Chocolate and Matcha Bread

bread 15 Responses »
Feb 162011

On the same day i did the Tri-Flavor Bread, i managed to squeeze this version in too.

Yes i know! If you have noticed, i actually used back the same props for both loaves. That’s because i snapped the loaves back to back. Not only the props were the same, even the styling ain’t much different! Grin. Please say you don’t mind. :)

Personally, i like this loaf better. Nothing to do with the flavor combination or anything like that, it’s mostly because the taste of chocolate and matcha is much stronger here. The earlier loaf was an experimental loaf so, i didn’t quite dare to add too much of black sesame and matcha. But for this loaf, i was feeling a little more adventurous (for some unknown reason) and added the powder as much as i could.

I’m sure glad that it turned out OK and not otherwise :)

Chocolate and Matcha Bread

1 milk bread recipe
10g dutch chocolate powder
10g matcha powder

1. Divide dough equally to 2 parts (do weigh it!)
2. Add dutch chocolate powder to 1 part and matcha powder to another.
3. Roll all 2 parts to squarish shape.

4. Place 1 part on top of the other. Roll them together like rolling a piece of paper. Give a slight pat down and fold both ends in.
5. Follow step 6, 7, 8 in milk bread recipe.

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Happy baking! :)

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Tri-flavor Bread

bread 12 Responses »
Nov 262010

I was feeling a little adventurous.

Needed something different than the norm.

Furthermore, with the newly acquired black sesame powder, i thought, why not?

Tri-flavor Bread it was!

Shaping was not all that tough.

Just like braiding the hair!

The only thing is that i’m not really good at braiding my own hair, nor anyone’s hair. In fact, in this whole life of mine, i have never had my hair braided for real. Probably just a little twisting sometimes… when i was little. Grin. So errrrmm, guess that was why my loaf of bread turned out looking a little off, aye? Heheeeeeeeeeee!

As usual, milk bread recipe was used — can you tell that i’m a die hard fan?? ^_^ –

Flavor wise, it was rather pleasant and very like-able.

Green tea wasn’t at all strong however, but the same cannot be said for the black sesame… robust and fragrant, just the way i like it :)

Best is to have it toasted just a wee bit, slap on a thin layer of butter to bring out the full flavor and you’re more than ready to go.

Tri-Flavor Bread


1 milk bread recipe
10g black sesame powder
10g green tea powder

1. Divide dough equally to 3 parts (do weigh it!)
2. Add black sesame powder to 1 part and green tea powder to another.
3. Roll all 3 parts to baguette lookalike.
4. Place 3 parts side by side and braid them as you would to the hair.
5. Follow step 6, 7, 8 in milk bread recipe.

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Green Tea Dacquoise

macarons & petits fours 17 Responses »
Aug 202010

I wanted to make macarons from the many egg whites that have been sitting in the fridge for a while but strangely, i wasn’t in the mood to eat something so girlie and dainty at that particular moment when i was gonna bake. Yes, macarons are girlie and dainty in my opinion and to eat it, i needed to be in that proper English tea mood – i is eccentric like that! :P

So instead, i baked something more rugged looking. Something that i didn’t have to be very careful when i handle it. Something i can be very rough with….

So dacquoise it is!

Moreover, i’ve been wondering for the longest time what IS the difference between macarons and dacquoise, so found out i did :)

So what’s so different about dacquoise?

For a start, they have no skin. So, they’re not crisp on the outside but of course, if you were to eat it when they’re just outta oven, then it’s slightly crisp but well, not the same crisp that macaron’s shell gives though. What’s more fascinating is, when they’re kept overnight, they become 2 different thing altogether!

Just 1 night in the fridge, they’re financier-like even though dacquoise contains no browned butter.

Another very obvious difference is, they’ve got more bite. I can many macarons at 1 go (macarons are almost like chiffon, you know, rather airy) but with dacquoise, the most i can polish off is only 4-6 pieces. I cannot do more than that. Heh. Dacquoise is very much cake-like but minus getting the fat part — what a welcoming fact!!– which i really dig. Of course, having buttercream sandwiched in between is another story altogether ah! Heeeeee!

All in all, i enjoy dacquoise very much.

It tastes really awesome with buttercream. Without buttercream, there’s no life to it. Therefore, expanding the waist or not, buttercream is a must and no other substitutes! (i tried replacing it with chestnut puree but it just doesn’t work)

And oh, the fact that it isn’t as sweet as macarons rocks my boat even harder. I don’t have to worry so much about my sugar intake for the day with these little not-so-wicked-morsels ;)

Green Tea Dacquiose
from okashi, keiko ishida

biscuit dacquoise

ground almonds, 180g
icing sugar 80g – i used 70
green tea powder 10g
castor sugar 40g – i used 35g
egg white powder 2g
egg whites 200g

green tea cream

unsalted butter 100g – i used 80g
egg whites 35g – i used 30
icing sugar 35g – i anyhow, to taste
green tea powder 5g

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift ground almonds, icing sugar and green tea powder with a corase sieve twice. Set aside.

2. Make a meringue. Combine castor sugar and egg white powder. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add sugar and egg white powder mixture and beat until egg whites are glossy, with stiff peaks.

3. Add sifted almond, sugar and green tea powder mixture to the meringue and fold in gently to make the dacquoise batter.

4. Transfer batter into a piping bag. Pipe out small disc onto parchment paper. Dust with icing sugar (i skipped this) and bake for 15-20 mins until dacquoise rises up completely and surface becomes dry.

5. Make green tea cream. Beat butter until pale and creamy. Using another clean bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add half the sugar and continue beating. When egg whites have some volume, add remaining sugar and continue to beat until egg whites are glossy and in stiff peaks form. Add meringue to butter and mix thoroughly. Add green tea powder.

6. Dacquoise can be kept for up to 3 days.

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Green tea ice cream sandwiched! - David Lebovitz

ice cream & anything frozen 15 Responses »
Aug 042010

When it comes to ice cream making, i gotta wave the white flag.

I truly cannot make it even though i’ve an ice cream maker!

1 time, 2 times, 3 times… FAIL completely but i didn’t give up. Then i went on to try Fro-Yo for the first time and holy molly, it was awesome and totally successful! From there, i kinda suspected why all the ice cream i churned previously failed. Fast forward and there i was, onto fro-yo making attempt II –> again, failed!! I almost couldn’t believe it. I so wanted to scream out loud i tell ya..

So very frustrating, especially when i thought i got it!

I even called off an ice cream birthday party with the girlfriends simply because there is absolutely no way i could churn out the nice real stufff… I sorta believe i was doomed for life, in ice cream making that is.

Until one day last week, i tried again.

This time, i decided to refrigerate the ice cream mixture overnight before churning it the next morning… based on my previous (failed) experiences.

Imagine my delight when i saw the ice-cream-like-texture after 15 minutes!

I was literally jumping with joy!! :D

When the sister’s friends decided to come visit at the very last minute and unshamedly (yes, they are very thick skinned but i like!) asked for food, i was faced with baker’s block. I had no idea what to bake at 10pm at night! It was stressful alright.

Then i remembered my green tea ice cream. GREAT!!

However, i don’t wanna serve it the usual way. I wanted something more special. I want it sandwiched in between 2 very fudgy chocolate cookies but to my dismay, i don’t have anymore Dutch cocoa powder to bake up a storm!

Alas, i had no choice but to buy double chocolate Chipsmore cookies from the nearest grocery store early next morning. That was when i realized sandwiching ice cream is really not the most-fun task in this tropical weather of ours, especially when you want it to look downright pretty and gorgeous.

Of course, photographing the end result was even worst than i’d imagined and i did just that at my balcony at 10am when the sun was shining right in. The sandwiches were already perspiring before i could even click!

Green Tea Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1 cup whole milk
150g sugar (i’d cut this down to 130g)
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
4 tsp matcha (i actually replaced this with 10tbsp green tea leaves!)
6 large egg yolks

Warm milk, sugar, and salt in mediumowder. Set mesh strainer on top. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks together and slowly pour in the warmed milk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the contents back into the pan and stir over medium heat with a heatproof spatula.

Continue to stir until mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Remove from heat and pour the custard through the strThis time, i decided to refrigerate the ice cream mixture overainer, stirring it into the cream. Whisk vigorously to dissolve the green tea powder. Stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

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