Wholewheat Poolish Artisan Buns

My recent trip to the new Library@Vivo City brought me back a baking book - The French Baker. The book has many good pastry recipes, which was difficult to resist.

For a bread lover like me, the first attempt was to try his Semi-sourdough bread. The second attempt, I baked into smaller buns and added wholemeal flours. The crumbs were soft and light. I really like the flavour. I think I might end up with buying this book to keep!
Wholewheat Poolish Buns, adapted from The French Baker.
(Makes 9 buns)

Ingredients:
Poolish
100g Water
100g Plain flour
3g Yeast

Main dough
100g Wholewheat, coarse
300g Plain flour
200g Water (or slightly more)
6g Yeast
12g Fine Sea Salt

Method:
Poolish:
1. Put yeast and water in a medium bowl and stir till fully dissolved.
2. Add the flour and whisk gently until a soft sticky paste forms.
3. Cover with cloth or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Main dough:
1. Place flour, water, salt and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix on low speed for 10mins.
2. Add the poolish, increase speed to medium and knead for another 10mins or until the dough comes away from the side of the bowl.
3. Do the windowpane test.
4. Then cover the dough with a cloth in a bowl and set aside in a warm place to prove for 45mins.
5. When the dough has risen, knock it down, then fold the sides towards the centre to remove as much gas as possible.
6. Cover and set aside for another 45mins, or until double in size. Then knock the dough down again.
7. The dough is now ready to be divided and balled.
8. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough equally into 9. Approximately 132g for each dough.
9. Take a portion of the dough in the cupped palm of your hand and flatten slightly. Then bring the outside edges into the middle and pinch to seal. Turn the ball over and drag the base over the work surface several times.
10. Place the balls, seam side down on a lightly floured tray, cover with a cloth and set aside to prove for 1-1 1/2hrs or double in size.

11. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 240C at least 30mins before baking.
12. To check if the dough is ready, gently push it with the palm of your, it should feel soft but the dough should still spring back to its original shape.
13. Dust a little flour over the top of dough. Using a sharp paring knife, score the dough at the sides or the middle.

14. Place on the bottom shelf of the oven and spray water into the oven for 5 secs, then quickly close the oven door.
15. Bake for 20mins. To check if the bread is ready, open the oven door and tap the crust with your index fingers. The bread is ready when the crust feels hard and the bun sounds hollow and dry.
16. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before consuming.

The original attempt of his Pain Sur Poolish. I was satisfied with the crumbs of this recipe, which made me attempt it again...and again.

Mushroom Soup on Wholemeal Bread Bowl

I have been neglecting this blog for quite a while. Have been busy with repeated bakes, attending workshops and also watching my Korean dramas. All these are pretty addictive. On this public holiday, I have decided to make bread bowl soup for lunch for my children. I like to explore baking foods.

I was glad the food turned out pretty well though I would like my soup to be thicker. I guessed I must've added a bit more water. But the overall taste was good. And everyone polished off their bread bowls too!

Recipe for Mushroom Soup on Wholemeal Square Bread Bowl

(Serves 6 persons)

Wholemeal Square Bread Bowls, modified from here.

(Makes four 4" square bread loaves)

Ingredients:

50g Wholemeal flour

450g Bread flour

40g Castor sugar

9g Salt

50g LIV unsalted butter

360g Fresh milk

6g Instant yeast

Method :

1. Mix all ingredients (except butter) into a dough using low speed for 3mins.

2. Add in the butter and continue to knead until the dough is pliable (smooth, soft and elastic), about 5-6mins on medium speed.

3. Shape into a ball, cover to rest dough for about 1 hour or double in size.   

4. Flatten the dough into a rectangular shape.  Divide equally into 8, approximately 140g each. 

5. Pre-shape it and let it rest for 10mins. 

6. Roll up swiss-roll style and tighten the dough.

7. Place 2 doughs into one loaf pan.

8. Cover and leave to proof for about 50-60 minutes.

9. Bake in a preheated oven, fan forced, at 200°C for 30 minutes with cover. (I baked them on a baking stone, on the lowest rack.)

10. Remove from the mould and let it cool completely before slicing.

Mushroom Soup

4 punnets of Button mushrooms (a mixed of brown and white), approximate 150g each, sliced

2 large Onions, sliced

1 cube Chicken vegetable stock

1.5 litres Water

400ml Cream (I used heavy cream)

Olive oil

4 cloves Garlic, chopped

Method:

1. Heat up a medium pot on low. Add olive oil.

2. When it's hot, add chopped garlic to cook till browned. Add onions and cooked till soft.

3. Add in mushrooms and cooked till it reduced to half the quantity, and soft. Turn up the heat to medium.

4. Spoon out 5 tablespoon of mushrooms to keep for later.

5. Add in the water and chicken vegetable stock. Close the lid and let it simmer on medium heat.

6. Lower the fire. Use a handheld blender to blend the soup. Then add in the mushrooms from #4.

7. On low heat, add in the cream, and stir.

8. Simmer and bring it to a boil, then turn off the heat.

Prepare the Bread Bowl

1. Cut the loaf bread two 2, each about a height of 2".

2. Use a short knife, cut into the bread about 1 cm from the sides. Then cut into quarters into the centre.

3. Remove the soft breads to make a hole in the centre.

4. Spread the sides with butter.

5. Toast the bread lightly to make it crispy so as to hold the soup.

6. Toast in fan forced oven at 160C for 8 mins.

7. Remove immediately.

8. Scoop the mushroom soup directly into the bread bowl.

9. Sprinkle with black pepper and serve.

Enjoy!

Whole wheat Rye Artisan Boules

It is still in my interest to bake artisan breads. Breads that command a longer fermentation with little or no sugar and yeast. I referenced "Flour Water Salt and Yeast" by Ken Forkish for this bread. The recipe was adapted from his Whole wheat loaf. Somehow, I mixed in coarse and fine whole wheat with the quantity of water stated, and the dough was way too wet. So I added more plain flour until I do not know the exact quantities anymore. I have to admit, the bread turned out to be really good. Unfortunately, I do not know how to replicate this bread again. >_<"

I did twice stretch and fold with an interval of 30mins each. Then I put it into the fridge for 24hours for cold fermentation. After 24hours, I took out from the fridge and divide it into two, weighing about 548g each. And let it proof in floured bannetton for a further 45mins. Then I baked it in a pre-heated oven of 220C with dutch oven. Dutch oven here refers to the dough being enclosed in a "container", trapping the steam within. After 20mins, I removed the dutch oven and continue baking it on baking stone for a further of 20mins at 200C.

The bread turned out to be really crispy outside and soft inside. It produced a crackling sound when removed from the oven. I am proud that the crust was very well baked. And one of the boule has a pretty scoring. I hope I can continue my artisan bread baking as none of my family likes this type of breads.

Pandan Buns

It has been a while since I updated my blog. For the past two months, I had been really busy and lazy. My helper had gone back for her home leave during the one month school holiday. On top of it, I was hospitalised for a couple of days due to colon inflammation. It wasn't a "productive" month for me in terms of cooking and baking. I have since recovered and have resumed my normal activities. Life has resumed since my helper is back, school has started and work continues.

My friend passed me some of her organic homegrown pandan leaves a while ago. Luckily, her leaves survived well in my fridge. I was able to extract them and made them into Pandan Buns. The kitchen was very fragrant when it was baking. The buns were soft and fluffy, but not light though. 

Recipe for Pandan Buns, modified from Super Soft Bread from Victoria Bakes.
(Makes 17 regular buns)

Ingredients:
520g Bread flour
6g Instant dry yeast
380g Hydration (28g pandan extract + 25g coconut cream + 140g whipping cream and topped up the rest with full cream milk)
60g Caster sugar
4g Fine salt
65g butter

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients, except butter, together and knead till you get a silky and elastic dough. Approximately 3 mins on low speed.
2. Incorporate butter and knead till window pane stage (crucial). Approximately 8mins on medium-high speed. Test for window pane.
3. Let the dough rest for 15mins on the table top, covered with a cloth or cling wrap.

4. Weigh each dough to be 62g (approximately 60-62g). It will yield about 17 pieces.
5. Shape it round, and placed in a tray pan, spacing them out.

6. Let it proof for about 45mins. 
7. At 45th mins, pre-heat oven to 170C.
8. Meanwhile, brush the dough with milk.

9. When the oven is ready, about 15mins later, bake in the lower rack for 16mins, tenting the bread if needed during the last 2 mins.

Serve with kaya or just simply eat it plain.

Super Soft Bread (Just one proofing)

Irony sets in. After taking the time and effort to learn about Artisan breads, where long fermentation is required to produce a flavourful and healthier bread, now I prefer to bake easy sweet dough breads.

On Sunday where I decided to bake an easy and fast bread loaves, I came across Victoria Bakes' post on this "Killer Toast" with just one proofing. This was the perfect recipe given the time I can spare in the morning. I agree that this was really a very soft bread when it's mixed till the window pane stage. This is a keeper for me. Please read her notes on the hydration which is really useful.
Recipe for Super Soft Bread loaves, adapted from Victoria Bakes.
(Makes 2 regular loaves, where I made 1 regular and 2 half sized)

Ingredients:
520g Bread flour
6g Instant dry yeast
340g-360g Hydration (2 eggs + whipping cream + full cream milk)
60g Caster sugar (20g if making a salty toast)
4g Fine salt (12g for salty toast)
60g butter

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients, except butter, together and knead till you get a silky and elastic dough. Approximately 4 mins on low speed.
2. Incorporate butter and knead till window pane stage (crucial). Approximately 8mins on medium-high speed for me.

3. Divide the dough into 8 portions, weighing about 127g each. Then roll out flat and roll up like swiss roll, and place into greased loaf pan (or non-stick). 4 portions into regular loaf pan, and 2 each into the half pan.
4. Let it rise till dough reaches 90% of height of pan, approximately 50-60mins.
5. At 50mins' time, pre-heat oven to 170C.
6. Bake in the lowest rack for 30mins, tenting the bread with foil if it browns too quickly. Where I tent it after 13mins, and continue baking it.

Note:

• I used 100g eggs with 80g whipping cream and topped up to 340g liquid with the full cream milk. However, upon mixing, the initial dough was not incorporated, meaning, more liquid is required.
• I added another 20g of milk, therefore, the dough became wet.
• After I divided the dough, I rounded it up lightly and started to roll the out flat. The dough was still a little wet. So I floured the worktop lightly to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter top. Then it was easier to roll.
• The window pane stage took longer than other recipe to reach. But it does produce a really soft bread with visible streaks.

Grissini

I always look forward to Christmas mainly because I will get excited about preparing Christmas meal for my in-laws and my family. The usual menu will include appetizer, mains will be turkey and dessert. Sometimes, I will also prepare drinks. And of course, I will seek my helper's assistance in the kitchen for the cutting and washing. I usually do the baking myself.

For the appetizer for my in-laws this year, I decided to make a sour cream dip. In order to go with the dip, I made Grissini. It was my first time making this. I'm not a big fan of hard and crispy cookies or breads. But I figured Grissini will taste good with dips, and it was confirmed when my family loved the combination so much.

Recipe for Grissini, adapted from Alex Goh's "The World of Bread."
(Makes at least 20 sticks, depending on your length. I have a mix of short and long)

Ingredients:
250g Bread flour
2 tsps Instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
150g Cool water
35g Shortening

Method:
1. Mix all, except shortening, in low speed to form a rough dough.
2. Add shortening and continue on medium speed to mix to form a smooth elastic dough. Approximately 5mins.
3. Place the dough in a bowl, cover it and let it proof for 45mins.
4. Mould the dough into a ball, let it rest for 15mins.
5. Roll out the dough into a rectangle (L12cm x W50cm).
6. Cut the dough into strips (W1cm x 12cm).
7. Moist the palm lightly with water before rolling the dough. Stretch the dough strips slightly, roll them out about 18cm long then roll them in sesame seeds.
8. Put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and brush them with water and sprinkle with salt. (I omitted the salt).
9. Let them rest for 10mins then bake at 220C for 15mins.
10. Allow them to cool, then bake at 120C for another 15mins to make them dry and crispy.
11. Serve, or keep them in air-tight container to be served later.
To make sour cream dip, fried 2 slices of bacon till crispy, then cut them into coarse pieces. Blend 2 cups of sour cream (400ml) with bacon bits, spring onions and smoked paprika until finely. To have more variety for the dip, prepare carrot strips, cucumber strips, cooked prawns and Grissini. Enjoy the feast!

Pain á lÁncienne Rustic Bread (Ciabatta)

After trying out the Classic French Bread, I moved on to another similar bread from Peter Reinhart's artisan breads every day. This bread has higher water hydration (80% hydration) and is more difficult to handle compared to classic bread. However, the crumbs were more holey and the bread was really light. 

Recipe for Pain á lÁncienne Rustic Bread (Ciabatta), adapted from "artisan breads every day" by Peter Reinhart.
(Makes 3 large loaves, or 8 small loaves)

Ingredients:
567g Bread flour

4g Instant yeast

11g Salt

454g Cold water
14g Olive oil

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients, except oil, in a mixing bowl. Use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 1 min. The dough should form a coarse shaggy ball. Let it rest, uncovered, for 5 mins to fully hydrate the flour.
2. Drizzle olive oil over the dough. Then mix on medium-low speed for 1 min. The dough should become smoother but will still be very soft, sticky and wet. 
3. Use a wet scraper to transfer the dough to a clean lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest at room temperature for 10 mins.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface. With wet or oiled hands, reach under the front end of the dough, stretch it out, then fold it back onto the top of the dough. Do this from the back end and then from each, then flip the dough and over it into a ball.
5. The dough should be significantly firmer, though still very soft and fragile. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover, and let sit at room temperature for 10 mins. Repeat this process three more times, completing all repetitions within 40 mins.
6. After the final stretch and fold, immediately cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days. 
7. On baking day: Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 hours before you plan to bake. Generously dust the baking tray with flour. Gently transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, taking care to degas it as little as possible.
8. Dust the top surface of the dough with flour. Using a scraper, gently divide the dough into 3 square, taking care to degas it as little as possible.
9. With floured hands, gently fold the dough in thirds, like folding a letter but without applying any pressure. Gently roll the folded dough in the dusting flour to coat it, then lift the dough and place it on the baking tray. Rest the dough seam side down on the tray. 
10. Let it proof at room temperature for 1 hour or when increased to 1 1/2 times its original size.

11. Preheat oven to 230C with a baking stone. After 10mins, placed a pan of water into the oven and let it boil.
12. Place the baking tray on the baking stone and bake at 230C with steam for 15mins. After 15mins, remove the pan with water. Rotate the pan and continue baking for at 210C for 10-12mins. The bread should puff up and the crust should be hard when tapped. 

13. Cool the bread on a wire rack for at least 45mins or completely before slicing.

Similar to Classic French breads, I tried two separate time - one with baking on the same day and the other with overnight fermentation. Both crumbs turned out really good. Use this bread for sandwich and load them with loads of fillings as a meal. It's really good!

Brioche Loaf

After the success baking of Lavender Yogurt Bread from Alex Goh's book, I wanted to bake more from this new book I bought. So next was Brioche Loaf. The brioche turned out to be really fragrant and buttery. During proofing, the oil from the butter actually leaked out from the loaf pan. :p The dough was easy to manage and the overall result was really good. Even my family love it too. The bread remained soft even after a few days. 

Recipe for Brioche Loaves, adapted from "The Art of Making Bread" 无添加剂面包 by Alex Goh.
(Makes 2 regular loaves)

Ingredients:
Sponge dough
100g Bread flour
1/4 tsp Instant yeast
70g Cold milk

1. Mix them together and knead to form a dough. 
2. Cover it with cling wrap and leave to ferment for an hour.
3. Keep it in the refrigerator for 12-16 hours. 

Main dough

380g Bread flour

120g Plain flour

10g Instant yeast

80g Caster sugar
8g Salt

180g Cold milk
2 Cold egg yolks
1 Cold egg
240g Unsalted butter, room temperature

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients, including sponge dough, except butter, in a mixing bowl. Using a dough hook, knead to form a dough.
2. Add butter in 2 additions and knead till smooth and elastic. Place a cold rag around the mixing bowl to prevent the dough temperature from rising too high. 
3. Mould it round and palce in a bowl, cover it with cling wrap. Leave to ferment for 45mins.

4. Divide the dough into 8 portions, about 160g each and mould them round. Leave it to rest for 10mins.
5. Flatten the dough, then make 3 fold. Flatten lightly and roll it up like swiss roll.

6. Put the 4 dough each into the rectangular regular loaf pan.

7. Leave it to proof for 45mins.
8. Meanwhile, heat up the oven to 190C.
9. Use scissors to cut the centre and place some butter in the cut portion.

10. Bake at 220C on the lowest rack for 26mins. Tent the bread after 13mins if the top turns dark.

11. Remove from the loaf pan immediately after baking. Cool completely before slicing.
12. Toast lightly before consuming to give it a better texture.