Sourdough Croissants

I confess...that I ate 6 croissants the day I baked these...

The winter is definitely here. The other morning I took my dog out for a walk and the grass was all frosty. Oh yes!!, I (and I think my dog) love that 'crunch crunch'!

You know what this cold weather means, don't you? It's the perfect time for the buttery pastry thing, CROISSANTS!

Ingredients:

Sourdough starter 125g

Flour 400g (300g Strong flour + 100g plain flour)

Milk 200g

Sugar 40g

Butter 40g

Salt pinch

Butter (for folding in) 230g

Here is the how to - sourdough croissant recipe.

The key to good croissants is patience. And my patience was really tested this time. The first rise took nearly 24 hours in
low temperature. Then, the folding the butter business. At last, I get to do the shaping and the final rise. Again, it took long..., so long that I went to bed...

I'm sure that when you watch the dough, they won't rise!!!

I woke up with a nightmare. In that, my chiffon cake went horribly wrong...;( But, when I actually went back to the kitchen my croissants were waiting there nicely and ready to go in the oven, phew...

Here, we have beautiful layers!

Looking this brought tears in me eyes... (ok,  not really, not that much...)

Flaky outside and light texture with a hint of sourdough kick.

Who can say no to this...

I also made some with Hazelnut praline paste.

I ate it in 5 seconds... ;-d

豆ぱん〜 Mame Pan 〜 Sourdough bean bread

This is a variation of sourdough pain de campagne but with a Japanese twist on it.

Before we start, here is a bit of Japanese lesson for you... 'Mame' means beans and 'pan' is bread in Japanese so 'Mame Pan' is... literally 'Bean bread'!

I cooked red kidney beans with water and sugar until they were soft. (It's very common to cook beans in this way, and we often have sweet beans part of a savoury meal although they are bit like dessert...) I kneaded a generous amount of these beans into my Pain de Campagne dough.

I don't know if it was because of the beans, the cold weather or my broken scale, but the dough was little bit on the tight side and took longer to prove than usual. But in the end, it did come out great. ;D

Nice rise and good tough crust. :)

Look! Lots of sweet beans inside. 

My daughter loves beans and she loved my 'Mame Pan'. ♥

Remember to grab your FREE 2015 Calendar with 12 recipes including Sourdough Bread!

Rich Sourdough Beer Loaf

Have you seen my Walnut & Beer Sourdough Bread that I made with leftover beer the other day?

This mini loaf has the same idea. Made with leftover beer, but this time I added eggs and butter to make it super rich. ;D

Ingredients:

Starter 125g

Very strong flour 250g

Egg 2 + Beer =165g

Honey 30g

Butter 30g

Salt 4g

It is like brioche. It's buttery and has slight sweetness. And on top of that, there are depth and body that (I think) come from the beer.

Beautiful crumb!

Toasted is even better!

(I like my toast to be well-done...;D)

Remember to grab your FREE 2015 Calendar with 12 recipes including Sourdough bread and rolls!

Sweet corn & Cheese Sourdough Rolls

I wanted sweet corn and mayo but there was no mayo in the fridge....

So..., this was my plan B.

Sweet corn and mayo bread is common in Japan, and I certainly loved it when I was a kid. Now, my daughter loves sweet corn, so I decided to make this nostalgic bread for her.

Like I said I didn't have mayo... and when I realised that, I was already rolling out the dough to put fillings in it... my typical 'non-planning-bake'.... Change of plan, I added cheese instead.

Mayo would have given more moisture in the filling but still sweet corn and cheese was a good combo. Cheese gave an extra savoury taste to the rolls too.

The recipe is... the same as my Smiley Rolls, plus sweet corn and cheese (or mayo) for the filling;)

Remember to grab your Free 2015 Calendar with 12 recipes including sourdough bread!

Walnut & Beer Sourdough Bread

I had a half can of beer leftover from the other day, so I decided to use it for my bread instead of water.

I've made Sourdough Beer Bread before with leftover beer, and this one is the same as that but with roasted walnuts. A lot of them... I love breads with nuts, so as I was doing the stretch and fold, I kept adding the walnuts.

See! Every slice has so much walnuts! I love it!

The beer added a good flavour to the loaf and really worked well with the walnuts too. The crust had a good tough texture and the crumb was nice and chewy. 

I don't know much about science but I think the beer did some good job to this loaf!

Remember to grab your FREE 2015 Calendar! Sourdough bread recipe is in it too!

Grab your free 2015 Calendar!

We've only got less than 2 months to go until 2015!

As a thank you to all those lovely people who read and share my blog, I made The World of Sweets 2015 Calendar with some of my favourite recipes each month.

Visit '2015 Calendar' to grab your free copy now!

Bit of sneak peak for you...,

Macaron, sourdough breads, cheesecake, doughnut, and more... ;-d

4th Anniversary Cake

So crèche..., but time flies.... 

 ♥︎ Happy Anniversary to us  ♥︎

It was four years (and a week now...) ago we got married in Las Vegas in front of Elvis-look-a-like. ;D

Andy booked us in for a lovely evening spa treatment followed by dinner (thanks you, Andy!) and I... made cake...as usual...

This year I made Swiss roll with hazelnut praline cream and some fruits in the middle and topped it with macarons. It's simple but the hazelnut cream and four different flavour macarons were enough to make it special. :)

Some of my favourite flavours...

Liquorice, Purple sweet potato, Matcha, and Caramel.

Macaron is always a way to add that little bit of extra to simple cakes and desserts, isn't it? ;)

Remember to grab your FREE copy of  The World of Sweets 2015 Calendar! Of course, the macaron recipe is in it too!

Sourdough-nuts!

Latest sourdough creation!!!

THE SOURDOUGH-NUTS!

Are you thinking "what's that?!"..?

Ok... let me explain..., they are doughnuts as you see, but they are not just doughnuts. They are made with sourdough starter, so I call them "SOURDOUGH-NUTS". :D

The recipe is in The World of Sweets 2015 Calendar. 

Grab your free copy today!

As a raising agent, I use sourdough only, no yeast nor baking powder. Same as most of sourdough bakings, the Sourdough-nuts need long proving time. But, once you've prepared the dough ready to be fried, you can freeze them. Then, you can have Sourdough-nuts sitting in the freezer ready for breakfast or snack;)

Fluffy... and surprisingly light!

You don't taste the sourness at all, and the texture is so light that it's hard to believe they are made with sourdough starter.

Freshly made Sourdough-nuts for little lady. :D