Mayer Breadmaker - Wholemeal bread / White bread / Sugar twist bread

I have made bread 3 times this week trying different recipes.

2 are from Carol 自在生活.

Wholemeal bread

Ingredients

180ml cold water
14g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
250g bread flour
30g wholemeal flour
3g (3/4 tsp) instant dry yeast
28g unsalted butter

(Quite a bit of butter here.)

Proofing.
Using soft bread, 500g, dark crust.

Wholemeal Bread, added tiny bits of walnuts.

http://caroleasylife.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-post_12.html

White bread

Ingredients

165-170ml cold water
20g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
250g bread flour
2g (1/2 tsp) instant dry yeast
15g unsalted butter

(Less butter.)

Proofing.
Using soft bread, 500g, dark crust.

Top with a bit of white sesame seeds. This is a very small loaf.

Both recipes are reasonably soft. Still looking for the best one.

http://caroleasylife.blogspot.com/2015/04/blog-post_4.html

Sugar twist bread

Wanted to try making this bread that I often buy from bakery.

Can refer here for the shaping part, though I'm not using the same recipe.
http://mymindpatch.blogspot.sg/2015/03/sugar-twister-bread.html
http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/2016/08/twisty-sugar-bread-bread-and-chiffon-classes-alert/

I used back the first recipe I have tried. I like that it uses vegetable oil. Healthier.

Ingredients

160g cold water
45g raw sugar (I use white sugar)
3g salt
20g coconut oil (I use vegetable oil)
210g bread flour
50g top/cake flour
3/4 tsp instant dry yeast

http://mymindpatch.blogspot.sg/2016/05/breadmaker-amish-white-bread.html

Select Ferment Dough which takes 1 hour 30 minutes.

It will knead continuously for 25 minutes and then stop for 1st proofing.

End of proofing.

First time shaping and baking bread in oven ever since I bought the breadmaker.

Dough is a little sticky. Shaping not very well done though. There's always a first time!

(Wanted to take photos on the shaping part. But very troublesome.)

Take the dough out, punch out the air, and divide into 4 equal portions. Roll into balls and rest for 15 minutes.

Roll each portion into a long rope shape until length is twice of pan. Hold the 2 ends and twist until tight. Then join the 2 ends and seal.

Leave it to proof for 45 minutes. This is how it looks.

Brush with egg and sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake in oven at 170 deg C for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Home-baked sugar twist bread!

Soft and smells good just like from bakery!

New Mayer Breadmaker - Amish white bread / Basic white bread / Pumpkin bread

I'm starting breadmaking all over again!

After contemplating for the longest time, I bought a Mayer Breadmaker, immediately after I saw a great deal online!

Ever since the previous breadmaker broken down, I'm afraid to invest in another one. Afraid that it will break down without using much (the previous spoilt in less than 3 years). Afraid that I will not use it frequently as time goes on.

Still I have been waiting for promotions for breadmakers, searching online shopping websites for any good deals, and even thought of getting from Taobao. Looking for a basic and cheaper one to play with.

Finally, I saw the great deal and bought without hesistation! From a carousell seller who got it as free gift. It's brand new at $60! Model is MMBM12 (750g). Glove included.

It has been 1 week since I bought the breadmaker. Have made bread 3 times with it and sharing over here.

First experiment with Amish white bread

I'm using the Amish White Bread recipe from My Mind Patch as I found she's using the same Mayer breadmaker. A good read to familiarize with this breadmaker.

Simple ingredients, no egg, no milk, no butter. Great for a testing a new machine.

Ingredients

160g cold water
45g raw sugar (I use white sugar)
3g salt
20g coconut oil (I use vegetable oil)
210g bread flour
50g top/cake flour
3/4 tsp instant dry yeast

1. Put in the ingredients in the order stated, water first, yeast last.
2. Select sweet bread, 500g, light crust. Total making time is 2 hours 25 minutes.
3. Kneading.
4. Proofing.
5. Just baked.
6. Out of the machine, upside down, with a hole which is where the blade is.

Noting the timeline for sweet bread:

2:25 Start mixing and kneading
2:13 Pause kneading for 5 minutes
2:08 Start kneading
2:05 Beep for adding extra ingredients
1:50 Stop kneading (Total 35 minutes) and first proofing (20 minutes)
1:30 Beep (Optional: Can pause the machine at this time, take the dough out to remove the blade, shape, and then put it back to the machine and resume proofing.)
0:45 Start baking (Do not open machine)

My first simple white bread. Not bad! Crust a bit too light, a bit moist (maybe I cut when still warm), bad slicing! Overall it's very soft, a bit chewy, and mildly sweet.

The 2 other breads I'm using recipes from this Chinese breadmaker book which I bought even before I decided on buying a breadmaker!

Basic white bread

This is the first and most basic recipe in this book. So just try. There's no oil and butter in it at all.

Ingredients

190ml cold water
20g sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
3g (3/4 tsp) instant dry yeast

1. Using soft bread, 500g, dark crust.
2. Dough seems to be a bit wet. In fact the water content seems to be slightly higher for this book.
3. Out of breadmaker. The top always not dark enough.
4. Rougher and more crumbly. Expected. Tiny bit of saltiness.

Noting the timeline for soft bread:

2:27 Start mixing and kneading
2:17 Pause kneading for 10 minutes
2:07 Start kneading
2:04 Beep for adding extra ingredients
1:50 Stop kneading (Total 37 minutes) and first proofing (20 minutes)
1:30 Beep (Optional: Can pause the machine at this time, take the dough out to remove the blade, shape, and then put it back to the machine and resume proofing.)
0:45 Start baking (Do not open machine)

Pumpkin bread

Ingredients

200g pumpkin (I used 127g (my leftover), steamed and mashed)
50g egg
60ml cold milk (I use egg + water = 100g)
30g sugar
3g salt
250g bread flour
3g (3/4 tsp) instant dry yeast
20g unsalted butter

1. Mashed pumpkin, egg and water
2. The dry ingredients (I should add the butter only after 1st kneading)
3. Using sweet bread, 500g, dark crust.
4. After kneading
5. After proofing
6. Just baked

Looks good!

Cutting out. Nice golden yellow! Some holes, due to air pockets, and maybe the pumpkin bits.

It's quite soft, and some sweetness from the pumpkin.

Will update after more experiments.

Homemade seaweed spring roll crisps

It's CNY again! Tested a small batch of deep-fried seaweed spring roll crisps few days ago. One flat type and one rolled type.

Making big batch! Decide to go with the flat type. Easier!

Process of making

Using this spring roll skin

Using this sushi type of seaweed

Lay a piece spring roll skin

Brush egg. I sprinkle white sesame seeds for more fragrance!

Press a sheet of seaweed on top

Cut into small pieces

Then deep-fried by my mum!

Done!

Adapted from: http://eatwhattonight.com/seaweed-spring-roll-crisps/

Hershey's Cocoa Chiffon Cake

So long never bake! I'm craving for a homemade cake. Here's a good Hershey's cocoa chiffon cake!

Looking perfect!

Have a slice!

Sharing the recipe here. It's a very simple chocolate chiffon cake recipe which uses only cocoa powder for the chocolate flavour. I always go for simple recipe which saves time. There's no need to melt chocolate and wash extra utensils. It also serves as a basic recipe which you can add extra for more variations. The taste is also good too. Remember to use good quality cocoa powder!

Hershey's Cocoa Chiffon Cake

Ingredients: (17cm chiffon tin)

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
40ml oil
60ml water (or milk)
45g cake flour
30g Hershey's cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

4 egg whites (or 5 egg whites if prefer taller and fluffier cake)
50g caster sugar

Method:

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
2. Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by water/milk.
3. Sift cake flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together. Add into batter. Mix until just combined. Set aside.
4. In another clean bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add in sugar gradually and continue whisking until near stiff peak.
5. Gently fold in the egg white into the egg yolk batter (in step 3) in 3 batches.
6. Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Give the tin a few slight knocks on the tabletop to remove air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 35 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack.
8. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.

Adapted from: 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手

CNY 2016: Salted Egg Yolk Cookies / Monkey German Cookies

This year's CNY baking was a very last minute one as I lost the mood and motivation to bake. I only start to read up for recipes and ideas for what I want to try this year the day before I start baking! Plan was to bake 3 types of cookies, 2 of which are new tries. I don't need to bake a lot. Just dedicate 1 day of mass baking! Wash also once! Lazy! Haha!

The ugly side of baking. Mess in the kitchen plus dining area. Small production only. My 3 types of cookie doughs.

Started with the hottest cookies this year. The Salted Egg Yolk Cookies!

Salted egg yolk in the cookies

Flowery designs for the salted egg yolk cookies. Because no black sesame seeds at home.

Oops after baking, shape not so nice liao. So this is the famous salted egg yolk cookies. The smell from the oven during baking is heavenly! Hope it tastes good!

Second cookies is what I have been baking every year since 2011!

Remember my Sheep design melt-in-mouth German cookies last year? So cute right?

Want to make monkey design for the Monkey Year. And they end up looking like this! (Idea from here). Look like or not? It's very difficult to shape as the dough is very soft.

Before it goes into the oven!

Monkey cookies done! Have to hide them away, if not sure finish up before cny!

Too tedious to make so many 'monkeys'. Do the usual shape with the remaining dough!

Last one is a type of refrigerator (icebox) cookies which I have never tried before. Mainly because it needs to chill and shape repeatedly.

Too bad I failed so badly that I feel embarrassed to show. But must keep record still. It's supposed to look like monkey, only the top left one look slightly better. The rest er... all out of shape due to me very inexperienced in baking cookies (like only once a year haha). So disappointed as it takes up the most time. It's ok. I tried! And I think I know where I went wrong. I should keep the cookies in the freezer because the cookies were not hard enough. So went out of shape when I cut.

Salted Egg Yolk Cookies 咸蛋黄酥饼

Ingredients

85g butter, softened at room temperature
40g caster sugar
125g all purpose flour
10g corn flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
2 cooked salted egg yolks, mashed

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten to glaze
black sesame seeds to sprinkle

Method

1. Using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy.

2. Sift flour, corn flour, baking powder into the butter mixture and use a spatula to mix until the flour mixture is totally absorbed into the butter mixture.

3. Then stir in the mashed salted egg yolks and gather the crumbs to form a soft pliable dough. Wrap dough in cling film and allow it to rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

4. Line baking trays with baking paper and preheat oven to 170 deg C.

5. Place dough on a lightly floured surface to roll into 3 mm thickness and cut them into shapes using your desired cookie cutter. Brush the cookies with egg yolk and sprinkle sesame seeds on them and bake for 15 mins or until golden brown.

Recipe from: Min's Blog

Monkey design Melt-in-mouth German Cookies 德式酥饼

Ingredients

125g butter, softened
40g icing sugar, sifted
125g potato starch, sifted
80g plain flour, sifted
1 tsp cocoa powder

Method

1. Beat butter and icing sugar till fluffy and lighter in colour.

2. Sift in potato starch and plain flour, mix to form a soft dough. Divide the dough into 2 portions (1 smaller and 1 larger portion). Add cocoa powder to the larger portion. Wrap and chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

3. Roll the body of the monkey 8g each using chocolate dough. Roll 2 smaller chocolate balls and place on the side of the head as ears. Roll and shape a small plain dough into banana shape, press flat and put on eye area. Roll and shape a larger plain dough into round shape, press flat and put on nose and mouth area. Use a skewer, make indentations for the eyes, nose and mouth.

4. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 15 mins, upper rack (need not bake till cookies turn brown).

I wish everyone a prosperous Monkey Year!
May all be safe and healthy!!

祝贺大家：新年快乐，猴年猴到不得了!!

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

Haven't been baking a chiffon cake successfully recently, don't know if it's due to the oven temperature. Maybe the oven is getting old and temperamental. Finally I baked a tall chiffon cake that did not lose height upon cooling. The trick is to use a lower baking temperature (for my oven).

The satisfaction of a beautiful chiffon cake!

Pumpkin gives the cake a bright yellow colour. I always prefer cakes with natural colouring with no additives. I never use baking powder or cream of tartar for my chiffon cakes. It is not necesssary to ensure a successful bake! Do give it a try!

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

Ingredients: (17cm chiffon tin)

100g pumpkin, steamed and mashed and mixed with
1-2 tbsp milk (optional, I omitted)

3 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil (I use 40g)
40ml water
80g cake flour
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon powder (I omitted)

4 egg whites
50g caster sugar (I used 40g)

Method:

1. Steam pumpkin until soft (about 10min), mashed with 1-2 tbsp of milk (adjust or omit depending on the consistency)
2. Whisk in egg yolks and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
3. Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by water.
4. Add sifted cake flour and cinnamon powder and mix until just combined. Set aside.
5. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add in sugar gradually and continue whisking until stiff peak form.
6. Gently fold in the egg white into the egg yolk batter (in step 4) in 3 batches.
7. Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Give the tin a few slight knocks on the tabletop to remove air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven at 160 deg C for 40 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack.
9. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.

Adapted from: 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手