Bonjour! Bon Appetit!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Bread and Butter Pudding

An English favourite. A simple bread pudding spiced with a tinge of cinnamon, complete with a rich, creamy vanilla sauce.

Ingredient List for Bread and Butter Pudding

Serves 4

8 slices of bread

85g raisins

a pinch of cinnamon powder

4 eggs

2 tablespoon vanilla essence

500 ml milk

250 ml cream

50 g butter

Ingredient List for Vanilla Cream Sauce

2 cups milk

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla essence

Firstly, preheat your oven. Prepare an ovenproof baking dish, slightly greased with butter. Next, spread butter on the bread slices and arrange them in layers, in the baking dish, with the buttered side up. You may slice the bread into half to fit it into the baking dish. Prepare a bowl, then mix the eggs, sugar, cinnamon powder, vanilla essence. Add in milk and cream then continue mixing.

Once it is evenly mixed, pour it into the baking dish that was stacked with the slices of bread earlier. Sprinkle some raisins on top, then bake it at 180 degree celsius for 30 minutes.

To give richness to the bread and butter pudding, I have also prepared vanilla cream sauce. Firstly,add the egg, vanilla essence, sugar and milk into a small pot. Over low heat, whisk the mixture together. The milk and the egg proteins will curdle and produce a thicker consistency. However, you have to continuously whisk the mixture to avoid skin from forming on the surface of the milk. Once you have achieve the consistency required, remove the pot from the stove.

Serve the bread and butter pudding on a plate and drizzle it with the vanilla cream sauce. Genius!

At 4:47 PM

Baked Penne

A simple baked pasta recipe. Penne baked in rich, creamy homemade sauce with mushrooms and chicken chunks.

Ingredient List

Serves 4

50 ml flour

50 g butter

500 ml milk

3 cups dried penne

60 g boneless chicken, sliced

1/2 cup dried button mushroom, soaked

1 cup shredded mozarella cheese

salt and pepper, to taste

For this recipe, you will need an oven. Be sure to preheat your oven before you start. Firstly, you have to prepare your pasta. Boil the pasta of your own choice. In this case, I have chosen penne. Cook it until it is al dente.

Now you can start preparing the Bechamel sauce. The thickening agent used to prepare this sauce is roux. Start by melting your butter. The purpose of melting the butter is to clarify it, ensuring that any water is evaporated. This is to retard gelatinisation so that the roux will not clump. Next, flour is added. Stir the mixture while still heating it. Once you get a thick consistency, remove the pan from the stove and put it aside. Do not overheat the roux as it will turn dark brown. We are aiming for a lighter coloured(white or blonde) roux for this sauce.

Then, pour in milk into a pot. Simmer the milk for about 15 to 20 minutes. Keep on stirring the milk as you do not want the milk proteins to curdle and form a skin on the surface of the milk. Next, add the roux into the milk. At this point, you still have to keep on stirring the mixture to prevent lumps from forming. You will notice that the sauce will continue to be more viscous. You can now add salt and pepper to season the sauce.I have also added some chicken chunks and dried button mushrooms that have been soaked. Add Mozarella cheese or any cheese of your own preference.

Lastly, mix the pasta into the sauce. Once done, transfer the mixture into a baking tray. Coat the surface with a layer of cheese to get a nice crust on the surface after baking. Place it in the oven and bake it at 180 degree celsius for about 15 minutes.

Serve the pasta on a plate while they are still hot. Enjoy!

At 2:45 PM

Monday, April 6, 2009

reference:http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=angel+cakes

As we all know, baking spongecakes does not require any shortening or leavening. Similarly, angel cakes do not require any form of leavening too. The only difference is that spongecake uses the whole egg, while angel cake uses only egg whites.

At 5:36 AM

As the sponge cakes are considered as unshortened cakes, the structure of the cakes derived from egg protein. These are the chemical changes that occur in the making of the sponge cake.

When eggs and sugar are whisked, the mixture becomes thick and fluffy. While whisking, air is incorporated into the mixture, thus forming a foam. However, egg whites have the potential of forming a more stable foam than egg yolks or whole eggs. Sugar, on the other hand, helps to stabilze the beaten foam. Next, flour is folded in. This method will trap extra air in the batter to retain the volume. It is advisable to fold the flour in gently so as to avoid the air bubbles from being popped, lest the cake will not rise when baked. Flour also contains proteins,gliadin and glutenin. When water is added to the flour(in this case, eggs contains water), it will hydrate the starch granules, thus forming a gluten. Gluten traps and hold air bubbles. During baking, the stretched gluten becomes rigid and the moisture is evaporated, thus contributing to the cake's structure.However, structure of unshortened cakes such as the sponge cake, depends mostly on the egg proteins than gelatinization. Lastly, the cake tin is greased and dusted with flour to prevent the cake from sticking to the pan.

Next,Wholemeal flour, which is made up of bran's coarse granules, cut the gluten strands. This results in the decreasing volume of the spongecake. Therefore, it does not rise like the one where the plain flour is used.

At 3:44 AM

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Flour supplies a large proportion of the nutrients required by our bodies to ensure growth and health.Flour is an excellent source of protein, vitamins, fibre and complex carbohydrates, and is low in fat and cholesterol.
The whole wheat grain is used to make wholemeal flour, while white flour is made only by using the central part of the grain, which is about 75% of the grain.This is because, about 30% of the bran, germ, fat & minerals are removed. Often, plain flour is fortified with the minerals that are lost.

Wholemeal flour provides 310 - 340 kcal/100g, depending on the type. It is naturally low in fat. It provides protein, a range of vitamins, particularly the B vitamins thiamin and niacin, and a range of minerals.

Eggs, contain high biological protein, that contains all the essential amino acids. Eggs are also good sources of vitamin A and iron.

At 10:08 AM

Sunday, March 15, 2009

End product using plain flour: