A small (big) news update /-/ Buttery Garlic herb pain de mie

It is funny that even though my blog is still one of those small ones, I still need to include you guys in my life for the sake of being polite.

I shared my recipes, my hopes and my dreams with you in hope that I can relate to someone in this big wide world. Some of my stories are funny, series, rambling and other just screaming “first world problems”, however today I am letting you into my life a little bit more than I ever thought I would. 
 


I am not the most family oriented person but I love my family more ever day as I have matured in to an (hopeful respectable adult). They are not perfect but I am not either, so we are always having an adventure of some kind even if it just at the local store. Today my adventures with my family including my dad will no longer exist. 



Even with my dad's thick skin it could not protect him from what has happened. Last week my father became terminally ill from an accident in his garden. With only weeks left, please understand my blog may be a bit slow over the next few weeks as me and my family come to grips with this tragic event that has so suddenly rained upon us. 

 

Be rest assured I am still baking but sometimes I will not have the spark that was in this blog a month or so ago. I may not just to update as much as I want or have the time but do not stop following me. I am still thinking of this blog even now.

Thank you if you have taken the time to read this; I know it is the no the most exciting reading but if you could send your prays and wishes to my mum, sisters and his family; I would be more than welcome to deliver them.



If you are looking for a bread that is simple but can elevate even the most mundane sandwich (ham and plastic cheese) to something even culinary critics would be hard to argue with; this is it. You know recently I made a pesto from my herbs in my vegetable garden; Today I taking those herbs and placing it a whole meal bread! 

Healthy, delicious, everyday staple that would go with your cold meats and grilled vegetable toasties. This bread is soft and mailable like store bread, with no butter, chemicals, milk or cream. Instead of bland whole grains it has intense herb perfume that mashing up tarragon, basil and rosemary with a cloves of roasted garlic. Yep it is garlic herb bread that you can eat every day; how can beat that? Don’t ask me; try it and get the results at home! 



Garlic herb pain de mie (slice bread)
Adapted from Chrstine recipes mutliple bread recipes

140g water, warm

70g egg, whisked

100g Tangzhong (you can get the recipe here at Christine’s recipes)

50g sugar

5g salt

8g yeast

220g light rye bread flour

30g shredded bran, soften in 50ml

60ml olive oil

1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tsp fresh tarragon, chopped

20g fresh basil, chopped

3 roasted garlic cloves ( do this by leaving the skins on the whole bulb of garlic and roasting in the oven for 40 minutes on a foil lined tray)

In a small bowl, mix garlic, oil and herbs. Allow to sit for 2 hours to infuse.

In a stand mixer or large bowl mix the flour, bran, yeast, tangzhong, water, egg, sugar, infused oil and salt. Once combined by using a wooden spoon or low on the stand mixer; knead until it forms dough.

Once kneaded, knead on a floured surface until it become smooth and bouncy. It should be pulled enough to see though like a window pane. I did this by hand 40 minutes with a rest in-between for 5 minutes. In stand mixer it can take 12 minutes. Once ready place in clean oiled bowl and allow to rise until doubled 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.

15 minutes before baking pre heat oven to 220C. Once it ready turn it down to 180C and place in the bread bake for 25 minutes covered and 10 minutes uncovered until it comes to 190F or high 90C on thermometer.

Retro recipe Rehab / - / Tarragon and basil Lemon pesto

Sometimes the best things in life do not come from having the most complex recipe or the most ingredients. It seems cruel to bakers and cookers everywhere when we have to compete what is being put up in a restaurant.

 The simple is never enough any more in the dessert world or the fine dining scene. I know we may gawk in wonder at the latest dessert craze with has X number of layers with a “foam” and “soil”. Drool over the normal bland meat which has been specialty treated with magic marinaded and cooked to texture perfection via to be yielding yet firm.









 The problem with the new is that it is too variable and right now I am craving a bit of stability in my life. Not that I am undergoing any kind of big move or anything, but the past few unfortunate events that occurred over the past week has got me all worked up and really edgy.

Let me count the ways. Making mistakes in simple recipe I have memorized, and the is a pit my stomach were my worries are eating in to my appetite for eating and cooking. 

We all know it is bad when I lose the want to bake something. So to cure my anxiety I am returning to the classics and nothing say classic quite like Italian food. 






If you have seen my instagram, my dad has saved my herb garden that I got last year as a gift for Christmas. He brought it back to life just before it was totally dead. The basil was almost dried beyond repair , tarragon tarnished and thyme struggling to plant its self. 

Not any more! This was made from those very same dying herbs!




After picking a large bunch of herbs, I was simply inspired by the urge to respect the ingredient for what they were. You cannot get any better than having herbs that are only one minute old in pesto. Yawn! You might think but retro flavours of basil and tarragon simply shine in this pesto.

The summery combination of basil and anise of tarragon would pair wonderfully with a simple pasta with a bit of grated lemon zest on top. Also I have recipe coming up which I swear everyone should do when you have pesto as good as this in your fridge ( yes it involves bread). I know vinegar, let alone lemon vinegar, is not normally called for but it helps it not just taste like oil. Also The vinegar aid digestion; so double win.



Retro recipes and flavours are comforting, tested and well do not disappoint. Hundreds of others have tried it before hand, tweaked it and re cooked it. Who I am to argue with generations of Italian mama’s skillful hand and honed taste buds for excellence? 


Being honest here, I have no idea who Rachel ray is before I made this pesto (I had to check on line to see if anyone had done this before me). So I will credit her but these two are going crazy in my yard so I decided to use both.





Tarragon and basil pesto

Adapted from Gourment,101 cookbooks and Rachel ray


100g basil leaves ( mix young and older ones)

70g tarragon leaves

40g Aged parmesan

60g toasted pine nuts

3 toasted garlic cloves, skin removed

30ml normal oil

1 tbsp. lemon infused aged balsamic.

40ml extra virgin



In a food processor place all ingredients but extra virgin olive oil and blitz to a chunky paste. You may need to scrape down the bowl, as it is quite thick.

Add 20ml extra virgin olive oil and blitz again. Transfer to mixture to a small jar. Top with remaining oil.

To use pour the top oil and 1.5 tablespoons of the herb mix in to your recipe (this amount is for 1)

Top up with 20ml each time for each 1.5 tablespoons removed from the jar.

Swimming solo/-/ One hour buttery “fish” buns

I am guess you guys are over the Valentine’s day too. However this is to the people who were scorned yesterday; I am giving you some love on the day after. 

 

You maybe cried your eyes out on the 14^th but I am here to comfort you. I am not just taking about the singles but I am talking to those who have your loved ones in another country, divided by military deployment or who’s partner has departed this world sooner than they should. These people are so harshly judged by society. Without knowing the full story people are labelled as the “lonely hearted”, “broken” and “unlovable”. Seriously not cool.

I have been labelled this too. As a light hearted joke but I admit it still hurt to be reminded that I am a lone fish in the big ocean. There is increasing pressure on people to get a partner; even dating websites are claiming a naughty fling is better than having no one at all. Once again not cool.

Life is a not a romantic comedy or even sit com drama. Some people are not as fortunate as other to find another partner in the dating world. They may not be able to get past the tragic loss or cannot find the heart to love another one. My heart goes out to you and hope you have another day to catch up in another life.

Dating again does not always work out and the internet is filled with strange people, scammers and love psychos just waiting to get their hands on your heart. Sometimes it can just be that you are quite content with your lonely status, understanding that your partner is doing something great in another country for millions of people. Maybe you come to the conclusion that your newly rewarded single status is something to be celebrated. That’s cool too; only I was so brave.

 So for those of you who have partners today and are keen to tell your romantic night tale, please give a thought to those I have mentioned above. To you sharing your joy is doing the world good but to them can it be a painful reminder of those that they are alone. Maybe you can bring your chocolates and share them around; I am pretty sure they will be more grateful to taste sweet happiness than just hear about it.

This recipe is not one of my own but one that I fell in love with simply because it involves bread and it is probably the most successful quick rise yeast bread recipe that I have used. While I am a big fan of the slow rise breads with a dense heavy grain, I am not after that today. Sometimes what you need a batch of buttery buns that have enough flavour to stand up on their own as a snack food ( yes I eat bread all the time) but not over powering to make them perfectly acceptable as a side dish.

This recipe is from Averie at Averie cook’s. While you might of her as the sweet peanut butter queen; she is more than just that. She develops some cracker savoury and bread recipes too.  These buns on her site where sticks but fulfilled every single promise. The dough was easy to handle which made it perfect for shaped bread. The buttery texture was not clawing and browned nicely if you added a soy based milk wash. Best of all these rose quicker than I expected in my warm summer house; so you have instant vegan bread buns for dinner guest.

Like she said it was the best use of an hour ever. The only problem is are they still vegan if they are shaped like fish?

Buttery vegan “fish” buns

Barely adapted from Averie cooks  

130g bread flour

180g plain flour

220ml warm water

7g dry instant yeast

1 tbsp rice bran oil or (any other vegetable oil)

20ml rice syrup

3g salt

 20mkl Soy milk/ 30g vegan butter for glaze (optional before baking

30g vegan butter , separated for after baking

In a stand mixer or large bowl combine flour, water, yeast, oil, and sugar, salt. With the dough hook knead for about 6 minutes until the mixture becomes a smooth mass of dough. It should be smooth and have a definite ball shape to it. I did mine by hand it came together in about 15-18 minutes
 
Shape you bread rolls with greased hands into balls of about 60 grams. Reserve one ball to make the tails of your fish buns.
 
Line two trays with baking paper
 
 To make them in fish shapes cut two fairly deep slits in the side of your dough, these will be the fins. Gently mold and pull out he flaps, at 45 degree angles to the body, until you get a definite fin shape. With another small piece of dough pinch it to the back of the fish and shape to make the tail fin. Repeat with all bread rolls. Place on baking trays.
 
Cover the tray with cling wrap and leave in draft free, warm place for 20 minutes. To get more rise place in the oven with a tray filled with boiled water for 20 minutes. Melt your soy milk and 60g butter in a small bowl

After 20 minutes, remove the tray from the oven. Pre heat oven to 180C
 
Before baking. Brush on your soymilk/ Butter glaze. Place two seeds of sesame on the face.
 
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until slightly golden, firm to the touch, and reaches 200F on a food thermometer. After baking, toss the bread buns in remaining 30g melted butter.
Leave to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before eating.

The long and short of it /-/ Orange and basil infused caramelia éclair

I am not one to tell long winded stories in everyday life. In fact my conversations are notoriously short in comparison to what I write on here. There is nothing more annoying than having someone tell a story to end up it being a major disappointment to have listened to especially if it is one they built up a lot. It is not that I am being a b!tch (o.k maybe a little bit) but I am not keen on hearing ever single little detail if they do not contribute to the meaning at the end.

 

Over sharing is one of the main things that lands people in trouble (even easier these days with social media). So I have no intension of getting in the black because I could not keep a filter on my mouth. Also I am sure there are people like me who dislike long winded conversations.

If you want a real life example; think about the radio DJs who tell people to hurry up with their story. That is EXACTLY what I want to say to some people.  For instance, with a number of couples having Valentine’s day plans there has been a large amount of intentional boasting and over sharing going on.

 

 

Let me explain. It comes under the umbrella of conversation pitfalls such as name dropping and using unnecessary large words in general conversation. I could be just really unfamiliar with normal talk, but I am sure I do not need to know that you cannot come to Friday’s night’s dinner because you are your “baby” are going on a Moonlight cruise across the harbour with music and candle light. Oh did I fail to mention he is going to get me a *insert jewelled items* on that day too. 

Seriously?! You could of just told me that you were busy with your partner… 

However this want for the general situation often has lead me to failures in the kitchen. While I do like to read recipes (techniques and stuff) like a small child I am distracted by the pretty pictures and my keenness to get baking the kitchen. 

I am sure we have been told over and over again to never skim over recipes but reality it is harder to put into practice. This is why learning the basics is so important. At least if you know the basic you can fudge the rest (even though this is very, very bad). Eh.. What wrong with taking a short cut once in while?

Another short cut in the kitchen, I think we can all try once in a while is Choux pastry. Unlike most other French pastries; a light hand is not needed and most of it can be done in a stand mixer. Simply if you can mix, you can get these little puffs of buttery crispness in your kitchen. 

Today the base recipe is an up scaled version of your traditional chocolate éclair. They are in the 2014 food trends, so I feel that I need to say how easy it is to get at home (hey, I am saving you a few *insert currency*). However you do need to be actuate with this recipe, so I recommend a scale or at least have very good measuring technique. 

This recipe comes from the Gourmet traveler for a Carmaelia éclair with crunchy almond crust. If you are unfamiliar with Carmaelia, it behaves chocolate but has the rich smokiness of deep caramel. These éclairs are highlighted by notes of basil and orange zest in the cream infusion. I was too lazy to make the salad to go along with it, so I added it to the crème and crusty outside. While the crust may look difficult, it is simply cookie dough which is laid on the choux just before baking. Sweet sugary crust is not only for ascetics but I have added a dash of orange blossom water.

 If you have never tried it before; this is your chance! While others may be tempted to pair it with other sweeter flavours, using fruits and herbs are an easy way to make your cooking look really impressive (short cuts!) Topped with two types of Lindt Chocolate truffles and you have an easy dessert of dreams. Anyway who is going to argue with creamy custard, sugary crust and crispy pastry?

Orange and basil infused caramelia éclair

Barely changed from the Gourmet Traveler

 Serves about 8

Éclairs

60 ml milk

60ml water

55 gm unsalted butter, coarsely chopped

½ tsp caster sugar

75 gm plain flour, sieved

125 ml lightly beaten egg (about 2½)

Almond paste

45 gm demerara sugar

40 gm softened unsalted butter

50 gm  plain flour

2 tbsp almond meal

20ml orange blossom water

Caramelia ganache

1 tsp liquid glucose

1 tsp caster sugar

180 ml pouring cream

1 tsp orange vest

10 basil leaves

90 gm Valhrona Caramelia or Tanariva chocolate, finely chopped

Orange and white chocolate Lindt truffle balls, In quarters  

50g melted chocolate (any will do)

Chopped roasted salted almonds

Eclairs

In a large pot bring milk, butter, sugar, water and salt to the boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Remove from heat.

Beat in flour with a wooden spoon. Return to heat and continue mixing for 5 minutes

Transfer to an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beating continuously on medium speed, gradually add egg and beat until well combined (1 minute). Continue to beat until ti remove temperature

Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain nozzle, pipe tw10cm long lines on an oven tray lined with baking paper and freeze until firm (1 hour).

Almond crust

In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, flour, orange blossom water and almond meal in an electric mixer until well combined (1-2 minutes). Roll out between two pieces of baking paper to a rough 14cm x 22cm rectangle and refrigerate for 1 hour. Trim edges to 12cm x 20cm, cut into six 4cm x 10cm rectangles and refrigerate until required. Preheat oven to 190C.

Remove choux pastry from freezer. Top each with an almond paste rectangle and bake until starting to turn golden (12-15 minutes). Reduce oven to 160C and bake until golden, risen and crisp (35-40 minutes). Cool on a wire rack.

Caramelia ganache

 Bring glucose, sugar zest, basil and 60ml cream to the boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Allow to cool then strain. Add chocolate, stir until smooth, then refrigerate until cool and nearly set (1-1½ hours). Whisk remaining cream in a separate bowl until soft peaks form, fold into chocolate mixture in three batches, transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1cm-diameter nozzle and refrigerate until firm (30 minutes).

Assembly 

Slice the éclairs length ways. If there is uncooked choux, scoop it out. Pipe crème into tube. Press in chopped almonds to the creme filling Repeat with remaining éclairs. Glue the lindt quarters to the top of the éclair with melted chocolate. Fridge for 1 hour before serving.

Never too learned /-/ Sweet and salty popcorn Choc Chip Cookies

 
Sometimes basics skills are what you need. I think we all know the value of basic skills such as being able to take public transport and read to a junior level; all these are needed to survive in our economy. You might have a list a bit longer than mine and yours might be based upon what you consider most important. None the less the main idea is that we all need them.

 Your basic skills should not be taken for granted because without them life can simply not function as well as it does. Think about it. If you could not read, how would you understand general information at hospital, school or work? You will never discover that you had a favourite book. Also forget trying to even go shopping; so many things rely on this one skill. 



Like the basic of life, the kitchen also has it own set of basic skills. Some may disagree with me but the only difference between a good chef and great chef is the level of mastery they have over their kitchen skills. Knife skills, recipe reading and cleanliness make a major difference when you have multiple dishes to cook.

 I only have started to appreciate the basic skills since I started my patisserie course. While my class might only doing simple things such as knife cuts and basics of cookery, I see that you can never be too learned in the kitchen to try and improve them.

Even after 20 something years and owning more than 5 pastry business, the teacher still claims his knife skills need to be worked on. Honestly inspirational 



Another reason why I have come to value basic kitchen skills is that the most annoying television reality kitchen show is back on in Australia for new season. 

I am not sure if the channel is looking for loud, big mouthed and conceited people but it seems this year the contestants are more so than ever before. If I ever become anything like these people; some shoot me. Yes becoming a big headed is one of my greatest fears.

Argh I cannot stand it; how do you develop an ego that is that inflated?



Sure, I am not a beginner baker but I defiantly consider myself a beginner cook. Not having any formal training before hand; this experience with a real cooking school is exciting and constantly challenging. Learning knife skills, basic techniques for blanching, cream and making custard is incredibly rewarding as well. Not to mention all the yummy stuff that these kitchen skills can produce (aka. Ice cream with steamed pudding). Funny how my rants always lead to my sweet tooth for ice cream. 



Being at class reminded me of the importance of creaming. Creaming you ask? It is when you beat the sugar and butter together until it becomes one fluffy mix. This is an unavoidable task in creating cookies that hold together when little flour is used or ones which have enough “body” to support the fillings. There are also a huge number of other factors too but I normally cream the butter for at least 5 minutes if the butter is room temperature. This step is important in the making of these cookies. The use of corn flour is no brainer to help soften the plain flour; but the egg yolk helps with the chewy but soft set texture too. Like all good cookies you need to fridge it but I am patient enough (just) for these cookies.

After beginning inspired by the host of salt sweet treats on the Web, I used two types of popcorn in these cookies. The crunchy salty bite of butter popcorn and the sweet chew of caramel corn are the highlights of this cookie; however it would not be complete with chunks of chocolate would it?

This cookie, with softly caramelized edges, hold the butter goodness of popcorn, the chew of caramel and bitter sweetness of dark chocolate; you can only imagine the texture of these when the dough is yielding. All you need to know for good cookies is creaming, light hand and fridge time; if you know that you will always have a winner!

Sweet and salty popcorn Choc Chip Cookies
Makes 40 cookies. 
Adapted from this recipe for Soft set giant M&M cookies
Inspired by Joy the baker and smitten kitchen 

225g butter

3g fine salt

170g brown sugar

60g caster sugar

1 scraped vanilla pod

2 egg yolks, cold

200g plain flour

80g corn flour

2tsp baking soda

1/2tsp baking powder

1.5 crushed buttered popcorn (microwaved packet)

1 cup crushed caramel popcorn

90g dark chocolate, chopped



Preheat oven 180C, Line two trays with baking paper
In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar, till very fluffy and light brown about 5 minutes on kitchen aid.
Add vanilla, salt, egg yolks. Then beat till fluffy
Mix in your flour, baking powder, baking soda and corn flour. Fold in lightly.
Add your pop corns and chocolate. Scoop out balls of cookie dough on to baking paper and freeze covered until the next day.
Pre heat oven for 180C. Bake frozen cookie balls on lined baking trays for 9-12 minutes then remove from oven. Allow them to continue to cook and cool on tray.
.