Soft Bread Machine-Aided Custard Bread

Originally, I found this recipe from a Chinese blog.  However, after a failed first attempt following the recipe, I had altered the recipe to work with my breadmaker and mixer. This time around, the bread came out so fluffy soft, it was gone within 24 hours.  This bread stayed soft even after 2 days, and considering how dry it is where I live, I'd say it's a keeper.  

The only fussy part about making this bread is the fact that I have to make the custard ahead.  On the other hand though, I don't have to add anymore eggs into my bread recipe, as it is already included in the custard.  The custard acts as the roux starter or 汤种, as called for in many recipes.  

Tips:
1.  Resting the dough before shaping will relax the gluten in the dough, making it easier to stretch out and shape.
2.  The bread recipe can be easily adapted to make a loaf, 8 buns, 16 buns... 
3.  I found the dough to be too dry with the original recipe, and added 25% more liquid to my recipe.
4.  The shaping directions in here is for 16 small breads.  It comes out to be just the right size for a pre-schooler.
5.  The custard can be stored in the fridge for about a week (personal experience)


Original blog link:  卡斯达超软吐司


The custard...

This recipe will result in about 350g of custard, and will make about 2 full recipes of the bread, as each recipe only calls for 110g.  The custard can easily be stored in the fridge for other uses.

250ml  Milk

1tbsp   Vanilla

3         Egg yolks

50g     Sugar (split into half, 25g each)

25g     Cake flour

20g     Butter

1.  Mix milk and vanilla in a small pot, and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and let cool.

2.  While the milk mixture is cooling, whisk egg yolks and 25g of sugar together until pale, then sift in cake flour and mix well.

3.  Slowly pour the slightly cooled milk mixture into the yolk mixture and mix well.

4.  Strain the mixture back into the pot and boil on medium heat.  Keep stirring until thickens into a custard, but not clumped.  Remove from heat.

5.  Stir in butter until melted, and let it cool.

The bread...

I've added more liquid to the bread and finished the bread in the oven instead.  This bread can easily just be finished in the breadmaker, selecting the 1.5lb loaf option.

110g   Custard

125g   Milk

250g   Bread flour

30g     Sugar

2g       Salt

5g       Rapid-rise yeast

20g     Butter

For Breadmaker:

1.  Put all ingredients, except butter, in the breadmaker, liquid ingredients to be added before the dry ingredients.  Sugar and salt to be added at opposite corners and away from the yeast.

2.  Select "Dough" function.  Let it finish all 3 rounds of mixing.  (Note:  Please note that this was done to suit my breadmaker.  The original recipe called for only one round of mixing, i.e. 20 minutes.)

3.  Once that's done, add in the butter and select the "Sweet Bread" function on the breadmaker, "1.5lb" option, and select "Light" browning option.

4.  At this point, the bread can be finished in the breadmaker.  Remove bread about 10-15 minutes before the end of the baking process.

5.  Alternately, the bread can also be left to rise until doubled in the breadmaker.  Then taken out to shape and left to rise for about 1 hour until doubled.  Then bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F for about 12 minutes.

For mixer (KitchenAid):

1.  Put all ingredients, except butter, in the mixer bowl, liquid ingredients to be added before the dry ingredients.  Sugar and salt to be added at opposite corners and away from the yeast.

2.  Use a dough hook, and start with a lower speed to mix the ingredients.  Once the ingredients looks mixed, slowly increase the speed up to medium high (i.e. 7-8 on KitchenAid) and let it knead (scraping down occasionally) until you can stretch the dough thin, about 10-20 minutes.

3.  Once that's done, add in the butter and knead at medium high speed again until you can stretch the dough very thin, about another 10 minutes.

4.  Remove the bread and put in an oiled bowl and cover with a sheet of clingwrap or clean damp cloth in a warm place to rise until double in volume.

5.  Cut the dough into 16 parts, then cut each of the 16 pieces into 3 equal pieces (i.e. 54 pieces).  Cover the dough with a clingwrap or a piece of clean damp cloth for about 10 minutes to let the dough rest.

6.  Roll each piece of dough into a long thin strand and braid 3 of them together and shape.  Put the bread on the baking mat/tray now and cover with a sheet of clingwrap or clean damp cloth for another 40-60 minutes until double in volume.

7.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Meanwhile, brush the bread with eggwash and sprinkle a little sugar on top.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

Matcha Tsubu'an Macaron Pops & Congratulations!

Tadaa!  Did you guess it right?  Did you did you did you??? :D

Matcha Tsubu'an Macaron Pops, or Green Tea Powder Sweetened Red Bean Paste Macaron Pops.  Goodness!  What a mouthful!  haha  The recipe for this one will be up on the next post.  =D  I promise that the marriage of these two flavors are sooo wonderful, you'll be dreaming about it.  At least I did, and I am now again...

Here's the congratulatory part...  I don't have a cake, I couldn't be there, and I don't have a bouquet of flowers, but I have a bouquet of macaron pops for a dear, dear friend who just recently got married.

Pei Pei, I just wanted to say congratulations again, and sorry for the botched surprise, all thanks to a certain Ms. K.  ahem ahem...  Here's to wishing you a life full of wonderful sweetness, all rolled up into a colorful bouquet of happiness!  xoxoxoxoxo  p/s:  Ms. K, regardless of any botched surprise or not, I still love ya!

Take a guess??

 

Do take a guess, what's coming up next? ;)

Hint:  It's a culture crossover XD  heheee 

Rahmschnitzel mit Pommes Frites und Kirschtomaten

Guten Tag!  I love me some schnitzel, and that recent German trip was a blast in that sense!  All sorts of schnitzels, more than I could count.  However, I'm still terrible when it comes to cooking a good schnitzel wiener, or pork schnitzel.  So back home here, I used chicken, which technically should be called Hähnchenschnitzel, instead.  So why didn't I call it Hähnchenschnitzel then?  Well, see, I also serve it with mushroom cream sauce, as I have previously promised darling hubby during his recovery from wisdom teeth extraction.  We seem to crave what we're not allowed to eat.  Anyway, I was torn.  I almost named the title "Marrying Hähnchenschnitzel und Rahmschnitzel", but that doesn't sound quite correct...  Hence the above name, Cream Schnitzel with Potato Fries and Cherry Tomato. 

Tips:
1- If you pound your chicken steak into a more consistent thickness, it will cook more evenly.
2- I prefer panko, Japanese bread crumbs, for its crunchiness, but you can use any types of bread crumbs you prefer.

3- I prefer chicken leg meat for its tenderness, but feel free to substitute with chicken breast meat if you prefer.

Rahmschnitzel mit Pommes Frites und Kirschtomaten 

Schnitzel:
2 pieces chicken leg meat
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup panko
1-2 cups oil for frying

2 cups store bought french fries
Cherry tomatoes

Sauce:
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup milk

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste

Clean and de-fat chicken leg meat.
Using a meat tenderizer, pound the meat until roughly similar in thickness.
Lightly beat salt, pepper, and eggs together.
Heat up frying oil in a pan over medium-high heat.
Dredge leg meat through all purpose flour, egg, and panko (in this order).
Pan fry leg meat until golden brown.

Oven bake/fry french fries according to box instructions.

In a small pan over medium heat, melt butter and mix in flour, and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring all the while.
Stir in milk and mushroom.
Stir constantly until you have a consistent and smooth texture.

Ladle sauce over chicken and serve with cherry tomatoes and french fries.  Best served with German beer ;)  Personally I prefer colabier (mixture of cola and beer) or radler (mixture of lemon soda and beer).

Banana Cointreau Pancake

I was on the Ruby Princess last year.  At dinner one night, there was this delicious dessert.  Simple, yet wonderful.  Don't ask me the name though.  Seriously, I don't remember.  What I remembered, was it was made with just a few simple things really.  Vanilla ice cream, banana, lemon, sugar, and Grand Marnier.  How delightfully simple and delicious.  

When I first came home, I realized that I didn't have vanilla ice cream, and substituted it with chocolate ice cream scoops.   Nope, that did not work!  The chocolate flavor in the ice cream totally overwhelmed the delicate and subtler flavors of citrus and banana.  Nope!  After that however, I didn't remember trying to do this when I had a full tub of ice cream in my fridge.  What a silly silly person!  Yup, that's me alright!

One weekend morning, I decided that I wanted to make pancakes, crepe-like pancakes.  Ya know, like the one over here, for Strawberry Crepe Rolls.  I love just munching on the slightly sweet pancake just as is, and I love it with a crispy edge.  While she's making them, I'm always hanging around, pulling the crispy edges off from the pancakes, and leaving the softer center parts on the plate.  She would scold me, but I think deep down, she probably found that amusing.  Or at least I hope she did! hahaha

I went off on a tangent didn't I?  Ok ok, I'm back I'm back.  So, I had banana in my pantry, and I was just thinking what I should do with my Cointreau again...  Need I say more?  Let's jump in! 

Tips: 
1- Instead of Grand Marnier, I used Cointreau.  You can substitute with any orange liqueur you have or prefer.
2- The alcohol in the liqueur should have mostly been evaporated by the time it's done.  However, if you don't wanna take any chances, do try and substitute with juice from a full orange with 2 tablespoons of orange zest.
3- Pair it with lemonade would bring out the citrusy flavor even more.
4- Avoid anything too strong, like strong coffee, for it will overwhelm the softer flavors of the pancake.  I like it paired with latte however.

Banana Cointreau Pancake 

Pancake

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 egg

pinch of salt

water (about 1-1/2 cup)

butter for pan frying (about 3 tbsp)

 

Banana Topping

2 bananas, sliced

3 tbsp sugar

1 lemon

3 tbsp Cointreau

 

Combine flour, sugar, salt, and egg in a 2-cup measuring cup.

Then fill the measuring cup with water to the 2-cup line.

Whisk and combine well.

Heat up a frying pan over medium heat with a little butter.

When the butter has melted and started bubbling a little, pour some crepe batter into the pan (about 1/4 cup).

Tilt the pan around so that the batter forms a rough circle.

Fry until the edge both sides are lightly browned.

Repeat the frying until all batter has been used up.

Combine sugar, juice from a lemon, and Cointreau in a pan, when sugar has melted and starting to bubble, add in sliced bananas.

Cook until banana slightly soften around the edge.

Plate banana and sauce over crepe and serve.

Enjoy and have a good week to come!  If you try this, let me know what you paired it with and how you like it.

 

Bartlett Pear Preserve

Does anyone have any memories of tasting something just once, and it stuck so deeply in your mind, even after a decade?  That happened to me.  That happened to me and pear preserve.  The most common jams and preserves I've had are berries, apricot, and orange marmalade.  Prior to making this baby myself, I've only tasted pear preserve once.  Just once.

It was Autumn 1996.  I went on a 10-day Japan home-stay exchange under the LEX Language Research Foundation and Hippo Family Club program.  It was my first trip to Japan, and I still remember it like it happened just yesterday.  When I was staying with the Muto family, okaasan (mother in Japanese, that was how I addressed her) bought me sushi for dinner one evening.  Unfortunately, I was having a bad spell of migraine and any smell seemed to multiply itself by 10.  Needless to say, the raw fish didn't go down well that night.  I felt really bad, having wasted her warm hospitality.  Even now when I think back upon it, I still hope she understands that it wasn't the food or the culture, it was me and my horribly-timed migraine.  See, I couldn't speak Japanese back then and she didn't understand English very well.  All I knew was arigatou (thank you), konnichiwa (greeting), hai (yes), and samui (cold).  So I couldn't tell if she understood what I was saying.  Anyway, I went to bed earlier that night after some medication and woke up feeling much better in the morning.

When I went seeking for okaasan in the morning after brushing and cleaning, I found her in the kitchen with two dictionaries on the table and a note.  She had taken the time to look up words between two dictionaries and wrote a note for me.  The gist of it saying that she hoped I'm feeling much better and actually apologized for the food upsetting my stomach.  Instantly, I felt a warm and fuzzy feeling spreading all over me.  Then, she sat me down on the table and brought out a simple breakfast for me that tasted so good, I remember it to this day.  It was a thick slice of toast, covered in slightly melted cheese, and had a kind of jam spreaded over it.  Warm melty cheese toast with cold jam/preserve?  One bite was all it took.  I had to ask her what it was.  She looked up the dictionary and smiling, said: "Toast, cheese, and pear jam."

It's been more than 10 years now, but that simple breakfast stuck in my mind, unwilling to let go.  I tried looking for pear preserves, but they really aren't that common.  So, I decided to do my own research and make them myself.  And here, is one of my most cherished memory of Japan and okaasan, all wrapped up in one simple recipe.  It is my wish that you'll have beautiful memories with this pear preserve recipe as well. 

Tips:

1- Jam and preserve are slightly different in a sense that preserves have bigger chunks of fruit whereas jams are mostly finely pureed.

2- If you prefer you may use pectin instead of lemon pith.  I just prefer using lemon pith because since I'm using lemon juice, there's the pith right there with it!

3- Sitting the pear slices in sugar overnight allows the fruit to release its juices.  I've also read that it helps the pears not to float up on top of your jar after cooking.

4- While preparing the pears, immerse the sliced pears into a bowl of cold water to prevent browning, especially if you have a large batch of pears.

5- If you prefer, do throw away the pith after cooking, or you can put it in a teabag or a tea-strainer for easier removal post-cooking.

6- To see what part of lemon is a pith, please see my Peach Preserve recipe.

Bartlett Pear Preserve

1-1/2 lb Bartlett pear, sliced

1 C sugar

1 bowl cold water

Juice from 1 lemon

Wash, peel, and core the pears.

Cut pears into thin slices.
As you are cutting, immerse the pear slices into the bowl of cold water to prevent browning.  (Tip #4)

Drain water from the pear slices and toss well with sugar.

Cover tightly, and leave overnight or at least 12 hours.

Next day...
Half a lemon and squeeze out the juice and set aside.
Cut off the tip of the lemon and open up the lemon peel.
Carefully, place your paring knife between the pith and peel, and cut out the pith from the peel.
Place all pear and sugar mixture, lemon juice, and pith into a medium sized sauce pan.
Heat the pan over high heat until the mixture boils.
Once the mixture is boiling, turn down the heat to medium low and simmer for 2-3 hours until thickened and fruit pieces have all softened.
*Do not worry too much if it still seems slightly watery, it will continue to thicken as it cools.
After the preserve has cooled, transfer the preserve into a clean jar and store in fridge.

Curry Curry Night: Chicken Curry, Bak Kut Sooi, & Five Spice Tofu Stirfry

Anyone else cooked curry on August 21st?  For those who aren't familiar with news in Singapore, where many of my friends are from, here's a quick summary from Temasek Review Emeritus.

I'm not trying to get political on any sides.  I'm not a Singaporean, I'm not associated with any event creators or any parties directly involved in the original hoo-ha.  I'm merely a fellow Earthling, who has Singaporean friends and relatives, who enjoys different sorts of curries, who believes that anyone has the right to cook whatever cultural dish they want to.  I'm writing this from a stand point of a cook.

I'll make and eat nato (Japanese fermented soybean), kimchee (Korean fermented cabbage), sauerkraut (German fermented cabbage), stinky tofu (a type of Chinese tofu dish), menudo (Mexican dish made with beef stomach), or curry if I like.  It's not as if I'm going cannibalistic and start eating fellow human flesh here.  So what's up with eating what I want and most importantly, cooking something that's intimately linked to my culture?

Anyone who knows belacan knows how strong it smells.  Belacan is a type of shrimp paste, an essential ingredient used in many Southeast Asian dishes.  Its smell can be described as pungent or fragrant, depending on if you like it or not.  On occasion, I still cook with belacan.  I'm lucky I don't live in HDB flat (flats are the English equivalent for the American apartment), where every many units are in close proximity.  However, I dare anyone to try pan frying belacan or making sambal belacan in their home with windows closed and then tell me their house does not smell.  Regardless of how great your love for belacan, you will find not only your hair and clothes smells like belacan, your whole house will smell like it.  That is why we love our stoves near the window.

 

I'm not Indian by ethnicity, I can't imagine being told not to cook curry, or in this case, only cook when the neighbors are not around.  But I can imagine being told not to cook with belacan, or only to cook belacan when my neighbors are gone.  If that were to be the case, that would mean I would almost never get to cook it.  Cripes!  Can you imagine being told not to cook a dish that's so intimately linked to your culture?  It's like being told to BBQ only when your neighbors are not home.  Or being told to cook chile relleno only when your neighbors are away.  Or being told to cook (insert cultural dish here) only when your neighbors are away.

Anyway, my point is, food is one of the most unifying factors that crosses countries and boundaries.  In fact, in my humble opinion, it is the factor that can unite people across the globe.  There are steakhouses in Asia, sushi restaurants in America, pizzas in Australia, kebob sold in Europe, crepes sold in Japan.  Let's cook and eat to be friendlier with each other, not against each other.  So here's a pot of curry that I share with all who visits this page.  Let's be friends, not enemies.