Overnight Yeasted Waffles

I think I mentioned it before, but I'm gonna say it again just emphasize my point.

I LOVE WAFFLES.

My favourite is from Geláre, and I love how it's crispy on the outside and yet soft and fluffy on the inside. Yeasted waffle like these need time to proof, and I don't think I can make the effort to wake up early just to make breakfast, so I've never made these until today.

For this recipe, you just need to do the work the night before you sleep. The next day, just take it out of the fridge for a hour or so. (go wash up and get the kids out of bed) By then the batter would be ready for you! My hubby wakes up an hour earlier than me, so I asked him to take the batter out.

The original recipe comes from here. I halved it, because there isn't that many people eating. Besides, this type of waffles is best eaten fresh! Also, the recipe ask us to leave the batter on the countertop overnight?? And add in the egg the next day. I'm afraid that our warm tropical weather would spoil the ingredients, so I add everything in a large pot and put the whole pot into the fridge. Works anyway!

Overnight Yeasted Waffles

Makes about 6-7 standard waffle squares
Note: Use a large mixing bowl to make this recipe as the batter will double in size as it rises.

1/4 cup warm water
1/2 tablespoon active-dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 large egg
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup warm milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine the yeast and the water and let stand for a few minutes. Stir to make sure the yeast dissolves into the water. 
2. Mix together all the dry ingredients using a whisk in a large mixing bowl. 
3. Add in the warm milk, the yeast mixture, the melted butter, the egg and the vanilla. Mix well into a smooth batter. 
4. Cover up with either clingfilm or a lid and let it proof in room temperature for 1 hour. 
5. After an hour place the whole bowl into the fridge to proof overnight.
6. The next morning, place the bowl on the kitchen counter top at room temperature for at least an hour. 
7. Make the waffles according to your waffle maker's instructions, cooking until the waffles are golden-brown. Cooking time will vary with your waffle maker, but it is typically 4 to 6 minutes.

Waffles are best if served immediately, but re-heat well in the toaster. Leftovers can be kept refrigerated for up to a week. Leftover waffles can also be frozen for up to 3 months and toasted straight out of the freezer.

No time? Try my Quick and Easy Waffles instead.

Best Durian Cake - Don't take my word for it

It's so funny. This is the second time I made this cake and I have no idea what it tasted like. My Mother takes Chinese opera lessons and they like to have these little pot luck sessions after class. One day my Mother asked me to make durian cake for her classmates. That was the very 1st time I made this cake. Since the cake was for someone else, naturally I didn't get to taste it. But my mother came back with rave reviews, saying all the "aunties" at her class loved the cake.

Last week my mother came to me again and commissioned me to make a durian cake for her teacher's birthday. Apparently they loved my cake so much that they wanted me to make the cake again. Whao~ That was so flattering.. The cake must REALLY tasted good! So setting aside my giant inflated head, I went shopping at Phoon Huat and got to work.

This is not my recipe. The sponge cake recipe is from Ann Reardon from How To Cook That and the stabilized whipped cream recipe is from Gretchen's Bakery. Since they turned out so good, I thought I blog it down for my future reference. Maybe SOMEDAY I'll get to taste it myself.

NOTE!

1. I followed it quite closely, but I needed a 11" X 11" square cake instead of a 20cm round cake, so I poured everything into 1 big pan instead of splitting into 2 small pans.
2. The original recipe flips the cake upside down to cool off. I blindly followed instructions without using my brain and the cake was nearly destroyed! Don't forget that mine was in a bigger pan so naturally the weight would pull the cake down from the pan! Stupid! Luckily I flipped it back quickly, so it was only a large crack rather than a total destruction. Phew~ Covered up with whipped cream and pretended nothing happened.

Sponge Cake

2 cups plain all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar (I reduced it)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tsp gelatine (powdered)

1/2 cup vegetable oil
7 egg yolks
1 cup cold water

7 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1. Preheat the oven to 160C or 130C if using a fan forced oven. 
2. Place your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and gelatin into a bowl and whisk it to incorporate air and get rid of any lumps. 
3. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture then pour in the oil, egg yolks and water in that order. Set that bowl to one side. 
4. Put your egg whites and cream of tartar into another bowl and whisk on high speed until you get soft peaks. 
5. Mix together the flour mixture for 30 seconds only or until just combined, don’t ovemix this. 
6. Using a spatula fold in your egg whites in three batches. 
7. Line but do not grease one 11 inches square cake tin and spread the mixture evenly in it.
8. Bake in a slow oven, 130C for 90 minutes. When it is done leave in the tin to cool.

Stabilized Whipped Cream (Yield: 3¾ Cups)

1 tsp Plain Powdered Gelatin
1 1/2 tbsp Cold Water
1 1/2 tbsp Boiling Water
2 cups Heavy Cream
¼ cup Fine Sugar (adjust according to your taste)

1. Bloom the gelatin in the cold water. Let stand about 5 minutes.
2. Add the boiled water to the gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve.
3. Using a cold bowl, whip and heavy cream whip the cream and gradually add the sugar.
4. Whip to soft - medium peaks and then add the melted stabilizer all at once.
5. Continue to whip for a few seconds longer until desired consistency.
6. Use immediately on your cakes and desserts

Durian Mousse

3 packets of durian
1/4 cup heavy/whipping cream
1/2 cup whipped cream

1. Remove the flesh from durian. 
2. Add heavy cream into durian and blend it up using the pulse function. (Taste better with some texture) 
3. Fold whipped cream into the durian paste and use immediately as cake filling.

Assembly

1. When sponge cake is completely cooled, slice into two from the middle and spread durian mousse in the middle. 
2. Do a crumb coating by spreading a thin layer of cream all over the cake and chill the cake in the fridge for 1 hour. 
3. After an hour frost the cake with the rest of the whipped cream and decorate accordingly.

 If you are lucky, slice and enjoy. If you are like me, just imagine how delicious it's gonna be!

*Apparently Mum brought home a big slice of leftover cake! Unfortunately my Dad found it first and devoured the whole thing. -_-

Tangzhong Wholemeal Milk Bread (Bread Machine)

I think I found it.

My dream was to be able to replicate a loaf of store bought bread with my bread maker. I'm not ashamed to say that we love our store bought bread. We love it so much that we can finish the whole loaf before the week ends. So I think it's cheaper to make our own bread instead of having to buy it. Besides, I see it as a personal accomplishment. :)

The problem is, everybody claims that their recipe is soft/moist/fluffy, but they still turned out a little dense. I think it's because the Westerner's preference in bread is different from us Asians? So I tweaked my search to "soft asian bread maker recipe" instead. The results were mainly Hokkaido Milk Bread and Tangzhong Bread. I didn't have any whipping/heavy cream on hand, so I did the Tangzhong method last night.

If you see my last blog on Tangzhong bread, it explains that a water roux with a 1 : 5 (bread flour : water) ratio is added to the ingredients, resulting in a soft, fully and moist bread.

I am SUPER happy with the bread. Very touched. Very 感动. Finally, a bread that is SOOO close to the ideal texture! It's soft, very fluffy and quite moist. It was an emotional morning. :') Thank you The Wonder Mummy! See how soft the bread is!



OK, before we go to the recipe, please TAKE NOTE!

• The original recipe select dark crust, but because every machine is different, mine ended up a little too dark. I will use medium or light crust next time. 
• Dough using the Tangzhong method is known to be wetter, so don't be worried if it looks very wet. As long as the dough is able to come together during the kneading process, it's ok. 
• Different brands of flour have different absorbency rate. Don't follow the recipe blindly. My dough was a little too wet and couldn't come together during kneading, so I sprinkled about 1 tablespoon of extra flour to the dough. Use your own judgement! 
• This is considered a small loaf for my SEVERIN bread maker so I have to adjust the settings to "small loaf". This affects the baking time.

Tangzhong paste (I super love that it makes exactly enough for a loaf of bread without any leftover!)

50 ml Water
10 gm Bread Flour

- Mix flour and water together and keep stirring over low heat with a whisk until mixture turns thick and swirl lines appear.
- Cover with a plastic/cling wrap. Make sure it is in contact with the tangzhong.
- Let the tangzhong cool down to room temperature before using.

Bread Dough Ingredients

210 gm bread flour
40 gm wholemeal flour
3 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Instant Yeast
1 Egg (lightly beaten)
100 ml Milk
20 gm Butter (softened)
1 batch of Tangzhong

1. Place the Tangzhong, milk, egg into the bread tin. 
2. Add in the flour, sugar, salt and butter. Lastly dig a shallow pit in the middle of the flour and add in the instant yeast. 
3. Select white loaf function, small Loaf, light crust. 
4. Press START.

Honey Oat Bread (Bread Machine)

I'm obsessed.

I'm always thinking of ways to sneak in fiber into my children's diet. Always have vegetables in every meal and healthy choices for snacks! I know, I'm so boring. Oats are SOOO nutritious, I wish my kids would love them. But even with added chocolate, my elder girl wouldn't touch a bowl of oatmeal with a 10 foot pole. I have to beg, nag and even threaten her in order for her to take a few bites. So let's get creative! This recipe would be a perfect way to sneak in some oats into the kid's breakfast without them even knowing! Heehee..

I don't know why there's a giant crack on my bread. Rustic looking? :P

There were raving reviews for this recipe online, and yes, the bread does turn out quite delicious. But do take note that Western style bread is more dense with a nice crust. So don't expect the bread to turn out soft and fluffy. It's great for making sandwiches as it holds it's shape pretty well. I like it plain or toasted with butter as the honey and oats give it alot of flavour.

I followed the previous method of dissolving the yeast in the water 1st before adding the flour. It's unconventional, but I feel like it makes the yeast more effective.

1 cup water
1⁄4 cup honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups white bread flour
1 cup whole meal flour
1⁄2 cup oatmeal (I use instant oatmeal)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Place the water, honey and yeast in the pan of the bread machine. Let the yeast dissolve and foam for 10 minutes.
2. Add the oil, flour, oatmeal and salt to the yeast mixture.
3. Select Basic or White Bread setting, and press Start.