Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Basic Baked Bun
I kept them simple because sometimes people just want a plain ole bun. Baked, with a sweet syrupy coating and a few sprinkles of sesame seed just for the fun of it.
Buns... and tea?
Basic Baked Bun
(Makes approx. 20 mini buns)
Dough:
1 cup of warm water
2 Tbsp of milk
1 egg
75g unsalted butter
500g bread flour
85g sugar
1 Tbsp instant dried yeast
Extras
Sesame seeds (optional)
Egg (for egg wash)
Sugary syrup
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp warm water
Pop all the dough ingredients in the order the bread machine requires you to do so and use the dough setting. Relax, chill for an hour and a half until it finishes... then relax more (an hour or two is good) because it likes to take time to rise. Remove dough from machine and on a lightly floured surface give it a bit of a punching. Divide into 20s or however small or big you want your buns and roll into balls.
Let balls of dough rest and they will rise to about double the size... It normally takes about an hour (an episode of American Idol).
Preheat oven to 180c. Grease (or line) baking tray and pop in the pre-buns. Sprinkle seeds if you like or anything fun you like that isn't ridiculous like a broccoli. Bake for about 25 minutes. My buns turned out a little browner because I used an egg wash too early. Nothing wrong with that... but to get a lighter finish, bake for about 10 minutes then brush buns with the egg wash. Another 10 minutes later brush the sugary syrup over the buns and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and probably let rest a bit (unless you have a super mouth that can handle heat) and then enjoy!
Lot's of buns!
Maybe I was lazy but I like the effect of pulling buns apart. It is a lot of yeast to use but there is a bit more sugar used in this recipe so it was necessary. Brushing with honey also works but I don't like honey (weirdo). They are still soft the next day (what??! you can't eat 20 at once?!) but taste amazing in the microwave for 10-20secs. These buns are great with fillings too!
Random animals
Pandas!
Snail and peaches.
Lantern festival last week was so much fun. Missed out on last year's due to earthquake (earthquake earthquake earthquake... sick of it yet?) but I loved the new location this year. More space to move around and it looked like a lot more stalls for food and junk... I love junk. I bought an awesome panda hat and wore it the whole festival because I'm not allowed to just buy things for the sake of buying things and actually need to use them (stupid Jack...).
Monday, January 16, 2012
Spring Onion Pancakes
The first time I cooked for Jack I made an epic six course Chinese dinner. Epic because prior to that, despite my dad being a chef, my cooking mostly consisted of food that came from a packet/can with the words instant or easy on it.
The six courses took me approximately six hours and there were a lot of carnage and casualties. But they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and if I hadn't already stolen it with my cuteness and intelligence (haha), after that meal, he was definitely mine.
The dish he enjoyed most and probably took the least time and effort to make were my spring onion (scallion/green onion) pancakes. Tonight we decided not to over indulge and have a nice home cooked meal, so for my part of the effort I made these simple but yummy spring onion pancakes.
The six courses took me approximately six hours and there were a lot of carnage and casualties. But they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and if I hadn't already stolen it with my cuteness and intelligence (haha), after that meal, he was definitely mine.
The dish he enjoyed most and probably took the least time and effort to make were my spring onion (scallion/green onion) pancakes. Tonight we decided not to over indulge and have a nice home cooked meal, so for my part of the effort I made these simple but yummy spring onion pancakes.
Nom Nom!
Spring Onion Pancakes
(makes 4-6 pancakes)
2 1/2 cup of flour and extra for dusting
3/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup cold water
2 stalks of spring onion (20g)
1/4 tsp of salt
1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder (optional)
Dash of sesame oil
Oil for brushing and cooking
Pour the hot water into the flour and mix quickly. Slowly add the cold water (you may not need all of it) and knead (kung-fu) into a ball of dough. Drizzle a little oil over the ball, pop a damp cloth or paper towel over the top and let it rest (much deserved!) while you get the spring onion mixture ready.
You should use only the greens of the spring onion, but if you are cheap or non wasteful (I am the former), you can tell yourself it doesn't matter. Chop and sprinkle with salt, bouillon powder and a dash of sesame oil and let it get a bit soft and slimey (mmm slimey).
Divide dough into 4-6 pieces and roll out on a lightly floured surface. I'm not an expert roller but good on you if you are, I don't even have a proper rolling pin so I think I do pretty well. Brush a little oil over the flattened dough and spread the slimey spring onion over it. Now if you did get cheapo with your mixture, break up the white bits of the spring onions so it's not a chunk. Roll up the dough and coil it like a snail. Flatten and repeat one more time. The finished result if you are awesome is a round pancake, but if you are even more awesome you get an odd shape which makes it all the more unique! Brush pancake with oil on both sides, cover to prevent drying and repeat process with the rest of the dough.
Heat up the frying pan with approx. a tbsp of oil on medium heat and fry one pancake at a time. Flip when the desired browness or crispness is achieved. When complete, blot with paper towels. Repeat with other pancakes. Eat immediately! Do it!
See, easy.
Slime + Dough = Snail?
I like my pancakes doughy but if you want them crispier roll them out thinner. If you don't intend to dip in sauce or eat with other things, add a little more salt. I added a lot more than a dash of sesame oil because I love the smell of that stuff. You can use vegetable or fish bouillon too, it's really because I like that stuff for that extra little flavour (emphasis on little) but not necessary. Don't be too stingey or scared of the oil, you blot after cooking anyway.
Enjoy.
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