Another failed attempt

Tried to make another batch of Kueh Bahulu yesterday evening.
But then got almost the same result.
The interior is very spongy & kinda hard.
The crust is only crispy only straight out from oven.
After it cooled down, the crispy crust is gone.
I seriously think there's some problem with my whisking of the eggs & sugar.

Some receipe have mentioned not to over-mixed.
While i only mix on med-high for 10mins as stated on the receipe.
I'm beginning to think that the PH auntie maybe right..
Maybe i shld consider adding some sago flour to my bahulu.
So that the inside will be soft.

I wanted to try another receipe from here next time.
Hopefully it'll turn out right.
It's stated that we shld fry/bake the flour also.
Maybe thats the secrect.

The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making

I have a bread machine at home,
and i use to make bread for daily comsumption.
But i have no luck with most of the bread machine
recipe, thus have not found a good recipe for a simple loaf yet.

Have always wanted to get a bread machine recipe book.
But didnt see any interesting one till yesterday.
Browse thru the book a liitle last night.
It was cramp full of informations
regarding different types / countries of bread..
The first 1/3 section are all talking bout the dif types of bread!!!!
and into ingredients, flavors and technique.
I have selected a simple daily loaf to try out
somewhere this week.
Hopefully, it'll not disappoint me once again.

nonetheless, i do have a good receipe for
handshape bread/bun, like those in breadtalk/four leave.
I will post them up so that i can make reference easily.
They're from my last blog though.

Bread during their final proofing

Baked bread with milk just brush on
[could also use egg wash for shiny finish]

Ingredients [10 buns, each dough weight 50g]

(A)
250 gm bread flour
40 gm sugar
1 tbsp milk powder
½ tsp salt
90 - 100 ml water ( depend on the flour )
1 ½ tsp instant yeast
1 egg

(B)
40 gm butter, cut into small cubes

For glazing
Fresh milk (didnt want to waste another egg, haha)

Method :

1. Put all the ingredients (A) in the breadmachine. Set to Dough cycle and press start.
2. After 8-10min during the cycle add in the butter (B). Close the lid and let the machine complete its cycle. At the end of the cycle, the dough would have doubled in bulk and will be ready for hand-shaping
3. Divide the dough into 50 gm portion each. Put in fridge to rest dough for at least 10 mins.
4. Remove from refrigerator and knead each ball lightly on a floured surface. Flatten and roll out as per the shape you want.
5. Proof the shaped bread for another 1hour or until double in size. Preheat oven to 200°C
6. Bake for 10 - 15 mins. or until bread is done.
7. Remove from oven and brush top with fresh milk for a soft bun.

** i remember the bread still manage to remain soft & fluffy on the 2nd day...

Stomach Pain!!!

Woke up by the pain in my abdominal at 1+ am..
Ran to toilet while screaming "肚子痛“ to darling...
While i was doing my business halfway,
sweetie ask from outside "are you ok?"
"want to put some oil?"
then went ahead to bring me his fave "舢漂油“...

Fiddling ard in bed for sometimes before i manage to
fall back to sleep..
but then didnt sleep well..
cos i was awake intermittently by the pain & uncomfort..
dunno whats wrong, what i ate..

went to the doc this afternoon after i poo
bloody mucus for a few times...
sian, the doc told me to go light,
preferably no meat, no oily & spicy food.
and maybe if one more time like this, must go do scope liao.

After a week of vegen for darling deceased uncle,
and a suspect of h1n1 since last tue...
my appetite slowly return but now like this again. WAH!!!!

Last night, while watching darling
play his DS laying down.
He freaking drop his DS into my lips,
therefore end up with a bruised, swallon & bleeding lip today.
Sa many unfortunate stuff happen to me for the last week.
I hope it have ended already.
Need to go pray in the temple & renew my fortune latern.
And pray for my health & well being.
I need to be more careful recently, so many omen for me le.

I want to get well for the CNY,
so i can eat heartily,
and welcome the new year with a light heart!
Buddha bless me.

Kueh Bangkit & Kueh Bahulu

Tried to make a bacth of kueh bangkit last night.
But it doesnt turn out really well.
Firstly, maybe i have overbaked it.
Secondly, maybe due to my inexperience,
or laziness to wait for the flour to be cooled completely,
i used the flour, thus the result is not good.

Anyway, re-make another batch of kueh bangkit & kueh bahulu
this afternoon after our breakfast from Ya Kun.
Went to NTUC to get the top four & rice flour for the bahulu.
This time round, i let the baked flour have ample of time
to cool while i am baking the bahulu.

The result was good, melt in the mouth texture
were acheivable when i roll it out thin.

I use the receipe from Joy of Cooking.
Here's the receipe.

Kueh Bangkit
300g tapioca flour
3-4 pandan leaves (cut into 4")
20 gm margarine or soften butter (i use margarine)
1 egg yolk
120g icing sugar
120 ml coconut milk (i use Ayam Brand)
1/4 tsp vanilla powder (i use custard powder)

1. Baked tapoica flour with pandan leaves at 160degC for 30min, stirring every 10min interval. Set aside to cool. Best to leave it to cool overnight or 1 to 2 days.
2. Sift tapioca flour and combine with sifted icing sugar and vanilla powder. Add margarine or butter. Beat egg yolk with the coconut milk lightly to combine yolk into the milk. Add the mixture into the flour. Knead until dough is pilable. If you find dough too dry and crumbly, add more coconut milk, a tbsp at a time and knead until it is workable.
3. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 cm thick. Cut with cookie cutters and pinch patterns with tweezer (optional on the pinching of patterns). Arrange them on a lined baking tray (best to use the non-stick parchment paper as it DO stick).
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 160C for 15 mins or until it is lightly brown (not too brown). Cool it on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

**for the above amount, i made enough kueh bangkit to fill 2 small containers as i made them very thin.

As for the kueh Bahulu.
This is also the first time i have tried it.
It turn out rather good.
But maybe i have overworked the egg batter slightly
thus it's a bit chewy on the insite. Should try to beat lesser next time.
And maybe can try what the PH auntie recommendated
60-40 of top flour to sago flour.
Nonetheless, the bahulu turn out fine.
Its very small and petite cos i have not bought
the traditional heavy metal mould that i was recommended.
Instead i have gotten the normal light pan ones.
They are small and shallower as compared to the
traditional one.
Thus the result bahulu are small,
one mouthfull each only.

Kueh Bahulu
Ingredients A:
350g egg
300g sugar

Ingredients B: (sifted)
280g cake flour
40g rice flour
5g double action baking powder

Ingredients C:
½ tsp Vanilla oil
100g melted butter

Method:
1. put eggs into a mixing bowl. Use high speed to whisk until frothy. Add in sugar slowly.
Whisk mixure until very light and fluffy (about 20mins)
2. Fold flour slowly into egg mixure in one direction. Add in vanilla oil and melted butter
3. Pour into greased trays
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200ºC 10mins till golden brown
5. Remove kuih baulu from tray

** i have half the receipe and have yield me one small container of bahulu.
i got the original receipe from here.

Pentax K-x RED

My latest succumb to temptation... Pentax k-x in RED!!! haha...
i LOVE it the moment i set my eyes on it.
The color just shout "buy me!"..
i love the idea that its in red, something special
that will set me aside other mad dslr users... lol..

i bought the camera with the intention of getting
beautiful pictures for my food photos..
i know nuts about using a dslr. haha...
i was told that a good camera could acheive the same effect.
but with the lastest batch of photos that darling took,
it didnt do justice to my cuppies at all, at least i think.
so, in teh blink of any eye,
i suggest to darling, "maybe we can consider getting a slr??"
thats how it all started..

and after researching for a weekends,
i have settled for Pentax K-x..
1, cos i LOVED the color,
2, i dig the size,
3, the review was great!!!

Initially, i have a few models in mind, Nikon D90, Sony A380/A500, Pentax K-x..
Nikon was out, cos its pricer, bigger, review was ok.
Sony A380 was great!! except that the grip was lousy,
i cln't convince myself to sacrifice the grip for everything else.
Sony A500, was too big for me, i feel..
Thus, after conflicting myself for a day,
and thousands of research, review and comparisons....
i finally settled for the Pentax,
cos i simply LOVE the color, and the size adn the grip was great!!
the only thing bout this that i dun like is that
K-x don't like the confirmation AF points.
and the focusing on the Live screen was laggy
as compared to Sony's as with all other slr.
If only Sony A380 have a improved grip, i wld have bought that.

Haven't got a chance to try out on my new bake yet.
Cos as of Tue, i was down with high fever, suspected of h1n1.
The high fever didnt subside thi wed late afternoon.
All in all, i have pop 16 panadols!!!!!
more that wat i wld have taken for the past 5 yrs..
so much so for trying my best to avoid panadol only during extreme cases..

anyway, i'm back to work today,
feeling better, and no fever!!!
However, i still have my anti-biotics to finish..
Which i think the doc gave me way too many,
3 times a day for 4.5 days...
And i hapen to check the mirror for my throat today,
i saw MANY ulcers ard both sides of my throat!!! haiz...
so many, and so big some more...

Unforgettable 2009!!

This is the first work weekend for 2010!!
After have enjoyed so many many long weekends for the past 3 weeks.
This weekend is definitely slightly weird.. haha..

Personally for me, i feel like i have not worked
on a Friday for like months.
Thats because, i have taken leave from 24nov-2dec
for my holiday with darling to sparkling Korea!
Came back on a wed for half day,
then the following week.
Took leave on 16dec-19dec for a short
getaway to Phuket with crazy TRT members.
had so much crazy fun there, definitely unforgettable!

After i came back, then all the following 2 weeks are long weekend!
haha.. My Dec really pass so fast with so many activities & parties
planned for and cramped into..
A very good Ox year for me.
(I'm a Ox myself, thus i specially love & treasure the Oxen yr)
Since so many stuff have pass,
I shall make a list of the important things i have done in 2009

1. Jan 09
Mum birthday, i cook a 3-course meal for her
& bought her Mont Blanc pen (08 xmas pressie) a Mont Blanc pen pouch
Had reunion dinner for the first time in 754 with granny
and whole family present

2. May 09
Master Ivan gave me a date 26/28 i forget,
but we pass it cos financially, we were hit by SE crisis
Darling took up a course & we flew to HK
on super budget for a research on ingredients for Noodle
1st time staying in hostel

3. July 09
Our 5th yr anniversary
Went to flyer & Dinner at Sweet Indulgences
Sweetie re-created glow-in-the-dark iris for the first time.
My first Project at Eng Neo officially ended!
Handle new project entirely by myself, a Project Manager!!!!

4. August 09
Single handledly planned a surprise bday party
for darling at D'Kranji. He was surprise & very happy!

5. Sept 09
Cat got married, made a 10 commitment card for her

6. Nov 09
Korea trip with darling, beautiful!

7. Dec 09
TRT Phuket trip, craziest!
Sentosa Count down with TRT
Yr ends with me and darling at ABC
Doing 1hr prostration to welcome the new year!!

2009 rocks!

Classic Pound Cake

Baked this classic Pound cake with the recipe in Cake Bible a few weeks back.
This is the first time i have tried the recipe inside the book
although i have bought this book like 1plus year back. haha..
I couldn't post the receipe as I'm currently in my office.
Will try to update the receipe when I am home.

The book was good, with many techniques and tips on how to
acheive the cake the best. way
However, the pound cake that i bake wasn't really to mine or
my family's liking.
Crust is kinda hard, the cake texture itself rather crumply.
Somewhat close to SaraLee type of pound, very heavy, very dense.
Maybe its due to the mixing of my patissier,
i followed the mixing speed and time exacatly.
Maybe this is how original classic pound should taste like.
The cake however does have a lovely split in the middle of the cake.
In the book, there's a method to create this lovely split,
just by drawing a line to create the split when the cake is almost half baked.
I must be lucky, cos mine just developed by itself.. haha

I must say it looks rather "uncooked" in the photo below though.
But then its definately fully cooked, cos i have test it with a skewer.
Nonetheless, the cake was finish by me and family.

Classic Pound Cake (from Cake Bible)

Homemade Creamy Mushroom Soup

Had my first take on homemade mushroom soup from scratch.
did quite a lot of research and finally settled on Jamie's receipe.
made this for my mum's bday which is on the 2nd Jan.


my photo didnt do the receipe any fairness at all.
The receipe was a keeper for sure.
you can find the receipe here.
I have made this batch with the following mushrooms:

400g of white button
100g of Shitake
100g of Portabella

the cooking time was long, altogether it takes bout 1hr for me to complete this soup.
It wasn't the creamy type til u blend the mushroom into puree.
And i didnt add in much cream into the soup,
just a tiny teaspoon of cream,
which my mum said adds to the frangrance of the soup.