Christmas holiday bread

Christmas is coming soon. I cant believe it will be 6 months since my baby is born. 

My year 2017 was so excited. I got the first baby, I move to Tauranga....my life got new start on 2017. 

This bread's idea is come from Panettone, Italian type of Christmas sweet bread.  It is fermented by wild yeast like sourdough. It is rich and sweet flavor, contained eggs, butter, milk and sugar like fluffy brioche. Added dried  fruit and nuts. 

I made braided shape, and put it into the loaf tin.  You can make it without the tin. It becomes flat braided shape without it. 

I use sourdough starter to proof slowly. It makes strong gluten and more fluffy texture. 

Christmas holiday bread

Make 2

Sourdough starter

200g bread flour

200g water

300g bread flour

50g white sugar

10g salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ginger powder

2 egg yolk

150cc milk

100g butter (cold and cut into pieces)

100g raisin

100g cranberry

50g orange peel

80g mixed nuts (chopped)

Egg wash

1 egg (beaten)

Prepare
Make sourdough starter.

1. Combine milk and egg yolk, sourdough starter well in the bowl.
In the stand mixer, combine flour and sugar, salt,spices well. Add the liquid ingredient in the stand mixer. Knead it for 10 minutes with dough hook until it gets smooth and elastic. Add cold butter, knead it until all butter combine into the dough. Add dried fruit and chopped nuts, knead it until it gets combined.

2. Transfer the dough in the large bowl. Ferment it with the plastic cover in the fridge for 10 hours or overnight until it gets double-sized.

3. Take the bowl out from the fridge, leave it on the room temperature for 2-3 hours. On the floured surface bench top, deflate the dough briefly. Dived it into 6 pieces, make it rough ball. Leave them for 20 - 30 minutes with the cover to avoid drying out.

4. Make them 30 cm cylinders.

Braid them. Fold over the edges.

 

Transfer it into the loaf tin. Or you can leave it on the baking tray without the tin.

5. Proof it at room temperature with the cover for 1-2 hours until it gets bigger.
Preheat oven at 180 degrees.

6. Brush egg wash on it.
Bake it at 180 degrees for 35 - 40 minutes until it gets golden brown.

7. Cool it down on the wire rack.  Take it out from the tin once it gets cool down.

Matcha green tea cookie

I am just come back from holiday in Japan. I visited my family with my 5 months daughter. I stayed in Japan for only 1 week. I had good time with my family.

I brought back ‘‘matcha‘‘ powder from Japan.

 

Matcha is kind of green tea, it is finely ground powder. We use it in traditional tea ceremony.  And nowadays,  we use it to flavor and dye foods such as ice cream, chocolate, cookies, buns .....any kind of  food.

It is easy to use in the baking stuff.  You need to shift it. It is crumbly like cocoa powder. 

Matcha cookie

100g unsalted butter (cold and cut into pieces)

200g  Plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

100g white sugar

2 tsp matcha powder

1 egg (beaten)

1.Shift match powder first.  In the food processor, combine plain flour and baking soda, sugar, matcha powder. Add cold pieces of butter, process until it becomes crumbly.
2. Transfer it into a bowl. Add beaten egg, make it until it becomes cookie dough. Knead it roughly.
3. Wrap it with the plastic wrap, place it into the fridge for 30 - 60 minutes.
4. Take it out from fridge.
Preheat oven at 180C. Put baking paper on the baking tray.
Roll the dough out 5mm thick. If it is too hard to roll out, leave it at room temperature for a while.
Use your favorite cookie mold to make the shape.

5. Bake it at 180C for 10 - 15 minutes until it becomes lightly brown.
6. Cool down on the wire rack.

Marmalade pull-apart bread loaf

I got a request from my mother in low to make brioche rolls using marmalade jam. She made marmalade jam from the garden orange. We need to use it up before it goes off.

I looked up for the idea. And I found an attractive recipe.
Pull-apart bread..... the recipe was made with cinnamon and brown sugar like cinnamon rolls.

It is brioche-like sourdough, naturally fermented.  Bread is buttery and sweet, fluffy and soft.

Filling is just marmalade and melted butter.
I use 6 x 6 x 25cm slim loaf tin.

Marmalade pull - apart bread loaf

(6 x 6 x 25 cm slim loaf tin)

Sourdough starter

100g flour

100g water

200g Flour

30g Sugar

6g Salt

※Egg 1 + Milk (cold) = 180g 

Butter (cold and chopped) 30g 

Filling 

20g melted butter

Marmalade jam

Egg wash

Egg + milk

Prep.
Make sourdough starter.
※ 1 egg plus cold milk, make it 180g in total.
Spray oil on the loaf tin.


1. To make bread dough, combine flour,sugar and salt in the stand mixer bowl. Add sourdough starter and the mixture of egg and milk. Knead it for 8 minutes.
Add cold butter, knead it until all butter combine into the dough. It becomes sticky dough. Add more flour if you need.

2. Transfer the dough in the bowl. Put flour on your hand if the dough is too sticky.  It Cover it with plastic wrap.  Proof it in the fridge for 5 - 8 hours, or over night until it becomes bigger and double-size.

3. Pour the dough onto the floured surface bench top, then deflate it briefly.
 Roll it out 30cm x 40cm.
Brush the melted butter. Spread over the marmalade jam.
Slice the dough into 8 strips evenly. Stack the strips on top of each other, make it 4 strips.

Stack the strips on top of another, make it 2 strips. Now you made 4 layers strips. Cut it into 6 pieces each.

Stack all the squares on top of each other and set into the prepared loaf tin.
Cover it loosely.

4. Let it rise for 1 hour or until the dough reaches top of the loaf tin.
Preheat oven 190c.

5. Brush the egg wash on the top.
Bake it for 30 - 35 minutes until the top becomes brown.  Remove it from the oven, rest it for 20 - 30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the tin to loosen and carefully turn the loaf out.


Enjoy it !!

Sausage roll made from sourdough

Here is bread baking for my husband ' s birthday..... Sausage rolls.

This is the Japanese style buns, the sausage stuffed in bread. 

If you heard '' the sausage rolls '' , you might imagine the puff pastry roll stuffed with sausage meat or beef mince. It is common '' sausage roll '' here, in New Zealand as well. 

I added the recipe Japanese style sausage rolls before. 

This recipe is different shaping, the dough is not buttery, no instant dry yeast, made from sourdough. 

Sausage rolls made from sourdough

(make 5)

Sourdough starter

100g bread flour

100g water

Sourdough

200g bread flour

6g salt

100g water

sourdough starter

5 sausage

wholegrain mustard and tomato sauce (optional)

Egg wash

Egg + water

1. Make sourdough. Once the dough become double size, fermented over night, transfer the dough on the floured bench. 

2. Divide it into 5 pieces. Round each piece of dough into rough ball. Cover it to avoid drying out. 

3. Let it rest for 20 - 30 minutes until the dough become loose. 

4.On the floured surface bench top, roll it out with rolling pin, make it sausage long oval shape. 

Put the apply the mustard and tomato sauce if you want. Put the sausage.

Make the cuts with the dough cutter around the sausage. 
(Can see where to cut ? I forgot to take photo of it.  )

Cover the sausage from the top left piece. And the right, left right, left...continue until the end. It looks the braid.

5. Let it rise with the cover for 1 hour or until it becomes bigger size.
6. Preheat oven for 200c.
Brush the egg wash.
Bake it for 20 - 15 minus until it becomes golden brown. 

Bacon Epi

Pain d' Epi bread is known as the wheat stalk shape twisted baguette bread.   

In Japan, we created '' Bacon Epi ''  that is Epi shaped baguette rolled with the slice of bacon.

That is my husband's favorite, he asked me to make it so many times. I was busy for my little baby, I didn't have enough time for baking.
Now he got birthday. I decided to make bacon epi for his birthday present.

I got recipe Bacon onion cheese epi, here.
That is cheesy bacon rolled in buttery dough with instant dry yeast.

This is simple bacon epi recipe, bacon rolled in sourdough. Crispy crust, full of savory bacon flavor in your mouth.

I skip writing how to make sourdough ''dough'' .

Bacon Epi make 4

Sourdough starter

flour 100g 

water 100g 

Sourdough 

flour 200g 

salt 6g 

water 100g 

sourdough starter 

4 slice of Bacon

 (you need cut into smaller if the bacon slice is too long. )

Egg wash 

egg +water or milk

1. Make sourdough. Once the dough became double-sized, fermented over-night, transfer the dough on the floured bench.
2. Divide it into 4 pieces. Round each piece of dough into rough ball by pulling the edge of the center.  Cover it to avoid drying out.
3. Let rest it for 20 - 30 minutes until the dough become loose.

4. On the floured surface, roll it out with the rolling pin. Make it 18 - 20 cm oval shape. (Cut the slice of bacon into smaller if it is bigger than the oval shape.)
Put the bacon on the dough.

Roll it down, seal it tightly. Put sealing side bottom on the baking tray.

5. Place it into warm place (30c) with cover to avoid to drying out.  Rise it for 1 hour until it becomes bigger size.
6. Preheat the oven 200c.
7. Forming it into Epi shape.
Cut the dough on 3/4 with the scissor. Don't cut it off completely.

Slide this piece on left, cut, slide it right, cut, slide it left.... continue to cut and slide until you have reached the end.

8. Brush egg wash, bake it 20 - 25 minutes at 200c until it becomes brown.

Homemade coconut butter

Have you ever heard coconut butter before?

I make my own nuts butter at home such as peanut butter, almond butter and macadamia nut butter....

One day, I found a jar of coconut butter at the organic store. I never seen coconut butter. I was wondering what the different from coconut butter and coconut oil.

I looked up the internet, I searched how to make it.

Coconut oil is 100% oil that has been extracted from coconut meat.

Coconut butter is coconut flesh that has been ground into paste.  It includes all the fat, fiber and nutrients from the coconut.

It seems super easy to coconut butter. It is like peanut butter.
At the organic shop, the jar of coconut butter is $13.
If you make own, you can grab a 200g desiccated coconut for $2 at the supermarket.  That is all ingredient!!!

1. Load the coconut flakes into food processor. Turn the machine on.
2. Using a food processor, this processor will take 8 - 10 mins.  You need to be patience. Stop the machine and scrape the sides down with a spatula a few times. Continue until the coconut has turned to coconut butter and is softened and store it in a jar. 

3. Place it in the cool place. My coconut butter became hard like butter in the room temperature. If you want it soft and creamy, warm it up and melt it. 

Banana and date sourdough muffin

I found many muffins taste too much baking powder.  Even when I make muffins from self-rising flour, I can taste it.  That is why I don't like muffins. I can eat it, but I cant finish it every time.

This muffin recipe is not fluffy texture because it is naturally rising by sourdough starter. No rising agent.

No butter. I use canola oil so that is easy to eat.

Less sugar. It contains brown sugar but not too much. Sweetness from banana and date.

50g plain flour
100g wholemeal flour
50g brown sugar

1 egg
30cc oil
60cc milk
2 mashed banana
100g sourdough starter

100g chopped date


1. Prepare to grease spray oil on the muffin tin.
In a bowl, combine dry ingredients together.
2. In another bowl, whisk egg and canola oil well. Add milk and mashed banana, then combine well.
3. Add sourdough starter. Combine well.
4. Add wet mixture into the dry ingredients bowl. Mix well with the spatula. Fold in the chopped date.
5. Preheat the oven at 180c.
Fill the mixture into the tin. Bake it for 20 - 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Vegan Raw Date Slice

I was having long break with this blog.

I had so many things going on.
I had a baby, and moved to Tauranga.

I finally settle down,  and I stay home and look after my daughter.
I become a stay-home baker : )

I used to be a baker at the cafe, it was necessary to make vegan baking.
This is not baking recipe, but it is super easy to make.
No sugar, raw, vegan.

Vegan Raw Date Slice

5 Cups chopped Date
2 Cups slivered Almond
1 Cup pumpkin seed
1 tbl spoon of ginger powder
1 cups cocoa powder
2 cups water

4 cups desiccated coconut

27cm x 18cm x 4cm baking tray put baking paper on.

1. Soak the date for 2 hours.
2. Soak the for 30 minutes.
3. Drain date and almond well.
4. In the food processor, blitzs the almond and pumpkin seed together for few seconds.
5. Add date, ginger, cocoa and water, and blend it until smooth.
6. In the bowl, fold the mixture and desiccated coconut until well combined.
7. Transfer the mixture into the tin. Sprinkle extra desiccated coconut.
8. Set it in the fridge for over night.