Spent the morning yesterday kneading dough and stirring my jam before work. I’m a little addicted to bread-making because I feel it relies more on estimation and experience rather than precise metrics like pastry. Makes it a little more interesting than simply just following a recipe. So when I embarked on an easy ciabatta recipe that required only olive oil, water, salt, bread flour and yeast, I only referred to the recipe for a rough estimate before making my own judgement wrt to the amount of flour added along the way. Ciabatta dough is supposed to be very wet so don’t be surprised if you can’t work with it properly. I found it impossible not to add more flour but experienced bread-making bloggers suggest otherwise. My bread didn’t have the thick chewy crust that I love of a ciabatta. And unfortunately for 2 out of my 3 loaves, I tried to pat them into prettier rectangles because my knife wasn’t sharp enough so it ruined them after slicing. I suspect this destroyed the beautiful aeration inside that I usually look for when eating ciabatta. It was still fluffy like normal toast (hence I refrained from calling it “ciabatta” in my title haha), but it missed those huge holes (due to fermentation) that I like to see! My third loaf which I didn’t have to shape turned out beautiful though. It looked exactly like the insides of a proper ciabatta I get commercially

I won’t be providing the recipe that I used because I deviated quite a bit from it. But click here for the link to a recipe that I want to try! Wild Yeast is a great blog which is very serious about artisan-breadmaking at home I love it. Spent a good hour just reading the notes and research done in this blog.

In between proofing my dough I also made a simple blueberry-lime jam. Had a leftover Australian lime from a previous baking session which was begging to be used so yes I dreamed up this combination. Didn’t use commercial pectin and whatever and bind the jam- relied on the natural pectin in the lime rind and also sugar. I was so happy that my jam could set into a ‘spreadable’ consistency since it still looked watery when I poured it out of the pan. I cooked and stirred for almost 20 minutes, occasionally jacking up the heat to bring the mixture to a rolling boil- not sure if this is correct or the most efficient way but haha, it worked! It took 2 punnets of blueberries and 1 huge Australian lime to make a small jar of jam. So the cost price is about…. 8 bucks? :O I’m planning to make strawberry-vanilla jam next with real Madagascan vanilla pods. I wonder how much that would cost haha.

I think the funniest part was when I sliced some bread and spread jam over it for my grandma. She thought the jam was store-bought and was instead fussing over the bread. But when she realised the jam was home-made too, her facial expression was priceless

Happy long weekend folks!

Alfero Gelato has a new outlet @ Lorong Kilat which is also just a few doors away from my workplace. If you haven’t already guessed, I’m working at Carpenter & Cook! Will dedicate a post on their pastries once I get some decent photos

Between, gelato, ice cream, sorbets, sherbets my favourite is actually gelato for its less creamy, denser (almost sticky) consistency, and smooth texture. In singapore I guess most places and people use these terms inter-changeably but Alfero Gelato seems to take it quite seriously and I actually LOL-ed when i saw their chalkboard:

This is honestly in large part a misrepresentation of ice cream. In our era of artisan ice cream, ice cream parlours like Tom’s Palette will balk at ingredients like powdered milk, additives and basically anything artificial.

Double Scoop, $7

Anyway, Alfero Gelato did not disappoint with their smooth and thick gelato. Great mouth-feel and if you are the type who hates “chunky-ness” (the extreme being B&J’s chunky ice-creams) you’ll love Alfero Gelato. Even their Pistachio is smooth without any gritty pistachio chunks. I had nuts about you - a mixture of nougat, hazelnuts and almonds- and tiramisu. The former was a really lovely blend of nutty flavours with a couple of gritty bits here and there. Not too sweet and suitable for those who are very unadventurous with their food. The latter boasted alcoholic hints of their Marsala wine. Also good for those who like less sweet desserts because the Mascarpone nicely balances the sweetness in this one. Unfortunately I was hoping for a couple of coffee-soaked chunks of ladyfingers. This is my favourite part of a tiramisu so I was quite disappointed that they missed it out- even if they are trying to keep to the original, unadulterated smooth texture of their gelato.

Previously I tried Pistachio and Mango which were both packed with flavour.

I do agree that Alfero Gelato serves gelato like no other in SG- at least for what I’ve tried so far. I love the thick, smooth, and non-icy texture of their gelato. But of course, the choices range beyond gelato haha. I’ll just do a brief list of places I frequent here:

Tom’s Palette: Chocolate Stout (favourite), Melt & Sizzle, Black Swirl, Milk, Pistachio, Buttered Pecan… Maybe I should list the flavours I don’t like lol. They have been serving very affordable ice cream without compromising on quality or variety all these years. If you haven’t visited, please do.

Creamier: Pistachio!!

Haato: Black Sesame, Yuzu (very very tart)

Azabu Sabo: Green Tea Ice cream (favourite)

Udders: Botak Coconut Sherbet, Strawberry Fields, Rum Rum Raisin

Daily Scoop: Hei! Sesame, Strawberry Shortcake, Salted Mr Brown

Scoopz: Jackfruit

Hoshino Coffee: Green Tea parfait (softserve)

(N.B. favourites are those that I have had more than 5 times, i.e. I really like these flavours)

Keeping the traveling plans to a minimum because I want to catch up with all my hobbies. Everyone talks about how exciting traveling is and how much they grow as a person- all true. But there’s a time for everything and sometimes it’s pretty awesome to laze around in bed, do the things that you like and feel time slip through your fingers without having to worry  one bit

Make sure you chill the green tea bit long enough till it becomes stiff. Ours was a little runny haha, hence the slightly messy swirls. For a prettier representation, look at Vintage Trinket’s! 

Yesterday the friends and I baked again. My favourite recipe was the Matcha Brioche from Vintage Trinkets adapted from Foodbeam (now Like a Strawberry Milk refer to my Links). Chelle did an awesome job at styling- I’ll never have the patience to do these things because all I want to do is EAT when my stuff gets out of the oven. Break bread, give thanks and munch it. See the steam rise as you tear apart the brioche, taste the crustiness and soft, airy insides, bite into the grassy green matcha swirls, pair with a mild tea like chamomile. There, I’ve provided you with a standard operating procedure already.

Check out that beautiful crumb (:

Another very successful recipe was the Earl Grey Loaf also from Vintage Trinkets adapted from Piggy’s Cooking Journal. Honestly I think it would have been better if I steeped the Earl Grey in milk (it didn’t make sense to steep two tablespoons of milk though haha) and used better leaves but I had to work with what I had

And I do agree that following the original recipe yields a loaf that is a little dry. It was perfect- moist, soft with a fine crumb- when we first took it out of the oven and immediately ate it, but the remaining… 2 slices haha.. dried out a little after a few hours. A solution would be to clingwrap it straight after it cools so that the moisture doesn’t get lost or you can do what chelle says, and increase the milk to 3 tablespoons and tell me how it goes heh. The awesome thing about baking pound cakes at home is you can use really good quality butter (it’s a worthwhile investment trust me). So far all the pound cakes I attempted at home have yielded a very fine and soft crumb. Such a far cry from store bought pound cakes. The only issue I usually have is keeping the cake moist and I guess that boils down to the proportion of liquid in the batter recipe and the amount of time I keep it in the oven. Time carefully, watch for the split of the loaf cake and u should be fine

We also attempted a pumpkin pudding but that didn’t turn out so well because the caramel was way too overcooked (my fault), the pudding slightly underbaked, and I think we agreed that the texture was too one-dimensional. Though I must add that I actually like the texture, and flavour of the pudding alone. I think this pudding would work well with a cheesecake base. Technically it’s actually not very different from how we bake a cheesecake anyway so I don’t see why I can’t adapt this into a cheesecake recipe.

Anyway, lots of plans for the coming days. I’m in the midst of finishing my research project (I must finish this by tomorrow), working part-time at the cafe too (I’m happy to report that I can now handle cashiering haha. No more panic attacks), and I’m flying off to Switzerland next week. A little tired thinking about the flight but looking forward to meeting the friends and traveling to Dijon with my parents (: It won’t be a long trip but it might be pretty tiring since we are doing a fair bit of hiking. I’ll be lugging my DSLR this time to capture the beauty of the Swiss Alps. Wish me luck!

They have many outlets in Paris- I tried them at Montmartre and the Tuileries Garden- and all over Europe.

I did like the thin noodles though. Love the texture- which you can customize. my default is always “hard”. Other than that…. it was a really ordinary bowl of ramen haha.

I think I’m we’re just bored with the taste of Tonkotsu Ramen, and Ramen in general. Take my criticism with a pinch of salt ya?

Another thing that screams gimmicky is their “green tea” cola. It’s basically cola colored green no kidding! You can give it a try for free if you show them this fb picture on your phone (click here, offer till end of may 2013). Cute bottle though haha.

N.B. Bugis village is next to bugis street, and this stall is along the same row as fastfood chains like KFC and Macs. There is a queue at around 7. Arrive at 6 and you’ll be just fine.

If you like your ice cream rich, super creamy and smooth, Creamier is for you. Overall I still prefer TP’s lighter creations that tend towards the gelato end of the scale but I must say Creamier’s Roasted Pistachio was so packed with flavour that our faces lit up when we tasted it. The ‘is this for real??’ kind of look. The amazement came partly because I know how hard it is to infuse the flavour of nuts into ice cream/ gelato. Before this my favourite renditions were those from Tom’s Palette and Alfero Gelato but Creamier’s was so much more flavourful with the addition of chopped up roasted pistachios for an extra crunch. 

I think the cream cheese added (according to the sign) might have played an important role in accentuating the pistachio flavour. This is a combination I’ll explore when I have the time (pistachio cream cheese cupcakes maybe?).

Another flavour that impressed was the Earl Grey Lavender. As I mentioned before, lavender and stout are two flavours that I’m interested in this year and I’m happy to report that Creamier showcased the floral notes of the Lavender beautifully, offsetting it with the smokey, roasted flavour of the Earl Grey.

Also tried their Sea Salt Gula Melaka which wasn’t too interesting to me. Still, the texture of the ice cream was consistently silky smooth.

Creamier’s waffles were yummy too. Crusty on the outside with airy buttery insides. I still prefer Liege waffles (sugary crusts are the best) but for a normal waffle, Creamier does a very good version of it.

Everything cost us $13.50, which is inclusive of a 25% discount due to the rainy weather. Creamier is located in a ulu hdb estate so don’t panic if you see that most of the shops are closed.

We like Canton Paradise. Well mum likes it a lot given the fact that she had been there a number of times with her colleagues and still bothered to bring me here on a weekend. Hard not to like actually, given the relatively cheaper prices compared to its sister restaurant which is also one of our favourite dim sum places, Taste Paradise. (N.B. Our favourite dim sum places (in terms of price, taste and convenience) are  Taste Paradise, Crystal Jade Golden Palace, Imperial Treasure Teo Chew Cuisine and Silk @ SICC) 

My favourite was obviously their liu sha bao. Their bun was perhaps not as soft as TP’s, but the filling was just as good. I think Imperial Treasure and Victor’s Kitchen are two other worthy competitors but the oil in their filling tends to separate, especially for the latter. Not so for TP or CP- the filling is always smooth, thick, savory and not too sweet.

Their XO carrot cake is also another must order. Though the XO sauce is definitely stronger at TP, there was an abundance of preserved radish bits, leeks and beansprouts in CP’s version (which I love). Both deep fry the huge cubes of carrot cake for a texture that is different from those of hawker centres.

XLBs are a miss, don’t bother ordering it. The crispy pork bun thing, a copy of Tim Ho Wan’s signature item was good enough for me . It’s pretty big, almost palm-sized. I would have liked more filling but the crusty-sweet topping which came really hot out of the oven was so more-ish that I wiped out two of them.

They have a number of carb options. The noodles and char siew were tummy-fillers, nothing too spectacular.

I thought their bread and butter pudding was delicious. Buttery chunks of croissant with pockets of eggy pudding-like custard holding it all together- comfort food! If it isn’t moist enough for you, feel free to drizzle some of that chilled vanilla bean custard.

The pear tart was pretty to look at and good too. More-ish and pretty light actually because it’s largely made up of the pears.

The coffee chiffon cake was ginormous but very light as well. The chiffon was  airy, soft and moist, the last being the hardest to achieve and they nailed it.

A common thread that runs through all the desserts we had is that they were not too sweet. I suppose this is something most adults would appreciate.

J and I immediately made a U-turn for my back-up plan- Hoshino Coffee. There was a queue but our table for two came within 5 minutes. The menu has a pretty sizable selection of savouries and sweets. Picking the pancake souffle and Parfait were no-brainers given that the display of these desserts up front looked so enticing. Fuwawa souffles kept coming out from the kitchen in quick succession so we decided not to miss out on that either. 

The savoury souffle was cheesy, creamy- lets sum it up in one word, rich-and texture-wise, foamy. J who had never eaten a souffle before this was pretty fascinated so I brought her through the ingredients and process of making. She hates egg whites but noted there was no “protein taste” to this. There was also baked rice underneath cooked in some tomato base. Honestly I won’t be able to finish this on my own due to the huge portion and one-dimensional taste but sharing works! We loved it and scrapped every last grain out of the ramekin.

The pancake souffle is like a mega thick version of hotcakes (this is not a criticism) with the addition of a crusty exterior. The soft serve was a good choice because the pancake basically soaked up all the melted ice cream making it all the more delicious. Mangoes were surprisingly yellow yet very firm and tart (please don’t tell me they are canned…)- didn’t like it but finished it anyway.

My favourite though, was definitely our green tea parfait. A work of art this was. Haven’t tried the tsujiri one though I think i’ve heard and read enough to know how it tastes already haha.

Here the green tea soft serve was creamy, and bitter. They were really generous with the red bean too (always a plus point for me) with red bean paste inside the glass as well. I would loved to have more of that sesame tuile though which was aromatic and crunchy. I’m definitely replicating this at home soon.

What we didn’t like were the chunks of banana inside that seemed odd and out-of-place. Please don’t throw leftovers from your banana parfait into our green tea parfait tyvm.

I was inspired by the bouquets-in-the-making at my workplace so I decided to attempt one on my own. Went for bright, summery colors- yellow, pink and green. I wanted to keep it a secret so I sneaked into the yard to place the long uncut flowers into a pail of water with the helper. Unfortunately the attempt backfired with my mum thinking there was an intruder haha.

Anyway happy mother’s day to all mums out there! We appreciate you ladies everyday but I guess today is the day to make it a public declaration.

And mum if you are reading this, continue being the workaholic, shopaholic, and sleepaholic mum you are. When I grow up I want to be just like you