Bouchon Bakery's 2 in 1 pullman loaf

So far , I've wasted about 2 kilos of flour since I started making bread .

The good thing is , flour here is cheap so I'll just count those unwanted / not fit for human consumption bakes as a trial run .

This was actually my second bake using the same recipe , the first pullman was a disappointment . Inspired by my first-ever Pullman bread , where I crammed 850 grams of dough into a 8 by 4-inch pullman loaf pan and it baked nicely , I repeated the exercise with this recipe and came out with half fluffy top and half very dense bottom bread *sigh* No two pullman bread recipes are alike for sure !

Goodbye 547 grams flour !

Because I'm those of those people who never give up , I bought a 13-inch pullman to try again . As you can see , the result looks wonderful though the two short sides are not quiet straight and there's a small dip on top .

My only concern with this recipe is that the bread never really turned brown inside the pullman pan unlike Rose's recipe . I had to transfer the loaf to the cookie sheet and bake it for few minutes to get the nice brown color . Maybe our oven is not hot enough ? This second attempt was baked at 200°C instead of 190° , which is the recommended temperature but again it turned out the same as my first bake and had to bake it again .

Will try another attempt next time , bake it at 220°C perhaps , when the weather here turns a bit cooler , hand-kneading bread when it was 33°C in a small kitchen is no joke ! Sweating buckets is an apt description lol

That one problem aside , this bread sure tasted fantastic !

Oh ! The 2 in 1 ?! Just playing around with the filling , I filled half of the dough with sun-dried tomato pesto and cheese though I should have rolled the dough wider since the filling only settled at the bottom instead of the swirl that I was expecting .

Recipe adapted from Bouchon Bakery

547 grams all-purpose flour ( I used 400 grams all-pupose and 147 grams whole-wheat flour )
6 grams instant yeast
32 grams sugar
11 grams fine sea salt ( scant teaspoon table salt )
285 grams water ( warm water )
35 grams beaten egg
25 grams unsalted butter
79 grams cream cheese

egg wash

You'll need a 13 by 4-inch pullman pan , lightly greased

The instruction below is my modified version  

* In a large mixing bowl , place flours and yeast , use a whisk to combine it together ; add in the sugar and salt , stir to combine . Rub in butter and cream cheese to the flour mixture until well combined . Make a well in the centre and pour in the water and egg ; use a sturdy wooden spoon to stir the mixture until it forms a shaggy dough and let rest for 10 minutes . Transfer dough to a clean work surface and knead ( you can throw/slap the dough around back and forth on the work surface in between kneading  ) for at least 15 minutes until dough is elastic and smooth . The dough still look a bit tacky at the end .

* Transfer dough to a lightly-greased large bowl and cover with plastic wrap . Let rise until tripled in size , about 1 hour . My final dough is 985 grams .

* Tip in the dough in the work surface and knead for few seconds to remove any air bubbles , cover and let rest for another 5 minutes . Shape into a 13-inch log ( or in my case , I divided it into two and added a filling in half of the dough ) and lay it inside the pan ; brush the top with egg wash .

* Slid the lid onto the pan , leaving a space so that you can see the inside ; let proof for 45 minutes , depending on the warmth of your kitchen , or until the dough has nearly reach the top of the pan .

* Meanwhile , preheat oven 200°C ( Originally , 190°C ) . Close the lid of the pan and bake for 28 minutes , carefully remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes or until the top is a rich golden brown and the loaf is baked through - if not , just put the loaf in the cookie sheet and bake for another few minutes to get the desired brown color . Turn bread in a wire rack and cool completely .

 This post is linked to the bloghop event Cook your Books hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

                               

Though the recipe only uses 35 grams of egg , I'm still linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up . This bloghop event is organized by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY . This month's theme is Egg and hosted by Yen of Eat your Heart Out

                                       

Asian fried rice

I was planning to name it Taiwanese sausage , salted fish and egg  fried rice but that name's a mouthful so I settled for something catchy ( ? ) to sum up those 3 ingredients .....

I usually have leftover rice in the fridge and making something hearty yet easy to make during these never-ending hot summer days is a no-brainer . This one-pot meal is my to-go dish whenever I'm too lazy ( which is most of the time ) and combining everything is much more delicious and fast than actually cooking each ingredients separately .

This dried salted fish is an acquired taste . Here in Hongkong , they usually cooked it together with spareribs and if you've eaten claypot or steamed rice here , this is one of their topping combination . Back home , we love eating dried salted fish and we almost always fried it , so imagine my surprised when I saw for the first time here , the way they cooked dried salted fish !

Taiwanese sausage on the other hand ,  tastes more like a soft Chinese sausage and look like our own local sausage , called longanisa , back home .

I need to submit something to the Little Thumbs-up event so adding egg , which is the feature ingredient this month , to my fried rice is a must lol 

Serves 4 as part of the multi-course meal

4 cups day-old rice
2 Taiwanese sausage , steamed and diced
30 grams dried salted fish , fried , de-boned and flaked
2 eggs , beaten
1/2 cup steamed fresh corn kernels
3 tablespoon chopped spring onions plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon kecap manis / sweet soy sauce
1 teaspoon light soy sauce

* Heat wok over medium-high heat and add about 1/2 teaspoon of oil , add diced sausages when the oil is hot , cook for about 2 minutes , transfer to a plate . In the same pan , add oil if necessary , fry the beaten eggs , stirring until set , transfer to the plate together with sausages . Add about 1 teaspoon of oil , fry garlic and ginger until lightly-browned , add the rice , cook for 2 minutes , stirring from time to time . Add the sausages , eggs , salted fish , corn kernels and spring onions , cook for another 2 minutes , stirring well to combine all ingredients . Add in the sweet soy and light soy sauce , stir until incorporated , adjust taste and give another thorough stir . Dish up and serve hot .

This post is linked to the Little Thumbs Up event . This bloghop event is organized by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Favourite DIY . This month's theme is EGG and is hosted by Yen of Eat you Heart Out

Mini Nutella cheeseecakes

The no-bake treats continue .....

I can't remember when did I first try Nutella .

I bet most of you have already tried eating it ,  unknowlingly !

Heck , I didn't even know that the gooey chocolate paste part of Ferrero Rocher was Nutella and made by the same company until last year pfffftttt !

Since I always forget to buy Nutella until few months ago , that was the first time that I've tried it straight from the bottle !

How pathetic is that ?!

I've first seen this recipe from Mich and couldn't contain my delight lol

I don't have hazelnuts but somebody here got loads of Rocher so I used some of those instead .

I've made half of the recipe and actually divided the crust to about 2 dozen small tins and small muffin liners but the mixture was not that much and just filled up 9 containers . If you're planning on donating some of these easy and decadent treats , make the full recipe !

Recipe first seen @ Mich of Eat a Piece of Cake . Please check original recipe @ Nigella

Makes nine 2 1/2 x 1 1/2-inch minis

125 grams digestive biscuits
40 grams softened butter

250 grams cream cheese , at room temperature
200 grams Nutella  , at room temperature
6 pieces Ferrero Rocher , coarsely chopped plus more for topping
30 grams icing sugar , sifted

* Crush digestive biscuits and 1 Rocher until fine , add in butter and mix well then add in a generous teaspoon of Nutella . mix until well incorporated . Press crumbs into tins and freeze .

* Whisk cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth then add in the remaining Nutella and the chopped Rocher to the mixture and continue whisking until well combined .

* Divide mixture into tins and chill overnight .

* Serve straight from the fridge .

Note : I divided the crumbs , about 1/2 tablespoon , into several tins and liners though I just used only 9 of those . If you want a thicker crust , add about 1 1/2 tablespoon in each tin .

This post is linked to the bloghop event Cook like a Star featuring Nigella Lawsons' recipes . Cook like a star is an event organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids , Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Anuja of Simple Baking .

                                                            

Mango-sago mousse cake

When it comes to fruit , mango is one of my favorite and the best way to consume mango is just to eat it as it is - juice dripping from your fingers oh , don't forget to lick those fingers ! 

Mango season has come and gone without me noticing it - good thing that you can find some at the market here all-year round  though some are not as luscious and the taste is rather hit and miss .

I found some Philippine mangoes yesterday at the wet market and rather than eating all of them er nearly - I reserved one big one for this mousse .

I've got this recipe from one of the free dailies here and been meaning to make this for months but since the size of the mould is not listed and couldn't find the book at the library , I filed the recipe in my ever-growing stash .

I barely speak any Cantonese much less decipher Chinese characters , I usually give most bilingual cookbooks a miss , some recipes at these books are sometimes lost in translation or worst , they've forgotten to list one key ingredient (-__-)''

This recipe comes from the same book , where I got this rocky road mousse  recipe and it was published as well in one of the free dailies here , so I know now what mould size to use . One of my translator pointed out that this book roughly translate as " no-bake cakes for two " . Unlike the previous mousse , which was just enough for two person , this time , I've got more and that's a good thing right ? lol

Eventhough the sago sunk at the bottom and the vibrant color of the mango pureé is muted , this concoction was so refreshingly scrumptious !  Just what I needed to combat the stifling heat , temporarily *sigh* 

This portion got a small amount of sago at the bottom so you can barely see it .

Recipe adapted from  No-bake cakes for two

For the base : Combine 45 grams digestive biscuits ( finely crushed ) and 15 grams softened butter , press evenly in moulds *** .

For the filling :

170 grams whipping cream
20 grams caster sugar
100 grams mango purée
50 grams coconut milk
50 grams evaporated milk
10 grams gelatin leaf , soaked in cold water until tender
4 tablespoons hot water
15 grams sago

some raspberries **** and peppermint leaves to decorate

* Cook sago in boiling water for at least 10 minutes , turn off heat and cover pot , let stand for around for another 10 minutes . Soak sago in cold water for a while and drain , set aside .

* Beat cream with handheld mixer at medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes until stiff , add sugar and mix well . Add mango purée to the cream . Add coconut milk and evaporated milk , mix well with a spatula .

* Dissolve gelatin in hot water and add it to the mango-cream mixture . Add in sago and pour mixture into prepared moulds . Chill in the fridge until set . Remove mould and decorate with whatever toppings you have .

*** The size of the mould is not specified so I used two 3-inch round mould and 1 muffin liner . Got more extra mixture so I used 2 glass bottle ,  just like the ones I used for this ice cream , sans digestive crust .

**** The price of raspberries here is ridiculous ! Instead I used some cubed mango and some cooked tri-color tapioca pearls ( it turns all pink though ) as toppings .