Tag Archives: breakfast

Hi chocolate, it’s nice to matcha!

Posted in Asian cooking, Baking Recipes, Bread-making, The Breakfast Bin, Yeasted breads by

Did I really just write that title? I’m sorry.

So I finally managed to track down some matcha powder some weeks ago, and unfortunately it’s not the sort I’m looking for. It seems like a really mild type of matcha. From what I’ve been seeing in photos, the concentrated one has a greener hue; and from what I’ve been reading, it has a stronger taste. I can barely taste my matcha in this bread. No, scratch that– I can only taste the matcha if I concentrate really really hard. If I close my eyes and really try to unlock my tastebuds, I can taste the wonderful green tea notes with a hint of sweetness at the end. Unfortunately it lasts only a few seconds, not to mention I look kind of odd doing that at the table.

And yes I’m pretty sure it’s not just my imagination.

Continue reading for the recipe >>

About these ads

Finding resolve + Hot Cross Biscuits

Posted in Baking Recipes, Biscuits & scones, Christmas & holidays, The Breakfast Bin by

As some of you my dear readers know, the start of this year hasn’t been particularly pleasant because of a certain “discovery” that happened. In fact I can think of several adjectives that can describe it, but let’s stick with …infuriating. Don’t get me wrong, this discovery was an important eye-opener, and in the long run a beneficial and positive one, but it’s been hard on me. I won’t deny it. And the fact that it has caused me to neglect almost all the things I love (except coffee), has been cause for why I’ve been spending my days feeling like I’m in a rut. My disposition hasn’t been the brightest because of it.

This blog is one of the things that suffered most from this period, and I hated this fact knowing I had promised myself to make this blog better than it was last year. I sure as hell couldn’t keep that promise if I could not even find the time to post. At the start of the year after the “discovery”, I had so many terrible emotions rolling through me that only added to the physical and mental exhaustion I was experiencing from work. A great deal of my time was spent hating the people responsible for this whole mess. There was too much work to be done to rectify the situation, and I was constantly beat and dispirited. I was so burnt-out in just about all aspects of my being that I spent weeks not baking at all. I’ve never been the type to spend idle days, but that was all I wanted to do then: Lie down, try to get restful sleep, forget about everything.

I had been shaken out of my character.

Continue reading for the recipe >>

{Countdown to Christmas} My first panettone

Posted in Baking Recipes, Bread-making, Christmas & holidays, My favourite things, Yeasted breads by

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8205/8233259637_68782bc4ed_b.jpg

I think one of the best things in life is breakfast. I can’t seem to survive the day without it. Mornings composed of coffee and some form of bread are perfectly blissful in my book. Oh, and silence. I like to take my breakfast with a side of that. When I think about it, my being a morning person has its perks. I get to have mornings to myself. The rest of the day tend to be filled with people and noise, endlessly ringing telephones, paperwork scattered all over the place. The evenings are filled with family stories and laughter, which of course is always a pleasure. Then again, I still love my tranquil mornings the most.

Last year, an uncle of mine gave us this giant loaf of panettone about a week before Christmas, and it was the best panettone I’ve had so far. It had just the right hint of citrus, and the perfect amount of nuts and dried fruit. I ate it every single morning toasted and with a piping hot mug of coffee. I remember this nice sense of contentment settling over me during those days. I don’t know how else to explain it. Usually my peace of mind comes to me during breakfast-time, maybe because my brain hasn’t turned on all the way yet; the spinning of the gears haven’t gone full speed ahead. Or maybe those quiet moments simply are my tiny pieces of paradise.

Breakfast is undoubtedly my favourite meal of the day, but there are times when even your favourite moments get elevated into something else entirely, you know? Somewhere between savouring the panettone and thinking about nothing at all, I had promised myself I’d attempt to recreate a panettone as delicious the following year. Continue reading for the recipe

{Go With the Flo} Lemon-Scented Pull-Apart Coffee Cake- an all-time fave!

Posted in Baking Recipes, From the books, Bread-making, The Breakfast Bin, Go With the Flo, Lemon Obsession, My favourite things, Yeasted breads by

I’m sure we all have that one beloved food item; the one that makes us swoon or feeble in the knees just thinking about it. I was pretty sure mine was going to involve dark chocolate, and yet I have proven my self-control in the presence of it again and again. And although dark chocolate is definitely one of the things I find hard to resist, I can’t say it is my kryptonite. The more I baked, the more recipes I completed, and the more food I photographed, the more I began to realize what was.

I have a weakness for almost everything lemon-flavoured.

Continue reading for the recipe

{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.

Continue reading for the recipe

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.

Continue reading for the recipe