Utane method of making bread - create super soft texture

I have been making bread for a year, from the beginning that I knew nothing about making bread (no technique no skills), then knowing using the yeast, how to rise the dough, how to knead the bread.... after having lots of failures, I can say now I KNOW how to make bread! I'm so proud because I didn't take any class, I like self learning to discover new things lol

There are so things to learn on internet, I saw a method to make bread to make it softer - overnight dough - by putting the dough in the fridge a night before ... this summer, I found a better method to soften the bread! The texture is spongy & soft, it is the best method that I found until now.

So, let me share with you - Utane dough method. This method is from Japan - you must learn it if you like making bread!

The ingredients needed are flour & water, the portion is important
Water : flour = 5 : 1
For example: 50g water: 10g flour

Instructions:
1. Mix water and flour in a sauce pan, make sure the flour is well dissolved into the water, you can use a spetula to press the flour lumps => until there is no lumps left

2. Turn on the heat to medium at the beginning, when the mixture start being heat (you can start seeing a bit of steam), then reduce the heat to low.
Use a spetula to stir the mixture - KEEP stirring it so that no lumps formed (over cooked)

3. KEEP stirring... until the mixture becomes thickened
How to know when it is ready? when you stir the mixture, the stir trace/mark is shown clearly

4. Cool down the mixture, it is ready!

*You can watch this video to get a better picture - I would prefer using a spetula

Next time I will share the recipe of brioche - see the photos of my last post ;)

Brioche - so soft & yummy

I have made this brioche for few times already, each time we just love it! I will continue to make it more often ;)

I love the shape, it's so funny, like a cloud haha!

Cantonese Egg tart

I have seen some egg tarts in a wedding, my friend said she liked eating egg tart and she missed it! So I said I could try to make some for her, that is why I found this recipe from Christine.

Ingredients
Crust:
225g flour
55g icing sugar
125g butter (cold)
1 whisked egg
Vanilla extract

Custard:
150g hot water
1 egg
50g sugar*
75 g evaporated milk
1/2tsp vanilla extract

*In the original recipe, it is 70g, but I found too sweet

Instructions
Crust:
1. Mix flour, icing sugar, and butter together with a flat beater. You can also use your fingertips to mix well the ingredients

2. Add in egg & vanilla extract

3. Knead the dough and then roll it out on a lightly floured surface to 1/2cm (do not roll out too thin), better keep the thickness more than less

4. Use a round cookie cutter to cut the round shape out, the size is ideally a bit smaller than the opening of the tart mould (it is normal if you found that the dough cannot completely cover the mould when you first place it on the mould)

5. Then press the dough from the bottom towards the side of the mould while you turn the mould clockwise or anti-clockwise, now you can fill the dough over the mould
Put it aside

Custard:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°c
Boil the water until hot, not necessary to boil it up to boiling point

2. In a bowl, mix eggs, sugar, evaporated milk & vanilla extract

3. Add in the hot water into the mixture little by little! It is not to cook the egg

4. Pour the egg mixture into the crust, fill in 70% - max.80%
The reason is that the crust may shrink, if it doesn't, you can fill up to 90%

5. Put the tart into the oven for 10-15mins until the crust become brown

6. Lower the heat to 180°c, watch out the tarts! When the egg puffs, you can slightly open the oven door and bake for another 10-15mins or until it is cook
Why? avoid the egg collapse once it is cool down
How to know if the egg is well cook? insert a tooth pick in the tart, if it stands = well cook!

Enjoy!

Wedding cake with roses & pearls

I got this order quite late (about 2 weeks before the wedding) but I wanted to do it since it's for my "sister's" wedding.

The most challenging thing for me is still the transport! But it was good so I was relieved!

I wanted to make white icing this time, I feel white white color icing is elegant :) I know the bride loves blue so I made these roses in blue.

I personally like pale pink though ;p

The cake top is added at the end :) Now everyone can tell it's a wedding cake lol

I'm so happy that the cake is almost all gone and I got many positive feedback on the cake - taste and appearance ;)

Praise the Lord!

Super tasty yogurt of ewe

I bought this yogurt from Carrefour supermarket, it is quite expensive (1.6€ for one pot of 140g) but it is super tasty! I was so delight!

When my husband went home, I told him about it. He said it is the yogurt of ewe (brebis in French). May be it explains haha! I didn't even look at the detail of the yogurt lol

Cupcakes with icing - new test of white colorant

I have another sister of a bible study who will get married this coming Saturday. We celebrated the bridal shower last Friday after the meeting, to give a surprise to her :) so they asked me to prepare some cupcakes for her. That is why I need to make some white icing to match the wedding theme!

See, it is very white the icing! I'm so pleased! now I can make more professional icing haha!

I always see people making beautiful white icing on the cupcakes and I wonder why mine is always yellowish :( 

So I searched on internet and found that there is white colorant to whiten the icing..... I heard that people would use shortening to replace butter to make the icing whiter, but I prefer the smell of butter so I simply use white colorant to color it :)



I bought Wilton's white white colorant, which is liquid => it will soften the icing to become more liquid, so you might need to add more icing sugar or put the icing in the fridge to harden it a bit before you use.