Baking Project

I was going through some cook books this morning and got an inspiration to bake this bread. I don’t know what to call it, since I modified some of the ingredients (original recipe from Alex Goh ‘The world of bread’ book). Anyway, here’s my version :

150 g bread flour

150 g Hong Kong flour

2 teaspoon instant yeast

35 g granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon milk powder

3 tablespoon kaya

1 large egg

About 3 tablespoon pandan juice

100 ml water

20 g shortening

130 g raisins

Topping - 30 g butter, 30 g sugar, 60 g plain flour.

Method :

Mix all dry ingredients, from flour up to milk powder. Add the wet ingredient - kaya, egg (beat first with the pandan juice) and water. Mix well, I use speed 3 to 4 on my mixer using my dough hook. Add the shortening. Continue mixing, mine took about 20 minutes until the dough is elastic and won’t stick to the side of the bowl. Adjust the dough, if it is too soft add more flour, if it is too tough, add more water (room temperature or better still, cold water). About 5 minutes before the dough is done, mix in the raisins.

Oil the bowl and dough, cover with plastic clingwrap. Let it ferment for about an hour until it grows to double its size.

In the mean time, prepare the topping by mixing all the ingredients together and keep in the fridge. After an hour, punch down the dough. Transfer to a bread pan, let it rise again for another 45 minutes. Brush the top with milk or egg, and sprinkle the topping generously.

Bake at 175 C for 30 minutes.

Look how wonderful it turn out, the inside is soft and the topping is crunchy.

My family loved it. Nothing beats a hot bread straight from the oven. And the smell in your kitchen is fantastic !

I remember when I was working in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, KL, we always had lunch at Maju Junction at this one small cafe. I like to have their focaccia chicken sandwich. The bread was kinda chewy and not too fluffy, it felt like you’re not gobbling up too much carbs.. Anyway, yesterday I was too tired to bake any cakes, so I thought why not try to bake bread. I haven’t tried doing that with my new Kitchenaid.. (yes! I bought the heavy duty KS5 a few weeks ago). Thank God for the mixer, if not I wouldn’t even want to attempt to make bread, coz you have to knead the dough for ages..here’s some of the step by step images I took :

The ingredients I used was organic bread flour mix with a little organic wholemeal flour (trying to eat healthy this days..), yeast of course, salt, sugar, black pepper, cold water, olive oil and dried oregano & rosemary. Not as complicated as cakes recipe.

All in all, I think it took about 20 minutes kneading..until the dough becomes elastic like this.

Once it is smooth, put it in a bowl covered with plastic clingwrap and wait 45 minutes for it to grow big..that’s the best part, watching the yeast in action.

Then I divide the dough into smaller balls and let it rest for 15 minutes (that’s what the recipe says).

Roll the dough again, shaped nicely and place in a baking tray line with baking paper. And then prove for 20 minutes. For this I put the whole tray in a big plastic tightly wrap with a bowl of hot water. (Now I’m thinking, oh my God, why do I bother making this recipe ) After that, brush with olive oil and sprinkle the topping.

Finally, into the oven and here’s how it turn out.

Yey ! My first focaccia! The inside looks ok too..

I use it to make beef burger wrap in egg..

After all the hard work, hubby said ‘why don’t you just ask me to go buy the bun, that would be much faster..’. Argh, tension, tension..my daughter didn’t like the bread, she’s used to having Gardinia. A contrast to the focaccia I made. The top crust is a bit tough, I think I overbaked it, but overall not so bad, for a first timer. Will I make it again ? Hmm.. I have to get back on that.