Pizza bread for lunch

I have half a packet of block cheddar cheese leftover from making sausage and cheese buns.  I had no idea of what to do with it.  

Recently, my Aunt gave me some slices of ham.  And so ham and cheese together with some tomato base pasta sauce make up the ingredients for our lunch today.

Spread the pasta sauce over a few slices of wholegrain bread, top it up with ham and grated cheddar cheese, whack them into the oven and toast till the cheese melts.

Simple, hassle free and convenient way of using up leftover ingredients.

I think the kids enjoyed this simple treat.  

Weekend cake making workshop

Went for a cake making workshop over the weekend and produced three different types of cakes. 

Even managed to decorate all of them.  Of course, the standard of decoration awaits much improvements.  

The sense of satisfaction is immense.  The class wasn't too big and I had a lovely partner.  We share one similarity, fastidious about cleanliness and tidiness.

This is the first cake we made, Japanese strawberry shortcake.

The sponge cake felt soft, light and moist to the fingers.  Most important of all, it is an easy sponge cake to make and not too sweet or oily.

The next set of cakes we made is the Hokkaido cupcakes.  The recipe looks like a chiffon cake.  The only difference lies in the filling.  So I guess Hokkaido cupcakes are chiffon cakes with fillings?

I love these pink cups and the simple custard cream topping that my partner piped for me.

And finally from the afternoon workshop, I made a 6 layer rainbow cake.  Yes, rainbow has seven colours but I guess two of the colours are too close in shades so we made do only six.  The cream that was used to cover and decorate the cake is something new to me too.  It is called a Swiss meringue buttercream.  It does't taste too sweet nor too creamy/buttery, a type of buttercream that I can tolerate.

These three cakes took me eight hours to bake and decorate.  No wonder tasty and beautifully decorated cakes are costly treats!

2013 Q3 Outing: HSBC Treetop Walk

What a long long holiday and weekend.  

It was packed with lots of activities for me, catching up with friends and food.

Treetop Walk; physical activity.  That means our family is the organizer for Q3 outing.  Not that we find it a chore.  I think the Hubby and the two kids enjoy organizing such physical activities for our friends on our quarterly outing.  

It gives us the impetus to go in search of walks suitable for our friends and their children.  But the more important part of such project is the search for delicious food and location that can take all 15 of us.  

Our 5th time, I think, on the trail leading to the HSBC Treetop Walk.  It rained rather heavily on the morning of our walk.  Of course, there was the uncertainty whether to proceed with it or not. Luckily, the rain let up after a while, and by the time all of us gathered at the entrance to the trail, it stopped.

We took the route from the entrance at Venus Drive off Upper Thomson Road.  Perhaps it was the start of a long holiday and weekend; it was pretty early in the morning; it was raining, there was no sight of the usual crowd expected on a holiday morning.  Apart from our four cars, there was I think only 4 or 5 other cars.  

And so, that made the route we took pretty exclusive to the lot of us, and that also meant that I could take some pictures along the way without the worry of blocking fellow users of the trail.

There were many interesting looking plants, some with strange shapes, some strange colors.  Didn't take all of them, don't think will post all those I'd taken anyway.  These two are favorites.

Maybe it was the rain, we didn't see many animals or insects along the trail.  Perhaps we didn't look hard enough.  But we did spot these two caterpillars.

Unfortunately, the photographer has a shaky hand.  Subjects of focus are really blurred.  Otherwise, these two caterpillars would offer some spectacular sight.

As usual, after trudging about for a while, the kids got hungry.  A pit-stop to stop some growling tummy.

 

I think that flight of stairs uphill after crossing the suspension bridge must have worked up some appetite.

This is just one part of the uphill flight of stairs.

This spot offered an interesting platform for the children, a very large rock.  Maybe boulder would be a better word?  Whichever; it was huge enough for all 7 kids to stand on it and form a straight line.

Our children, they have indeed grown over the years.  And yes, it is rather amazing when I think about it.  We have been tirelessly and faithfully meeting up over these years.  

We took slightly under 3 hours to complete the whole walk and back to our cars.  Not too bad for some first-timers.

We were a little early for our lunch at Cornerstone at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park 1, but we proceeded there anyway.  Indeed, we were way early.  The restaurant was still setting up for lunch.  Not a problem, we freshened up at the nearby public toilet.  I have to admit, the public toilet was decently clean.  

The kids were famished; they actually were enthusiastic in choosing their food, and more importantly, they cleaned out everything placed before them.  Even that extra dish we did not order.  Shish... Well, as long as they can eat without picking, I am happy.

Here's what some of us had.

Son's mini burger patties

Fried mushrooms in batter, button mushrooms were really juicy.  Batter wasn't too thick or oily.

Friend's order of leg of lamb on risotto

Hubby's pork rack with blue cheese cream sauce

My order of pulled pork shoulder sandwich

I love my order.  The pork shoulder was really juicy and extremely softly braised.  The sandwiching bread was adequately scented with herbs.  The portion was just right for me.  It would really be perfect if not for the wait.  I waited for about 1.5 hours for this.  My guess is that the kitchen had either missed the order, or sent the order to the wrong table but failed to realize it until we started questioning.  Which in turn meant that I took a while to start questioning.  The morning walk must have taken its toll on my level of awareness.  But whatever it was, I wasn't upset with it.  It was perhaps a blessing in disguise.  The management readily offered a 10% discount off the bill.  There were 15 of us, a main dish each, a couple of side dishes and 15 drinks.  The bill was considerable, the discount was a gift.  I guess my order was perfect after all.    

番薯咖喱餐包

藩薯咖喱餐包

觉得上次加入藩薯做的小面包相当柔软，很想再证实一下藩薯的威力，今天又搓了12个小餐包出来。

而且，小朋友从明天起就连续放两天假。再加上周末，我想应该没什么 闲暇时间让我慢慢摸索制作面包。干脆今天就试一试儿子很喜欢吃的咖喱内馅小餐包。

今天用的藩薯比上一次的色泽鲜艳许多。揉成的面团也因此呈现淡淡的橙色，看起来相当诱人。

或许这个品种水分较多，今天的面团真的非常难搓揉，比上一次还要难搓揉。
不管我怎么搓，怎么捶打，怎么摔，面团一直都是粘粘的。双手都粘满面团。又不敢猛加面包粉，担心如果不小心加得太多，面包就变硬了。

第二次发酵

我相信食谱分配的水分，也相信自己一定可以搓揉出有弹性的面团。经过30分钟的搓揉和摔打后，面团真的开始呈现弹性，也不再粘手了。

刷上一层全蛋液，加上点缀，送进烤箱

手工搓面包是很累人的功夫。但是眼看刚才粘得不行的面团终于变得有弹性且光滑，又能撑得出光滑薄膜，那种成就感倒是有点无法形容。

包进自己准备的咖喱内馅，再夹进一颗鹌鹑蛋。制作面包还满过瘾的。

第二次发酵完成后，面团柔软而富有弹性。在刷上蛋液前，喜欢用手指轻轻按一下。

面包快烤好的前10分钟，我会一直守在烤炉旁。担心面包表面烤得太黑，需要赶紧盖上锡箔纸，保护表层。又担心会烤超时面包变得太干。总之，很多多余的顾虑。

终于等到面包可以出炉的时间了！是最开心的一刻。一阵阵浓浓的面包香随着敞开的炉门扑鼻而来。

表面烤成适度的金黄色。我想味道也应该是不错的。

儿子说他饿了。那就乘这时来尝尝新鲜出炉的藩薯咖喱小餐包吧！

包裹功夫有待进步。面团还是竿得太薄，需要注意。

金瓜焖烧肉

乘家里的两个小朋友还没放学，赶紧上载昨晚拍好的照片。要不然又不知道要拖到什么时候了。

虽说是焖烧肉，但也不需要焖上几个钟。只需区区四五分钟，焖到金瓜松软绵密就可以盛盘。非常简单的一道小菜，两个小朋友却吃地津津有味。

以前炒这道菜常常用很多食油，因为总觉得金瓜不好炒，需要很多油才能炒得软。又有一个莫名奇妙的习惯；就是以为一定要把金瓜先炒软才可以加水焖煮。真是叫人啼笑皆非。

女儿的最爱就是后方的烧肉

老妈子教我如何用最少量的油和最短的时间烹煮这道菜。之前只懂得和烧肉一起炒，原来加一点新鲜菇类一起焖更能增添风味。还是老妈子棒！

儿子偏好鲜嫩多汁的菇类

炒的时候，金瓜的色泽鲜艳，明亮的橘黄色令人垂涎三尺。却没想到加上素蚝油和酱清后，颜色就暗淡了许多。

小朋友应该很喜欢这道菜。开饭没多久就剩下这些了。幸好已经给老公留了一小碟，不然他可没口福了！

可想而知，最终就是扫个清光。

Sweet potato buns with pork floss

Got a little tired of the usual bread flour, egg and milk combination for buns with fillings.  So decided to try this recipe which calls for some sweet potato mash.  And at the same time, also to try out a different way of adding the fillings into the bun.  Made these last Thursday.

The flavor of sweet potato did not stand out at all, in fact, there wasn't any sweet potato flavor. I liked the swirling effect created by rolling the pork floss with the dough.  Looks a little like a swiss roll.  

Made only 5 of such pork floss rolls.  The remaining portion of the dough was used to make plain buns.  As usual, a couple of assorted shapes as I practise on my shaping skills.

The usual swirly knot in the middle.  There is the twirl situated behind the knot.  The one in the foreground was simply achieved by giving it a few slashes before the start of the second proofing.

What's interesting about this batch with the sweet potato added is actually the softness.  Though there isn't any sweet potato flavor, probably masked by the butter and the milk, the softness provided was very obvious to the touch.  It was very much softer than the usual recipe I use.

Unfortunately, only these assorted shapes can boast of the softness I am talking about.  

Those with the pork floss filling was a little tougher than the previous buns I made using the usual flour/egg/milk combination.  I had rolled out the dough too flat, and rolled it up with the filling too tightly such that the dough could not fluff up enough during the second proofing. 

see how flat the bread portion is, both sections near the core of the bun and the top layer of the bun.

Of well, lesson learned.  Next time, I've got to remember not to roll up too tightly for such buns.

One final picture.

Sausage and Cheese buns

 The girl loves buns with sausage and cheese toppings.  Of course this will be one of my attempts.

Made these on Monday.  I remembered to add a little more salt and a little more fat to the original recipe.  To be precise, 1/4 tsp more of salt and 5 gram more of butter.  

The salt didn't do anything to the yeast.  It worked pretty well.  The butter did make the bread softer, despite a mere 5 gram more.  Quite amazing really, what a mere 5 gram can do to the texture of the bread.  Imagine what it can do the body.  But well, as long as it makes the end product softer and tastier, no need to fret too much.  Just pound the ground harder when I go for my routine jog in the morning.

Round 2 proofing, tray 1

  

Round 2 proofing, tray 2

 Come to think of it, I did take a bit longer to reach the window-pane stage while kneading this batch of dough.  I wonder if it has anything to do with the additional butter.  Or perhaps I was more gentle with the dough this time round.  

Oven ready

After 1 hour of the second proofing, this tray is ready for the oven.  Dot the swirly buns with sausage and brush the surface evenly with whole egg wash and into the oven.

Cozy in the oven at 170 deg C.  No cheese topping yet.  I found that if I add the cheese at the beginning of the bake, it will brown too much and dry up.  Perhaps I ought to get those cheese with higher melting point, or those more suitable for baking.  But I have no idea what are those.  And that means a little bit of research is necessary.  Okay, this will be a test for next time. 

For now, it will be processed cheddar cheese which I cut into strips and carelessly strewn over the buns.

Cheddar cheese added

Half way through the bake time, I added the cheese.  And it melted almost immediately.  That got me worried about the cheese browning up too soon again.  But luckily it didn't.

Here's the end result.  

For the second tray, cheese was added in the final 2 minutes of bake time.  But that wasn't quite enough for the cheese to brown up.  And I ended up adding another 2 minutes to the bake time.  Of course there was the worry about the bread over-baking and drying out, but luckily, the 2 minute impact wasn't significant.