Wonderfully Soft Bread

100% Whole wheat bread.  I like this bread because it's a tasty whole wheat bread and it's not hard as a brick by the 3rd day.  In fact, it stays soft for a long time!  It's also not mixed with white flour.

Used only natural ingredients: whole wheat flour, eggs, yeast, yogurt, and a bit olive oil.

Piggy Bread (Burger Buns)

Slice it in half and make it a sandwich or a burger!  These are healthy (100%) whole wheat piggy bread.  I wish my other niece was here, she'd love these so much.  I remember the last time I made her piggy shaped buns, she loved it so much and wouldn't eat it.  Instead she'd keep kissing it all the time, until she bit of its nose accidentally and cried.  (^o^)

For these piggies, the dough was different than from the previous time.  This was whole wheat, and the other was white flour.  I'll need do more piggy testing.

Aloo Tikki Burger!

Aloo tikki burger with lots of Indian spices and encrusted with poppy seeds before cooking.

In the picture, I topped it with tomato and black bean salsa, but I had another tikki burger the next day, and I topped that with horseradish hummus, a fried egg, and a drizzle of sesame oil. Both versions were good.

What I liked about this burger are the spices. It is one of those food that gets better with time, because the burger I had the next day was so awesomely spicy. To make it, I think you should mix the aloo with spices the night before, or at least a few hours ahead. That would give time for the spices do its thing- the garam masala to release its flavor, the chilies to mingle with the cumin and potatoes, etc.

Challah French Toast Waffles

What to do when you really want a waffles for brunch, but also really want to make french toast, because you have Challah bread? Well, if there are lots of people around, I'd make both (to eat both) because I'm a little piggy. But since it's just my sister and I, I made challah french toast in a waffle machine. It turned out really good too!


I gave the french toast extra flavor by adding the zest of an orange and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. For the sauce, there wasn't any maple syrup in the house (not a fan of it much anyway) so I made some dulce de leche to drizzle on top. You can buy it in a jar, or just slowly cook it on the stove. It is very simple.

The orange zest added a taste of freshness to the french toast. I think I made a bit too much dulce de leche though. There is still too much left in the fridge currently, and I may need to turn that into dulce de leche cupcakes... ^_^

Soaked challah, with flecks of orange zest, ready for waffling!

The challah bread I used was simply a knotted challah bread bun from TJ's. I split it in half, so that each piece is about 1/2 inch think. It's the right thinkness to make french toast waffles.

This is just a technique post, so I don't think there's a need for a recipe. You can flavor the french toast anyway you want. With chili flakes, stuffed with cheese, encrusted with herbs, cinnamon-banana, different bread, etc. Limitless. I know I'll be having fun with the waffle machine.

P.S. Thanks again Kiwi, for the waffle machine. :)

Soft Bread Loaf

I hope you can see how soft it is, because this bread is very soft and fluffy with the extra vital wheat gluten I added to the dough. The extra kneading also helped! It was a good biceps-triceps exercise. ^_^
I have lots of sesame seeds on hand, that's why all my breads are decorated with them.

The bread was ugly before the cut... But the slices looked good after! Riiiightt?? :D

There was nothing really special about this bread, except I played around with the proportion of ingredients from the recipe I posted before.

Oversized Dinner Rolls?

I like poofy bread! These look so funny to me. ^_^

These are whole wheat bread.

Lots of dough waiting to be baked!!

I loooove baking bread in the fall/winter. It makes the house warm and cozy, and smells great too!

Whole Wheat Raisin Bread

Soft (100%) whole wheat bread with extra plumpy raisins.

This bread had lots of flavor from the whole wheat flour, honey and raisins that I didn't even eat it with any jam or other spread. The crust of this bread stayed crispy even after a few hours.

Loved this bread for breakfast.

Whole Wheat Honey Yogurt Loaf

100% Whole Wheat Bread

I'm so excited! I finally found a recipe that is a soft 100% whole wheat. A bread that is not hard as a brick after a few days! This one is very soft, like store-bought breads, except without all the artificial things.

One thing that I regretted doing the most when baking this bread was the decorative braiding on top. When it came of the oven... it reminded me of hair too much. But when I sliced it, the slices look better! Phew! :) This would be my go-to recipe when I want to bake a whole wheat bread, and a recipe that I'll play with more too.

The recipe below is my adapted recipe from this adapted recipe here. You can experiment, and make changes to get the texture of the bread that you like.

Whole Wheat Honey Yogurt Bread

400g whole wheat flour
1 beaten egg
94g vanilla yogurt (a bit less than 1/2 cup)*
6 oz whole milk (180mL or about 3/4 cup)
40g honey (about... 1/4 cup honey)
1 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tbs vital wheat gluten (see photo at the end)

(*Note: I used plain European-style yogurt from TJ's, thinking it'd give the bread more flavor from the sourness.)

Procedure:

1. In a very large bowl, combine flour with salt and vital wheat gluten. Mix well, then add in yeast.

2. In another bowl, warm up the milk a bit- warm to the touch, not boiling. Then add in honey, yogurt, and beaten egg. 3. Combine the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well and knead it for about 10-15 minutes. It'll be a sticky dough, but try kneading it. Add the olive oil on top of the dough at this point, and it'll help make the kneading to be easier. Or, you can also add the olive oil to your hand and this will also help you knead easier- less sticky dough.

4. After kneading, put a plastic wrap on top of the bowl (or you can also put the dough in a big oiled container with a lid, like a Tupperware.) Place the dough in the fridge overnight- about 8-12 hours.

5. The next day, take the dough out and let it come to room temperature (About 1 0r 2 hours). Then punch down the dough and spread it out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Give it a business letter fold first, follow by another business letter fold.

6. Oil your loaf pan to make sure it doesn't stick. Then gently shape your dough into an oblong shape and place it in the loaf pan. (Another way of forming the loaf bread is to divide the dough in half and shape each half into a long rolls and place each roll side by side in the loaf pan. When baked, it'll appear to have a slit in the middle.

7. Oil the top of the dough a little and cover with a plastic wrap. Or you can also spray the plastic wrap and place it on top of the dough. Let the dough rise until it goes over the top of the loaf pan a bit. But when the dough has almost risen to the top, preheat the oven to 375F.

8. Boil some water and pour that in a large oven safe pan (up to about 1/3 inch of pan). Place the loaf pan in the larger tray with boiling water and bake for around 35-40 minutes on the middle rack. Remove the tray that is underneath the loaf pan in the last 15 mins of baking. The tray of water is there to create steam, to give the loaf a crusty top. Tent the bread with an aluminum foil if the bread is browning too much.

9. Carefully take bread of oven and let it cool on a cooling rack completely (about 1 hr) before slicing.

Box of Vital Wheat Gluten

I know I lack some photos in the directions, but it is hard taking photos with sticky-doughy hands. I tried to keep one hand clean to take photos, but somehow both hands were sticky with dough and flour in the end.

Bunny Bread

I made this awhile ago... Being in a hurry, I didn't shape the bunny ears very well.

Three Humps Bread

Whole wheat bread studded with sunflower seeds throughout and sesame seeds on top.
(This whole wheat is not a hard doorstop. Yay!)

Bread proofing up before the bake.

I think this a good bread, except it's a little too big to fit in someone's Pop-Up Toaster. :-( It's fine in my toaster oven. :D

When I'm done with this bag of sunflower seeds I have, I'll make walnut bread! That is, if the walnuts don't end up in my banana bread again. Or, perhaps a walnut cookie request from someone?

Soft Pretzels

(＞＊Pretzels!＊＜)

I love pretzels! Yes, these may look like some weird twisted buns, but this was my first attempt at making pretzels! Yay! I'll have to practice my rolling skills. The ones above are scallion-ginger pretzels (in the dough, as well as on top of the dough itself.) I topped some with chili flakes, hoping for a spicy kick, but I guess I need to dip them in mustard or Sriracha to taste something spicy.I also made some miniature normal pretzels too, below. These have an egg wash and then topped with sea salt. I think I may have sprinkled on the salt too much, because I scrapped off some on top when eating. These are good chewy soft pretzels- definitely a recipe keeper. What I would change is using less baking soda in the poaching water.

Since I also tested a few pretzels with cinnamon sugar on top, I learned a very important matter... that is to put the cinnamon-sugar after the baking, after brushing on yummy melted butter. Because my sugar was almost burnt. (￣〜￣) Hehe
So if you have a free afternoon, make some pretzels! I made the dough a night ahead, and kept refrigerated. One thing you need to remember is to use less yeast. Because the yeast would eat up all the food and wouldn't make your dough rise the next day. I'd say, use 1/2 of the yeast called for, and stick the dough in the fridge. The long fermentation would actually make the dough taste better.

I wish I have some pretzels now, but I gave them all away. (` - _ -` )

Squared Quinoa Bread

I don't think my family like quinoa. Yes, it's very healthy and has a complete set of protein and all that. But I bought a small box of the stuff since last year, and we haven't touched it much. So where is it gonna end up? In my bread! Quinoa Bread!

As you can see, there is that same reincarnation of sunflower seeds in this bread. Well, only sprinkled on top. I have a whole bagful of sunflower seeds left. ^_^ The inside is whole wheat flour and cooked quinoa.
I was going to buy a pullman loaf pan, to make perfectly squared bread, but this one came out that way. Almost squared though. That's because the quinoa caused it to be dense and didn't rise much. Next time, I'll soak the grains and add it to the bread uncooked.

The bread tasted fine, after toasting up and with a good slathering of hummus. (+_+)

Turtle Bread!

100% Whole wheat turtle bread. I used dried currants for the eyes, because they're smaller and cuter as eyes than raisins. ^_^ But I need a sharper razor to score the lines for the shell. It didn't come out very well.

Sunflower Seed Oat Bread

The story behind this bread is very simple, and kind of silly too. I really love sunflower seed bread, and the only good place I know where to get it from is Clear Flour Bread in Brookline, MA. They have an excellent bread called Organic Vollkornbrot (a German bread). This bread has tons of sunflower seed in it, which I LOVE. However, the bread is made with rye meal, which I HATE. So, it's basically a rye bread studded with s-seeds.

I want a whole wheat version instead. Just like the Vollkornbrot, I put lots of sunflower seeds in mine too, along with Irish steal cut oatmeal, to give it a rustic nutty flavor. This is a really dense and earthy bread.

But if you're wondering why my bread is kind of short, that's because I split the dough for one bread into two. I prefer having a higher ratio of crust to crumb for this bread because the crust is really good.

Sunflower Seed Oat Bread- great as toast strips for slathering on tangy horseradish hummus or dunking in stews. Or with some cheese, perhaps? (*^__^*))

Extra Banana-ey Banana Walnut Bread

I used 6 ripe bananas in this bread! These look like big loaves in the picture, but it's actually one batter divided into 3 mini loaves. Cooking time is quicker, and each being mini, it is cuter too! I love it!

This is actually a good and healthy banana bread recipe that I adjusted, using only 1/3 cup of olive oil and no butter. I added in 2/3 cup non-fat yogurt, because it would prevent the bread from drying out. Yogurt or apple sauce is a good substitute for fat in baked goods. I just prefer yogurt... because I don't like apple sauce! :D Instead of regular white flour, I used whole wheat flour (either white or traditional brown is good). Also, don't add a lot of sugar. IMO, I think 1/2 a cup of brown sugar is perfect. You get lots of sweetness from the ripe bananas, and you want to taste the banana flavor too.

After adjusting all the ingredients to make a healthier banana bread, it may seem like it doesn't taste good anymore, but I assure you, it does. Extra banana-ey, extra good, and healthy! (Don't mind the sesame seeds on my b'nana bread, I like the extra crunch.)

Just find your favorite banana bread recipe and tweak it to your liking!

FAILED Bread

The name of this bread is Speja Apricot Raisin & Walnut Bread, one of my baking failures. Why? Because it's so short and dense! It didn't rise properly, probably because of my too many add-ins to it. Also because I modified the recipe without properly baking it as directed from here.

It's supposed to be very good with cheese with all the nuts and apricots! I will bake this again properly (without any mashed potato add-ins)! ^_^

Spicy Scrambled Eggs w/ Roti

Recently, I came across a blog that mentioned a recipe by Nigella Lawson. It was a recipe about spicy scrambled eggs with fried corn tortilla strips.

I thought that is a great idea to get some textural contrast and bring something new to scrambled eggs or an omelette. You can make it more of a meal with some beans or something too. Well, I like the idea, but would never have tortillas on hand around the house.

What I do happened to have, is some homemade spicy spinach roti. Rotis... tortillas... they're kind of similar. After frying up some strips of roti (until they're crunchy), simply add them into some eggs, onions, and chilies.

And these are some good eggs! I had them with whole wheat sourdough toasts, but you can make a sandwich of any kind. Maybe wrap them up in some roti- and have a fried roti in eggs, in a roti wrap? Mmm hehe ^-^

Rosemary -Extra- Garlic Focaccia

* 3/4 whole wheat- 1/4 bread flour

* Chopped up rosemary mixed throughout the bread, not just planted on the top.

* Sea salt sprinkled on top, just completed the whole thing.
..................................

It was one of the rainy days last week I thought I'd make my dearrest a rosemary focaccia. One of the best things about this bread is the smell while baking it. I took the dough over to bake it there, so I can fill his place with carb-aroma too. But grrr! My plan was ruined when he decided to suprised me with making waffles. The waffle smell overtook my focaccia smell! Which was why I extra poked his bread (and extra slapped, and spanked, and tickled.) Mwuahaha!! (x_x)

The dough was split in half, one I made a small focaccia and one a small loaf.

Sesame Seed Bread

Made with a sourdough starter, and toasty sesame seeds on top.

For some reason, using sourdough yeast starter always gives me a crackly crust. When using commercial yeast, this doesn't happen. Hmm...

This will be for breakfast tomorrow, as it's too late to eat now. I just baked it 1 hr ago!

Whenever you bake bread, you really need to wait at least 1 hr before cutting into it or else you'll have a gummy crumb structure. The waiting time is REALLY hard for me! :)

Roasted Grape-Rosemary Focaccia

Aww... Smile!!