Toast Camembert Bagel

I received this sample of Normandie Ile de France Camembert recently.  I was one of the lucky fews who got to sample the product before it hit the shelf and release to the general public.  Its' flavor is more intense than Brie and I instantly noticed it when I first opened the box.  I could actually smelled it.  Ile de France Camembert is crafted in Normandy, from local Rbst (hormone) free pasteurized cow milk.  The herds spend most of their time outside, grazing in the fields of Normandy, known for its temperate climate and rich soil.  It has the mushrooms and nutty undertones and known for its' creaminess.

This was my first time sample a Camembert and frankly I had no idea how people eat this besides serving as a cheese platter.  So I went to the Ile de France Website and look through the recipes.  But I was too eager to try it and I had some bagel at home, so I just cut two slices and toast it in the toaster oven.  Got to say, even though it didn't smell too good, it tasted not bad at all.  Very creamy and melted beautifully.  Even my little Edda who said yuck at the smell couldn't stop eating it.  Two days later, I tried it in my cheesy shell pasta dish and my two girls walloped it up.  They really loved it. 

Two slices of Camembert on my mini blueberry bagel.

The end product!  Loved how the cheese melted, yummy!  Would go great with a English muffin with bacon and fried egg as well.

Nam Yee and Red Bean Dumplings/ Ham Chin Peng/ 油炸面包

Firstly, this is not my recipe, I couldn't possibly invent a Ham Chin Peng recipe.  I saw this recipe at my friend's house while reading her cookbooks' collection.  This recipe was from a cookbook called Pasar Malam Delights.  When I saw this recipe, I got to have it because it has my favorite Ham Chin Peng recipe which the book called Nam Yee and Red Bean Dumplings.  What got my attention was the easy one step method (no starter, no ingredient I couldn't recognize) and furthermore, I already have all the ingredients at home.  You know me, I don't attempt any difficult recipe, anything too complicated, too troublesome, I passed.  If you are like me, this is one recipe you should look at and try. 

The end result, crispy skin, soft fried bread, sweet red bean paste and Nam Yee smell in the bread.  Next time, I will try the savory version using this recipe, just replace the red bean paste with salt and five spice powder and wrap it differently (I liked the savory one more).  I have a little step-by-step pictures in my next page and tips/note.  Living abroad and everything have to make ourselves, this recipe is good enough for me.  The one we get at the Vietnamese bakery store in Denver is plain, unlike the ones in Malaysia.

Homemade Soft Pretzel

I was not a fan of pretzel before until I tasted the soft pretzel selling in the Malls. I was then hooked on this soft pretzel. Whenever I was shopping at the Malls, I always got attracted by the delicious looking large soft pretzels. With the sweet tooth that I have, I prefer the sweet pretzel. I don't know, we Asian seem to prefer sweet bread instead of salty. However, pretzel is not cheap, at almost $3 a piece, it needs some consideration on my part. Am I willing to spend that much for a pretzel? I guess occasional treat would do. But fear not, soft pretzel is not that hard to do and I can easily made a bunch for less than $3. I made mine in salty version because I thought it would be better for freezing. I didn't prove mine long enough as they were harder than my first attempt.

Mom's French Toasts

As a Foodbuzz Tastemaker, I received two loaves of Nature's Pride breads to sample (100% Whole Wheat and 12 Grain). If you know me, I'm pretty health conscious and have been eating mostly 100% whole wheat bread for the past years. I was delighted to sample this Nature's Pride bread as it is the only 100% natural brand of bread available across the country (as they claimed). They are committed to baking the tastiest bread with wholesome and natural food choices such as no artificial flavors or colors, no high fructose corn syrup, no trans-fats, and no artificial preservatives. Sharing this bread with you with my mom's version of French Toasts. She added sugar into the eggs mixture and we ate it without any syrup, fruit puree, whipped cream or powder sugar. It is great as it is!

Green Tea Buns with Green Tea Crusted Topping

My twist on Rotiboy (or Mexican Buns)! Instead of the coffee flavored that we have known and loved, I made it into green tea flavored. As my readers know, I love green tea powder or matcha and I had done some baking based on it as well. This recipe came about while I was looking at my previous Rotiboy's post, I thought of this idea, why not experiment it in a different flavor and green tea just stood out. So, I have this recipe in file for me to try for months, but just never gotten to really make it (blame my laziness). I finally made it today because my store-bought bread is running low and I am short of posts to post in my blog. So, that did it, I had to take my breadmaker out and start working. :P

These green tea buns came out so good, soft and fluffy (it even left a dent when my fingers picked out the buns to cool) with the crusty sweet topping that I loved. Simply delicious! If you love green tea, you should give this bun a try! I will certainly make more of this. :)


Resting and proving until double in size.


Then, pipe the topping into spiral on top of each bun.


Add a little black sesame seeds in the center of each bun.


Like this! Don't spread the sesame seeds all over, just place it in the center as the topping will spread out when baking.

Chinese Steamed Mantau (饅頭) with Red Bean Paste & Mung Bean Paste

Assorted steamed buns or Mantau with filling. I used the breadmaker mantau recipe I posted earlier. The ones at the back with pleats were with mung bean paste filling. And the round ones were red bean paste filling. I made these and freeze individually in the freezer before putting them all in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. Each time I just take out whatever I needed for breakfast or afternoon snack and reheat it in the microwave. Those were the store-bought pastes that I brought back from Malaysia, need to use it before it expired.


Steamed mantau (饅頭) with mung bean paste.


Steamed mantau (饅頭) with red bean paste.

Since this is made using the mantau recipe instead of the bao recipe, the texture is soft and slightly chewy. We can use this recipe to stuff filling but for best result mantau recipe is still a mantau recipe, leave it plain, or brush it with sesame oil and add green onion, or make flavor mantau like yam, black sesame seeds, green tea, chocolate, etc. I saw some duo colors mantau before.

Braised Pork in 5-spice Powder and Mantau

I served my Chinese steamed buns/Mantau 饅頭 with braised pork. This is a recipe shared by Josh (Gan55) in 2005. You can read more from my other link here.

Still in the pot waiting for dinner time to arrive. Imagine my mantau soaking up this deliciously thick gravy.

I will share his recipe here with you.

Steamed Mantau (Chinese steamed bun, 饅頭) using a Breadmaker

My assorted shapes of steamed buns or 饅頭. Can you tell I was playing with the shapes and failed miserably? Haha... I was trying to follow the pictures guidance from a Chinese cookbook that I have and I was totally sucked at it. Later I just simply shaped it however I liked. Do you see some scallions on some of the steamed buns? Those are my variation mantau listed below. I also tried some with black sesame seeds but didn't get much taste out of it.

This is a recipe shared by Gina few years ago. I copied it down because I loved the idea of using a bread maker to make mantau (as you know I am lazy). I think I told her I am going to try her recipe but I never did until now (see, now you know how lazy I am). I wanted to make this to eat with my soy 5-spice powder braised pork (coming up), so that was the motivation I needed. So glad I did, the steamed bun/mantau was indeed very soft and fluffy when warm. My girls couldn't stop popping it into their mouths too. Thanks Gina for sharing her tried and tested recipe! She got the recipe from a Taiwanese cookbook called "Zhong Dian Zhi Zuo".

Easy Focaccia Bread

Why easy? Because it is a no knead Focaccia. Just mix the ingredient together and let it proves in the refrigerator overnight and the next day you will be rewarded with Focaccia bread.



Mine turned out looking like bread sticks aren't they? I sprinkled my Focaccia with dried oregano and rosemary. This bread smells heavenly while baking as my house was infused with the fragrant of herbs and olive oil.

Cute Toasted Breads

Don't we moms want to make eating breakfast fun for the kids? I got the inspiration from Peony as she loves to make bentos and lovely toast for her grandson. Of course she used the cute Hello Kitty print for toast bread which I don't own. Then, I was thinking, wait a minute, I did buy some ice-cream sandwich molds last year at WalMart. It was on clearance for $4/pair and I just couldn't let it pass because I saw the possibility in it. Hence, I took them out from my drawer and gave it a try. It made a really nice clear print on the bread and came out great. The bonus was of course both my girls finished their toasts!



Now I know I can use this print to make pig or cow face cookies too! At first, I saw that it was great for making mini mooncakes and now I have more uses for it. I know it can be used to make cute pig and cow boiled eggs too, just need to tie it with rubber band. So, for $2 each, not too bad a toy to own right? :)

Cream Cheese Bread Take 3

Finally I did it. This is the texture that I was seeking, soft and fluffy! Thanks Cocoa for her pointer. At first, I was thinking of using the dough cycle and shape and prove the dough myself. But the weather was just not cooperating today. It was snowing and cold and I had no patient to wait and play with the dough. So this method was applied, way easier too. :P


Looking good right?


Soft and fluffy! Yipee!

Cream Cheese Bread Take 2

Tried this bread again using whole wheat flour, brown sugar and added raisin. Using my breadmaker whole wheat bread function. Total cook time was 3 hours 40 minutes. When I peep into it around 2 hours, I had a nice round doom on top of the bread. Not sure why it sank down when it's time to bake? Perhaps I forgot to reset the setting, this was baked at 2lb and medium color instead of 1.5lb and light color setting. I only realized my mistake 30 minutes into the cycle and it was too late to do anything then.




The texture of this bread was again very soft but dense. Will attempt again with dough function to see whether it will provide me with a better looking and fluffy loaf of bread. This bread remains soft up to three days.

Original recipe taken from here.

Cream Cheese Bread

I first saw this cream cheese bread at Peony's blog. And according to her, this bread is really soft and fluffy just like the Hokkaido Milk Loaf. And since I have all the ingredients at home, I told her I'm going to give this a try soon. Why mine turned out looking like that? Oh well, I decided to experiment with the ExpressBake function on my bread machine. It means the bread will be ready in 58 minutes as compared to the usual 3-3.5 hours.



Original recipe is taken from here. I replaced the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I got to say this bread is really soft but mine turned out not as fluffy, perhaps because I used the ExpressBake function? That taught me, one can't really rush the process of bread making. As with ExpressBake, it really didn't provide enough time to prove the bread, and thus my bread looking like the above. Nevertheless, I am going to make more bread using this recipe, but with the normal bread and dough functions. Just to see the difference (in texture and look). :o)

Chocolate Pull-Apart Sticky Buns

Have you ever tried to reinvent a recipe on your own and it turned out great? I was checking my e-mail and came across an ad. from Pillsbury.com, clicked on it and got inspired by their Grands Cinnamon Pull-Apart Coffee Cake. I think I have seen this kind of coffee cake before and thought that it's really interesting but never attempted in making it. What got me into the baking mood was I did have a can of refrigerated biscuits sitting in the refrigerator.



So, I said to myself why not since my mind already racing through the ideas of how I should get it done and thus that was no stopping me. Since I was tailoring to my kids taste bud, I decided to use cocoa powder instead of cinnamon powder, made it into a mini version and pray for the best.



The finished product looked great! You just pull it apart piece by piece to savor it. Oh man, the crust was toasty and the inside was soft and it's chocolaty and sweet, I just fell in love with it.


Want a piece?

Since this is such a delectable and easy recipe, I'm going to share it with you here. I hope you will fall in love with this recipe too. My version is not as sweet as the American version but just sweet enough for our Asian taste bud. Great for breakfast coffee or an afternoon tea, even unexpected guests since it's so easy to prepare and screams Eat Me! Eat Me!

Green Tea Milk Loaf

No bread at home but want to eat bread with the pork floss I bought so how? Have to take out my breadmaker and start making bread. Since it's freezing cold over here and I'm too lazy to shape and prove my bread, the easiest way is to let the breadmaker do everything. Yeah, I don't want to wash the extra pan nor turn on my oven!



I decided to play around with the recipe again and turned this milk loaf bread into Green Tea flavor. This is the recipe I used because I'm out of heavy cream and I really like milk loaf. I used 1 whole egg instead of 35g of egg, what am I going to use with the leftover half an egg huh? I also used 2% fresh milk instead of skim. In addition, I also added 1/2 tsp. green tea powder and 1 tsp. bread improver. Set my breadmaker to Basic, Light Crust and 1.5 lb. and have my bread ready in 2.5 hours.



Not bad at all. It's soft and fluffy with green tea flavor. My girls ate half of the bread while it's still warm so only got five pieces left for tomorrow breakfast. By the way, I find cutting the bread is a challenge, when do you supposed to cut the bread, when it's still warm or when it's cool down completely? The bread is so soft so I basically have to squeeze the bread to cut it with my serrated knife when it's still warm (the side crust is still a bit hard so I can grab hold on it). I'm afraid when it's all soft I will have no way to slice it. So, I sliced my bread when it's still warm and put them in an air-tight container. When and how do you normally slice your bread?

Hmmm...should have used the timer so that I can wake up with a fresh loaf of bread huh?

Whole Wheat Hokkaido Milk Loaf

Just out from the Breadmaker. I set it to medium dark crust color. Should have set it to light.


Soft and fluffy!


Spread with my brown sugar kaya.

Yum!

I wanted to try this Hokkaido milk loaf because everyone who tried it gave it a thumb up. Little did I know I didn't have bread flour in my pantry when I set everything out on the counter. Thus, the whole wheat flour was used and this whole wheat Hokkaido milk loaf was created.

I baked mine in a breadmaker using Sweet function just like Peony. I also brought it out during proving to punch it, knead a little and shape it before putting it back to the breadmaker and let it did the rest. I really satisfied with this whole wheat version and will definitely make it again. What's great about this recipe is it doesn't require bread improver and butter and can bake with a breadmaker.

Whole Wheat Buns

Basic Whole Wheat Dough recipe (using a BreadMaker):

2 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (King Arthur)

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp. bread improver

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbp. milk powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

220ml cold water

1/3 cup butter

1 Tbp. instant yeast

Method:

1. Add everything in according to your breadmaker manual. Turn on the dough function and let the breadmaker do the work.

2. When done, take the dough out, give it a few kneads and cut it and shape it whatever you like. For the above bun shape, roll the dough in cylinder shape, cut out individual portion, roll it into ball and place it on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Note: You can add any filling you like at this point as well.

3. When finished placing the balls of dough in the baking pan, leave some space in between for it to prove.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it proves for 45-60 mins depending on the temperature of your room (or til double in size). It is faster if you let it proves under the sun. [For us who lives in U.S. or other seasonal country, during winter I prove my bread/buns in a preheated 170'F (my oven lowest temp.) oven for 30 mins]

4. When double in size, brush the top with milk or egg wash (optional) and bake in the preheated 375'F oven for 10-12 mins. Or until golden brown on top.

5. Cool on wire rack and keep in an air-tight container.

Coconut Filling Buns

I decided to make coconut buns after I saw this at Pusiva's blog. It reminded me of what I used to have in M'sia. Since I just bought a package of shredded coconut, I decided to make the coconut filling and freeze it for future use. I used Pusiva's Coconut Filling recipe. As for the buns, I used Gina's Basic Sweet Buns recipe. With the filling ready in the freezer, I can whip up coconut buns anytime.

This is just a delicious bun, the Gula Melaka that I used in the filling made the coconut smelled heavenly while baking and tasty to eat. Do give this a try ya if you miss coconut buns! :)

Usual Bakes

Tau Sar Buns coated with double egg wash glaze, really golden brown huh?

Made the Lo Ti Piah (bread cookie) again! Made it more nutritious by adding Milo. Click here for my recipe. Oh, I used Sara Lee 100% whole wheat bread thus the brown color.

Sambal Haebee Coconut Whole Wheat Buns

Same recipe as I did my whole wheat buns earlier.


The filling is the leftover from my rempah udang.