March 2012 archive

Making Homemade Pizza from Scratch (Beetroot bread base)

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After my experimental spinach bread pizza to add as much iron containing food into my boys’ diet…and the fact that they loved it…it is only natural that I try making beetroot bread base pizza…after all beetroot is supposedly good for the heart and has anti-aging nutrients!

Ingredients and method is about the same as previously posted spinach bread pizza, only difference is that I use 150 g cooked beetroot instead of spinach.

To prepare the beetroot, I blitz (chopped) the beetroot in my food processor, add a little of water to get 125 mL juice I require to make the TangZhong. The rest of the beetroot, I place in a measuring cup and make up to volume (150 mL) with water.20120328-114359 PM.jpg

Feeling adventurous, I even made stuffed crust pizza, by placing mozzarella cheese on the side and rolled the dough to enclose the cheese. It was yummy!

Ingredients for making beetroot pizza bread
150 mL beetroot juice including pulp from approx 150 g cooked chopped beetroot (steamed, liquidised beetroot made up to 150 mL with water/milk or milk substitute)
1 egg
110g to 120g TangZhong (made using 25 g bread flour, I use wholemeal bread flour and 125 ml beetroot juice, I bought cooked beetroot)20120328-114306 PM.jpg
25 ml olive oil
1 tsp salt (optional, I don’tadd salt)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp rosemarry
1 tsp Italian mix herbs20120328-114318 PM.jpg
360g bread flour
90g self-raising flour
6 g instant yeast

For method, refer to previous post on making spinach bread base pizza.

For tomato sauce for pizza click here.

 

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Making Tomato Sauce for Homemade Pizza

This is my garlicky tomato sauce. Pretty pungent on its own, but a match made in heaven when spread on pizza as the tomato base. Easy to make, just laborious to de-skin and de-seed the tomatoes. Well worth the effort. In fact, I make a big batch and store it in the freezer and defrost a portion when I make my pizzas.

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Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large chopped onion
1 chopped garlic clove
6 large chopped, de-skined and de-seeded fresh tomato
1 tsp dried basil (I have also used fresh chopped basil)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 dried bay leave
2 tbsp tomato paste (approximate, adjust to taste…optional)
1/2 tsp sugar (adjust to taste)
salt (optional, to taste, I don’t add salt in my sauce)
pepper (optional, to taste)

Method20120328-103847 PM.jpg
1. Heat the oil, add the onions, garlic, basil, oregano and saute until the onions are soft and transparent.
2. Add tomatoes and bay leave until the tomatoes are cooked and soft
3. Remove the bay leave and blend the mixture in a food processor or liquidizer.
4. add other ingredients to taste and simmer for 30 minutes or until the paste is relatively dry.

Your pizza tomato sauce is ready.

Making Bechamel / White Sauce (For Macaroni and Cheese, Fish Pie, ‘Escalope Parmesan’)

This is one of my boys’ favourite. I like making this knowing that I use loads of milk and my boys are drinking the ‘milk gravy’ containing loads of goodness and calcium for their growing bones…and to prevent brittle bones for us oldies!

Here is how I make my white sauce also known as bechamel sauce where my boys (including Hubs) would drink it down and lick the plate clean each time.

 

Ingredients
37 g butter
37 g plain flour
900 mL milk
pinch of white pepper (optional)
4 bay leaves (optional)
125 g Chestnut mushrooms (optional only if you like to make mushroom favoured sauce)
salt (optional, I don’t use salt in my white sauce and it’s still delicious)
Loads of cheese to make a cheesy sauce (I never measure my cheese, I add a handful of grated cheese or 6 square sandwich cheese or 4 Laughing Cow triangular cheese…add more or less depending on your taste)

Method
1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.
2. Remove from fire and stir in the flour. Whisk well.
3. Add milk slowly stirring continuously to prevent clumps, making a smooth sauce.
4. Add sliced mushroom and bay leaves.
4. Return to heat, bring to boil stirring continuously.
5. Simmer gently stirring continuously for 10 minutes, melt the cheese in and season with pepper and salt to taste.

Viola, yummy white sauce ready for your macaroni, fish pie and escalope parmesan!

 

 

 

 

Making Homemade Bread or Pizza Without a Bread Maker or Dough Hook

There is nothing like the smell and taste of freshly baked bread or pizza…simple food for the soul…comfort food. As bread is filled with carbs, I always do my best to add more nutrients to my fresh bread by adding ‘super food’ . Such ‘super food’ or food loaded with nutrients includes fresh/powdered milk, fortified milk/juice (soya, almond, oat milk etc), fresh spinach, peas, beetroot, carrot etc.

Recently, I have been asked by friends and family to share my bread making method, with and without a bread machine, so here it is. The method described here makes scrumptious bread loved by my family and friends.

Making Bread Without a Bread Maker

The following are basic methods that I use to make my bread when I am not using my bread maker. Everyone does it differently and depending on the amount of dough you are making and available kitchen space :)…I have a small kitchen and I find mixing my ingredients in a big mixing bowl to begin with is less messy.

Method

  1. Place and mix all dry / powdered ingredients in a mixing bowl. Make a hole in the middle.
  2. Place wet ingredients (as applicable depending on the recipe) into the hole i.e., TangZhong, Old Dough, oil / butter, condensed milk, whipping cream, egg, spinach juice, beetroot juice, carrot juice etc. Leave the largest required amount of liquid aside e.g. milk / water.
  3. Warm 100 mL of the largest required amount of liquid (tends to be milk or water) using the hob or microwave to approx 37 degrees C and stir in the yeast. Pour the yeast liquid in the middle of the hole.
  4. Using a spoon, stir in the mixture starting from the middle of the hole in one direction. Add the remaining of the liquid slowly. You may or may not use all the liquid depending on the humidity of the air when you are making the dough. You will learn to judge once you have made bread a few time, if unsure, just add all the required liquid as per recipe (you may just have to use more flour when kneading to prevent sticking).
  5. When the dough thickens and all ingredient mixed in, knead with hands on a floured surface for about 10 minutes to stretch the gluten in the flour. You may need to keep sprinkling some flour on the surface to prevent sticking to the workbench and hands if your dough is too wet. To knead, lift and fold one end of the dough towards you into the centre, then pushing it down away from you using your fist or heel of your hands. Repeat whilst turning the dough around.
  6. To proof the dough, shape it into a ball and place it on a lightly greased or floured bowl and cover with cling film or a moist warm cloth. Proof in a warm and moist environment for at least 30 minutes making sure the dough roughly double in bulk. A neat trick my sister in-law tought me – place a small ball of dough (about the size of your little fingernail) into a glass of water, when the dough floats, you dough is ready for the next stage.
  7. Punch down your risen dough to remove air. Divide the dough, shaping it into balls and leave it a side, covered for 15 minutes to rest.
  8. Shape the dough and leave to proof for 30 to 40 minutes covered with cling film or wet cloth. Note, I omit this second proofing when making pizza.
  9. Bake immediately after second proofing in a preheated oven.
  10. When making bread, I bake the bread at 150 degrees C for 15 minutes, when making pizza, I bake it at 170 degrees C for 15 minutes. I have a fan assisten oven you may need to adjust your oven temperature to approx 180 degrees C for breat and 200 degrees C for pizza.

 

 

Making Homemade Pizza from Scratch (Macaroni and Cheese Pizza) with Spinach Bread

Last night I asked my 3 years old Ethan what he would like to cook for his dinner today. The options I gave him were
1. Sushi
2. Quiche
3. Pizza
4. Chicken pie

Ethan told me he would like macaroni and cheese pizza! What a weird combo I thought and laughed …it looks like I will have to eat my words and it is Ethan who had the last laugh. Hubs was quite keen and seemed intriged with the idea of having macaroni and cheese pizza! Ethan was singing Barney’s or rather Baby Bob’s macaroni and cheese song the whole night, he was so excited, bless him. So we made MACARONI AND CHEESE PIZZA today ….and it was delicious! So good that we will make this again….and this will surely stay in our family ‘dinner menu’ …another successful yummy experiment!…This time thanks to Ethan’s creative palate!

We cooked the whole day (with long breaks in between for some other fun stuffs)

First we made white sauce for the macaroni and cheese (recipe and method is linked)…and we boiled some macaroni.
Then we made the tomato sauce for the pizza (recipe and method is linked).
Then about 1 hour before dinner, we made the bread base…we made spinach bread! The basic recipe and method for the bread is from my previous post with some additions.
Once the bread had proofed or prooved…not sure which, we slap on the toppings starting with the tomato sauce leaving the cheese til last and drizzled with olive oil before it goes into the oven.

For toppings, Ethan had loads of mushrooms (his fav), cheese (we had chedddar and 2 types of mozarella), ham, olives, prosciutto, cherry plum tomatoes, sweet bell pepper, caramelised red onion, fresh basel, fresh spinach.

This batch should feed about 4 adults (unless you are big eaters) ..we made 1 portion of macaroni and cheese pizza, 1 portion of prosciutto, tomato, olive and spinach pizza and 2 portions of mushroom, pepper and ham pizza.

 

Ingredients for making spinach pizza bread
150 mL spinach juice including pulp from approx 150 g fresh spinach (steamed, liquidised spinach made up to 150 mL with water/milk or milk substitute)
1 egg
110g to 120g TangZhong (made using 25 g bread flour, I use wholemeal bread flour and 125ml spinach juice, I use water used to steam spinach)
25 ml olive oil
1 tsp salt (optional, I don’tadd salt)
1 tbsp sugar 
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp rosemarry
1 tsp Italian mix herbs
360g bread flour
90g self-raising flour
6 g instant yeast

Note if making plain pizza bread, just substitute spinach juice with water or milk.

Method for making spinach pizza bread

 I use my bread maker following the manufacturer’s instruction. Basically, I add the ingredients as per the sequence listed above.

For manual method, refer to my new post on Making Homemade Bread or Pizza Without a Bread Maker or Dough Hook.

I assemble the ingredients and bake it at 170 degrees C with my fan assisten oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Pi Day (3.14)

Did anyone notice that it is Pi day today? Today is March 14 i.e. 3.14 = Pi the methematical constant!

Okay, I am not that much of a nerd, we had fish pie the day before, so not having any pie today, though I was tempted to make another pie just for fun… 🙂

Picture from Wiki.

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Making Homemade Carrot, Spinach, Beetroot, Pea, Pumpkin and Egg Noodles

Thanks to cousin Polly who ignited my love of making noodles! Polly posted some lovely pictures and a recipe from a chinese blog on how to make noodles which reminded me of my mummy’s noodles. Mum used to make egg noodles which we called ‘mien fun kuih’ or ‘mien fun char gor’. In Malaysia, restaurants, peddlers or hawkers named it ‘pan mien’.

I bought a pasta machine to make noodles a decade ago and left it in a dark corner of the cupboard (used less than 10 times throughout the decade), today, excited with Polly’s lovely noodle pictures, I decided to make some noodles. Ewan was well behaved whilst I was on my mission!

Oh, remember this rule, recipe posted is a guide, if the dough is too wet, just add flour…you will need a lot of flour to stop the noodles sticking 🙂

Ingredients

170 g Bread flour
30 g Self-raising flour or plain flour
( you can use 200 g plain flour or 200g self-raising flour….whatever you have!)

60 to 90 g veg of choice (carrot or spinach or beetroot juice or pumpkin or pea)
2 g salt (optional, I tend not put salt if feeding baby Ewan)
1 egg
0-90 ml water (you may need to make your own judgement on this as it depends on how ‘wet’ is your veg

Method
Pre cook (boil or steam hard veg like carrots, pumpkin, peas). I buy pre cooked beetroot.
Place veg in food processor
If you have a bread machine, place all ingredients in the bread maker and use the pasta function.
If you have a food processor, just place all ingredients, blitz, remove and knead with hands. I used my food processor as I find it easier to blitz the veg and add flour straight in.
Keep an eye on water content.
Once mixed, let the dough rest for at least 30 mins and shape.

Easy but can be messy!
During shaping, remember to coat the surface with loads of flour or the noodles will stick.
Honestly, I think instead of using a pasta machine, it is easier to make the noodles into shapes by hand…like how mum used to do it.
Freshly made noodles can be stored in an airtight container and frozen.
Frozen noodles can be used (boiled) immediately without having to thow the beauties.

I left the noodles to dry a little before storing them for later.

For dinner tonight, I boiled the carrot, spinach and beetroot noodles before stir frying them with some oil, garlic and juice from my beef casserole (I made casserole for dinner as well). Both boys loved it. Hubs was munching away quietly, I took it he was enjoying his dinner.

Enjoy!

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Making Pirate’s Fish Pie

20120313-095115 PM.jpgI made fish cakes last week and porched the fish in milk. It seems an awful waste to pour the milk away so I made some white sauce (Recipe for white sauce). To use last weeks white sauce, I made a fish pie for dinner today.

I called it Pirate’s Fish Pie because the pie resembles a pirate’s treasure chest, it has golden nuggets (sweetcorn), rubies (soft carrot chunks), emerald (peas) and pearls (chunks of white fish). The perfect food for our resintial pirates. Aaarrrrrr! Ethan and Ewan loved it!

The pie has a cheesy mash topping made with potatoes, sweet potato and carrots. Below the mash, there was a layer of cheese, loads of peas, sweetcorn and white boneless fish swimming in a generous serving of white sauce. It is really yummy even with no added salt or sugar, just a small pinch of white pepper…you must try this.20120313-095141 PM.jpg

Very healthy and delicious even for a fussy weaning baby and a fussy toddler!
The ‘captain of the ship’ (hubs) has placed an order for another fish pie for next week!

 

Ingredients
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900 mL fresh milk
2 to 4 Bay leaves
37 g butter
37 g plain flour
x g Fish fillets (6 fillets of cod and/or haddock and/or salmon…I used 3 types of fish in a pie as well as one type of fish for variation)
800 g potatoes (approximate weight)
1  large sweet potato
5 large carrots
100 g sweetcorn (tinned)
100 g garden peas (frozen)
1 tbsp chives
1 tbsp flatleaf parsley
5 slices of Diarylea cheese (approx 125 g)
100 g grated cheese
 

 Method…still writting

 

 

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Making Non-diary Soft Bread (containing TangZhong with variations including spinach juice, carrot juice and beethroot juice)

Hui Lin, this is specially for you. Adapted this recipe to make soft TangZhong bread without any diary products….for those who are not bothered whether its diary free or not, or maybe it is more like “depending on what you have in your pantry/fridge” lol, you can use milk and butter for this recipe.

Using this recipe, I have managed to make pizza bread. Please look at my Making Pizza from Scratch posts (spinach pizza bread and beetroot pizza bread)

 

Ingredients
140 to 150 g milk substitute for dairy free version (e.g. Water, soya milk, spinach juice, carrot juice, beetroot juice) or use milk for dairy version
1 egg
110 g to 120 g TangZhong (made using 25g bread flour and 125 ml liquid water/milk/ juice etc)
25 ml cooking oil, can use sunflower oil, olive oil, etc. (or 25 g butter for dairy version)
1 tsp salt (optional)
30 to 50 g sugar (if making plain loaf, 30 g is sufficient)
360 g bread flour
90 g self-raising flour
6 g yeast

Method

I used my bread maker to mix and knead prior to first proofing.

For manual method, refer to this post Making homemade bread without a bread make or dough hook.

To prepare the spinach, carrot and beetroot juice, I steam the vege until soft to touch (10 to 20 mins) using my Avent combined steamer and blender. I then drain the water and use to make TangZhong. The blended vege is made to volume with soya milk or fresh milk or water to 150 mL.

 

 

Making Spinach Bread (Containing ThangZhong)

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