Making magic again...

Here's another go at the Alex Goh's magic bread :
A little glitch in this session - i acccidentally overdosed the salt - put in almost double the requried quantity!

Though I tried to compensate with a little more yeast, still the proofing took forever. 14 hours to be exact - 8 hours for the 1st proof, and 6 for the final.

A lesson for us is to make sure we pre-measure out all the ingredients carefully. I was lazy so I added everything into the mixing bowl. But luckily, the bread turn out good and well after all the anticipation!

This is the one with sardine and onion filling:

Presenting My First Cake Order...

This is a birthday cake for my dear brother in law. And technically this is an order. My sister paid for it :-)

She originally wanted the hazelnut mousse which I made for Sheen's 5th birthday but I have no more of the ingredients on hand... so she settled for a black forest cos her girls love it.

I do not want to have a black forest that looks exactly like a black forest... so I did mine with a light twist.

The star in the centre of the cake symbolise this role in the family!

These are the words she wanted on the cake - its her hubby's b'day on the 10th day of the 10th lunar month. I made them on a fondant which she places on the cake when ready:

Since my piping skill sucks, I relied on the letter press. It's just a pity that the letter press is not as easy to use as i wish. Putting the letters into the holder itself is a labourious task!

Looks like i should really work on my piping skills to save all the hard work.

THANK YOU

I like to thank Anncoo for passing on the reward.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DK!

This was a 30 sec job.

I saw an old pal's sms just as I was getting ready to leave home. I quickly grab the cupcake I have on my cake server, and slap on the hazelnut ganache and sprinkle the chocolate chips. That's it.

This is a scratchy cake for a good friend's birthday... but as the saying goes "it's the thoughts that counts!".

BTW, for the record, I did try to make something more decent for D. I piped "Happy Birthday, D-----" on the cake and was mms to him. But my handwriting is so horrible, I think I should not post this pix here to save the embarrassment :-)

Chef Alex's Magic Bread

I had such a tiring day at ICA on last Tuesday. I was there since 10am, and didn't get the papers done until past 6. A torturously long 8+ hours!



Well, just a day before I am due to leave for another work trip, I discovered to my horrors that my passport is just 1 week shy of the required 6 months validity. After making a few checks, I decided to get a Temporary Travel Document from ICA. The doc was supposed to be a couple hours job, but I brought my luggage along thinking it would give me plenty of time to get into the airport and any possible delays at the Immigration department.



The first to get the TTD was the pass the interview. For this, I waited 2 hours for my number to be flashed on the board. When I entered, I the office still talking to another elderly couple. So I back out and waited patiently outside the door.



During the 3omin wait outside the door, I saw several numbers behind me already went in and out of the door. I was quite frustrated that I am still waiting despite having a earlier number.

Finally when the couple left the room, I quickly entered, only to find that the office is not in the room. So again I back off and waited at the door. I peeped my head in and out checking if the officer is back. Finally I decided to do my feet a favour by waiting in the interview room.

Then another guy who walked past saw my sitting alone, and asked why I am in the room. I explained, then he walked away without a word.



15min later, another staff entered. Only then I learnt that the officer had gone off for break without logging off. Alamak, I was made to wait for nothing just becos of someone's silly negligence!!!



Then, the canteen was closed for renovation - so I have no means to get lunch/refreshment in the long hours there. Most people walked out to the nearby coffeeshop but it is difficult for me with the full pack luggage. Good detox day for me, I console myself.



To cut the long story short, the day at ICA must have been 1 of the more stressful one in my 30 plus years! At the end of the day, I just have to call up to make arrangements to cancel my flight and hotel reservations.



When I got home in the night, I head to the kitchen to make bread. I need my therapy!

Fortunately, this recipe didn't disappoint me.

Basic Sweet Bread dough
Recipe from Alex Goh "Magic Bread"

A
100g bread flour
70g boiling water

B
300g bread flour
100 plain flour
80g sugar
6g salt
20g milk powder
9g instant yeast (I used 23g fresh yeast)

C
175g cold water
60g cold egg (I replaced with cold water)

D
60g butter


1) Add boiling water from A into flour, mix until well blended to form a dough. Cover and set aside to cool. Keep it into fridge for at least 12 hrs. (I only left it in fridge for 1 hour)

2) Mix B until well blended. Add in C and knead to form rough dough. Add in A and knead till well-blended.

3) Add in D and knead to form elastic dough

4) Let it proof for 40mins. (mine took over 90min, thanks to the year end rains and cold nights. Just make sure the dough double in size, no matter how long it takes.)

5) Divide the dough into required weight and mould it round. Rest it for 10mins and ready to use.

I made them in my new pullman loaf pan (baking time 50min @180C). Based on the calculations, I should need 665g of dough which it didn't really filled up the pan. I think it's becos I didn't wait long enough for the 2nd proof. They should have raised to at least 80% of the pan before putting into the oven. I waited for over an hour, then decided to call it a night while keeping my fingers crossed.

When I sliced the bread, the centre part is a bit dense, without the airy holes like the sides. Luckily it is only the centre... The overall bread is still good.

On the way to the airport on Wednesday, I brought the whole loaf to my parents. My mum told me over dinner just now that my dad finished up the bread on the very same day. He said the bread is too good... he had to have bread for dinner.

Music to my ears!

It is a great combination - sweetness from bread + spiciness from the otah!

For the extra dough I made them into sausage roll for Sheen. You see, i am still practicing hard on the shaping. Thanks to blessedhomemaker's help, I am making some progress in the pleating.

It's a wonder how much happier one can get after a breadmaking session! Magic indeed!

Flaky Mooncake

I made these teochew flaky mooncake when clearing the fridge - badly needed more storage space in preparation for Sheen birthday party!

I used the recipe from Anncoo - do see her blog for the photo illustration to get the layering. Actually the colour won't show up if you are deep-frying them. But it's a lot easier for me to differentiate the oil and water dough.

I fried some, and baked some. I felt so guilty to say that the deep fried ones taste much better! Yum!

That day I runied a Butter Cake

Few months back I was chatting with some colleagues about butter cake. One of the guys mentioned the old fashion butter, you know the know that is utterly rich, arteries-blocking type. And the other said Golden Churn.

That rings a bell. I have bookmarked a recipe from Florence. I made a promise to the group that i will make one for them.

It was months later that I finally get down to bake the cake. And gave it to my colleague TC when we met up at the Cafe.

I made 2 mini loaf - gave 1 away and kept the another one for myself. It was much later in the night I tested it that I realised that it was too dry and too hard. It shouldn't have been given out in the first place!!!

From here I learn my lession - never serve anything before I have tested it!