Apple Multicereal Milk Bread with Streusel Toppings

Apple Milk Bread with Streusel Toppings

One thing I hate so much in the kitchen is wasting food. For whatever reason, I always try to come up with solution to avoid dumping them. When I used to babysit for my nieces and nephew back in Philippines, I remember how often I would try to explain to their young minds that there is so much poverty and hunger in this world everytime they refuse to finish their meal. Of course it doesn't do magic all the time. Sometimes I am resorted into blackmailing them :-).

Anyways, with this thoughts in my head as I meticulously pour the apple purée in the empty gerber bottles for my daughter I realized that I cooked too much. I tried to look everywhere to see if there is still some empty gerber bottle hiding somewhere, but it was in vain. I could very well make some pattisserie with it like "chausson aux pommes" but I already promised my hubby to only bake patisseries only once a week. He is just concern about our calories intake :-). In other words we are getting fatter since I've been hooked up into blogging. So I thought why not milk bread it won't be so bad with some apples on it.

I'll be sending this over to Susan for her weekly Yeastspotting. If you love bread you should check that out :-)

Apple Multicereal Milk Bread with Streusel Toppings

250 g of flour
250 g of Multicereal flour
30 g of sugar
1 teaspoon of dry yeast
10 g of salt
20 cl of milk
3 tablespoons of apple purée
1 egg
50 of melted butter

Toppings :
30 g of butter
30 g of chopped any nuts (walnuts, almonds, etc)
30 g of sugar
30 g of flour

In your working table combine your two flours. Make a whole in the middle put your melted butter, egg, sugar, yeast and half of the milk. Add also the salt but avoid having direct contact with the yeast. Start mixing them with your hands little by little. Add the rest of your milk. Be sure to check if you need to put less or more milk depending on the consistency of your dough. You can also use your bread machine to do this bread by putting all your ingredients except the apple, just ad dit up after the first beep indicating that the dough’s well mixed. Once the dough becomes elastic add your apple purée and continue mixing. Leave it covered and let it rest for about an hour. Grease your loafbread pan and put the dough gently. Let it rise again for another one hour and a half. Preheat the oven at 200° celsius and bake this for about twenty minutes. You can put or not put the streusel depending on your preference. For the streusel toppings mix all the ingredients and half it halfway the cooking time.

I swear this milk bread is great for breakfast!

You can also try my other bread recipes:

Almond Coconut Honey Brioche
French Bread
Mini flute bread

Homemade Ice-cream Cone

Home-made Ice-cream cone with Vanilla Almond Ice-Cream

"Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it." ~Russel Baker

I kinda agree with him for summer is my favorite season. Now that mercury in Southern France is hitting 36 degrees Celsius outside, I feel like I'm reliving my best childhood memories all over again. Running half-naked outside, sleeping on the grass with the dragonflies and eating my favorite "dirty ice-cream". Well, too bad only in my dream now.

My Wednesday edition of Wordless Home-made recipe is my contribution to Mike's You Scream, I Scream, We all Scream for Frozen Desserts.

And by the way, a big big hug goes to the gorgeous and lovely Leslie of Hungryhousewife for awarding me with this Yum Yum Blog Award. I hope she forgives me for still not sending the email I promise her. :-)

Home-made Cones with Vanilla-Almond Ice-Cream Creme Chantilly and Caramel Syrup for the cones

adapted from original recipe of Sandra
90 g of butter
90 g of sugar
1 egg white
45 g of flour

Melt the butter. Incorporate gently the sugar and mix well. Fold in the egg white and whisk vigorously. Lastly add the flour and continue whisking. On the parchment paper put a laddle of this mixture and with the help of a spatula flatten it forming a circle with a thickness of about 1 cm. Be sure to put an ample space in between each cone you will make. Preheat the oven at 170°. Bake for about ten minutes , be attentive on the last part of the baking time to avoid burning them. Take them off from the oven. Wait for about a minute before forming your cone. Do not wait to long or you will not be able to shape it anymore.

Vanilla Almond Ice-Cream
adapted from original recipe
100g of sugar
80g of chopped almonds
100ml fresh cream
1 vanila bean pod
150 g of thick cream

In a casserole bring the fresh cream to a boil. Turn off the fire and infuse the vanilla pod that is cut into two for about ten minutes. In another casserole put the sugar and 3 tablespoons of water and start making a syrup. Once the sugar has melted and you have a beautiful consistency, fold in the chopped almonds. Pour the sugar-almond syrup on your vanilla fresh cream. Whisk the heavy cream and fold this into the mixture. Pour your mixture on your ice-cream container and refrigerate it for a minimum of four hours.

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice-cream!

You can try my other Ice-cream recipes:

Mango Ice-cream with coffee macadamia nuts biscuits

Pancake Surprise: Creamy Onion Leeks and Fried Gambas in Cumin

Pancake Surprise of Creamy Onion Leeks & Fried Gambas in Cumin Pannequet de Poireux Fondu et Gambas au cumin

What type of pancake are you ?

I was raised to love food. Despite the fact that the number one cause of mortality in our family I suppose is food related (diabetes, hypertension, bad cholesterol, etc) we are all still passionately in love with food. And it is especially evident during breakfast where we normally feast on the last night’s left-over. When I was a kid during weekdays it was fried rice with fried salted fish all year long. Without a fail. And that is the reason why my sisters and I have learned to appreciate and savour pancakes sweetness on the weekends, we buy from the neighbor. Consider it our refuge from weekdays of salinity.

When I met my husband, he told me his specialty was crepe. (Huh?) He told me again, pancakes. (Ahhh, ok). So when he cooked for me, it was an immediate electric shock for me. First he added some beer on the mixture, (What?) then using his non-stick Teflon pan he started throwing the pancake up in the air showing all his acrobatic skills. (Wow). He garnished it with champignon, jambon Serrano, cracked egg and some grated gruyere. This is considerable remote from the pancakes I used to enjoy. I was really sceptical about his salty pancake at the beginning. But I was completely smitten from the first to the last bite.

I’ll be sending over this pancake surprise to my dear lovely Susan, the Well Seasoned Cook, for Pancakes on Parade, a delicious homage to pancake event that she is hosting. I hope I am still not late.

Pancake Surprise of Creamy Onion Leeks & Fried Gambas in Cumin
Pannequet de Poireux Fondu et Gambas au cumin

For the pancakes: 125 g of flour a quarter of milk 3 eggs a pinch of salt 50 g of butter 2 tablespoons of beer 1 tablespoon of melted butter for frying

Melt the butter. Beat the eggs as you would make an omellette then pour in the melted butter, beer and milk. Add the salt and the flour. Continue mixing until it becomes homogenous. Fry them in a non stick pan with butter.

For the Creamy Onion Leeks 1 cup of sliced onion leeks 10 cl of fresh cream salt and pepper 20 g of butter 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Heat the pan. Melt the butter and olive oil together. Put the onion leeks and caramelized them over low fire. Pour the fresh cream once the leeks have wilted and changed a beautiful golden color. Salt and pepper to taste. Set this aside.

Fried Gambas in cumin
about 21 pieces of gambas (approximately 2 to three gambas per pancake)
2 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of ginger powder
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of curry powder

In a bowl mix the lemon juice with ginger powder, curry and cumin seeds. Put the gambas and let it marinate for about thirty minutes. Then heat the pan and pour the oil. Fry the gambas for about five minutes.

Assembling:
For every pancake put a layer of creamy onion leeks, gambas and fold it as you would make package. You can tie them using chives, toothpick or some rafia.

It's like life, full of surprises..

You can also try these recipes:

Strawberry Sushi Crepe with minty chocolate sauce
Banana Crepe with Chocolate Sauce

Danish Braid Cranberry Coconut Streusel Toppings

Cranberry Coconut Danish Braid in Streusel Toppings

How sweet is the taste of freedom?

After my self-prescribed one week hibernation in the mountain of alpes due to overblogging diagnosis (zero internet access was the only solution to detox me :-)), I never realised of the jubilant news that was waiting for us when we returned back to the civilization; Ingrid Betancourt, was finally freed.


Her name might be obscure to most of you, but this former colombian senator was kidnapped at the height of her presidential campaign and spent six years of captivity in the jungle of Colombia. Far away from her family and friends. Six years of her life was stolen from her. I hate politics so the reason why I am writing about this has no tinge of political color in it. Just a simple feeling of happiness for someone who has gained back her liberty. Specially when it was taken brutally and inhumanly like that.

How sweet is the taste of freedom? I guess we will never really know until someone takes it away from us. But one thing I am sure of is that a crumb of its sweetness is close to a slice of this freshly baked Danish Braid Cranberry Coconut in Struesel topping. :-)

I hope my bread is not too late fellow DB'ers. By the way a big big thanks to Kellypea and Ben for hosting this challenge! I love it!

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough
Ingredients For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar Zest of 1 orange,
finely grated 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 vanilla bean, split and
scraped 2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH

Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

BUTTER BLOCK 1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature. 2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. 4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Cranberry Coconut FILLING
Makes enough for two braids

Ingredients
1 cup of cranberries 1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons of shreaded coconut

Toss the cranberries and sugar in a large bowl. then let it stand for about an hour Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the cranberries-sugar mixture, 10 to 15 minutes. Cook it until it becomes thick over low fire.Let it cool.


Streusel toppings:
50 g of butter
50 g of sugar
50 g of flour
50 g of chopped walnuts

Mix all the ingredients and use as toppings for your danish braid.

Assembling:

Spread over some cranberry filling on to your uncooked dough, pour over some pastry cream then sprinkle the top with coconut. Close the dough by making an alternate braid like gest on the dough cuts on the sides. Then top it with your struesel toppings. Bake at preheated oven at 200°celsius for about twenty to thirty minutes.

DANISH BRAID Makes enough for 2 large braids Ingredients 1 recipe Danish Dough (see below) For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk 1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet. 2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made. 3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends. Egg Wash Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid. Proofing and Baking 1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch. 2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven. 3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Crumbly on the outside....

Oozingly delicious from the inside

My other Daring Baker Challenges Recipes:

Yulelog Cake
Lemon Pie

Apricot Almond Ginger Confit Devils Cake

Apricot Almond Ginger Confit Devil's Cake

The Devil wears Prada.

I am pretty sure that most of you have read the book or saw the movie. Not that my post will talk about the plight of this helpless Fashion editor assistant, its just simply that I thought about this book as prepare this chocolate cake and that phone call I got few weeks ago. Well you see few weeks ago I received a call from Elle's magazine wishing to feature an article about my fashion brand and my creations. I was ecstatic naturally. But lots of things happened after that that phonecall that has derailed my thoughts and focus. Its been weeks that I am floating and I haven't started things that I needed to do. It is hard when its the brain that's draining up. I know I needed a break so badly. It won't be long it will be just for few days, enough for me to work on my creations and pending projects.

So for this edition of my Friday Dose of Chocolate, I'll be leaving you with a slice of this delicious chocolate cake and a quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous line; I'll be back!


This will be my entry for this month's Royal Food Joust, hosted by Jen of Leftover Queen.

Apricot, Almonds, Ginger Confit Devil's Cake with hint of chili

4 eggs
120 g of butter
100 g of dried apricot (chopped)
150 g of almonds (chopped)
about 2 tablespoons of ginger confit (chopped)
80 g of flour
150 g of sugar
200 g of dark chocolate

for the chocolate ganache
150 g of dark chocolate
10 cl of fresh cream
half a teaspoon of chili powder

Start by melting the butter and the chocolate. Mix them well until it become homogenous. Beat the eggs with the sugar and flour. Fold in the butter-chocolate mixture and mix them well. Put the chopped almonds, ginger confit and apricot in the cake mixture. Grease a round baking dish of about 20 cm, and pour the cake mixture. Bake in the preheated oven at 180° celsius for 30 to 35 minutes. Let the cake cool before unmolding it.

For the chocolate ganache, melt the chocolate and blend it well. This helps your chocolate becomes brilliant and shiny. Pour your warm fresh cream and mix well. Add your chili powder.

How long can you resist?

My other chocolate recipes:

Chocolate Saucisson
Chocolate Creme Brulée

Lasagna Mozzarella Ratatouille

Lasagna Mozzarella Ratatouille

"A failure is a man who has blundered but is not capable of cashing in on the experience."

"My reputation grows with every failure."

I still remember twenty five years ago, when the spelling bee master pronounced the word "mozzarella", It was the end of my dream to finish first place that year. I went down the stage, head bow avoiding all the looks of everybody because my tears were starting to flow. I literally cried a river that day losing to my greatest adversary, the first honor student of our class. It is always so hard to fail, specially when you think you've given your best. And for my child's heart, winning that spelling contest meant everything to me. I cried and I thought it was the end of everything. But of course, I realised eventually as I grow old that life is truly full of failures. Year after year I've known failures of all form. And year after I cry but I am still here. That is what counts.

Eventually I came to realise that mozzarella is a cheese and that it taste good. Eventually I realised that I am really poor in spelling. :-) Ratatouille used to be my password, but I always misspell it so I decided to change it. Anyways, when mozzarella and ratatouille are on my plate all forms of spelling are allowed.

I am sending this lasagna recipe to Hillary the lovely host of this week's Presto Pasta Night, a delicious pasta event created by Ruth.

Lasagna Mozzarella Ratataouille

1 pack of dry lasagna noodles
about half a casserole of your left over Ratataouille
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese
1 can of tomato sauce
salt and pepper

Bing a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook your lasagna noodles. Put your tomato sauce on your ratatouille to add liquid on it. Preheat your oven at 190° celsius. Assemble your lasagna by spreading a layer of ratatouille, a layer of noodles and mozzarella cheese. You can sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese if you want. Bake for 25 minutes covered with foil and another ten minutes without cover.

My other pasta recipes:

Spicy Fettuccine Prawn Curry
Beets, Basil, Riccotta Candy Ravioli in Orange sauce

Homemade Burger Buns

Home-made Burger buns

Yay, Its Wednesday again! Time for my Wordless Home-made Recipes although this time it won't be wordless.

Food sometimes intertwined with memories.

You open a box of chocolate it reminds you of your first kiss. You pour a glass of wine it recalls your first date. Savor your gelato and you’ll remember your last vacation to Italy. Food awakens our senses, comforts it, heals and nourishes it.

As my teeth greedily touch my burger last night, I couldn’t help but reminisce my first misfortunate encounter with this sandwich. You know, when we were kids my dad made a pact to bring each one of us every day of his payday to eat any food that we want. Let’s call this a father and daughter food tripping. His salary wasn’t enough to bring the three of us together so we really need to take turns. When it was my turn I thought so hard what I wanted and so I decided that day I wanted to have my favorite soft ice-cream. I don’t know what happened that day, but probably all my guardian angels were sleeping. That day there was a nationwide power interruption in Manila. We walked for hours desperately trying to find an ice-cream house that has generator. But it was in vain. Before the sunset, our feet and body ceded the crusade. I was crying on our way back home. My dad insisted that I choose another food that I would want to replace the ice-cream with. I was really stubborn on having ice-cream but as we passed by a small makeshift “cheapish” hamburger stall, my hungry stomach did not resist to its calling. It was so good from the first bite and the second one. And as I put the last bite of this burger the electricity went back.

Home-made Burger buns
for about 4 big buns or 8 mini-buns

350 g of flour (about 3 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 teasepoon of salt
5 cl of warm water
10 cl of milk
1 tablespoon of dry intstant yeast (about 10 g)
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I used colza oil)
some sesame seeds
1 egg for brushing the surface

Start by dissolving the yeast in the warm water. Let this mixture stand for about ten minutes. Then on your working table put your flour and make a small well put your milk, salt, sugar and add your dissolved yeast. Mix with your hands gently until its well mixed. Add your oil and continue working the dough. Knead the dough for about ten minutes until it becomes elastic and doesnt stick to your hand. Do not forget to put flower on your hands and on the table to help you kneading the dough. It is advisable to weigh your dough, in that case you will have even sizes for your buns. Cut the dough depending on the number of buns you want and size. Shape them like a buns by getting sides of the dough and tucking it under. Let this dough rise for about an hour and half. Cover them with a towel. Before baking brush them with egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds on the top. Bake them at 200° celsius for about 15-20 minutes for the big ones and about ten minutes for the small one. Cool them in rack.


My other home-made recipes:

Home-made Apricot Cinnamon Jam
Home-Made Croissant
Home-made Yogurt
Home-made Walnut Wine