Breaking The Spell

Having a long break does bring both positive and negative impacts. Looking at the positive side, I do feel calm as I do not have to follow the routines as when school was in session. Unfortunately, this long break has brought its fair share of negativity. Somehow, I have lost track of the days and dates. Everyday seems to be the same and I feel as if time crawls and very soon, I am affected. As a result, most of the time, you would find me rather glued to the monitor, staring at the square box or bury my face into novels after novels.

After all, I am not to be fully blamed. My kids have ‘helped’ in lowering my productivity level. Since they do not fancy rice, this means, no elaborate dishes needed to be prepared. Simple fried noodles or a roast chicken would be finger-licking good to both of them. For a change, I would just prepare chicken soup and boil some rice vermicelli and voila! A dish is created and as long as they eat and they are happy, I am one satisfied mom.  Hence, accumulating my laziness to try new recipes so lesser hours were spent in the kitchen. As a result, this blog has been left abandoned for nearly a month.

Glancing at the calendar this morning had more or less awakened me from my long hibernation mode. There would be less than 2 weeks before I have to go to school again. In fact, I have to be in school for duty on this coming Friday. Well, I got some help from my breadmaker to prepare something for the kids to much for dinner.  take it as a start for me to crawl back into the real world. One step at a time, ay?

PIZZA WITH CHICKEN CUBES, MUSHROOMS AND COCKTAIL SAUSAGES

Ingredients :

(A) For the crust

• 140ml water
• 1 tablespoonful of olive oil
• 225g of bread flour
• 1 teaspoonful of salt
• 1/2 teaspoonful of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoonful of instant dry yeast

Method :

1. I used my breadmaker to knead and proof and it took me 1 hour and 10 minutes.
2. Once risen, take out the dough and sprinkle some flour onto the rolling mat and roll the dough into a circle of 1cm thickness and carefully transfer onto your pizza pan. This recipe fits a 30cm diameter round pizza pan nicely.
3. Put tomato sauce onto the dough evenly and sprinkle with cheese.
4. Arrange toppings of your choice and top with more cheese.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 175C for 15-20 minutes or till the crust is brown and crispy.

•  If you do not have a bread maker, mix sugar,yeast and flour into a large bowl. Mix salt with water and add to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add in olive well and knead till your dough is elastic and dos not stick to your hand. Let to rise for about 45 minutes and follow the procedure listed above.

(B) For the sauce:

• 1 can of peeled tomatoes (finely chopped)
• 100ml of water
• 2 tablespoonfuls of brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoonful of tomato puree
• 1 yellow onion (finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoonful of dried oregano
• 2 tablespoonful of olive oil
• salt to taste

Method :

1. In a pot, heat olive oil and stir fry chopped onion till translucent but do not brown the onion.
2. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Lower the heat and stir occasionally till the sauce thickens. Let to cool.

• This sauce can cater for 2 pieces of pizza. Use as you wish and keep the remaining sauce frozen in an airtight container.

(C) For the toppings:

• 8 pieces of canned button mushrooms (sliced)
• 5 pieces of beef cocktail sausages (sliced lengthwise)
• 150g of diced, cooked chicken breast
• 150g of  grated mozarella
• 50g of grated parmesan

 

A Genie in The Kitchen!

School break has always been the much awaited time by Mr KHz and the other two members of the clan. It is because they can simply turn me into their genie by requesting numerous dishes which they couldn’t sample during the weekdays. Unfortunately, being a genie without any magic spell or touches, it could get very tiring at times. However, I would say that I’m willing to fulfill their wishes for I guess, cooking is the only skill I have to make them happy. So far, it works and I also have the fun watching them finishing what I’ve prepared.

Some time this week, Atush requested for pizza and she insisted on round pizza. I believe that she has been monitoring me all this while for I would usually dump the whole dough on my largest rectangle baking tray so that I wouldn’t have to repeat the shaping and baking processes. Well, so much of fulfilling someone’s wish so I took out my round pizza pan and got to work. This is the outcome of my hard work.

HOMEMADE PIZZA WITH CHICKEN SAUSAGES, FRESH BUTTON MUSHROOMS AND COOKED CHICKEN PIECES TOPPINGS

A CUT TO SHOW THE INSIDE

ATUSH’S HAND – SHOWING THE STRINGY AND GOOEY MELTED CHEESE

THE BOY WHO FINISHED TWO AND A HALF SLICES OF PIZZA

 

Since I’ve included the recipe for both dough and sauce, please refer to the entry, titled  An Evening with Atush if you feel like trying.

 

It’s a Sticky Situation

I have to admit that I have this obsession with bread and bread making.  I am always fascinated with the fact that with one basic dough recipe, you can turn it into varieties of breads and buns. Despite numerous unsuccessful outcomes, my love for bread making seems to continue growing.  Due to this fact, I had a try yesterday on making sausage rolls. The dough turned out to be a bit sticky so I ended up making sausage buns instead. I would categorize this as one of  my ‘not really successful products’ because the sausage should be in the middle of the dough, not sideways like mine. Another reason why I labelled it as not so successful is because Daus refused to eat the buns. He loves anything with sausages but I have to admit sprinkling sesame seeds on top of the buns was a major mistake. He refused to eat the buns because he thought they were burger buns. Burgers are never his favourite. Not to worry for I’m okay with eating sausage buns for dinner!

Anyway, here’s the recipe taken from Mamafami’s blog if you wish to try. Before I forget, I did half of the amount of the recipe stated below.

SAUSAGE BUNS

Ingredients :

• 140ml water
• 1 egg
• 30g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoonful of salt
• 1/2 teaspoonful bread softener
• 250g high protein flour
• 50g superfine flour
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoonfuls of powdered milk
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoonfuls of instant yeast
• 30g margarine (I used butter), at room temperature
• enough toasted sesame seeds
• enough sausages (I used 8 mini Ayamas Chicken and Cheese sausages)
• 1 egg , mixed with one tablespoonful of milk  (to be brushed on top of the buns before baking)
• butter (to be brushed on top of the piping hot buns after baking for a soft crust)

Method :

1. In a bowl, mix all ingredients except butter and knead till it forms a dough.
2. Put in the butter and continue kneading until you get a soft and elastic dough. Let to proof for one hour in a bowl covered with cling plastic or a damp tea towel.
3. Next, punch the dough to let out the air. Divide your dough weigh so you have a piece weighing at 55g. (In my case, because it was sticky, I divided my dough into 8 equal balls)
4. Then, take a piece of dough and roll it into a strand and wrap it over the sausage. ( I had no choice but to flatten the dough, put the sausage in the middle and cover it, like making red bean buns.)
5. Arrange your rolls on a greased baking tray and let to rise for another hour.
6. Brush your rolls with the egg wash mixture and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
7. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 150C.
8. Once baked, brush with butter and let to cool on a wire rack.

 

Doughnuts, anyone?

Besides conducting experiments in the kitchen, long school break also means time to clean and rearrange my larder. It is like  a treasure hunt for me because in the process, I would ‘discover’ some baking stuff that I’ve bought and left abandoned. This process also  includes disposing certain items which are already expired ( and this definitely involves throwing away unopened bottles and unused ingredients!) So silly of me but to tell you the truth,  I never learn. If you check my shopping trolley whenever I go for grocery shopping, there would certainly be at least one or two items related to baking. Come to think of it, I’m very glad that my baking tins and moulds do not have any expiry date.  Just imagine what would happen if they do.  A kitchen full of rotten junks due to not excessive use but total abandonment!

In my mission to ‘save’ my available ingredients, perhaps, I should be thanking Daus for asking for some doughnuts some time this week. As usual, I went through my recipe folder to look for the simplest recipe and I came across one which was actually a leaflet in my one of my flour boxes. I was very delighted because the recipe required for superfine flour and I was actually looking for recipes so I can use up the stock. This recipe is taken from the leaflet in my Blue Key Superfine, Superwhite Flour box.  I did half of the amount of the recipe given and I did some amendments. My experiment produced a colourful outcome as seen in the photo below.

HOMEMADE DOUGHNUTS

Ingredients :

• 250g superfine flour
• 3/4 teaspoonful of instant yeast
• 105ml of water
• 1/2 teaspoonful of salt
• 25g of butter
• 20g of caster sugar
• 25g of egg ( well-beaten and weighed)
• enough melted cooking chocolate
• icing sugar for dusting
• hundreds and thousands (those colourful beads you see in the photo)

Method :

1. In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix all ingredients and mix to form a dough. Round it up into a ball shape.
2. Leave the dough in a bowl covered with a piece of cling plastic. Let to rise till it doubles in size. this usually takes 1 hour.
3. After proofing, roll dough out to 1.5cm thick.
4. Cut dough using a doughnut cutter and place the dough pieces on a greased tray. Let to proof for about 30-40 minutes.
5. Deep fry until golden brown.
6. Coat doughnuts with icing sugar while it is still warm. Coat your cooled doughnuts with melted chocolate and sprinkle with hundreds and thousands.

 

It’s Bread-making Turn

Morning peeps. In this entry is another outcome of my blog hopping activity.  The recipe is taken from Mamafami’s blog and I was very excited to see how good her bread looked in her photo so I decided to give it a try. Since I’m the only blueberry fan in the house, I had to use my chocolate emulco to replace the blueberry emulco. Mamafami used her breadmaker to prepare the dough but I just used my mixer.  Enjoy the photo and I do hope that you would try this simple recipe and later, savouring the doughy goodness!

CHOCOLATE MARBLE BREAD

Ingredients :

• 200g high protein flour
• 50g all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoonful of butter
• 140ml fresh milk ( I used low-fat)
• 1 teaspoonful of instant yeast
• 4 tablespoonfuls of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoonful of salt
• 1 teaspoonful of bread improver
• 1 teaspoonful of chocolate emulco

Method :

• Using a mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix all ingredients except chocolate emulco till the dough is pliable and does not stick to your fingers.
• Proof dough for 40 minutes. Then, punch to let the air out.
• Next, divide into three parts. Put chocolate emulco into one part and knead well. If your chocolate dough is sticky, you may add some flour. Once the emulco is well-mixed into the dough, roll into a rectangle.
• Combine the other two parts of white dough and roll into a bigger rectangle. Put the chocolate dough in the middle. Use the white dough to cover the chocolate dough and cut three quarter of the dough into three pieces.
• Shape your dough into a plait.
• Put the plaited dough into a greased sandwich tin.
• Let to proof till it doubles in size and bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes at 160C. ( I baked mine at 150C).
• Once baked, I brushed some butter on top of the loaf so that the crust is soft.
• Now you can enjoy your bread!

 

When Yong Pays A Visit

My old friend Yong always tries her very best to pay me a visit whenever she’s around KL and PJ area. Of course, I’m very grateful of her thoughtful act. This time, she decided to see me ‘in action’ in the kitchen when I told her that we could only go out after 1 pm for I had to cook for Mr KHz. Well, when two old girlfriends go out, one should be able to expect that the outing would be dragged till much later in the evening. For this reason, I opted to be safe than sorry. As long as there’s food prepared, I wouldn’t feel guilty to arrive home later than usual.

For your information, my daily routine includes checking the freezer to see what I have in store. Next would be the fridge and later, the stove. Other mums would do spring cleaning but I ‘clean’ the freezer instead. When I saw my frozen tomato sauce, I decided to prepare a snack for Yong. Preparing this snack would be ‘killing two birds with one stone’ as my kids (who happen to find rice rather unappealing unless there’s chicken curry or squid ‘sambal’) enjoy it too! In other words, lesser time spent on cooking means longer outing hours! Yabadabedu!!! Furthermore, I want to try the plastic-lined paper casings (they should be non-stick) that I bought last week to see if the coating really does its work.

After thawing the sauce, I prepared the dough and the toppings. Since my kids are carnivores ( I don’t blame them as their father is one too), I decided to use cooked, diced chicken and sliced Ayamas mini chicken with cheese sausages. To cut my story short, feast your eyes upon the photo below. Baked to perfection and still piping-hot when Yong entered the kitchen. Shhhh…this was my attempt to divert her attention from my whale-size body and witch-like appearance while I slaved over the hot stove! Clever, huh? You are asking me why I did this? Have you seen Yong? Try putting her in The Biggest Loser and I’m sure that the contestants would be more than motivated to be slim. Oh, one more thing, please try this recipe. I guarantee that you wouldn’t be disappointed. On a different note, Kak Siti Rahamah, if you are reading, this recipe is specially dedicated to you.

MINI PIZZA BUN

Ingredients:

For the dough

• 200g high protein flour
• 2 tsp of instant yeast
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 160ml warm water
• vegetable shortening for greasing
• 8 large plastic-lined paper casings

For the sauce:

• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 100ml water
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1 yellow onion (finley chopped)
• 1 tsp dried oregano/ parsley
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• salt to tast

Toppings of your choice

Enough grated mozarella/ parmesan

Method:

Put all the ingredients except water and shortening into a mixer fixed with a dough hook. Process till it resembles bread crumbs texture. Put in the water and continue mixing till you get a soft but pliable dough. Leave in a container covered with cling plastic for 45 minutes till it doubles in size.

For the sauce, heat your pot and put in the olive oil. Stir fry the chopped onion till fragrant and translucent. Next, put in all the other ingredients and stir for 10 minutes. Take off from the heat and let to cool. Next, blend till fine. Bring over to the stove and cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens. Keep aside to cool.Preheat your over at 160C for 15 minutes.

Next, punch your dough to let the air out. Divide into 8 equal portions and shape into balls. Then, lightly grease you paper casing using the shortening and flatten the balls and put into the paper casings. Using your fingers, make indentation on the flatten dough. Let to rest for 10 minutes.

Smear the tomato sauce over your dough and sprinkle the grated mozarella. Arrange your topping and bake your buns for 20-25 minutes till golden brown.Enjoy!

 

Another Successful Request

Good morrow! In this entry, I would include the recipe for my Potato Bread, together with the recipe for the custard topping that I manage to bake as Atush requested for one yesterday afternoon. This bread is very easy to make and it tastes very fluffy. Feeling annoyed? Go for bread making and knead the anger away!

POTATO BREAD WITH CUSTARD TOPPING

I’ve included the recipe for the bread dough in my previous entry but I shall put it again.

Ingredients :

For the dough

300g high protein flour

50g caster sugar

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tbsp powdered milk

2 tsp instant yeast

1 Grade C egg

135ml cold water

60 g mashed potato

30g butter

For the custard topping

1 tbsp of plain flour

1 tb custard flour/cornflour

4 tbsp of caster sugar

1 Grade C egg

1 cup of fresh milk (I used low-fat, as usual)

30g butter

Method:

• Mix the flour, sugar, salt, powdered milk and yeast and mix well.
• Then, put in the egg and cold water and mix until the mixture forms a dough.
• Put in the mashed potato and butter and knead well until dough becomes soft and elastic.
• Cover dough and let rise for 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the custard topping. In a sauce pan, mix both plain flour and cornflour and sugar with 2 tbsp of milk. Stir well.
• Next, put in the egg and keep stirring. Then, pour in the reamining milk and keep on stirring. Using a double-boiler method, bring the pot over another pot of boiling water and keep stirring till the mixture thickens. Once thickened, put in the butter and stir well and turn off the heat. Cover cour custard cream using a cling film to avoid ‘skin’ from forming on the top. Let to cool.
• Next, punch the dough to let out the air. Leave covered for another 15 minutes.
• Shape dough into small balls and arrange them in a greased baking tray. Leave to rise for another 45 minutes. Pipe the custrad cream across the dough.
• Bake at 180C for 25 minutes. You may need to adjust the temperature depending on your oven.
• Serve with a nice cup of tea.

 

An Evening with Atush

Last Saturday, before I went for the PTA meeting in school, Tukang Makan told me that we would be going for our fortnightly grocery shopping at Jaya 33 once I reached home. This time, he had decided upon fish. He told me that he had too much prawns and squids for the week. My daughter, as usual, loves to tag along whenever we have this ritual. As I went along the frozen food section, looking for my puff pastry, she saw a box of frozen pizza. This young lady has a ‘unique’ way of telling me what she craves for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Casually, she mentioned that she had not eaten pizza for quite a long time. I pointed at the box and she said,”Nevermindlah mama. Nanti petang mama buat sendiri dengan Atush ya?” Hmmmm….gone was the plan to rest and had some doses of TV viewing that evening.

After lunch, I browsed through my recipe collection to look for the simplest concoction. I felt really blessed to find a simple one in my Resipi Sihat, Pilihan Bijak Vol.1 recipe book. Halimatus was with me in the kitchen from the dough making process till the pizza was baked. I could almost see the glow of excitement in her eyes. Deep down in my heart, I was praying. Please God, make this lame effort of mine produce a great outcome.

Do you want to know the verdict? It was a worthwhile effort because that picky young lady gobbled up two large pieces and her brother munched away the same amount too! The most touching remark came from my maid, “Ibu, memang bener sedap. Bagus lagi dari PizzaHut” and I was smiling from ear to ear! What about my Tukang Makan? He finished four pieces and that was more than enough for me! I was not tired after all!

Let’s check the photos out before looking at the recipe ya!

Rolled out the dough as thin as possible.(Pssst..I didn’t bother to roll. I just used my hands and ‘tepek-tepek’ the dough..haha)  

Next, smear the tomato sauce onto the dough

Arrange the topping (Halimatus’ work of art)

Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese

Bake in a preheated oven for 25 mins. Meanwhile, enjoy the heavenly cheesy smell.

Tadaa!!! The fruit of my labour

SIMPLE PIZZA

(A) For the dough:

300g high protein flour

3 tsp of instant yeast

3/4 tsp salt

1 and 1/2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp olive oil/cooking oil

150ml of warm water

vegetable shortening/butter/margarine for greasing

(B) For the sauce:

1 can peeled tomatoes(finely chopped

100ml water

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tbsp tomato puree

1 yellow onion(finely chopped)

1 tsp dried oregano/basil

salt to taste

2 tbsp olive oil

(C) For the topping:

sliced fresh button mushrooms

sliced chicken sausages

diced, cooked chicken breast

(add any possible topping you can think of-the more the merrier!)

mozarella cheese ( I used parmesan to finish my stock and it still tastes good)

Method:

• Put all the ingredients except water and shortening into a mixer fixed with a dough hook. Process till it resembles bread crumbs texture. Put in the water and continue mixing till you geta soft but pliable dough. Leave in a container covered with cling plastic for 1 hour till it doubles in size.
• For the sauce, heat your pot and put in the olive oil. Stir fry the chopped onion till fragrant and translucent. Next, put in all the other ingredients and stir until the sauce thickens. For your information, I let the sauce to cool off and I blended it to ‘cover’ the trail of the onion pieces- all in the name of getting some vege goodness! Mind you, mine are all carnivorous!
• Next, take out the dough and punch it to let the air out.
• Grease your baking tray/pizza mould with vegetable shortening/butter/margarine and roll your dough as thinly as possible. Let to rest for 10 minutes.
• Smear your dough with the sauce and arrange the topping of your choice.
• Sprinkle a generous amount of grated cheese.
• Bake at 170C for 25 minutes of till golden brown.
• Cut into squares and enjoy!