Daring Baker's - Challah

This month I was cutting it a little close.  I seriously don't know where all my time goes, and its nearly the end of the month, and I just managed to bake it on the day we're suppose to release the results.  At least I made it.  


So, I must admit, I am a little over the whole bread making thing.  I think ever since I joined up for daring baker's, its consistently has been a bread/yeast related challenge.  And especially since I did inherit a bread machine, the amount of bread I've made, eaten and tried to distribute has been a record. 


Anyway, so another challenge complete, quite successfully as well.  I've never heard of Challah before. Well, given that I'm not Jewish, it's not all that surprising.  But then again, I live in the only other Jewish suburb in Sydney (out of 2), and I have never seen it at the local bakeries or anything. 


So, essentially the dough is split into 3 braids (or 4 or 6), and then plaited together like a hair braid.  Quite a cute concept, but there is religious meaning behind the braids and what each represent.  And copying out of the original post on Daring Baker's forum, the braids together is essentially suppose to represent the meaning that one will not forgot the Sabbath.  From memory, the Sabbath is a Saturday for Jewish ppl, so technically I made it on the right day. 


I did my own twist (get it?!), and filled each strand with my Nutella, hazelnut meal and choc chip formula.  rolled it up, and then plaited it all together.  Results were fantastic.  


It came out of the oven looking a little bit too black. I left it in the oven and retreated to my heated room upstairs, so didn't bother checking on it.  But, it at least it wasn't burnt.  The dough itself turned out quite hard, but once you toast it up, and with the Nutella mixture softened/melted, OMG.. quite good!! From the pictures it doesn't seem like there is enough Nutella, but when you bite, each bite just manages to reach the next plait, i.e. next Nutella spot.  

xoxo

Mich

Raspberry Mousse Chicken Pox Cake

I've been following this blog for a while now.  All her cakes / creations are so beautiful, and so inspiring.  From the posts that I've read, she's a Thai girl who is in accounting but bakes as her hobby.  Not only did that strike a cord with me, but her cakes are so professional looking.  And honestly, she could definitely open a shop or work as a pastry chef if she wanted to.  

I guess in the end, not sure whether its the Asian gene in us, we will alway stick to the stable job with decent income over what we may truly dream to do.  And I would think, people that do what they love, definitely has some guts! 

So back to my raspberry mousse cake.  I was using this recipe of hers, and was telling A that I really doubt I could make it anywhere near as good as hers.  But, I started reading the actual blog post, and it answered my questions exactly.  So, I took her advice and gave it a go. 

I had to double the mousse part of the recipe to make look anything resembling what hers looked like. 

Here are the results: 

So.. problems were that the polka dot ended up looking like chicken pox.  And obviously from the city photo, you can see that i didn't exactly fold in the cream well enough. 

You can see the 2 layers of the mousse, when I had to double the recipe.  But taste wise, it was really good.  The top layer was nicer, since it had less raspberry in it. 

So I can definitely improve on this recipe, and have better results.  Except I will have to wait till raspberry season, since it costs $8 /punnet at the moment. 

So it'll be a recipe for next time. And next time, I'll decide whether I want to have the chicken pox effect again. 

xoxo

Mich

Daring Bakers: Armenian Nazook

Another month, another challenge.  


This month we needed to make either an Armenian Nazook or a Nutmeg cake.  


I've never heard of any of these before, but I guess that was the reason why I joined the Daring Baker's challenges. 


I used the recipes that were provided by the host of the challenge, but made a few tweaks to the fillings just to make it with my touch. 


This is the first time I've used sour cream in my pastry.  I'm not sure what difference it actually makes.  But the pastry wasn't as buttery and fluffy as I would have liked.  


My 1st filling was cinnamon with brown sugar. It was nice and subtley sweet.  2nd filling was Mr A's favourite, Nutella, hazelnut meal and choc chips! 


Glad I took some photos of my prep, but once they were baked, the filling exploded and didn't look as pretty.  

Nutella version 

Cinnamon version

Overall, they were nice, but, not really my kind of thing.  I think I prefer buttery, fatty, sugary desserts! 

xoxo 

Mich

Happy Birthday Iv!!

Apparently my font I usually use isn't good enough and is hard to read, according to Mr A.  So hence, different font it is. 

On other news, Miss Iv chose a Gateau St Honore for her birthday cake.  She rejected my pretty rainbow cake, since she described it as a wedding cake for a gay couple.  

So.. after a burnt finger, here are the results. 

I managed to take some photos of my work in progress.  Except, it just means that my phone gets sticky from my dirty hands. 

1. Choux pastry getting piped on my (flat) puff pastry circle.  I think I won't spike it with so many fork holes as much, so that it was rise like a normal puff pastry.

2. Profiteroles getting piped 

Final results.. the photos can't show the toffee plaque well. But did taste good! 

Forgot to mention, I used the Creme Diplomat, which uses chantilly cream in it.  But, since I left it to the last minute, and needed to get Mr A to do a quick pit stop to the supermarket since I ran out of cream.  The creams didn't set as well as I had hoped. 

And to make it a signature Gateau St Honore, it requires the cream to be piped using a St Honore nozzle. I couldn't find it in any kitchen shops, so hence, its just  flat and boring looking. 

At least its tasted good right.. hahah.. I tried! =)

xoxo 

Mich

13 hours later...

Happy Easter everyone! 


So, given that I had 4 days at home with no plans at all.  I decided to set myself a challenge and try to make the ... CROISSANT!


So, technically, making the croissant is not hard, its just the time and effort you need to put in for it to actually eventuate. 


I had time, I had the ingredients, and I wanted to make sure I could practice some of the pastry that I would make in Paris. So, here are the results! 

So, given all the effort of folding, waiting for it to rest, folding all over again.  I got so excited that I eventually had rolled them out, and they were ready for the oven .. that I forgot to brush it with egg wash. 


So disappointed and sad that I forgot the final step. But, I must say, given how much effort I put into these little babies.  They weren't as fragrant as the ones from the Dutch bakeries in Wynyard station.  


At least I have ticked croissants off my To Do list.  Now, to think of what to bake next!!


xoxo 
Mich

Happy Easter

Since I've been making so much bread these days, it only seemed fitting if I made some Hot Cross Buns for the festivities. 
I've always hated traditional Hot Cross Buns in the past, because they were full of raisins and I never liked the spices in them. 
So, I made a batch of choc-chip ones and also a raisin version too. 


I used an easy to follow recipe from Women's Day. Made it twice exactly the same except substituting rasins with choc chips.  I only used just a little over 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, hence, it was very subtle in any spices. 


AND... who knew it would be so hard just to pipe the crosses on the buns.  It is a flour and water mixture, and its actually so slimy and thick that it was so hard to pipe.  So you can see that for my raisin batch, there are 2 buns where the crosses turned out more like a splat. 


Here are the results 

xoxo
Mich

Daring Bakers March - Dutch Crunch Bread

Another month.. another Daring Baker's challenge!
This month, it was bread related again.  I recently got handed down an unused bread machine, which I'm loving.  And, in approximately 3 more hours, it will have made me a loaf of raisin bread! 
Yummo! 


But, back to the challenge.  So this month, we had to make Dutch Crunch Bread.  I've vaguely heard of it before, but never tasted it.  


Essentially its a normal loaf of bread or a roll, with a rice flour coating on top.  This is spread on the surface prior to baking, and then gives a crackly, crunch, tiger / giraffe looking like texture at the top.  


Taste wise.. its bread, so nothing different there.  But, I'm not sure if I hadn't set it properly prior to putting them in the oven, but my crackles looked a little funky. 


I used the recipe that they suggested from Baking Bites, as I'm still hesitant to stray away from suggested recipes. I'm too chicken for that.  


Anyway.. here are the results:

Well .. what do you think? 
Or maybe I just burnt them. Anyway, another month is coming around the corner. 


xoxo
Mich