April 2nd 2009:
This blueberry yogurt bread took quite some time to rise! (prolly cause of the cold water)
And the browning time in the oven took way more than the stated time in the book. There is some discrepancies in the book...one part says brush with egg wash and bake but the illustrated picture says to dip top on a damp towel and then dip in poppy seeds.
In the end I brushed water on top and sprinkled white sesame seeds. The bread came out hard as stones! They have a tinge of blueberry taste. Perhaps I should have brush egg wash, then they wouldn't have been so hard and tough to eat :(
April 4th:
I read a blog some time ago. The owner of the blog absolutely LOVES black sesame ice cream. Black sesame! I can't imagine, ever. The smell is very overpowering, and the taste as well. White sesames are alright.
Decided to try this sesame buns, because at that time I haven't tried black sesame seeds before, and what better opportunity to work it into this here dough. Verdict? It produces a nutty bread. Best served hot fresh from the oven and spread with butter or other accompaniments.
While rummaging the refrigerator for the black sesames, found some leftover raisins and sultanas from something I baked some time ago. So happened that there's a Mock Beesting Bread in the book! So I took the opportunity to bake that too :)
Verdict : I didn't get to try it! The recipe yeilds two large breads. TWO! Large! And my family members still managed to finish it! Oh well, the second time I make this, I have to squander some pieces just for myself.
April 8th:
When I leafed through recipes in the book, I had planned to bake 2 recipes in one go, and both recipes are halves. For example, if this recipe asks for basic sweet bun dough, and after first rising, to be divided into 60gram portions, as well as another recipe, then I will make a basic sweet bun dough recipe, then split it in half for both recipes.
Which I find, actually isn't helping my family's appetite cause I have to feed 5 other members excluding me.
How do I know this? Because these recipes: Kaya Buns and Sardine Buns is proof.
Both recipes ask for basic sweet bun dough. Okay, so I made basic sweet bun dough. I divided the dough to 10 portions (600grams divided into 60gram portions....10) and made 5 kaya buns and 5 sardine buns.
Weird as it wasn't enough for my family. Prolly cause sis managed about 2-3 buns each time...harumph! By the way, the Hi5 kaya sucks! It was difficult to tell whether the kaya I bought was the watery or stiff type. I know Auntie Rosie's kaya is the stiff type, but the shop I went to didn't have Auntie Rosie's kaya :(
Then halfway baking some of the kaya buns burst and kaya was sizzling in the oven. And I couldn't do anything :(
Nevertheless, both buns tasted great! The sardine bun is spicy, and took some time to make cause I had to cook the filling and before the final proofing, I had to roll the top and sides into chilli + curry powder mix. It tasted nice and thats all that matters :)
The kaya bun, perhaps the kaya was the only downfall of it, but not much came out of the buns so they still tasted great.
April 15th:
See those rolls up there? Those are from the Black Date Rolls recipe, but I didnt' have any red dates paste on hand and had a lot of leftover white lotus paste from past failed lotus mooncakes. So I substitute with white lotus paste. The lotus paste is quite oily..and since I can't see the colour difference between the dough and the paste, when it split it'd be too late to patch. So to test whether I've rolled the dough thin enough without causing the white lotus paste to split, I check hw oily the rolled dough is. Oily? Done. Roll, cut and leave to proof. Which works pretty well.
Verdict : Abit too sweet. Should decrease the amount of white lotus paste next time. I did scale it the same weight as for the black dates paste, but perhaps white lotus paste has more sweetness to it.
Oh yes, and one of the back of the rolls had a seahorse shape! What a coincidence.
The next buns are the Tuna Buns. This is one absolutely tasty bun! Best for snacks for midday simply lunch. Really easy to make, and the almond nibs on top makes for a nice crunch! Thumbs up for this one.
April 26th:
Wanted to make some plain bread with abit of wholewheat flour in it when I realised I accidentally used all-purpose instead of bread flour! Due to my mistake, I was low on all-purpose but that's a matter for another day.
Anyway, I decided to switch to making bagels because I was interested after watching this one chef on Cook Like a Chef making bagels. Also because 3 bloggers (Di's Kitchen Notebook, Cookie Baker Lynn and Under the High Chair) had made bagels. Sounds easy? Yeah it is!
Although the boiling part did leave me abit surprised...boiled bread? Err...never heard of it.
Was a tad sad cause the bread didn't brown like its supposed to be. Maybe lack of sugar...or was I supposed to put egg wash? The chef on tv brushed with water. Maybe the weather here is different? Maybe...
The next bread I made is sweet potato buns. This one in the pictures is my second attempt, which truthfully, isn't as delicious as my first try. I found out why a day later, the sweet potato I used wasn't very dark orange in colour. Less colour = lighter flavour. But the sweet potato made the buns super soft! Which is delicious! I will definitely make this again, cause it got my father hooked too :D
