SOFT BREAD (5000 DOLLARS RECIPE ~~~ 5千元老式面包)

This bread recipe is raging! My friends have tried and tested, all thumbs up. How can I not use the recipe?

Since I'm fasting on bake-myself-cakes for the next 2 months, I can still put my oven into good use by baking breads and other dishes. ^Q^.  I could not decide on the designs and flavours of the end product, so just made a simple Nutella loaf, some cheese buns and sugar buns. 我的胖嘟嘟面包，可爱。。。

5000 DOLLARS SOFT BREAD RECIPE  (5千元老式面包)

Ingredients

(A) Starter Dough

210g high-protein flour (eg. bread flour)

90g low-protein flour (eg. cake flour or top flour)

24g caster sugar

6g instant yeast

240g cool water

(B) Main Dough

210g high-protein flour

90g low-protein flour

96g caster sugar

1-1/2 tsp salt

24g milk powder

90g egg

54g cool water

72g softened butter

Methods

1. Mix (A) well with a spatula.

2. Leave at a warm place to ferment for about 2 to 3 hours until you get a very soft, fine and webby texture. Or keep in fridge for at least 12-16 hours to ferment.

Starter dough after 18 hours in fridge. Make sure your container is big enough for dough to rise

3. Place fermented (A) and all ingredients of (B) EXCEPT FOR BUTTER into mixing bowl. Knead until well combined.

4. Add in softened butter. Knead until it passes the window-pane test.

5. Lightly grease dough and bowl and cover with cling wrap or clean cloth. Proof for 1 hour or until size is doubled in a warm place.

place a cup of hot water in off-switched oven helps to proof dough well

 

Ensure your container is big enough to hold all the dough

6. Lightly dust the counter top with flour, tilt dough onto counter top. Punch out ALL air (you do not want a sour dough), shape and add fillings/topping as desired. Place on baking tray, lightly cover doughs to prevent from drying and let proof until doubled in size again.

7. Bake at 180C for about 12 min till golden, depending on size. (I baked for about 30 min)

After spreading Nutella generously, roll the dough lengthwise and place in loaf tin

I did not seal the dough to reveal the hazelnut spread. Let rise till doubled.

Nutella Loaf

Just before baking, brush top with melted butter and sprinkle some sugar

The buns pumped up while baking, so cute =) 胖嘟嘟

VERDICT

The buns are very soft indeed. My husband sings praises of the bread =) The bread is still soft the next day. I can't tell how long it can stay soft because they are gone pretty quickly.

CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE

This is not my own recipe, but I cannot recall how, where and from whom I got it from.... sorry....

This is by far my most reliable, favourite chocolate sponge cake. It is light like chiffon, but good enough to hold decorations with cream and heavy ganache. I've not tried on fondant yet....

CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE

Ingredients

(A) 

50g warm water

30g natural unsweetened cocoa powder

(B)

100g low protein flour

1/2 tbsp corn flour

4 egg yolks

30g caster sugar

1/2 tsp salt

50g oil

50g fresh milk

(C)

4 egg whites

65g light brown sugar

Methods

1. Dissolve (A).  Set aside. Preheat oven at 135C. Line the bottom of 7" round deep pan with greaseproof paper.

2. Using electric beater, beat egg yolks, salt and caster sugar at high speed until thick and creamy.

3. Using low speed, mix in (A), oil and milk.

4. Sift flours into the mixture. Use a spatula to mix lightly. With the electric beaters, beat at low speed for 10 seconds. Do not overmix.

5. With clean, dry and greaseless beaters and mixing bowl, using medium speed, beat the egg whites till foamy. Add 1/3 light brown sugar. Beat till slightly thickened and add 1/3 of sugar. Once the egg whites reach soft peak, add the remaining sugar. Beat till stiff.

6. Scoop 1/3 of (C) and gently fold into (B). You can use a hand held balloon whisk to fold effectively and quickly.

7. Pour all batter from step 6 into remaining (C). Gently fold.

8. Pour batter into pan and give a few taps to release air bubbles. 

9. Bake for 40 minutes or skewer comes out clean when poked in centre.

10. Invert and remove from pan to cool completely.

11. Decorate as desired.

Sliced cake to make 2 layers, I spreaded chocolate whipped cream and banana slices in middle

Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup Nutella (optional)

50g unsalted butter

1. Warm cream using low heat till bubbles can be seen at side of pot. Remove from stove.

2. Add in chocolate chips, Nutella and butter, leave in for about 1-2 minutes. Stir well to melt chocolate and mix evenly.

3. Chill in fridge for about 20 minutes to allow consistency become good enough to spread on cake.

You can mix 2 tbsp of ganache to 100ml whipped cream and spread in the middle layer.

DIY CHOCOLATE SWIRL ICE CREAM

I was making a birthday cake for my 5 year old, and greedily made more chocolate ganache than needed. As such I would have a wonderful excuse to make ice cream, then my lovely husband would not frown at the packed freezer. ^0^

This is really easy, anyone can make at home without machines. Of course if you at least have an electric blender, things will be a lot easier. It is ok if you do not wish to use ganache. Melted chocolate is fine too.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Ingredients

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup Nutella (optional)

Methods

1. In a pot, lightly boil whipping cream and turn off heat when you see bubbles at the sides of the pot.

2. Pour in the chocolate chips (and Nutella if you are using) and leave it for about 1 minute.

3. Stir till all chocolate is melted, set aside. The mixture will thicken as it cools.

DIY HOMEMADE ICE CREAM

Ingredients

300g cold thickened cream

250g cold whipping cream

1/2 can full cream condensed milk

Some broken biscuits of your choice (optional)

300g cooled melted chocolates (if not using ganache)

Methods

1. In a clean mixing bowl, beat the whipping cream till just thickens. (Or if you are using an electric blender, just whizz for a few seconds till just thickens.)

2. Add thickened cream and whip both creams together till stiff. (If using electric blender, it is advisable to pour into a bowl after cream is stiff.)

3. Fold in the condensed milk and biscuits and swirl in prepared ganache.

4. Pour into a container and freeze for at least 4 hours.

VERDICT

The chocolate taste is strong enough. Creamy, smooth and tastes as good as the store bought. Try it!

BLACKCURRANT JAM FLOWER BREAD

The other night, I was thinking of making a beautiful flower bread. So I checked out a video I saw on YouTube by Steve's Kitchen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwvYmBo_bN4). It looked SO easy, attempted to do according to the video, yet when I tried my hands there were some slight difficulties that I encountered.

Difficulties:

1. Somehow, as I rolled out the dough, the dough kept springing back to smaller size. I had to roll each ball quite a few times to get the size I wanted. Maybe I should have kneaded the dough a little longer.

2. I changed Nutella to blackcurrant jam, and later found that the jam was too slippery. (My children do not like the hazelnut spread very much)

3. Spreading the jam right to the brim of the dough made things messy and difficult . Leave a little clearance at the brim so that the ends can be sealed better.

BLACKCURRANT JAM FLOWER BREAD

Ingredients

450g bread flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp instant yeast

A pinch of salt

30g melted butter

3/4 to 1 cup warm full cream milk

2 egg yolks

Some oil 

Some egg white for brushing

Some confectionery sugar (icing sugar) for dusting

Methods

1. In a mixing bowl, mix 1st four dry ingredients evenly. Next pour in the melted butter, warm milk and egg yolks. Use a fork to help gather into a dough.

2. On the counter top, knead the the dough until soft and elastic. You know it is done when you poke a hole with your finger and the hole bounces back.

some hard work here!

 

Perhaps this was still not good enough. The hole had not fully sprung back.

3. Lightly oil the dough and place in mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap. Let it proof until doubled in size, about one hour.

Place a cup of hot water in oven to assist proofing in switched off oven

before proofing

after proofing

4. On a lightly dusted counter top, punch out all the air in the dough. Roll into a log, and cut into equal quarters.

5. While working on one ball, cover the rest to prevent drying out. Roll out with a roller pin to about 10 inches in diameter, the thickness should be about 2 to 3mm.

place baking sheet onto the tray. Immediately rest the rolled out dough on the paper.

6. Spread the filling.

7. Repeat rolling out the balls, stacking on the previous layers and spreading the jam. Leave the last layer without the jam.

8. Invert a round plate onto the dough and using a sharp knife, trace and cut out a nice circle.

 9. Use a cookie cutter to mark the centre.

10. Now using a sharp knife, slice out quarts, followed by eighths, and then sixteenths.

relatively easy slicing here

Not too bad, although it was getting slippery

OK, by the time I'm at this stage, the jam was squeezed out and becoming messy and sticky. But never give up!

11. Holding two adjacent petals, give a double twist in opposite directions, twisting outwards. The left hand twists in anti-clockwise direction, the right hand twist in clockwise direction. At the end of each pair of petals, pinch the twisted petals together to seal. (I could not do this part. Too much jam was squeezed out!)

12. Work on the next two adjacent petals until you finish one round.

I decorated the middle part with some dried cranberries. This is optional.  I couldn't seal the ends; they looked like tentacles to me. hahahah

 13. Cover the bread with the previously used plastic wrap and proof for 20 minutes.

after 2nd proof

14. Lightly brush the bread with some egg whites (I did not bother... my bread was already stained with jam). In preheated oven at 180C, bake for about 20-25 min.

15. Dust with some icing sugar and allow to cool.

looks a bit charred because of the sweet jam

braid the trimmed out dough and bake it too =)

PEACH CRUMBLED CAKE

It's my daddy's birthday! Let me think of a cake to bake for such a wonderful occasion. Erm... I've been thinking of eating an apple crumble, but then my dad does not fancy a pie or tart, so why not take this opportunity to change it into a cake? And instead of the usual apple crumble, I am going to use peach. (Actually I had wanted to use apricot, but could not find fresh or canned, so ended up using canned halved peaches instead.)

I thought about how I would make this cake as I've never baked a crumbled cake before. Was there such a cake? Apparently there was. Should I bake the crumble separately? Thought hard and decided to bake on the cake itself. What was the proportion of fats:sugar:flour for the crumble? I forgot...  But I was not going to take too much risk, looked at other recipes and had a slight idea on the proportion. I decided to make my own sponge and see if the crumble would hold. Thank God it did because I would have no time to bake another cake!

PEACH CRUMBLED CAKE
Ingredients
Crumble Top
57g cold salted butter, cubed
57g demerara sugar
50g plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon powder
Some sliced canned peach, drained

Cake Sponge
6 egg yolks
120g canned peach syrup
160g low protein flour
20g corn flour
80g canola oil
2 tsp vanilla essence
6 egg whites
110 caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Sugar syrup
50g water
35g caster sugar
1 tbsp Kirsch or brandy (optional)

Filling
300g cold thickened cream
30g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence 
Sliced canned peaches, drained

Method
1. Make the crumble first. Mix flour, sugar and cinnamon powder in a bowl. Using 2 butter knives or forks, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs. (As I am baking the night before the birthday, I made my crumble slightly coarser. If you are making this on the day of consumption, you may make the crumbs finer)

2. Chill crumble in fridge as the cake sponge is being prepared.

3. Prepare two 11x7 inch baking trays, lined with non stick greasepapers. Preheat oven at 150C.
4. In a clean, dry, greaseless mixing bowl, add in the egg whites. Using clean, dry and greaseless beaters, with medium-slow speed, beat the whites till foamy and add cream of Tartar and 1/3 caster sugar. Add another 1/3 sugar when the whites are more stable, and the last 1/3 sugar when the whites become soft peaks. Beat till stiff.

Stiff white is ready when the peaks are pointed upwards and there is no lumpy whites

5. Set aside.
6. In another mixing bowl, using high speed, beat egg yolks till pale, creamy and thickened. The volume should increase by at least a double.

7. Pour in the canned fruit syrup, oil and vanilla essence. Beat for about 30 seconds.
8. Combine the low protein and corn flours and sift into the egg mixture. Stir gently and using low speed, beat for about 10 seconds to mix well. Do not over beat.

9. Scrape 1/3 of meringue and fold gently into the egg yolk batter. You can use a hand balloon whisk to help fold the batter effectively. 

10. Now pour all the yellow batter into the meringue and gently fold until well combined.

11. Pour batter evenly into the two prepared trays. Smooth the top and tap a few times on the counter top to remove air bubbles. 
12. On one of the trays, place some sliced peaches and scatter the prepared crumble evenly on the top.

13. Bake for about 20-25 minutes with crumble on top level of oven and plain sponge on lower level of oven. After first 15 minutes, change positions of trays. About 5 minutes later, poke a skewer into the middle of plain sponge. If the skewer comes out clean, remove the plain sponge and allow to cool completely.

14. Now, move the crumbled sponge to top level. Bake for another 5 minutes and test doneness with skewer. If the skewer comes out clean, turn up the heat to 180C for 3-5 minutes to give the crumble a nice brown colour.
Allow to cool completely.

15. As the cake sponges are baking in the oven, make sugar syrup. On low heat, place water and sugar into a small pot and stir until sugar dissolves. Add Kirsch (optional) and continue to give a light simmer for a few seconds to allow alcohol to evaporate. Set aside and cool completely.

16. Once the cakes are cooled, it is time to whip the cream. In a clean chilled bowl, pour in thickened cream, sugar and vanilla essence. Using medium-high speed and clean beaters, whip till stiff.

17. Invert the cooled plain sponge, brush with sugar syrup. Lay a layer of cream, followed by peaches, and another layer of cream.

18. Top with the crumbled cake, trim the sides of the cake and there you go.

VERDICT

The sponge is light yet surprisingly it can hold the heavy crumble top. I thought the crumble would sink into the cake. The crumble texture is still with crunch although I chilled the whole cake in the fridge overnight. My husband likes the crumble as it is, as he feels that finer crumbs may not have the same texture as these slightly coarser ones. I like it too. But next time, I will make a prettier crumbled top with blueberries and perhaps some chopped strawberries for better presentation.