Doughnut muffins with an Easter Suprise...

These doughnuts are baked, not fried! And, their texture are quite like doughnuts; they are very soft and delicious with all the sugar coating.

I'm proud to say that these doughnuts were made with my latest baking tool, my sexy KitchenAid mixer. I always wanted a KA and I'm extremely happy now to own one.

The original recipe from Donna Hay uses soft chocolate filling in these doughnuts. For me, my family and the coming Easter day, I've made these muffins with a little Easter surprise by placing an Easter chocolate egg in each doughnut. Yum!

For the coming 2-3 weeks, my family and I will be having our Easter holidays in Singapore and Hong Kong and hope to return soon after this break. Happy Easter Holidays!

Introducing my sexy KA...

Surprise! An Easter egg in each doughnut!

Here's the recipe from Donna Hay magazine, Apr/May 2010 issue 
(with my minor modifications in blue)
 

The Easter eggs that I used

Make 12

160g butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 cups (450g) plain flour, sifted
21/2 tsp baking powder, sifted
3/4 cup (180ml milk)
2 tbsp buttermilk
1 cup (220g) white sugar (I use caster sugar)
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
melted butter, for brushing
 

Chocolate filling  
(I use 12 mini Easter Caramel Chocolate eggs)
1/3 cup (80ml) single cream
80g dark chocolate, finely chopped
 
To make the chocolate filling, place cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate and stir until glossy and smooth. Place in the refrigerate until set.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat until well combined. Add the flour, baking powder, milk, butter milk and beat until just combined. Spoon half the mixture into a 12 x 1/2 cup capacity lightly greased muffin tin. Make a small hole in the mixture and divide the chocolate filling between the muffins (or place one chocolate egg for each doughnut). Top with the remaining mixture and bake for 20-22 min or until cooked when tested with skewer. Cool on wire rack. Place the white sugar (or caster sugar) and cinnamon in a bowl and mix to combine. When muffins are cool enough to handle, brush with melted butter and toss gently in the cinnamon sugar to coat.

Happy Baking.

Pear and ginger cake

This is a Donna Hay's recipe from her magazine. It is actually meant to be an upside down cake but some of the batter went to the bottom of the pear and my cake wouldn't look any difference being upside down or not. 

Maybe it is the way that I cut the pears, being not level enough causing the batter goes under them. Despite this minor imperfection, the cake is actually very nice with a moist syrupy texture and tastes even better on the next day.

 

Here's the recipe from Donna Hay Magazine, Apr/May 2011 issue.

Upside-down pear & ginger cake

1 cup (350g) golden syrup
1 cup (175g) brown sugar
3/4 cup (180ml) milk
1 2/3 cups (250g) plain flour, sifted
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
125g butter, chopped
1 egg
5 Williams pears, peeled & cheeks removed


Preheat oven to 180ºC. Place the golden syrup, sugar and milk in a small saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool. Place the flour, baking powder, ginger, mixed spice, nutmeg and butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the golden syrup mixture with the motor running and process until smooth. Add the egg and process until combined. Place the pears, cut-side down, into the base of a 20cm x 30cm tin lined with non-tick baking paper. Pour the cake mixture over the pears and bake for 50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out. Cut into slices and serve with double cream, if desired. Serves 8.

Note: I've baked this cake with half of this recipe and use 15cm x 20cm tin.

Happy Baking.

Toasted Muesli

This is what I ate for my breakfast this morning. 

I feel really good eating this. This muesli mix is very personalized having all my favourite ingredients, all accordingly to the way that I want.

I have this idea of making my own toasted muesli when I realize that all the store-bought toasted muesli has very minimal percentage of fruits, seeds and nuts. Worst of all, some contain lots of fat and sugar. This muesli recipe has no added sugar or fat and I love the extra personal touch by adding lots of dried cranberries and Manuka honey. 

Even nicer to know that my son also likes chewing these muesli.

 

All ready to enjoy this delicious fruity breakfast...

Here's the recipe from Super Food Ideas magazine, October 2010 issue 
(with my minor modification in blue)

Ingredients

5 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup processed bran
1/2 cup seed mix 
(I replace this with bran for extra fiber. We love our extra-extra-extra fiber breakfast ...LOL)
1/2 cup honey (I use Caplilano Manuka honey)
1/2 cup apple juice (I use the one with no preservative and no sugar added)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (I use the whole of 150g pack)
1/2 cup dried pear, finely chopped ( I use the whole of 200g pack)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 140°C fan forced. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Combine oats, bran and seed mix in a bowl.

2. Place honey and apple juice in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until honey has melted. Stir into oat mixture.

3. Divide mixture between prepared trays. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until golden and toasted. Add cranberries and pear. Stir to combine. Cool completely on trays. (Note: Muesli will be slightly crispy and form small clusters on cooling). Transfer to a airtight container until ready to serve.

Happy Baking.

Reduced Fat Salmon and Pea Quiche

This quiche has been in my pending to-bake list for ages. This recipe uses no cream and use healthy ingredients which are as "low fat" as possible. In fact, this quiche is surprisingly good!

The only shortcoming is that the base of this pastry is not as crispy as those that have been blind baked and have higher fat content. Apart from this, I wouldn't mind making this quiche again for its healthy content.

Unlike most regular quiches which contain half cup or more amount of cheese, this quiche has a humble amount of only two tablespoon of Parmesan cheese and yet cheesy enough to be tasty. Thus, I'm submitting this post to the Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011) hosted by Jean from Noms I must.

Jean, the proud owner of the blog, Noms I must, is an amazing food blogger. Jean and I started blogging about the same time last year. Since then, she had made a great variety of cakes and biscuits. Visit her blog and you will be amazed with her recipes collection. 

 

Here's the recipe from Super Food Ideas magazine, October 2010 issue
(with my minor modification in blue)

210g can red salmon, drained, skin and bones removed, flaked
1/2 cup frozen baby peas
4 green onions, thinly sliced (I use 1/2 medium red onion, diced and cook it with 1 tsp of oil)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (I replace this with my home grown chives)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
4 sheets filo pastry
Alfa One rice bran oil cooking spray
4 eggs
1/4 cup reduced-fat milk (I use regular milk)
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
Mixed salad leaves, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Lightly grease a 2.5cm deep, 11.5cm x 34cm (base) loose-based fluted tart pan.
2. Place salmon, peas, onion, dill (chives) and lemon rind in a bowl. Stir to combine.
3. Place 1 sheet filo on a flat surface. Spray with oil. Repeat, layering, with remaining filo and oil. Line base and sides of prepared pan with filo. Spoon over salmon mixture.
4. Whisk eggs, milk and parmesan in a bowl. Pour over salmon. Roll up overhanging filo sides. 5. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden and just set. Serve with salad leaves.

Happy Baking.

My answer to my gluten gelatinisation question

As promised, this is my final baking investigation on gluten gelatinisation method.

This time, I'm using a basic sweet dough recipe and made the buns without using its original gelatinisation method. For one half of the dough, I've added bread improver for further texture comparison.

What is bread improver? The one that I'm using is mainly ascorbic acid which is vitamin C which is known to strengthen gluten in bread.

And this is my final conclusion...

In my opinion, gluten gelatinisation does not improve bread texture. These buns made without gluten gelatinisation are as soft as the ones made with gluten gelatinisation. In fact, these buns are even better than the previous batch because I've increased the proving time to 1 1/2 hrs just like what Lena did with her Ham and Cheese Buns. The addition of bread improver does not make any difference to the freshly baked buns. Essentially, I would say that it is the recipe and longer proving time that make good texture in bread, not gluten gelatinisation.

This is not the end of my investigation yet...On the next day, my husband and I did a blind test on these buns - sounds like fun *giggles*. As expected, the buns with the bread improver are the ones that retains their moisture better than the ones without bread improver. There isn't any dramatic difference between these buns but the difference is still detectable. For this instance, I can clearly see the role of bread improver now; it does not improve the bread texture but retains the bread texture on the next day. Now that I know this, I don't have to add bread improver into the bread mix if the bread is to be consumed within the day that it's baked.

Comparing to my previous gluten gelatinisation buns, these buns with the improver are much more softer on the next days and wouldn't think that gluten gelatinisation helps to retains texture on the next days.

Now, I'm totally convinced that water roux / Tangzhong method or gluten gelatinisation is NOT necessary for my bread making. For bloggers who think that these methods work the best for you, please regard my opinion being just my personal opinion. I reckon that all bread making recipes and methods varies in different circumstances with all sort of contributing factors like climate, humidity and types of flours, water and yeast used and this is just what happened to my breads, baked in Melbourne.

These series of bread investigation has been a fun and exciting experience for me. My son was having fun too, having a go shaping his mini breads. Best of all, he enjoyed the most with his "bread disappearing act"..."Bread is here...Bread is gone..." We both had a great time with this bake.

 

Can you spot any difference? I can't...both buns are very soft and delicious. On the next day, there is difference.

Breads that are shaped by my little baker...

Here's the recipe for the basic sweet bread dough without gelatinisation method
(modified from the gelatinisation method from Frozen wing)

400gm bread flour

100gm plain flour

80gm sugar

6gm salt

20gm milk powder

1 tsp bread improver (add 1/2 tsp for half the batch of dough)

9gm instant yeast

245gm cold water

60gm cold eggs

60gm butter

1.Mix all flour, sugar, salt, milk powder and yeast until well blended. Add in the cold water and eggs and knead to form rough dough.

2.Add in butter till form elastic dough.

3. Let it proof for 1 1/2 hr (instead of 40 min as stated in original recipe)

4. Divide the dough into 60g each and mould it round. Let it rest for 10 mins and flatten it. Shape it as accordingly.

5. Place onto a greased pan and proof for 45 mins. Bake at 190°C for 12-15 mins.

Happy Baking

Gluten Gelatinization - Can it retain bread texture ?

"Baking is part science, part stoneground milling and part river-running romance. But it's not the romance that will keep your baking consistently good, it's the science" - Paul Allam in the cookbook, Bourke Street Bakery by Paul Allam & David McGuinness

I enjoy living in this world of trials and errors and love seeking for answers for my questions. The science of baking is so fascinating. The chemistry of flour itself has so much to learn. This is what I gathered from my reading so far...

Gluten is a protein complex formed when wheat flour is mixed with water. The gluten development gives wheat dough an elastic structure that allows the retention of gas bubbles during yeast fermentation. When a bread dough is baked, the yeast dies resulting the air pockets giving the bread a soft and spongy texture. The chemistry of gluten changes in the presence of heat. Gluten toughen when it is heated, thus giving a variety of texture when treated at higher temperature.

Strangely, the chemistry of gluten is also well-understood by my grandmother and mum. We use boiling water in our dumpling dough for a tougher chewy texture. This principle also applies to dough gelatinisation method of making soft Asian bread. Likewise, the cooking of gluten in water roux method is thought to be the method to make soft fluffy bread without the addition of bread improver. However, this opinion has also raised lots of "debate" amongst lots of my fellow food bloggers.

My question is "Can gluten gelatinisation or cooking of gluten retain the texture of bread without the use of any bread improver?

At first, I tried to use the water roux method to cook 10% of flour in an optimized hot cross bun recipe from my Breville breadmaker instructional manual with half amount of water and proceed to make the buns with the cooked dough and the rest of the instructions without adding any bread improver. The buns were soft and tasty when they were freshly baked but were not as good on the next day indicating that the water roux method has shown no effect in improving bread texture.

Now, I'm using a great bread recipe by Lena from Frozen Wing to proceed on my next bread investigation. This original recipe used gelatinisation method and these buns are indeed very soft and fluffy when they were freshly baked but they did not retain their original fluffiness on the next day.

Nothing kills my curiosity at this stage...My next and final baking investigation is to use this similar recipe without gelatinisation method to see any differences with this bake. At the same time, I would like to see if the addition of bread improver makes any difference in texture on the next day.

Stay tune for my next post for the result of my final bread baking investigation.

Here's the recipe for the basic sweet bread dough (gelatinisation method) 
from Lena, Frozen wings

Ingredients A
100g bread flour
70g boiling water

Ingredients B
300g bread flour
100g plain flour
80g sugar
6g salt
20g milk powder
9g instant yeast

175g cold water
60g cold eggs
60g butter

Method:
1.Add the boiling water from A into flour, mix until well blended to form dough. Cover and set aside to cool and refrigerate it for at least 12 hours.
2.Mix B until well blended. Add in the cold water and eggs and knead to form rough dough. Add in A and knead until well blended
3.Add in butter till form elastic dough.
4. Let it proof for 40 mins
5.Divide the dough into 60g each and mould it round. Let it rest for 10 mins and flatten it.
6. Place onto a greased pan and proof for 45 mins. Bake at 190°C for 12-15 mins.

Happy Baking.