Prosciutto, mozzarella and sun-dried tomato panini

Since my previous experiment with bread making went pretty well, I've been wanting to bake more bread. The problem, however, is that bread making usually requires quite a bit of advance planning since the starter typically has to be left overnight before the dough can be made. This week, I finally got my act together and started on my next bread experiment, home made ciabatta, Friday evening after I got home from work. Still, in order to be able to use the ciabatta for lunch today, I had to wake up pretty early today to mix the dough. Thankfully, that step only took about 20 minutes so I was able to get back to sleep to try to recover from my jet lag.

Although the recipe warned that the dough would be moist and sticky, I wasn't completely prepared for just how sticky it would be. I found myself sprinkling quite a liberal amount of flour on the dough to make it more manageable. Even so, at one point, I thought I had completely ruined the dough because I could not get the parchment paper off! With some patience though, I was able to save the dough and M and I were able to have home made ciabatta for lunch. This time, I chose to top our sandwiches with prosciutto, mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes, and served the sandwiches with a side of watercress, spinach and rocket salad. M raved about the sandwiches so I think this recipe is a keeper. What toppings do you like on your sandwiches?

Whole Wheat Ciabatta
From HomeBaking

Poolish:
1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 cup all-purpose flour

Bread:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

To make the poolish, in a small bowl stir the yeast into the water until well dissolved. Stir in the flour to make a smooth batter. Cover and let stand overnight or for as long as 24 hours, at room temperature.

When ready to make the dough, stir the milk and hot water together in the bowl of a stand mixer. When the mixture is lukewarm, stir in the yeast to dissolve it completely.

Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook. Add the poolish and the 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and mix at low speed until smooth. Sprinkle on the salt and 3 cups of all-purpose flour and mix for 1 minute. Add the oil and mix at medium speed for 3 minutes. The dough will be smooth, very moist, and soft.

Transfer the dough to a large clean bowl, cover with plastic, and let rise for 3 to 4 hours. It will double in volume, will not bounce back when prodded with a fingertip, and will probably have several large air bubbles on the top surface.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Use a dough scraper or a sharp knife to cut the dough into 4 pieces. Let rest a moment, loosely covered. Place four 12-inch lengths of parchments paper or wax paper on a work surface or on several baking sheets. Sprinkle each generously with all-purpose flour.

Flatten 1 piece of dough, then roll it up into a cylinder, jelly rol style. With the seam side down, flatten the dough back out into a rectangle about 10 inches long and 4 inches wide; you want it to have good square corners. Place seam side up on one sheet of parchment paper and dimple firmly all over with your fingertips. This will help the bread stay flattened and stretched. Cover with plastic wrap; roll and flatten the other pieces of dough, placing each on a sheet of floured paper. Let stand, well covered, for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, until puffy-looking.

Meanwhile, place a baking stone on a rack in the center or upper third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 425F. Set a sprayer filled with fresh water and a bowl of water by your work surface.

Rub a peel well with all-purpose flour. Place the peel over one bread, then flip the paper over so the bread is resting on the peel. Lift off the paper (it will stick a little, so peel it off carefully). Wet your fingers well with water, then dimple the bread deeply all over with your fingertips. Place on the baking stone, leaving room for another bread. Repeat with a second bread.

Spritz the breads with water two or three times in the first 5 minutes of baking. They will be ready in about 20 minutes, golden on top, thin crusted, and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining breads.

When they're cool, cut crosswise in slices. Or, to use for sandwiches, slice crosswise in half, then split horizontally.

Makes 4 loaves

Celebration cupcakes

I just returned from a whirlwind trip back to Asia. All in all I was away from London for less than 6 days but managed to visit both Singapore and Bali. As you can imagine, I'm extremely tired but not too tired to update my blog. I feel guilty for having been less regular with my blog this weekend so I thought tonight I'd make something to celebrate being back.

Actually, I've had my eye on this recipe since first reading about it months ago. Those of you who frequent food blogs will no doubt be familiar with Anita from Dessert First whose blog and photos literally have me salivating at times. Those of you who aren't, I highly recommend checking out her site. In any case, being a big fan of chocolate and hazelnuts, these cupcakes were just the thing to celebrate a homecoming.

As it turns out, perhaps making a 3 part cupcake at 7 pm in the evening was too ambitious given that I only landed at 7 am this morning and had to head straight to work. Part way through the recipe I started to feel the effects of jet lag so I made the decision to skip the hazelnut mousseline filling. I briefly contemplated substituting it with Nutella but decided that a chocolate cupcake with a coffee buttercream would be decadent enough, especially given the inordinate amount of eating that I did back home in Singapore. Since I left out the filling, I topped my cupcakes with some Valrhona chocolate pearls. The crunchiness of the chocolate provided a nice contrast against the velvety smoothness of the buttercream.

Next time, I'll endeavour to be true to the recipe and add in the hazelnut mousseline. For now, I'm off to catch some z's as there's more celebrating to be done tomorrow when yours truly turns another year older.

Cheesy bread puffs

About 4 months ago, I tasted for the first time ever, Pão de queijo, a traditional Brazilian snack. Its essentially a cheese puff, somewhat like a gougere, but different since instead of regular flour, the Brazilian version uses tapioca flour. From that first taste on, I was hooked.

I've been told that you can buy frozen versions of this treat and bake them up in your oven at home, but my philosophy is, why buy when you can make it yourself? That way, you know exactly what's going into your food. So, I scoured the internet to find a recipe and located one here.

The making of the dough itself was simple enough and while its not hard to roll out the little shapes, the dough is incredibly sticky! You'll need a generous amount of oil to rub on your hands as you're doing this. Once you get through that part though, you're rewarded with a great cheesy snack. These cheese puffs don't keep well and are best eaten hot but it does freeze well. So if you don't think you'll eat all of them at a go (and I can't possibly imagine why you wouldn't), just freeze the unbaked balls of dough and bake them up the next time you have guests over. They'll think you've been slaving away in the kitchen when in reality all you had to do was pop them on a tray and turn on the oven.


Pão de queijo
From this site

1 cup of water
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of oil
1 tsp of salt
450g tapioca starch
2 to 3 eggs
200g Parmesan cheese, grated

Bring the water, milk, oil and salt to boil in a large saucepan.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the tapioca starch. Mix well with a wooden spoon and leave to let cool.

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Then, add in the eggs and knead well.

Add in the grated Parmesan and continue to knead until the dough is smooth.

To form the cheese puffs, take a tablespoon of dough and roll it between your hands to form a ball. As the dough is very sticky, it is best to grease your hands with oil before you start rolling. You may also have to wash your hands occasionally to get rid of excess dough during this step.

Place the cheese puffs on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350F for ~20 minutes, until golden brown.

Makes many

A refreshing summer dessert

As I referenced in an earlier post, summer is almost over and we've got to make the most of it. At least for now though, succulent, juicy berries are still available in the stores. So, to kick off the start of the weekend, I made a light dessert for dinner last night.

Reminiscent of the ice cream floats that I'm sure we all loved from childhood, I made a sparkling lemonade float that was topped with strawberries and mascarpone ice cream. (Credit for this combination and the recipe go to Emily Luchetti, one of my favourite dessert cookbook authors.) The mascarpone ice cream, being perfumed with a vanilla pod, was essentially a creamier, more luxurious version of vanilla ice cream and provided the perfect contrast to the slightly tart and tangy taste of the lemonade. Refreshing, yet indulgent at the same time.

Mascarpone ice cream
From this book

4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp kosher salt
2 cups mik
1 1/2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise with seeds scraped out
1 cup mascarpone cheese

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the salt. Cook the millk, cream, vanilla bean, and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until almost simmering. Slowly pour the liquid into the egg-and-sugar mixture, whisking as your pour. Return the cream-and-milk mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a heat-resistant plastic or wooden spatula, until the custard reaches 175F and lightly coats the spatula.

Strain the custard into a clean bowl, discarding the vanilla bean, and cool over an ice bath until room temperature. Whisk in the mascarpone. Refrigerate the custard for at least 4 hours or up to overnight. If necessary, whisk the ice cream base to combine. Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. Freeze until scoopable, about 4 hours, depending on your freezer.

Another easy mid-week dinner

As I referenced in a previous post, simplicity rules the day in my kitchen when it comes to cooking mid-week dinners. However, simple doesn't mean having to sacrifice on flavour. One of my go-to authors for quick, easy, yet absolutely delicious food is Aussie's number one celebrity chef, Bill Granger. I have yet to visit any of his restaurants, though its on my list of to-dos if I make it over to Australia. I have, however, tried a fair number of his recipes and they've all turned out great. My sister is a fan as well.

Last night's dinner was again one of the staples in our household -a caramelized salmon inspired by the flavours of Vietnam. It literally takes no more than 15 minutes to cook, but served with rice and a side of greens (I used kai lan), its a perfectly wholesome meal.

As an aside, it was M who bought me this cookbook for Christmas last year. I guess you could say that it was a stroke of genius on his part. Since this is one of his absolutely fave dishes, for M, it is the gift that keeps on giving. M, if you are reading, Christmas is coming up again, make your choice wisely!

Caramel Salmon
From this book

1 tbsp vegetable oil
800g salmon fillets, with skin
1 red onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, sliced
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
115g (1/2 cup) soft brown sugar
3 tbsp fish sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp lime juice

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add the salmon in two batches and cook each bath for a couple of minutes until lightly browned. Turn over and cook the other side for 1 minute, then remove from the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium and add a little extra oil to the pan, if needed. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the soy sauce, sugar and fish sauce. Return the salmon to the pan and cook for 1 minute, or until the sauce is rich, dark and syrupy. Sprinkle liberally with black pepper and stir through the lime juice.

Serve with steamed rice, with a little sauce drizzled over the top and lime wedges.

Serves 4