Chocolate Brownie

Delicious and simple. A rich chocolate brownie made by the kids for Christmas. Crunchy on the surface, spongy on the inside. The "secret" recipe comes from Best Recipes.

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Post Christmas Cleanup Army

What to do with Christmas leftovers? You need the lean, mean eating machines from the Army!

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Christmas 2010

Christmas Day 2010 was memorable....

.... it was the first Christmas that was completely stuffed from the beginning to end.




Well, it started with the stuffing preparation on Christmas Eve. It took 2 hours to wash, chop and mince. The 2-minute Noodle Cook doesn't stuff around when it comes to meals as important as Christmas lunch: nothing instant here, it's fresh or it's in the bin. When the turkey was pulled out from the fridge, it was already stuffed by the butcher!

Villain John the executive chef wasn't going to miss the chance of putting his name down as the cook who roasted the turkey. So he peeled back the turkey skin and rubbed herb butter (that he didn't slave 2 hrs to make), and in 2 minutes flat, he did it! Just let the oven do the rest of the work.

..... the guests were going to come early to help with the cooking and help themselves to nibbles until the turkey was ready, so as not to be stuffed before then.



... the first arrivals were 2 hours late and that was early by Zambian time. The friends they were bringing didn't show up. All that foooood sat on the table looking pretty. It looked like a case of dialing "000" to call the "ARMY" in to demolish the food.

While John celebrated his first roast turkey in over 10 years with the boys, Noodle Cook drove 2 hours to arrive late to the family lunch, just after all the turkey was gone. Just a bit of leftover pork roast with apple sauce for a Christmas lunch that wasn't meant to be. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, John called to complain that he couldn't stand up from eating ALL the turkey, which he cooked to perfection.



... after all the heavy going, next came the dessert. It was a breeze since the kids did all the work the week before after learning everything off TV Junior Masterchef, from how to zest a lemon to folding batter.



... unfortunately everyone was too stuffed after the mains to do a Matt Preston critique on the kids effort. While everyone enjoyed their Christmas lunches, Noodle Cook remained hungry....



... so there you have it, Christmas 2010.

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Carrot Surprise Cake

From Jamie's Kitchen came this delicious moist carrot and polenta cake, delicately spiced with ginger, nutmeg, caraway, cinnamon and clove. The original recipe uses cooked mash beetroot.

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Scroll Bread

Moist, delicious oriental style bread made using tangzhong (starch gel). Follow the bread technique in this blog. Sprinkle sultanas or chopped date with some brown sugar before rolling up.

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High Rise Yukone Bread

After many attempts in the quest to find a bread that has the same keeping quality as supermarket bread without additives, the answer is getting closer. Shown here is a lofty loaf made with 20% flour weight yukone (hot water dough, 1:1 flour to water, 90 deg Celsius) and 2% flour weight starch gel (tangzhong, 1:5 flour to water, 65 deg Celsius). The hot water dough and starch gel enable the reduction of commercial amylase based improver to one quarter. Without the starch gel, the Yukone bread takes much longer to proof, and rises less than a standard loaf.




The high rise effect can be seen in this picture of a bread made with 5% flour weight starch gel, without the yukone. It is clear that the yeast activity is boosted by the starch gel giving rise to increased volume and a much faster rising time, in addition to the increased hydration of the soft, fluffy bread texture.

The use of Chinglish (language of a native Chinese with English as a second foreign language) translation of "tangzhong" as water roux in many Asian baking blogs, seems a misnomer as a roux is French for fat and flour. In the context of how tangzhong works, perhaps these are better translations:

• growth activator
• yeast booster
• starch gel improver
• loaf enhancer
• rise accelerator
  

To make high rise yukone bread using sponge-dough technique :

Sponge
175 g flour (12% protein)
115 mL milk + 3 x 5 mL as needed
4 g yeast
1 g (1/4 t) yeast food (Lecimax)
0.5 g (1/4 t) emulsifier (lecithin)
5 g nonfat milk powder, omitted in this trial

Mix to stiff dough. Ferment in the fridge overnight.

Yukone (hot water dough)
50 g flour
50 mL boiling water

Mix to a soft sticky dough. Maturate in the fridge overnight

Starch Gel (tangzhong)
5 g flour
25 mL boiling water

Mix to a watery grainy custard-like gel. Maturate in the fridge overnight.

Bread Dough
20 g flour
10 g sugar
2 g (1/2 t) salt
10 g (2 t) shortening

To make bread, mix fermented sponge, maturated yukone and starch gel with the rest of the dough ingredients, except the shortening, to form a soft dough. Rest for 10 minutes. Knead to a smooth dough. Add shortening. Knead until the dough is stretchy. Kneading takes around 20 minutes by hand. Proof at room temperature until double. Knock down. Knead well. Scale and shape. Proof at room temperature or in the fridge until triple. Bake at 180 deg C for 30 minutes for a loaf, or 220 deg C for 15 minutes for rolls.

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Yukone Bread

The Japanese bread which utilizes a hot water processed dough, known as "yukone", lends itself to a fine, soft, fluffy texture with good keeping quality. The yukone dough is also known as hot water dough, gelatinized dough or occasionally interchanged with water roux (known in Chinese as tangzhong). The latter is a starch gel made using 1:5 flour to water.

Unlike many water roux or "65 degrees Celsius tangzhong" bread recipes favoured by Asian baking bloggers, the yukone bread contains around 60% less saturated fat and is thus less reliant on fat to prevent staling. The yukone dough is made by adding boiling water to flour so as to gelatinize the contained starch. Typically, the yukone dough is 1:1 flour to water. Some recipes suggest 10:7 flour to water.



The texture of the yukone bread results from hydration of the the starch, and proper development of gluten. Gelatinization swells the starch and allows formation of gas cells. Insufficient gluten development gives rise to softness that promotes large pores and loss of elasticity. Overworked gluten on the other hand gives dense textures as gas cells cannot expand.

Loaf volume decreases with increased yukone. At 20% flour weight yukone, the loaf height is reduced around 15% compared to a loaf without yukone. It appears 20% flour weight yukone gives the best volume for moisture.

Formula by Naito et al 2005:

Sponge
70 flour (12% protein)
44.8 water
2.2 yeast
0.1 yeast food
0.25 emulsifier
2 nonfat dry milk

Mix to stiff dough. Ferment in the fridge overnight.

Yukone (hot water dough)
20 flour
20 boiling water

Mix to a soft sticky dough. Maturate dough in the fridge overnight

Bread Dough
10 flour
10.2 water
6 sugar
2 salt
5 shortening

To make bread, mix fermented sponge and maturated yukone with the rest of the dough ingredients, except the shortening, to form a soft dough. Rest for 10 minutes. Knead to a smooth dough. Add shortening. Knead until the dough is stretchy. Kneading takes around 20 minutes by hand. Proof until double. Knock down. Knead well. Scale and shape. Proof until triple. Bake at 180 deg C for 30 minutes for a loaf, or 220 deg C for 15 minutes for rolls.

A recipe in table format can be found in Naito et al 2005.

Reference:
The Effect of Gelatinized Starch on Baking Bread
Shigehiro Naito, Shinji Fukami, Yasuyuki Mizokami, Rieko Hirose, Koji Kawashima, Hiroyuki Takano, Nobuaki Ishida, Mika Koizumi And Hiromi Kano
Food Sci. Technol. Res., 11 (2), 194-201, 2005

Study on Starch in White Bread Prepared by Yukone Processing
Tetsuya Yamada, Wakana Hasegawa, Tomomi Ito, Akihiro Ohara and Takuo Adachi
Faculty of Agriculture, Meijo Uni. Scientific Rept., 4, 9-20, 2004

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Milk Bread

The soft and silky oriental style milk bread that stays fresh for days results from cooking (gelatinizing), with water, the starch from a small portion of the total flour before adding to the bread dough. Here are two test recipes. In method A, the par-cooked flour resembles mash potato while in method B, the par-cooked flour behaves like a thick custard sauce.




Method A





Adapted from recipe at "All Recipes" for Asian bread
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/asian-water-roux-white-bread/Detail.aspx

Bread Dough
190 g flour (12% protein)
120 g hot water dough (1:1), see below
10 g sugar (2 t)
4 g salt (1 t)
4 g instant dried yeast (1 t)
1 g (1/2 t) lecithin granules
4 g (1 t) Lecimax improver
115 mL warm milk
10 g butter

Hot water dough (1:1)
(aka Japanese "Yukone" starter dough, or gelatinized dough)
60 g flour
60 mL boiling water

Method B





Adapted from recipe at "Cafe Corner" for Japanese bread
http://cornercafe.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/japanese-style-white-bread-loaf/

Bread Dough
235 g flour (12% protein)
90 g starch gel (1:5), see below
10 g sugar (2 t)
4 g salt (1 t)
4 g instant dried yeast (1 t)
1 g (1/2 t) lecithin granules
4 g (1 t) Lecimax improver
100 mL warm milk
10 g butter

Starch Gel (1:5)
(aka "65 degrees water roux starter", known in Chinese as "tangzhong")
15 g flour
75 mL boiling water

To make the bread using either method:

While stirring, par-cook the flour with boiling water. For home production, do not worry about lumps. It is also not necessary for precision 65 degrees Celsius cooking. Cool and rest for 2 hours or overnight.

Combine the par-cooked flour starter with everything else to form a soft dough. Rest 10 minutes.

Knead until very smooth and stretchy. By hand, it takes about 20 minutes to develop a translucent stretch. In comparison, it takes 8-10 minutes using electric dough hooks. A pasta machine can help develop this stretch after 20 runs.

Proof until double. Punch down. Knead well. Divide into 4 portions.

Roll each portion into a 5 cm wide strip using a rolling pin or a pasta machine at the widest setting. Roll each strip into a cylinder while pushing the sides in to avoid spindle shape.



Place the 4 rolled cylinders in a greased and floured bread tin (20cm x 10 cm x10 cm). Let rise until a finger leaves an imprint. Method A took 4 hours compared to 1 hour for method B. The finished loaf measures about 12 cm high.

Bake 30 minutes at 185 degrees Celsius. The test loaves were baked in a bench top convection oven for 10 minutes on the top, and then turned on the sides and baked 10 minutes on each side.



Conclusion:
The starch gel method (1:5 flour to water), shown on the right, produces a faster rising and loftier bread with a soft, moist, fluffy, silky texture. The hot water dough method (1:1 flour to water), shown on the left, also gives a soft, but somewhat coarser, texture.

Notes:

• The lecithin in these recipes reduces the butter, as well as replaces egg in the original recipe. One tablespoon of egg (half of one) may be added in place of the lecithin and 15 mL of the milk.
• The original recipes use milk powder and water instead of milk. Scald fresh milk first or use UHT for a better rise.
  
• The flour used here is unbleached Wallaby Bakers Flour by Laucke. Plain flour can also be used.
• Lecimax improver is amylase (enzyme) with emulsifiers, and can be omitted. The use here is twofold: to ensure the bread is edible should the tests fail, and to show that texture improves through the use of gelatinized starch when compared to standard loaf.
  
• Instant yeast is used without activating. If using other yeast, activate in warm water/milk and sugar for 10 minutes before adding to dry ingredients. Use quantity of yeast to suit your yeast type and/or application according to manufacturer's recommendation.

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Croissant

Nothing beats a homemade croissant, a scrumptious flaky buttery threat, made on a cold spring day.



2 t (4 g) yeast
1 T (15 g) sugar
1 T (20 mL) warm milk
1 t salt
250 g flour
2 t (2 g) lecithin
1 t (4 g) Lecimax improver
1 T (20 g) melted butter
150 mL cold water
120 g cold butter

Mix salt, flour, lecithin, and improver in a bowl.

To activate the yeast, make a well. Add sugar, yeast and milk. Let stand 10 minutes until bubbly.

Add cold water and melted butter. Mix to a soft dough. Let rise in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.

Punch down, and knead. Roll to 20 cm x 40 cm.

Place half cold butter in the middle third. Fold top third of dough over the butter. Add remaining butter and fold the bottom third over the butter.

Roll out to 20 cm x 40 cm and fold into thirds. Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Repeat 3 more times.

Roll out to 20 cm x 4o cm to about 5 mm thick. Cut 8 triangles with 10 cm bases. Slit each base. Stretch the base and roll up the dough to form a crescent.

Place on baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Let rise at room temperature, preferably under 20 degrees Celsius until puffy and triple in size.

Bake 8 minutes at 220 degrees Celsius, and another 4 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

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Atta Bread

Atta flour, milled from whole wheat, makes an excellent leavened bread.

250 g atta flour (or use 50% wholemeal, 50% plain flour)
1 t (4 g) yeast
1/2 t (2 g) salt
2 t (10 g) sugar
1 t (4 g) Lecimax improver
1/2 t (1 g) lecithin
1/2 t (2 g) vinegar
2 t (8 g) oil
170 mL warm water

Make bread dough using the ingredients. Divide dough into 4, around 100 g each. Let rise until double. Bake at 220 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.

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Salted Mustard Green and Tamarind Soup

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Cabbage Galette

A warm, hearty French pancake filled with ham and layers of cabbage. The perfect side dish to roasts at dinner, a quick lunch or even brunch.

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Potato Boulangere

A classic French dish with crispy crust over luscious layers of potatoes and onions cooked slowly in stock at 150 degrees Celsius for 3 hours. Potato boulangere is a close cousin of gratin dauphinois and potato galette.

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Italian

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Noodles

Buckwheat Noodles

80 g buckwheat
20 g plain flour (or potato starch for gluten free)
2 T (40 mL) boiling water

Mix everything to form a dough. Roll and cut with pasta machine. Cook in boiling water for 3-5 minutes.



Two Minute Noodles

1/4 t bicarbonate soda
1/4 c boiling water
1/4 c water
250 g plain flour (2 c)
1.5 t salt
1/2 t oil

Dissolve bicarbonate soda in boiling water. Add remaining water. Put rest of ingredients in a food processor. Pour in the water. Process until the dough starts clumping. Pour onto the bench and press together to form a dough. Rest 10 minutes if time allow, otherwise, roll and cut with pasta machine. Cook in boiling water for 2 minutes.


Wonton Style Noodles

1/4 t bicarbonate soda
1/2 c boiling water
2 T plain flour for roux
250 g plain flour for dough (2 c)
1/4 t salt
1/2 t oil

Dissolve bicarbonate soda in boiling water. Immediately add 2 T of flour to partially cook to a roux. Cool slightly. Add 2 T more flour and beat until stringy. Add remaining ingredients to make a dough. Knead until smooth. Rest for 30 minutes. Roll in pasta machine until very smooth and stretchy. Air dry 10 minutes before cutting. Cook in boiling water for 3 minutes.


Wheat Noodles

1/2 t baking powder
250 g atta flour (or 50% wholemeal, 50% plain)
1.5 t salt
170 mL warm water

Mix dry ingredients. Put about half the dry ingredients in a food processor. Add the water. Blend until stringy, around 2 minutes. Add rest of flour. Blend to a soft dough. Rest 30 minutes. Dust liberally. Roll and cut with pasta machine.

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Corn and Rice Pasta

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Chickpeas

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Red Lentils

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Pork and Prunes

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Gnocchi

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Pasta with Chickpea Sauce

Live Below the Line Challenge

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Potato Paratha

Live Below the Line Challenge

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Potato Tart

1 sheet shortcrust pastry
200 g potato (waxy)
2 t blue cheese, crumbled
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 garlic, finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
60 mL milk
1 t cornstarch, optional
pinch of pepper, salt, thyme
2 t melted butter, olive oil or rendered duck fat

1. Line a greased 20 cm fluted pie dish with shortcrust pastry. Prick the base. Freeze. Blind bake using a saucer as weight for 15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Remove the saucer halfway through. Brush with some beaten egg in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

2. Parboil potato in skin for 10 minutes. Chill. Slice thinly.

3. Sprinkle cheese, shallot, and herb into the tart shell. Season with salt & pepper.

4. Mix milk with eggs and pour into the tart shell.

5. Arrange potato slices over the egg mixture. Drizzle melted butter over the potato slices.

6. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes until the top is golden and potato is crispy.

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Confit Byaldi

Ever since the animated movie "Ratatouille" which starred a mouse as an aspiring master chef, Joesph Keller's confit byaldi ("French Laundry" cookbook) became a dish for kitchen snobs to serve with flair if visited by the most famous food critic. In Australia, that food critic is Matt Preston of Channel 10's Masterchef TV cooking competition.

Confit byaldi is a version of the French provincial ratatouille dish which comprises rustic vegetables cooked in a tomato sauce. In confit byaldi, the vegetables are sliced, attractively arranged, and then slow cooked (at 135 degrees Celsius) in a capsicum and tomato sauce known as piperade. Traditional vegetables are zucchini and eggplant.



Here is a simple version which can be cooked in the microwave as well. Serves 4 as a vegetarian lunch. By using seasonal vegetables with potato as the main ingredient, accompanied by pasta or bread (including crepe or chapati), this dish suits budget meal plans for "Living Below the Line" challenge.

1 small capsicum, sliced (100 g)
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced (120 g)
2 shallots, sliced (50 g)
1 potato, sliced (250 g)
2 cabbage leaves, cut into 5 cm squares (150 g)
400 g canned diced tomatoes in juice
1 garlic, finely chopped
1/2 t parsley
1/4 t thyme
1/4 t basil
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t salt
2 T olive oil

1. Mix garlic, herbs with diced tomatoes in juice. Place half in bottom of pie dish. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
2. Arrange sliced vegetables over the tomatoes base.
3. Season well. Drizzle with remaining olive oil.
4. Top with rest of diced tomato in juice.
5. Microwave 4 minutes on high until liquid starts to bubble.
6. Bake, covered with foil, for 2 hours at 135 degrees Celsius.

To serve, neatly lift the sliced vegetables onto a plate and fan out. Sprinkle with herbs, drizzle with olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

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Chocolate Fondant With Custard Sauce

Cooking disasters are many, even at high class restaurants. No one is going to admit to serving raw food, especially a fancy chocolate dessert with a price that matches. Thus is the origin of chocolate fondant, a rich chocolate cake with a runny centre. Other names include molten chocolate cake or lava cake. Grandma's generation knows this dessert as self-saucing chocolate pudding, made simply by pouring hot water over chocolate sponge batter. Restaurants refine, reinvent and serve it as haute cuisine that commands a high price.

Here's a basic recipe that uses cocoa powder instead of expensive couverture chocolate. The cake is dense and rich. The centres when cooked yields a flowing sauce. If a thicker fondant is preferred, reduce the amount of fluid. It doesn't take long to realize that you don't need to be masterchef with years of experience to produce this dish.

Chocolate Fondant
60 g butter, melted
20 g cocoa powder (4T)
50 mL milk
2 T liqueur (or milk)
1 egg
2 egg yolks
60 g sugar
50 g flour (half SR & half plain, or plain with 1/4 t baking powder)

Prepare 4 espresso cups or 2 ramekins by greasing with butter and lining bottoms. Dust with cocoa powder.

Combine butter, cocoa powder, milk, and liqueur. Fold in the flour. Whisk eggs with sugar. Fold egg mixture into the batter.

Pour into molds. Rest for at least 1 hour or until ready to serve.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 8-10 minutes for espresso cup size or 10-12 minutes for 1-cup ramekins. When ready, the top of the cakes look cooked and a skewer comes out with thick batter. Unmold onto serving plates. Serve immediately with custard sauce.

Variations:
For espresso version, substitute 1 t espresso coffee powder and 2 T water or freshly brewed espresso. For jaffa version, replace liquids with juice of 1 orange (90 mL).

Custard Sauce
30 g butter, melted
400 mL milk
5 egg yolks
1 t vanilla
60 g sugar

Combine and whisk ingredients. Stir over the stove or over double boiler until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Remove from heat and cool. Do not over cook. If cuddling starts, add 1 tablespoon butter and whisk in a blender. Cornstarch (1 t) may be added to thicken.

Easy Mocha Fondant
60 g extra virgin olive oil
20 g cocoa
50 g SR flour
1 egg
60 g sugar
50 mL espresso coffee
20 mL milk

Mix in a blender. Pour into 2 greased and bottom lined teacups. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 10-12 minutes. This recipe gives a thick, mousse-like centre.

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Spices that Look Like Ginger

... these ginger-looking spices are found in Southeast Asian curries.

Turmeric = yellow ginger



Galangal = blue ginger

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Siamese Laksa

A spicy coconut flavoured broth eaten with noodles, also known as laksa lemak, Nyonya laksa or Thai laksa. Traditionally flavoured with laksa leaves (Vietnamese mint). As with curries, the flavour is carried in the oil. Below is the general technique for developing the aroma of the spices. This recipe makes use of dried spices.

Spice paste:
1 T Kashmiri chilli powder (or to taste)
2 t coriander seed, roasted and milled
2 t turmeric powder
1 t galangal powder
2 t ginger powder
1 t dried shrimp paste, belachan (optional), roasted
4 T water

Sauce:
1 onion, around 1 c when finely chopped
1 garlic, around 1 t when finely chopped
4 T oil, plus more as needed
2 T spice paste
4 kaffir lime leaves (or lemon zest)
1 lemongrass stalk (or lemon zest), bruised
2 pieces tamarind skin (or lemon juice)
2 candlenuts (or Brazil nuts or macadamia), milled (optional, for thickening sauce)
1.5 L water (or stock from poaching the meat below)
1/2 c coconut cream
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
laksa leaves (Vietnamese mint), optional

Noodles:
250 g rice stick noodles, soaked in hot water for 7 minutes
1 c bean sprouts, blanched
1 c oriental vegetable like choy sam, blanched
1 c poached/steamed fish, prawn and/or chicken
1 sprig coriander
1 red chilli, sliced
lemon or lime slices for serving

1. Make the spice paste by mixing dried spices with water. Let stand for 15 minutes.

2. Next make the sauce. Gently saute the onion with oil until softened, then add the garlic and continue to saute until the garlic turns golden. Adjust oil as needed.

3. Add the spice paste and gently fry until the mix darkens slightly and the oil separates.

4. Add lime leaves, lemongrass, tamarind, candlenuts and water. Simmer 30 minutes, until oil floats to the top.

5. Add coconut cream, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes.

6. Add laksa leaves.

7. Assemble the noodles, vegetables and meat in serving bowls

8. Pour over the sauce, garnish with coriander, chilli slices and lemon slices. Serve immediately.

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The Princess and Domo

Domo, the fuzzy brown monster mascot for a Japanese TV station, took centre stage as birthday cake for Princess, much to the envy of the young invited guests. Well everyone knows the famous Domo except Noodle Cook.

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