Wednesday, 2 March 2016

Orange Bread with Cranberry Milk Crumb

 
A small, soft and sweet bun with bits of orange peel encasing the dairy-rich sweet filling. The milk crumb filling was the result of butter, icing sugar, Parmesan cheese,  beaten egg and cranberries, after going through the melting and solidifying process during and after baking. The orange peels and cranberries help to lighten the flavour of the rather heavy milk crumb filling.
Love it :) 

Yield: 10 x 7cm huns
Appliances
Whirlpool BM1000 breadmaker 面包机


Bread weight: didn't take (~_~;)
Raw dough weight: 415 g


Cranberry Milk Crumb Filling
Ingredients:
60g unsalted butter, softened
35 icing sugar
60 g full cream milk powder
10g Parmesan cheese powder
10g beaten egg
20g dry cranberries

Directions:
1. Cream the softened butter until light.

2. Add in the icing sugar and mix well.


3.  Blend in the Parmesan cheese powder and milk powder. Then follow by beaten egg.
.


4. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the dry cranberries into bit size.

5. Add the cranberry bits to the butter paste at (3), and mix well.


6. When well combined, scoop the paste into a plastic bag. Wrap up and store in the fridge for at least one hour.

7. After 1 hour, or when the milk pastry has hardened, divides it into 10 equal portions. 
Returns to the fridge till needs.


Ingredients
120g cold water  冷水
5g orange peel 

30g raw sugar 黄砂糖
1/4 tsp salt 盐, 2g
20g beaten egg 
蛋液
20g cold unsalted butter 冷无盐奶油

180g bread  flour 高筋面粉
20g superfine wholegrain flour 低筋面粉
13g milk powder 奶粉
1/2 tsp instant dry yeast 即发酵母粉

* superfine wholegrain flour can be replaced by all purpose flour.


Glazing 表层涂液
Some beaten egg 蛋液
3 tbsp almond flakes
Some coarse granulated sugar 



Directions:
1.  Cut the candied orange peels into tiny bits. Combine orange peels with fridge cold water , and pour into the bread pan.




2.  Add in beaten egg.

3. Add in sugar, salt and cold butter.



4.  Mix bread flour, superfine wholegrain flour, milk powder in a bowl. Pour the flour mixture to the bread pan.



5. Dig a hole and pour in the instant dry yeast.


6. Place the bread pan into the bread machine. 


7. Select "8" Dough Kneading function; and press "Start".


8. When the program stops, let the dough continue to sit in the pan for another 30 minutes.

30 minutes later, the dough is ready.


9. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Flatten it with your palm to release the trapped air.



10. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions, about 41g each.


11. Roll up the small dough, pull down the sides several times to stretch out the dough surface, and seal at the bottom. 


Wrap your palm around the dough and let it roll within your palm, to shape it.


12. Place the dough in a covered plate and rest for about 15 minutes.

13. Roll the dough flat with a rolling pin

Flip over the dough, so the smoother side will be facing out, and place a cold milk pastry from (7) over it.

Roll up the dough and seal by pinching the edge. Seal tightly to prevent the melted filling from oozing out the bun during baking.


Place the doughs over a paper casing.


14. Place the dough onto a baking tray. Spray some water and let the doughs proof for about 40 minutes in a closed oven.

After 40 minutes.


15. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Apply a few coats of egg wash over the dough surface. 

Place some almond flakes and coarse granulated sugar over the top.

16. Baked at the lower rack of a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 170 degree Celsius for another 10 minutes, or till golden.


17. Let the bread cool down over a wire rack. 


Enjoy :)


Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake 日式棉花奶酪蛋糕



I love cheesecake that has been well-baked with a brown top. To me a no-crack cheesecake with a pale top taste raw. In order to prevent to cake from cracking, I've tried numerous methods and temperature with unsatisfactory results, not knowing an old Japanese recipe I've kept gave me all the essential clues in baking a good Japanese cotton cheesecake.
I have missed the intricate clues like grease the pan well with butter; wrap the cake pan, soft peak meringue, which hid between words in the recipe. Today, I finally open my eyes and see these golden clues which help me to bake a tall cheesecake with golden brown top and cotton texture. 
Perhaps now I'm more mature, in terms of baking experience, to see the recipe more in depth (^_^)Y

Ingredients
All ingredients in room temperature 
Using 55g omega eggs

3 egg whites 蛋白
75g fine sugar 细砂糖
Pinch of salt 盐

21g corn flour 玉米粉
30g top/cake flour 低筋面粉

120g cream cheese 奶酪
90g fresh milk 鲜奶
20g butter 奶油
3 egg yolks 蛋黄


Directions 
1. Grease an 6" or 7" round cake pan with a good amount of butter. This helps the raising cake to rise smoothly.
Line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper.
Wrap the cake pan with a sheet of aluminum foil. This is to prevent the side from getting too hot  mwhich affect the rise of the cake during baking.
Set aside.


2. Mix corn flour and top/cake flour in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Melt cream cheese and unsalted butter in fresh milk over a water bath. Stir till the batter becomes smooth without lumps.



4. Transfers the cream cheese batter out of the water bath, and sieve in the flour mixture from (2). 


Mix to a smooth batter.

5. Stir in the egg yolks, one at a time.

Cover and set aside.

6. Beat egg whites in a clean and grease-free mixing bowl till frothy.  Gradually add in the fine sugar and pinch of salt. Beat at medium speed till you start to see a trail starts to follow the moving whisks. Reduce the mixer speed to low, stop regularly to check whether the meringue has reached its soft peak stage.


The meringue has reached the soft peak stage.
By using the soft meringue, the cake is less likely to crack during baking.

7. Take about 1/3 of the meringue to mix with the cream cheese batter from (5), using a spatula.

8. Return the cream cheese batter to mix with the remaining meringue into a smooth batter.



9. Pour the final cake batter into the  prepared cake pan. Bang lightly against the kitchen top to get rid of trapped air bubbles.

10. Place the cake pan into another slightly bigger cake pan filled with about 2cm of hot water.


11. Bake in a preheated oven set at 160 degree Celsius for about 40 to 45 minutes, at the lower rack of the oven. 

The baking is complete when the cake becomes firm and the top is brown.

12. Remove the cake from the cake pan immediately after leaving the oven. This is to prevent the cake from getting too wet due to condensation.


After the cake has cool down, cover with a tall container and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

13. Cut the cake by pressing the knife down the cake without the sawing movement. The cake is best enjoyed cold :)