Friday, June 17, 2011

Panettone Bread ( A sweet Italian bread)

Panettone bread is a type of bread come from Italy and it is normally served during Christmas and New Year.

This was the first time i made the bread, it smelled really good!

Ingredients:
Bread flour 350g
Milk powder 7g
Sugar 100g
salt 4g
Yeast 5g
Plain yogurt 20g
7 eggs
Unsalted butter 60g
Grape raising 220g
Rum 3 tablespoons
white grape raising 50g
Mixed dry fruit 110 g
 
Methods:
The day before you make the bread, soak the raising and mixed dry fruit with rum. Cover overnight so that the fruit can absord the liquid and taste mositure.
 
Put the baking paper into 4 bakings cups.
 
Put all the ingredients except butter into a mixing bowl. Use a stand mixer/ hand mixer to mix all the ingredients together. Wen all well  combine, put in the butter. Mix well. After that, put in the raisings and dry fruit gradually into the dough. Mix well, cover and let rise until double the size.
 
Flour the working surface. Transfer the dough to the working surface and divide into 4 portions. Roll each portion round. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.
 
After 10 minutes, roll the dough round again. Put each one into the baking cup. Cover with parafilm and let rise again. After that,m brush with an egg. Use a knife to cut a cross shape on top of the dough, about 1cm depth. Put a melt butter at the center of the cross.
 
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top of each bread for decoration.
 
Recipe adopted from www.christinerecipes.com

Monday, June 13, 2011

Glutinous Rice Dumpling (粽子)

It is Dragon Boat Festival again!!! And i am making "zhong zi" too... i like to eat meat dumpling as it tastes real good..... i have pork, mushroom, green bean and egg in my dumpling. Yummy....don't you agree!??!

Peanunt Butter Cookie

This cookie is usually made during chinese new year. But i made it yesterday just to fullfill my stomach. Instead of crushing the peanut on my own, i used peanut butter. It tasted just as great!


Ingredients:

1 bottle peanut butter
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup powder sugar (adjust depends on the sweetness that you wish)
Oil
1 egg

Methods:

Combine peanut butter, all purpose flour and sugar, mix well. Then slowly add in oil until you can form a smooth dough.

Then take a small portion of the dough and form a ball. Put onto a baking pan that lined with aluminium foil. Repeat until all dough has finished. Use your thumb to press the center of each ball so that it forms some shape or you can create any shape that you wish. Brush with an egg.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake until golden brown.

Chocolate/Vanilla Layer Cake


I made this cake using the recipe of roll cake which you can find here:


 
To make this cake , you need to double the ingredients. When you have done prepared the batter, divide them into two portions. One for chocolate flavor, the other half for vanilla flavor.

Melt the chocolate chips or just use cocoa powder, then mix well with the batter.
Drop in 2-3 drops of vanilla into another batter.

Grease two 9 inches round baking pan. Then transfer each batter into the baking pan. Bake as directed.

When it is done, let the cakes cool down. Meanwhile, slice some kiwi or strawberry. Set aside.

Beat the heavy whipping cream (i mix it with some milk so it did not taste too milky but light and fluffy) till firm.

Mix the pre-slice fruits.

Trasnfer one part of the cake to a flat surface (or the container that you wish to store the cake). Then spread some whipping cream. After that, transfer the other part and put on top of the bottom layer.

Spread the remaining whipping cream onto the cake, and sprinkle some cocoa powder on top of it to make it more colorful.

It tastes best after you cool it at the refrigerator. Personally i think it tasted the same as the store bought cake.

Enjoy !!!!!!!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Kaya Bread

Finally i made the kaya bun. I have been craving for it, but thinking of making the kaya jam takes a long time, it holds me back. So i modified the method and made the jam with the microwave. It is alot faster, just the appearance is not as smooth.


Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
10 oz yeast
1 egg
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon oil
1 cup milk (adjust depend on the flour)
4 tablespoons butter (soften at room temperature)

Kaya Jam:
4 eggs
200g brown sugar (adjustable depends on your taste)
200 mL thick coconut milk
3 pandan leaves

Method:
For making the jam
First beat in 4 eggs into a big clean bowl. Then stir in sugar. Combine well. After that, pour in coconut milk and mix well. Put in pandan leaves and cook in microwave for 2 minutes. Take it out and stir vigorously. Then put into the microwave again and cook for 2 minutes. Take it out and stir. If it is still not thicken, microwave for another 1-2 minute. Let it cool down and it is ready for bread's filling.

For the bread
Combine all the ingredients and mix it with standmixer. Make sure the dough is smooth and not too hard. Add in more milk if it is too hard, or you can start with 3/4 cup of milk then adjust as you mix it. Let mix for about 10- 15 minutes. Then cover the dough with a plastic wrap/ damp cloth. Let rise until double the size.

When the dough has double the size, transfer it to a flour surface and divide the dogh into 13 portions (depends on the size that you like). Knead each dough and form a ball, then press the ball flat and put a tablespoon of kaya jam in the center. Seal the edges and make it round. Line it in the baking pan. Repeat till the dough has finished.

Let stand for 15 minutes, and brush it with an egg. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. The texture is so soft....yummy...