Easy Cakes for Special Occasions

I am sorry for my long absence. I was, ahem (and Lord, please do not strike me for this seeming arrogance), promoted at work; hence, my re-channeled energies kept me away from the kitchen for a while.

To make up for my inattentiveness, I am posting two recipes right now. These are two cakes which are easy enough for busy and exhausted people to make and pretty enough for gift-giving in this harried holiday season.

Cake No.1: JCarlos presented me with this impressive looking peaches and cream cake to celebrate my modest career progression. Since everything was bought ready-made at the local supermarket, he had devoted his efforts to decorating it with a delicate pattern of tiled peach slices.



Peaches and Cream Cake

½ Can Peaches
1 Loaf Madeira / Pound / Sponge Cake
1 Cup Whipped Cream
1 Dash Cinnamon

Drain the peaches. Dice 1/3 of the peaches into small bits. Fold this carefully into ¾ of the whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon. Slice the rest of the peaches lengthwise into thin slices. Cut the cake into 3 layers. Spread the diced peaches and cream onto the first and second layer of the cake. Sandwich these together. Spread the rest of the whipped cream on top of the third (and top) layer of the cake. Arrange the thinly sliced peaches on top of the cake, slightly overlapping them at an angle. Et voila! Serve chilled.



Cake No.2: This next cake is a Christmas gift I made for L, who is moving far, far away and needed a present that can be consumed immediately and doesn’t have to be transported interstate.

I actually made it once before ~ a Japanese cheesecake, but I found it too dry, so I added a little bit more cream to make it moister. Unfortunately, this ruined the texture. The cake came out too dense to be a Japanese cheesecake, but at least, it is considerably lighter than a normal cheesecake. And if I don’t really insist on producing a cheesecake soufflé, this tasted of a quite nice cheesecake. I did not bother lining my clay pot (yes, this is what I used as a baking vessel, since I did not have a springform pan), so the thing just won’t come off when it was time to remove it from the pan. Finally, I conceded and sliced the cake into slices, so I could dislodge them without mashing the cake into crumbs. To dress the gift up, I surrounded it with a fruit medley. Fortunately for me, berries were in season, so I had deluxe fruits to make my present look more presentable. I’d have garnished the fruit medley with mint leaves, had I remembered to buy them. I sprinkled bits of glace citrus peel on the salad to make the colors pop even more. I also sprinkled the cake with toasted almond flakes for textural variety and an added flavor.



Japanese Cheesecake with Almond Flakes and Fruit Medley

250 g Cream cheese
100 ml. Cream
80 g Butter
2 T. Corn starch
40 ml. Milk
6 Egg yolks
2 t. Orange extract

6 Egg whites
½ T. lemon juice
½ C. Sugar
1 T. Corn starch

Pre-heat your oven at 150C. Line your baking pan with baking paper, or if you are lazy like me, grease and flour your pan instead.

Melt the cream cheese, cream, and butter over low heat. Cool completely. Dissolve the corn starch in milk. Stir this into the cream cheese mixture, along with the egg yolks and orange extract.

In a big, clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the lemon juice until soft peaks form. Pour the sugar in a thin, steady stream into the whites while continuing beating. Beat in the corn starch until stiff peaks form.

Carefully, fold the whites into the cream cheese. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 min. in a bain-marie (Place the baking pan into a tall-sided pan that is large enough to hold the baking pan. Pour boiling water into this larger pan, so that a moat forms halfway up the sides of the pan with the cheesecake in it.). Reduce the heat to 125C and bake for another hour. Cool completely. Chill before serving.

Sprinkle with toasted almond flakes and serve with a fruit salad of your choice. Mine’s composed of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, peaches, and bits of glace citrus peel.

The cheesecake soufflé I made before…

Cannoli

We made cannoli for Daring Bakers’ November challenge. To be honest, there is not much love between cannoli and me. I did not particularly find anything special with them then and it is the same now. Aside from this lack of affection, the cheapskate that I am, I cannot be persuaded to purchase anything that I do not think I will use at least 10,000 times or, at least, something that I can pass on as an heirloom; hence, I did not find parting with $30 for cannoli forms necessary.



What I used were muffin cups, so I had coppas di cannoli instead, for which, I am sure, purists would hurl a thousand cruel Italian expletives at me. I also baked them instead of frying them. My first two attempts at frying the dough yielded not the hoped for result. I do not know why this is the case since I fry excellent churros and empanadas :( .



Any way, my favorite part of this exercise is what I saw when I pulled my ricotta out of the delicates wash bag which I used in place of cheesecloth. It looked absolutely like a chicken’s bum!



CANNOLI

CANNOLI SHELLS
2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners' sugar

Note - If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

CANNOLI FILLING
2 lbs (approx. 3.5 cups/approx. 1 kg/32 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups cup (160 grams/6 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (4 grams/0.15 ounces) pure vanilla extract or the beans from one vanilla bean
3 tablespoons (approx. 28 grams/approx. 1 ounce) finely chopped good quality chocolate of your choice
2 tablespoons (12 grams/0.42 ounces) of finely chopped, candied orange peel, or the grated zest of one small to medium orange
3 tablespoons (23 grams/0.81 ounce) toasted, finely chopped pistachios
Note - If you want chocolate ricotta filling, add a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder to the above recipe, and thin it out with a few drops of warm water if too thick to pipe.

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.
2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.
3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.
4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.
5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.
8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.
9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING:
1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Weight it down with a heavy can, and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight.
2. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl and stir in chocolate, zest and nuts. Chill until firm.(The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:
1. When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer.
2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.

Meatballs Stewed in a Spicy Tomato Sauce

Storm season in Brisbane, when the wind is high and the nights are dark, kindles romance in the hearth. And when I say romance, I meant that the nights are conducive to recreating fanciful inspirations from the Arabian nights ~ beef or lamb (which we may be led to imagine the sheikhs and sultans feasted on in the tale), spices, and longevity.

Seriously, you can whip up a batch of these and eat them slowly for a week or so (stored properly in the fridge, of course!). I’ve tried to replicate the texture of adana kebab in the meatballs and stewed these slowly in a tomato sauce that has been enriched with herbs and spices. The spice is more sweet than hot and although the combination is rich, it is far from being cloying.

All you need is a plateful of couscous or rice or pasta or even, bread (anyway, your carb of choice) and a crisp cool salad and you’ve got a veritable banquet before you!

Meatballs Stewed in a Spicy Tomato Sauce



Meatballs:
500 g Ground beef (don’t get the lean variety)
1 T each Black pepper, Sugar, Soy sauce
2 t each Chilli powder, Oregano, Thyme
½ t each Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, Allspice, Ginger
1 T Vegetable oil
½ c Semolina
½ pc Onion, minced
¼ c Garlic, minced

Sauce:
2 T Butter
1 T Olive oil
½ pc Onion, minced
1 T Sugar
¼ c Garlic, minced
½ t each Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, Allspice
1 c Wine
2 pcs Bay leaves
1 t each Oregano, Thyme
1 tin Cubed stewed tomatoes
2 t Paprika
Salt, black pepper, and chilli powder, to taste

Combine all the meatball ingredients and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Shape them into large meatballs, which are about 1 ½ inch in diameter.

Heat 1 T of butter in a pot. Brown the meatballs. Add the remaining butter, olive oil, and minced onion. Saute this until the onions are wilted before adding the sugar, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Saute this until fragrant. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Add the bay leaves, oregano, and thyme. Add the tomatoes and paprika. Stir and season to taste. Let he stew simmer for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Stuffed Bamboo Fungus on a bed of Egg Whites

After such a long respite, going back to the workforce is no joking matter. The sleep deprivation and constant adrenaline rush catching the bus, the ferry, and later in the work day, closing offices, take their toll on the human body so much so that one collapses on the couch shortly after a quick m.s.g.-laden dinner of instant noodles.

Merely a week into my conscientious efforts at saving time and effort on cooking when I finally got tired of Nissin’s flavor selection and summoned enough energy to cook some real food, which requires at least a couple of hours of leisurely prep.

The result was, of course, stupendously satisfying ~ what with the varying textures and nuances of flavor that simply cannot be matched by instant ramen (no matter how delicious I truly find them) with their accompanying spice packets.



You may have trouble finding bamboo fungus in your area. (There is apicture of a pack of it on the far right of the picture on right.) I saw numerous entries on the internet irreverently likening its form to that of condoms. Do not be put off by this disgusting comparison. Bamboo fungi are quite bland on their own, but they absorb the flavors you cook them with admirably well. What I truly like about them is their springy crisp texture which is completely unique. It is like biting into an intricate fibrous network, which makes for a wonderful experience as your teeth sink into one layer after another of crisp tenderness (you will understand this oxymoron better when you have bitten into one yourself).

Before I bore you anymore with this eternal spring of rhapsodies, let me tell you what you can do if you cannot find bamboo fungus. A suitable substitute would be slicing gourd of most kinds (wintermelon, hairy melon, sponge gourd, or even zucchini) into long rectangular shapes and quite thinly (thickness, not shape). You can lay the stuffing on one end and roll the vegetable up like a scroll or a sushi roll, while making sure to tuck the stuffing in neatly at both open ends. Secure the end of each roll with a toothpick before cooking.

I am giving you a recipe for about a third of what is seen in the pictures. I made too many; and consequently, my plating is heavy, messy, and not as nice as if there are less (or if I had a larger serving plate).




Stuffed Bamboo Fungus on a bed of Egg Whites

12 – 15 pcs. Bamboo fungus, washed and soaked in water

Stuffing:
125 g Chicken thigh, skinned, boned, and chopped
125 g Prawns, shelled and cleaned
10 g Pork fat / Fatty bacon
½ T Garlic, minced
2 Stalks of Scallions, chopped
1 t Ginger, chopped
1 T Rice wine
1 T Corn starch
2 t Salt
1 t Pepper

Egg whites:
3 Egg whites
2 c Water

Sauce and Garnishes:
2 c Stock (Chicken, Pork, Seafood, or Dashinomoto)
2 t Corn starch dissolved in 1 T water
Dash of Sesame oil
1/3 c Carrot slices, blanched, to decorate
2 Shiitake mushrooms, poached, to decorate
2 Prawns, shelled and cleaned
1 Sprig Coriander, washed, to decorate


To make the stuffing, place all the Stuffing ingredients in a food processor and grind until a sticky smooth paste forms. Place this in a piping bag with a plain / round large tip. Squeeze the water out of the bamboo fungi and when they are dry, stuff them one by one. Carefully, to avoid tearing the bamboo fungus, stretch one end of it wide enough for the piping bag tip to fit. Pinching the other end together (so the stuffing would not be forced out of the other end of the tube of bamboo fungus), start piping gently, but forcefully. When the tube feels full and snug with stuffing, neatly press both ends to tuck and level the stuffing. Repeat with the other tubes.

To make the shredded egg whites, simmer 2 c. of water in a 6-8 inch saucepan. Pour in the egg whites. Let this poach for about 3-4 minutes. Take the egg white out while being careful not to tear it. Roll it up and slice crosswise thinly (1/8 inch) so that you end up with shreds when the slices unfurl. Set aside.

To make the sauce and garnish, simmer the stock. You can blanch the carrot slices and cook the shiitakes and prawns in this. Take the garnish out of the stock when they are done. Place the bamboo fungus in the simmering stock. Leave them for a few minutes before turning the tubes (to ensure the entire circumference absorbs the liquid). When the stuffing is cooked through, take the tubes out with a slotted spoon. Thicken the stock with the cornstarch solution. Add the sesame oil then turn off the heat.

To assemble, Place the shredded egg whites in the center of a serving plate. Arrange the tubes around them in a sunray pattern. Drizzle sauce over this arrangement. Place the carrot slices on top of a third of the egg whites. Place the shiitake mushrooms on top of the egg whites next to the carrots and the prawns next to the mushrooms, overlapping the mushrooms and carrots a bit. Glaze with more of the stock. Top with a sprig of coriander that has been bent to curve into a gentle circle. Serve hot.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Macarons!

I've completed my first ever Daring Bakers challenge this month. The challenge was macarons. Indeed, they were quite temperamental ~ when you thought you had them right, they would do something unexpected.

I started out with a first batch of macaronage that looked promisingly like magma, as prescribed by the other blogs and members of the Daring Bakers, which I then patiently divided into two ~ one with extra cocoa and the other plain. The plain one turned out flat like lengua de gato and the chocolate ones looked quite more macaron-like but they didn't develop 'feet' and were very much perforated on top, like wafer.

After closely observing pictures of different successful macarons, I realized that they probably have to air dry before baking, so that the top forms a membrane, which would prevent rising air from perforating the macarons while they’re cooking; and also, as the dry macaron top separates from the rest of its wet body, a ‘foot’ would form.

My second batch saw some measure of success, but I feel I may have caramelized the macarons too much because my oven was too hot. I was quite sure that had I had the courage to incur David’s (the landlord) wrath by noisily grinding more almonds into almond flour for my third batch, I would have learned very much by then and would have achieved the pinnacle of macaron-dom indeed; instead, I shall leave that third testing to you.

To make Burnt Sugar Macarons filled with Chocolate Almond Mazapan, simply follow the recipe below, but crank up the oven temperature by 20C or so and bake the macarons until light brown. For the chocolate almond mazapan, mix 1/2 cup of toasted almond meal with 21/2 T of heavy cream and 1/2 cup of melted semi-sweet chocolate. If you use half a tablespoon of filling for each pair of macaron, you should be able to fill about thirty-five sandwiches.

Basic Macaron Recipe by Claudia Fleming

Preparation time: Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process, including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it takes to make your filling is dependent on what you choose to make.

Actual baking time: 12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen

Leche Flan Cake

For those of us who are substantially impoverished, a few staples in the cupboard are essential to survival ~ flour, eggs, milk, and lots and lots of sugar! These are all cheap and would make a variety of filling, frugal meals. What is most important, though, is being able to whip up fancy desserts to combat depression from these very same ingredients.

I celebrated my partner’s birthday with a homemade cake that will not break the bank. It is divided into two components ~ one being leche flan; and the other, sponge cake. If its twin, crème caramel, is not familiar to you, leche flan is a rich egg yolk custard topped with a caramel that is tinged with a hint of bitterness, sort of like a more solid creme brulee without the burnt sugar.

The cake was exceptionally delicious where the bittersweet caramel soaked through. It tasted almost alcoholic.

The following recipe will yield exactly the same cake as the one in the picture, although my own preference is a thicker layer of leche flan. I feel that the smooth, rich texture of the leche flan does not shine through with such a thin layer of it. Next time, I will double the quantity of leche flan and halve the quantity of the sponge cake.

If you prefer just leche flan without the cake, you can double the leche flan recipe and cook this in a smaller pan, so that the mixture comes to about 2-2.5 inches thick. You can steam this on low heat or bake in a bain-marie at 200F for as long as it takes to set.



Leche Flan Cake

1 c Sugar
7 Egg yolks
1 c Evaporated milk
¾ c Condensed milk
2 t Vanilla / Grated lemon zest

¾ c Sugar
2 c Cake flour
1 T Baking powder
2 t Salt
3 Egg yolks
¼ c Oil
1/2 c Water
5 Egg whites
¾ c Sugar

Melt 1 c Sugar until it caramelizes. Be careful not to burn it and make sure to watch it closely as it melts. It could very, very rapidly turn from pale to burnt. Pour this into an 8-inch square pan. Combine the 7 egg yolks, milks, and vanilla. Strain this into the pan with the caramel.

Combine the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the yolks, oil, and water into it. Mix until smooth. In another bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. While beating, add the sugar in a thin, steady stream until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the flour mixture into the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour this on top of the custard. DO NOT STIR or agitate. Bake in a bain-marie at 350F for about 1 hour. Cool. Serve chilled.

Almond Milk

What an exciting adventure we’ll have with what, until now, has been a cherished secret recipe. It is a beverage that is a wonderful way (because it is utterly delicious) to treat a whooping cough, but like absinth, is tinged with drama and danger.

Now, to make it sound truly magical… here are the three vital ingredients: xin ren or apricot kernels, water, and time. Xin ren is the name for almonds in Chinese and it is strange that they are NOT almonds, but instead, are apricot kernels. Regardless of this nominal confusion, it does smell sweetly like strong almonds and, as an aside, I suspect that Gabriel Garcia Marquez was referring to bei xin ren when he wrote about bitter almonds in Love in the Time of Cholera.



In Chinese traditional medicine, xin ren is used as a tonic for the lungs ~ it has warming properties (yang principle), soothes the lungs, relieves dry cough, and lubricates the large intestines. There are two kinds, which must be used in tandem, to make your potion potent. There is the bei xin ren (literally, northern apricot kernels or bitter almonds, which is the smaller bag on the right) and the nan xin ren (literally, southern apricot kernels or sweet almonds, which is the larger bag on the left).

Here is the dark, mysterious part. Be careful when using bei xin ren. It contains (deep breath!) cyanide(!) and may be mildly toxic, even when cooked properly, which you should, at all cost. As a precautionary rule, I do not give this to children or pregnant women, but I have found it generally safe for the consumption of courageous gourmands like myself.

While it simmers, the perfume of xin ren will waft out of the pot, drift from your kitchen to fill your entire home with an incredibly sweet scent, much to the envy of the excluded kids and women with child. I add a little rice powder to thicken the milk and just a tad of sugar to mildly sweeten it.



Almond Milk

100g Bei xin ren (northern apricot kernels or bitter almonds)
200g Nan xin ren (southern apricot kernels or sweet almonds)
1.5 L Water plus extra for rinsing
½ to 1/3 c. Sugar
1/3 c. Rice flour (NOT glutinous / sticky rice flour) dissolved in 2/3 c. Water

Rinse the apricot kernels to make sure they are clean. Soak the rinsed apricot kernels in 2 cups of water overnight. With a powerful blender or grinder, grind the apricot kernels and some of the soaking water to a smooth, fine paste. Put this paste, along with the soaking water and 1 L. of water, into a saucepan. Bring this to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours. Add sugar, to taste. While stirring the pot continuously, pour in the rice flour solution. Keep on stirring the almond milk over the heat until it thickens like a cream soup. Serve hot to preserve its efficacy.

Crepe-Style Hotcake 3

Small success ~ crepe-pancake, our journey ends here.

You will remember our many problems with the previous batches. In focusing on obtaining a lacy pattern (which I thought was also indicative of the texture), I remembered a lacy Algerian pancake made with semolina ~ baghrir. Baghrir is leavened with yeast, which makes multiple holes while the pancake is cooked. Hmm… yeast… so I decided to give this a try, coming up with a cross between the recipe of baghrir and Liege waffles (which also use yeast as leavening).

I tried to use butter generously while frying, but although this gave the crepe-pancake its characteristic uneven edges, it neither formed a properly lacy patter nor crisp as much as when it was cooked in a lightly greased pan.

The crepe-pancakes smelled deliciously of waffle cones while on the stovetop. They were thin and soft, and especially delicate and lace-like on the edges. (Check out one of the pictures I took of the lacy edge! You can actually see through to the background.) I may add a tad of semolina to make the texture a bit denser next time.

Without further ado, here is the recipe.



Imitation Pamela’s Diner Crepe-Style Hotcake

2 t. Yeast
¼ c. Water, warm (the temperature of milk you’d bottle-feed to a small infant)
1/3 c. Sugar
2 c. Milk
2 c. Flour
4 pcs. Eggs
2 t. Vanilla
1/3 c. Butter, melted (plus extra for the pan)

In a large bowl that could hold more than twice the volume of the batter, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Leave it for 5-10 minutes. If it shows signs of life by frothing up a bit, proceed with the recipe; if not, throw it out and start anew with fresh yeast. Add all the rest of the ingredients. Whisk the batter until there are no more lumps. Cover and place in the fridge for about three hours or until double in volume. Whisk again to deflate the batter. Place back in the fridge until the volume doubles up once again (You’re better off leaving this overnight, so you could stop fretting while waiting for the batter to rise). The batter will be bubbly. See the montage.

Heat a pan until it is smoking, lightly grease this with butter. Pour in about 3 tablespoons of the batter and swirl the pan around so the batter spreads out to a thin crepe-pancake. Place this back on the stove. Tiny little bubbles will rise up on the pancake. When the edges turn golden-brown and the surface is dry, carefully flip the pancake. Cook the other side until it acquires a golden lacy pattern. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup or stuff with fillings like custard and fruit.

Vanilla Bavarois

Bavarois ~ one of many divine incarnations of basic items in your pantry deftly combined with air and fire (and ice!)

It is rich and creamy, but light at the same time, like a mouthful of cloud, due to aeration from the whipped cream. Heavenly!

Here are the permutations of 1 basic equation + subtle additions and subtractions.


1. Milk + Sugar + Egg Yolks + Vanilla = Crème Anglaise

2. Crème Anglaise + More Egg Yolks + Caramel = Crème Caramel
3. Crème Caramel + Torch = Crème Brulee
4. Crème Anglaise + Flour or Corn Starch = Crème Patissiere
5. Crème Anglaise + Cream = Vanilla Ice Cream
6. Crème Anglaise + Whipped Cream = Vanilla Parfait

7. Crème Anglaise + Whipped Cream + Gelatin = Crème Bavaroise

8. Milk + Cream + Gelatin + Vanilla = Panna Cotta

For bavarois, you will need ONE(1.) and SEVEN(7.)

A few hours prior to preparation, freeze a clean empty bowl and the whisks of an electric mixer.

Creme Bavaroise


3 Egg yolks
1 c. Milk
1/3 c. Sugar
1 t. Vanilla
3/4 t. Gelatin
1 c. Cream

Separate three large eggs. Reserve the whites for another use. Break up the 3 egg yolks in a bowl and set aside. Warm 1 cup of milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and ¾ teaspoon of gelatin in a saucepan until the sugar and gelatin dissolve. While whisking the egg yolks, pour ¼ cup of the warmed milk mixture in a thin steady stream into the yolks. *Do not pour a lot of the warm milk into the yolks at once or they will cook and turn into breakfast.* Now that the egg yolks have been tempered, pour the yolk-milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the warmed milk. Whisk continuously over low heat until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Congratulations! You have crème anglaise (+ gelatin).

Either plunge the pot into a basin of ice water or transfer the crème anglaise into a cool bowl. Allow this crème to cool until it no longer emits even the faintest whisper of heat when you whisk it.

Pour 1 cup of heavy cream into the chilled bowl that you threw into the freezer earlier. Using the frozen attachments, beat the cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gently, fold the whipped cream into the cooled crème anglaise. Be careful not to deflate the cream.

Pour the bavarois into a lightly oiled mold. Chill until set. This could take anytime between 1 hour and overnight. Serve plain, with coulis, fudge, or fruits (or sauce and fruits).

Crepe-Style Hotcake 2

Oh my! So I couldn’t deep-fry the crepe-pancakes. The batter would not spread properly on the pan, but floated and slid along with the little lake of butter. (See the first picture from the left below.) The pancake turned out thick and completely soggy with grease ~ not at all crisp, as I’ve hoped it would be. Never mind that I turned up the heat really high; that did not help one bit.
Then, I went overboard ~ I did not grease the pan and turned the heat really low. What happened was the batter did spread beautifully thinly and crisped up to an even golden brown over the gentle heat, but they became like smooth crisp crepes, which is not what we are trying to do. But it’s a learning experience; and each time we learn something new. Just look at the third picture. I came up with a range of textures from a single batch of batter by progressively adjusting the quantity of butter and intensity of heat.



I realized that if I could meld qualities from the different batches, I could actually have something right; ergo,

Lacy pattern + Soft Center + Crisp Edges + Crisp Surface =
Hot Butter (but just a smidgen to froth up the bottom of the pan) + Swirl the batter in the pan so the edges are thinner than the center + Lower the heat for longer exposure to heat to crisp the crepe up without burning it (whew!)

What did I do differently from yesterday as far as the batter goes? As promised, I did not beat the egg white as much; by this, I mean I doubled the recipe, beat one egg white to stiff peaks, and left the other one to rest with the unleavened batter in the fridge. The pancakes were thinner this time, but still not as lacy as Pamela’s. I may actually add leavening next time or even club soda. But that would be AT LEAST one week from now. I am actually getting tired of crepe-pancakes for dinner.


Look at the pat of butter above. That is just about what you need to fry the batter in. Note the spread of the batter below. It is as messy as what Pamela's might have looked like ~ neater than a pan with too much butter; but messier than a pan without (consult the first two pictures in the second set of pictures above). The turned over crepe has a lacy pattern, but not as distinctive as what we might have liked. Also, I am not sure if it is my heating element that does not heat up evenly or my too small pan, but the browning on the crepe is not consistent. Overall, this batch was closer to the real deal than the last, so I am giving myself a pat on the back.



ECSH: Second Attempt

2/3 c. Flour
1 t. Salt
1 c. Milk
1 t. Vanilla
2 T. Butter (melted)
2 Eggs (1 separated)
2 T. Sugar
2 T. Butter

Mix flour, salt, milk, vanilla, butter, one whole egg, and one egg yolk until smooth. Chill for at least 2 hours. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, pour sugar slowly in a steady stream until egg whites form stiff peaks. Fold whites gently into the batter.

Heat a non-stick pan over high heat. Add just enough butter to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. When the butter froths, pour about 1/3 c. of batter into the pan. Turn the heat to medium-low. Swirl the pan to spread the batter thinly. Cook until the top is dry and the edge starts to brown. Turn the crepe over. Cook for a further 1-2minutes. It should be golden on both sides. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter, melting a little butter each time before crepe batter is poured into the pan.

Be careful of heat control. It is almost a painful science. The butter, at first, has to be quite hot. After you swirl the pan of batter, it must not be placed on very high heat. Turn your stove to medium-low. Temperature adjustment could take some time if you are using an electric stove, so just leave your crepe on a neighboring hot plate, while your stove cools down a bit.

From left: 1. Stove too hot 2. Temperature and timing just right 3. Stove too low / turned over too soon

Crepe-Style Hotcake 1

We're not quite there, but we will be.

You will be seeing a lot of crepes / pancakes in The Makeshift Table in the next few days. My sister’s curiosity was piqued by crepe-style pancakes served at Pamela’s Diner in Pittsburgh. Not one of us has tasted it; but from its appearance, we had conjectured it to be quite thin, sweetish and soft on the inside, and with a crackly-crisp crust and edges. Working in reverse from this objective (the taste and texture we’re aiming for), I thought we’d need a very liquid batter, more than the usual quantity of eggs, lots of very hot butter to fry in (as opposed to the griddle gently brushed with butter used in cooking ordinary crepes and pancakes), and perhaps, stiffly beaten egg whites for a lacy pattern to form on the crepes’ surface.

This is my first attempt. I am happy to say that it is already a little bit different from ordinary crepes or hotcakes. The product is heady with butter, very tender and has a mildly sweet custard-y flavor; however, it is a little bit too fluffy for this specific project. I think, next time, I won’t beat the egg whites as much. I would also use more butter to sort of deep-fry the crepes and achieve a cracklier crispness. These crepe-pancakes were quite nice eaten while hot sprinkled with cinnamon and confectioner’ sugar. And oh, hold the extra butter!

Please do let me know if you have suggestions on how to bring the next batch closer to the goal. Your contribution would be much appreciated!



Evolution of the Crepe-Style Hotcake (ECSH): First Attempt

1/3 c. Flour
½ t. Salt
½ c. Milk
½ t. Vanilla
1 T. Butter (melted)
1 Egg yolk
1 Egg White
1 T. Sugar
2 T. Butter

Mix flour, salt, milk, vanilla, butter, and egg yolk until smooth. Chill for at least 2 hours. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, pour sugar slowly in a steady stream until egg whites form stiff peaks. Fold whites gently into the batter.

Heat non-stick pan until it is very hot. Add ½ T. butter. Swirl until the bottom of the pan is thoroughly coated. Heat butter until it sizzles, being careful not to burn it. Pour about 1/3 c. of batter into the hot pan. Swirl the pan to spread the batter thinly. Cook until the top is dry. Turn the crepe over. It should be golden on both sides. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter, melting and heating ½ T. of butter each time before crepe batter is poured into the pan. Serve hot sprinkled with cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar.

Makes about 4 8-inch diameter crepes

Snow Skin Mooncake

Growing up, this time of the year (but usually, in September) was usually referred to as Mooncake Festival among my siblings. Not quite having the privilege of all four seasons in Manila, Philippines, my family did not stick too close to the traditions of a Mid-Autumn celebration. What we did have was a plenitude of mooncakes sent over from HK every year. I hated those things and remembered enjoying a novelty one particular year --- Snow Skin Mooncakes! The name itself glows with fanciful pleasures. Now, that was truly a long time ago and I hardly remember anything about them except that they were the first mooncakes I have ever enjoyed.

My partner, in the meantime, was feeling like a little orphaned puppy for being isolated from his family in Ecuador, with whom he had spent many, many mid-autumn nights ‘staying home, eating mooncakes and fruits, and staring up the full, round moon’. (sound of howling wolves here) At his whiny behest for a repeat of the snow skin mooncakes I made a month ago (filled with white chocolate ganache) on Mid-Autumn Festival, which is today, (‘but this time with a fruity filling’), I came up with three flavors (originally four, but since I did not have enough containers to make the peach mousse, I settled for three).

The ones I made are filled with summer berry mousse, berry and peach cheesecake, and cookies n’ cream. Mooncake molds (which I’d probably use just this once), being the same price as roughly 1.1 month’s worth of gym fees, were dispensed with. I settled for a little cup that has shallow grooves running down the sides. I am writing all this to justify the plainness of my mooncakes.

I experimented with recipes for the snow skin found in blogs by Yochana and She Bakes, She Cooks. I managed to come up with more than decent ones, but The Partner found the texture too grainy. With a few tweaks, I did come out with a softer, smoother dough. The secret is in the quantity of cooked water and starch solution, I suppose. Anyway, give this a try, you will find that it is not a daunting task at all.

You can fill it with almost anything you like. Jalea de ube with Macapuno or Yema balls (a la egg yolks) would have been nice, too.

You will need lots of bowls / containers and at least overnight for the filling and skin to set properly.

Snow Skin

2 c. Glutinous rice flour
½ c. Rice flour
½ c. Cake flour
1 c. Full cream milk
½ c. Water
3 T. Wheat starch
1 T. Vegetable oil

Transfer the glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and cake flour to a shallow dish and bake in 180C for 30 min. Cool completely. Reserve 1/3 c. of flour.

Mix the milk, water, and wheat starch in a bowl until the starch is completely dissolved. Microwave this on high for 30 SECONDS (not minutes). Stir until smooth. Microwave for another 30 seconds. Add the oil, stir until completely smooth, and set aside to cool completely.

When both mixtures are cool, mix the starch mixture into the flours gradually (not all at once). Knead with your hands until you come up with a pliable dough, that is about 3 steps away from being squishy and wet. You may have excess starch solution that you can store in the fridge for immediate future use. Do not force the flours to take in more moisture than what is right. You should have a very malleable play dough softness; any harder, then you should add more starch mix, any softer then you’d be in trouble if you didn’t have any more flour on hand. Next, wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge overnight.



Filling:

Basic Cheesecake:

250 g. Cream cheese
1 c. Whipping cream
½ c. Sugar
2 t. Lemon juice
2 t. Vanilla
1 T. gelatin dissolved in ¼ c. boiling water (I intentionally added more gelatin powder to harden the filling. You can use less for a proper cheesecake.)

Mix everything but the gelatin solution with a mixer until light and fluffy. While the mixer is running, pour the gelatin solution in a thin stream. Continue beating until all the ingredients have been incorporated properly. Chill the mixture overnight.

Summer Berry Mousse

2 c. Mixed berries (or you can opt for just one kind, washed and drained properly)
½ c. Water
2 t. Gelatin
1 c. Sugar
1 T. Lemon juice
1 c. Cream
1 c. Egg whites

Puree the berries and put into a saucepan with the water, gelatin, sugar, and lemon juice. Cook over low heat until the consistency of syrup has been achieved. (At this point, you may opt to reserve a couple of tablespoons of this mixture for the cheesecake. Just do it. I will explain later.) Cool and chill. When it’s good and cold, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Add the cream to the berries and mix with an electric mixer until it is thick and creamy. Gently, fold the beaten egg whites into the berry-cream mix. Chill overnight. (This is also good as a dessert poured into glasses with sponge fingers in them.)

To Assemble

The reserved tablespoons of berry-gelatin mix without the cream and egg whites, sliced into small pieces
Peaches (balled with a melon baller like faux egg yolks) or cubed (any other fruit may substitute), chill uncovered to dry them out a bit

Oreos, some crushed, some cut into chunks, mixed with 2 T. milk to soften slightly

1. Fruit cheesecake - Roll out the skin and spoon some basic cheesecake into it. Add a couple of peach balls and a small spoonful of the berry-gelatin (sans cream and egg whites) mix. Wrap, mold, and chill overnight.
2. Cookies n’ cream - Mix some of the basic cheesecake mixture with the crushed oreos. Wrap, mold, and chill overnight.
3. Summer berry mousse. Bundle the mousse into the skin. You may add fruits. Wrap, mold, and chill overnight.

Wrapping Technique



Please refer to the montage on right for the proper wrapping and sealing technique. I came up with it after being left feeling disappointed by the thick undersides of the mooncakes with the traditional wrapping (or system-less manner of wrapping) technique. Short of using precisely measured shapes for the skin and pre-molding the filling, I found this gives the thinnest possible skin all throughout the cake.

Roll out about a third of a cup of dough into an oval (not round). Lay the skin on your palm, which you should cup slightly. Arrange the filling so it is distributed fairly evenly on the oval center of the oval skin. Do not mound it into a round shape in the very middle of the skin. Now, fold the lengths of the skin towards the center of the filling. The edges of the skin should touch, so do not overfill. Next, bring the widths of the oval towards the center. Starting on the outer edges, start crimping the skin inward until you have fitted the skin precisely to the filling. Cut away the excess skin (crimped edges).

This is a process of elimination. You start with a large piece of skin to make wrapping easier and work your way to a smaller (precisely fitted) pouch, while pushing and cupping the filling into a round shape as you crimp. Trim the excess skin. Roll the pouch in the reserved flour and pat into your mold. Press it gently, so that it doesn’t burst, but press it firmly enough so that the patterns would show up distinctly on the skin. Turn out. Chill overnight. If you have been careful in achieving a soft pliable dough, then you shouldn’t have too many problems about the skin tearing while you wrap with them; but if you do get little tears and holes, do not worry, just patch them up with little bits of dough.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Or Happy Mooncake Festival!

GREAT Fried Chicken Wings

Chez Tessa along Hawken Drive in St. Lucia (across Coles supermarket) serves the best Fried Chicken in Brisbane. Well, actually, they just do fried chicken wings, but that’s still chicken! The dish is served with a hefty portion of hot rice and a small bed of fresh salad, along with a dish of nuoc nam. The wings are unbelievably light and crisp on the outside, and tasty and juicy on the inside.

The fried chicken pieces bear more resemblance to the Korean variety (think Kyo Chon and Bon Chon) rather than the American South kind. Having a plate in front of you is a real treat when you’re craving for comfort food and it’s much better than KFC, in my opinion. At just AUD7.50 (or is it 6.50?), it is an astounding bargain, too.

Chez Tessa is a small and rather rudimentary student eatery run by a friendly Vietnamese couple and the fare is the typical Australian version of Chinese-Vietnamese cuisine. What I truly appreciate about this place, other than the fact that it is quite cheap, is that although not authentically Vietnamese, the food is prepared with greater care and better ingredients than other similar establishments’. The pho hardly has msg, if it has any at all, and is full of nourishing real beef goodness.

If you do decide to try the place out, you will also find that there is a wide selection of inexpensive packaged beverage, ice cream, a range of condiments, and a lot of other things on the menu that might become your personal favorites.

Warm Potato Salad

A fantastic salad for dinner, this potato salad is warm, satisfying, and light at the same time. It is smooth and rich with sour cream; wonderfully infused with the fragrance and tang of lemon and herbs and the textural contrast of crunchy celery and the velvety mouthful of potato chunks. Suffer from less guilt for indulging in sour cream by leaving the potato skins on. Aside from adding a lot of fiber to your diet, it does add a wonderful earthy, potato-ey flavor to the dish.



Warm Potato Salad

4 pcs. Large potatoes, cooked through and cut into 1.5 inch cubes
1 stalk Celery, minced
½ c. Fennel stalks and fronds, sliced into thin medallions
½ pc. Onion minced
1 T. Garlic, minced
½ pc. Lemon, juiced
2 t. Lemon zest
1 c. Sour cream
1 T. Whole grain mustard
2 t. Black pepper
2 t. Salt
1 t. Oregano
1 t. Parsley
1 t. Olive oil

Sauté the onion and the garlic in olive oil. Add the sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, mustard, black pepper, and oregano. Heat through. Add the fennel stalks and fronds and the potato cubes. Warm through. Take the pot off the heat and add the celery pieces. Season the salad with salt, to taste. Serve.

Fennel-Coriander Salad with Orange Dressing

Spring is here! When the weather gets warmer, my flesh and bones don’t feel as vulnerable and consequently, I do not have the need to constantly feed on rich stews and massive portions of hot food. Less time is spent in front of the stove and more time is spent lying in the sun enjoying the breeze. Since I still need to eat, salads are the perfect quick fixes for these gloriously lazy first days of spring.

Fennel salads are perfect to break into the season with. Fennel is filling, delicious, low calorie, low GI, nutritious, rich in fiber and great for detoxing. It is cheap at this time ~ only $0.99 for a fresh bulb that makes 4 substantial servings. It has a wonderful crisp texture and a very refreshing flavor. You can cook it, too; but to celebrate the end of winter, I will keep it cool and raw in a salad.


Fennel-Coriander Salad with Orange Dressing

1 bulb Fennel, sliced crosswise thinly
½ c. Coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1 T. Orange marmalade
3 T. Olive oil
1 t. Salt
1 t. Black pepper

Mix the last four ingredients thoroughly in a big container. Toss in the fennel and coriander. Ready!

Sticky Rice Cake (Bibingkang Malagkit)

Manang Jacinta, our cook, used to bring out trays of bibingkang malagkit or biko every other week for merienda back when I was but a wee toddler. This rice cake was a particular favorite of mine, so much so that a substantial portion of my long-term memory has been reserved for this sweet. I remember my excitement whenever it was ‘The Week’ that they were being served. How its rich scent filled the air! And how very like jewels the shiny, immaculate squares carefully dusted with latik at the very center. Today (many years after my fortunate acquaintance with pot and stove), I am able to enjoy this snack miles and miles away from home, thanks to bibingkang malagkit’s widely available and inexpensive ingredients. As a bonus, it’s pretty quick and easy to make, too.



Bibingkang Malagkit

2 c. Glutinous rice, soaked overnight
3 c. Coconut milk
½ c. Sugar
½ t. Salt
1 pc. Pandan leaf, washed and tied into a tidy bundle (optional)

Coco Jam Topping:
1 c. Coconut Cream
1 c. Sugar

Drain the soaked rice and place in a pot with the coconut milk, sugar, salt, and pandan leaf. Mix everything together until the sugar has dissolved. Cover the pot and simmer over very low heat. Stir every once in a while to prevent the bottom from toasting into a crust. After all the coconut milk has been absorbed after approximately 25 minutes, take the pot off the heat and let it sit, covered, for a further 10 minutes. Transfer the cooked rice into a pan big enough for the rice to spread out to about 1.5 inches thick. Leave it to cool at room temperature, preferably overnight, to set it properly, before cutting into squares.

This can be served as is, with mango slices, latik, or coco jam.

To make the coco jam, heat half of the coconut cream until it turns to oil. Add the sugar into the oil and allow it to caramelize. When the sugar is nicely brown and melted, add the rest of the coconut cream. Stir well until smooth and thick like toffee. Pour the jam on the rice cake. Let the topping cool and set before cutting the rice cake into serving portions.

* Latik is the solid left after heating coconut milk into oil. The product is best described as fragrant brown bits that can be both crunchy and chewy. The bits have a toasted coconut-y tatse.

Pain Viennois

Ah! Mon Dieu! Mon pain viennois etait brule! (Oh! My God! My Viennese Bread burned!)

Except for the thicker than desired crust, the bread turned out quite well. I used Richard Bertinet’s recipe for Sweet Dough in Gourmet Magazine and came up with dough that was, as promised, ‘full of life’. I left it to rise overnight in the fridge and was hoping for a fresh selection of perfect ham and cheese rolls and almond-crusted bread in the morning; but alas! The journey to a basket of hot rolls has been fraught with unforeseen obstacles; number one of which being my surly landlord, who lives two floors below me, came knocking at 10:30 in the evening demanding that I cease slapping my dough. Secondly, my utter lack of timidity pushed the limits on the rolls’ stay in the oven! Boo hoo! Anyway, learn from this and don’t leave your rolls in the oven for more than 35 minutes.

You can find how to manipulate the sticky mess into strong, bouncy dough on this video, Le Technique


Sweet Dough
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1/2 oz fresh (cake) yeast or 1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (preferably Red Star or Saf; not rapid-rise)
• 1 lb 2 oz bread flour (about 3 3/4 cups)
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs
• If using fresh yeast, heat milk until just warm. If using dry yeast, heat milk to 120 to 130°F.
• Rub yeast into flour in a large bowl, then rub in butter. Stir in sugar and salt. Fold in milk and eggs with bowl scraper, rotating bowl, until liquid is absorbed and a wet, sticky dough forms. (Dough will be wetter than most you’ve encountered.) Scrape dough out onto an unfloured surface. (Dough will be a sticky mess. Don’t be tempted to add more flour. By working the dough through a process of repeatedly stretching and folding it over onto itself, trapping air, dough will become cohesive and supple.).
• Slide your fingers underneath both sides of dough with your thumbs on top. Lift dough up (to about chest level) with your thumbs toward you, letting dough hang slightly. In a continuous motion, swing dough down, slapping bottom of dough onto surface, then stretch dough up and back over itself in an arc to trap in air. Repeat lifting, slapping, and stretching, scraping surface with flat side of bowl scraper as needed, until dough is supple, cohesive, and starts to bounce slightly off of surface without sticking, about 8 minutes.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured clean surface. Form into a ball by folding each edge, in turn, into center of dough and pressing down well with your thumb, rotating ball as you go. Turn ball over and transfer to a lightly floured bowl and cover with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth). Let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.



Gently flatten the risen dough and roll up into a log (like a jelly roll). Cut portions large enough for your rolls. I was able to make 3 medium-sized and 1 large loaves of bread. Some of them I filled with ham and cheese and there’s this one I left unfilled. Let them rise, covered, in a draft-free place until double in size, about 1 hour. Brush the filled rolls with an egg wash made of a beaten egg + 1 T. water.

At this point, you may wish to top the unfilled loaf with an almond crust, as I did. The recipe:





Almond Crust

½ Egg white, beaten until very frothy
1 c. Almond flakes, lightly toasted
1 c. Sugar

Fold almonds into the frothy egg whites. Roll the coated almonds in sugar.

Bake the risen rolls in a preheated oven at 200C for 30 minutes. Test for doneness. They can be left 5 minutes longer, if they have not achieved the desired golden color.