Kistida's blog

My stiff starter Etno (50% hydration) got a refresh today after being chilled for over a week so I mixed its discard with ingredients for hot cross buns. I figured I’ll just jot down the weights as I mixed them. The dough was rather sticky but manageable. Think I should reduce a lil bit of milk the next time I make these. 

• 60g stiff sd discard
• 360g all purpose flour 
• 50g whole wheat flour 
• 40g brown sugar
• 3g instant yeast 
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 
• A pinch of nutmeg
• A pinch of allspice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50g unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 2 tbsp light olive oil 
• 1 large egg
• 260g 2% milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract/1 packet powder
• 150g raisins/cranberries (soaked in hot water)
• Crosses’ paste: 40g flour, 35g water, 20g icing sugar, 1 tsp olive oil 

Egg wash before baking. Then, apricot jam glaze after. 

Hubby says they’re fluffy and tasty, not too sweet. Yay! :D 

My cousin recently shared a few videos of wool roll breads on YouTube. These are really pretty rolls, so I decided to try making them today. 

I made them using my TZ potato bread recipe since I’ve so many left from a 10lbs bag (only $1.87), filled them with Nutella+malted milk powder* for the wool roll bread and meat floss for the remaining few. 

E2C4B7FB-3DA1-4D0F-BE1E-ADF1A36C03E9.jpeg

My wool roll version with a kaiser-like roll in the middle ??

6B067597-7E19-4E95-985D-F358FD74ED22.jpeg

Makes 12 - 15 buns

180°C 18 - 20 mins

• Tangzhong
• 25g TZ Flour
• 125gTZ milk

• Dough
• 380g All purpose flour 
• 130g Potatoes, mashed
• 3g Instant yeast
• 50g Butter, unsalted
• 1 Large egg
• 30g Milk, cold
• 1 tbsp light olive oil 
• 40g Sugar
• 8g Salt

*malted milk powder: back in Malaysia, we love using Horlicks or Milo in our recipes. I’d to settle on using Ovaltine’s malted milk powder (no Horlicks in my local stores here in ON) with Nutella for the filling today. 

Thanks to yozzaause’s wonderful post, I made a dozen of these knotty buns for a little weekend trip with hubby. They’re an adaption from KAB and gozney. Glazed with warm orange syrup instead of a sprinkle of powdered sugar. 

6189FDA3-CF76-4456-BA37-B650D96F1E8A.jpeg

Followed Helen Rennie’s focaccia recipe on YouTube but mine lost its rectangle shape during the final proof. 

Any tips on how to prevent this? Many thanks in advance. 

- Christi

This was an easy one and wonderful with chowder earlier today. 1 hour’s proof after mixing, divide and shape then, baked at 230°C/450°F for 10-12 minutes.
Recipe appears in the books Dough and Crumb by Richard Bertinet

• 500g strong bread flour (I used Canadian AP)
• 350g water
• 3g instant yeast (10g fresh yeast)
• 10g salt
• Olive oil for brushing 
• Optional add-ins: olives, roasted peppers, garlic powder,  rosemary, thyme 
  

but I made this in a 8” square pan. 

slight adjustments to Maurizio’s recipe

• 200g all-purpose flour
• 40g whole wheat flour 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 120g chopped walnuts (and/or pecans)
• 113g (1/2 cup) butter, at room temperature
• 60g brown sugar 
• 2 large eggs
• 100g sourdough discard
• about 300g mashed ripe bananas (3 bananas)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp vanilla or plain yogurt 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• zest of 1 orange/lemon (optional)
• 2 - 3 tbsp rum (optional) - why not? :)
• Topping: 2 tsp sugar plus 50g chopped walnuts 

almost time for Easter breads/braids (not that it’s a thing in our house but I like playing with the bread calculator over at FoodGeek’s site - recipe here)

This was made with an overnight preferment instead of my usual TZ method. I’m gonna double the recipe for a wreath version next. Maybe with some eggs wedged into the dough like “Pane di Pasqua”. 

The lil swirls got smooshed!?

A925B962-739D-45B2-BAE3-312E2718D0DB.jpeg

This is our favorite currently. Even with the lower hydration than what we are used to, it’s a delicious bread! 

This is Bertinet’s version: 

Preferment (Fermented white dough 10 - 12 hours) 

• 3g instant yeast 
• 500g all purpose flour 
• 350g water 
• 10g salt 

Dough 

• All of the preferment 
• 3g instant yeast 
• 50g water
• 250g all purpose flour 
• 50g unsalted butter 
• 5g salt 

and this from Bake-Street.com

Preferment (10-12 hours) 

• 450g bread flour 
• 270g water
• 1g instant yeast
• 8g salt 

 Dough

• 690g preferment
• 250 g bread flour
• 65g water
• 45g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2g dry yeast
• 4g salt

Day 1 evening:

1. Mix all preferment ingredients until just combined with no traces of flour. 
2. Cover and let it stand at room temperature for 10 to 12 hours. 

Day 2 morning:

1. Add flour, salt, yeast, butter and water to the preferment. Mix until a homogeneous dough forms. 
2. Then, knead the dough by folding it on itself and pressing down hard with the heel of your hand. Continue kneading for about 10 to 15 minutes until the dough is smooth. 
3. Alternatively, the dough can also be kneaded by bringing a rolling pin down hard across the dough, then press the dough down to flatten. After that fold it on itself. Repeat this for 10 to 15 minutes until the dough is smooth.
4. First proofing: Form the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let it rest for 1 1/2 hours.
5. Pre-shaping: On a clean counter (no flour), shape the dough into a ball. Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes. 
6. Final shaping: Shape the dough into a boule or bâtard. Lay it seam side down on a lightly floured cloth-lined tray.
7. Second proofing: Cover with and let it proof for 1 hour at room temperature. 
8. While the dough is proofing, place a tray or dish on the lowest shelf of the oven and a bake sheet (for the loaf) on the middle rack. Preheat the oven to 450ºF/230ºC. 
9. Gently transfer the proofed dough to a piece of parchment paper or a floured peel. 
10. Score the dough: Begin by scoring a deep line (about 1 cm deep) in the middle of the dough. Then score shorter lines (about 2 or 3) on either side of the middle line. 
11. Pour about 1 cup of boiling water into the tray at the bottom shelf of the oven and spray the walls of the oven with water.
12. Quickly transfer the scored loaf to the bake sheet using the parchment paper or peel. 
13. Spray the walls of the oven again before quickly closing the oven door. 
14. Bake at 450ºF/230ºC for 10 minutes. 
15. Then, lower the temperature to 420ºF/220ºC and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and registers at least 190°F/88°C. 
16. Turn off the oven. Remove the loaf from the parchment and baking sheet. Then, let it cool in the slowly cooling down oven on the middle rack with the oven door partially open. Let the loaf cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.  

These go so well with curries (my fav chicken tikka masala gravy)

Makes about 6 - 8 naans, cooked on a cast iron skillet 

• 3g instant yeast 
• 100g warm water 
• 15g white sugar
• 40g milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 270 g all purpose flour
• 30g / 2 tbsp ghee or unsalted butter, melted

This is the 3rd time I’m making these buns and instead of a tz plain dough, I used potato in this batch. I realize after these came out from the oven that the soft cookie topping still needs more espresso in it, and I’ve to pipe more too! Good thing they’re super tasty even with mistakes. 

14 May 2021: I found a link within TFL with a similar bun from 2014 that's worth a try: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39728/mexican-buns-aka-coffee-cookie-buns-aka-rotiboy-buns

18549F45-BF86-4CA4-98FC-F5900A3E70A1.jpeg