Carrot cornet bread

I love the way the cornet bread looks....

These cute looking cornet rolls are very poplar in Japan. They are normally filled with sweet cream such as custard or chocolate.


I used to make them everyday at my old job but I haven't made them for a while, so I thought 'why not practice the shaping a bit'.  Some of them were bit loose but I think I've still got it. ;)

This time I added carrot powder in the dough made with strawberry yeast to use them for a savoury meal. When I was making them, I actually had one very specific thing in mind to fill these buns...

Yes! Egg mayo! It was aaaamazing! 

I overloaded it and had to push the filling in with some asparagus...

Does this look like a carrot? ;D

Peanut butter cinnamon roll

My peanut butter addiction comes in waves, and the big wave has come again recently. I've been constantly having a spoonful of peanut butter whenever I see the jar...  I felt I should make something with peanut butter, not just eating it...

So here, I made Peanut butter cinnamon roll! I mixed peanut butter, bit of brown sugar and ground cinnamon as the filling. I like crunchy peanut butter for this bread to give a bit of ..."crunch", but smooth one is nice too. ;)

For the dough I used my basic rich bun recipe.
Ingredients:

- Brioche type sweet buns -

Starter (strawberry) 130g

Very strong flour 250g

Butter 40g

Sugar 30g

Egg 2 + Milk =150g

Oil 1tsp

The smell of peanut butter and cinnamon was so inviting!

Look at the inside, it's nice and soft. ;D

Andy said 'it was like a nice peanut butter sandwich.'

Well, I take that as a compliment...

This rich brioche type dough is not only for cinnamon rolls but also works with buns with sweet fillings such as custard or jam;) 

Purple sweet potato bread

Since we fired up the oven for the pizza, I decided to have a go with baking my bread in the stone oven for the first time.

The bread I chose was Purple sweet potato bread, a variation of simple pain de campagne. I added purple sweet potato powder as I was mixing the dough, which coloured the dough nice baby pink;)

So, the verdict of baking in the stone oven is...
'Not too bad but needs work'...

Although the thermometer said it was around 280 ºc, I don't think the bottom heat wasn't high enough and also the heat circulation wasn't great. I think I need to learn how to build a better fire. :)

The bread still came out ok. The crust was thinner and softer than usual, which I would have liked to be tougher, but Lana prefers softer crust and she actually ate the whole thing! (She normally leaves the crust...)

I couldn't really taste the purple sweet potato but still the colour was pretty.

Pink + Pink♥︎ I made some salmon sandwich. 

Sourdough Pizza

The sun is shinning, it's nice and warm outside. That means one thing... Time to fire up our stone oven in the garden!

Last Saturday when I woke up I knew it was going to be a pizza-weather day so I made pizza dough with my strawberry yeast in the morning ready for the woodfired pizza evening;)

Ingredients:

Starter 125g

Strong flour 230g

Semolina 20g

Milk 160g

Honey 10g

Salt 3g

Olive oil 2tsp

Using sourdough starter to make pizza dough takes more time, but since it's getting warmer the dough rises quicker and most importantly it tastes so good!

The good thing about making your own pizza is I can put as much cheese as I want (although it seems that however much cheese I put on pizza it's never enough...;D)

I thought I made too much dough for two big people and one little person, but we ended up eating them all! 

I was absolutely stuffed but it was just too good to be left...

♡ Pain de campagne ♡

'Heart' pain de campagne, this is what I made for Andy as a Valentine's gift. (I did make Valentine's dinner dessert as well.;D)

Half white and half wholemeal flour, made with my strawberry yeast. It's simple but certainly have that 'got-to-have-another-slice' feel to it...

Humm, broken heart? (Andy cut this...)

It's great toasted and buttered, of course;)

By the way, look at my new bread knife. 

It's super cute and very sharp!

Croissant - Strawberry yeast

It's been a while since I made croissants and last weekend I had a sudden craving for the buttery pastry.

I choose my strawberry yeast in order to achieve a nice flaky outside. (my strawberry guys are the best when it comes to the crust!). My guys did a great job. The croissants came out with flaky layers and they smelt heavenly!

I used the same recipe as the one with raisin starter, but I added a tea spoon of honey in the dough. Because it's pretty cold now, the proofing took much longer this time, in fact I went to sleep during the final proofing....;D

The following morning, we had freshly baked croissants.... yes, nothing can beat freshly baked croissants on a Saturday morning! They were simply beautiful, probably the best croissants I ever made! And it had no yeast but my starter!

I just love those moments when a long process comes down to a perfect success, and it definitely was one of those moment. :D

Forget about the amount of butter! It's a 'Buttery Heaven'!

And, mini ones for Lana;)

Strawberry yeast bread - 3

It's already September but we are still enjoying the summer heat here in England, which is great for being out and about, but not so great for my sourdough starters...

While it's hard to maintain sourdough starters on hot days, there is an advantage that we can take in this heat. Instead of making and keeping a fully matured starter, I often do the straight method by using a liquid starter.

Because of the hot weather, the liquid yeast gets very active and ready in much shorter time, and the dough rises much more easily.

My strawberry starter took 3 days, and banana starter was ready in only 2 day! By using this method not only will nice crusty sourdough bread be ready in 3 to 4 days but also you have less job in maintaining the starter (therefor less likely to fail...).

You can use any fresh or dried fruits (make sure they aren't coated with oil) or vegetables, but the ones with high sugar are easier to get started. Strawberries are perfect as they are cheap in summer and have a really nice flavour to it. Bananas are good all year around too.

All you've got to do is to follow the steps of Strawberry yeast starter until step two, then use that liquid to make your dough.

I made strawberry one again... this time with the strawberries that I used to make the liquid starter. Look at this beautiful crust! :D

Good bread and cheese is my ultimate sandwich combo...

More about strawberry yeast bread? Have a look at:
Strawberry yeast bread - 1
Strawberry yeast bread - 2

Strawberry yeast bread - 2.

Strawberry Yeast Bread - 1.

How to make Strawberry Yeast.

Two weeks ago I posted about my strawberry yeast bread, which I made by using the straight method. Last weekend, I made a lovely crusty loaf with my strawberry yeast again but by using a different method.

This time, I made a starter from strawberry yeast liquid, which obviously took more time to prepare, but watching my starter grow is one of the things I love about bread making (of course, eating is the best!). I honesty believe 'patience' is the key to a good baker. ;) Anyway, to bake this loaf, it took me about one week from start to finish.

I baked the loaf in a cast iron pot in order to get a crusty outside. It worked pretty well. The out side was nice and crusty but inside was still soft and springy thanks to the milk I added to the dough.

I baked the bread in the morning, went off to work, came back after a whole day in the kitchen, went straight to my loaf, and quite literally destroyed the whole thing. I was that hungry and the loaf was that nice...

I had some with cheese... Simple is the best. ;)

Fish in the middle for Andy. :)

Here, I shared on BON APPETIT. how to make Strawberry yeast starter.

and

Recipe for Strawberry Yeast Bread.

Enjoy watching your starter grow!

Strawberry yeast bread

For me there is no doubt that home baked bread is the best, and specially, the one baked with your own starter is better than best...

As some of you might already know, I'm very passionate about sourdough starters and naturally occurred yeast. I've so far tried making starters with raisins, bananas, lemons, coconuts, pineapples, apples, whatever is available at the time...

Currently I'm currently looking after (yes, I care them like pets...;D) strawberry yeast. And it's probably one of the most successful starters ever! To start the yeast, I cut the top bits of the strawberries (eat the actual fruits, of course!) and do the same way as the raisin yeast.

Although I don't put the fruits in the bread dough, there is still a hint of strawberry flavour and sweetness in the bread. And also unlike many sourdough breads, this bread doesn't taste sour and is nice and soft, which is great for my daughter. ;)

A strawberry on top to make it look like a cake.