i made pizza.

What prompted me to create a pizza was having some fromage frais in my fridge.I wanted to use it in a savoury manner.Thus, the idea of a pizza was born. No tomato sauce here, its a PIZZA BLANCA. An all white pizza. I really like this very much. The tart fromage paired real well with the salty cheddar. Plus, come sweetness from the onions and the inviting aroma from the basil...man it was devine!

After combining the 1st crust and allowing it to rest, i got paranoid that the yeast may be dead and I won't have bready crust and more like a a pancake thingy. SO i formed another dough. in the end, I had 2 sets of dough. the original dough was a wet dough while the 2nd one was alot less wet. I par-baked both and freeze the 2nd dough( its stillhhhj in my freezer) since i do not need to eat to giant pizza on my own. i could...but some control please!

crust:

3/4 cup flour(95-99g atta)

16-20g vital wheat gluten

1 tsp yeast

-combine, add water, mix well till u get a dough

-cover bowl with a wet towel, rest 30-45mins

-notes: dough is ready when u make an indent w your finger and it stays there; do not over-rise!

-notes: i like my dough slightly wetter

-on a non stick baking paper, flatten out dough into a pizza

-notes: dip fingers in water to prevent stick since this is a wet dough

-parbake the crust in a hot hot hot oven(250degreeC) for like 5-8 minutes

topping:

1st layer: fromage frais/blanc(abt 150g)

2nd layer: sliced onions, basil leaves, some salt

3rd layer: 1/3-1/2cup cheddar

-bake at 210degreeC for about 5-10 minutes, WATCH the oven!

-remove from oven, tear and eat up!

open sesame, its all yours

How to savour this pumpkin dish to the max.

1. remove the pumpkin cap, smell the aroma that escapes the interior of the stuffed pumpkin
2. lick the base of the cap so you get a taste of the stuffed stew, eat the cap
3. slide your spoon into the stuffed filling, scrapping the sides of the pumpkin and stirring it into the stuffed stew
4. scoop out the filling,
5. spoon in mouth, eat and partake in a succulent experience
6. finish off the meal by tearing and eating the stew soaked pumpkin skin. hands are welcome
   

For the stuffing, i used chayotes, onions and seitan with sage, rosemary and thyme which I cooked over the stove just a little since they get cooked again in the oven. I wonder If I could skip this step in future.

Next, I prepared the pumpkin by carving out the top into a cap and then scrapping out the seeds with a spoon.

Following that, I spooned the filling into the hollowed pumpkin and added some of the liquid used to cook the seitan.

Finally, I replaced the cap and prop the whole thing in the oven at 200degreeC for about 30mins and then 170degreeC for about 15mins. ( this works for about a 800-900g pumpkin). I tested by using finger to press on the pumpkin to see if its soft. Once it was soft, then I lowered the temperature.

A truly heartwarming satisfying dish.

a better cheesecake, cottonsoft cheesecake

This is the closest I was able to get to imitate commercial Japanese cotton-soft cheesecake. The cheesetaste is very apparent which is good since some cotton-soft cheesecake tend to boarder too much on a spongecake scented with cream cheese. Its also a little more dense the the other cheesecake I made which was more souffle-like.

I adapted the recipe from here.

125g cream cheese
90ml skim milk
50g pumpkin puree
120g cauliflower puree
30g flour(atta)
20g cornstarch
1/4tsp stevia(=1/4 cup sugar)
-combine all of the above together

3 egg whites
cream of tartar
-whip till peaked

-fold ino cream cheese mixture(in batches!)

-line a 7inch pan( make use that the sides are higher as the cake will rise) and wrap pan base with aluminum foil

-pour in batter

-place pan in a hot water bath, cover top with foil

-bake at 150degreeC for 45mins

-leave to cool on oven for 1 hour( i only did 10 mins, may explain why it shrunk some)

-unmould immediately upon removal from fridge and refrigerate before slicing

notes:

• next time, I shall remove the top foil earlier so the cake can brown
• leave longer in the oven upon baking!

sweet and sour, not the chinese stir fry

As I opened the oven, the smell of tangy lemon essence infused the air. I was excited because I did not use any lemon extract or essence in this baking endeavour, yet the lemonyness was undeniably present.

I had some concerns when I was making these awesome lemon bars. When I was pressing the base into the pan, I thought there would not be crust to cover the pan base and that I would end up a a cracker thin crust. I was also worried that the topping was too thin, resulting in nothing more than a thin layer of lemon glaze on top. and then I worried if the bars were going to be too swee when I added the sweetener, and then I worried they would be too sour as I added the lemon juice (squeezing all that lemon juice sure does "eat" your hands!). What a worrying-filled baking experience. There is always some degree of worrying going on when one bake, especially when baking a brand new creation. But man, this was double the normal amount of worrying.

Thankfully, my concerns were all unfounded.

• the crust was of the right thickness
• the topping was much more than just a glaze
• the topping was a balanced combination of sweet and sourness

1stly, make the base:

1/2 cup besan flour (46g)
1/4 cup flour (33g atta)
3 tbsp equivalent sugar (stevia)
1/4 cup equivalent butter (pureed pumpkin)
-combine flours and sugar
-add butter (pumpkin) in portions and mix till all ingredients are combined
-press into a lined 8x8 pan and bake at 180degreeC-10-15 mins
-notes: i did not use up all the pumpkin; added a little bit of water

topping:1/3 cup sugar (sweetener)2 egg white

1 yolk (pumpkin puree-abt 2 yolks amount)

1 tsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice (32g)

baking powder

-beat all ingredients together till thoroughly combined ( will be somewhat foamy)

-pour onto par-baked crust and bake 20 minutes

-notes: when out of the oven, the top may be a little hard/crunchy to the touch; it will soften as it cools)

these lemon bars are freaking awesome! I ate the entire pan after dinner. ( except for a tiny weeny bit which my dad stole. haha)

pecfection not yet attained

This was a no bake cheesecake. I love how it looks with its baby pink appearance garnished with occasional smudges of pure white. The white parts were not intentional though, it was because I failed to prperly combine the mixture that brought about this rather pretty design . Blessing in disguse. The cake definitely still need some work. I am posting the recipe i used here and the adjustment i intend tio make the next time i attempt this no bake cheesecake.

a block of cream cheese, softened, diced
2 cups homemade cool whip
2/3 cup boiling water
2 tsp agar powder( used a red colour one)
strawberry essence
1/2 tsp stevia(= 1/2 cup sugar)
-combine boiling water with agar, stawberry essence and stevia over heat until throughly combined.
-make the cool whip and portion out about 2 cups
-continue whipping as you add hte cream cheese to the portioned out cool whip
-stream in the dissloved agar mixture
-pour into pan( 9 inch pie pan) and refrigerate.

i felt that the cake was too firm and not sweet enough. the texture was a little to agar-ish.

changes I will make in future:

• reduce amount of agar used so cake will be less firm and more creamy-ish ( try 1 tsp)

• increase amount of sweetener ( try 3/4 tsp sweetener)
  

don't get flat no more

A tub of cool whip here cost around the region of $10. So I was real pleased when I discovered I could make my own cool whip for a fraction of the cost. All I needed was:

skim milk (about 200-250ml) + 0.5-1 tsp (xanthan gum)

-use a mixer and go on high for about 4-8 minutes there about.

-mixture will get foamy first before eventually reaching a cool whip texture

-this makes s much, like 5 cups or more!

As I whip the milk into its infancy minutes, I wondered if it was going to work or is this all just wishful thinking on my part, the mixturue just look real...foamy. But patience was the name of the game. Half way through, the foamy milk showed serious signs of evolving into cool whip.

However, my glee was short-lived. This cool whip copycat has a life span of approximation 2 hours. Beyond 2 hours, it starts to deflate and return to foam-like texture. This sort of ruined a no bake cool whip cheesecake I tried to make a day in advance. Taste was not affected, but it kind of cause the cake to have a odd gooeyish texture.

BUT, my said disappointment was well, short - lived. I saw on another site that one could stabalise whip cream with the use of gelatin. Light bulb moment: I have fake cool whip, which is like whip cream, I have agar, which is like gelatin. Maybe I could do the same. So I did, and.......it worked! STabalised long lasting homemade Cool Whip! Heck Yeah! I have used it for like a bizillion things, like:

Topped it on crustless pumpkin pie

stir it in to some proats( makes oats 10x yummier!)

added rosewater and use it in a (failed) meringue roulade

stir in some pumpkin and you get pumpkin mousse

make a no bake cheesecake

or just top it with some cereal!( used the leftover from the pumpkin pie)

Chocolate, meet Orange

Chocolate. Orange. They compliment each otherexceptionally well. The first time I tried this combination, it was when I baked a cake. I was surprised at how the citrius brought out the chocolatey flavour of the cake. So, I did repeated this flavour combo again in this simple ice cream recipe using:

2 cups almond milk + 1 cup skim milk + 1 cup water , 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp stevia ( =1cup sugar), 1 tsp orange extract ( will add zest next time), 2 tsp agar powder, 1-2 tsp xanthan gum

-combine all the above over heat so agar dissolves. I use a stick blander after heating.

-freezer and stir/speed mixer every 1-2 hours after the 1st mix when mixture gets firm.

I sprinkled on some puffed rice for crunch. A rather light cocoa scented ice cream than a rich chocolatey one. This recipe makes alot as I made mine with a high air volume churned in.

one scoop,

two scoop...

all gone!