My New Love!!

This is something that I learnt in class... very easy to make and really taste good when it is piping hot from the oven! Prior to learning this recipe in class, I avoided Focaccia as I find that they have a too strong herb and olive taste. But this recipe changed my views and made me fall in love with Focaccia, at least the ones made with my class recipe! :) 

I can make Bread now! :D

It took me quite sometime to decide if I should sign up for the 4-session Bread making class at Creative Culinaire. I had to consider the clashes with my Saturday work, initial clash with CNY eve, as well as, the fact that I am going to attend it on my own.  

 

So what made me sign up for it? On the day before the start of the 1st class, I decided to take a look at the class schedule again. And I saw that there was no longer CNY eve class. As for my work clash, I knew if I don't do it now, I will never have my Saturdays to do it in the later months. Almost immediately after I saw the change in dates, I picked up the phone (at 6pm) to check if there were vacancies. The lady who picked up my call (I somehow suspect was the chef) told me that she could still accept me but I had to decide by 7pm. I struggled, but with V's encouragement, I decided to go for it! Glad I did... a really enjoyable experience. A great teacher, Chef Judy, who shared detailed information of bread making, the considerations in business, as well as, her own life perspectives. Wonderful classmates who shared information and helped one another. Something interesting about my Class - there were 4 Wendy. Ha... I learnt not to respond to my name by my 2nd lesson.

 

My 1st Lesson 

 

My 2nd Lesson  

 

 My 3rd Lesson   

 My 4th Lesson

 

This series of classes gave me a better idea of how bread are made and I can proudly say, I can make bread now! But of course, I cannot be sure to say the quality will definitely be good. But I bet it will be much better than my 'yeasty' bread attempt previously.

 

I actually enjoyed learning the different ways of shaping the doughs. And my favourite bread from the class got to be the focaccia. the Bagels were good too. However, in view of the higher yeast content used in class (to shorten the proofing time), I find that the bread were not aromatic enough. I made a recent batch of whole meal bread using lower yeast content and they smell great!

 

How I wish I could attend the series of intermediate classes that are starting next week. I can't do it due to work, but I guess I am not ready yet. I need to have more practices first. Looking forward to more bread making!

 

不可缺少的好助手

对了，就是我的 mixer! My faithful mixer which I have been using since I started baking overworked and is no longer functioning. Since it was no longer under warranty, I struggled whether I should bring it for repair. Apart from the cost, I had to find time to go down. Also, I was thinking if I should take this opportunity to get a heavy duty mixer! But the costs of a good one and whether I had a place to put it in my kitchen was a great concern.

Lucky for me, I got a good deal from my colleague who used to bake! She has decided to stop baking and sold me a pretty mixer (not too big) at a very low price... with lots of goodies thrown in (baking tins, baking books, etc etc). I have used it twice so far and glad to say, it is working well! Really happy with my new mixer!

 

 

But I might still send my old one for repair when I have the time. I think it is always good to have a handheld mixer. One day, I hope I'll have a baking space of my own with a heavy duty mixer and a built in oven! Dreaming.... :P  

 

Ending off 2012

Sometimes, holidays are really the only time I can cut myself away from work and do some enjoyable baking!

 

Over one of the weekends in December, I made an attempt at making Egg Bagels, a request made by one of my sisters for a long long time. I can only say the end product was hard as rock. Ha... but we still managed to eat up maybe 1/3 of the batch of egg bagels. :P

 

On a side note, the egg bagels dough made my mixer work too hard and it died on me... :( As a result, I made my christmas gifts, Tollhouse cookies and Cranberry Oatmeal cookies entirely by hand power! I think I can't enjoy baking without my mixer.... haha...

  

Classes at BIY :)

Signed up for the Halloween themed cupcake decoration classes at BIY. An enjoyable class with new information and techniques learnt.

 

My Favourite Birthday Strudel

A lovely heart-shaped Apple Strudel for my dearest friend's birthday!

Apple Strudel got to be my most frequent bake! I absolutely love the taste of it... N they simply make a perfect desert!

 

Another attempt at ... ...

This should be my 2nd attempt at making Nonya Dumpling. This time round the taste was better but still not good enough. Hope to improve on it in 2013! :)