Ice Ice Baby...

After some disappointing attempts to recreate the Sun Moulin's Mochi bread/puff or whatever, I need to take my mind off it for a while to re-gain my sanity. I realised I forgot to document 2 of my ice cream recipes. Eheh.. too preoccupied.

Like all kids, my daughter loves ice cream and that motivated me to make them.. *Silence...* Okay, I confess, I love ice cream too, that's why I make them. :P

The basic recipe has been with me for quite a number of years but I have no intention of making because the freezer at my mom's is always FULL. Now, having my own place, my freezer too, is almost full, most of the time. I guess moms are the same when it comes to feeding their children. The whole fridge is full of food or ingredients to churn out a decent meal for kids.

I had 2 egg yolks left after baking Banana Chiffon Cake so I decided to make some ice cream for myself. My favourite flavour would be Rum and Raisins, so be it. *Hic..*



Ingredients
(A)
4 egg yolks
4 tbsp fine sugar
1 tsp cornflour

(B)
150ml UHT milk or fresh milk
150ml dairy whip cream

(C)
250ml non dairy whip cream

(D)
50g dark rum
80g raisins (soaked in rum overnight)

Method
1) In a mixing bowl, whip (C) till stiff peak, refrigerate for later use.

2) In a steel bowl, using a hand whisk, beat (A) till pale.

3) In a pot, bring (B) to a simmer and pour into (A) in a steady stream, whisking constantly.

4) Using double-boil method, whisking the mixture constantly and cook the custard till thicken.

5) Cool the custard by plunging the bowl over a cold water bath, whisk the custard. (I did this because I was impatient.)

6) Fold in whipped non dairy cream into the mixture, add rum, raisins and mix well.

7) Pour into a 1.5 litres clean plastic container and freeze for 5 to 6 hours.

8) Remove from freezer and whisk till smooth and creamy. Return to container and freeze overnight or till set.

*Note : I use double boil method because I was afraid I might ended up with scrambled eggs. This method is slower. To speed up, you can also use direct heat to cook the custard but you need use low heat.

**Note : You can also use blender for step (8), but add the raisins only after you blend the ice cream.

***Note : Although very tempting for alcoholics like me, do not attempt to add more rum than necessary. The ice cream will not set properly. I know, I tried it. But it's a great idea to drizzle more rum on it when you serve though. *grin*

Now, that wasn't that difficult, was it?? ^_^ Following the steps and using ingredients (A), (B) and (C), that will be your basic ice cream recipe. The rum will mask the eggy smell. When you are not using rum, you can add 1 tsp of vanilla essence or use 1 vanilla pod. I used non dairy whip cream instead; not only it is easier to whip than dairy whip cream, it is derived from vegetable fats. Trying to make it less sinful or am I deceiving myself?? Errr... *Ahem*.. I don't want to know.

Feeling a little guilty for indulging, I made this for my girl.

Variation : Strawberry and White choco Ice cream


Insert 1/2 cup of strawberry puree into Ingredient (B) and reduce the milk to 100ml. Strawberries after cooking, will lose abit of its flavour, thus add 1 tsp of strawberry essence. Add in 80g of chopped white chocolate in Step (6). I was tempted to add some red colouring as the colour was quite pale, but it defit the whole idea/purpose of homemade ice cream, so I didn't.

I might experiment or recreate some other flavours in future. それじゃ~~

Mochi Bread.. か？

Last evening, had a small chat with Edith, she mentioned about a particular bread from Sun Moulin, Mochi Bread. She was kind enough to send me a recipe from a website which I can't access to. Later, I found out that the recipe can be found here too (search under page 2 of bread category).

Being curious about the bread, I embarked on an experiment last night. I haven't tasted this bread before (sua ku??) and I forgot to ask her the texture of the bread. Turned out that; Sun Moulin's Mochi bread is supposed to be crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Okay, so I got the chewy part right. But what about the crispy part? Based on the recipe, it is using the 'Sponge Dough' method. It's supposed to give bread a more lasting fluffy texture, even more so than the usual 'Straight Dough' method. But crispy?? How ar?? Deep fry?? Edith said no. Wrap with puff/filo pastry?? Really no idea. Think I must go down to Sun Moulin to look for this bread. I catch no ball. Ahahaha..

Anyway, having said that, this recipe still works. The bread is fluffy and the mochi is chewy. I concocted the mochi part as the original recipe does not state how to go about it. This type of bread also suits my temperament as I cannot just sit down, do nothing and wait for the bread to prove. While waiting for the 1st proofing, you can prepare the mochi. This is how it looked like :





I halved the original recipe knowing that my mixer cannot handle the whole load. I made some adjustments and shaped the bread my way. I figured if I were to distribute out to the testers, it would be more convenient to make into individual portions.

Raisins Mochi Bread

Ingredients (yields about 650 ~ 660g of dough)
Starter Dough
250g Bread Flour
150g Water
2 tsp Instant Yeast

Main Dough
70g Bread Flour
40g Water
40g Caster Sugar
20g Egg (beaten and weighed, reserve the remaining for egg wash)
10g Milk Powder
3g Salt
40g Corn Oil
30g Raisins (soak in some water to plump them up)

Some flour to dust
Some butter to grease pan

Filling (yields about 230g ~ 240g of mochi)
80g Mochi Flour (Japanese Glutinous flour, I bought from Daiso)
150ml Water
2 tbsp Caster Sugar
2 tbsp Milk Powder
1 tsp Corn Oil

Some cornflour to dust

Method
1) Mix all ingredients for Starter Dough in a mixing bowl, use dough hook, using low speed, beat to form a dough. Increase to medium speed, beat dough till it doesn't stick to the side of the bowl and appears to be smooth. Roll the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with cling wrap, leave aside to proof for 90 minutes.

2) In a non-stick saucepan, add water and sugar. Add milk powder and mochi flour by batches till there are no lumps. Add in corn oil and heat up the mixture using low heat. Stir the mixture constantly till it forms a dough using a wooden spoon. Continue to stir till it reaches a QQ consistency. Turn off the heat and let it cool. When the mochi is warm to touch, wear a plastic glove, knead the mochi further. The mochi should be smooth and can be pulled for an arm's length without breaking. Portion the mochi into 12 portions and dust with cornflour, set aside.

3) After 90 minutes, transfer the Starter Dough to a bowl. In the mixing bowl, add all ingredients for Main dough, except salt and corn oil. Beat at medium speed, gradually add in Starter Dough in small batches to the Main dough until well corporated. Add in salt and corn oil slowly and beat to a smooth, elastic dough (Do the pinch test to check if it is ready). Add in the raisins towards the end of kneading.

4) Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Roll the dough into a ball and rest it for 10 minutes. The dough will be quite sticky; either dust with some flour or oil your hands. Divide into 12 portions. Wrap the mochi with the dough, place on the greased pan. Cover with damp cloth and proof for 45 minutes or till double in size.

5) Apply egg wash and bake them at 170 degree C for 15 minutes.

*Note : to make it more interesting, maybe you can wrap some peanuts with mochi, then it up wrap with the dough during shaping. By doing so, you will get 3 different textures in 1 bread.

Verdict : I like it but I feel that I can improve on the mochi. Maybe I should try using milk instead of water + milk powder. I should also increase the raisins to 50g. Still, I need to figure out how to achieve the crispy exterior. @_@

Wish me luck. それじゃ~~

*Update : Japanese Glutinous flour, a.k.a. Mochiko (もちこ), in my opinion is finer than the regular ones.

Rei's Limited Edition Bread

Hmm.. why do I name it so?? Coz everyone has different taste in the family and I can only make 12 portions of bread at a time. Thus, when I want to experiment with new flavours, I can only make 4 pieces of bread for each flavour.

I started out baking bread only last year. Along the way, I made super hard bread, yeasty bread and bread which refuses to rise. Not to forget that I even broke 1 dough hook. I am too lazy to use man-power a.k.a. my flabby arms, so I bought another mixer. I deviced a way so that I will not fry my mixer. Through lots of trial and error and feedbacks from various 'willing' testers, I modified the Basic Sweet Bun dough recipe by Alex Goh. It worked well for me and I hope it works for you too. For health reasons, I reduced the amount of sugar used. I have also replaced butter with corn oil. However, the texture is not being compromised. The bread is soft and fluffy.



The following recipe is just a basic. You can add fillings, toppings, etc., to it. The possibilities are endless, just use your imagination.



Without further ado, I present you my basic bread recipe.

Ingredients A
200g bread flour
100g plain flour
40g brown sugar
½ sachet instant yeast (1 sachet 11g)
1 tsp bread improver
1 tbsp milk powder
1 tbsp soy flour
4 tbsp wholemeal flour

Ingredients B
180ml chilled water
1 egg (lightly beaten add into water)

Ingredients C
50ml corn oil
1 pinch salt

Some butter to grease the pan
Some flour to dust

Method (Based on using Philip Cucina Mixer)
1) Mix (A) with spatula in the mixing bowl. Use dough hook for mixer. Turn on mixer (speed 1) and add in (B) gradually. Beat for about 5 mins at speed 3.

2) Rest the machine for 5 mins. Meantime, knead the dough in the bowl (wear plastic gloves). Turn the machine (speed 3) on for about 3 minutes.

3) Rest machine again while you add corn oil. Use the spatula to incorporate most of the oil into the dough (or else the oil will splatter when you turn on the mixer). Turn on the mixer (speed 3) and add salt. Beat for another 5 minutes.

4) Do stretch test by pinching the dough. It should be able to form a thin membrane before breaking.

5) Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave in a warm place for first proving for about an hour. Meantime, grease the pan. To check if first proving is complete, put some flour on your finger and press into the dough. The hole should hold its shape.

6) Take out the dough and transfer to a slightly floured surface. The dough should weight about 650g. Divide into 12 portions, each estimated about 54~55g, shape into a ball, place onto the greased pan.

7) Let it rise for another hour. Apply egg wash or milk. Bake them at 170 degrees C for 15 minutes.

*Note : I am using a convection oven. For conventional oven, bake at 180 degrees C for 12 to 15 minutes. When you tap the bottom of the bread, it should sound hollow.

**For the above multi-grains, 50g of chopped walnuts is added to the dough. Dab surface of dough with water and roll that suface on the mixed seeds when shaping the dough.

Topping
5 tbsp pumpkin kernels
2 tbsp sunflower kernels
1 ½ tsp black sesame
1 ½ tsp white sesame

じゃね～ ^_^