Sourdough Starter / Levain

Ingredients

Prima plain flour (unbleached)

Perrier sparkling water

Equipment

glass or plastic container (do not use metal)

weighing scale

spatula for mixing

Day 1

25g flour + 25g water

- mix into a paste in the container

Day 2

no feeding

- bubbly and pasty smell

Day 3

add 25g flour + 25g water

- total 100g

- bubbly and thick consistency

- strong unpleasant smell

Day 4

add 100g flour + 100g water

- total 300g

- small bubble on surface

- strong unpleasant smell

Day 5

no feeding just stir

- no activity and thin consistency

- still strong unpleasant smell

Day 6

(discard 200g) + 100g flour + 100g water

- total 300g

- no activity and very thin consistency

- smell not as strong but still unpleasant

Day 7

(discard 200g) + 100g flour + 100g water

- total 300g

- some bubbles on surface

- less strong smell

Day 8

no feeding just stir

- still little bubbles

- smell like flour

Day 9

transfer to another clean container

100g sourdough (discard the rest) + 100g flour + 100g water

- same smell as Day 8 and a little bubbly

Day 10

no feeding

- little bubble and faint smell

Day 11

no feeding (forgot hehe)

Day 12

100g sourdough (discard the rest) + 100g flour + 100g water

- thin consistency and little bubble on the surface

- flour smell

Day 13

100g sourdough (keep the rest in a container in the fridge) + 100g flour + 100g water

- thick and a bit bubbly

- a little sourish smell

Day 14

100g sourdough (keep the rest in a container in the fridge) + 100g flour + 100g water

- thick and more bubbles

- nice sweet smell woohoo

Day 15

no feeding

- very bubbly (small bubbles)

- start to rise

- very sweet smell

Day 16

100g sourdough (keep the rest in a container in the fridge) + 100g flour + 100g water

- very bubbly and thick consistency

- nice sweet fermented smell (like tapai)

- double in size and very active

- success woohoo

Day 17

can make bread already yeay!!

Foodnote: Tried to make this 2x but unsuccessful. Finally so happy to see the sourdough very active. It bubble up very fast with feeding.

Sweet Corn Custard Pudding (SIL Recipe)

Ingredients

380g del monte sweet corn cream style

600g Kara coconut milk

600ml water

Bird's brand custard powder (fill the sweet corn pack)

castor sugar (fill the sweet corn pack)

Directions

• in a large pot, mix all ingredients together before turning on the fire on medium heat
• keep stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot for about 10-15min till the mixture become thick and heavy
• pour the custard into any mould and leave to cool for few hours till custard is set (once a bit cool, can leave it in the fridge to set)

Foodnote: Trying a recipe from my SIL as it is quite easy. I'm just using leftover custard powder and no castor powder so I just used up the balance icing sugar *oops*. Turns out well though hehe... will use this recipe in the future and next time will try to measure the custard powder and sugar. Will stick to this recipe next time

Roti Benggali @ Roti Bai

Ingredients

400g bread flour

1 egg yolk Grade A

2 tbsp corn oil or melted butter

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp milk powder

a pinch of salt

1/2 tsp bread improver

3/4 cup water

Starter

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

Glaze/Topping

1 egg white + water

sesame seed + margarine/butter

Directions

• combine starter ingredients till the yeast bloom
• in another bowl mix the other dry ingredients together
• add the starter yeast mixture together with the dry ingredients
• add yolk, water and oil and start kneading until a smooth shiny dough is formed
• leave for about an hour until dough expand twice in size and punch it down to release the air
• knead again and separate into 8 equal parts
• put into a round bread tray that has been greased with margarine
• leave for about 45min 
• brush the glaze mixture and sprinkle sesame seed on top
• bake at about 180°C for about 30mins
• brush margarine on the buns after removing it from the oven

Foodnote: Always wanted to try to make this so finally I did. Add more oil and water to the recipe. The recipe didn't indicate amount of water.... found out too late so I am just 2nd guessing it. Was rushing so I didn't weigh or shape the dough properly. Still it turns out soft and fluffy but dry the next day and taste wise so so... hhmmm don't think will use this recipe again though.

Apple Crumble Cake

Ingredients

250g flour

1 egg

80g butter

100g sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 grated lemon

3 apples (peel and dice)

2 tbsp of sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 lemon juice

Directions

• in a bowl, mix the egg and sugar
• add in butter, flour and baking powder followed by lemon zest
• crumble the dough and keep in the fridge
• in a saucepan, add apples, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon
• cook for 12min under low heat
• in a springform pan, grease the bottom sides and bottom with butter (or line with parchment paper)
• pour half the dough and pat down to cover the base and sides of the dough
• pour in the apples and top with the balance dough crumbling it and lightly squeeze and smooth it afterwards
• bake at 180°C for 35-40min
• remove from springform and sprinkle the top with icing sugar

Foodnote: Recipe taken from here. Ok only lah... 

Apple Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup (210g) all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 cup apple (peeled and chopped into cubes)

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil

1/2 cup (120ml) greek yoghurt (can be substituted with milk)

a pinch of salt

**add 1-2 tbsp of milk if batter is thick

Directions

• in a mixing bowl add flour, baking soda, baking powder and sugar and mix evenly
• in a separate bowl add eggs, vanilla, salt, oil and yoghurt and whisk briefly
• add dry and wet ingredients together and fold gently till combined (do not over mix)
• add in the apples and mix together
• pour the batter mixture into a greased springform pan lined with parchment paper
• bake at 180°C for 30-35min or till skewer comes out clean
• cool for 10min, release from pan and let cool to room temperature
• dust with powdered sugar and ready to serve

Foodnote: Since I always get apples, so this time I decided to try this recipe. I decorated it as I want to present this to my 3rd niece for her birthday. I hope she likes it.

Singapore Sandwich Bread

Ingredients

Tanzhong A

3 tbsp of water

3 tbsp of milk

2 tbsp of bread flour

Tanzhong B

1/2 cup of milk

1 large egg

Dough

2 1/2 cups of bread flour

1/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp of salt

1 tbsp of instant yeast

2 tbsp of milk powder

4 tbsp of melted butter

1/2 tsp of green pandan extract

1/2 tsp of red coloring

Egg wash

1 egg + 1 tbsp of water

Directions

• prepare the tanzhong by Tanzhong A ingredients with a whisk in the saucepan and cook till paste is form then turn off the heat
• add Tanzhong B to the paste, whisk together and put aside
• in a mixer, add the bread flour, sugar, salt, yeast and milk powder
• using a paddle attachment, give it a mix on low
• as it is mixing, add the tanzhong mixture and butter
• mix for 8min or till clean up and window pane stage
• divide the dough into 2 portions
• one portion add the green pandan extract and the other one with red coloring
• round the dough and place in an oiled bowl and rest till double in size (1hr or 1 1/2 hr)
• divide each color into 2, roll one green and pink flat
• place on top of each other and roll like spring roll
• place the 2 rolls into a bread pan and cover and let it rest for 50min
• brush the top of the dough with egg wash
• bake at 165°C (no fan) for about 25min (might need to cover the foil about 20min so that it will not get too burnt)

Foodnote: This time, I am trying the recipe from here. The dough is pretty much easy to handle. The bread turns out supersoft... I like it a lot. Really nice to eat with ice cream or just butter+kaya. I have sambal egg yum yum but I bet it will also be nice with sambal tumis ikan bilis woohoo. Will definitely be making this again.

Boiled Chickpeas

Ingredients

2 cups dried chickpeas

1 bay leaf

3-4 cloves

few curry leaves

few dried chillies (optional)

1 tbsp sea salt

1 tsp chicken seasoning (optional)

2 tsp baking soda

Directions

• wash and soak chickpeas overnight
• drain the water and replace with fresh water to boil the chickpeas together with bay leaf, cloves and curry leaves for 1 hour
• scoop and remove any white foams that appear on the surface of the water
• after 1hr add in the baking soda and stir well and boil for another 30min
• add in the sea salt and chicken seasoning and stir well and boil for another 30min (total 2hours)
• check that the chickpeas is soft enough, remove from stove and drain

Foodnote: Since I love chickpeas, decided to learn to prepare it myself as buying the dried ones is very cheap. After checking the internet, fail on first try as my chickpeas turn out too chewy... finally success! I don't have pressure cooker so boiling time takes 2hours. But it is worth it. I can boil a lot next time and freeze it. When I want to eat it... just steam it again woohoo. So happy! Munching while WFH.

Ciabatta

Ingredients

340g biga or levain

800g bread flour

5g malt flour

22g salt

15g yeast

10g soya flour

610g water

50g olive oil

Directions

• mix dry ingredients together and add to biga or levain in a mixing bowl with paddle attachment
• on low speed mix for 3min and medium speed for 7min till clean up stage (window pane)
• get a large rectangular tray and oil generously with olive oil
• pour out the dough into the tray and spread the dough evenly to the edges
• cover with clingwrap and leave to rest for 1 hour
• using a scraper, push down the edges of the dough to loosen 
• flour the working surface (size bigger than tray)
• carefully and swiftly turn over the tray so that the dough would fall over the flour
• using a scraper, gently shape the dough to rectangle shape by pushing the flour to all edges
• with the scraper, make marks to divide the dough to 12 rectangular pieces (3x4)
• cut each dough carefully and scoop with the scraper to quickly transfer to baking tray lined with baking paper
• adjust the shape to rectangular shape
• proof the dough for another 1hour
• bake at 190°C for 18 to 20min

Foodnote: Happy to finally get to learn to bake my own ciabatta bread. Well it is a faster version of making ciabatta but it still turns out good. It is a very sticky dough so must be very careful when handling it especially to transfer the soft dough to the baking tray. Maybe one day... if I have lots of time, will try to make it without the yeast with lots of folding (the traditional way... we don't have time for that in class) because according to my chef, of course it will taste better! Anyway, packed one with tuna mayo & cheese for my niece to bring to work and froze the rest for other days. Best kept frozen for up to 6 months woohoo.