2017 Weekly - Week 30

24/07/2017

Received a parcel today from dear friends in Paris. It contains two gorgeous pieces of table linens and 5 CDs of music selected and compiled for us. We feel very grateful to have these considerate and kind friends who thought about us even when we are apart. Merci, M & F.

25/07/2017

I made a jar of shio koji about 9 months ago. It's been sitting in the fridge because I was not sure how to use it. By now I've tried shio koji with a number of dishes. It's no exaggeration when shio koji is described as an all-purpose seasoning. It does seem that magical, adding flavor and depth to almost everything it touches. Great with fish (oily or not) and meat (red or white), simply marinade the protein with shio koji for a few hours or one day and grill/fry the protein. Not only does it impart a unique umami taste, but also it firms up the flesh a bit making it taste more succulent.

In addition, shio koji can also be used simply as salt substitute for any stews or stir-fries. Apparently it's great for lightly pickled vegetables. Some even used it for bread making. How intriguing!

26/07/2017

When are you going to stop, bully from the East?

Party of four 28/07/2017

Who:

Me, resident food critic, our lovely Greek neighbours who are moving away (so sad!)

This is probably the last party with them in Cambridge. All the best for your future, I and A. We have had lots of good memories with you.

We tried not to take too much of their time in the middle of house moving so we decided to have a pizza night, chicken strips with Buffalo wing sauce, crudités with blue cheese dip, just to have some good time together. We will miss you terribly!

2017 Weekly - Week 29

18/07/2012

Looks like I have been able to keep my 2017 weekly for 6 months! This is quite something for me to focus on one thing (almost) without a break.

I am also quite proud that I manage to keep going to the two fitness classes this year. This is on top of my regular gym sessions. I enjoy the classes fully, although I suspect that's also why I had the sciatica episode. Well, I just need to be extra careful with how my body reacts.

19/07/2017

I've been wondering the point of "like" on Facebook, especially those from the people you know in real life. "Like" without leaving any words means what, like I've read it but I am too busy or not very bothered to say anything? This is not that I share other people's thoughts and words. I share my thoughts, with you. In real life, most people would at least make a sound, no?

I continue to wonder the point of Facebook for private human relationships.

20/07/2017

While I was pondering over social media yesterday, Dear Polly has another post which struck a chord with me. Why would I do without Polly!

We “like” things and heart things and type “Hurray!” and “Right on!” and “Rocking it out, babe!” but what we really mean is “Hello, I see this matters to you” and “Hmmm, you have popped into view once again” and “Stubbornly, you continue to exist” and “I acknowledge your existence, albeit with some reservations.”

Make some friends who have some interest in what you study, what you do, and what matters to you.

I make - Bagels

I think I have nailed a bagel recipe which produces chewy crust with tender and airy interior. This is by no means the "authentic" bagels but the way I like mine. For ease of manual handling, I have chosen a dough between 55% and 60% hydration. Traditional bagels are of even lower hydration, between 45% and 50%. However, I find low hydration dough (~50%) very hard to work with by hands (I wish I had more muscles). In addition, the texture is denser than the dough with 10% more water. That's why I settled on 58% hydration for my bagels.

During the course of perfecting my bagel recipe, I came across a method of using Water roux (also known as Tangzhong or Yokone). This is a thick flour paste added to the bagel dough. The purpose is to keep bagels soft (tasting fresh) for a longer period of time (2-3 days) at room temperature. Water roux has just two ingredients, water and flour. The flour-to-water ratio (by weight) does not seem to matter that much (I've tried 1:1 to 1:5). Therefore, the way I do it is to take a small portion of flour (1 part) and water (3 parts) from the base recipe (given below, called the all-in-one method), cook it into a thick paste and add it back to the rest of the ingredients. And it works wonderfully for me, both in terms of keeping the same base recipe and keeping bagels soft for a few days.

As for flavoring, it can go as far as your creativity takes. Personally I prefer plain or cinnamon raisin. I have provided a number of add-ins or toppings to start your bagel imagination. I hope you would like this recipe as much as we do.

plain bagels

raisin bagels

linseed and spelt bagels

Bagels - Base recipe

All-in-one method

- 250 g bread flour
- 50 g wholemeal bread flour
- 1/4 tsp fast-action yeast
- 175 g water
- 2 Tbsp sugar or honey
- 3/4 tsp (4g) salt
- oil for kneading
- 1 tsp baking soda and plenty of simmering water for boil the bagels
- optional add-ins: raisins (with or without cinnamon), dried cranberries (with or without orange zest)
- optional toppings: poppy seeds, white/black sesame seeds, everything seasoning (poppy seeds+white sesame seeds+onion flakes)

This recipe gives 6 regular sized bagels or 8 smaller ones.

Mix yeast and water in a big container. Stir in flour, sugar (or honey) and salt to make into a dough. Let the mixture rest for 20 minutes so that the flour has time to absorb the water.

Knead lightly with oil for a minute. If you have extra add-ins such as raisins, mix in after 30-minute rest. Cover the bowl and let the dough slowly ferment for at least 6 hours. Overnight is even better.

Next day, the dough should double in volume. Tip the dough out to a clean surface (no need to flour and no need to flatten the dough). Divide the dough into 6-8 pieces (like pie wedges) and shape into balls (60g for a small bagel or 80g for a regular one). Rest the dough balls for 15 minutes.

Lightly flour your fingers and create a hole in the middle of each dough ball by poking a floured thumb into the centre of a dough ball. Gently stretch the ring to enlarge. Once you finish all 6 (or 8), start again to enlarge the circle again. Proof the bagels for another 30-45 minutes.

When your bagels have 10 more minutes to go, preheat the oven at 200-210C and bring a pot of water to boil.

Add baking soda to a pot of simmering water. Boil each bagel 20-30 seconds each side. Drain each bagel as much as you could and place it onto a baking pan.

Bake the par-boiled bagels at 200-210C for 16-18 minutes.

Tangzhong/Yokone/Water roux method

For Tangzhong/Yokone/Water roux
- 25 g wholemeal bread flour
- 75 g water

For the main dough
- 250 g bread flour
- 25 g wholemeal bread flour
- 100 g Tangzhong/Yokone/water roux from above
- 1/4 tsp fast-action yeast
- 100 g water
- 2 Tbsp sugar or honey
- 3/4 tsp (4g) salt
- oil for kneading
- 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
- 1 tsp baking soda and plenty of simmering water for boil the bagels

First make the Tangzhong by mixing 25 g of flour and 75 g of water in a small saucepan. Whisk to dissolve the flour completely. Turn the stove on and cook the flour-water mixture at low heat. Whisk constantly. Within 2 minutes, flour will gelatinize and form a thick paste. As soon as you see a thick paste form, remove the pan from the heat. Cover the Tangzhong and leave it to cool for 15 minutes.

When the Tangzhong has cooled to body temperature, mix in 100 g of water to lighten up the roux. Pour the thinned Tangzhong into another bowl containing all the other ingredients from flour to salt and knead it into a cohesive dough. After this step, the rest of the procedure is the same as the all-in-one method, slow fermentation (after mix in dried fruits if using), dividing and pre-rounding, short bench rest, bagel shaping, boiling and baking.

2017 Weekly - Week 28

I am truly saddened by the passing of Liu Xiabo. How callous can a person be to make another suffer and die in front of its eyes without even raising its eyebrow? Liu Xiabo has done no harm to anyone. He just spoke up his mind which happened to be different from the government's view. This is truly what Chinese government is, ideology first and foremost. Human beings are merely created to follow the ideology.

Mr Liu, do not doubt that you will outlive the cruel and authoritarian regime. You may not be physically with us but on many of our hearts and minds. You played a big part in yearning and pursuit of freedom and democracy. This will not be forgotten. Xiabo, rest in peace.

I have no enemies by Liu Xiabo.

2017 Weekly - Week 27

Sciatica, I was in pain for several days, couldn't sit properly for a week. And this made me miss the weekly post. Good health is everything. Best for all of you.

About air pockets

Having many and large air pockets is one of the signs for good bread making. For a long time my air pockets are mostly small, occasionally medium. Truth to be told that I also refused to use a machine for a long time, refused to recognize the importance of gluten development and the windowpane test.

If I had thought hard enough, I would have realized long ago that big air pockets need strong protein structure to hold. That strong protein structure comes from proper gluten development and one of the easiest way to test is the windowpane test. So you see, it never hurts to be scientific in life.

That's why I got a Bosch hand mixer with dough hooks. I am still resisting the stand mixer which takes too much of my precious storage space. With my new Bosch in hand, I witnessed three levels of gluten development as helpfully demonstrated by these three photos, first time in my life! Of course, retaining large air pockets in the final baked product needs more than just sufficient gluten development. There are still many steps between kneading and baking which could degas the dough. Shaping is one key step which I still need to work on. How to create sufficient steam to "bloom" the bubbles in the oven is not easy either. Even with my amateurish bread baking skill, I managed to produce air pockets of this size.

Can this be done purely with hands? Of course, there are many people who are doing that. I just thought that having some help from the machine is not a bad thing to maintain bread baking manageable to me.

2017 Weekly - Week 26

27/06/2017

This has to be one of the most scandalous news this century for UK, 100% failure rate in high-rise cladding tests for 95 tested buildings so far. Everything which could break down broke down. Building laws knowingly ignored by the builders and the supposedly safe guarding council members, safety consultants' suggestions willfully disregarded (you might as well put the money down the drain), how low can human beings go, I wonder? This is not only unethical but also immoral. How can these people in the chain of enforcing public safety consciously allow materials or measures for causing harm? Where is your conscience?