Baking Tips For The Beginner : Yon Ban

Yon means Four in Japanese.
Ban means Number.

Sebenarnya saja nak praktif bahasa Jepun selepas sekian lamanya meninggalkan bahasa Jepun. Topik hari ini berkenaan dengan TEPUNG. Yezza, tepung. One of the main ingredients in baking cakes and biscuits.

There are so many variety of flours in the market. But, what make them differ?

What's the Difference? 

Cake flour, Pastry flour, All Purpose Flour, Bread flour

The similarity of all of these types of flour is they are made from wheat.

What makes them different is how they're milled, what kind of wheat they're made from, and even what time of year the wheat was harvested. The most distinguished difference is protein content for each types of flour.

Protein content is related to how much gluten can be formed using each particular flour. Gluten helps create structure and determine texture in your final baked good. Flours with low protein contents will generate less gluten and flours with high protein content will create more.

* Flour with very little protein is used to get the light and airy structure of cakes.

* To obtain the dense chewy structure of bread, flour with a lot of protein is needed so that you can create as much gluten as possible.

Here is the approximate protein content of all the common types of flour:

Bread Flour: 14 - 16%

All-Purpose (AP) Flour: 10 - 12%

Pastry Flour: 9%

Cake Flour: 7-8%

The exact protein content varies by brand, by region, and also by country.

While having different types of flour in your pantry would be very convenient, however, it just isn't practical if you don't use them on a regular basis.

Keeping just all-purpose flour and corn flour in your pantry cabinet would save you from wasting your food supply (and your money of course!)


How to make cake flour substitute:

Take one level cup of AP flour, remove two tablespoons. Then add two tablespoons of cornstarch back in.
This method will give you a cup of cake flour!


Note: Be sure to sift the flour to distribute the cornstarch well before using it in your cake batter. When added to all-purpose flour, cornstarch will inhibit the formation of gluten while also giving structure and 'sponginess' to your cake.


Source:
http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-cake-flou-745…
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#‎AmateurBaker‬

Baking Tips For Beginner: San ban

Fundamental: Types of Sugar

Sugars are broadly fall into two categories; brown and white sugars.

White Sugar: 

a) White Granulated Sugar

- White sugar has had all of the naturally present molasses refined out.
- Most commonly used in baking.
- The fine crystals in granulated sugar don’t cake together, which makes it perfect for measuring, sprinkling onto food and dissolving into drinks.
 

b) Confectioners' sugar/ Powdered sugar/ Icing sugar

- Granulated sugar that has been finely ground and mixed with a small amount of cornstarch to prevent caking.
- Commonly use for frostings, glazes, and for that snowy covering on doughnuts

c) Coarse sugar or Decorating sugar

- Coarse sugar has a much larger crystals than regular white sugar. The larger size of the crystals (about the size of pretzel salt) makes the sugar stronger and more resistant to heat.
- This type of sugar also helps to give baked goods or candy a little texture.
- Mainly used for decorating and comes in a rainbow of colors.

d) Caster Sugar
- These sugars have the smallest crystal size of white granulated sugar.
- Generally used in making delicate or smooth desserts such as mousse, meringues or puddings. It also is great for sweetening cold beverages because it doesn’t need heat to dissolve.


Brown Sugar:

a) Brown Soft Sugar (light and dark)

- Brown sugar is white sugar that has had cane molasses added to it.
- The two types of brown sugar, light and dark, refer to the amount of molasses that is present.
- Light brown sugar is what is used more often in baking, sauces and, glazes.
- Dark brown sugar, because of the rich molasses flavor, is used in richer foods, like gingerbread, fruit cakes.
- Both brown sugars can harden if left open to the air, so it is best stored in an airtight container. If your brown sugar has hardened, you can microwave it for a few seconds, or place a piece of bread in the bag and leave it for a day.

b) Muscovado or Barbados Sugar
- Muscovado sugar is a type of British brown sugar.
- It is very dark brown in color and has more molasses than light or dark brown sugar.
- The sugar crystals are a little larger than regular brown sugar and the texture is stickier.
- Used in sweets with rich flavors such as gingerbread, coffee cake, and fudge.

c) Demerara Sugar
- Demerara sugar is a large grained, crunchy sugar that hasn’t had all of the molasses refined out.
- Great in tea, coffee, dissolved into hot cereals or sprinkled onto baked goods.

Sources:
http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/types-of-sugar/
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/sugar
‪#‎AmateurBaker‬

Baking Tips for Beginner: Ni Ban

Chocolate Tempering

Chocoretto!!! Osihi desune..I am already drooling by thinking of chocolate.

Who can avoid chocolate dessert? No one can refuse chocolate.

Chocolate cake..
Chocolate mousse..
Chocolate truffle..
Chocolate brownies..

                                                                        

The most crucial part in making a high quality of chocolate dessert, such as truffle or dipped dessert,  is chocolate tempering. Chocolate tempering is a method of increasing the shine and durability of chocolate couverture.

However, you don't have to temper the chocolate if you are baking or going to consume the melted chocolate immediately. A high quality tempered chocolate will give you the finest snap and sheen. But, if you don't want deal the hassle of tempering, you can just use untempered chocolate.

The temperature at which well-tempered chocolate melts is much higher than untempered chocolate because the fatty acid crystals in tempered chocolate are locked together tightly—it takes a higher temperature to pull them apart.

Dark Chocolate: 46 – 60° C

Milk Chocolate: 40 – 45° C

 White Chocolate: 35 – 40° C 

Note: be very careful as the high milk and sugar content in white chocolate will cause it to burn easily.

Two classic ways of tempering chocolate are: 

a) using tempering stone

Traditionally, chocolate is tempered by pouring some of it on a tempering stone and worked into a "mush" as it cools. It results in the most glossy, crisp chocolate that will set with the most reliability and is recommended for the most demanding chocolate work. Before using, make sure the surface is a cold, clean and dry. If necessary, cool it by wiping with cold water and then dry it thoroughly, as tiny beads of water left on surface will cause the chocolate to seize.1

An example of using tempering stone:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMjU9Nnz_oQ

b) "ice cube" method

The melted chocolate is cooled by "seeding" or mixing in discs or wafers of solid chocolate because they are at a cooler room temperature of 68 to 70°F. The molten cocoa butter also does a kind of follow-the-leader and arranges itself after the fashion of the "seeds", which are already tempered by the manufacturer. Then, reheat the chocolate in double boiler so it will harden with a perfect consistency. When it reaches the desired temperature, the chocolate is now tempered. Test the temperature by placing a dab just below the lower lip. It should feel just warmer than warm milk.1

An example of "ice cube" method:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q2FLl3rXP4


References:

1.  http://www.chocoley.com/resources/about-tempering-chocolate

‪#‎AmateurBaker‬
‪#‎SehariSatuTip‬

Baking Tips For Beginner : Ichi Ban

I have started this #BakingTipsForBeginner on my Facebook post a few days ago. Then, I thought why not sharing these tips in my blog so that everyone can gain knowledge from this sharing. There are several cooking websites and blog I used throughout my amateur baking lesson and I put the links in each post so that you guys look up for more details later.

Watching Yumeiro Patissiere really make me feel motivated. How much each character in the anime loves baking and everyone wanted to become a great patissier badly. I even have the thought about opening my cake shop in future. One day. Hopefully.

Anyway, today Baking tip would be:

Egg & Cake

a) Separate yolk and egg white.
First, cream the butter and sugar until combined. Then, add the yolks into the batter. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until you get soft peak meringue. This meringue will be added into the cake batter at the end before you bake the cake. This technique will give you a nice fluffy cake.

b) Combined yolk and egg white (ie not separating them)
Adding whole eggs into the creamed butter and sugar mixture will give you a moist cake.

‪#‎AmateurBaker‬
‪#‎SehariSatuTip‬

For Those with Sweet Tooth (and those who aren't as well)

Open for Order! 
(Area Kota Bharu & Pasir Mas, MALAYSIA only)

Lots of people have suggested me to take order for biscuits and cakes. Since I am currently unemployed (penanam anggur tidak bertauliah),  I have decided to give a try. Yes I know there are lots of bakeries in the town already, plus, individuals who are taking orders for cakes and biscuits. Still, I want to give chance to try my hardwork. 

My elder sister is on sugar-diet at the moment and she is successfully prohibiting herself from eating my brownie and cookies up to today. So, I need new people to eat my works. Bhahaha! To me, baking is more like a self-rewarding exercise and a test for my patience.

Okay, back to the main topic. Here is a big collage of collections of biscuits, brownies and cakes:

Biscuits: 

a) Biskut Lidah Kucing / Rainbow Langues de Chat Biscuits - RM 20/ 50 pieces

    

b) Almond Slices - RM40/ 50 pieces 

-Ps: harga pasaran almond mahal..

c) Tart Nanas / Pineapple Tart - RM 30/ 50 pieces

d) Biskut Red Velvet / Red Velvet Biscuit  -RM 25/ 50 pieces

Tarts:

a) Mini Chocolate Fruit Tarts 

- RM 0.60/ per piece (discounted price if purchase more than 100 pieces)

b) Mini Custard Fruit Tarts 

 - RM 0.50 / per pieces (discounted price if purchase more than 100 pieces)

Brownies: Tray size: 8 inch x 8 inch

a)  Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

   -RM 30 per tray

b)  Chocolate Gooey Brownies

  - RM 28 per tray

  - RM 32 per tray (with your selected choice of nuts)

c) Salted Caramel Chocolate Brownies

  - RM 32 per tray (8 inch x 8 inch)
  

d) Marble Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies 

- RM 32 per tray

*will upload the picture soon 

Cakes:

a) Fruit cakes (My mom secret recipe hiiiihii)

- RM 30 per kg

 

 b) Kek Lapis Kukus Asam Manis

- RM 35 per kg

c) Kek Lapis Pelangi with Cheese Frosting

- RM50 per kg

- Setiap lapisan kek disapu cheese

 

Although rainbows got 7 colours, I managed to layer up 6 colours only.

d) Fruit Flan Cake

- RM 30 per kg

With fresh whipped cream frosting and toasted almond flakes

 How To Order:

Just text/ Whatsapp me at +60148477916 or email me at zayana.mahmood@gmail.com

Payment: Cash On Delivery

Locations: Kelantan only (Kota Bharu & Pasir Mas) - for now

Happy tummy, Happy Mind....

Almond Slices

Two words to describe the perfect Almond Slices; Crunchy & Nutty. Baked at the right temperature for the right amount time. My fourth times of baking this biscuit. I have to admit that it will be quite costly to bake this biscuit in Malaysia. Because of the almonds flakes. Here, 200 grams of almond flakes would cost me Euro 1.99, the most expensive, yet important, ingredient for this biscuit.
However, satisfying the crave for its bitterness, crunchy nutty biscuit comes first. I loves nuts and that explains the 'nutty'. I used Bournville cocoa powder, hence explained the bitterness.

Ingredients:

260 g butter
185 g icing sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon of coffee paste
400 g plain flour (to be sifted)
1 tablespoon milk powder (to be sifted)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (to be sifted)
15 g cocoa powder (to be sifted)
180 g almond flakes

Methods:

1. Cream the butter and icing sugar until the mixture becomes white and fluffy.
2. Add egg and coffee paste. Whisk again.
3. Add flour, milk powder, baking powder and cocoa powder into the mixture gradually. Mix well.
4. Divide the dough to 8 parts. Roll each small part of dough until it becomes like a cylinder with approximately 3 cm in diameter. Put all rolled dough on a baking tray (lined with baking paper) and then store them in the freezer for 1-2 hours.
5. After 1-2 hours, take out the dough and slice them thin. Arrange the sliced dough on baking tray. Bake at 175 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes.

Red Velvet Cookies

Sashibouri desune..

Here I am..craving for cookies. I tried to bake this cookie last year but it was only half success (which also meant HALF-FAILURE). But to my surprise, my aunts and uncle liked them a lot. I decided to try it again today. It turned out nicely this time. Personally, I do think this cookie is too sweet. So, if you are not a sweet-tooth type of person, try to reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon corn flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 egg Grade A
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons red colouring
3/4 cup white chocolate chip

Methods:


1.       Sift all plain flour, corn flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
2.       Cream the butter and castor sugar until the mixture becomes white and fluffy using medium speed whisk.
3.       Add egg, vanilla extract and red colouring. Mix well.
4.       Add the sifted ingredients and half of chocolate chips. Mix again using spatula.
5.       Refrigerate the dough in the fridge for 15-30 minutes.
6.    Use an ice cream scoop to scoop the cookie dough and arrange it on the baking tray (line the tray with baking paper first or grease it using butter). 
7.       Bake the cookies at 160°C for 15-20 minutes or until the surface of the cookie is no longer stick to your finger when you touch it. 
8.    The cookies will be soft once you take them out from the oven but they will become harden as they are allowed to cool. Keep the cookies in airtight container.