Eggnog Bread Pudding

 

Yield: 8 servings

For the pudding:

3 lg Eggs
1 lg Egg yolk
3/4 c  Sugar
4 tb Unsalted butter; melted
1 3/4 c  Half-and-half
3 tb Brandy
2 tb Pure vanilla extract
3/4 ts Freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 ts Salt
6 slices Dry cinnamon raisin bread quartered

For the Cranberry-Maple Sauce:

1/3 c  Pure maple syrup
2 tb Sugar
1 1/2 c  Cranberries – if frozen, do not thaw
3 tb Unsalted butter
1 1/2 tb Bourbon
 

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350F 15 minutes before baking, with the rack in the center of the oven.

Butter a 6-cup soufflé dish. Have a kettle of boiling water ready and a baking pan large enough to hold the soufflé dish. Whisk the eggs, egg yolk and sugar until light. Mix in the butter, the half-and- half, brandy, vanilla, nutmeg and salt.

Place the bread in the soufflé dish and pour the custard over it. Press the bread into the custard so it gets well soaked. Let rest 20 minutes. Put the soufflé dish in the baking pan and place on the oven rack. Pour boiling water into the baking pan so it comes halfway up the sides of the soufflé dish.

Bake until the custard is softly set in the center, about 1 hour. Remove from the water bath. Serve warm or at room temperature with Cranberry-Maple Sauce.

Once cooled, the pudding can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. To reheat, cover with aluminum foil with several slits in it. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 20 minutes.
Serve warm, or at room temperature with Cranberry-Maple Sauce.

CRANBERRY-MAPLE SAUCE: Bring the maple syrup and sugar to a boil in a small non-aluminum pan, then cook for 3 minutes. Add the cranberries and cook until their skins burst and they begin to pop, 6 to 8 minutes, or slightly longer if they are frozen. Cut the butter into 3 pieces.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time, waiting until each is incorporated before adding another. Add the bourbon. Sauce can be served immediately or refrigerated for up to a week. Reheat gently and thin with 2 to 3 tablespoons water before serving.

Adapted from: Holiday Recipes Booklet

Cheese Butterhorn Rolls

This is my husband’s newest favorite. He said he likes it because it is fluffy, cheesy and yummy

I think it has something to do with either the butter and/or the cheese I used. It smells really good especially when it is still warm

It takes time to raise because the butter amount is quite high, so be patient and you will earn your reward with a nice soft yummy rolls

To make this you need:

200 ml milk
50-60 gr castor sugar
1 pack instant yeast (about 7-8 gr)
500 gr high protein flour (bread flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
125 gr butter
50 grated old cheese (like parmesan or gouda for example)
2 eggs
Bread improver (optional but recommended, use as the package direction)
3 tablespoons butter, softened (to spread on the rolls)

1 egg to brush the rolls

Method:

Melt the butter and milk.
Dissolve the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar in the warm milk-butter mixture, let it sit for about 10 minutes until it’s frothy.

Beat the eggs,  sugar and salt together.
Combine the yeast mixture and egg mixture.

Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the wet mixture. 
Add the cheese into the mixture.
Stir until combined then cover and refrigerate overnight.

Divide dough into fourths and roll out on a floured surface.
Spread top surface of the rolled out dough with the soft butter.
Cut triangles (pie piece shaped) pieces and roll up from larger to small end.

Place rolls on a baking sheet, brush with egg wash and allow to rolls to rise for 3 to 4 hours. 
Bake rolls in a preheated 200 degrees C oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Cinnamon Rolls

I think everyone love the smell of cinnamon and this rolls are one of the best selling rolls

It is easy to make, the key is to knead it long enough until it is smooth and elastic.

 To make this, you need:

For the bread:

550 g  bread flour (high protein flour)
Bread Improver (optional but recommended, use it as the direction of the package)
1 pckg or 8.5 g  dry yeast
70 g  melted butter
210 ml milk
75 g castor sugar
2 medium eggs
1/2 tsp salt

For the filling:

2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
135 g brown sugar
2-3 tbsps butter kept at room temperature
2 tbsps sesame seeds
50 gr raisins

 For the glaze:
1 medium egg
2 Tbsps milk

Directions:
Add the flour, the yeast, the sugar, the salt, the eggs, the milk, and the butter into the mixer. Mix the ingredients on low for 5 minutes until it becomes shiny in appearance. Add about 2 Tbsp more of flour to the bowl and turn off mixer. Now scrape the dough from the hook.

Sprinkle some flour on your working table. Knead the dough until elastic, cover  with plastic or cloth and let it rise until double in amount (about 30-60 minutes depends on your temperature).
While the dough is rising you can place into a bowl all the filling ingredients except the butter and mix with a spoon until combined. Set it aside.

Preheat oven to 200°C

Punch the air out of the dough. Sprinkle the work space with flour and place the dough on it. Sprinkle the dough with some flour. Now roll out the dough to a 1/2 cm thickness, making sure there is enough flour to prevent it from sticking to the table.

Spread the butter onto the dough surface evenly and then spread the filling. Carefully roll the dough into a log and cut it into slices of about 3 cm thick. Place them on a lined baking tray, leaving enough space for the rolls to rise. Allow them to rise for 15-20 minutes.

Brush each roll individually with the glaze then  bake for 12-15 minutes or until done.
Remove the tray from the oven and let the rolls cool a bit. Your Cinnamon Rolls are now ready to serve. They can be eaten cold but they taste especially good warm.

Banana Yeast Bread

 Ingredients:

4 3/4 cup flour 
Bread Dough Enhancer (Optional but recommended. Use per manufacturer’ s instructions, I need about 1 tsp)
3/4 cup sugar (adjust the amount to your liking)
1 tsp Salt
2 pkgs instant yeast
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup chopped haselnuts (or any other nuts you want)
2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tbsp butter, melted

Method:

Mix together 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, salt and  yeast.

Heat evaporated milk, water, and butter to lukewarm.

Add to dry ingredients; beat 2 minutes at medium speed of mixer.

Add eggs, banana, and 1 cup flour; beat at high speed for about 2 minutes.

Stir in haselnuts and enough remaining flour to make stiff dough.

Knead 8 to 10 minutes. Set in greased bowl; grease top.

Cover; let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down.

Divide in half; shape into loaves. Place in 2 greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pans or you can use bundt form then it will look like mine

 Cover; let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon.

Brush loaves with melted butter; top with sugar mixture.

Bake at 375F 25 to 35 minutes.

Water Roux Bun Dough

The difference of this style of bread than the ‘traditional’ one is the inclusion of water roux, that is cooking portion of water and flour before adding the rest ingredients. The roux itself is different than traditional one which is usually the combination of butter and flour.

The water roux is supposed to allow the dough to absorp more liquid because of the gelatinization of the starch in the flour, there by allowing the finished buns to have a fine soft texture and not to get stale too quick without the use of any artificial bread improver or bread softener . But please note that this kind of dough has slightly higher proportion of egg-butter than the regular one.

The adding of custard powder improves the aroma of the finished bun

makes 16 portions

325 gr bread flour

150 gr plain flour (or 130 gr plain flour+20gr vanilla custard flour/cornflour)

20 gr milk powder

50 gr caster sugar

1 tsp salt

7 gr / 2 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast

2 eggs, lightly beaten

100 ml (approx.) lukewarm water, adjust as necessary (start with 50 ml.. i need 75 ml)

75 gr butter, cubed

water roux:

25 gr bread flour

125 ml water

note: water roux is basically 1 part of bread flour to 5 parts of water 

method:

water roux:

Mix flour and water in a saucepan, cook over low to medium heat, stirring continuously until it reaches 65°C. It should have thickened to a paste at this stage, that is, when you stir, you can see the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat, place a cling wrap over the paste and let it sit until lukewarm or room temperature before using.

If you dont have thermometer, cook as directed just until it starts thickened then continue to cook for about  minute more before removing it from the stove.

This water  roux can be kept in an airtight container after cooling in a refrigerator for 1 day if not used immediately. Do not use it when it turns grey, that means it’s turned bad.

For the bun dough:

Sift all the flours together, mix it with caster sugar and salt. Add instant dry yeast, mix well.

Make a well in the middle of the flour. Add lightly beaten eggs and the lukewarm roux, mix in.

Gradually, add just enough lukewarm water to form a slightly sticky dough.

Knead until smooth and elastic for 10 minutes. During kneading (if using hand), the dough needs to be thrown onto the working surface for 10-20 times every few minutes between kneading.

Knead in butter until incorporated. Form the dough into a round ball and let it rise until doubled in size in a greased and covered bowl. This should take about 1 hour in warm temperature. To test if the dough has risen properly, dip finger into plain flour and poke deep down into centre of the dough, as far as you can reach and pull out again, the hole should remain if the dough is ready, if it springs back then continue to proof.

When the dough is ready, punch down and knead briefly then divide into 16 equal portions. It is easier if you divide it first into 4 equal parts then divide them again into quarters each. Form each into balls and let them rest for 10 minutes.

Shape and fill as desired to make the bun of your choice. Place all finished buns on a greased baking sheet, cover lightly with cling wrap and let them rise until double in size (about 1 hour in warm temperature).

Bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 12-15 minutes

note:

To make row buns: take each of small divided ball dough (about 8 balls) and roll it out into 15-18cm long. Roll up, swiss roll style from the long side into cigar shape. Tuck both pointy ends down for a better presentation. Arrange them side-by-side, almost touching each other, sealed side down on a greased baking tray. Let rise until double in size. Brush with eggwash and bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 15 minutes or  until golden brown. Brush with melted butter immediately after removing from the oven.

Pizza

 

This is another assignment for KBB ( http://klubberanibaking.blogspot.com/)

Pizza
Source: The Perfect Cookbook. David Herbert. Viking. Victoria, Australia. 2003

Pizza base

1 sachet (@ 7 g  or ¼ oz or 2 tsp) dry insant yeast
1 tsp sugar

2 ½ cups bread flour (high-grade flour)
salt
2 Tbs olive oil

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in a small bowl with 200ml (6 ½ fl oz) of tepid water. Stir well and set aside for 10 minutes, or until the mixture froths.

Place the flour and a pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture and olive oil. Mix until a firm dough forms.

Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5-7 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with a cloth or plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 1-1 ½ hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 210C (415F, Gas Mark 6-7).

Punch down the dough with your fist to release the air. Divide into two or three equal portions and roll out or press to a thickness of 4-5mm (¼ in). Transfer to lightly oiled pizza trays.

Top with your choice of toppings and cook for 15 minutes. Then slide the pizza off the tray onto the oven shelf and cook for a further 3-4 minutes, to crisp up the base.