Croissant

 It's been a long time since last post. Although I keep baking once in one or two weeks, just lack of motivation to post what I have made.

I always like to bake rye and hearth bread, because I am fond of them. I used to be a person who doesn't like rich bread like Danish pastry or croissant. However, after I had a "almond chocolate croissant" from Bouchon bakery, I begin to try croissants from different bakeries. I like Bouchon's the most so far since their croissant is crispy and flaky. Some might say their croissant is not soft, but I just like the way what it is.

  After many store bought croissants, I decide to make my
own croissant. I used the recipe from Peter Reinhart's "ABED", and the result is quite satisfied for me. It is light, crispy, and smells like heaven! I'll definitely make it again and rolled in different filling next time!

Banana Mocha Sourdough with Cherry

Humming Bird Sourdough

Chocolate 35%Rye Sourdough

Earl Grey Orange 100% Whole Wheat Bread

Horst Bandel's Black Pumpernickel

I've wanted to make this bread for a long time. Since I always finish my bread entirely, I don't even have the chance to have leftover to make altus.

Because lately I made too many loaf simultaneously, I finally got my 'old bread'.

However, I don't have rye berries and blackstrap molasses, I change the recipe a little bit. Moreover, I add some dried fruit and nuts, in case of that if the bread is gummy, I still can swallow it. I hope this won't ruin what the bread should taste like originally.

Hamelman mentions that blackstrap molasses is used to provide a slight bitter note and deeper color, for the reason, I took it upon myself to use 1T cocoa powder and a packet of Starbucks via(approximately 1/2T), and the old bread I used is Peter Reinhart's rye bread in ABED but with high percentage of first clear flour.

I was quite exciting when I made the old bread soaker. After they absorbed the water, they just look fat and cute. And the smell is depth, complex, and pleasant. When I squeezed it, because of its confortable touch, I smiled.:)

The whole process was pleasant, too. As Hamelman says, "The aroma will fill the entire room", the keep-coming aroma give me a high expectation of this black bread. The only torture is that : you have to wait at minimum for 24 hours to slice it while you're smelling the bread.

When the time I sliced it in the morning, I felt like I'm in the Christmas morning, opening up my present under the tree...

I took my first bite, I felt surprised. It is truly delicious! The sour-sweet taste make it unique and totally please my palate. And the texture, the crumb is better then fruit cake for me. Though the crust is a little bit hard, but I enjoy chewing, it is flavorful. I also toasted some of crust, they've just become biscotti.~:)

This one is sending to Wild Yeast's Yeastspotting. Any comment would be welcomed!

50% Sourdough Rye with Apricot, Fig, and Walnut

100% Whole Wheat with Peanut/Sesame Paste

100% Chocolate Whole Wheat

66% Sourdough Rye with Figs

100% Chocolate Whole Wheat

50% Sourdough Rye with Prunes

100% Whole Wheat Makowiec

I've seen this kind of poppy seeds roll on other blogs many times. I saw someone call it "Mohn Stollen" and some call it "Makowiec". They seem to be similar...
Anyway, I've been eager to try for a while, so when I got a bag of poppy seeds, I made it right away. However, I didn't use the dough which it use to be. I use the master recipe in Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads rolling up with the filling posted here. The filling seems a little bit complicated to make, but I think it's worth to do so. The poppy seeds are more pleasant after being boiled.

Although it is 100% whole wheat, this bread is tender and moisture as it use to be. Also, I'm impressed by the filling which contains poppy seeds, walnut, almond, orange peel, lemonpeel, honey and rasin. It's a joy to chew the crumb with the filling which is full of flavor.

Azuki Rye Bread

The first time I had the bread was about 2 years ago. I bought it from a well known bakery in Taiwan. It's a Japanese style bakery. Most of bread are sweet buns and pastry, so I seldom shopped there. However, there are two exceptions I would buy in the store, chocolate bark and azuki rye bread.

Since I miss the combination so much, I deside to make it myself. I use soft rye sanwich bread in "Artisan Breads Every Day" rolling up with the homemade azuki paste.

The melty azuki paste bring this rye to another level. It bring out the flavor of rye and orange, and combine the flavor of caraway seeds into more complex flavor. The uniqueness is out of my expectation and I'm addicted to it.

Sourdough Rye with Dried Pineapple and Pecan

Chocolate Biscotti and Earl Grey Cupcake

Happy new year!
Since I'll go to my aunt's home this new year's eve, I prepare some desserts for them.
The chocolate biscotti is adapted from David Lebovitz's chocolate biscotti recipes and the Earl Grey Chiffon is adapted from 歡迎進入 grace 西點紅茶時間.


I've planned to make David's Marjolaine which is in the book "Ready for Dessert". I've done most of works, making meringue and praline, however, my homemade creme fraiche didn't get thick enough, and I didn't have time make it again, I decided to make my second choice instead.


I'm glad I made this Earl Grey chiffon. It is fantastic! I was worried it would taste like some Christmas treats because the ingredients are involved cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg powder. I am a big fan of these spices but I've already had them the whole December. The result was out of my expect! The smell is not like the same old way the Earl Grey does and you won't notice there are cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. The only thing you know is that it is incredibly savoury. I stuffed the cake with the custard which is made by the egg yolks left from making Marjolain. Super.






I also made the whole wheat bagel. I have to admit that they are not as good as they look. I added extra flour that the recipe calls for because of the fresh blueberries...Anyway, I don't want to talk about it.

Happy new year again.

Panettone

This is my first Panettone and it's especially for my friends!
The recipe is adapted from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day.
The final fermentation took 12 hours which made me worry that the bread might taste sour. However, it didn't. The bread seems firm to touch but the crumb is delicate and tender. It is like bread in the sense of touch but cake in the sense of taste. The mini Panettone delight my Christmas morning!