I have a confession. I love bread.

Any kind of bread : White, multigrain, loaves, buns, sweet and savoury. You name it, I love it. Not good for the waist. but SO good for the tummy. haha of course, there is an abundance of bread here in aussieland. But honestly, what is better than baking your own bread? You could add anything you want into the dough, any combination! And there is something about seeing it rise and proof and punching out the air before kneading it. Therapeutic. Awesome.

one of my favourite breads is no doubt garlic bread. The buttery-garlicky goodness when you bite into the bread could just put a smile on my face every single time. I came across this recipe while recipe searching, and I love the way it’s called. Monkey bread. Just sounds so playful. I’ve seen other recipes of monkey breads, and most of them are sweet ones with cinnamon sugar. So I was thrilled when I saw this parmesan-garlic one!

I loved the whole process. From mixing the dough, watching it rise, cutting it into smaller pieces, dipping it into butter and coating it with the parmesan garlic mixture. Doesn’t it already sound yummy?After making this, now I wanna try making the sweet one. hmm.

So how did we devour them? Have them with homemade roasted pumpkin soup ! (:

So I urge you all to start trying making your own bread. I’ve failed a few times before, and they turned out to be really dense, but they were still yummy! Nothing beats freshly baked bread, and having the whole house smell of it! You will not only enjoy the process, but also enjoy the end product! I don’t think there is anything better than that.

It turned out a little darker than I hoped, but it was still super yummy : warm, crusty, cheesy, buttery and garlicky!

Garlic-Parsley-Parmesan Monkey Bread (adapted from No Face Plate)

1 pkg active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 cups bread flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt

2/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
3 tablespoons freshly minced parsley
Black pepper, tons
10 cloves garlic, crushed, minced

1/4 cup butter

Steps :

1) In your stand mixer bowl, pour one cup warm water. Add your yeast and mix. After a minute or two, add your sugar and mix well and let stand for 5 minutes.

2) Add salt, then while mixing, gradually add your flours. Use a scraper to push the mass into the bread hooks and let it run 5-6 minutes, until a firmish dough has formed. Let the dough stand for 15 minutes, then knead another 2-3 minutes, until the dough’s “skin” is slightly shiny. Remove to an oiled bowl, cover, and let your dough rise for an hour.

3) Mix cheese, herbs, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Melt your butter in a small saucepan and set aside. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

4) Turn out your dough onto a very lightly floured board and here comes the fun part! Pull out about a tablespoon of dough and form a ball. I ended up with about 30 pieces. Dip into the butter, then dip into the cheese mix, rubbing the mix around the entire piece.

5) Place in your buttered bundt pan. Continue until your dough has been used up, filling the pan evenly and flatly. Let the dough rise another 15-20 minutes, until about doubled. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top of the bread is browning.

The fun thing about this is you can pull out the bread bit by bit so easily and just pop them into your mouth! Fun and yummy : Best combination ever! The mr and I had so much fun pulling it apart. haha

ENJOY! (:

The boy loves bread. He would usually have a couple of pineapple buns from Bread Top when he’s hungry or a couple of slices of raisin toast at home! He has been asking me to make bread at home so that we won’t have to buy it anymore. And so I did!

I made two of his favourite types of bread : Po Lo bun (pineapple bun) and Raisin bread !

I suspect my yeast is not working anymore, as my bread hasn’t been proofing on both occasions. Sadly. haha So the bread has turned out denser than I hope, but it was still yummy! (: Gonna buy new yeast and try it again!

the recipes I used were easy to follow and really quite quick besides the time needed for the dough to proof. other than that, you will be able to eat the bread within 35mins of it being in the oven! How good is that? hehe so here’s both the recipes! Hope you all will enjoy it as much as I did!

Po Lo Bun

(Adapted from Kitchen Corner, I doubled the recipe)

For the bread :

300g bread flour

2 tbsp milk powder

1/2 tsp salt

60g sugar

2 tbsp beaten egg

2 tsp yeast

140g water

30g butter

For the polo pastry :

100g plain flour

50g sugar powder

2 pinch of salt

2 tbsp beaten egg

60g butter

Steps :

1. Knead all the bread ingredients with the dough hook mixer for 15 minutes then proof for one hour.
2. Punch out the gas and divide it into 8 portions then rest for 15 minutes.
3. Make the polo pastry: beat the butter until pale and fluffy then gradually add in sugar powder, salt and milk powder.
4. Gradually add in beaten egg till everything combine.
5. Gently fold in plain flour, don’t over mix the pastry. You might find it too sticky, add a little flour but not too much.
6. Divide it into eight portions. I let it sit in the fridge for half and hour. (it would be much easier to handle later on)
7. Take a polo pastry on the left hand and a dough at right hand. Push the dough into the polo pastry from outside to inside by turning the palm of your left hand until 3/4 of the dough has place inside the polo pastry. (follow the photos show at the original website)
8. Place the dough seal side down and egg wash it then use a sharp knife gently draw chequer pattern on the pastry surface.
9. Let it proof for 1 hour then bake at 170 degrees C preheated oven for 25 minutes (till the top is golden brown).

Raisin Bread

(adapted from Table for 2 or more)

Gorgeous recipe and I just added raisins after punching out the air of the dough (:

Bread loaf :

320 gm Bread flour
66 gm whipping cream
162 gm milk
33 gm honey
16 gm butter
3 gm yeast
4 gm salt
30gm egg

75g raisins (or more if you like to have more fruit in your bread)

Topping :

1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp coarse sugar
Egg (to brush)

Method:

1. Knead everything together, except butter for 15 minutes. Add in butter and knead until a thin membrane can be formed when stretched. (I couldn’t really get this consistency!)

2. Cover and let proof for an hour or until doubled. (Mine didn’t, sadly, but i still gave it a good punch haha)

3. When dough has doubled, punch down and knead. Mix in the raisins and divide into six balls.
Stretch each ball long and flat, roll up. Place rolled up dough into a buttered loaf pan.
Let proof until double again.

oops. I did it again. my cravings always gets the best of me. haha (: Well but after seeing how this turned out. I have no regrets whatsoever. Just need to include more exercising in my daily routine, and I am safe! haha.

This is a Rachel Ray recipe. When I am back in Singapore and wake up early in the morning, I would always turn the tv on and catch the Rachel Ray show. I find it really amazing how she can always whip up something delicious and she does it with interesting themes : all things that are from a bottle, or leftovers, or practically anything! Her ability to make or bake something yummy is endless! So when I decided to try another recipe for these delicious little things, and saw that she has a recipe online, I couldn’t not try it!

Sorry I didn’t manage to take step to step photos. I was busy watching tv shows as I was baking these! But I followed the recipe to the tee, and trust me it’s one you would wanna dive right in to! (:

I used two different sized pans. One is a 20X20 square pan and a 18cm round pan. I personally loved how the buns turned out in the round pan. I thought it looks just like a flower. A yummy one, indeed. haha

and I didn’t burn it this time! (: The colour on the rolls were just gorgeous! Was so happy when I took them out of the oven! hehe

So give this recipe a shot as well as the other and let me think which u prefer!

Cinnamon Raisin and Pecan Rolls (Adapted from Rachel Ray Mag.com)

Ingredients :

½ ounce dried yeast (2 envelopes)
½ cup warm water
¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons milk
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
4 to 4½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins + 1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Steps :

1. Combine the yeast and warm water and set aside for 10 minutes.

2. Warm 3/4 cup of the milk in the microwave. In a large bowl, combine 4 tablespoons of the melted butter and the warm milk. Using an electric mixer with a dough hook at low speed, or a wooden spoon, slowly stir the dissolved yeast into the butter and milk. Add ½ cup of the granulated sugar, the egg and the salt, and mix until combined. Add 4 cups of the flour, ½ cup at a time; mix until smooth. If the dough is sticky, add up to ½ cup of flour.

3. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes, place in a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

4. Stir together the brown sugar, the remaining 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and the cinnamon. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to form a 12-by-24-inch rectangle. Brush the remaining 3 tablespoons of melted butter over the dough, and sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top. Scatter the raisins over the dough.

5. Starting with a long side, roll the dough up into a log, jelly-roll style, then cut with dental floss or a sharp knife into generous 1-inch slices. Place in 3 greased 9-inch round cake pans (about 7 rolls per pan). Let the rolls rise for 45 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake the rolls, uncovered, until crusty and golden on top, about 25 minutes.