50 ways to Recover /-/ Blue cheese panna cotta with verjuice poached sugar plums

Creating this was a bit of R&R for myself.

After what has happen around me and my family; we all need a bit of alone time to recover in our own way. Returning to normal is never easy but we are all doing very well (thanks to all your support followers! It has made a big help). 




In society we have our own recovering from trauma. Some of us shy away from the problem; some of us go to lengths to convince ourselves that nothing has changed. Some fill their lives with activities in hope to be distracted enough every day to survive. There are even the attempts in vain to return to routine as much as possible without as much of peep or acknowledgement of change. I used to judge people really harshly for avoiding problems. Often thinking that dealing with the worst of it would be better for the mind that continuing on with a dull pain; and to some extent l still believe in it.


 
 
However, I fall in to the 2nd category. Keeping busy, keeping busy; do not stop to think. School, shopping, cooking/baking, photo editing, blog catch up, cleaning and organizing have become the orders of the day. Reflection and rest are things I am not well versed in and I am not really ready to deal with my emotions just yet. Come to think of it, I am not ready to deal with the realities beyond the situation; I am just like everyone else. Unstable, emotional and ultimately, just being human. 



I am morn the times when the most trauma thing to happen to me was the simple bath room spider or minor car crash. I look at others who have healthier ways of recovering from terrible events with envy. However it is easy to envy the past and others; what is hard is to find the will to develop those traits yourself. 



Thank goodness my memory has not been affected because I am holding on to the belief that the simple advice from a word documented print out holds true. Number four in the booklet but it should be number one (or at least highlighted as the last point), No one can tell you how or when you recover but allow for plenty of time to find your feet. I guess it means I can bake more selfishly can’t I?

I might make a lot of bread and cake but simple desserts like this are something of rare occurrence. It is not that I dis like these recipes but the way people describe how easily it is to get wrong has me running scared.

Who loves cheese? I do! So stay turned best if you are fan of cheese plate; I got the dessert for you. It is quick, simple, and will prove to all your foodie friends you know your stuff when it comes to flavours. 





 
At its best panna cotta has a just set consistency which glides across the plate. The custard taste should not be too strong (suggesting it has been over cooked) but a compliment to the flavours the baker chooses to use. I know blue cheese may seem like an adventurous choice for a sweet dessert however here me out. The mid mellow hum of blue cheese may taste “funky” on the first go but you will be unable to put the fork down. If you are not a fan of really sweet desserts; this custard is very balanced when you pair it with late season’s sugar plums. 


 

Poached in a syrup of verjuice, sugar and mid spices; the intense natural sweetness of plums and honey are all the sweeteners you need in this dessert. This is why there is only 40g of sugar in the panna cotta for 4 people but you will hardly miss this if you skipped it all together; the plum syrup is my favorite part.

If you are looking for a dessert that will get your friends tongues wagging, give it a go. It will surely make for good conversation.

 
Blue cheese panna cotta

Adapted from taste.com.au

serves 4
250ml full fat milk
250ml pure cream
40g caster sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split
60g blue-vein cheese, finely chopped, a subtle fruity one is better
20ml boiling water
1 1/2 tsp powdered gelatine
Poached sugar plums in verjuice
rice bran oil
Brush 4 125ml metal mould with rice bran oil. Set aside

Combine milk, cream, sugar and vanilla bean in a saucepan over medoin to low heat. Cook this until well warmed and just below boiling.
 
Add your crumbled blue cheese and whick to combined. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
 
Whisk and dissolve your gelatine powder in the hot water. 

Whisk the gelatine into the cream mixture until well combined. Transfers to a jug and Divide among metal moulds. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 6 hours to set.
 

When serving Dip each panna cotta into hot water for 1-2 seconds. Place a plate on top and quick flip it over. You may need to give a gentle wobble to get it loose. Serve with poached plums.

Poached sugar plum in honey verjuice.

500g sugar plums, de seeded
80g honey
100ml verjuice
20ml water
1 star anise
½ cardamom pod
½ cinnamon stick

In a medium sauce pan over low heat warm honey, water, verjuice, and spices till just below boiling. Leave to in fuse for 10 minutes. Strain syrup through a sieve to remove spices.

Return syrup to the stove and add plums. Bring the syrup and plums to a simmer and cook out for 10 minutes or until well soften but not mushy. Test with a knife; if it gives way when gently pressed it is ready.

Serve warmed or room temp over the panna cotta.

except for... /-/ Zabaglione with toasted pistachio short bread crumble

It must be confusing that food is one of those things that are filled with hypocritical thought and contradiction. Normally these traits are frowned down upon but in food, it is appears not to matter at all. Some things are normal like the mixed reports in health food and our health (red wine and chocolate is good still?) However I am referring to the first world problem of having too much good food and still wanting to have it all.



Don’t love nuts but can eat a palate full of satay chicken with chunky ass peanut sauce? Not uncommon in my world of student meals and late night snacking. 



Cannot stand to drink milk but panna cotta, traditional custard and malted milk are your go to desserts? Sure why not, it is not weird.



Squid ink got you down but squid ink pasta, risotto and pesto high on your gourmet must eat list?

Even the most obvious ones like pumpkin soup ( hate pumpkin), Runny egg lover (hate other forms of eggs) are common in the world of food. For me I cannot stomach parmesan cheese on a cheese board or in it raw form; however place it in a salad, pizza, soup or on bread and I am the first to take a bite. This comes from a girl who would eat cheese night and day until she got dairy sickness then keep eating. Sorry nutritionist, the K proteins have me addicted and I am fully giving in. 

 

More I think about it why is being a hypocritical so bad? I am one and I am not ashamed of it. No it is not that trend where calling yourself a b!tch is “cool” or being outrageously vulgar is the normal part of becoming an adult (Looking at you miss Cyrus and inmate Justin.B)

In world where we accept that things are not black and white, but are unlimited shades of grey; I am sure we can open our minds to discover that everyone is has a bit of hypocritical thought in them. At least there would be one less insult in the world.



Today the only skills needed to make this dessert is the ability to use a pot, a whisk and boil water. Zabaglione has to one of those dessert that are harder to pronounce (and spell!) than it is to make. Also the list of ingredients is minimal for an impressive dinner time finisher. Trust me, I am not a doctor. It makes you seem like you know your gelato from your ice cream (actually found out there is a difference….)

Anyway from a person who adores dairy desserts this is a refreshing creamy change. The use of eggs, sugar and marsala is traditionally the only three ingredients you need in Zabaglione. Really it is only one step and you have a creamy, airy dessert which tastes like you have been kissed by your custard. So instead of being crawling and heavy, the egg “custard” is incredibly easy to eat even after a heavy meal. With this instead of almonds in amaretti cookies I used toasted ground pistachios which deliver that prized pistachio taste most of us love. Fragrant, toasty, and inviting change to traditional cookie but can be used interchangeably in this dessert. I know Italians are hesitant to change but really this tiny change will not hurt. 

Zabaglione with toasted pistachio short bread crumble
Makes 6 dessert cups

Short bread Barely adapted from Dave Lieberman


200g ground pistachio, toasted
140g plain flour
2g baking powder
2g salt
125g unsalted butter
80g caster sugar
1 egg
1 vanilla bean

Mix flour, ground pistachios, baking powder and salt. Set aisde.

Beat the butter and caster sugar in a stand mixer for 5 minutes until well creamed. Add egg and beat again. Fold in flour mixture into the butter until well mixed. Divide mixture into two and fridge for 30 minutes.

Pre heat oven to 180

On a well-floured bench roll out with a rolling pin to 3mm thick and cut out with a 4cm cookie cutter. Place a lined baking tray and poke with a fork.

Bake at 180c for 10 minutes and allow to cool on trays. Store in an air tight box for up to one week.

Zabaglione
From Channel4

8 eggs
100g caster sugar
100ml marsala
1 vanilla pod, scraped
Crushed pistachio biscuits

 
Put egg yolks, vanilla bean scrapings and sugar in a large glass bowl over a pot of simmering water. Using a balloon whisk, whisk the mixture vigorously until it become a creamy emulsion (thick egg foam)

Once it reaches this stage, add marsala and whisk. Remove from heat then continue to whisk until cool.

Divide into your glasses. Sprinkle the crushed short bread and chill in fridge for 30 minutes. Serve with shortbread.

Pulling your own weight /-/ Ombre mango madness cake

Once in everyone life they should of have to be part of team. Pairing, group work, or group activity; we have all been sent to work with others who we will not normally socialise with. I am not dissing the system here. In general my experience with  group work has been surprisingly uncomplicated.  Sure in University I did end up getting one of the worse groups for a team assignment in my life; none the less that experience did not leave permanent scars. At least it was only once in a blue moon right?

I am not against team work. For me it can incredibly rewarding as you get to voice your ideas, get feedback , hints and tips that you might not know about and sometimes you may form a friendship from it. However bear in mind the problem I have with group work will always remain unsolved; due to that stupid psychological phenomenon. The problem is when one person falls into the mental trap of being lazy; not just lazy but overtly avoiding work as much as possible to take advantage of others.  



Working the kitchen now; I have pretty much always pulling my own weight when it comes to clean up at the end of day. I might need a break if I had a troubling hard day where, for example, your cake falls flat on its face and the cream you beat for it has spilt twice. We all deserve some sympathy right?

I can not speak for others, but I am sure some of the people I am working with are giving a half ass attempt at almost everything that is not fun. I am taking about cleaning, assignments, assessments, and common courtesy. Only today did I experience one of the rudest displays of work ethic for such damn easy job too.  



O.k. When you start a task you finish it right? When a the chef ask you to listen now, you stop what you are doing ( an exception with boiling sugar tasks, dangerous!)  If someone looks like they need a hand carry ingredients, you offer to help them. Sure they my decline but isn’t it better knowing that you at least gave a damn about another person??

My manners are not perfect, reflecting on pass experiences I could of have been nicer to others and had a bit of empathy. They might have had something terrible happen to them beforehand, but I am not playing the fool. I will be damned if I have to pick up AFTER THE SAME PERSON again especially for a job like cleaning! *puffs out* Sorry needed to write this….
On to a happier topic of cake!



After what I happen between me, mangoes are on the barest edge of being a fruit I will NEVER touch or eat again. While making this cake; I found a gap in the cake world. Besides the Asian style mango jelly sponge cake, not many people have used this fruit to make party cakes. Mangoes just used for decoration but to me that is no help to over population of mangoes I have. You can only want to put so many slices in mango cake before it becomes a soppy mess. 

Any way to solve this I made a cake for an order that got raving reviews by the customer and her friends. Simply if want a cake that taste like mango; smells of mango and is almost enough mango to make it mango!

Here is the cake for you.
Light and tender crumbed mango layers, sandwiched with an intensely flavoured mango curd guarantee that you will not be wondering where the mango is. The cake also stays moist and improves the density when you soak it in light coconut syrup. It is basically reduced down coconut juice.  



A few tips when going about cooking curds with lots of fruit puree. I find it helpful to reduce it by at least 1/2; I am not an expert at it but I did find that the colour was a lot more attractive than one I made with purely massed up mango. The colour was more orange/ yellow than a confusing shade of yellow tan.

You have to take my word for it that this cake will fulfill your tropical cravings for cake. The icing is made according the Swiss method for butter cream which helps the structure here. Not lying you needs ALOTs of mango; but it not call a mango madness cake for nothing! Ombre is something she requested but any pattern would be very pretty. 



Mango madness cake'

This cake makes 6 layers of cake about 1-1.5 cm in height for a 22cm pan. You may need more mixture depending if you choose to do 6 individual pan or 3 cake layers that are cut.
 
250g un salted butter, soft
50g coconut butter, soft (the white stuff)
450g caster sugar
5 eggs
430g flour
8g baking powder
2g salt
230g mango reduction
40g milk powder
1 tbsp coconut cream
I vanilla bean , scraped of seeds.


Pre heat oven to 190C. Grease 3 22cm spring form tins and line with baking paper
Shift your milk powder, baking powder flour over large bowl twice.
Line your greased 22cm spring form pan with baking paper.
Combine coconut oil and butter in a stand mixer and whip until lightened about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and vanilla scraps and continue to beat on high for a further 4 minutes. You must scrape the in between.
Add eggs one at time beating well between each addition until fully emulsified.
Sieve over flour, alternating with mango puree and cream.  Fold these into the butter mix until complete combined.
Pour into your lined pans, try to get them as even as possible.
Once in the oven turn the heat down to 160C and cook for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Once fully baked, invert to cool on a wire rack.
Level off each cake and cut in half to get two layers per cake.

Mango curd
Adapted from Treatology

200gm mango reduction ( you will need 350g mango puree, un reduced, to get this amount)
60g sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp. lemon juice
80g butter, cold in cubes.

Reduce mango puree over medium heat for 20 minutes on low. Stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Cool.
In a clean sauce pan add the mango, sugar, eggs and lemon.
On low heat whisk the mixture for 5 minutes and it will thicken. Swap to a spoon and continue to mix until it coats the back of the spoon. Stir in cubes of butter one at a time.  Remove from heat and strain into a clean bowl. Cover with cling and fridge until needed.

Finishing

Mango cakes
Coconut juice reduction ( boil 400ml coconut juice until it about half the volume)
Fresh mango slices (for in between layers after)
Swiss butter cream dyed 3 shades of yellow and one white.
 
For layers, first coat each one in coconut juice reduction.
Using the white butter cream, pipe a ring on one layer. Paint on a layer of simple syrup in the middle of this ring.
Spoon on 1/3 cup of curd and spread to even layer with small of set spatula. Place slice of mango on this. Place another layer on top.
Repeat for all layers but the top layer.
Crumb coat outside of cake with butter cream. 
Chill in fridge for at least 15 minutes. Starting at the bottom, spread the dark yellow butter cream over the bottom third of the cake using an offset spatula. 
Repeat with 2 other shades of yellow allowing each colour to have one fourth of the cake. Using a small spatula blend the colours were they meet. 
Scrape one finial time to achieve the flat finish.
Transfer to fridge for 10 minutes

Buzz words /-/ Mini double pretzel sugar knots

A lot of the time when I bake, I am not thinking about this blog. No, no I still care about you readers and followers. However most of the stuff on here comes from my greedy mind and frugal ways. Yep I am Cheap Asian who refuses to pay 4 dollars for one macaroon or fork out a few notes for a cake.  I am not interested in developing “buzz words” recipes.

I like to come up with my own terminology for things (mainly because I am too lazy to find the real one) but in the world of dessert and recipes; some are more likely than other to become “viral” or get the massive amounts of commented with the words “drool”, “delicious” and “insane” attached to them. 

We should all the know the typical ones that gets heaps of views. Chocolate , brown butter, cookie, cake and cheesecake for the dessert world. Low calorie, gluten free, quinoa, secretly healthy, vegan and natural are the buzz words for the health crowd. Finally the mix bunch; recipes with melted cheese, fried, single serve, homemade take away (e.g taco, pizza) and bacon all get heaps of views.

Sometimes, yes, these recipes can be wonderful however once you start viewing 30 or so recipe for the same cookie bar; they have tendency to become, well, boring. So you can feel my frustration when recipes like this are called “unique” and “innovative”. Other things like the popularity of the blogger, picture etc. play a role too but the food always comes first. 

  I do not develop recipe for the sake of getting X number of views per capita or tracking the number of people who pin the images. While I admire whose who do go that effort of producing recipes that people want to read, drool and gawk over; to me that is not what baking is about. Sure posting a recipe for a Gooey (anyone hates this word as much as I do?) quadruple chocolate, brown butter marshmallow frosted snack bar with caramel cookie dough stuffing will get more views that posting a simple recipe for sliced bread but I feel as though I am lying to myself. Maybe I am just too serious about food for my own good.

Now depending on your mood for pretzels, I like main plain and covered in cheese. I am unapologetic fan of the American soft style cheese burger bun or knot style hard pretzels, even those little dippers with the fake cheese are something I plan to make. However the world doesn’t need to me to contribute to its cheese shortage problem, so I made sweet pretzel for myself! 

We use to have a store in Australia call Pretzel world that was everywhere in the 90s but the down turn, most food trends experience all the stores near me have shut down. With tears in my eye as a little kid, I often thought about the pretzels used together there. Soft pillows of chewy goodness with a sweet sugar crust that tasted like cookies. 

Sometimes you could get the pure sugar coating in clumps at the bottom of the paper packaging; I am not going to argue with that. I am smitten with these pretzels and ate most of them in the pre photo shoot. They are so addictive that I made tow batch and both were gone in two days flat.

These are the for the ultimate pretzel lover. These mini double pretzel knots are the sweet pretzel that have fulfilled my pretzel world dreams.  The cookie crust is not ordinary it is made from crushed up pretzel rods and sugar which deliver an addictive salt sweetness to the pillowy pretzel. The malted sweet formed by the pretzel sugar makes sure that these pretzels have that authentic taste; only achieved by boiling in lye water.

These are way too easy not to share and make a heap of them. Nobody is going to complain about more pretzel flavour in pretzel sweet buns but may they will hate you for making them a size bigger. Eh… they get over it.

Mini double pretzel sugar knots

Recipe from sweet and stick pretzel knots
Adapted from Annie Eats, on her adaption from Sweet like home and Alton Brown

100ml warm water
160ml warm milk
120g caster sugar
10g salt 

14g yeast, dry
500g bread flour
60g butter soften

Finishing

4 Litters of water
50g baking soda

Sugar crust

Pretzel sugar ( mix them in a large bowl before starting recipe)

200g crushed pretzel rods

100g sugar (any will do)

5g cinnamon ground

60g melted butter

In a large jug, mix milk and water and 30g sugar. Mix to dissolve, add yeast and allow to stand for 10 minutes or until foamy.

In a large bowl add flour, salt, and remaining sugar. Knead into a soft dough, that should come away from the sides. Transfer to floured bench and knead in soften butter. After continue to knead for 20 minutes. It should have very springy, toughish texture like rubber.

Place dough in grease bowl and allow to rise for 1.5 hours. My kitchen is cold right now, so use your own judgement.

Preheat oven to 220C

Line three baking trays with baking paper and oil it.

Bring water and baking soda to the boil in large pot.

Divide your dough into 20g balls. Take each ball and roll it into a 10-15cm long tube. Knot them in your favourite shape.

Place on tray. Do this with the others. I got 30 from this recipe.

In batches of 4, place them in the boiling soda water. Boil on side for 30 seconds then turn and give another 30 seconds,

Using a skimmer drain the pretzels on a wire rack and top with seeds.

Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

Once baked immediately brush over butter and toss in pretzel sugar.

Baking up Emotion Therapy /-/ Nut free macarons with Berry Choc Ganache and Dried Blueberry puree.

First off I would like to thank all of you for your condolences last post. I am over whelmed by the love and support I received by complete strangers over the Internet. It really does prove that good people still exist in this world. SO... Thank you to all you kind souls who left such supportive words in the past two weeks; it not fully past me yet but your kindness has made it a bit easier to tolerate. 

Depending if you are a keen reader of food writing; I am guessing the emphasis you place on the blurb before the recipe varies from person to person. While some of you guys may think these short stories are a more acceptable way of complaining on social media; when I read a recipe this is part I count on to give me the “feel” of the recipe. 

 I believe food is littered with possibilities for emotion; come to think of it all food that I have cooked so far has some kind of emotion or experience attached to it. From happiness to anger; food has been there to be the guiding force to return myself back to normality (as much as possible at least)

Take for instance food that we know as “dude food” are often accompanied by a story of disorderly conduct with a booze bottle in hand and a waking up with regret or two about what was eaten or downed in a feast the night before.  We all know that duck fat brioche rolls with smoked duck sausage and black truffle do not just happen out of nothing.

Think of the sprinkle or confetti cake, the traditional yellow cake covered in a pure white frosting and perfectly piped old fashion sugar work. Yes, those decorations may not be the tastiest or the most attractive but that crawling sweetness has still worked itself into contemporary culinary creations.  

I know macarons may be a recent contemporary food trend but to me they are one of the desserts that remind me of my father.

 To be really honest with you guys, it has been incredibly hard for me to start baking again since his passing. Did I ever tell you that this was the one thing my father really believed in me to achieve? NO not the “have to” parental support but the “omg, they can actually cook” support.

 

 It might seem cheesy but my father was everything to my baking. The disappointment and encouragements thrown about when failing a recipe that you tried numerous times; to the support and love when you finally churn out your first successful pastry and eat together over an afternoon cuppa.

My father was not emotional man but as we ate pastries together; I think we both got a dose of emotional therapy. 

 

If you think macarons have come to end, like a good choc chip cookie; I am obsessed with achieving the unattainable perfection. The one problem that I have come across since getting quite skilled in macrons is the nut problem. I am a fully in to nuts but honestly almonds really do not have a lot of flavour, also the nut allergies that I have discovered ( I am now slightly sensitive to peanuts and walnuts) meant that I have to be weary of adding them to food.  

There is a little but of science behind changing a nut recipe to seeds. One seeds have more of a “sticky” property when wet. Two the fat content of seeds varies a lot more than nuts; meaning you need to get the percentage of fat in macrons just right to get it to work. Thirdly the drying properties of seeds are not as high as those in nuts; meaning bad news for poorly beaten meringues and macarons.

 

I am not an expert at this but taking on broad Stella’s (bravetart) recipe and my own adaptations; I have achieve a perfectly balanced macaorns that is nut free and that does not have a soft shell. Instead you are rewarded with a light shell, chewy interior and the trade mark straight foot. I love chocolate but I have discovered an addiction to the berry infused chocolates; they make for the best ganache you will ever taste in your life (hands down).

The slightly tangy hit from the strawberry flavour helps to off the set the sweetness often delivered by ganache. In addition you can add this dried fresh blueberry puree I made; from dried blueberries the tang is another texture and taste layer to the macarons. Completely optional but try a something different! Macarons deserve it!

 

Nut free macarons with Berry Choc Ganache and Dried Blueberry puree.

Recipe adapted from Stella nut free macaron recipe; but recipe written by Stella herself.

75g Flaxseeds

60g sunflower seeds

230g powdered sugar

140g egg whites

72g caster sugar

1 vanilla bean, split and scrapped

2g salt

Pre heat oven to 150C. Line two flat baking trays with baking paper

Toast your flax and sunflower seeds in a pan over low heat. Toast them until fragrant and cool. After grind them in your coffee grinder until you get a fine powder ( you may have bigger bits up to 2 tablespoons). Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, sugar, vanilla bean (not the extract), and salt and turn the mixer to medium (4 on a Kitchen Aid). Whip for 3 minutes. They will not seem especially foamy at that point.

Increase the speed to medium-high (7 on a Kitchen Aid) and whip another 3 minutes, then crank the speed to 8 for go another 3 minutes.

At that point, turn the mixer off and add in any extracts/flavor/color and whip for a final minute on the highest speed.

At the end of this minute, you should have a very stiff, dry meringue. When you remove the whisk attachment, there will be a big clump of meringue in the center, just knock the whisk against the bowl to free it. If the meringue has not become stiff enough to clump inside the whisk, continue beating for another minute, or until it does so.

Fold in the dry ingredients all at once and fold them in with a large rubber spatula. Use both a folding motion (to incorporate the dry ingredients) and a pressing motion, to deflate the

Transfer about half the batter to a piping bag.  

Pipe the batter into2.5cm circles.

After piping your macarons, take hold of the sheet pan and hit it hard against your counter. Rotate the pan ninety degrees and rap two more times. This will dislodge any large air bubbles that might cause your macarons to crack.

Bake for about 18 minutes, or until you can cleanly peel the parchment paper away from a macaron.

Once the macarons have baked, cool thoroughly before peeling the cooled macarons from the parchment. Use a metal spatula if necessary.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with the ganche of your choice, and pipe a quarter sized mound of buttercream into half of the shells. Follow this with puree then sandwich them with their naked halves. Allow to age in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours in sealed air tight container.

Berry dark chocolate ganche

200g strawberry infused dark chocolate

150g pure cream

20g butter, soften

10g glucose

In a large sauce pan melt butter and chocolate over medium heat. Stir this with a spatula continuously until half melted.

Add cream and melt until all chocolate is melted into the cream. Scrap the bottom of the bowl well to prevent burning. Once heated remove from heat.

Add the glucose and butter, stirring continuously as you add each ingredient. The butter and glucose help it become glossy. Transfer to a bowl and cover with cling film, store in the fridge when cool. It should be ready to use in 4 hours.  

Dried blueberry puree

Barely adapted from Instructables

150g dried blueberries

350g water

2 tsp sugar

Put the dried fruit, spices, water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to boil over low heat

Allow berries to absorb the water. It takes about 15 minutes. Be wary you may need water.
Take off the heat, Cool and mash up to your liking

Use immediately or place in an air tight container and store in the fridge.

Life changing /-/ Pandan Pull man bread loaf

 
 
First off I would like to thank of all your wishes in my last post. I have passed them all on to my family and they are very happy to hear them. I am over whelmed by the support I received on my last post considering I do not have the biggest fan/follower base but each on those comments comforted me in some way.

Unfortunately even with all the well wishes you have posted and tweeted, I have report some heart breaking news. I feel as if I owe it to you guys; you have become 2nd family I never knew I needed. 


 
Last Monday I updated you on my current family situation. Last 22nd I had a father, dad and male role model in my life. As of 26th of February 2014 I am without all of those things including a grip on reality and the ability to actually experience a real smile (not one of those pull a smile for the 
camera twitching smiles). 



Yes it was rapid, unexpected and shocking. I am not sure if I have to terms with what has happened. While I may have lost a father; I feel most for my mother who lost the love of her life, soul mate of 31 years. My pain cannot compare to the angst she must feel every day. While a woman’s fury may over take hell; nothing is as crushing as a widow’s grief in any alternate universe, before and after life.

 

However I guess you would think, how is going to effect this blog?
 
Well as you know I will do my best to keep on posting on here as I love to bake, improve my food photography (or photography in general) and my “journalistic” skills. However if you read the next few post and you think it has lost it “spark”, the content is subpar or there is something no quite right about it. I apologize, it may take me a few weeks to return back to my normal self. Though I have overwhelming doubt that I will be ever be the same again.



I am not sure how to finish this but here is recipe. I made bread just before this event for my dad, as this is his favourite kind of Asian comfort food. Asian style bakeries’ pull man loaf is renowned for it texture that creates via the gluten added dough, often called Tang Zhong. However I know most of you might forget to do it before hand, or are like me and sometimes do not want to dirty another pot. 



Adapted from my blueberry bread recipe, I simple left out the blueberries for a pandan paste, which is a mixture of sugar, almonds and pandan essence. Yes it is not natural but you do not get that same effect with the real leaf.

Soft and yielding, sure with your desired spread ( I used a white chocolate almond spread here); but even butter with a little bit of condense milk on it is a wonderful complement to the very home style flavours. Yes it is bread but it is just as comforting to me as a piece of chocolate; even more so that it meant so much to my dad. 




Pandan milk loaf
Adpated from Blueberry bread loaf with black sesame

400g bread flour
60g caster sugar
50g almond meal
2 tsp pandan essence
100g milk
10g milk powder
20g malted milk powder
1 egg
6g dry yeast
4g salt
50g melted butter

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Knead until it forms a rough ball in bowl.

Turn the dough ball out on to an oiled surface and knead until it develops a high amount of gluten(window pane test). I did this for about 30 minutes.

Shape dough in to a sphere.

Once kneaded to the right stage place sphere in a oiled bowl and cover with cling warp. Leave to rise for 2 hours.
During this period, grease your pull pan and lid with butter. Punch down dough and divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece out to a 20 by 10 cm rectangle, with the shorter side facing you fold in the long sides to half way then roll the rectangle up like jelly roll. Place in pan and repeat with remaining two.

Place the lid on the pan and allow to rise until it almost touches the top about 80%. It can take a while, maybe 3 hours.
Bake for 30 minutes or until hollow when tapped.
One baked, remove from tin and transfer to a cooling rack.