Healthy Wholemeal Bread

I always wanted to bake my own bread. Yes, I haven't got the guts to try even though I have attended a 8-week programme on bread making about 3 years ago. I have tried brioche and croissants but not those traditional bread. Well, what is stopping me is that I am worried if my bread does not rise. I need to get that off my head and I am not going to find the easy way out by getting a bread making machine.

So I flipped my old recipes and there it is "Wholemeal Bread". The steps were easy to follow and ingredients were simple. I made half the portion as I did not want to have bread for my entire week.

Ta Da!!! Here it is my first loaf of wholemeal bread.

I had the bread for my lazy Sunday breakfast with some jam and a glass of juice!

Recipe for 1kg of bread

(A)

• 850g Bread Flour
• 30g Milk Powder
• 60g Sugar
• 50g Instant Yeast
• 10g Bread Improver
• 150g Wholemeal Flour
• 50g Butter or Shortening

Ingredient (B)

• 550g Cold water
• 15g Salt

Steps:

1. Using a dough hook beater, mix ingredients A together at low speed.
2. Add cold water and salt slowly into the mixing bowl till the dough does not stick to the bowl.
3. Mix the dough for 10 minutes at medium speed. Ensure the dough is smooth.
4. Remove the dough from the mixer. Fold in the dough and put it back into the bowl. Cover with moist towel and let it rise (approx 15 minutes). Ensure it is placed near somewhere warm.
5. When the dough is ready, it is doubled the size.
6. Grease hands and table top with butter.
7. Take out the dough from the bowl. Divide the dough into 200g balls.
8. Roll the balls one at a time on the greased surface till the surface is smooth.
9. Cover the balls with moist cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.
10. Roll each ball into rectangle and roll them up like a swiss roll.
11. Line them up in a greased bread loaf pan.
12. Cover it with moist cloth and let it rest till it doubles the size.
13. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes.
14. When it is done, remove from pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee is a much-loved french dessert. It is basically a rich vanilla custard topped with burnt caramel. This dessert is commonly served in ramekins but of course there are innovative ways in presenting the french sweetie. Because of this dessert, I bought a chef torch. :P

I used the water bath method for this recipe. Water bath refers to bake the custard ramekins in a tray of warm water (approx half inch) over low heat.

Recipe for 2 ramekins (200ml ramekins)

Ingredients

• 250ml heavy cream/ whipping cream
• 1/4 vanilla bean (slice horizontally and scrap its pulp)
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• Hot water for water bath

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 120 degree Celsius.
2. Put cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a pot. Bring to a boil with medium fire.
3. Remove and allow it to cool for 15 minutes.
4. Remove vanilla bean.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar till it starts to turn pale.
   
   
6. Slowly add in the cream. A bit at a time. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.
7. Pour the mixture equally into 2 ramekins (200ml size).
8. Place the ramekins on a large tray. Add hot water to a height of half an inch.
9. Bake for about an hour. Check the custard is set buts till trembling in the centre.
10. Let it cool and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
11. Take it out 30 minutes prior serving.
12. Sprinkle some sugar on top of the custard. Using a chef torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Serve immediately.

Tantalising Bourbon Basted Ribs

Listen to your husband... Well, to be precise. Listen to your husband's stomach.

As there is a proverb that says the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, do you agree?

My hubby came back one day after lunch and started raving about the bourbon ribs he had at Aston's. He said that the ribs were so delicious that he did not mind having it for the next few meals. Hmph... That's is not right I thought to myself. Something must be done!

So I went to ask Google for help.... "Bourbon Ribs". There were many recipes but it takes some experience to know what will work and what won't. So I compared the recipes and finally picked on one. However I still had to do some modifications.

As the name of the dish states, "BOURBON"! I realised that I did not had that liquor in my "collection". So I put on hold the attempt for a while till recently I managed to get it in DFS during my Bangkok trip.

Recipe for 2 person

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, cut into thin slices
• Oil for frying
• 200ml Bourbon Whiskey
• 100ml Tomato Ketchup
• 100g Soft brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Worcheshire Sauce
• 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
• Baby Pork Ribs (About 12-16 bones)

Steps

1. Fry the small onion in oil till soft and fragrant.
2. Add in all ingredients except pork ribs.
3. Bring to a boil. Simmer it for 5 minutes till alcohol has cooked off.
4. Put in a food processor to blend till smooth.
5. Set aside to cool.
6. Take half of the sauce to marinade the pork ribs. Keep the other half in fridge.
7. Season the pork ribs overnight in the fridge.
8. Next day, preheat the oven to 130 degree celsius. Bake the ribs for 45 minutes.
9. Turn up the temperature to 180 degree celsius.
10. Bake the ribs for another 1 hour or till it is tender and cooked through.
11. Baste the ribs. Repeat 3 - 4 times during the process.
12. In a pan, heat up the other half of the sauce till it thickens.
13. Serve the ribs with thickened sauce drizzled on it.

This is a recipe to die for!!! After serving this dish to my hubby, Aston's ribs no more! :P