Making Marmalade

Peaches

When we got these peaches, they were hard and much greener. It was the intention of making them into marmalade. Not only did H show me how to do it, I even got the materials like meat grinder, peaches needed for it. It was only after 3 days that we got around into making our own marmalade. As one can imagine, I ate lots of peaches already because day after day, they simply kept on rotting/becoming overripe.

Marmalade 

Finished product /1.6 kg of peaches

Materials:

Wooden spoon

Thick-bottomed pot

Sterilized bottles and covers

Weighing scale

Meat grinder

Fruit e.g. peaches

Sugar

Proportion: 1 KG fruit: 1 KG sugar

1. Discard rotten peaches/parts.Wash the peaches and let dry.

2.  Boil water and pour through meat grinder to sterilize it.

3. Cut peaches into half and take out the seeds.

4. Weigh the cut peaches. 

5. Pass through meat grinder. 

6. Stir in mashed fruit and sugar into the pot. Mix until well blended. 1.6 KG fruit: 1.6 KG sugar

7. Turn on the heat. Stir occasionally to prevent from burning.

8. When it starts to boil, boil for 8 minutes while constantly stirring.

9. Pour into the bottles - almost to the brim. Seal with covers. 

10. Put the filled bottles upside down for 10 minutes, keeping them side by side to let them stay warm as long as possible(This sterilizes them). Bring them to upright position.

11. When cool, store in a cool, dark area (basement).

Waiting for the marmalade to boil

What a big mess we made

Salted Egg / Itlog na Maalat / Gesalzenes Ei

The past days, I have been much into eggs. I wanted to eat egg tarts, salted eggs, chinese-style steamed egg cake, steamed egg (蒸水蛋), etc. Since I can't do everything at the same time, I had to choose which ones to do first. I thought why not salted eggs.

Notes on how I did it.

Proportion

One Liter of Water: One-Fourth kg of Salt (Rock salt, sea salt, normal cooking salt)

Large Eggs (Chicken eggs or duck eggs)

1 TBSP of wine for every liter of water (optional, to have oily egg yolks)

1. Mix salt and water in a pot. Heat the solution until salt is dissolved. 

2. Take about one tablespoon full of salt. Stir into the solution. After about 2 minutes, if it dissolves, continue step 2. Continue until the salt could no longer be dissolved.

3. Turn off heat and bring the brine solution to room temperature.

4. While waiting, wash eggs with water and check for cracks. Don't use eggs that have cracks. Pat or wipe dry.

5. Put eggs into a clean container with cover (plastic or glass will do). 

6. Pour brine solution into the container.

7. Wait for 20 to 30 days.

Salt can be seen below

The way my pot looked like after pouring out the solution

By that time, I would know what recipes I would use the salted eggs for.

Note:

Eggs should be submerged in the brine solution. I used a mini saucer to keep the eggs from floating.

Tangzhong: The day after

The day-old bread made from the tangzhong method was still soft and fluffy as can be seen from the photos below. But sad to say, it was dry compared to the day it was baked.  There could be tons of reasons why: didn't toast it, the dough was dry, etc. I don't know exactly why but it only means try again. 

 

I kept the photo below to remind to better roll it properly next time. If not, there are much spaces in between.

Roll better next time.....

Still soft on the second day but dry

Tangzhong Again: One Dough: Four Variations

Lately, as much as possible, I am cutting down on eating/drinking dairy products. Baked stuffs are usually made with butter, milk, etc. What am I to do? Of course, bake what I can eat/drink . Instead of butter, I use margarine: in place of cow's milk, I use soy milk or even rice milk.

For more than a month now, I have been really crazy about Hefezopf, braided yeast bread, made by a good friend. But since she uses milk, I am afraid I would just be disappointed if I bake it with soy milk. Thankfully, there are still lots of stuffs I want to eat and try out. The odd thing is, I end up wanting to eat soft, sweet bread. This kind of bread means baking with tangzhong for me.

As if you didn't notice, I like to eat raisin bread and cinnamon rolls. I couldn't possible bake tangzhong without these two. I tried another recipe with tangzhong this time around. I used my handmixer for about 30 minutes. I tell you, it had to work pretty hard and good that it didn't overheat. Needless to say, I stopped in between to give the machine and my arm a rest. During the first kneading part, I thought it was a bit dry what I had. After the dough had risen, I hardly needed any flour. It didn't stick all over like I had in my previous attempts. Part of me wondered if I made the dough correctly. I suppose the test will be tomorrow, if it is still soft and fluffy. I am even willing to wait until the third day to check if it is still so (the mind is willing at least).  I am very happy with the way my dough turned out. I didn't secretly wish my husband were home to help me with kneading/rolling the dough. It was just so easy to work with. It didn't stick to my hands like crazy. Then again, it hardly stuck to my hands, to the rolling pin, and on the working surface at all. I wonder if I would have the same success when I try to do it again. 

With the dough, I made raisin rolls, mini cinnamon buns, mexican buns, and sweet rolls/pai pau.

A sign of success

Before

After....from another point of view

Hmmmmm........yummy!!!!

Baking: Tangzhong / Water Roux Method

Read that Tangzhong method is the latest craze among Asian homemakers. It supposedly makes the bread stay soft for the next days using no bread improver. I certainly miss soft and fluffy bread/roll/bun that we have in the Philippines. So I was excited to try this method. 

Water Roux: 1 Part Bread Flour:5 Parts Water/Milk

I have hardly any experience baking with yeast but still, I was yearning for asian-type of bread. What choice but to make it. The first time I attempted to bake with tangzhong method...hmmm.....it was a huge mess in the kitchen. I baked one loaf of raisin bread and 12 cinnamon rolls. 
For the raisin bread, I used my hand to knead. I couldn't even roll it because the dough kept on sticking. Kneaded for 30 minutes and I simply gave up. I didn't have the "membrane" that supposedly should be to know when to stop to knead. I let it rise for an hour and punched it down. I simply couldn't work with the dough because it was way too sticky. As a sign of defeat, I had to ask my husband to help me with the dough. He is the expert in baking between us though he had not heard of this method.
For the cinnamon rolls, I used the hand mixer. The dough was way better to work with. The only thing I was afraid of is that my hand mixer would overheat. After 25 minutes of kneading, I stopped. Unfortunately, I didn't achieve this "membrane" phase again. 
The end products were softer than the usual bread/roll here in Germany. The next day, I felt that they weren't any different from the normal bread/roll: no longer soft and a bit dry.

Check out the texture and how many I ate....hehe

After reading the raves and rants about this method, I figured, I had to try it again. So within a week, I attempted the method again with cinnamon rolls. From the start, I used the hand mixer. I even got to the point when the dough was shiny and elastic. Yohooo!! It took about 35 minutes with the hand mixer. To cut it short, the end product was SOOOOOO SOFT AND SOOOO FLUFFY. The next day, it was still soft although not as soft as the day it was baked. Ok, I have to give credit to my husband once again for helping me with the dough and finishing the proofing/rolling. I was too tired to make/finish it.
The photos below illustrate how soft the roll was even on the second day.

Couldn't stop pressing it down and seeing it rise back to its size :)

In the future, I will only bake with this method every now and then. Whatever we normally bake gets eaten up within 2 days. The long process from making the roux, waiting for it to cool, kneading,  proofing, etc...........it isn't for me. When I feel I miss the soft asian bread once more, I know what I can do. 

Lessons learned:
1) Never stop kneading until the dough is shiny, elastic, and not sticky. 
2) Need time and patience to work with this method. If you don't have both, don't do it.
 
Note:
Purposely didn't put any glaze. Tried to make the rolls healthier...grins.

Puto/ Food Wishlist

Puto - Steamed Cake

We were given about a dozen of putos yesterday. If you ask me what puto is, it is steamed cake or even could be said to be one version of a Philippine muffin. I wrote only steamed cake because this one is made with regular flour, not rice flour. There are different versions of making it as always. It was soooo good and it does remind me back home. 

When I really, really crave for Filipino or Chinese food that I know, I have no choice but to look for the recipes in the internet or ask. Most likely, I don't know how to make it or haven't done it before. When I do have the recipe, then I make it. It is good that I don't crave or don't miss the food THAT much. If not, that would be terrible. It is almost always time-consuming from searching for the recipe to try to searching for the availability of ingredients.

There are so many food that I miss and would like to eat. Here are random thoughts that come into mind.

Dessert: 
Egg Tart
Brazo de Mercedes - I will always associate it with my grandparents. 
Pichi Pichi
Spanish Bread
Taisan
Ensaymada
Almond Cake 
Black Gulaman 
Taho
Mango Sago
Hizon's Cake 
Sans Rival
Mamon
Hopia
Leche Flan
-------------------------
Siopao
Char Siew
Kiam  Peng 
Ha Kaw
Radish Cake - of course with Hoisin sauce :)
Fresh Lumpia
Chicken Pie
..
..
..
..
..

Banana Streusel Muffins

Banana Streusel Muffins in Freiform

Vor kurzem habe ich probiert, Muffins zu backen. Unserer Muffin Backform passt nicht zu unserem Mini-Ofen. Da ich dieses Mini-Ofen sehr mag, möchte ich wie möglich dort alle backen. 

Ich konnte auch nicht mehr warten bis wir Mini Muffin Backförmchen kaufen werden. Ich habe dann zwei Papierförmchen nacheinander gestappelt. Es geht auch. Optisch waren die Muffins nicht gleichmäßig aber es stört mich und meine Gäste nicht. 

Banana Streusel Muffin

Zwei Tage vor gab es Möhren Muffins. Ein Stück hat etwa 10 g Zucker. Kein Butter oder Öl aber dafür Fett von Nüsse.

Heute gibt es endlich Banana Muffins. Habe nur 2 Stück gegessen weil eins schon fast 20 g Zucker hat. Man zählt noch nicht mal das Fett. 

LECKER, halte ich die beiden ausprobierten Rezepten dann!