Monthly Archives: March 2012

{Dearly Dreaming Dorie} The most amazing Mango Bread

Posted in Baking Recipes, Dearly Dreaming Dorie, From the books, Quickbreads & Loaves, The Breakfast Bin by

I’ve been waiting for mango season to roll around, and in my neck of the woods, it finally has! One of the best perks about living in a tropical country is that we’ve got mangoes all year round, however the best and sweetest of the crop are harvested around this time. The mangoes here in the Philippines are gorgeously shaped, yellow and very fragrant; with an addictive sweetness that makes them extremely hard to resist.

Mangoes are one of my favourite fruits in the whole universe; second only to Chinese Honey Oranges, or ponkan. As a child though, mangoes were my uncontested favourite. I would often have it with my bowl of rice, kind of like Japanese maki only in a big messy pile. Now that I think about it, maybe this was what paved the way to my intense love for Japanese cuisine, especially the sushi with bursts of mango within. Is my mango-adoring childhood one of the reasons why yellow is my favourite colour? Quite possibly.

But I digress.

I only hope you do not think I am biased when I say, this is one of the best quick breads I have ever had in my life! I want to point out, it is simply the truth.

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{Cookbook Crazy} Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hand To Yours

Posted in Cookbook Crazy, Experiments & experiences, From the books by

Seeing as cookbooks play such a large and important part in my life as a cooking and, most especially, as a baking enthusiast, I don’t know how it never occurred to me to write about them here until now. I do not buy cookbooks as often as perhaps I do regular fiction books, but every time I add a carefully selected new cookbook to my collection, it is truly a feeling like no other as far as buying books is concerned.

Even just thinking about buying a new cookbook gets me so excited! Oh, be still my heart.

My cousin gave me a bookstore gift card for my birthday back in January. To my mind, these cards are one of the best things I can, and really want, to receive. When someone asks me what I want as a gift, this is the first thing that pops into my head. I just love adding to my collection of books that much. Whenever I get gift cards though, I am always so meticulous about planning which books to buy that will allow me to get the most out of the card’s value. I usually use them to buy the more expensive titles, you know, for practical reasons.

Enter the cookbook Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hands To Yours by Sarabeth Levine. I thought it has a bit of a heavy price tag compared to the other cookbooks I own, so I decided it was the perfect book for me to use the gift card for. And although I have no more gift cards at my disposal after this purchase, I do believe I’ve made a very good choice! I’ve still got a long way to go before I complete my wishlist, so I hope people would be nice enough to give me more gift cards this year! *Hint! Hint!*

Read about what’s inside

{Recipe Round-up} Fruity Comfort Food

Posted in Pies & Tarts, Recipe Round-Up, Yeasted breads by

What’s your favourite kind of comfort food? For a lot of people that is probably a tough question. I know I’ve got quite a few at the top of my mind, but one of them happens to be Apple Crisps or Apple Crumble. I just love the cinnamony scent and taste of the tender apples contrasting with the deliberate grittiness of the topping. I love how its simplicity, and the fact that it can be so easily and quickly thrown together, essentially epitomizes a lazy day at home in your pyjamas; hair unkempt, kicking back with a nice warm mug of coffee– no pretentions, no embellishments. Nothing else except plainly existing as who we are. In the same manner, an Apple Crisp is rather straightforward; just apples and crisps. And on the occasion that we do eat it with a little bit of Vanilla Ice Cream, well, I don’t know about you but I like eating ice cream on my lazy days the most.

I made this Apple Crisp from Joy The Baker a few weeks ago and ate it with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream for ultimate comfort. If you would notice on the pictures, there was more crisp than there were apples. That’s unfortunate because the apples are the best part for me. Why do I always seem to run out of apples at such a crucial time, but have a fridge full of them when I’m not in the mood for apple recipes? Such a profound question for the Universe.

I really liked the combination of flavours on this Apple Crisp. The topping is just chock full of deliciousness (pecans and oats!). Unfortunately I didn’t feel like this would be the one recipe I would love to keep making over and over when I’m in need of a quick fix. (Or when I’m in the mood for apple pie but am too lazy to make the crust.) Alas, something was amiss for me in this Apple Crisp. Because the topping is very flavorful and sweet, it has a tendency to overpower the apple flavour a bit; but it might be because I did not use enough apples. I also thought it takes too long a time to bake, the issue of which could be resolved by baking this in individual ramekins. That said, I would definitely urge you to try this recipe out at least once, because it still is quite a good, solid recipe. And maybe if you up the apples a bit, who knows, it might even become your favourite recipe!

The other recipe I made were these Blueberry-Cinnamon Rolls from Annie’s Eats. Anything with blueberries in them just make me feel all giddy inside. I think it is largely because I like how they pop in your mouth once you bite through the skin of the berries. I don’t know, I must not be eating enough. However it’s been quite some time since I’ve declared desserts or pastries with hot, bubbling berries in them as one of my comfort foods. (Mixed Berry Cobbler? Yes, please!)

If you’ll remember, I made some regular old Cinnamon Rolls last time with my version of Cream Cheese glaze. Yes, I liked them a lot, but I think this particular recipe is better in that this bread has a nicer, softer crumb. (I often find myself favouring recipes that use bread flour like this one.) Also, the bursts of blueberry flavor is quite delightful among all the cinnamon flavour. The berries give these that jolt of juicy tanginess, and I think that adds a lot to these rolls as a whole.

My main issue with this recipe is the glaze. I simply cannot bring myself to use 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar to make the glaze. So if you would notice, my glaze is quite thin, because I cut down to sugar to about a cup or so. The goal was to make it taste lemony, because blueberries plus lemon is a fantastic combination! But it still ended up being sweet with just a slight tanginess, and I think this overt sweetness takes away from the flavours of the bun itself (not to mention the berries). In any case, I must confess that this has become my go-to Cinnamon Roll recipe because the bread part is just really good. I’ll be sure to pair it with my version of Cream Cheese glaze.

Truth be told, I think this particular yeasted bread recipe deserves a feature on the blog! I’ll probably do it once I concoct some interesting filling to make it a bit different from the usual.

~~~

The Recipe Round-Up is a review of recipes that almost made it but end up not getting featured on the blog for one reason or another. Most of the time the reasons will fall among these three: 1. my dissatisfaction over my photos; 2. I’ve done a similar recipe before and this is merely a variation; 3. the results of the recipes to me were almost there, but not quite. There will still be some commentaries on how I would’ve improved the process or the recipes, plus all my usual observations. But instead of providing my re-written version of the recipe, I will simply link you to where I found it.

My first real sandwich bread, in whole wheat

Posted in Baking Recipes, Bread-making, From the books, The Breakfast Bin, Yeasted breads by

As much as it shames me, I must admit, I have yet to properly study The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, which I had bought months ago. I have browsed through it with the full intention of reading it cover-to-cover, a feeling of electric excitement coursing through me each and every turning of page. But it wasn’t until recently that I realised just how much I absolutely love making yeast breads. I have yet to make one that requires an overnight sponge, but the ones I’ve made so far are making my previous hesitations and fears toward yeast a thing of the nearly-forgotten past.

I have mentioned before that my family has embraced the idea of whole grains in our food. I remember the first time I bought a sack of whole wheat flour from Bob’s Red Mill. I almost did not hear the end of it from my Mother. She told me that my brothers probably wouldn’t like whole wheat in their muffins, and that if it tasted “wrong”, I would have to finish all the muffins myself because we do not toss food out. The first time I used it, I had left my quick breads on the racks to cool, and upon returning, I saw that about two thick slices worth of bread had been hacked off from one of the loaves. And as you might have guessed, the culprit sitting on the breakfast table was my Mum.

“This is one of the best chocolate breads you’ve made,” she says to me.

And then I say to her, “I made it with zucchinis and whole wheat flour.”

Needless to say, she was surprised at the mention of two ingredients that to most people are not things commonly found in scrumptious baked goods. And there began my freedom to buy as much whole wheat flour as I pleased needed. Little by little, I learned about the different types of whole wheat flours, because I was fairly excited to incorporate them into my baking and cooking in an attempt to make healthier fare. It did not take too long for me to realize that I have a greater affinity for making yeast breads compared to other baked goods– from the dough, the kneading, the lovely smells around the house every time a freshly-baked bread is laid out to cool. But the best part is how I always feel so utterly connected to home when I bake these kinds of breads to share with the family. That’s probably one of the reasons why I love it so much.

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{Built From Scratch} Honey Bun Salmon Burgers with a side of fries

Posted in Baking Recipes, Bread-making, Burgers & grilled things, Cooking Recipes, Seafood dishes, Yeasted breads by

I’ve never been one to shy away from something that requires more elbow grease than is necessary on my part. Modesty aside, almost everything I do is done with more exertion than most people would normally put in, whether it’s school work, any kind of work, or something for my leisure. The principle is that ‘anything worth doing is worth doing well’. If I am going to dedicate some of my precious time doing something anyway, might as well dedicate some effort to ensure that the results are worth it. During the days when I feel particularly assiduous, I like to build things from the ground up to create something great. No shortcuts, no easy ways out, just plain old handiwork stemming from sweat and heart. It’s no different when it comes to my cooking/baking, whether I’m doing a simple recipe or an involved one.

That said, there are days when I just want to take it easy, snap my photos, and still have a lot of time left to get out of the house and do my thing. And then there are days (usually Sundays) when I practically spend the whole day on my feet inside the kitchen and make things like this. I’m talking about making burger buns, plus patties, plus fries from scratch.

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The Great Chocolate Chip Cookie [Non] Debate

Posted in Baking Recipes, Cookies, Experiments & experiences, Timeless Treats by

Finding the “best” chocolate chip recipe out there is quite a bit like finding a needle in the haystack. In fact, I don’t think I will even bother looking for it. I don’t think there’s one best recipe anyway, because it’s a subjective matter. To some people the best would be a chewy cookie, to some a crunchy cookie, but as far as the cookie is concerned, it would just sit there happily speckled with chocolate chunks all over. However, I don’t think people would argue that there are only a handful of recipes out there that really stand out from the rest, chewy or crispy alike.

This post is not about trying to determine which type of cookie has the edge over the other. It’s not about me trying to convert you into liking just one type of cookie. It’s not about trying to champion one kind of cookie and discrediting the other. Plain and simply, this post is all about indulging the inner food scientist in me. It’s about attempting to study just what actually makes a crunchy cookie crunchy and a chewy cookie chewy. It’s about trying to discover and understand the differences between the DNA of each cookie better.

Don’t worry, I won’t go all mad scientist on you. I promise.

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