Eggless Chocolate Banana Cake

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas

180g sugar

1 tsp vinegar

120ml oil

1 tsp vanilla

262g all purpose flour

45g cocoa powder

120ml water

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

nuts as needed

chocolate chips for garnishing

Directions

• mash bananas and sugar
• add oil, vanilla, vinegar and whisk till combine well
• sieve in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mix well
• add in water and mix again
• add in chopped nuts and mix gently
• pour batter into baking pan and sprinkle chocolate chips
• bake at 180°C for 40-60min (till skewer comes clean)

Foodnote: Since I have all the ingredients, including frozen bananas, I decided to bake this. Found recipe from here. I added almonds and 2 1/2 bananas just to clear it. Process is very easy since I don't need to use mixer. Baked 2 cakes since I have 5 frozen bananas. One is to gift my brother since he is gifting me a 4kg garoupa.

2nd cake I added shredded carrots leftovers hehe. It is so yummeh... taste like fudgy brownie.

Easy Creamy Coleslaw

Ingredients

cabbage

purple cabbage

carrot

Japanese mayonnaise

apple cider vinegar

white pepper powder

honey

condense milk (optional)

Directions

• shred cabbage, purple cabbage and carrot into a large bowl
• in another bowl, mix mayonnaise, acv, pepper, honey and condense milk to taste
• mix all ingredients together and keep refrigerated

Foodnote: Bought shredded veggies to eat with peanut sauce given by my cousin but decided to make coleslaw with the balance. This is just a basic recipe but still tasted so good to me. Original recipe added dijon mustard but I just use whatever I have on hand. Added condense milk because that is what I have it in the fridge and I want a creamy coleslaw. Will make this more often. Can just keep it refrigerated and munch whenever I feel lazy 😅

Kue Pukis

Ingredients

2 eggs (room temperature)

175g sugar

250g flour

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

100g melted butter

yellow colouring (optional)

370ml warm coconut milk

40g condensed milk

1 tsp instant yeast

toppings: chocolate rice or cheese etc.

Directions

• in a bowl add eggs and sugar... beat in high speed till creamy and sugar is dissolved
• add vanilla, sifted flour, yeast, condensed milk and warm coconut milk
• blend till all ingredients are well combined and smooth
• add in the melted butter and blend again till fully combined
• finally add yellow coloring
• cover the bowl (cling wrap or wet towel) and let it rest for 1hr
• after 1hr the mixture will thickened... mix using a spatula
• pour into measuring cup so it will be easier to pour into teflon mould
• heat teflon in very low heat and brush lightly with butter
• pour batter into 3/4 full into each cup and cover 
• only fill the middle cup after 2min as it will cook faster
• while half cook (2min), sprinkle chocolate rice and cover again
• cook till bottom is light golden brown

.

Foodnote: Have always wanted to try this... even though the name of the kueh is errr weird ahaha. It tasted nice and turn out soft and fluffy. Very easy to make so I will make this more often. In fact I made it again but this time using rainbow hearts sprinkles because I don't have chocolate rice and don't want to buy it hehe. I think it looks so pretty... 

Sourdough Breads

1. Cheese + Jalapeno
2. Cranberries + Mixed Citrus Peel + Almonds

• Murasaki Botan Japanese unbleached flour
• 74% hydration (224g instead of 210g water for each bread)
• 3hr bulk fermentation

Foodnote: Very nice, soft and good crumbs. Dough is easy to handle and feels good. First time trying cheese + jalapeno and it turns out nice. Smells like pizza but bread is flatter perhaps due to the inclusions. As usual, dry inclusions turns out very well. Happy with both breads.

Baguettes (Poolish)

Ingredients 

Poolish (night before)

1g instant yeast

125g warm water

125g bread flour

Dough (next morning)

300g bread flour

5g salt

1g instant yeast

140g warm water

Directions

• mix poolish ingredients and let it sit overnight in a covered bowl at room temperature
• poolish should be very bubbly the next day to indicate active yeast
• add water to the poolish and mix in the dry ingredients
• let the dough sit in the bowl covered for 10min
• stretch and fold the dough 4x at 10min interval
• let it proof for 1hr
• punch down the dough and divide into 3 equal parts
• fold and roll each dough and rest for 15min covered in damp cloth
• shape the dough into baguette and transfer to baguette tray
• let it rest for 1hr covered with damp cloth
• meanwhile pre-heat oven to 240C
• score the baguette, spray with water and bake for 20-25min till desired color (add ice to bottom tray to create steam. Remove ice tray after 10min. Reduce the temperature to 200C at 15min)
• let the bread cool fully on a wire rack before slicing

Foodnote: Love baguettes and going to keep trying to find good recipes. Trying this recipe. This is a good recipe. Dough is easy to handle and steps is very clear. I still need to improve on my shaping and scoring but overall this is good. The smell of baking bread is always so good. Will definitely make it again... perhaps maybe I divide the dough into 4? Make the baguette skinnier 😊

The poolish makes the bread soft and really yummy nom nom nom... Will stick to this recipe for baguette for now. Might try to add diastatic malt next time.

Pumpkin Sourdough Bread

Ingredients

300g bread flour

100g active sourdough starter

6g salt

250g pumpkin puree

50g pumpkin seeds

Directions

• in a bowl, mix flour with salt
• add starter and pumpkin puree and stir well
• transfer to mixer and using dough hook, mix for 10min
• transfer back to bowl and rest for 30min
• do first coil fold and rest for 30min
• add pumpkin seeds 1/4 at a time while doing coil fold and rest another 30min
• do 3rd coil fold and rest till dough double in size
• transfer into floured surface and shape
• put into proofing basket, cover with plastic
• leave in chiller for 8 up to 48hrs till ready to bake
• pre-heat oven and dutch oven to 230C
• transfer to silicon mat, score and transfer to dutch oven
• insert ice into flap of dutch oven
• bake for 30mins covered
• remove lid and bake at 200C for another 15min

Foodnote: I have pumpkin seeds and been wanting to try and make pumpkin sourdough bread. Found this simple recipe from here. Weather is good and sunny... have bought pumpkin from the supermarket to make into puree. Starter is still active so it became another bread day. However, I only managed to get 230g of puree so I added 20g water. Turns out good. 

The smell of baking bread is marvellous as always and love that it is a bit rounded and not flat. There is not much oven spring but I am good with it.

It was a rushing day. While cooling the bread, I went out for walk. A friend message me that she have extra ticket for Perfect Timing by Dr Omar Suleiman. So I decided to bless half of the bread for her. Reached home late so I only managed to taste the bread the next day. Lightly toast it on my non stick pan and slather it with my favorite Lurpak butter.

Ok... it is so delicious oh my. Definitely will make this again 😘👌!

Summary of Sourdough Bread: Step by Step

Directions 

Day 1: Sourdough Starter 

• (eg. require 140g starter. Always make a bit extra)
• half feeding in morning (eg. 20S+20W+20BF) 
• final half feeding in evening (eg. 50W+50BF) 
• (to accelerate process, put in oven with lights on)
• feeding of active starter ratio 1S:2W:2BF

Day 2: Prepare Dough 

• measure and mix all dry ingredients in a bowl eg. all flour, salt and diastatic malt (optional)
• add distilled water and starter and mix to shaggy dough 
• rest for 1 hr
• 3x stretch & fold every 30min (add additions at 2nd fold)
• check gluten development (window pane) if still not ready, do coil fold
• proof till size increase by 25% (total 3-8hrs or 12-24hrs if using unfed starter) 
• transfer on working surface (divide if required) and gently round with scraper making a tight loaf
• rest 20min
• meanwhile lightly flour banetton with rice flour 
• gently shape a tight dough and transfer to banetton
• cover with plastic and leave in fridge to cold retard for 8hr up to 48hr 

Day 3: Bake 

• pre-heat oven 240C no fan together with dutch oven for minimum for 45min to 1hr 
• transfer dough into freezer for 30min to firm up and help with scoring
• transfer dough to parchment or silicon paper 
• rub surface of dough with rice flour
• score deep enough for oven spring
• transfer into hot dutch oven and spray with water... quickly cover the dutch oven
• bake for 20min covered and lower oven to 230C and bake uncovered for another 15-20min till desired color 
• *Internal temperature for cooked sourdough bread should be 96-98°C
• cool on rack for > 1hr before slicing 

Optimal Sourdough Starter Preparation

Ratio 1:5:5

• divide required amount of starter by 2 eg. for 300g, use 150g BF: 150g W
• take 10% of 300g... so we need 30g starter
• use all sourdough starter once fully active or peaked

7min tips to get an Ear

• before baking, score bread as usual
• after 7min of baking, take out the bread and do a second score near the small "ear"
• continue baking
• ie. for a controlled scoring, score deeper at specific parts of bread after 5min of baking

Tips for better oven spring

• pre-heat dutch oven for 1hr
• immediately after putting in dutch oven+dough into the oven, turn off the oven for 20min
• turn on the oven 240C and continue baking for 20min or so and bake with open dutch oven till desired color

Click here for my go to regular recipe.

Foodnote: Usually I use prima unbleached bread flour. The above bread is baked with bob's mill unbleached bread flour. 

Chocolate Cherries Sourdough Bread

Ingredients

350g bread flour 

40g cocoa powder

320g water

80g active starter 

8g salt

5g diastatic malt

Inclusions:

leftover cherries

semi-sweet chocolate chips

Foodnote: Recipe here. So I bought Cacao Barry cocoa powder to try due to the good reviews. It really smells amazing. Found this simple recipe however could be due to my technique, the bread ends up flat. Is it due to the inclusions? Will keep trying and learning.

Taste wise... it is ok with strong cocoa taste. Nice to bite into the cherries though. It taste awesome with cream cheese. Hhmmm will try chocolate cheddar sourdough bread.