My Focaccia Bread.......

Yesterday I baked a Focaccia bread kneading it in my Thermomix. It is an Italian oven baked flat bread which is so simple to make. All you need is some high gluten flour, yeast, salt, sugar, water and olive oil. I added some Parmesan cheese powder and finely chopped fresh herbs of rosemary and thyme to the dough. Focaccia dough takes up more water than a normal bread and so it is has more moisture and stickier. Here is a recipe to share.
I use gram here because my TM 21 can weigh all the ingredients plus the liqiud while I add in the ingredients one by one.

Ingredients:

500g high protein flour
100g/ml milk
250g/ml water
20g/ml olive oil
10g sugar
15g dried yeast/3 tsp
5g salt/ 1 tsp
50g Parmesan cheese powder
1 tbsp of freshly chopped mixed herbs(Rosemary, basil or parsley)

Method: Using Thermomix.

1. Put water, milk, dried yeast, and sugar into TM bowl. Set temperature @40 C, speed 2, for 10 seconds to warm the liquid. Next add in flour, salt, herbs, Parmesan cheese powder and olive oil. Set @ 20 seconds speed of 6 to mix the ingredients.

2.Then set timer to 2 1/2 minutes and press 'Knead' button to knead the dough.

3. Take dough out from bowl and place on a lightly oiled large bowl and leave covered with a damp cloth to rest for 45 minutes to an hour in a warm corner of your kitchen. ( I put the whole bowl in a clean plastic bag and tied up.)



4. Take the risen dough out of bowl and put on a lightly floured surface to prevent it from sticking it to the surface. Press both fingers on the dough to flatten it. Fold both ends together and flatten it again with hands. Do it few times to clear out the air.


5. Place dough in baking tray lined with non stick paper. Brush or drizzle olive oil on the flatten bread and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top.(I sprinkle some sesame seeds in addition to the cheese because I love the smell of sesame)

6. Bake the dough in a preheated oven of 220 degree Celcius for 40 - 45 minutes til golden brown.


For those who do not have a thermomix, omit method 1 and 2 and replace it with this method here:

1. Place water, milk, sugar and yeast in a bowl and rest for 5 minutes. Its better if the milk and water is lukewarm but not hot so that the yeast will proof better.

2. Put flour in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and slowly pour in the yeast mixture. Fold in the flour with hands to combined and knead into a soft smooth dough.

The baked focaccia bread is moist and soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Son R 's dinner of Focaccia bread with creamy mushroom soup, pork chops and salads.

Crazy Over Bread.......

Hot bread just out of oven............

After eating freshly baked bread made by Dr Azlinda at her house last week, I decided to dig out my breadmaker sitting like a white elephant in one of my kitchen cabitnet to make some bread. Its so nice of her to share with me the recipe which consists of healthy ingredients. So I have been baking a few loafs of bread since yesterday. So everybody watch out! Bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner til you drop......

Bread dough rising to twice its size...........

Make this sandwich with homemade chicken burger for son R who is working nightshift......

Here is the recipe for a healthy wholemeal bread:

2 1/2 cups high protein flour

3/4 cups wholemeal flour

1/4 cup multi grain or any nuts or seeds of yr choice

3/4 cup potato flakes

1 1/2 cup water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 -2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp milk powder

2 1/2 tsp dry yeast

Put all ingredients into the breadmaker to knead. It will take 1 hour for the dough to rise. Then bake it til golden brown. (take about 1 hour to bake)

Sis Karen help me buy the ingredients from Baker Paradise @

K.H. Tan (Ah Huat)

Contact no. 012-4310049/ 012-4902477

Store 18, Batu Lanchang Market,

11600 Penang.

Wonder Chapati In an Instant...........

Today I made some chapati and also a big pot of dhal curry. Chapati is an Indian bread made with atta flour. It is a type of healthy flat bread which do not use any leavening agent. It is cook on a heated griddle ....like roti canai and thosai. When I was in India for my Ayurvedic treatment, I bought an electric chapati maker that makes lovely chapati the easy way. Here is how I make my chapati........

Ingredients:

500 gm atta flour

2 tbsp melted butter or oil

1 tsp salt

about 1 1/2 cup water

Method:

Put atta flour in a bowl and add in salt to mix.....then rub in melted butter. Add water to make a soft dough. Knead for about 10 to 15 min....the more you knead the lighter the bread. When the dough is soft ...make into a round ball and put into a plastic bag to stand for 2 to 3 hours. Divide the dough into small round balls. (Flatten the balls with rolling pin and roll into thin flat circular shape. Then heat a heavy pan or griddle and lightly grease it with oil using a kitchen towel dip in oil. Place chapati on it and cook for a minute and turn over the other side to cook til bubbles and brown flecks appears on the surface.).......As for my chapati maker i do not have to use a rolling pin....i just put the balls on the heated griddle and press down the lid to flatten ....while it cooks...wonderful isn't it....?

The rounded small balls before i flatten it in my chapati griddle....

The chapati when pressed ...looks like this.

When cooked it looks like this................

I will write about my dhal curry in my next posting....

Crispy Toasted Tuna Sandwich......for Breakfast.......

The cute half baguette.....................


Tuna sandwich ready to be toasted...............

The heavenly smell of toasted sandwich ! ..................

Yesterday when I drop by the supermarket to buy a loaf of bread, I saw this litte cute half baguette. They usually sell the longer type, but this one is short and only cost 50 cents per loaf. So I bought 2 nos. to make this nice and crispy sandwich for breakfast. To make the sandwhich, all you need is a can of tuna in olive oil or water, some sliced onions, butter or margerine and baguette. Cut the bread into short sections , then cut each section into half lengthwise. Then make a cut in each section just enough to put in your tuna...be careful not to break it. Buttered the bread inside and outside before you add in the sliced onions and tuna. Then toast it in an oven toaster if you have one .....if not you can bake it in the normal oven at 200 degree C for 10 minutes or til golden brown. Eat it while it is still warm. This sandwich can be eaten as finger food in parties or gatherings.....

My Pita Bread....

Pita is a round flat bread that is eaten by people in Turkey and Greece. It has a pocket like interior in which fillings like vegetables and meat are added. At present most hypermarkets around the world sell ready made pita. I am going to share with my readers my homemade pita bread that I made today


Ingredients

500 gm high protein flour
11 gm easy-blend yeast
1 tsp fine sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter (melted and cooled )
100 ml milk
230 ml warm water


To make Bread


Sift flour and add in the salt to mix. In a small bowl , put in sugar and add in part of the warm water (about 100ml ). Stir the fine sugar in water until the sugar dissolved. Then sprinkle the dry yeast into the sugar mixture to froth for about 10 minutes. Add this frothy mixture into the sifted flour together with the melted butter and the remaining luke warm water ( the water cannot be too hot or else it will kill the yeast and the dough will not rise.) Knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes until the dough is smooth on the surface. ( You can use an electric blender with a dough hook if you have one) . Then put the dough in a bowl (bottom of bowl brushed with a little oil to prevent sticking) . Put the whole bowl inside a clean plastic bag and tie up the bag to prevent air from going in. Leave the dough to rise for about 30 minutes

Dough double in bulk

When the dough has double in bulk, shape it into sausage and divide it into 16 even portions. This is how I do it. First, I weigh the whole dough ( Mine is 800 gm). Divide into two 400 gm portions. Then divide the 400g portion into two 200 gm portion... and ... so on to get 16 equal portion of 50 gm for each portion. Shape each portion into a smooth ball and then flatten each ball gently with your palm or use a rolling pin to form a round circle about 0.5 cm thick. Place it on a lightly floured surface , covered, to rise for another 10 -15 minutes..

Rounded small balls

Flatten dough

Risen dough




When the dough has risen ,bake it on a heavy base metal flat pan on medium heat until golden brown on one side.(about 2 to 3 minutes) .Then flip it over the other side to bake. Control the heat so that the pita will not be burnt or hard and crisp. A nice pita has a soft texture.Then place it on a rack to cool.

When cooled , make a pocket with a sharp knife on the bread. Stuff the pocket with fillings of meat and vegetables of your choice. I stuff mine with grill chicken breast, sliced onions,tomatoes, cucumber, grated carrots and some salad greens. Dribble some mayonaise on top.