ideas the next time I bake this kuchen.

Cherry Kuchen
adapted from Gourmet's Plum Kuchen

2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast
60 ml warm water
265 gr plus 15 gr plain flour, divided
150 gr sugar
1/2 tsp salt
120 gr yogurt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
115 gr unsalted butter
1 420-gr canned cherries, drained

1. Stir together yeast and warm water in mixer bowl and let stand until foamy, about five minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)
2. Add 265 gr flour, sugar, salt, yogurt, egg and vanilla to yeast mixture and mix at medium-low speed 1 minute. Beat in butter, one tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Beat at medium speed until dough is smooth and shiny, about five minutes. (Dough will be very sticky.) Scrape down side of bowl and sprinkle dough with remaining 15 gr flour. Cover bowl loosely with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
3. Grease and flour a 9-inch baking pan. Stir dough until flour is incorporated, then pour into prepared pan. Spread evenly and smooth the top, then dot with drained cherries. Loosely cover with buttered plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until almost doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 180C with rack in middle. Bake until kuchen is golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan five minutes, then unmold onto a rack to cool completely.

Brownie-based Cheesecake

2011-12-31T10:00:00.000+11:00

Due to the fact that I will be coming home for Christmas, during the first weeks of December I started fishing around the pantry and fridge, checking expiry dates on stuffs.

I found two that wouldn't make it until I come back here: a 250 gr tub of cream cheese, a 200 ml pack of thickened cream, and an opened pack of instant vanilla pudding mix that has only about 1/3 or 1/2 remaining.

First thought: no-bake cheesecake. But I don't have any sort of cookies that I could crush into crumbs. Besides, my food processor broke few months ago and I haven't bought a new one. Cross this option out.

... then what?

The last time I baked with cream cheese, it was Smiten Kitchen's dulce de leche cheesecake squares. But I don't have sweetened condensed milk. And oh, I just discovered that I didn't have gelatin either.

So this is it? Nothing I can do in absence of crumbs and condensed milk and gelatin? No way.

Cheesecake goes well with... brownie. Aha, I could bake a thin layer of brownie as the base. I could use the 200 ml cream in place of 200 ml dulce de leche - I'd just add some sugar. If it turned out too sweet, I'd use a bitter dark glaze to counter the sweetness. Or if it is not too sweet, I'd use milk chocolate as the glaze. Gelatin? Luckily I have a sachet of agar-agar powder. That, combined with the remaining instant pudding mix, would be a perfect substitution.

Brownie-based Cheesecake
for the brownie:
45 gr dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
50 gr butter
80 gr caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coffee powder
20 gr cocoa powder
20 gr plain flour

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line and grease a 9-inch pan.
2. Melt dark chocolate with butter over a simmering pan of water. Meanwhile, sift together cocoa powder and flour.
2. Add caster sugar, egg, vanilla, salt, and coffee powder. Mix until the mixture comes together.
3. Fold in cocoa mixture, mix until just moistened. Pour into prepared pan, spread evenly with a spatula.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top appears dry and a toothpick test comes out with moist crumbs. Cool brownie on pan, maintain oven temperature while preparing cheesecake batter.

for the cheesecake:
200 ml thickened cream
1/2 tsp agar-agar powder
35-50 gr of instant vanilla pudding mix
250 gr cream cheese, softened
5-6 heaping tablespoons of caster sugar
3/8 tsp salt
2 eggs

1. Heat thickened cream with agar-agar powder and instant pudding mix until smooth. Cool until lukewarm.
2. Beat softened cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Slowly pour in cream mixture, beating with lowest speed.
3. Pour onto prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check with toothpick for doneness. Mine was still jiggly in the center, but the top was nicely browned. Don't worry, the agar-agar and pudding mix will help it set later on. Cool cheesecake on pan.

for the topping:
90 gr dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
50 gr butter
2 tsp corn syrup
roasted nuts of your choice, coarsely chopped (optional)

1. Heat dark chocolate and butter over simmering pan of water. Mix in corn syrup and beat with spoon until smooth. Pour over cooled cheesecake. Garnish with roasted nuts (if using). Chill, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes.

Note: this is the amount enough to cover a 9-inch pan if you glaze before cutting the cheesecake into squares. Because I cut mine and glazed them individually, I had to make 1 1/2 the amount mentioned above.

Festive Wreath

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000+11:00

I have been long wanted to try baking Estonian kringel-shaped bread. The problem is, since I tend to add more water to my bread dough, they don't hold up well when shaped. Looking at the Festive Wreath photo that Michelle posted in the FFTO challenge post, it seemed that the time has already come. If Michelle could shape the dough as a wreath, I should be able to shape it as I wanted.

Realizing that I my disastrous baking attempts ratio are much higher than the successful ones, I decided to bake a full recipe (I usually halve recipes since I am cooking only for myself) and divide them into two halves. That way, in case I messed up with the kringel shaping process, I'd still have some spare dough to shape as normal wreath.

How did it turn up? The dough was sturdy enough, but again my carelessness kicked in: I cut and plaited the dough on the marble counter instead of the baking pan. Transferring the dough to the parchment-lined pan was not easy; I ended up with parts of the lovely plaits squashed up. Grrrrr.

Anyway, thanks Michelle for sharing the recipe. This is the first eggless sweet bread I baked in the past few months, and I was kinda surprised to find that it was all fluffy and soft, much more than I had expected.

Festive Wreath
from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families

For the dough:
3 tsp dried yeast
315ml lukewarm milk (I used semi-skimmed)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
50g softened butter
1 - 1 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice (optional)
420g standard plain flour (not bread flour)

1. If you're making the dough in a bread maker then follow the instructions for the machine and add the ingredients in the order that they instruct you to.
2. If you're making the dough either by hand or in a stand mixer then just put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly until you get a dough just firm enough to knead.
3. Then knead by hand on a floured surface, or knead using a mixer, for about 7 - 10 minutes until the dough forms a soft ball that springs back when lightly pressed.
4. Turn the dough in a greased bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for about 45 minutes in a warm place. I just leave mine to rise in the stand mixer as the plastic guard seals the bowl nicely and it rises quite happily in there, and also because I can't be bothered washing up another bowl.
5. Near the end of the proving time make the filling so that it's ready to use as soon as the dough has proved.

For the filling:
50g softened butter
2 Tbsp Sugar
45g plain flour
1 tsp almond essence or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup slivered almonds (I didn't have any so left them out)
1/2 cup dried fruit or mixed peel (I normally use chopped dried apricots)
1/2 cup natural coloured glace cherries, well rinsed

1. Beat together the softened butter, sugar, essence/extract and flour to make a paste and then fold in the fruit and nuts (if you are using them).
2. Knead the dough for about a minute and then roll out in a large rectangle shape on a well floured surface. Spread the filling over the dough and then roll it up, starting from the longest side.
3. Using a sharp knife slice the roll in half lengthwise. Put the dough onto a baking sheet lined with non-stick baking parchment. Twist the two halves lightly together, cut sides out, and form into a ring. Pinch the ends together to seal the wreath.
4. Leave to prove again for about 45 minutes - 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size and then glaze with lightly beaten egg or milk. (note: I used a mixture of 1 egg + 1 Tbsp milk for the glaze, then sprinkled the dough with sugar.)
5. Bake at 200C/Gas Mark 6/400F for 20 - 30 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through.

Icing (optional):
1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 - 1 1/2 Tbsp water

1. Mix all ingredients until smooth. Drizzle that over the wreath.

Don't forget to check out what other FFTO bloggers are baking this month!

Gingersnaps

2011-12-25T19:05:00.000+11:00

I am not particularly a fan of ginger in cookies. I love ginger in hot drinks, perhaps because a lot of traditional Indonesian drinks use ginger (try soymilk boiled with ginger and pandan leaves, it's heavenly!) The only thing I love about ginger-y baked goods is probably the oh-so-cute and laborious-looking gingerbread houses displayed in bakeries during this time of the year.

But however much I adore the look of gingerbread houses, I can't bring myself to become a fan of gingerbreads... yet. I don't know why. I have tried several gingerbread cookies from several bakeries, but there is none that I am fond of.

Few weeks ago I was thinking of making something ginger-y to adhere to the Christmas theme. I found a gingerbread house recipe that looks quite doable in Simply Recipes, but I decided to just bookmark the recipe and not storm off to the kitchen straight away. I skimmed through the bakery recipes and.. hey, this ginger cookies look lovely. I love crunchy cookies and they do look truly thin and snappy.

I'm not doing gingerbread yet this year. I'm doing gingersnaps.

Gingersnap Cookies
recipe from Simply Recipes

8 oz unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 small eggs or 1 1/2 large eggs
1/3 cup molasses
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

1. Cream butter until soft; add sugar, and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat until fluffy. Add molasses and beat until well-mixed.
2. Sift the dry ingredients; add to the mixture, 1/3 at a time. Mix only until the dry ingredients become incorporated.
3. Line a 9" x 5" loaf pan with plastic wrap, so that some hangs over the outsides. Press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Pack it tightly, and try to make the top as level as possible. Cover the dough with the plastic overhangs. Freeze until very firm, preferably overnight. (note: I rolled mine into a long cylindrical log)
4. Unwrap and remove dough from the pan. Slice brick into thin slices, no more than 1/8". Place on a parchment or Silpat-lined sheetpan (space at least an inch apart) and bake at 350 degrees until the edges turn dark brown, 7-12 minutes, depending on how thinly you have sliced the dough. Check the oven for doneness at 7 minutes.

Peach Shortbread

2011-12-22T20:25:00.000+11:00

It was the start of the drupes season and the office admin (who manages the fruit section in the kitchen) started to get some peaches along with the usual, all-season apples and bananas. I don't eat them much in the office how much I want to, because I can't stand the probability of spilling the sticky juices all over my desk (tried it once and it was messy).

The thing is, the smell of the peaches is really tempting. Everytime I walk past the corner where the fruit bowl sits, it's hard not to notice the ripe peach smell. I became a bit obsessed with it that I started to hunt down perfumes with "peach skin" dry down note. Few days later I decided to buy try some perfume samples and a bag of the real peaches to eat at home. And to bake this. At least while I'm searching for the best peach scent for my skin, I've got the kitchen covered with one of the best scents I have known: juiciness ripe peach married with the nuttiness of brown butter.

Peach Shortbread
recipe from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup (7 ounces or 200 grams) white sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (12 5/8 ounces or 359 grams) cups all-purpose flour (or you can measure 3 cups and remove 2 tablespoons flour)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces or 227 grams) cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced (between 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick)

1. Brown your butter: Melt butter in a small/medium saucepan over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Keep your eyes on it; it burns very quickly after it browns and the very second that you turn around to do something else. Set it in the freezer until solid (about 30 minutes).
2. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter a 9×13 inch pan, or spray it with a nonstick spray.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, baking powder, flour, salt and spices with a whisk. Use a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips, blend the solidified brown butter and egg into the flour mixture. It will be crumbly.
4. Pat 3/4 of the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan, pressing firmly. Tile peach slices over crumb base in a single layer. Scatter remaining crumbs evenly over peaches. (note: I was afraid that I might not have enough crumbs for the top, thus I made my base thinner as you can see from the photos. Mine was more like half-half than three-fourth and one-fourth.)
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown and you can see a little color around the edges. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.

Pukis (Indonesian yeasted snack cakes)

2011-12-19T17:41:00.000+11:00

I have made this cake several times, both in its original shape and in cheating shape. It is actually a very simple yeasted cake, which is supposed to be a perfect base for any topping you feel like to eat. The most common topping is chocolate rice, grated cheddar, chopped banana, and sultanas. I have known shops selling pukis with fancier toppings like cubed corned beef, kaya jam, pineapple jam, but my favorite is always chocolate rice and grated cheddar, either on their own or combined.

Pukis
2 eggs
100 gr caster sugar
200 gr plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp instant dry yeast
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp butter, melted, cooled
260 ml coconut milk
chocolate rice, chopped bananas, grated cheddar, sultanas, or any topping of your choice

1. Whisk eggs and sugar until combined. Whisk in dry ingredients (flour, salt, and yeast) with half (130 ml) of coconut milk until smooth, thick batter forms.
2. Pour in the rest of coconut milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.
4. Prepare a pukis pan or any nonstick pan (preferably heavy pans such as cast iron pan). Heat until it sizzles when batter is poured or the pan is greased with butter.
5. Stir batter, then pour onto the prepared pan. Cook covered for 1-2 minutes, then sprinkle topping. Cook covered for another 5-6 minutes or until a toothpick test comes out clean.

Happy Birthday

2011-12-17T18:05:00.001+11:00

For the one who passes along that savoury-snack-lover genes to me, happy birthday! Much love from the neighboring country.

Cheddar cheese cookies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Goldfish Crackers

6 ounces (1 1/2 cups coarsely grated) sharp cheddar, orange if you can find one you like (if you do not mind bumpy appearance on your cookies i.e. like mine, use shredded cheddar. Yeah, I'm lazy.)
4 tablespoons (2 ounces or 57 grams) butter
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces or 62 grams) whole wheat flour
1/4 cup (1 1/8 ounces or 31 grams) all-purpose flour (I used all whole wheat)
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon table salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients in a food processor, running the machine until the dough forms a ball, about two minutes.
2. If the dough feels warm or worrisome-ly soft, wrap it in waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for 30 to 45 minutes. This also makes it easier to transfer shapes once they are rolled out.
3. On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out 1/8-inch thick. Form shapes with a cookie cutter, dipping it in flour from time to time to ensure a clean cut. Gently transfer crackers to an ungreased (though mine were parchment-lined, because they are in despicable shape) cookie sheet with a 1/2 inch between them.
4. Bake the crackers on the middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are barely browned at the edges. Remove from the oven and set the cookie sheet on a rack to cool.

Pandoro

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000+11:00

Still on the quest of discovering sweet breads from The Italian Baker book, I tried another recipe: pandoro. I first knew pandoro when I was browsing for baking pans online. I came across a star-shaped pan and I was like "such a lovely fancy pan!", then I read the name "pandoro mould". Huh? Pandoro? How is that related to Pandora?

Thanks to the Mr. know-it-all, I found out that they do not relate in any way, although the pandoro photos did tempt me to hunt down its recipe. The search for baking pans got halted, the cute star-shaped pan was long forgotten, but I went on searching pandoro recipes both online and offline. Luckily I found one, in the dusty cookery shelf in RMIT library.

I have never had any store-bought or bakery-made pandoro. Therefore I could not say whether this loaf lived up to the standards of a pandoro. It was a nice sweet bread with delicate crumbs that did not hold very well. I tried toasting a slice, and I had to cut a really thick one or it would fall apart when smeared with butter. Was that a mistake on my end - too long baking time perhaps, causing the bread to be too dry and fall apart easily? Or was that how pandoro is supposed to be? I reckon the next part of the hunt will be finding a good pandoro from a proper bakery, then evaluating this bread. Hello again Mr. know-it-all, new search please!

Pizza Civitavecchia

2011-12-04T08:00:00.000+11:00

This is the second sweet bread from The Italian Baker that I tried. According to the book it is an "Easter sweet bread from Civitavecchia". The book also says that this bread is "distinguished by its unusual taste derived from the port, ricotta, and anise seeds" and I couldn't agree less. It smelled so heavenly when baked that on cooling down period I kept checking it every few minutes, impatiently waiting to cut a slice and taste the bread.

How was it? I thought it would be just a sweet bread with a hint of cheese from the ricotta, but there was more. The port made the bread smell distinctively good, but it also gave a bit of bitterness (from the alcohol, I guess) to the bread. At first that bitterness tinge put me off a little bit. Nevertheless, I ate few slices more for afternoon snack - not wanting to throw away the whole loaf - and I started to love it. The bread has a light texture with porous holes all over it. It was also sturdy enough for toasting.

Panettone (from The Italian Baker)

2011-12-01T09:00:00.000+11:00

When I was jolting down panettone recipe for the November 2011 Fresh From The Oven challenge, I suddenly remembered that I had once copied down few pages of sweet holiday breads from my uni library. I couldn't remember the book, but a few minutes of googling reminded me that it was The Italian Baker, that famous Italian bakery recipe book. I dug down my recipe folder, skimmed through few recipes and decided to try three of them: panettone, pizza civitavecchia, and pandoro.

The panettone recipe from The Italian Baker is richer than the one I did for Fresh From The Oven. The bread texture was very cake-like with fine crumbs, while FFTO's was definitely a "rich bread". I loved both of them. They are delicious in their own ways.

The Italian Baker's panettone dough was stickier than FFTO's. While my photos suggest only sparse dried fruits inside, the recipe actually uses twice as much. Don't make the same mistake as I did - I am not a fan of dried fruits myself, but the bites that have dried fruits in them were the best.

Panettone

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000+11:00

I was much excited when I read this month's Fresh From The Oven challenge. A good panettone recipe would be a must-have this year since I'll be back home by then, and mom loves sweet breads. I'm sure she will love this one too, although she has never tried it before. In Indonesia, Christmas is more associated with nastar (caramelized pineapple-filled cookies) and kaastengels (cheese shortbread cookies) than with sweet holiday breads. The only panettone we can get - at least in my small hometown - is the imported store-bought ones, which I don't particularly like. The last time I tried buying one, it was kinda dry and a bit bland, probably due to the long storage (and the preservatives perhaps?)

I had thought that the dough would be very sticky and difficult to handle, but it turned out much better. It was just a bit sticky, but it was nice and supple. The end result was lovely as well. The bread had just the right amount of sweetness for morning coffee or afternoon tea. Thank you Sarah from Maison Cupcake for hosting this month's challenge!

Panettone no.1
based on involved version from "Great British Bake Off: How to Bake"
makes 1 large loaf

Ingredients:
7g sachet dried yeast
400g strong white bread flour
75g caster sugar
2 large free range eggs plus 2 egg yolks at room temperature
3 tablespoons lukewarm water
half teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of one unwaxed orange and one unwaxed lemon
half teaspoon salt
175g softened unsalted butter
75g sultanas (I made up the weight with raisins too)
50g candied orange, diced or finely chopped
50g dark chocolate chips (or more fruit)
40g unsalted butter to finish

Makes enough to fill a 15cm tall cake tin or panettone mould. Bear this in mind if improvising with smaller round tins.

Directions:
1. Mix 125g of the weighed flour with the yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer and make a well in the centre. Mix the two whole eggs with the water and pour into the well.
2. Using your hands or a dough hook, mix the flour into the liquid to make a smooth thick batter. Sprinkled a little of the remaining weighed flour over the top of the batter to prevent a skin forming then leave in a warm place for around an hour or until the batter is very bubbly.
3. Next add the softened butter and work in with your fingers or the dough hook on a slow speed. Beat until the butter is incorporated with no streaks.
4. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead thoroughly by hand for ten minutes (or use the dough hook for 3-4 minutes) working in the remainder of the weighed flour to make a satiny soft pliable non-sticky dough. Depending on the flour, you may not need it all or you may need a little more. (Mine was fine).
5. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise at room temperature until doubled in size, probably 2 to 2.5 hours. Don't leave in a very warm place as the butter will melt.
6. Next uncover the dough and punch down to deflate. Cover again and let it double in size again (1 to 1.5 hours).
7. Meanwhile combine the sultanas with the chopped peel and chocolate chips. Stir in a teaspoon of flour to stop it clumping in the dough.
8. Prepare the tin by lining with parchment paper. The paper should extend 5cm higher than the height of the tin.
9. Punch down the risen dough again and turn onto a floured surface; sprinkle the fruit and chocolate mixture on top and work into the dough gently until evenly distributed.
10. Shape the dough into a ball and gently drop into the prepared tin. Cut a cross into the top. Lay a sheet of clingfilm loosely over the top of the tin and leave for another hour or so until doubled in size again.
11. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 200c / 400f / gas 6. When ready to bake, melt 15g of the butter for finishing and brush it over the risen dough. Put a knob of butter in the centre of the cross.
12. Bake for 10 minutes or until just starting to colour, then brush again with melted butter. Reduce the temperature to 180c / 350f / gas 4 and bake for a further 40 minutes until a good golden brown and a skewer inserted to the centre comes out clean. (I covered the it with aluminium foil after 15 minutes or so, when the top already turned brown).
13. Remove from the oven and place the tin on a wire rack. Allow to cool for a few minutes before teasing it out of the tin. If your crust is fragile allow to cool further before removing from tin.
14. Cool completely before slicing.

Chunky Apple Cake

2011-10-31T09:31:00.000+11:00

Deb didn't lie when she stated that her mom makes the best apple cake. She wasn't biased either. The picture she posted was enough to make me drool; and I couldn't stop eating the cake when I finally baked it this last week. It was the best apple cake I ever had. Love love the crunchy cinnamon-y apple crusts on top!

The only thing I'd change is, given that I love the crunchy topping part more than anything else - though the cake itself tasted lovely - is to make only one layer of cake and apples instead of two. I'd use a bigger pan, spread the cake into a thinner layer, and scatter all the apple-cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the cake. That way I could have a bigger crunchy-topping-to-cake ratio.

Chunky Apple Cake
recipe from Smitten Kitchen
6 apples, Mom uses McIntosh apples
1 Tbsp cinnamon
5 Tbsp sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
3. Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean.

Cinnamon Buns

2011-10-28T08:30:00.000+11:00

One or two days before I read this month's FFTO challenge, I came across this post: Simply Recipes' Swedish Coffee Bread. My goodness, it looks awesome! And without a special pan? That's magic to me.

So when I learnt that this month we are baking cinnamon rolls, I thought: aha, I'd try the way Elise shapes the coffee bread. Sadly the idea didn't go well. I am unsure what went wrong: I halved the Cinnamon Buns recipe, worked the dough as directed, but I didn't get a nice dough - it felt as if it was lacking in moisture. I gave it another go, omitting the plain flour, and I got a nice supple dough but it was not sturdy enough to shape without the aid of a baking pan. (I tried and it didn't look like the swedish bread at all)

I made another attempt with full amount of bread flour but only half of the plain flour, and I kinda like the final result, but it was not very shape-able... Then I gave up and made this one, with the flour ratio that (to me) gives the softest bread - bread flour only, omitting the plain flour. I shaped it as how normal cinnamon buns should be, with the most ordinary plain icing as well. Taste should always come before appearance, agree?

I am still curious, though, why the recipe didn't work on me. Was it the quality of the flour I use here? Or did I jolt down the wrong ingredient amounts when halving the recipe? The buns on the original post looks very nice, though.

Cinnamon Buns
recipe from Things We Make

For the dough:
2 sachets of instant yeast (14-15g)
400g strong white bread flour
200g plain flour (I omitted this)
2 egg yolks
250ml lukewarm milk
50g melted butter
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

For the filling:
150g very soft butter
50g brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
a handful of sultanas (optional)

For the icing (optional):
2 cups of icing sugar
1 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
water to mix

1. In a jug mix the yeast, warm milk and tablespoon of sugar. Leave to froth for 10 minutes if you have time then add the melted butter and egg yolks. Mix this into the flours, with the salt.
2. Knead for 10 minutes on a floured surface. Put in a bowl with a plate on top and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (1-2 hours).
3. Knock down and flatten out until it’s the size of a baking tray. Slather with the very soft 100g of butter, then sprinkle with the mix of brown sugar and cinnamon (and some sultanas if you fancy).
4. Roll up so you have a long swiss roll type thing. Slice into 2″ slices and place in a lined or buttered deep cake tin (I used a 26cm Kaiser Springform tin)
5. Allow to rise for another 1/2 hour and it will fill up any gaps in the pan. Bake at 200c for 10 minutes, cover loosely with foil and bake for another 15 minutes or so.
6. At this point I brush it with a little melted butter and put it back in if not quite cooked through. Tip out straight away (using a plate to tip it onto then back onto a 2nd plate). Top with the warm buttery icing and leave to cool.

Note:
- I didn't use the original icing recipe. I used 1/2 cup icing sugar mixed with 2-3 tsp hot water and 1/4 tsp vanilla.

Thank you Claire for sharing the cinnamon buns recipe. It was such a treat for a rainy afternoon!

Lemon Yogurt Cake

2011-10-26T09:15:00.000+11:00

On the night I browsed through Deb's recipes (to finally pick a cornbread recipe), I randomly clicked on few cake recipes and damn, they got me craving. Since it was 1am, I went to bed and set an alarm to get up earlier the next day. With 4 cake recipes in hand, I would require extra baking (and washing bowls) time on top of the regular weekend chores session.

This is one of them: lemon yogurt cake. The original recipe states that we should soak the cake with a mixture of lemon juice and sugar after baking, to yield a very moist cake as seen in Deb's picture. I skipped that part since I wanted a normal cake - that one looks a bit too pudding-y to me.

Lemon Yogurt Anything Cake
recipe from Smitten Kitchen
1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (if you’re skipping the fruit, you can also skip the last tablespoon of flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed (miniature wild blueberries are great for this, and pose the least risk of sinking)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I skipped this)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.
2. Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 (+) minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
3. Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
4. When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan.
5. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in (a pastry brush works great for this, as does using a toothpick to make tiny holes that draw the syrup in better). Cool. (note: I skipped step 5)

Sour Cream Cornbread

2011-10-23T21:00:00.000+11:00

I had about third or half-full bag of polenta that expires on the 28 of October. I was planning to make Deb's cherry cornmeal cake, but since it only uses a small amount of polenta (compared to the plain flour) I decided to make a cornbread instead.

Sour Cream Cornbread with Aleppo
recipe from Smitten Kitchen
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
1 cup (145 grams) yellow cornmeal
2 Tbsp (25 grams) granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp dried aleppo flakes (omitted)
1/2 tsp table salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Generously butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan, or coat it with a nonstick spray.
2. Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, aleppo (if using) and salt together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, buttermilk and olive oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones, mixing until just barely combined. Spread the batter in your prepared and bake for 22 to 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
3. Serve in slices, toasted with honey butter or salted and honeyed brown butter.

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

2011-10-13T10:00:00.000+11:00

I had made a disastrous attempt of this cake last year, then planned to do another attempt (that hopefully wouldn't fail as bad), but never got my hands to it since I never have corn syrup at home. But last Friday as I was skimming through Deb's recipe page, this cake caught my eye and I decided to use glucose syrup in place of the corn syrup. I am not sure whether they are actually interchangeable, but the label on the glucose syrup says that it is made from maize (corn), thus I thought it would still be acceptable.

I added approximately 100 gr frozen raspberries as the topping between the cake and topping layer and I really love the tartness it brings to the cake. Had I skipped the raspberries, the topping would be too sweet to my taste.

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake
recipe from Smitten Kitchen, with few changes

For the cake
3 tbsp milk (45 gr) at room temperature
30 ml water, lukewarm
1 3/4 tsp active dry yeast
6 tbsp (85 gr) unsalted butter at room temperature
3 tbsp (35 gr) sugar
1 tsp kosher salt (I used 1/4 tsp salt)
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups (220 gr) all-purpose flour

For the topping
3 tbsp + 1 tsp light corn syrup (I used 70 gr glucose syrup)
30 ml water
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
12 tablespoons (170 gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (300 gr) caster sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt (I used 1/4 tsp salt)
1 large egg
1 cup + 3 tbsp (150 gr) all-purpose flour
optional:
200 gr frozen raspberries, sprinkled with 2-3 tbsp flour
confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

1. Grease and line 9x13-inch baking pan. In a small bowl, mix milk with warm water. Add yeast and whisk gently until it dissolves. Mixture should foam slightly.

2. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and salt. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg. Alternately add flour and the milk mixture, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition. Switch to a dough hook at this point to beat dough on medium speed until it formed a smooth mass and pulled away from sides of bowl, 7 to 10 minutes (Deb says her dough was still very soft, as you can see from her pictures, but mine was a bit elastic and doesn't look that sticky).

3. Press, stretch and nudge dough into the prepared pan. Cover dish with plastic wrap or clean tea towel, put in a warm place, and allow to rise until doubled, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. To prepare topping, in a small bowl, whisk corn syrup with water and vanilla. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg. Alternately add flour and corn syrup mixture, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

5. Spoon topping in large dollops over risen cake and use an offset spatula to gently spread it in an even layer. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clear. Allow to cool in pan before sprinkling with confectioners’ sugar for serving.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Pound Cake

2011-10-09T11:38:00.001+11:00

Does any of you play Bakery Story? One night, while I was on the tram back home from work, I "baked" few vanilla cupcakes in my virtual bakery. Then I thought, it'll be lovely to have these for my dessert tonight. Since I had an opened, half-used can of sweetened condensed milk in the fridge, I googled cake recipes that use it as an ingredient. The cupcakes came out nice, but I might add some more milk next time on top of the sweetened condensed milk to make it moister.

I didn't plan to make any icing for the cake, but I felt the cupcakes didn't look very appealing on itself. Thus I cheated and iced the cake using spreadable butter and sprinkle some rice chocolates on top, just like what mom used to do at home.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Pound Cake
recipe from Greichekitchen (in Indonesian), with few changes

120 gr butter, softened
40 gram powdered sugar
2 eggs
120 gr all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (150 gr) sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla

icing (optional):
spreadable (lightly salted) butter or spreadable cream cheese
milk rice chocolates

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line or grease an 8 or 9-inch baking pan, or 15-16 muffin/cupcake holes. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. Mix in flour alternately with sweetened condensed milk in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Beat only until no streaks of flour remain.
4. Pour into prepared pan or divide evenly into prepared muffin holes.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes (as cupcakes) or 40-45 minutes (as one big cake), or until toothpick test comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15-20 minutes, then cool on wire rack. Spread butter or cream cheese (if using) then sprinkle with rice chocolates.

Spekkoek (Lapis Legit)

2011-09-30T22:05:00.000+10:00

After the last one I made for my brithday, I have gone through dozens of eggs and more than a dozen different recipes as well. I tried using less yolks, more yolks, different yolk-to-white ratio, more condensed milk, less condensed milk, different ratio of flour-to-liquids, different methods... To a point that spekkoek does not seem that special anymore because you can find it floating in every corner in my pantry. (yes, I baked multiple versions at each attempt to compare the recipes)

the denser spekkoek

In the end, I came back to the first recipes I tried, the ones that were written by fellow Indonesian bakers. I am not being discriminative here but I thought, if I am gonna bake an Indonesian cake, then I should refer to the recipes used by the natives, true?

the more airy, spongy spekkoek

In my last spekkoek attempt, I tried two different recipes and I could not work out which one I liked better. One yielded a denser spekkoek, the other yielded a more airy, spongy one. If I have to choose, I am more towards the spongy one although it is a bit dry, because I feel the denser spekkoek tastes way too egg-y. I might try brushing the layers with more butter next time to make it more moist; or maybe wait 1-2 days before eating it since the cake became moister after few days wrapped tightly with plastic wrap.

Spekkoek 1 (yields denser cake)
recipe from Kue-Kue Indonesia (Yasa Boga, 2007) via Homemades

500gr butter
3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp mixed spice (ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and clove)
100gr plain flour
350gr caster sugar (I used powdered sugar)
30 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 200C on grill. Grease a 20 x 20 x 8 cm cake tin with margarine or butter, line it with baking paper, then grease the paper again.
2. Beat the butter until fluffy and pale. Add in the sweetened condensed milk. Beat until well mixed.
3. Beat the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla until thick and pale. Whisk in egg mixture to the butter mixture in 5-6 additions, mix well. Fold in the sifted flour and spices, mix well.

Spekkoek 2 (yields more airy, spongy cake)
recipe from Hadi Tuwendi via For The Love Of Baking

20 egg yolks
500gr butter, beaten until fluffy and pale
400gr powdered sugar
200gr all purpose flour
1 tbsp mixed spice
10 egg whites, beaten until stiff

1. Preheat the oven at 200C. Grease a 20 x 20 x 8 cm cake tin with margarine or butter, line it with baking paper, then grease the paper again. Mix flour with mixed spice.
2. Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale in color. Using spatula, fold into butter mixture alternately with the flour mixture. Blend well. Fold in the egg whites.

Baking instructions:
1. Weigh the batter 100 g, pour into the cake tin, spread evenly. Bake for 6-7 minutes or until the surface is golden brown. Take the tin out of the oven, if any bubbles turn up, prick it with a clean toothpick. Using a fondant smoother, press lightly the layer surface to make sure there is no gap formed between layers.
2. Repeat the layering process until the batter is done. To finish the cake, bake using normal (upper and lower) heat at 180C for 20-25 minutes.
3. Take the tin out of the oven, let it cool on the rack. Turn the cake out onto a wax paper, peel of the baking paper. Turn it again onto a cake plate, slice and serve.

For now, I'm coming back to normal everyday cakes for dessert - I'm getting sick of yolks and butters and mixed spice!

the leftover crumbs when I trim the sides of the cakes. Looks really similar to the fat layers on a bacon strip, eh? And looking at the number of eggs, beware of the layers it'll add to your tummy! I should start dieting soon...

Fougasse

2011-09-28T11:14:00.001+10:00

Thank God it is still the 28th today and I'm not late for this month's Fresh From The Oven challenge. I usually do a scheduled post whenever possible, but the last few weeks was kinda hectic.

I made two attempts at the fougasse, and liked the second better. The only difference was just the ratio of water:flour - the first was 70:100 and the second was 75:100, and that I oiled the bowl for the second attempt. The result was a crisper, thinner bread.

left: first attempt, right: second attempt

Fougasse
recipe by Richard Bertinett
500g strong bread flour
350-375ml water
10g (1 heaped tsp) yeast (fresh if possible)
or 5g (½ level tsp) dry
10g (1 level tsp) sea salt

1. Preheat oven to its highest level.

2. Rub the yeast into the flour (or mix in if using dried yeast). Add the remaining ingredients and the water. Mix for a couple of minutes until the dough starts to form.

3. Transfer the dough onto your working surface. Continue to mix the ingredients by stretching out the dough and folding it over onto itself. Keep working the dough until it comes cleanly away from the work surface and is not sticky.

4. Lightly flour the work surface, place the dough on the flour and form the dough into a ball. Place the dough into a mixing bowl and cover with a tea towel. Rest the dough for a minimum of an hour.

5. Turn out gently onto a well-floured surface. Be careful not to deflate it but expect it to spread out to cover a square of your work surface. Generously flour the top of the dough, cover with a clean tea towel and rest for five minutes.

6. Using a plastic scraper (or a thin wooden spatula), divide the dough into two oblongs then cut each piece again into three roughly triangular strips. Make 1 large diagonal cut in each piece of dough, making sure you cut right through to the work surface but not through to the corners. Make 3 smaller diagonal cuts on each side of the central one. Gently open out the holes with your fingers and shake off the excess flour.

7. Lift onto a lightly floured baking tray and slide onto the hot baking stone or tray in your oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.

8. Variations – before leaving the dough to rest, add halved olives, roasted peppers or onions or press rosemary or thyme leaves into each one before baking.

Thanks to Claire of Purely Food for hosting the challenge!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-09-21T20:40:00.000+10:00

I got this recipe from CooksIllustrated's IPhone app. Since I am not a member, I only have access to a limited number of recipes, I browsed through them all. Then one recipe caught my eye: Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. Perfect? Really?

Well, it has browned butter in it, and I am pretty sure it will take the cookies to a higher level. What made me more curious is the method - they are a bit different to the normal cookie-making method that I know. So I decided to give it a try.

They tasted good, despite being overbaked. I attempted to make smaller-sized cookies (to limit myself when eating them later on), and I reduced the baking times to 2 minutes less than the recipe stated, but apparently the reduced size and reduced baking time was not very proportional. The cookies were crunchy all the way to the centre. I'll try to bake them quicker next time.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe from Cooks Illustrated

1 3/4 cups (250 gr) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
14 tbsp (200 gr) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (100 gr) granulated sugar
3/4 cups (150 gr) packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
3/4 cup chopped nuts, toasted

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Heat 10 tablespoons (140 gr) butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons (60 gr) butter into hot butter until completely melted.

3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)

5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Spekkoek - Take Two

2011-09-06T21:43:00.001+10:00

I've been wanting to re-attempt this cake since my previous one was a bit too dry. Thinking of cutting back the number of egg yolks, I used a recipe that uses (considerably) higher whites-to-yolks ratio. I have a mixed feeling for the result: it has the right amount of richness, but I hate the air bubbles between the layers. Why can't my spekkoek look as smooth as others that I found on Google? :(

Spekkoek
recipe taken from Setiap Langkahku - Lapis Legit Ekonomis (in Indonesian)

ingredients A:
75 gr powdered sugar
550 gr butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
20 gr sweetened condensed milk

ingredients B:
450 gr egg yolks (from approx. 25-26 eggs)
50 gr powdered sugar

ingredients C:
300 gr caster sugar
350 gr egg whites (from approx. 10-11 eggs)

Bahan D (sift together):
50 gr milk powder
140 gr plain flour
20 gr cornstarch
4 Tbsp mixed spice

1. Preheat oven to 200C (broil mode). Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Whisk ingredients B until fluffy.
3. Whisk ingredients A until fluffy and pale. Add ingredients B a little at a time, mix slowly until combined.
4. Whisk ingredients C until hard peaks form.
5. Add ingredients D to the butter-yolk mixture until combined. Add beaten egg whites and mix well.
6. Spoon 80 gr of batter for each layer, grill for 7-8 minutes or until the top starts to brown. Repeat until all batter is used up.

Courgette Cluster Bread

2011-08-28T15:13:00.003+10:00

I was unable to find courgettes (zucchini) when I first tried this bread, so I went with carrots but the result was too yellowish to my liking. It tasted good but I wanted to try it with courgettes. Luckily I found them few days ago, and here I am, with the original version of the bread.

The only difference I made was how I dealt with the courgettes: while the recipe suggests to grate coarsely and let sit for 30 minutes, sprinkled with salt, I grated mine finely (as you would do carrots for carrot cake) and add them to the dough straight away.

Thank you Sally for sharing this recipe with us through Fresh From The Oven!

Courgette Cluster Bread
adapted from a recipe in House and Garden magazine by Roz Denny

450g courgettes, grated coarsely (I grated mine finely)
Salt (for degorging and for the dough) (I used 3/4 tsp for the dough only)
675g strong white bread flour
2 sachets of easy-blend/fast-action yeast or 14g instant dried yeast
3 tablespoons parmesan, grated
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Tepid water - about 200ml
Milk, to glaze
Sesame seeds, to sprinkle

1. Place the courgettes in a colander, sprinkle lightly with salt. Allow the juices to drain for about half-an-hour, then rinse well in cold water and pat dry. (I skipped this step)

2. If using instant yeast whisk it into 90 ml of the tepid water until frothy and dissolved. Mix the flour, yeast, parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and some black pepper together in a bowl, then stir in the olive oil and courgettes. Add some more water until the mixture comes together as a firm, soft dough. I did this and the kneading in my KitchenAid with the dough hook.

3. If kneading by hand, turn the dough onto a lightly floured board or work surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a bowl and put the dough into rise, covered with cling film or a cloth, for about one hour or until doubled in size.

4. Knock back the dough in the bowl (punch the air out of it) and then turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead again briefly until smooth.

5. Divide the dough into eight (I did 10) equal pieces and roll to shape into even balls. Lightly grease and line the base of a 23 cm cake tin with baking parchment. Place one ball of dough in the middle and all the others around it.

6. Brush the tops of rolls with milk and sprinkle over some sesame seeds. Cover again with oiled cling film or a cloth and leave to prove until doubled in size and the balls touch each other - about 30 minutes.

7. Put into a preheated oven at 200 C for about 25 minutes (I baked mine at 200 C for the first 10 minutes, then 170 C for the next 20 minutes) until golden brown and cooked. Cool on a wire rack. Tear each roll off to eat as a bun.

Piadina - FFTO July Challenge

2011-07-28T09:40:00.001+10:00

I never heard of piadina before this Fresh From The Oven challenge. I googled "piadina" straight after reading the challenge recipe, and I found that it is sort of tortilla-like. Sounds interesting.

On the first attempt, I tried rolling out the dough as thin as possible. It was crispy when warm, but kinda hard and chewy when cool. Not wanting to trash the piadinas, I put them in 160C oven to crisp them even more, then I put a scoop of ice-cream and ate them as a dessert. How was it? It was not bad, but I would add a pinch of sugar to the dough if I want to make them as a dessert base next time.

The second time, I rolled the dough as instructed in the recipe, around 2-3mm thick. I also made creamed spinach and lentil to use up some sour cream, then I ate them as a sandwich. It was heavenly. The piadina soaked up the juices really well. That was a really good lunch.

Piadinas reheat well too. I tried once with microwave, another one on nonstick pan over high heat, and I love them both. The one reheated on pan was kinda crunchy on the outside and fluffly in the inside. The microwaved one is soft in overall, but it was not bad either.

Piadina
makes 8 (I made smaller piadinas and came up with around 16)

500g Plain flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp Finely ground sea salt
100ml Olive oil or 100g Lard
200ml Warm water

1. Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt & olive oil/lard in a large bowl. Gradually add the water stirring with loose fingers until the mix comes together to form a soft dough.
2. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface & knead until the dough becomes smooth & shiny, this should take about 5-10 mins.
3. Divide into 8 equal balls, loosely cover with lightly oiled cling film & allow to rest for 30 minutes.
4. Heat a non stick cast iron skillet over a high heat for 5 mins.
5. On a well floured surface flatten each ball & roll out into a disc 2-3 mm thick, prick all over with a fork.
6. Place a disc of dough flat in the centre of the pan & press down gently. Cook for 2 mins or until the dough is crisps & brown spots begin to appear then flip & repeat on the other side. Cook the piadina one at a time until all the dough is used. Cover with a clean tea towel to prevent them drying out whilst you prepare your desired filling.

Creamed spinach and lentils
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 400gr can lentil, drained
1 150-200gr pack baby spinach, washed and drained
150-200 ml light sour cream
1-2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oil
salt and pepper, to taste
ground chili powder (optional)
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant.
2. Throw in spinach and cook, stirring, until most of them are wilted. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until cream starts to boil. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place one piadina on the bottom cover evenly with filling & top with another. If you like your fillings cold, cut into wedges & serve. Alternatively heat through in the oven or a sandwich press & serve hot.

Thank you Alex from Dear Love Blog for sharing this recipe with us!

Sandwich Bread Loaf

2011-06-28T10:00:00.000+10:00

Fresh From The Oven's June Challenge.

The dough was very nice to work with. It went from nothing to elastic in a very short time, it rose beautifully - awesome. The outcome was a sturdy bread that was good eaten fresh and toasted. On most days I prefer fluffy, soft bread, but this one was a good change of pace. I had few slices toasted the next morning as breakfast, and few other slices as mini sandwiches for lunch. They both tasted great.

Sandwich Bread Loaf
recipe from BBC Food Recipes
20 gr golden syrup
25 gr melted butter
350 ml warm milk
10 gr fresh yeast (I used 3 tsp instant dry yeast)
250 gr plain flour
250 gr bread flour
10 gr salt (I used 1 tsp)

1. Stir the golden syrup and melted butter into the warm milk until well combined. Crumble the yeast into a large bowl if using fresh yeast (or sprinkle if using instant dry yeast), then pour over the warm milk and stir until the yeast has dissolved.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until a smooth dough forms. Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside for 5 minutes.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with cling film and place into a warm place for 1 hour, or until the dough has nearly doubled in size.

4. Meanwhile, grease and flour a 12cm x 20cm/5in x 8in bread tin.

5. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface again and knock back a few times. Divide equally into two pieces and shape into balls. Place the dough balls side by side in the prepared bread tin, cover with cling film and set aside to rise again, until doubled in size.

6. Preheat the oven to 220C/410F/Gas 7.

7. Using a sharp knife, slash the dough a few times and place into the oven immediately. After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and bake for a further 30 minutes, or until the bread is golden-brown. To check if the bread is done, remove from the tin and tap the bottom with your knuckles – it should sound hollow. Leave the bread loaf to cool on a wire rack.

Thanks to Jo from Jo's Kitchen for hosting the challenge and sharing the recipe!