Little Bread Loaf

It is time for me to try on bread loaf! There are many ways for eating white bread such as you can make it as sandwich, toast and eat with jam, French toast and also you can make few kind of filling and just eat with the white bread like sausages, ham, scramble egg, tuna, sardine and many more! I do not have the square pan for the bread so I am using my little baking pan. This is why I name it as “Little Bread Loaf” = P

15 minutes later...

I thought wanna "plastic surgery" my little bread loaf to make it looks like French bread (which has flour sprinkle on top) = P

The original

"Cute little bread" = D

My breakfast!!!
@Hardboiled-egg on toast@


Yum ^-^ Yum

Ingredients

(A)
200g bread flour20g plain flour
Castor sugar 25g
Salt 1/4 tsp
(B)

Instant yeast 3g (1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp)

Milk 115g
(C)
10g butter

What to do

(1) Combine ingredient (A) in a mixer and mix well. Add in ingredient (B) and beat till dough is formed. Add in ingredient (C) and beat till dough is smooth and elastic.
(2) Leave the kneaded dough in a big bowl, covered with cling wrap. Let it ferments for about 60 minutes or until the dough is double it size.
(3) Take out the dough from the bowl and punch out the air.
(4) Roll the dough back and forward to form a rope and fold the ends of the dough under so that it can fit into the baking pan.
(5) Cover with cling wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes or until the bun is double it size again.
(6) Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree for 20 minutes.

(Note: I let my dough fermented overnight)

Honey Buns

This bun is one of the recipes in my “To Do List”. I wrote down my baking recipe in my cooking book (actually is in my computer). For bun / bread, I planned to start with those simple and easy ones and slowly get into the difficult and complicated ones. I found this recipe from Happy Home Baking. The ingredients and ways of making it are very simple!

My dough turned out quite sticky, I think I had mixed in the wrong amount of milk. So I had added an extra 1tbsp of bread flour. The dough was still sticky though. I dare not to add more bread flour as I was worried that it would stuff up the taste. I made the dough in the morning before I left to work. After I came back from work, the dough was still little bit sticky so it is hard for me to roll into ball shape for baking. The only way was to dust my hand with some flour so that I can hold the dough and shape it. Hmmm…at last I managed to shape them into ball size. Well, some of them were not round enough though. = P

This is my “Honey Bun”…it was soft and fluffy! Yum yum! Now, I really love homemade bun which you can taste it freshly and HOT! I like to eat it hot after it came out from the oven. I will definitely try on others homemade bun in the coming days. = )

Ingredients (makes 9 buns)

300g bread flour
4g (about 2/3 tsp) salt
4g (1 tsp) instant yeast
1 egg lightly beaten plus enough milk to make 200g
50g honey
30g unsalted butter

What to do

(1) Place all ingredients except the butter in the pan of the bread machine (according to the sequence as stated in the instruction manual of your bread machine). Select the Dough function of the bread machine and press start. After about 8mins of kneading (the ingredients should form a smooth dough by now, otherwise add in 1 tablespoon of bread flour if the mixture seems very wet), add in the 30g of butter. Let the machine continue to knead the dough. After the kneading cycle has stopped (20mins), Stop and Restart the machine. Continue to let the machine knead for another 10mins.

(2) Stop the machine and remove dough from the bread pan. Shape the dough into a smooth round and place in a lightly greased mixing bowl , cover bowl with cling wrap and let it rise till double in volume for about 60 ~ 90 mins.

(3) Remove dough and give a few lights kneading on a lightly floured work surface. Press out the trapped air as your knead. Divide into 9 equal portions and shape them into rounds. Cover with cling wrap; let the dough rest for 10mins.

(4) Flatten each dough into a round disc and press out the trapped air. Shape and roll into a smooth round ball.

(5) Place dough seam side down on a 20cm by 20cm square baking tray (lightly greased with oil or butter or line it with parchment paper). Loosely cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let dough proof for 45 ~ 60 mins or until double in size.

(6) When ready to bake, brush the surface of the dough with milk. Bake at preheated oven at 200 degC for about 15 ~ 20 mins until the bread is golden brown all over. Cover the surface with a sheet of aluminum foil if the surface browns too quickly. Remove from oven, unmold immediately and let cool on wire rack.

Recipe taken from Happy Home Baking

Note: I use hand to knead the dough as I do not have the bread machine. I had separated the dough into 2 baking pans as 9 doughs couldn’t fit in one pan.

Cheesy Meatballs Spaghetti

This is a very easy meatball recipe to cook with spaghetti. I used Raguletto Venetian with Onion, Herbs and Spices sauce and it was really tasty. Normally I will buy the brand of Dolmio but since this brand Raguletto is on sales now. So, I give it a try! Well, it is not too bad, it is still tasty. = )

Ingredients (serves 2)

250g minced chicken
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup grated tasty cheese
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup mixed vege
1 garlic, finely chopped
250g dried spaghetti


What to do

(1) Combine mince, egg, cheese and onion. Season salt and pepper into the chicken mixture. Roll into balls.
(2) Heat oil in the non-stick frying pan. Cook half the meatballs for 4-5 minutes. Remove and repeat.
(3) Heat oil again in the non-stick frying pan. Add in garlic and stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes. Add in mix vege and the meatballs to the pan and pour over sauce. Cover, cook over a medium heat for 20 minutes until cooked through.
(4) Cook spaghetti in a large pan of boiling water and add 1 tbs of salt. Drain and place in bowl.
(5) Spoon over meatballs and sauce into the spaghetti. Serve.

Yummy yummy ^_^

Mini Chicken Burger

I have some minced chicken in the fridge and wanna make a chicken burger for hubby’s supper. So it came across my mind that I can make a mini burger for “picnic” tomorrow with Maggie as well. Here's my very easy mini chicken burger.

Ingredients

1 hamburger bun, halved
50g minced chicken
Dash of pepper
½ tbs light soy sauce
1 egg yolk
Dash of salt
2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
1 slice cheese, quartered
1 small onion, grated
10ml olive oil

What to do

(1) Cut out 4 rounds from the tops and 4 rounds from the bottoms of the hamburger bun. Set aside.
(2) Place the minced chicken, breadcrumbs, grated onion and egg yolk mixed in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well together.
(3) Use wet hands to form 4 small burgers. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes to chill.
(4) Heat the oil in a non-stick fry pan. Fry the burgers for 1-2 minutes each side; they should still be rare in the centre. Place on an oven tray, cool and then refrigerate. When the burgers are ready to serve, preheat the oven to 170°C.
(5) Place the buns on an oven tray. Cover with aluminum foil and heat for 5-6 minutes. Top the mini chicken burgers with the quartered cheese slices and heat in the oven for 5 minutes.
(6) Sit each burger on a bun base. Top with BBQ or tomato sauce. Place the tops on the burgers; secure with a toothpicks.

Mushroom on toast

I love to eat bread especially toast bread. It is so delicious especially when the bread has just came out from the toaster, with spreaded butter and sugar on it! Hmmm…yummy yummy! Today I have prepared something different which I spread mushroom instead of butter. Well, it taste delicious too! This is my “big breakfast” with a cup of fresh milk!

Ingredients (serve 2)

10g butter
1tbsp olive oil
4 medium size mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small onion, sliced
Dash of pepper
1tbsp water
4 thick slices crusty stick, toasted


What to do

(1) Heat butter and oil in the pan over high heat.
(2) Add in mushrooms and stirring for 5 minutes.
(3) Add in garlic and onion for 1 minute or until aromatic.
(4) Add in water and stir until heated through. Sprinkle with pepper.
(5) Serve on hot buttered toast.

Red Bean Bun II

Hmmm…you must be wondering why I am baking red bean bun again!!! This is becuse I wanted to finish up my leftover red bean paste so here’s another batch of my red bean bun. You can find my first red bean bun recipe here.

The dough

I let the dough ferment overnight... =0

I had shaped them into 2 different shapes – round and flower shape and also add in some black sesame seeds. Hmm...I prefer the one with black sesame seeds. Looks better!!!

Just came out from the oven!

Round Shape

Flower Shape

I like these 2 the most! They are just perfet! =P

I am satisfied with this batch compared with the previous one. Previous batch was a bit hard and the outlook also not that good! So here's the comments for myself. Hohoho = P

The look – good! (but the flower shape need to be improved)

Taste – soft and fluffy!

Mission Completed! ^-^

Easy Fried Rice

I have some leftover rice so decided to fried rice for hubby’s lunch box. It is easy and faster way to prepare for this.


Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
4 medium tiger prawns, chopped into small pieces
4 diced beef, cut into smaller pieces
1 small garlic, finely chopped
½ cup of frozen peas and corns
1 egg


What to do

(1) Heat the oil in a large frying pan with high heat. Add in garlic stir-fry till golden and add in beef and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add in prawns and peas, and stir-fry for 1 minute.
(2) Reduce heat to medium-high and pour the eggs into the wok. Use a wooden spoon to break up the eggs until just set.
(3) Add the cooked rice into the pan and cook, tossing often, for 2 minutes or until well combined and heated through.
(4) Add soy sauce and sesame oil into the pan tossing for 1 minute or until well combined. Serve.

Welcome!

Dear friends…welcome to my cooking n' baking blog. One of my friends asked why my previous blog which was supposed to be about my life has turned to be a food blog??? Haha…I love cooking and baking so I decide to create this new blog to write about my “creation”. Well, I am just a beginner in cooking and baking so hopefully will improve in the future… ^_^