Sourdough bread

Results! Bread is out of the oven and it tastes okay, slightly too sour. Well, the sponge was probably left out for too long before using. Anyhow, it was a good bake with a good crust.

opps...

Oops...I forgot to take a photo before carrying out the next stage. Oh well, you'll just have to take my word that it has risen all the way the bowl after overnight (6 hours to be precise). Final proving is being done in the banneton now. I'll have to make sure to remember to take photos before tipping the dough out.

ready for making the loaf

The sponge was ready after resting for over 12 hours. Well, it was left untouched for 16 hours before I had time to use it. Added flour, salt and olive oil to the sponge. Mixed and kneaded, then prove in an oiled bowl and covered with cling film. This is the first proving and I will continue with second proving tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed that it will rise okay.

ready for sponge

Sponge is made! Just need to wait and see what will happen this evening.

Starter fed and stored in the fridge.

my sourdough journey 6

Day 7 photo taken after feeding.

my sourdough journey 5

Day 6 photo taken before feeding. Still looking bubbly.

my sourdough journey 4

Day 5, photo taken 3 hours after feeding. Growth has slowed down a bit, probably because I didn't add as much water as before. It's still bubbly and now it has a slight smell of alcohol. 

my sourdough journey 3

Day 4 before feeding. Woah! It filled up the entire jar! Very active indeed!

I'm undecided if I should slow down the growth by putting it in the fridge after day 5 or continue growing it at room temperature for the full 7 days.

my sourdough journey 2

Day 3 before feeding. Looking bubbly!

my sourdough journey begins

Why do I bother attempting to make sourdough bread when I don't even like the stuff? Well, I never liked sourdough until recently when I tasted the best sourdough bread in my life. Okay, I had only eaten a few so far as I was put off by those I had tried in the past. But I see this as a challenge that I should tackle.

I'm only on day 3 of making my sourdough starter, so nothing exciting to talk about yet. Here are photos of my starter from day 1 and 2. I'll update later this evening after checking how the starter is doing before its next feed.

macarons

I've just discovered this blog post that I forgot to publish. D'oh!

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I finally decided to return to blogging after being "on leave" for nearly two years. Maternity leave that was! It wasn't pleasant to bake while you were coping with morning sickness and trying to bend down to reach the oven when your belly the size of a huge water melon. However, I did bake some raspberry muffins two days before I went into labour.

Let's skip the gory details and fast forward to 2014. I now have a happy 14 months old son who is now refusing to listen to our "commands" (more like our pleadings!). Luckily his grand parents are happy to baby sit him while I made macarons. I have made macarons in the past but it was always an unknown whether they will turn out successfully. I was beginning to think these little dainty treats behave just like my son - refusing to obey my commands and ignoring my pleadings to rise to give me the "pieds" - the distinctive character "feet" of the macarons.

At last I found a good recipe and made good looking and tasty macarons. Hooray!

Recipe from: Mad About Macarons

lemon shortbread

I didn't have any passion fruit so I've omitted it and added a few drops of vanilla extract to make this shortbread. The first batch had to be thrown out as they were burnt, so I had to reduce the baking time for the second batch. These shortbread taste crumbly and not too sweet.



Recipe from: BBC Food

fruit scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam

Freshly baked scones from the oven served with clotted cream and strawberry jam. It's heaven! It's the perfect cake/bread (not quite sure which category scones come under) for afternoon tea.

Recipe from: Mary Berry's Baking Bible

poppyseed bread

This is my all time favourite bread to make. The recipe is from a Chinese recipe site called Leisure-Cat. My brother loves eating this and the bread normally disappears within an hour from leaving the oven.

Recipe from: Leisure-Cat Recipe

croissants

I should have followed the recipe exactly. The croissants have turned out not flaky enough. My fault! I shouldn't have made more folds than needed. This has caused the butter to be absorbed by the dough instead of having layers of butter sandwiched in between. A lot of time and effort are needed to make these croissants. I now understand why artisan bakeries charge so much for their pastries and bread.




Recipe from: Richard Bertinet's Crust

baked raspberry cheesecake

With over 600 good reviews on the BBC Good Food website, I had to try making this cheesecake. It'll be our friend's birthday on Monday so I've decided to make him this as his present. It was a fairly easy cake to make, with the usual digestive biscuits base and with lots of full fat cream cheese for the filling. Yes, it has to be full fat. I don't see the point of using reduced fat or light version. If you are really worried over your fat and calories intake, just eat a smaller piece.

I was worried that it might collapse on our way delivering it. Luckily our friends only live a few minutes' drive from us so the cake arrived in one piece. Our friends offered both of us a slice of the cake to taste. It is quite a 'heavy' cake to eat, so a small slice is enough. The filling isn't too sweet and the raspberries made it slightly lighter. Maybe next time I could try making this with other soft fruits such as blueberries and blackberries.




Recipe from: BBC Good Food

madeira cake

Madeira cakes are not originated from the Madeira Islands, they are an English invention. It was named Madeira cake probably due to the fact in the good old days that this cake was served with the Madeira Wine. Madeira cake has a firm but light texture unlike the normal pound cake. The home made version tastes a lot better than the pre-packed supermarket ones I had when I was little. It is such an easy cake to make. However, this cake is not one of my hubby's favourite, so it might be a very long time before my next attempt at making this.




Recipe from: BBC Good Food

palmiers

I always thought Palmiers are easy to make. They are indeed very easy to make if you don't have to make your own puff pastry. I wouldn't label this post as Home Baking if I haven't attempted to make the puff pastry from scratch. :)

I have always been put off from attempting to make puff pastry as I have read how difficult it is to produce one that gives you the multi-layers of flaky pastry. But after making them for the very first time, I am no longer scare of making pastry, partly due to a very good recipe book that explains clearly the steps needed to make good pastry. I think I might make these Palmiers again next Saturday for my sister-in-law when we visit her next Sunday. She loves Palmiers a lot. Most importantly, hubby has approved this recipe worthwhile to be made again.





Recipe from: Richard Bertinet's Pastry

pear bourdaloue

Poached pears turned into pear bourdaloue (a.k.a. Tarte Bourdaloue aux poires)! These pear tarts are named after a Parisian street called Bourdaloue - where a patisserie was located had invented them. It took three and a half hours to make these tarts from start to finish. First, the pears were poached in syrup, followed by making the almond cream and finally the sweet short pastry. The recipe calls for pear liqueur for the almond cream but I couldn't find any in supermarket. It did say rum could also be used but there are so many varieties of rum and I have no idea which would be suitable. So I've omitted the liqueur to avoid ruining the outcome.



Ta dah! Here are the final products! They've turned out really well, much better than what I've expected. The tart bases don't need to be blind baked, so I was a bit concerned that they may end up with soggy bottoms. But they turned out to have a crisp tart with soft frangipane filling and moist poached pears. They taste so good that I wouldn't mind spending another three and a half hours to make them again. Hopefully next time it would take less time now that I know how to make them.

Recipe from: Richard Bertinet's Pastry

lemon meringue pie

I finally get the chance to use the tartlet tins my friends gave me for my birthday this evening. I made lemon meringue pie but hubby didn't like it at all as he finds the filling too milky. He never likes hot milk taste.

Recipe from: The British Larder