Ducky Dinner Rolls

Aren't these just the cutest things? I saw this idea over at the Rhodes Bake and Serve website. These would be perfect at an Easter dinner, or any Springtime get-together!

Ducky Dinner Rolls

16 Rhodes™ Dinner Rolls, thawed but still cold
1 egg, beaten
sliced almonds

Directions:

Slightly flatten 12 rolls and form them each into a teardrop shape. Place on a sprayed baking sheet. Pinch the pointed ends to make tails and press your finger into the rounded end of each teardrop to make a deep hole. Cut the remaining 4 rolls into thirds. Shape each third into a ball with a pointed end. Dip pointed ends in water and insert into the finger hole on the body for the head. Brush well with beaten egg. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Remove wrap and pinch tails again. Bake at 350°F 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven. Make a small slit with a sharp knife and insert a sliced almond for the duck bill.

Serves 12.

A Perfectly Poached Egg

Seductive quivering blob asking to be poked.

It's easter this sunday, and I have a dozen fresh local eggs, so this week's going to be an eggs-tremely eggs-citing eggs-perience. Sorry, I couldn't help it hehe.

It'd be a shame not to poach fresh eggs, because fresh eggs really make all the difference between a perfectly formed poached egg and one with the whites running all over the place. Poaching eggs is one scary kitchen task that I took very long to finally dare to do, and being the foodie nerd that I am, researched extensively on. Here's a Guardian article which compares the methods. And after a few delicious (ugly poached eggs are still poached eggs) flops, here's the method I swear by:

Perfectly Poached Eggs

Ingredients

1 fresh free-range egg

a pot of water

a tsp of vinegar

Method

1. Bring the pot of water to a boil, and then reduce to simmer. Add the vinegar.

2. Meanwhile, crack the egg into a shallow bowl (or if you dare, you can just do it straight into the water later, but I'm chicken.)

3. Stir the boiling water vigorously (with a whisk if you like but nah) until you get a whirpool, then gently slip the egg into the centre of this whirlpool.

4. Once the whites form around the egg yolk, take it off the stove and just let it sit in the hot water for a couple of min, or till the whites are set but soft, but the yolk is still raw (tell by sight, not touch!!)

5. Immediately remove with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and serve (e.g. with wilted spinach and generously buttered sourdough toast) or transfer to a bowl of cold water to stop it cooking then reheat in a pan of simmering water.

Singapore Peanut Pancakes (Mee Jian Kuih), Sourdough-style

Yesterday was National Pancake Day in the UK! I love all these silly pancake days and apple days that I never got in Singapore.

In honour of this special day, all the supermarkets were having sales on things like self-raising flour and maple syrup, but when I think pancakes, the first thing that pops into mind are these peanut pancakes that my mum will buy fresh from the local market for breakfasts. Unlike western pancakes, they are folded over, kind of like a sandwich. There are two versions, thin and crispy, or thicker and spongy, and they will have brittle delicate edges. My favourite filling is the original one-- crushed roasted peanuts (not peanut butter!) with sugar and butter, although it's also very common to find them filled with sweet red bean paste (Chinese/Japanese style), or sweetened coconut flakes, or (tsk.) chocolate/Nutella.

I decided to adapt a recipe for sourdough pancakes to make these. There are some very good sourdough pancakes recipes, like this one by the Nourishing Gourmet, but they mostly needed some planning ahead. This one just made use of my starter, which sounded perfect because I wanted my pancakes NOW. My previous try with this recipe made a pancake that was really crumbly, almost like a biscuit, and really salty, so I made quite a few adaptations, after comparing it with the recipes for the non-sourdough pancakes.

Singapore Peanut Pancakes (Mee Jian Kuih), Sourdough-style

will yield 4 wedges (2 -4 servings)

Ingredients

1 cup sourdough starter

1 egg

1 tbsp melted butter or coconut oil (or evoo, if you don't mind that strong olive note in your pancakes...)

1/2 tsp natural vanilla essence

1 tsp of my make-ahead pancake mix (see below)

My Make-ahead Pancake Mix

You can make a larger mix, and keep it in your pantry for fuss-free pancakes on lazy Sunday mornings.

1 part baking soda

3 parts baking powder

5 parts raw cane sugar Rapadura

Peanut Filling

I made mine a "deluxe" version with added crushed walnuts(:

3/4 cup peanuts, soaked and dehydated to get rid of phytic acids

1/4 cup walnuts, soaked and dehydrated

2-3 tbsp raw cane sugar Rapadura

2 tsps of salted butter

Method

1. Toast the nuts over medium high heat, then grind coarsely or just crush the rustic way. Mix with the sugar and set aside.

2. Heat a 9" flat pan over medium heat. Grease.

3. Whisk all the ingredients together well, making sure that you don't get lumps of pancake mix here and there.

4. Add in the sourdough starter and then whisk again, for no more than 30 seconds, and pour in the batter.

5. Roll the pan around so the batter gets evenly distributed. Some of the batter will just run over the sides of the pan a little, and that's how you get that thin crispy edge! This obviously won't work with a too large pan.

5. When the pancake is almost cooked. sprinkle the peanut filling over half of the top and dot with butter.

6. When pancake is fully cooked, flip the empty side over into a half-moon, leave for 1-2 min more than dish out.

7. Cut into 4 wedges. Or if you do this in batches in a small pan, just serve them as half-moon sandwiches!

Oh, biting into the crisp edges and soft doughiness of these pancake "sandwiches" really bring a sense of nostalgia. The aroma of those roasted nuts, together with the sweet raw cane sugar and the salty butter against the new hint of tanginess introduced by the sourdough, is pure joy. Pure joy also, is having the filling fall out all over your plate and frantically scooping them up with your hands and into your mouth, so do be a bit over-generous with yourself (:

If you don't like the idea of a sourdough mee jian kueh, but want to up the nutrition of your pancakes anyway by using wholegrain flour, you could try going ahead with the original recipe. Minus the eggs and leavening agents and add a small amount of yogurt or vinegar then leave the batter to soak overnight first, like at Heavenly Homemakers. I want to try this out, adding the rice flour as recommended by My Kitchen Snippets, which probably will help the pancake be a bit more chewy and springy. Check for future updates ;)

This is part of Full Plate Thursdays, Simple Lives Thursday, Fightback Friday, and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Olive, Tomato and Basil Sourdough Crispbread (or Crackers)

When you've got nice dips and cheese, you want something to scoop them from their containers and into your mouth. There is a fantastic recipe by Katie for sourdough crackers, but I wanted them there and then (or at least soon) and I hadn't added flour to starter 7 hours ago. You can't just pour your starter into the baking tray, because it's too liquid. Or can you? I like sourdough pancakes or crepes, because I don't have to plan in advance, I just mix up some starter with an egg and then pour the batter into a frying pan. Burst of inspiration and primary school-style curiosity. So I made my batter as usual but minus the sweet additions, then once I cooked my pancake, I cut it up and placed it on the baking tray to crisp up. It worked perfectly!

So if you need a shortcut, or shorter-cut at least...

Anyway, I topped mine with some slow-dried cherry tomatoes, black olives, plain yogurt, and fresh basil leaves. THEN as I bit through all those flavours, I thought why not flavour the crispbread/crackers with this combination?

So I chopped up the tomatoes and black olives, grated some parmesan, and added some dried basil to...THREE types of batter. One with egg white, one with egg yolk, one with both. Might as well make it a proper experiment since I already got myself into it.

Olive, Tomato and Basil Sourdough Crispbread/Cracker

Ingredients

1/4 cup starter

1 egg white OR 1 egg yolk OR 1/2 egg (check below for verdict. I recommend the 1/2 egg.)

small amount of grated parmesan

1 tbsp finely chopped slow-dried cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp finely chopped black olives

pinch of salt, pepper, dried basil

1 tbsp unrefined palm oil (or you can use coconut oil. or olive oil even. but I think palm oil helped it to crisp up?)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

1. Mix all the ingredients together except the oil to make a batter.

2. Over medium heat, melt palm oil in the pan, swirl about, then pour the batter in.

3. Cook for about 2 min till set, then flip and cook for another 1 min.

4. Cut into desired shapes. Arrange on a baking tray without overlapping. Put into oven for 20 min till crisp.

My experimental crispbreads.

Verdict:

(from left to right) Results of egg white batter, egg batter, egg yolk batter

The one with both yolk and white gives an in between result. It's more like a crispbread. Bit more depth to the flavour than no yolk.

The one with the yolk gives an almost biscuit-y texture, because the batter's quite dense, you get a very thick "pancake". After baking, when you bite into it, you get a "crunch" instead of a "crack".. do I make sense?

The whipped egg white one gives you a cracker, because the batter's more runny, you get a thinner "pancake/crepe", and crispier result after baking. But (I find) less flavourful?

This is how a "crack" looks:

Lastly, if you don't put them into the oven at all, you get a yummy gently tangy flatbread that actually works great for dips too! For that I recommend the egg white one because it feels lighter and has less..egginess? so the flavours are less confused.

Ok that's all. My old science teacher would be proud.

UPDATE: The crispbreads/crackers don't stay crispy till the next day, so you'll have to pop them back in the oven. I guess that's why you shouldn't do last minute work, but still, if you didn't prep your dough the day before, and will munch them up at a go anyway ..why not hehe.

Jen's Soft Italian Bread Dough

Matthew won't eat Mac and Cheese. He won't eat Spaghetti-O's. He doesn't even like pizza. BUT, he will eat pizza if I make the dough using this recipe. I call it "Jen's Bread Pizza." (You can also use it to make breadsticks.) Jen found this recipe on "Taste of Home." See bottom for credits.

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Jen's Soft Italian Bread Dough

1 cup water (70 to 80 degrees)

3 Tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 cups bread flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Topping (if making Breadsticks)

1 Tablespoon butter, melted

1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

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Directions:

1. Put water, butter, salt, flour, sugar, Italian seasoning, garlic powder and yeast in the bread machine pan.

2. Select the dough setting (after a few minutes, check your dough. Add 1 to 2 Tablespoons of water or flour if needed to get the right consistency).

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For Pizza:

Once the dough cycle is complete, roll the dough onto a cookie sheet (cut in half if desired) and add pizza sauce and toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

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For Breadsticks:

1. Roll on a floured surface. Cut in half. Then cut each portion into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 4 to 6 inch rope. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 20 minutes).

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Immediately brush with butter and sprinkle on the parmesan cheese. Serve warm.

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"Soft Italian Breadsticks." Christy Eichelberger. Taste of Home. http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Soft-Italian-Breadsticks.

Lion House Rolls and Honey Butter

John had a birthday last week, and knowing he has a thing for the Lion House Pantry restaurant, Katie and I grabbed him and made a bee-line to the home of these famous rolls! We all swore to pass up all the delicious entrees next time and fill our plates with nothin' but these rolls and honey butter. :-)

Use this recipe to make them at home! Wait. That might not be a good thing....

Lion House Dinner Rolls

4 points per roll

2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees F)
2/3 cup non-fat dry milk (instant or non-instant)
2 Tablespoons dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup butter, shortening or margarine (butter is best for flavor)
1 egg
5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, or bread flour
oil for bowl

In bowl of stand mixer with flat attachment combine water and milk powder; stir until milk dissolves. Add yeast, then sugar, salt, butter, egg, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed.

Add 2 more cups of flour; mix on low speed until incorporated, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. (Dough will be getting stiffer so switch to kneading attachment at this point). Work in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is soft, not overly sticky, but workable and not stiff. (You probably won't use all the flour).

Scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl and pour about a tablespoon of vegetable oil down the sides. Rotate the dough ball so that all sides are covered. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise til double in size (about 45 minutes).

Flour a surface for rolling out the dough and turn the dough out. Roll and cut as desired and place in a greased pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise again until double in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place the rolls in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Brush tops with melted butter immediately when removed from the oven. Serve warm with honey butter.

NOTE: The Lion House cookbook suggests rolling the dough into a rectangle that is 8 inches by 12 inches then cutting that once down the middle the long way, then cutting that into two inch wide strips (to make 12 2 inch by 4 inch strips). Then just roll the strips up from their short end and place into the pan seam side down. It will look like you rolled individual cinnamon rolls and placed them in the pan on their sides.

Makes 1 to 1 1/2 Dozen Rolls

:::

Lion House Honey Butter 

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup honey

Whip softened butter. Add vanilla and honey gradually. Beat for 20 minutes or until light and fluffy. Makes 1 cup.

 

credits:

Lion House Bakery book cover

Lion House rolls rising

Lion House rolls recipe