Flo Braker’s pull-apart bread in Herb & Cheese style

Posted in Baking Recipes, Bread-making, From the books, Go With the Flo, My favourite things, Yeasted breads by Clarisse Shaina

Among the homemade yeasted breads I’ve made thus far, I think the pull-apart bread is quickly making its way to the top of my heart. Fortunately, all the recipes I have tried for this particular type of bread have been nothing short of stellar. While my favourite remains to be Flo Braker’s heavenly Lemon-Scented Pull-Apart Coffee Cake, this version is no less scrumptious.

This is basically the same bread recipe as Flo Braker’s, but instead of the sweet and tangy lemon filling, we switch it up in favour of the savory. Each bite is a warm explosion of garlic and herbs, intensified by the slight salty punch from the cheese. A little bit of salt and pepper rounds up this wonderful play of flavours. The herb I used was purely basil, but I sprinkled the bread with some Italian seasoning for good measure. The mouth-watering smell that emanated from the oven because of this combination of herbs is enough to drive a hungry man mad. I’m not even kidding.
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12Aug2012

A slice of apple pie a day keeps insanity away

Posted in Autumn baking, Baking Recipes, Must-Makes from Martha, Pies & Tarts, Timeless Treats by Clarisse Shaina

Things have been crazy around here.

The effects of the flood have not, to put it mildly, been pretty. In fact, looking at the aftermath of it is depressing. We’ve packed a lot of old clothes and shoes for the relief drive, but on a personal level, the damage and loss we have sustained in our own family company is also brutal. Let’s just say we’ve been cleaning for three days non-stop and haven’t even made it to a quarter of the stocks and other things that need to be rescued. The paperwork on my desk is slowly piling up, neglected in favour of other more dire priorities. I reckon it will take about a month to get everything back in their original state, but I hardly feel like I am in a position to complain. I have to be resilient, just like everyone else. Just like those who received a worse beating from this storm.

A more optimistic picture after this horrible flood. I don’t have the heart to document anything else.

It amazes me how two very opposite things can happen in the same week– on the same day even. On Thursday the rains finally heaved its last sigh and it took only a few hours for the flood in our area to disappear completely. In the morning the streets had looked like a lake and come afternoon it was dried out, leaving not even a single sign that there had been a deluge. But it has certainly left something in me at the end of this week: a severe tiredness; and some paranoia with any sound that resembles that of rain. Every time the trees outside my window so much as rustle, I look up to see if it is raining again. Things are not normal yet despite how they may appear; not by a long shot.

But a dash of good cheer: One of the more admirable things about people is their ability to pick up the pieces after the storm is done and move on. That’s always the case isn’t it? You either carry on with your life and do the best you can, or let the negativity weigh you down and carry you off into a bad place. I choose the first option of course, and though it may be tiring at times, no one ever disallowed taking breaks to shake off the weariness.

Today is a Sunday, and in preparation for another long period of cleaning this coming week, all I want to do today is watch The Newsroom, play Rockband 3, visit a bookstore, and write about apple pie. Not necessarily in that order.
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23May2012

On bread-braiding and BBQ Chicken

Posted in Baking Recipes, Bread-making, The Breakfast Bin, Yeasted breads by Clarisse Shaina

Among the important life lessons I’ve learned so far, one of my favourites is how sometimes the things we fear, once overcome, can turn into things we grow to love and cherish. I think this is the sort of relationship I have with yeast. I used to be so afraid of failing with it, always getting ahead of myself in imagining all sorts of possible mishaps, that I turn into such a nervous mess whenever I start the recipe. My fear prevented me from getting into my usual concentrated calm that helps me make sense of what I’m baking. My first few attempts at making yeast breads were major disasters, most of which were heart-breaking enough to make me want to give up. I may not want to relive those experiences, but these are one of the few situations I am glad I was born stubborn.

Ever since I started making yeast breads successfully, I’ve had this insatiable urge to make every kind of yeast bread I possibly can. It’s become my favourite thing to bake. Every time I come up with good bread, the feeling of pride and triumph is incomparable. I don’t mind if I spend a whole day in the kitchen, or if the recipe stretches several days just to accomplish; as long as the result is good, it’s all worth it. Let’s take this braided bread for instance.

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3Mar2012

{Dearly Dreaming Dorie} Flakiness is occasionally a good thing

Posted in Baking Recipes, Dearly Dreaming Dorie, From the books, Pies & Tarts by Clarisse Shaina

And by that, I most definitely am not referring to people. Flaky people are one of the worst, and I don’t even want to go into detail because that would have to be a whole blog post on its own (I’ve got a lot of experience from my university days, believe me). But flaky pastries? Now that is the only good kind of flaky in my book. Wouldn’t you agree?

It’s funny how carefully I am going through Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook. I believe the correct term for what I am doing is savouring her book. Baking the recipes one by one is perhaps a testament to my love, positive review, and glowing recommendation of her cookbook. All the recipes I have made so far have been scrumptious, and I have been really pleased with the enthusiastic feedback from family and friends. I wanted to try something a little different instead of my usual quick breads and cookies, and it just so happened that I was in the mood for something flaky.

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6Jan2012

An ode to my newfound love for Sriracha

Posted in Baking Recipes, Bread-making, My favourite things, Yeasted breads by Clarisse Shaina

You can say it, I’m a loser. How could I have gone on this long without discovering the wonders of Sriracha? And to think I live in Asia! But you know what they say, better late than never! This is such a curious way for me to get acquainted with the Thai hot sauce though, isn’t it? As a filling for a swirl bread. I have come across the word Sriracha a few times already, even bookmarking a few cooking recipes with it as an ingredient, but I never actually tried it out until I came across this recipe. I was so intrigued by the fact that this bread has a swirl of cheese and hot sauce inside that I knew I just had to make it.