I would like to think that I am a good baker but if there is an area that makes me nervous, it is making bread. Yes, I am yeast-challenged or at least used to be until a month ago when I started experimenting again. I once told my chef instructor that learning to make bread was one of the reasons that I am attending the class but I was told that in the world of baking there are two groups and you can be master of one: (1) cakes and pastry and (2) bread. Oh yes, not to mention a sub of group (1) – cake decorating. So, I gained confidence in cakes and pastry and have made all the pate brisee from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking but have only succeeded in making two breads: Christmas Stolen and Focacia.
So how did I restart growing yeast? A trip to the Philippines enabled me to buy a few Filipino cookbooks where I found a recipe for siopao (steamed Chinese meat buns). I tried it and immediately felt that the soft white dough would be a success. Well, many siopaos later and a recent reconnection with my friend Mitos, who is a bread-advocate got me inspired to try again. I would be happy to just learn two traditional Filipino breads, pandesal (salt bread) and ensaimada (cross of French brioche and Spanish Majorcan). As Mitos, sent recipes to try, I also started cross-researching in my collection of cookbooks and the internet, doing ratio comparisons for flour and fat content and making my improvisations to make the recipe taste to my liking. Soon my neighbors started getting freshly baked bread and my husband and I now have rounder faces to show what’s baking in the kitchen. I can now make pandesal, focacia, cinnamon roll and a wonderful sweet bread that turned to a dinner roll, hotdog bun, ube bread, etc. Viola! I am in bread-heaven business.
These days, I am still in search of the perfect brioche to transform into the perfect buttery and flaky ensaimada that would remind me of home. And this entry has gotten too long as well. I could here my husband telling me that my next sentence should be “Oops, I’ve got to make dinner now.” So, I end this blog so I can make dinner and have another piece of the cinnamon roll that would be the perfect ending to this rare-snow day in Dallas.
So how did I restart growing yeast? A trip to the Philippines enabled me to buy a few Filipino cookbooks where I found a recipe for siopao (steamed Chinese meat buns). I tried it and immediately felt that the soft white dough would be a success. Well, many siopaos later and a recent reconnection with my friend Mitos, who is a bread-advocate got me inspired to try again. I would be happy to just learn two traditional Filipino breads, pandesal (salt bread) and ensaimada (cross of French brioche and Spanish Majorcan). As Mitos, sent recipes to try, I also started cross-researching in my collection of cookbooks and the internet, doing ratio comparisons for flour and fat content and making my improvisations to make the recipe taste to my liking. Soon my neighbors started getting freshly baked bread and my husband and I now have rounder faces to show what’s baking in the kitchen. I can now make pandesal, focacia, cinnamon roll and a wonderful sweet bread that turned to a dinner roll, hotdog bun, ube bread, etc. Viola! I am in bread-heaven business.
These days, I am still in search of the perfect brioche to transform into the perfect buttery and flaky ensaimada that would remind me of home. And this entry has gotten too long as well. I could here my husband telling me that my next sentence should be “Oops, I’ve got to make dinner now.” So, I end this blog so I can make dinner and have another piece of the cinnamon roll that would be the perfect ending to this rare-snow day in Dallas.
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