Food Time: Hokkaido Milk Bread

Ok, so I've been obsessed with bread since God knows when. And of course, being Asian, I love and grew up eating Asian bread. So when I moved here, it was a rare thing to find Asian bread, unless you go to Asian markets (even that, I wasn't too happy about it)... Until 85C Bakery in Irvine & Rowland Heights popped up. Irvine was the first one. The line for the bakery can take about 30 - 40 minutes, especially on the weekends. Usually when I'm there, I would purchase $30 worth of bread. Yes, bread. They get consume within 2 days. 

After researching, I finally found out the name of the bread that I've been craving: Hokkaido Milk Bread. Apparently it originates from Japan, specifically Hokkaido, where they use Milk in the bread. Apparently, their quality of milk is very superb too! Yum.

Anyways, I grew up eating bread with fillings... My favorite will always be Chocolate and Banana... so of course I made some. 

So I tried out 3 different recipes. The first 2 I made while watching the election. And all, with the power of my bread machine. Yes. I love that thing to pieces. NO tired arms here.

Apparently the key to yummy Asian bread is this: TANGZHONG. It's a paste that you can make yourself that keeps the bread so soft and fluffy. It's so easy to make. 

Another key ingredients that I paid attention was Heavy Cream. Yes. Heavy Cream. In your bread? Yes. And also Powdered Milk. Gosh, the smell of the bread out of the oven = heaven.

This is the first batch. Recipe is this one. This turned out so dense. You get full just eating one. It was too heavy for me. I don't know if it was the recipe or I made a mistake somewhere during the process. I wasn't happy with the results, even though it tasted so yummy, I started to make another batch from another recipe.

Now, this was the Victory Bread. Why? It turned out so good and at the same time, Obama was announced President again. I used this recipe, with the addition of the Tangzhong. It didn't called for it in the this recipe, so I had to adjust the amount of flour. I was like, "WTH" when I saw how liquidy and soft the dough was in the machine. So I believe I added another 1/4 cup of bread flour to the dough.

For my 3rd attempt, I made this out of sadness and boredom after dropping Robert off to the airport. Yes. Depression and sadness leads me to the kitchen. True story, hahaha... Now this one turned out awesome. Also, I added fillings, like I said, to half of the dough (I doubled up THIS recipe). One thing was that I should've baked it a couple of minutes longer, but I was impatient and was getting worried that my bread was gonna browned too soon (A Tip I read was that, on the 20 minute mark, I should've create a Foil Tent to the pan so the bread won't browned too much and let it baked for another 10 minutes.)

This one I filled with a 1/4 slice of a banana and Ghiradelli's Chocolate Chip. Yes. It was great. 

As happy I was with the results, I'm still not satisfied. I want to learn to make it again. I have to do more research. I'm still curious on how to make the outside/crust as soft as the inside... You know, like the King's Hawaiian Rolls. Soft all around. Now if I reached to that point, bombizzle. 

Anyways, here's my way of rolling the bread.

Option for filling: You can insert your filling of choice in the middle of the dough before you roll it up like a swiss roll :)

Seriously, if ANYONE has ANY TIPS on how to make mah bunz soft, please share!!! I'm desperate. If it wasn't for my Mother's continuing rant on how Carbs can make you fat, I would probably be in the kitchen again trying to make more bread!

Who loves bread?

Bread Kisses,

Rima

Experiment Time: Hokkaido Milk Bread

I've been obsessed with this bread for some quite time. Well, I'm Asian... So I was raised with Asian bread: soft, milky with a hint of sweetness.

So after googling around and going crazy, this is my third attempt on making these special bread.

Stay tune. My second attempt turned out great.

xo, Rima.

Food Time: Chocolate Carrot Beet Pulp Bread (and Playing Nurse)

And I know you guys are thinking... JUICE PULP? You're not the only one. Mother thought the same thing... like, "Rima... Seriously?"

As you may know, I've been juicing lately... For the past 2 months, even though it's off and on. I love the way the juices (esp the Green Juice) make me feel. I feel rejuvenated and there's that boost of energy. What sucks is that I waste all the pulps, you know, where all the fibers are.

A couple of days ago, I took care of a Cancer patient. She had stage 4 Colon Cancer. What amazed me was her energy. She had this ball of vibrant energy that you rarely see in a stage 4 cancer patient. She had a percutaneous nephrostomy tube that we had to exchange because of the low output (it's a tube that is placed in the kidneys to drain urine because of obstructions that blocks the urine to your bladder). Her energy was contagious. As we were finishing up her procedure, my doctor gave her some good news... the output to her tube is low because her tumor is shrinking, thanks to her treatment. The look on her face was awe-ing. She was full smile and was so thankful to us and to God. 

Then I dropped her off to her room and we chit-chatted on the way. She said she juices. I told her the same. Homegirl said she juices and bakes the pulp because she doesn't like to see food go to waste. I've heard about this before but never attempted to do so. 

When I got home, I did some research and came up with this recipe. I made it this past Saturday with the thought of that patient I took care off. I drank the juice (it was Beet, Carrot, Apple and Cucumber) and saved the pulp to make this bread. 

Ms. Super Energy, this one is for you. Girl, the bread turned out super moist and yummy. Awesome for breakfast.

You don't need a mixer for this. Just a whisk, a spatula and some muscles. 

Chocolate Carrot Beet Pulp Bread

makes 1 bread. Yum.

What you need:

• 1/4 cup of Cocoa Powder
• 1 3/4 cups of All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp powdered Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 3/4 cups packed Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup Apple Sauce
• 1 Ripe Banana, mashed
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 Eggs
• 1 cup of Juice Pulp
• 1 cup of toasted nuts (I love Almonds) - optional

Heat Yo Oven @ 350F. Spray a 9x5x3 loaf pan with Baking Pam or do the old fashion way by greasing it with butter/margarine and dust with flour. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg until combined, set aside. If your nuts are raw, toast them in the oven for 10 minutes and let it cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar and oil. Add apple sauce and mashed banana and mix to combine. Then mix in the Juice Pulp until combined evenly.

Fold in the dry ingredients in to the wet one, do not overmix. Fold in 1/2 cup of the nuts (if using)

Pour in batter in to loaf pan and sprinkle the top with the rest of the 1/2 cup of nuts, if using.

Bake for at least 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Meanwhile take pictures of your dog posing, waiting to play with you.

Once out, let the bread cool in the pan on top of a cooling rack for 10 - 15 minutes. Reverse to let the bread out, cut and enjoy.

Definitely the texture is dense, let's say comparing with Banana Bread. The cool thing is that you can't taste the beet, carrots nor cucumber. They make the bread moist. Mm, gosh I love moist breads. 

Thanks to Ms. Super Energy for inspiring me to make this bread.

If you decide to give it a try, let me know. I'm curious how this bread would go if the pulps had like kale or spinach. Gah. Sounds gory though.

Food Time: *Vegan* Strawberry Banana Bread

As you know, I went Vegan, and I'm trying to do it for the month of February (Monday - Friday; weekends, I'll try to be as Vegan/Vegetarian as possible, if situation allows!). So far I'm on my day 5, and yes, I cheated on my vegan self by eating brown rice & ikan teri (those little anchovies) that my mum made last week. They were so spicy, I almost cried. 


To counteract my decision, and being the crazy little baker, I decided to make a vegan sweet dish. After browsing around, I came up on to cakeduchess.com and decided to try her recipe. I did modified to what I have on hand, and the bread came out sooo soft and moist. Crumbly to the bones. Did not disappoint. Even my sister, Icha, who stopped by with her hubs, Vino (thanks for stopping by) loved it. Yay.

look at the strawberries!! yum!