Ever since I bought my very cheap Tesco bread maker, my interest has shifted to making bread more than cakes. Bread is a staple food for my son (he is nicknamed the Bread King), whilst cake can only be savored once a while. Each time I bake a bread, it can only last that 24 hours, or just slightly stretched over the next day (but not enough for everyone).

The easiest way to bake a bread using breadmaker is to let it complete the whole cycle inside the machine, from adding all ingredients to getting it baked inside. Total cycle takes slightly below 3 hours for a 1.5 pounds bread.

After experimented a few loaf breads, I declare that this Rosemary Bread adapted from All Recipe is my favorite. It is very moist with very nice fragrant. It smells and tastes premium, like eating in an Italian cafe. Best served with olive oil with balsamic vinegar!

From My Bakery

However, my kids don’t like it – kids being kids, they prefer sweet buns!! I will post more about sweet bread later.

Here is the adapted recipe on Rosemary Bread.

ROSEMARY BREAD RECIPE
Ingredients
1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary (you may double the portion if use fresh ones)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Method
1. Insert all the ingredients into your bread maker according to the methods in the manual.
2. Mine require all the wet ingredients to go in first (water and oil), the followed by all dry ingredients.
3. Remember to keep yeast away from salt and liquid, so it would work effectively. To do that, I usually put salt directly to the liquid, and then sugar, then the herbs and then flour. Last step – yeast.
4. Switch on breadmaker, and it will be ready after 3 hours.
5. Let cool completely before slicing, this way the moisture will be locked within.

I actually have reduced the rosemary by half, to accommodate the kids. The original recipe calls for 1 TBSP dry rosemary. Try that if you can stand the strong fragrant.

A couple of months ago, it was my nephew’s birthday, and my sister decided to hold a mini party at my house. Since the guests are mainly adults, I’ve decided to make this Tiramisu Cheesecake for them, using a lot of coffee liquor. :p

This cake can easily impress others, yet not very difficult to make. The biggest challenge for me was not in baking it, but to find that ribbon. LOL!

TIRAMISU CHEESECAKE
Ingredients
1 package ladyfingers (340g)
4 tablespoons butter, melted (60g)
6-12 tablespoons coffee flavored liqueur (I used Bailey)
3 (250g) packages cream cheese
1 (250g) container of mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup white sugar (reduced from 1 cup)
2 eggs
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
30g semisweet chocolate

Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.
2. Crush ladyfingers into fine crust.
3. Mix melted butter into the crumb, add 4 TBSP coffee liquor to moisture and add flavor.
4. Press onto base of 8″ or 9″ cake springform pan.
5. (Optional) If you want something looks like mine, you may arrange ladyfingers along the inner ring of the pan, but trim one end of the tip first so it is flat and able to ‘stand’.
6. Mix cream cheese, mascarpone, and sugar until very smooth.
7. Add 4-8 tablespoons coffee liquor (based on your personal preference), and mix well.
8. Add the eggs and the flour; mix SLOWLY until just smooth.
9. Pour batter onto crust base.
10. Steam bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until just set. Leave cake to cool in oven that has been turned off for about an hour. Remove from oven, cool completely before refrigerating for at least 4 hours before serving.
11. For deco, grate the semi-sweet chocolate overtop.

I bought this bread maker after Christmas, and it has proven very useful! Well, actually after having this baking session with my kids, I started to love making bread. My son is a bread lover, he loves all sandwiches, even plain bread can satisfy him. After researching and read through many sites on Google, I’ve decided to try this Tesco house brand of bread maker. Seen exactly the same design from Elba on one of the blogs, with only difference in the button’s color. The shapes of the buttons are exactly the same. Elba costs more than RM300, whilst Tesco is only RM249 (original price).

Kenwood is 500+ and a smaller model is RM470. The most exciting thing that I discovered is that, Tesco had this promotion, and bread maker was selling at RM199 only!

From My Bakery

I have made plain white bread on the first day, a very delicious Rosemary bread on the second day (will share recipe later), a Hokkaido milk bread, a whole meal bread which didn’t turn out well, and then I made pizza with the dough mode. I made it twice. This is definitely the most worthy purchase in the late few months. Hahahaha!

I will definitely make more!! Will share recipes later. Cheers!!

Well, I know I have not been updating in this blog for a long time… more than 6 months already. That’s mainly because of the online bakery business. I don’t think I should be sharing my ‘secret recipe’ of the cakes that I was selling, that’s why I found it hard to update.

BUT!! I have decided since yesterday to close down the online bakery, simply because I find it really BORING! Before having that bakery, I hardly reproduce the same cake unless it is under extremely popular demand, but that’s not to the extent like what I have been experiencing with this bakery. For some cakes that are more popular, I had to produce the same one, at the rate of 3-4 per week during festive seasons. Now I hear the word “Ribena Cheesecake” I wanna puke! And due to this, I hardly have the time to experiment new cakes — which is what I love the most about baking.

Now that I have closed down the business, I am going to resume what I like most – experimenting new stuff and share about them here. ^_^

Here is a very refreshing and easy to make Lemon Bars recipe. I had made this twice, not for selling but for own consumption. So it speaks for itself.

LEMON BARS
Ingredients
Base
1 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt

Lemon Custard
4 eggs
2.5 lemon’s juice, more than 1/2 cup
Zest of 3 lemons
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour

Method
Base
1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.
2. Mix all the ingredients well.
3. Line the mixture onto the base of a 9″x13″ pan
4. Bake at 180C for 20 min

Filling
1. Mix all ingredients well.
2. When base is ready, pour filling over the base and continue baking for another 20 min or until it is set.
3. Dust with sugar powder as deco.

TIPS: It is better to over bake the base than the filling. Watch out the filling very carefully not to burn it (very easily).

Here is a very simple to bake Bagels. If you have 2 hours in the morning to prepare breakfast, you can make this fresh for your family. I made it on CNY 1st day, morning, from scratch, and satisfied the tummies of all of us, and it tastes yummy…

RECIPY OF BOILED BAGELS
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (approx 45 C)
3 tablespoon castor sugar
2 teaspoon salt

For boiling
3.8L water
1 tbsp castor sugar

Method
1. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour and yeast.
2. Mix warm water and 3 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp salt together.
3. Add dry ingredients into the liquid, beat 30 seconds at low speed, and then 3 min at high speed.
4. By hand, mix enough flour to make moderately stiff dough.
5. Knead on floured surface till smooth and elastic (about 8-10 min).
6. Cover and rest for 15 min.
7. Cut into 12 portions. Shape into round shape and make a hole in the middle. Shape further into a ring like donut. Cover, rest for 20 min.
8. Pre-heat oven at 190C.
9. Boil 3.8L of water, add 1 tbsp sugar. Turn to low heat. Simmer to cook bagels for 7 min, drain them and if desired roll over some nuts as toppings.
10. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, bake at 190C for 40 minutes. Served warm.

Recently I saw some recipes and photos of lemon meringue pies and just feel like eating one. Finally, took the courage to bake it yesterday. It is surprisingly affordable, easy, and delicious! I had a slice last night, and let Ian tried a bite. The moment he put into his mouth, he closed his eyes and became speechless. What he could muster was, “hmm… hmm… hmm…” and then “yummy… I want more…”

LEMON MERINGUE PIE RECIPE
Ingredients
Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold water

Lemon Custard Filling
3/4 cup white sugar (if you like it sweeter you can increase to 1 cup)
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups fresh milk
1/2 cup lemon juice (from 2 or 3 lemons)
1 tbsp lemon rind
2 tbsp butter (or 30g)
4 egg yolks, beaten

Meringue
4 egg whites
4 1/2 tbsp castor sugar (original called for 6 tbsp)
1/2 tsp cream of tatar

Method
Pie Crust
1. Blend the shortening, salt and flour in a bowl with electric mixer until crumby. Add in water a tablespoon at a time, and mix with a fork until they hold together. Wrap the dough with cling wrap loosely and keep in fridge for 10 min to rest.
2. Pre-heat oven to 220C.
3. After 10 min, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 2″ bigger than the pie plate. Poke the crust with fork to allow air to escape during baking, at the base and sides.
4. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with rice or beans, to give weight to the pie crust, to avoid it rise up during baking.
5. Turn down the oven to 200C. Bake the crust for 10 min. Remove the beans/rice and paper, and continue baking another 15 min.
6. Brush the inside of the crust with egg-wash (1 egg + 1 tbsp water, mix) to help seal the base to avoid soggy later. Return to oven and bake for another 3 min.

Filling
Note: Make this right after you insert the pie into the oven, so it would still be hot when the pie crust is ready.
1. Pour the sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt into a sauce pan. Stir in the milk and lemon juice. Heat the mixture at medium, stirring constantly to avoid burnt.
2. When mixture boils, add in butter and lemon rinds. Mix well till butter dissolves.
3. Take about 1/2 cup of hot mixture and mix into the egg yolks. Mix well, and return the mixture into the sauce pan. Bring to boil and it will turn into yellow custard like mixture.
4. When pie crust is ready, remove from oven. Pour filling into the hot pie crust. Set aside.

Meringue
1. Change the oven to 180C.
2. Beat the egg white with mixer till foamy.
3. Add sugar and cream of tatar bit by bit. Continue until stiff peak is formed and sugar dissolved. Stiff peak = the mixture won’t flow, it looks shiny and smooth, and it won’t easily drop from your whip.
4. Quickly pour the meringue onto the hot pie filling, covering the edge of the pie crust. The hot pie crust and filling will help cook the meringue and avoid weeping later.
5. Bake at 180C for 10-15 min or until the meringue is tanned.
6. Let it cool an hour before refrigerating it. Chill for about 4-6 hours before serving.

NOTE: If you refrigerate within 2 hours after baking, it can be kept in the fridge for 3 days and stay fresh. Properly cover the pie, loosely with a cling wrap or foil.

This is a very yummy and very simple to make Baked Fish. The original recipe uses chicken, but I’ve substituted with Dory Fillets, which turned out awesome!

My very picky children cheered when they first bite it, and Isabel finished her whole plate in no time (which is very rare!).

RECIPE OR BAKED FISH PARMESAN
Ingredients
1kg Dory Fillet
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp parsley (2 tsp if fresh)
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

Method
1. Wash and pat dry the dory fillet, cut into suitable sizes
2. Mix well breadcrumbs, parmesan, pepper and parsley.
3. Mix chopped garlic into melted butter, stir well.
4. Dap fillet into the butter and coat it well with the seasoned breadcrumbs on all sides.
5. Place on a greased baking tray, and bake in a preheated oven at 190C for 15 min.

On the same day I baked the pumpkin bread, I also baked this quiche for the kids. It smells and tastes so great. We got a big 9″ deep pie pan of this, too much that we saved some for the next day. The basic recipe is very simple and versatile. You can just replace the filling with anything you have: vegetables, chicken, minced beef, or seafood – you name it!

I had it served with freshly fried potato chips and cold broccoli salad (just toss together: 1 1/2c broccoli florets, 3/4c grated cheddar cheese, 1/4c chopped onion – saute, and salad dressing. For salad dressing, mix together 3 tbs mayonnaise, 2 tbs vinegar and 1 tbs sugar.)

YUMMY QUICK QUICHE RECIPE
Ingredients
Base Ingredients
2 cups shredded/grated cheddar cheese
6 eggs, beaten
2 tsp Italian seasoning (or old bay seasoning – just couldn’t find it here)
2 tsp garlic powder
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tsp hot sauce (I omitted this for my kids)
1 cup mayonnaise
4 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 cup green onions, chopped & saute

Filling – Can be replaced with whatever you have
1 bunch spinach, boil, drained and chopped (or processed)
6-8 crab sticks, cubed
1 can tuna chunk in water, mashed

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C, grease a 9″ deep pie pan
2. Beat the eggs and add all other ingredients together, mix well
3. Pour mixture into the pie pan, and bake for 1 hour 15 min until set

* Note: you need deep pie pan, or else risk overflowing. Might need to adjust the amount, or put the excess batter into muffin cup and bake shorter timing for those ‘muffins quiche’

I was supposed to share 2 recipes on 2 birthday cakes that I baked recently, but so lazy that I kept delaying (the recipe not quite simple, so very lazy loh).

Then, today I found this very simple recipe, made some modifications and baked it. I let my kids do most of the stuff, except measuring, steaming, and putting in the baking pan/ inserting to oven. It yields 3 loafs of 3×7 breads. It is said that you could freeze the loaves and it can be kept for a couple of months!

Although this is called ‘pumpkin bread’, it is more like between bread’s and cake’s texture. I was worried at first, but the moment after I tried a slice, I feel so reluctant to give a loaf to Aiyu! It is so so so yummy! The sweetness is just right, the texture is great, and the fragrance… wow, very ‘spicy’ as in full of spices! I will make more of it…

PUMPKIN BREAD RECIPE
Ingredients
420g pumpkin flesh, steamed and mashed
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
2 cups brown sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C degree. Grease three 3×7″ loaf pans
2. Mix mashed pumpkin, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended
3. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients and beat until well mixed
4. Pour mixture into the 3 greased loaf pans
5. Bake for 50 min or until skewer comes out clean

When I baked the Chocolate Chips Cheesecake the other day, I had 100g left over Sour Cream, so have decided to bake a cake that uses just 100g of that. This Orange Mascarpone Cheesecake recipe comes in handy.

Here is the recipe.

Okay, I know it looks pretty much like an ordinary cheesecake, but it tastes refreshing, perhaps with the orange and the sour cream. Many who tried it said it is very nice. But they have not tried the previous chocolate chips cake, so… hehehe, ok maybe this is my 2nd favorite then, putting the cost aside.

Orange Mascarpone Cheesecake Recipe

Ingredients
200g digestive biscuits, finely crushed
50g melted butter
250g cream cheese
250g Mascarpone cheese
110g sugar
30g flour
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Zest from 1 orange
Juice from 1/2 orange
100g sour cream

Method
1. Mix digestive biscuit with butter and press onto an 8″ cake tin base.
2. Preheat oven to 160C.
3. Cream cream cheese with sugar and flour until creamy. Add mascarpone cheese and continue to cream further.
4. Add eggs one at a time and mix well.
5. Add vanilla essence, orange juice and zest one by one while mixing well.
6. Finally add the sour cream and mix well.
7. Pour the mixture onto the cake tin.
8. Steam bake at 160C for about 60 minutes or until center is set.
9. Remove cake, and after it is cooled, chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours before served.