made this a while back, first time having success in baking bread, or bun for this matter. The bread has good soft texture, however it don’t keep well, get dry after about 2 days, maybe i didn’t put in bread improver/dough improver etc etc Recipe taken from Cheese Sticks@Oh bin, it is a chinese blog. Above is after the dough being knead for a good 15-20 minutes(approx)

have finally conquer the fear of baking bread, baking bread always seems so unattainable, i mean how does mere flour turn into soft pillowy bread with holes uniformly dotted in it… One of the secret is while mixing the flour with liquid ingredients(egg etc) to form into dough above, it will be very wet initially(almost seems like it is not going to hold together), but be patient, don’t add more flour frantically into it, but just continue to work it in a bowl, it will gradually become more workable(less wet), the later turning the dough onto a working surface, give it a good 15 minutes knead till it pass the window pane test(or almost passing the window pane test) which is stretching a little  bit of the dough on your hand, and you will actually be able to see light thru the dough, meaning gluten(bread structure) has developed nicely, and the dough is “elastic” enough to form a good soft bread. If it doesn’t pass the “window pane test”, you just have to knead it longer before letting it rise.

after the first rise(about 1 to 2 hours) under humid area. I put it near the front porch where the sun shines in

shaped into bun, give them another 1 hour or so rise(second rise), brush egg wash, quartered cheese on top, and leave some buns plain as it is.

finished products, nicely joined to each other

nice soft texture

Recipe source: Oh Bin

after kneading all the ingredients, recipe is from a recipe book at home.

after proofing it in warm area for 40 minutes, doubled in size.

second proofing for about 45 minutes.

after second proofing, double in size again

finished baking 30-35 mins

looks nice.

the strong bread protein structure is not there

super macro shot of the crumbly structure.

Post mortem:

- cause of this failed bread could be due to my incorrect mixing sequence, butter should be put in earlier, but i mixed it in when the bread is fully kneaded and springy(kneaded for about 5 minutes), and the butter unable to penetrate into it, thus i torn the bread into small pieces rubbing in the butter, that’s probably where the bread protein structure is disrupted and broken.

was bored, so played with food instead This is a new method of baking cake where boiling hot milk are added into flour-egg mixture instead of the usual cold or room temperature ingredient. Recipe from Homemade Heaven, the cake i baked failed but the cream patissiere is really nice, like those from beard papa’s and it is fat free! The cake turn out dense, and big holes in areas, maybe i add in the milk too fast, in fact i add them in one go, and stir the thick flour-egg mixture with the milk frantically, and it is a bit lumpy when i pour it into baking tin. Also experiment with Olympus mju 7000 taking food picture, i guess the preset scene-Cuisine is still the most suitable for taking food photo as i am not familiar with doing setting manually.

sifting flour with baking powder + salt

to be hot milk mixture for the cake, here is 1 pack of UHT milk + 100g butter + orange zest

4 egg + sugar, beat till pale white… for making the orange cake.

about 60ml of milk + 3 egg yolk + sugar + vanilla

bottom of pot after cream patisiere is fully cooked and thick… yummy stuff

rustic homemade wholemeal bread, white loaf and pita bread.

Tiramisu(contains alcohol) and carrot cupcake with cream cheese icing, both taste really good, yum, the cream cheese is so lickable too

cheap local liquor from Penang(around RM25) for cooking fresh prawn

lamb shank

pot of lamb shank cooked in tomato and spices

well marinated chicken wings, yum

crab cooked in curry gravy

shrimp sticks from KFC

where chicken wings BBQ, prawn cooked, and fish BBQed

clay burner, satay burner, fish and hot dog at the side

freshly barbequed in bananas leaves without any flavoring added

asparagus & bacon fettucine cooked in garlic and olive oil(aglio olio), simplicity at its best.

They are also abalone salad, bailey infused chocolate truffles etc.

A satisfied appetite by the end of the day~~

bought a toast mould for RM21 from Kepong, recipe is from Lily’s Wai Sek Hong.

umm, looks nice, rise till the top of the mould.

looks nice here too, but it is a bit too moist inside making it slightly chewy, maybe it is because i didn’t cool it properly, putting it into fridge just minutes after taking it out from oven, trapping the moisture inside…