Oreo melonpan (recipe)

  5 months ago       89 notes
  food  melonpan  melon bread  japanese  dessert  bread  

A great burger bun can’t have too much taste, since that will take away from the meat. Very tough and firm buns are not recommended for burgers either.
The bun should be sturdy enough to hold together a juicy burger and at the same time not overpower the taste of the meat.

Which brings me to a recipe for these little beauties. Hidefumi Kubota swears by it. With a high egg and butter content, it gives the bun a rich and very tender crumb but also hold the burger together even with thick and juicy patties inside. The bun is very light but sturdy. I took mine out of the oven halfway through baking and painted on a second layer of eggwash, giving it a darker finish, but feel free to skip this step. It also ended up with cracks on top (darn you oven spring!) which, even though it wasn’t supposed to happen, I find a bonus because they made it look like pretzel buns.

BRIOCHE BUNS: (Recipe by Smitten Kitchen, makes 8 4 to 5-inch burger buns)

[ 3 tablespoons warm milk + 1 cup warm water + 2 teaspoons active dry yeast + 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar + 2 large eggs + 3 cups bread flour + 1/3 cup all-purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons salt + 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened + sesame seeds ]

In a clear measuring jug, combine warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.

In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs.

Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, well-floured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.

The dough will be on the sticky side so it can be a bit messy, but keep in mind that the more flour you knead in, the tougher the buns will get.

Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, one to two hours.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange two to three inches apart on baking sheet.

Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated in nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm place for one to two hours.

Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center.

Beat remaining egg with one tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using.

Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

BRIOCHE BUNS: Recipe by Smitten Kitchen, makes 8 4 to 5-inch burger buns

[ 3 tablespoons warm milk + 1 cup warm water + 2 teaspoons active dry yeast + 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar + 2 large eggs + 3 cups bread flour + 1/3 cup all-purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons salt + 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened + sesame seeds ]

1. In a clear measuring jug, combine warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs.
3. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, well-floured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. The dough will be on the sticky side so it can be a bit messy, but keep in mind that the more flour you knead in, the tougher the buns will get.
5. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, one to two hours.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange two to three inches apart on baking sheet.
7. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated in nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm place for one to two hours.
8. Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center.
9. Beat remaining egg with one tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using.
10. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes.
11. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

  6 months ago       81 notes
  food  brioche  buns  burger buns  bread  

Hi there! 

I know exactly what you mean by having a hard time finding ingredients as I’ve experienced the same thing myself.

Now, to make enchiladas you can use either flour or corn tortillas. I’ve made flour tortillas once for my fish taco,  

but don’t [yet] have a recipe for corn tortillas. Here’s a recipe for it that I think you’ll find useful. 

As for doner kebabs (or shwarma, as I know them), it’s usually wrapped in fluffy pita bread

that you can find the recipe for if you scroll down on this post.

Hope this helps!

  10 months ago       18 notes
  food  bread  food blog  cooking blog  recipe blog  

There’s quite a few things in the agenda, so bear with me;

First things first - A Ramadhan Mubarak to all the Muslims observing the month of Ramadhan! What did you have for your first iftar? I myself just bought something from the numerous stalls lining the streets on the way home from the hospital and called it a day. Oh, and a cup of very hot tea. That always settles the stomach and prevent me from unleashing all the hunger in one sitting.

Next, I want to share with you guys an addition to my list of cooking blogs to love. This one’s called “Candid Appetite” and its written by foodie, business owner, student and food photographer Jonathan Melendez. 

New York Black and White Cookies

His well-lit step-by-step photographs has me envious. That and his bright yellow KitchenAid.

And lastly, a recipe that will put banana breads in danger as the go-to fruit bread, or so I’ve read. I haven’t actually tasted it since it’s another 4 hours before I can actually eat anything, but you know what they say, longing makes the heart [or taste buds, I suppose in this case) grow fonder.

MANGO BREAD (recipe by Dorie Greenspan):

[ 3 large eggs + 3/4 cup canola oil + 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour + 1 cup sugar + 1/2 cup light brown sugar + 1 teaspoon baking powder + 1 teaspoon baking soda + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon salt + 2 cups diced fresh mango + grated zest of 1/2 a lemon ] OPTIONAL: 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg + 3/4 cup mixed raisins, coarsely chopped + 3/4 cup cashews, coarsely chopped.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 1/2- x- 4 1/2- inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Place the pan on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other to prevent the bottom of the bread from over baking.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and using a spatula, mix until well blended.

The dough will be very thick, but as Dorie says, “persevere, it will come together.”

Stir in the chopped mango, raisins, cashews (if using) and lemon zest. Scrape the batter into the pan, and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake the bread for 1 hour 15 min. to 1 hour 30 min., or until the top is golden brown and a cake tester or thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

If the bread is getting too brown on top, cover it loosely with a tinfoil tent.

Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before running a knife around the sides of the pan and unmolding. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up on the rack.

MANGO BREAD (recipe by Dorie Greenspan):

[3 large eggs + 3/4 cup canola oil + 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour + 1 cup sugar + 1/2 cup light brown sugar + 1 teaspoon baking powder + 1 teaspoon baking soda + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon salt + 2 cups diced fresh mango + grated zest of 1/2 a lemon]OPTIONAL: 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg + 3/4 cup mixed raisins, coarsely chopped + 3/4 cup cashews, coarsely chopped.

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 1/2- x- 4 1/2- inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Place the pan on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other to prevent the bottom of the bread from over baking.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and using a spatula, mix until well blended.
5. Stir in the chopped mango, raisins, cashews (if using) and lemon zest. Scrape the batter into the pan, and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
6. Bake the bread for 1 hour 15 min. to 1 hour 30 min., or until the top is golden brown and a cake tester or thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

If the bread is getting too brown on top, cover it loosely with a tinfoil tent.

Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before running a knife around the sides of the pan and unmolding. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up on the rack.

Enjoy!

  10 months ago       295 notes
  mango bread  food  mango  dorie greenspan  bread  baking  food blog  cooking blog  recipe blog  

Bialys

  1 year ago       83 notes
  bialys  food  bread  breakfast  food blog  cooking blog  recipe blog  photographers on tumblr  

I have to admit my head was all over the place when I made this. I had intentionally wanted to make onion bagels, but realized that there was no egg in the house (yes, I know) for eggwash and I really [really] couldn’t be bothered to go get some, and so I stumbled on a recipe for a cousin of the bagel’s - a bialy. Distinct differences can be seen straightaway; bialys has no hole going through it and has a crater that’s usually filled with onions or breadcrumbs. It is never sliced in half - you spread whatever it is you want to serve it with (cream cheese, butter?) on top. 

Back to where my head was. It must have been preoccupied with something because I read the recipe wrong and didn’t give the dough a second rise and then left them in the oven for too long, which resulted in a, uhh…charred overly-caramelized filling. It still tasted good though, so that’s a consolation of some sort.

BIALYS  (Recipe heavily adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s)

BIALYS DOUGH: 

[ 2 cups all-purpose flour + 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast + 1 1/4  teaspoon salt + 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (if needed) warm water ]

In a bowl, whisk together the flour and the yeast, then whisk in the salt

With the dough hook, on low speed, gradually add the water, mixing for about 1 minute or until the flour mixture is moistened.

Raise the speed to medium and continue mixing for 7 minutes. The dough should clean the bowl but be soft and elastic. Add a little extra flour or water if necessary. 

Place the dough in a container or bowl that’s lightly greased with cooking spray or oil. Press down the dough and lightly spray or oil the top. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap.

Allow the dough to rise for 1 hour or until it has doubled.

Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a 3 oz piece of dough (about the size of a peach) and shape it into a ball.

Repeat with as many bialys as you want to bake. Let rest on floured surface for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, make the onion filling:

ONION FILLING:

[ 1 1/4 teaspoons vegetable oil + 3/4 medium sized onion, chopped + a small handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped + 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds + salt and pepper to taste ] OPTIONAL: Sesame seeds to sprinkle on the buns.

In a small saute pan, heat the oil. Add the onion and saute over medium heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add in the parsley and sautee for another minute.

Remove from the heat and add the poppy seeds, salt, and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool.

After the time has lapsed, dust the surface of the ball with more flour and quickly shape the balls by holding each piece of dough with both hands, with your thumbs in the middle and almost touching and pinching the center of the dough tightly between your thumbs and first two fingers and stretch the dough to 4 1/2 to 5 inches in diameter, forming a crater in the center.

About 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450F with a baking stone on the middle rack and a broiler tray on the bottom rack.

Place the bialys on the lined baking sheet and spoon 1 teaspoon of onion-poppy seed filling into the center.

Slide the bialys directly onto the hot stone, making sure they are spaced out so they have room to expand.

Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door.

Bake for about 12 minutes, until just golden brown. cool on a wire rack before serving or eating.

BIALYS DOUGH

[ 2 cups all-purpose flour + 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast + 1 1/4  teaspoon salt + 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (if needed) warm water ]

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour and the yeast, then whisk in the salt. 
2. With the dough hook, on low speed, gradually add the water, mixing for about 1 minute or until the flour mixture is moistened.Raise the speed to medium and continue mixing for 7 minutes. The dough should clean the bowl but be soft and elastic. Add a little extra flour or water if necessary. 
3. Place the dough in a container or bowl that’s lightly greased with cooking spray or oil. Press down the dough and lightly spray or oil the top. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap.Allow the dough to rise for 1 hour or until it has doubled.
4. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a 3 oz piece of dough (about the size of a peach) and shape into a ball.
5. Repeat with as many bialys as you want to bake. Let rest on floured surface for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, make the onion filling:

ONION FILLING:

[ 1 1/4 teaspoons vegetable oil + 3/4 medium sized onion, chopped + a small handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped + 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds + salt and pepper to taste ]

• In a small saute pan, heat the oil. Add the onion and saute over medium heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add in the parsley and sautee for another minute.
• Remove from the heat and add the poppy seeds, salt, and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool.

1. After the time has lapsed, dust the surface of the balls with more flour and quickly shape the balls by holding each piece of dough with both hands, with your thumbs in the middle and almost touching and pinching the center of the dough tightly between your thumbs and first two fingers and stretch the dough to 4 1/2 to 5 inches in diameter, forming a crater in the center.
2. Slide the bialys directly onto the hot stone, making sure they are spaced out so they have room to expand.
3. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door.
4. Bake for about 12 minutes, until just golden brown. cool on a wire rack before serving or eating.

Enjoy!

  1 year ago       64 notes
  food  bialys  bread  breakfast  food blog  cooking blog  recipe blog  

Swedish Coffee Bread

  1 year ago       237 notes
  food  swedish coffee bread  bread  dessert  photographers on tumblr  

Honestly, I don’t know why I made this now and not back when it was the Christmas season, though I’m pretty sure it’s just a method of procrastination. Some friends are coming over in a bit so I guess this (and the 3/4 of Devil’s Food Cake) is going to be the munchies of the day - nothing can work up an appetite quite like a marathon of cramming.

SWEDISH COFFEE BREAD (makes 1 wreath, adapted from Simply Recipes):

[ 1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup white sugar + 1/4 cup butter + 1 packet active yeast dissolved in 1/8 cup warm water + About 2 cups all purpose flour + 1/2 teaspoon salt ]

Put milk into a small saucepan and heat on medium heat until steamy (but not boiling).

Remove from heat. Stir in the butter and sugar until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. Pour into a mixing bowl. Mix in yeast mixture and salt.

Slowly add in 1 cup of the flour. After the first cup gradually add more flour until a soft dough starts to form a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead dough for 7 to 10 minutes until smooth,

OR

Use a dough hook in a stand-up mixer and knead the dough that way for 7 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep the dough from being too sticky.

Note that the dough should remain soft, so take care not to add too much flour.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean tea-towel or with plastic wrap. Let rise for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

After the time has passed, it’s time to stuff it with the filling:

FILLING:

[ 1 tablespoon melted butter + 1/8 cup brown sugar, packed + 1/2 tablespoon white sugar + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ] OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup golden raisins + 1/4 cup slivered almonds or other nuts (I’m using cashew here)

Press the dough down to deflate it a bit. Spread it into a 8-inch by 16-inch rectangle on a lightly floured, clean, flat surface

Brush the dough with melted butter, leaving at least a half inch border on the edges so the dough will stick together when rolled.

Yep, that’s the broken rolling pin from the mango shaved ice post shamelessly posing in the picture. I should really get some new equipments.

Mix together the brown and white sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle the dough with the mixture.

Sprinkle on more fillings such as raisins, slivered almonds, or almond paste - get as creative as you like!

TO MAKE THE WREATH SHAPE:

Carefully roll the dough up lengthwise, with the seam on the bottom. Carefully transfer to a greased or lined baking sheet.

Form a circle with the dough on the baking sheet, connecting the ends together.

Using scissors, cut most of the way through the dough, cutting on a slant. Work your way around the dough circle.

After each cut, pull out the dough segment either to the right or to the left, alternating as you go around the circle. The dough circle should look like a wreath when you are done.

I know mine doesn’t look like a wreath at this stage (I kinda wished I skipped the pulling left and right step), but don’t worry, once you let it rise again and bake it, it will look much, much better.

Cover lightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm area for a second rise. Let rise for about 40 minutes to an hour; the dough should again puff up in size.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Use a pastry brush to brush some melted butter over the dough. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

If the top is getting well browned, tent with some aluminum foil.

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

If you want, you can also make a final glaze to drizzle on top:

SUGAR GLAZE (optional):

[ 1/2 cup powdered sugar + 1/2 tablespoon water ]

Whisk together powdered sugar and water to create a final glaze.

Add more water if the glaze is too thick to drizzle, add more powdered sugar if the glaze is too runny.

Drizzle the glaze in a back and forth motion over the pastry.

Enjoy!

Estimated Nutritional Information:

Note: Rejoice! Because this version didn’t use eggs in the dough or the cream+egg for the eggwash like in the original recipe, the calories go down a bit.

1 wreath, serves approx. 6-7 people.

Per serving:

Total Calories: 246 kcals

Total Fat: 3.9g (2.6 saturated)

Cholesterol: 31mg

Protein: ~2g

  1 year ago       77 notes
  swedish coffee bread  food  bread  dessert  

I’ve been living away from family for about three and a half years now and when I first left I had an inkling that they would miss my food more than they would miss me. I’m pretty sure I was right in thinking that, because the first thing that my mum said to me when I picked them up from the airport for their annual visit was, “I can’t wait to eat that sandwich that you used to make!”. And she hasn’t stopped bugging me about said sandwich for the past week. What she doesn’t know is that the bread situation here is pretty abysmal, not at all the same with the breads back in Qatar. In here they’re pretty small and too soft. Soft breads are not up to par for sandwiches; you need a sturdy bread to absorb all the juices and give it that crunch when grilled. So this little predicament brought me to baking my own bread. I’m sure most people have heard of the “Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. It’s deemed revolutionary because it doesn’t involve making a starter dough, proofing the yeast or even kneading. To be honest, I thought the title was a bit misleading. I had entertained a thought where I’d whip this dough up and be able to eat it in 5 minutes. Of course, this is not the case. The whole process takes about 3 and a half hours, with 10-15 minutes active time. But the upside is that once you’ve made your dough, you can have a fresh, crusty loaf of Boules (or whatever bread you choose to shape the dough into) everyday for about a week.

Artisan Bread Dough: (makes 4 1lb loaves)

[ 3 cups lukewarm water + 1 1/2 tablespoons fast acting (instant) yeast  + 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt + 6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached all purpose white flour ]

All you need for this recipe is a plastic container with a lid. Easy clean-up recipes are always a plus in my book.

Pour the lukewarm water (it should feel just a little warmer than body temperature, about 100 degrees F) into the container.

Add in the yeast and salt into the water.

Dump in all of the flour unceremoniously. Stir the mixture with a wooden spatula until just combined.

You’ll end up with a scraggly, wet dough. And now, believe it or not, all you have to do is put the lid on.

If you’re using an airtight container, make sure that the lid isn’t snapped on completely. The yeast in the mixture will need vents to let the air escape. Leave at room temperature for 2 hours. If your water was a little cold or you decreased the amount of yeast, you’d have to let the dough sit for a bit longer.

**The initial dough mixture, after the 1 hour mark, after 2 hours - respectively.

You can, if you choose to, use the dough straight after it’s initial 2 hour rest. But ideally you should refrigerate it overnight (making sure the lid is not tightly snapped on). The yeast will continue to ferment and it will improve the texture and flavour of the bread. 

So I made this bread the day after I made the dough. When you take the dough out of the fridge, it would’ve deflated and the top has collapsed. This is completely fine.

Shaping the dough:

Prepare a bowl of flour nearby. Take a small handful and sprinkle it on top of the dough. Dust your hands liberally with flour. Grab a handful of dough and pull it out. Pinch off the dough or use a pair of kitchen shears to cut it off.

* If your dough breaks instead of stretching, then your mixture is probably a little too dry. Add in about 3 tablespoons of water and leave the dough for 30 minutes to let it absorb the extra moisture.

** Glorious gluten formed without back-breaking kneading. Beautiful!

Ideally, you would use a baking stone to bake this. But if you don’t have it then just place a piece of parchment paper on a baking tray.

Then what you’d do next is a method the book called “Forming a Gluten Cloak”. And since I only have two hands, I couldn’t take a step-by-step picture of me doing it. But I’m going to link you to this very helpful one that I found.

You can form the dough into any shape you like when forming the gluten cloak. I chose to make Boules, just because it’s the easiest.

Place the boules on the parchment paper and let it rise for 30-40 minutes (you can start preheating your oven at 300F 20 minutes into the rising step).

Sprinkle the top with some flour and score the dough or mark a cross on top using a sharp knife. This scoring is necessary to let out the trapped gas that could deform your dough.

Baking the bread:

Set the oven temperature at 450F.

Take a baking tray and fill it with water. Put this tray in the lowest rack. Then slide in your baking tray with the dough (and the parchment paper) into the middle rack. Leave to bake for 25-30 minutes. 

The water-tray is necessary to create that crusty exterior to the bread, while leaving the inside relatively soft and moist. 

Once the bread is done, leave it to cool for about 20 minutes. If you prefer to eat it straightaway while it’s warm, that’s fine too. But the texture improves considerably during the wait. 

Eat with your favourite jam, honey or use it to make a sandwich. Or french toast, if you have leftover slices on the next day.

The leftover dough will keep happily in its container inside the fridge for about 14 days. The flavour will deepen the longer you leave the dough, and you can always pull out a boule to have freshly baked everyday.

Enjoy!

  1 year ago       40 notes
  artisan bread  boule  baking  bread  food  food photography  food blog