Open Top Sandwich Loaf

Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread in the morning.

I have not baked a Open Top Sandwich Loaf for a long time. Since, Edward cooked lamb shank the night before, bread would be nice to go with it.

It was just a small loaf of about 400g. Just the right size for a family of 4 for lunch.

It was soft on the inside. Ok, pretty satisfied with the baking. Utimately, the children and Edward like it...... that's what matters most :o)

31 December 2009

It is the end of another year and I am also back to my own kitchen for the last time for year 2009...time really passes by so quickly. Friends came over for New Year's Eve Dinner and I was thinking about Carrot Cake but at the end, I settled for a Strawberry Tart. Infact, I love strawberries and raspberries. They are rich in colour, delicious and pretty for decorating. Cold Storage had these wonderful strawberries from Korea. The strawberries are of the same sizes so they are great for the strawberry Tart. This is the first time I am making this tart. This recipe was from Loretta, my sister-in-law. She's really good with baking :o)

The Strawberry Tart was pretty but the cream was not firm enough. Nevertheless, next attempt will be near.

Happy New Year!

Christmas

Off to KL for Christmas....probably no cooking or baking for me this week!

Merry Christmas to All!

Apple Cinnamon Bread

Bread baking takes up a fair bit of time but it is all worth it - no preservative, no added additive. There are so many different types of bread that can be made at home. The aroma of fresh bread is really nice.

Giant Tampines was having these huge Green Granny Smith's Apple. The apples looked soyummy. The girls wanted some apple cinnamon bread for breakfast so here it is 'Apple Cinnamon Bread'.

Laura was a great help. She enjoys shaping the dough.

Baguette

It's been a busy week. Finally, Saturday! Edward did the cooking for dinner and I have decided to make baguette to go with mushrooms and soup for dinner. Edward's stir fry mushroom with olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley was delicious. It compliment the baguette well. A pity, no photos was taken.

Ingredients to make the baguette was simple. 500g of strong flour, 310g of water, 7.5g of yeast and 7.5g of salt. That is it. With a hook fixed to the mixer, put all ingredients into the bowl and beat for about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough into a clean bowl and leave to raise for an hour and then, divide the dough into equal number of portions. Shape it and let it raise until double it size. slit the baguette at the top before placing them in the oven. Oven should be 210 degrees C. Once the baguette are placed into the oven, spray some water onto the baguette before shutting the oven door. This is to ensure that the baguette is crusty.

Bake for 25 minutes....if you do not want to wait so long for the proving, mix 4g of bread improver together with the dry ingredients. Well, no bread improver was used. I try to minimise additives into home cooking. It should be healthier.

This recipe for baguette, is the same for batard and cob. It is only the shaping that is different.

Turned out nice.....finished 2 baguette. Will have the other for breakfast tomorrow.

Fresh Pasta

I have always wanted to make my very own fresh pasta.

Finally, I get to do it tonight. With a pasta machine attached to the Kenwood Mixer, I managed to make some pasta. The ingredients needed to make are just flour, salt, eggs and olive oil. The pasta roller is important as it rolls and make the dough really thin

According to the recipe, it was easy. I liked the texture of the pasta after it was cooked.

As the pasta was tastless, we have decided to have it really simple, garlic, basil, cheese and olive oil. Well, the picture looks great but the taste was just ok. It can be better. Will definitely make pasta again but will cook it

perhaps with a tomato base next time.

No Cooking Day

We went up to the prawn farm in Malaysia, JB today so no cooking for the day. We stopped at a noodle shop at Johor Jaya for lunch. I had pig kidney and liver noodle while Edward had fishball noodle, Laura had fish porridge and of course Loraine had her chicken rice! It was delicious, the soup base was tasty and rich. They were quite generous with the kidney. I totally forgot to take a shot of my noodle. What a pity! Would love to go back for more.

At the farm, we could not resist and cooked a plate of prawns. We had it boiled in a pot of super hot boiling water with salt and garlic. Simple yet delicious. It was fresh and sweet...yum! Look at the size of the prawn, huge!

Monday Burger

Dinner was late tonight. It was 8.30 when dinner was served. The children wanted to have burger so it took a little while to bake fresh burgers.

I started at 630, by the time the dough was ready, shaped and proved, it went into the oven at 8 o'clock! The rest of the ingredients were easy. Lots of Lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard, avocado, fried onion and button mushroom with homegrown thyme and not forgetting roast beef . It was alot faster preparing

the ingredients than the burger itself.

The wait was worth it, the taste great and of course no added preservative in the bread!

Laura and I had 1 burger each while Edward and Loraine had 2 each! Well, 3 more buns for tomorrow.....

Sunday @ Ikea Tampines

Sunday at Ikea Tampines was quite an experience.

I had a long list of items packed the night before. I had a visual of how the setting was going to be and we were pleased with how it turned out - little snowman, reindeer, red and green ribbons, it was all very Christmas. I had baked some 760 chocolate chip and cranberry cookies in all. They were packed in bottles and little bags.

The girls had their first experience in doing business – having their skills in sales tested. They held a tray of samples and tried to get people to stop and try. Some were very kind and tried but some rejected straight without stopping. They were disappointed in the beginning. Nevertheless, they pushed on and they surprised us. Some of them commented that they were impressed at how they had them convinced to try.

Our dear friend, Pat and her daughter Bam came along to help. We were glad they made it. Edward was our cashier, I was busy packing the cookies and Pat helped with tying of ribbons while the 3 girls were busy doing their sales. By 2, we were all sold out! The children did a real great job! Hip Hip Hooray to them.

Truly, it was an experience for the children. After all, Laura was the one who bided for the space with her Smales Dollar. It was family fun.

It was also an opportunity to test out my cookies to the general public although friends had ordered cookies from me. I must say, I was thrilled. Some customers came back for more purchase and asked if they could order from me. It was really encouraging.

Looks like l will be baking very soon!

Birthday

Baked a cake for my Brother-in-law's Birthday yesterday. It was a swiss roll recipe. I have the recipe posted at the top. I love the softness of the sponge and decided to make it into a layer cake instead. It is not very nice to have it curl up like a roll for a birthday!

Vanilla cream with fresh strawberries between 2 layers of sponge.

Made this a couple of times before. My girls love this cake.
So far, had made some happy faces :o)

My girls are having a stall at Ikea Tampines today. I have been baking lots of cookies. In total 760 pieces, my all time favourite - Crispy Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Cookies. Wanted to have more flavours but due to time constrain, we've have decided on these to flavours. Getting things organised with the girls was fun but a lot of work....it is going to be quite an experience for all of us.

It should turn out well! Keep you posted!

Introduction

The kitchen is a place where I love - Baking and Cooking. It is never a chore to bake for someone. I find it nice as it bring smiles on faces.

Believe it or not, my seriousness about baking started with a COOKIE! Edward and myself were travelling to Vietnam a couple of years back. He came across a Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Receipe and wanted me to bake it. Never did we knew that it turned out so well. He loves it and especially our children. They love to bring to school to share with their friends. 'COOKIE' has given me the confident to explore more into baking.

Ever since, I have ventured into cranberry cookies, almond, walnut, sesame cookies, vanilla layer cakes, dark chocolate moist cake, cream puff, durian puff, swiss roll and others. The sad thing is that I have not taken any picture for some of my labour.

I have made a promise to take and post it to share with you.

To those who loves to bake, indulge and have fun!

Ruth