Apricot Oats Milk Loaf

Went grocery-shopping during the National Day weekend and saw these juicy dried apricots. Now if you know me well, you will know that I don't fancy taking dried apricots on its own. But my children love it the moment my mum introduce this snack to them.

Having said that, I'm ok when it is cooked/baked with other ingredients. So I decided to buy some apricots for my children 'cos it's really a nutritious snack, packed with many benefits.

Apricots are available both fresh and dried form and are equally nutritious in their content. Apricots are a rich source of antioxidants which are essential in aiding the body's natural functioning. 

So I was thinking of what bread to bake today for tomorrow's breakfast and the idea of using the apricots that I bought came to me. I was dicing the apricots when my son came into the kitchen and asked what I was doing. When I explained that I was dicing the apricots for bread, my son gave me a hug to thank me and promptly went to announce to everyone the new bread that I was making. Aw....

This recipe is very similar to my Honey Oats Milk Loaf that I did last week, with some slight modifications.

Results - Soft, sweet bread with refreshing fruity taste. The apricot bits and rolled oats gave the bread some texture. Mmmm....taste good, feel good.

Looking forward to the kids' verdict in the morning.

Here's the recipe...

Apricot Oats Milk Loaf (Makes a 450g loaf)

Using Donlim Bread Maker

220g bread flour

30g cake flour

75g dried apricots, diced

30g rolled oats

30g butter

5g instant yeast

100ml full cream milk

2 tbsp milk powder

2 tbsp honey

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg

Directions

First put the milk, egg and honey into the bread machine container.

Add in the rolled oats, milk powder and flour, making sure they cover the wet area completely. In the centre of the flour pile, make a small well and add the yeast.

Set the bread machine to menu function 1 (white bread function) and set the loaf weight and how well you want the bread to be. In my case, I selected 450g loaf and medium done on my bread. This whole cycle takes about 2 hours and 53 mins.

After 5 mins into the cycle, add in the butter and the salt.

After about 10 - 15 mins into the cycle (timing may differ with other brands of bread machine), the machine will beep for you to add any nuts or other ingredients to the dough. Add the dried apricots in at this point.

When bread is done, transfer the container to cooling rack, inverted. When cooled, remove loaf from container. Sliced loaf to thickness as desired.

Hope you will enjoy this bread!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Tasty Honey Oats Milk Loaf

It's time for the bread machine again. Been doing quite a bit of cakes recently and the hub asked if I'm going to make anything on the bread machine this week.

Since I'm feeling a little tired today, decided that the bread machine is just perfect for me. Just dump the ingredients, go out for my tuition and when I'm back, bread is done! :)

Pardon me if the pictures this round looks a little blur as I had just changed a phone while my original one goes to repair. I'm still trying to get use to the phone so the pictures may look erm....blur. Plus I need brushing up on my food photography skills. The other blogs that I read, I always envy their pictures. They just seem so good! Sigh, sometimes I feel that even my son takes better pictures than me!

Anyway, back to the topic. This recipe is again another simple recipe using the bread machine. The sweetness of the honey plus the wholesome feel of the rolled oats, makes this bread hearty and healthy!

Here's the recipe...

Tasty Honey Oats Milk Loaf (Makes a 450g loaf)
Using Donlim Bread Maker

220g bread flour
30g cake flour
5g instant yeast
30g rolled oats
30g butter, room temperature
100ml full cream milk
1.5 tbsp milk powder
3 tbsp honey
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg (large)


Directions

First put the milk, egg and honey into the bread machine container.

Add in the rolled oats, milk powder and flour, making sure they cover the wet area completely. In the centre of the flour pile, make a small well and add the yeast.

Set the bread machine to menu function 1 (white bread function) and set the loaf weight and how well you want the bread to be. In my case, I selected 450g loaf and medium done on my bread. This whole cycle takes about 2 hours and 53 mins.

After 5 mins into the cycle, add in the butter and the salt.

After bread is done, transfer the container to cooling rack, inverted. When cooled, remove loaf from container. Sliced loaf to thickness as desired.

I couldn't wait to try the bread, so once I'm done slicing the bread, I quickly took a slice. This bread is already nice on its own and when I spread on some jam, it taste equally great! The sweetness from the bread is not overpowering which is good for me as my family don't like their food to be too sweet.

Do give this recipe a try if you have a bread machine at home and wondering what bread you can make with it.

Happy bread making! :)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Black Sesame Bread Loaf

Ever since I started using my new bread machine, I have been racking my brains to try to come up with creative, new flavors that will impress my kids and erm....the hub. When I announced to the hub that I was going to buy the equipment to "help lighten my load" and bring healthier food to the table, he was skeptical and predicted that it would be another white elephant. I was so determined to prove him wrong!

Fast forward to a few loaves later, the hub is seriously impressed and looks forward to my weekly loaves of bread. Of course, that has a consequences as it would mean I have to constantly try new flavours so that we have more variety (as promised by me.... >_<  ) Ah...the woes of a home cook!

This black sesame bread loaf was one of those experiment that I did and I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Sweet but not overpowering taste of the black sesame and the bread was soft and moist even till the next day! Even my elder son, who do not like to eat anything black sesame, took a taste and declared it nice! Such great compliments from him and it really made my day!

This bread is not overly intense in flavor and is nutritious as sesame has many known nutritional benefits like cholesterol-lowering effects, prevent high blood pressure, protect liver from oxidative damages, supports vascular and respiratory health etc. So let's introduce more sesame to our diets for a healthier lifestyle!

Here's the recipe...  

Black Sesame Bread Loaf (Makes a 450g loaf)
Using Donlim Bread Maker

100ml full cream milk
1 egg (medium)
30g butter
50g raw sugar (castor sugar can also be used)
3g salt
15g milk powder
250g bread flour
30g black sesame powder (I used the black sesame drink powder from Taiwan - found in cold storage)
4g yeast


Directions

In the bread machine container, add the ingredients in the order stated above, making sure that the salt is at one end of the container and the sugar is on another end.

After adding the dry ingredients, make a well in the flour pile and add the yeast.

Using menu function 1 (standard white bread function), choose the loaf weight and how well you want the crust to be. In my case, I select 450g loaf with medium done crust. This whole cycle of the loaf will take about close to 3 hours.

After the bread is done, transfer the container onto a cooling rack, inverted. When cooled, remove bread from container. Sliced to thickness as desired.

The bread is nice enough to be eaten on its own, especially when it's fresh out from the bread machine. However, you might like to spread on some butter or cream cheese spread and it will taste just as wonderful!

Hope you will enjoy this recipe!

Happy bread-making!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Soft White Bread Using Bread Machine

I bought a bread machine sometime ago but was so busy to give it a "opening ceremony" until a couple of days ago. I was thinking of what bread to do on my first try as I have gotten a few bread machine recipes. In the end, scardy-cat me decided to try the recipe that comes with the bread machine first. That will be more or less fool-proof! :P

End-results - the bread is soft and has a slight sweet fragrance to it. I left aside a slice of bread to test the softness and the bread started to harden a little by the next evening. So all in all, this is a pretty good recipe to keep.

After I posted the bread pictures, I was pretty surprised that quite a few people asked for the recipe and of course, I am very happy to share it here with everyone. However. due to the different brand of bread machines, do check on your dough after it kneaded for around 20 mins and adjust the amount of flour and water accordingly (1 tablespoon at a time). :)

Here's the recipe...

Soft White Bread Using Bread Machine (Yields 450g loaf using DonLim BM1230 Bread Maker)

Recipe from DonLim Recipe Book

240g bread flour

36g sugar

1/3 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp milk powder

16g butter

1 egg

120g water

5g yeast

Directions

Add the ingredients to the bread machine in the following order:

- water

- egg

- salt (at one corner)

- sugar (at another corner)

- butter

Add the bread flour to the machine, ensuring it covers the whole wet area.

Make a small well in the middle and add the yeast. Ensure the yeast do not touch the salt.

Using Menu 6 (soft bread function), select the colour of the crust and the loaf size. For my case, I chose medium crust and 450g loaf.

When bread is done, take out the bread tin and invert immediately on a cooling rack and leave to cool. Once cool, unmount it from the tin by tapping at all sides of the tin and slide the loaf out.

Loaf is good to leave outside for max. 3 days, that is if it lasted that long. If you want to keep longer, store in zip-lock bag and refrigerate.

Enjoy! 

Honey Mustard Chicken Burger with Caramelized Onions and Creamy Mushroom

The hub is going overseas for a couple weeks due to work and the elder kid is studying hard for his Science examination, so I wanted to make something special for them to give them some encouragement.

Both of them like a little heat in their burgers and sandwiches. In fact whenever we are in Subway for a meal, the two of them never fail to order their subs with honey mustard sauce and sweet onion sauce. So I decided to bring the flavors to them at home - Honey Mustard Chicken Burger with Caramelized Onions. Then I become greedy and decided, why not also add in creamy mushrooms for the vegetable intake! Haha...

Here's the recipe...

Honey Mustard Chicken Burger with Caramelized Onions (Makes 5-6 burger patties )

To make the patties:

500g minced chicken
1 egg
4 tbsp honey mustard sauce
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tbsp dried parsley (can also use fresh finely chopped parsley)
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

For the burger bun:

5-6 burger buns
Caramelized onions
Creamy mushroom
5-6 slices cheddar cheese
Butter to spread
Butter-head lettuce (optional)


Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the patties. Using hands or a spoon, mix until well combined.

Take a small portion of the mixture and shape into a patty and set aside. Continue the same until all used up.

In a heated frying pan, add some cooking oil. When the oil is heated, add the patties into the pan. Cook each side approx. 5-7 mins, making sure it is browned before flipping.

Dish up the patties and drain off the oil using a kitchen towel.

Take a buttered burger bun and place one slice of cheese and the creamy mushroom.

Put a patty on top of the bun. Top with caramelized onions and lettuce (if desired).

The hub and son loved the burger. The hub even complained that the caramelized onions not enough! A sinful and filling meal that is simple to do and great in taste!

40 mins Spicy Tuna Mayo Buns

It is a ritual for me to go onto Facebook everyday to browse through dishes done by others and salivate. It is to the point that the hub has begun asking "So what's new today?" or "What's the latest food craze" But the hub and the in-law has commented that I have started to experiment more on food recently (Which I think the hub is secretly happy cos I'm not doing net-shopping as often as before.)

So recently the craze was to do bread and in fact a 40-min bread. Unbelievable as it seems, I began seeing posts by posts of others trying out the recipe. Is it really workable? I ask myself. So I went out to buy the ingredients and started doing it one late night after the kids were asleep. Turn out, the bread were fantastically easy to make and soft even on the next day! The hub and the kids loved the bread and asked me to do more the next time.

That made my day.

To make this wonderful and easy bread, here's the recipe.

40 mins spicy tuna mayo buns (Makes 9 - 12 buns)
Recipe adapted from Domestic Goddess Wannabe

1 cup plus 2 tbsp (280ml) warm water or milk
1/3 cup (83 ml) oil
2 tbsp (16g) instant yeast or active dry yeast
1/4 cup (56.25g) sugar (I used raw granulated sugar)
1 1/2 tsp (9g) salt
1 egg
3 1/2 cup (476g) bread flour
1 can of spicy tuna mayo

Directions

Heat oven to 220 degree Celsius.

In your mixer bowl combine the water, oil, yeast and sugar and allow to rest for 15 mins. Using your dough hook, mix in the salt, egg and flour.

Knead with hook until all incorporated and dough is soft and smooth. This will take a few minutes. The dough will be sticky.

Oil your hands and transfer the dough to your oiled workstation and knead it one to two times and it will become easy to shape. If the dough is too wet, add a little flour and knead a few more times.

Form dough into 9 - 12 balls (Depending on how big a bun you want). Flatten each ball with a rolling pin and add 1 tbsp of spicy tuna mayo and seal the dough. Place the buns in a greased  9 x 13 pan and allow to rest for 10 mins.

Glaze with egg wash . Bake for 10 - 12 mins or until golden brown.

Cheesy Hotdog French Toast Roll

Recently I started having the habit of browsing through the web and YouTube to search for recipes and ideas. It has become sort of a routine everyday for me after I drop my younger son at school. It was at one of the websites that i saw another French Toast recipe that is in roll form! Didn't think of that before so when my elder son woke up feeling hungry, I decided to give it a try, again with the ingredients that I have at home! Something to note here, I did mine savoury as my son prefers it that way, you can change to make it a sweet snack.

Turned out perfect and topped with maple syrup, my son wolfed it down in mins! ;)

This is a keeper for me, easy and yummy!

Here's the recipe...

Cheesy Hotdog French Toast Roll - Serves 2 - 3

6 slices of bread (of your choice)
2 eggs
6 cheese hotdogs, pre-soak with hot water
2 tbsp. milk
Black ground pepper (to taste)
2 tsp. mirin (optional)
salt (to taste)
grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tbsp. butter

Directions

Pre-soak the hotdogs in hot water for approx. 5 mins so that it can be "cooked" as the cooking time for the French toast roll will be rather short so if you skip this procedure, your hotdog will still be cold.

Remove the crust of all the slices of bread and flatten them with a rolling pin. If you do not have a rolling pin, you can use a bottle. I used my thermal flask but do remember to wrap your bread with cling wrap to keep them clean before you start rolling.

Place a hotdog on each slice and sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese. Can use any other cheese that you have.

Roll it tightly and place aside. Do the same for the rest of the bread.

In a deep dish, whisk together the eggs, milk, mirin, salt and pepper.

Heat the frying pan and add the butter, making sure that the pan is evenly greased.

Coat the bread with the egg mixture evenly and let the excess drip off. Place in frying pan.

Cook each side approx. 3 - 5 mins, making sure it is golden brown before flipping.

The French toast roll with be golden brown on all sides.

Served hot with maple syrup.

  

Bon Appetit!

Ham & Cheese French Toast

Saw the post from 365 days of Baking & More for Banana Nutella Stuffed French Toast and was itching to try out the recipe. However, didn't managed to buy any banana so I improvised the recipe with a couple of my kid's favourite ingredients - Ham & Cheese!

You can do it for breakfast or simply just as a snack. Drizzle with maple syrup or honey, this dish is a winner anytime with both adults and children!

Here's the recipe...

Ham & Cheese French Toast - serves 2 - 3

2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Approx. 3 tbsp. buttermilk
2 tbsp. flour
6 slices bread (you can use any bread you want, I used white or wholemeal bread most of the time)
3 slices of cheddar cheese
3 slices of picnic ham (thickly sliced)
butter or margarine spread for the bread
1/2 tbsp. butter

Directions

In a dish (preferably deep one), whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract.

Add in the flour and buttermilk and mix well.

Heat a frying pan using small to medium heat. (In my case, I use the Happycall pan so very little butter is needed. Please adjust according to the pan you are using)

Prepare the bread by spreading some butter or margarine on all 6 slices of the bread.

Place the cheese and ham each on 3 of the slices of bread and cover with the other 3 slices to make a sandwich. Gently press together.

Add some butter to the frying pan and spread it so that the surface area is covered.

Take one sandwich and dip it in the egg batter to a count of three. Gently turn over and do the same on the other side of the sandwich. Allow excess to drip off and place on the preheated pan.

Cook for 3 - 5 mins on one side, making sure it is golden brown before carefully flipping. (please adjust cooking time according to pan using)

Cook on the other side for another 3 - 5 mins.

French toast will be golden brown on both side, with the cheddar cheese melting inside.

Verdict by my son : Super!

Will be making this again and again!

Meanwhile, will be going to try the Banana Nutella Stuffed French Toast from 365 Days of Baking and More very soon!