B for Baking #4

While I still have some sourdough starter left sitting in my fridge, and my bread ration has depleted, instead of baking bread, I just felt like having homemade pizza last weekend.


And since I already have all of the ingredients needed in my pantry, the thought of having homemade pizza became much more appealing.


So, without much haste, I went on with my monkey business but not before I finished my Sunday morning coffee.


This would be my fastest bread making experience yet because I started at around 11 am and finished baking by 3.30 pm. I could even hang my laundry indoors while waiting for the sponge to be ready (because it rained heavily all of a sudden) and hang them again outdoors while baking (the rain finally stopped and the sun decided to show up).


It turned out, I made not one, but 2 large pizzas, with 3 different toppings altogether. Talk about satisfying one's cravings! But I wasn't greedy enough to finish all of the pizzas myself. I couldn't, even if I wanted to. So, I delivered some to share with my sister and nephew, that evening.


All in a day's work! It's no wonder I slept like a baby that night.


The next day, I reheated a couple of wedges in my toaster oven for 3 mins, immediately after I took them out from the fridge. Don't know about you, but I prefer stale pizzas because I think they taste even better than freshly baked.


Sourdough pizza

What you need to have:

Ingredients
Pizza dough
1.1/2 cups sourdough sponge (3/4 cup sourdough starter (spelt flour), 3/4 cup spelt flour, 1.1/2 tsp instant yeast, 2 Tsp raw sugar, 1/4 cup warm distilled water)

75g spelt flour
75g ground rolled oats
50g white rice flour
100g potato starch
2 Tsp psyllium husk
1 Tsp ground golden flaxseed meal
4 Tsp non-fat milk powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup warm distilled water

1 tsp salt
3 Tsp melted butter

Pizza sauces
homemade tomato sauce
homemade sambal chilli sauce

Pizza toppings
8 raw meat patties (4 lamb and 4 beef)
3 small canned tuna flakes in oil/bran (drained)
1.1/2 medium-sized onions
1/2 cup spinach puree
500g grated mozzarella cheese


Apparatus
a large bowl
a wooden spoon or spatula
measuring cups and spoons
kitchen scale
cling wrap
3 medium-sized bowls
knife
chopping board
baking paper
baking tray
microwave oven
oven


What you need to do:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the sourdough sponge. Cover with cling wrap and set aside for 1 hr. Sponge is active when you see lots of bubbles.

2. Combine sponge and all other ingredients completely except salt and melted butter. Cover with the same cling wrap and let rest for 15 mins.

3. Add salt and melted butter and knead for 5 minutes. Cover with cling wrap again and leave to rise for 30 mins or until doubled in size.

4. While the dough is rising, prepare the toppings. Place the meat patties and tuna flakes in separate bowls.

5. Dice the onions and place equally in each bowl. Mix well.

6. Cook each bowl of meat patties in microwave oven for 30 secs (you can also pan fry them but I prefer to do less washing). By pre-cooking the meat, it will be much easier to spread over the pizza dough.

7. When the dough is ready, divide equally into two and place each dough on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Spread the dough evenly on each tray, depending on the thickness that you desire. Set aside to rise for 30 mins.

8. Spread one tray of dough completely with homemade tomato sauce and the other with homemade sambal chilli sauce (you can also buy prepared sauces from the supermarket). Leave a few spoonfuls for the topping.

9. For the pizza with tomato sauce: I spread half of the tuna flakes on 1/3 of the pizza dough and spread the pre-cooked lamb patties on the remaining 2/3 of the pizza dough.

10. For the pizza with spicy sauce: Similarly, I spread the other half of the tuna flakes on 1/3 of the pizza dough and spread the pre-cooked beef patties on the remaining 2/3 of the pizza dough.

11. Place a pinch of spinach puree randomly over the meat patties for both trays. Place drops of leftover sauces randomly all over the top. Lastly, cover the top completely with mozzarella cheese.

12. Place the trays (one on the lower rack and the other on the middle rack) in a pre-heated 200°C oven and bake for 25 mins. Halfway through baking, switch the trays. Keep an eye on the mozzarella cheese to avoid over browning.

13. Turn off the switch and remove trays from the oven. After 5 mins, carefully slide the pizzas off the trays by holding on to the baking paper and transfering them back onto the oven racks, until ready to serve. The remaining heat from the oven will prevent the bottom of the pizzas from getting soggy, whilst keeping the pizzas warm.

14. Cut each pizza into wedges and serve them with your favourite salads or eat them on their own.

Good thing about pizzas, you can eat them warm or at room temperature.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for no longer than 3 days or freeze them for no longer than a month (if it can last that long?) because who says you cannot have pizzas for breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper?


Enjoy!

pizzas cooked and ready to leave the hot oven

eat them on their own

D for Delectable Delights #3

I cannot recall if I ever tasted a steamed bun or bao as a child but I can recall seeing lots of them back then each time I passed by a Chinese coffee shop or kopitiam.

Because I am a Muslim, I could only watch and stare at them while they sat there, looking fair and fluffy, as if calling out to me to eat them, in their steaming glass cabinets.

All those cravings were at last paid off when I was in secondary school because they finally sold halal baos. The reason why they were not, back then was because of the obvious ~ the fillings were not fit for Muslim consumption. Also I was told that some of them used lard instead of vegetable oil to make the dough.

I was excited when I finally bought my own steamed buns, using my own pocket money that I have saved but only to be disappointed when I took my first bite, because those fair and fluffy looking steamed buns were not as I expected.

I was not sure if I was supposed to eat or tear off the skin because it felt like synthetic leather and did not taste that nice either. But once I removed the skin, all that was left was something that tasted like white bread that was rather dry and the filling was scarce and was too sweet for my taste. Meats, to me, are not supposed to taste sweet, unless they are satays. I felt cheated, really.

As time passed, I still got the same cravings now and then, and fulfilled those cravings with much the same disappointment but never have I given up hope that one fine day, I will get to eat one bao that is exactly to my liking.


Finally, one day (cannot recall when exactly) I decided that since I baked my own bread, I should try to make my own bao, too.

As usual, I browsed through the internet for inspiration and discovered that one of the ingredients they used that made the skin felt like synthetic leather was something I should avoid anyway.

So, I tried making my own without that ingredient and mine turned out just fine, and I could easily bite into my steamed buns and did not need to peel off any skin, just the way I like it because I do not like to waste good food.

I have made quite a few with different fillings ~ beef curry, red beans, chocolate, kaya and cheese. I have also made them plain that were good to eat on their own or for dipping in soup or gravy, or with anything at all, which my mother, a fussy eater, approved.

Since I have stopped eating wheat, I recently tried making my own wheat-free version and was not disappointed because it turned out to be just as good as the ones with wheat. I even received mom's approval for this one. Yaye!


For this wheat-free version I decided to use sourdough starter since I like it so much, just for experimental purpose.

Here it goes...


Sourdough Steamed Buns

What you need to have:

Ingredients
3/4 cup sourdough starter (spelt flour) *
3/4 cup spelt flour *
1/4 cup distilled water *
1 Tsp raw sugar *

50g spelt flour
50g ground rolled oats
50g brown rice flour
50g white rice flour
100g potato starch
2 Tsp psyllium husk
1 Tsp golden flaxseed meal
1.1/2 tsp instant yeast
4 Tsp non-fat milk powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup warm distilled water

1 tsp salt
3 Tsp rice bran oil

Apparatus
medium-sized bowl
wooden spoon or spatula
measuring cups and spoons
large bowl
kitchen scale
cling wrap
baking paper, cut into 3" squares (depending on each bun, give allowance for expansion)
steamer
aluminum foil
wire rack
zipper bag


What you need to do:

1. Place all (*) ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and mix well. Leave to proof for 8 hrs or overnight to activate the starter. When you see lots of bubbles, it means that the starter is active.

2. The following day, place all ingredients except salt and oil in a large bowl and mix well. Cover with cling wrap and let the dough rest for 15 mins.

3. Add in salt and oil and knead for 5 mins until it forms a soft dough.

4. Cover with cling wrap again and leave to rise in a warm and draft-free area for 30 mins or until doubled in size.

5. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide equally into 12 portions. (Mine turned out to be ~95g each)

6. Shape into balls and set aside until you are ready to fill them up with your favourite fillings. Or you could roll them out into logs (mantou) or rounds to make plain buns instead.

7. Place each bun on a piece of baking paper and arrange in the steamer. Leave to rise for 30 mins or until doubled in size.

8. Bring the steamer to a boil. Place buns in steamer and shelter buns completely with aluminium foil to prevent drenching. Steam for 15 mins. Turn off heat and wait 5 mins before removing buns from steamer.

9. Serve warm or at room temperature.

10. Cool completely on a wire rack before freezing leftovers in a zipper bag.


Enjoy!

my plain baos

F for Fashion reconstruction #7

I often wondered why some clothes are made with linings, even though these clothes are not see-through and especially for clothes that are sold in tropical climates.


And most often, these linings are made from non-absorbent materials that make you sweaty and uncomfortable only after a few minutes of wearing them.


Why can't they (whoever that makes these clothes) put some thoughts into their design or manufacturing process before selling them instead of thinking of $$$ all the time.


Perhaps because they themselves don't wear the clothes they make, so they don't care about how the wearer might feel?


Anyway, enough of the banter already and let's get back to my next reconstruction project.


Talking about linings, my masterful sister gave me an idea of how she converted an unused skirt of mine into a shrug. So, following up on that idea, I decided that I could also convert my pants' linings into a shrug instead of throwing them because I am not one who wastes anything useful.

Since this is a simple and straightforward project, my sister and I completed this shrug in just a couple of hours and it took me another couple of days to complete the embellishments.

This shrug is simple yet versatile because whenever the need arises, I could easily turn my sleeveless gowns into long-sleeved gowns instantly or wear it as a scarf.