2020 weekly - week 26 (14th week of confinement)

21/06/2020, Sunday

My physio morning and afternoon routines for the coming week.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My right hip joint pain is almost gone. Good news. I went out without my keys. Bad move. The age is catching up with me.

Picnic at home, summer solstice 2020.

22/06/2020, Monday

A week of 25+ centigrade is waiting ahead. Sweating!

I surprised myself by having a rather a good run at the park today. It's warm but breezy, plus today is the first day of the exercise week.

Running: 4400 meters

Longest non-stopping distance: 800 meters

23-26/06/2020

Crazy week before the main meetings. And yes, it's 28C inside at the moment.

I make - Gluten-Free Buckwheat Sandwich Bread 2.0

The main difference between this version and the previous one is the addition of yogurt and the extra soaking step. Soaking wholegrain makes it more digestible. I quite like the result, both texture and taste. Buckwheat gives it a very nice smell. I've become a fan. The bread has a light crumb and toasts beautifully. 

Buckwheat sandwich bread 2.0

Wet mixture

100 g yogurt

300 g water

15 g honey (or sugar) (a scant tablespoon, 5% of the flour)

Dry mixture
200 g buckwheat flour

100 g gluten-free flour blend (or cornstarch/tapioca/buckwheat)

1.5 tsp fast-action yeast

10 g psyllium husk powder (2 tbsp for me, 3.3% of the main flour)

6 g salt (2% of the flour)

15 g Whey protein powder or 1 round tbsp soy flour (5% of the main flour)
10 g chia seeds (1 tbsp for me)

10 g ground linseeds (1.5 tbsp for me)
1 beaten egg or 2 egg whites whipped (see instruction)
45 g mixed seeds/nuts (3 tablespoons, optional)
15 g butter or oil at room temperature (5% of the main flour)

Porridge oats to scatter the top

Combine yogurt, water, buckwheat and gluten-free flours in a large bowl. Mix well and let the mixture sit for 6-12 hours. Soaking makes wholegrain flour more digestible and hydrates the flours properly. If pressed by time, this step can be skipped. 

Grease and line a sandwich loaf tin.

Into the flour soaking bowl, stir in honey/sugar and sprinkle in yeast. Stir to combine and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Add all the following ingredients into the flour bowl, psyllium husk powder, salt, whey protein/soy flour, chia seeds, linseeds and 1 egg or 2 egg whites. Egg white gives the best lift to the bread after it's baked, although 1 whole egg is pretty good too. If using egg white, beat in a separate bowl just before soft peak is formed and then add to the flour mixture. Thoroughly mix the dough with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer. Stir in the seed/nut mix and butter/oil until no more butter traces can be seen. The dough looks rather like a very thick batter which is normal.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Scatter some porridge oats on top. Let the batter rise in a warm environment until the volume has doubled (45-60 minutes). Preheat the oven at 200C.

Spray water (or thin mist of oil) thoroughly the surface of the risen dough and bake at 200C for 55-60 minutes. After 40 minutes, cover the the bread with a piece of tin foil to prevent overbrowning.

My sandwich tin gives me 16 1-cm slices, each slice has 113 kcal.

2020 weekly - week 25 (13th week of confinement)

14/06/2020, Sunday

My physio morning and afternoon routines for the coming week.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I probably hurt my right hip joint during one of the exercises last week. I started to feel pain when I was doing getting up/down from a chair exercise. Thought it would recover the next day but no. Whenever I need to maneuver myself up from a sitting position, I get hip joint pain. I can still do some of the exercises but not the squat type or the chair ones. Well, I just have to wait for my hip to recover. Needless to say, frustrating.

15/06/2020, Monday

Running: 4000 meters

Longest non-stopping distance: 450 meters

17/06/2020, Wednesday

Rediscovered overnight oats. It's particularly good during hot weather days. You could prepare a batch of overnight oat for a week or use a jam jar every night before going to bed. Either way, I soak porridge oats with water and a squirt of lemon juice (1/4 cup oats per serving). I put some chia seeds in sometimes. Let it sit in the fridge and enjoy it in the morning with greek yogurt, fruits (dried or fresh) and peanut butter.

18/06/2020, Thursday

Must be the post-rain coolness. I had a pretty good run at the park today!

Running: 4400 meters (new record!)

Longest non-stopping distance: 800 meters

Hip joint pain is easing, probably 10% left. Doesn't affect me running though.

19/09/2020, Friday

The head quarter offered us a day off today. I was really in the mood of baking so I made quiche lorraine and scones. Soft scone dough is so much easier to work with especially with the help of cling film. It reshapes well and bakes marvelously tall. My 2.0 scone recipe is going to be my ultra favorite!

I make - Gluten-Free Crème Fraîche Scones 2.0

I just couldn't stop tinkering the recipes. I kept thinking about my orange and sultana scones made back in my gluten days. It was really good, rich flavor and tender inside. I wanted to try it again with gluten-free flour and I am pleased to say that you couldn't tell it's gluten-free flour! By now I have been doing gluten free baking for a few months. My impression is that gluten-free flour needs a bit more moisture than wheat flour for most recipe conversion to work well.

Also, this in fact is a second bake of the day, after discovering that cling film is such a savior for working gluten-free dough. It's nonstick, provides a large surface to work the dough and makes gluten-free baking much easier. I am a convert and this is the way forward!

Gluten-Free Crème Fraîche Scones 2.0

- 200 g all-purpose gluten-free flour blend + 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

- 1 tablespoon of baking powder

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- pinch of salt

- 80 g cold butter, diced

- 1/3 cup of sultana (or your favorite dried fruits, optional)

- 1/3 cup of porridge oat (or another 50g of flour)

- 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- zest from one orange

- 20 g honey

- 150-200 ml Crème Fraîche-yogurt mixture (see instruction)

- a large piece of cling film

- 1 egg, beaten

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Rub or cut the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Stir in the sultanas and porridge oats.

In a measuring jug, pour in crème fraîche and top it with plain yogurt until the total volume is 200ml (for richer taste, you can use all crème fraîche). You can do this at the beginning to thicken the dairy mixture further. Stir in vanilla extract, orange zest and honey. Pour 150ml of the liquid mixture into the flour one. Mix gently the dough with a rubber spatula until it becomes a cohesive mass. Turn the bottom of the dough up a few times to check. If the dough seems dry, add additional liquid in, one tablespoon a time. You are aiming for a soft not crumbly dough (softer than ear lobe), relatively nonsticky when handled with cling film. 

Lay a large piece of cling film on the work surface and dust lightly with gluten-free flour. Tip out the dough onto the plastic and lightly dust the dough top with gluten-free flour. Use cling film to gather the dough into a round or a rectangular shape. Rest the dough in the fridge for 30-60 minutes. Preheat the oven at 200C 10 minutes before the dough is about to finish its rest.

Roll the dough out into 2.5-cm thickness and cut into any shape you like (rounds, squares or wedges). Do everything on the cling film. You will need to gather the dough and reshape/cut a few times. This dough reshapes well, especially with cling film. I get 5 proper 6-cm scones and 1 small one. Glaze the top of scones with the beaten egg. Bake for 15 minutes and turn the baking tray half way through. Just for the record, after baking each scone has a height of 4-4.5cm.

I make - Quiche Lorraine With Crème Fraîche Pastry

I started to realize one thing (finally), "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Or rather, don't mess with it. All these years I've tried to minimize the fat content of my pie crust. The fact of the matter is, the less fat you add in , the more difficult the dough is to work with. Also, the less the ingredients, the easier it is, in all aspects. So I am slowly reverting back to the traditional pâte brisée recipe, with twice as much flour as fat by weight. It's easy to remember and flexible enough to tinker (yes, I know what I just said in the beginning).

Crème Fraîche Pastry

- 200 g gluten-free flour blend

- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

- 1/4 tsp baking powder (optional)

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1.5 tsp sugar

- 80 g cold butter (butter spread works well)

- 4 tbsp cold crème fraîche* + 1 yolk, plus extra crème fraîche if needed

- a large piece of cling film

- an egg white, beaten to brush the par-baked crust (optional)

Quiche Lorraine Filling

Combine flour, xanthan gum, baking powder (if using), salt and sugar in a large bowl. Mix to combine. Weight in cold butter and use a pastry cutter or flexible bench scraper to cut the butter into flour mixture. I prefer butter spread because it's easier to work with without much loss of flavor. When large bread crumbs are formed, spoon in 4 tablespoons of crème fraîche mixed with a yolk. Use a rubber spatula to mix to form a cohesive dough. If the dough is still crumbly when squeeze between fingers, add more crème fraîche, one tablespoon at a time. Alternatively, you could just use crème fraîche to form the dough. The yolk is for additional richness.

Lay a large piece of cling film on the working surface where you can tip out the pastry dough. Use cling film to gather the dough together to form a round dough shape. You will need to gently press the dough a few times for this. When a dough is formed without any loose crumbs, wrap the dough completely with the working cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. This allows the flour to be hydrated further. 

Preheat the oven at 180C. Roll the dough out to fit your pie dish. Because it's gluten-free flour, it's bound to break easily. Just handle delicately. It helps to roll between two pieces of cling film (or nonstick baking paper). With more practice, you will be able to shift the rolled-out dough onto the pie dish without too much patch work afterwards. Pierce the bottom of the pie crust with a fork or tip of a knife. Line the top of the crust with a large piece of baking paper and cover with ceramic baking beads. That's the only way to prevent crust shrinking for me. Bake for 15 minutes at 180C. Carefully remove the baking beads and the paper and put the crust back for another 8 minutes. After this, the crust is ready to be filled. I like to have an additional step to brush with the beaten egg and bake another 5 minutes but it's optional.

During the crust is baking, prepare the quiche filling as previously described. Turn the oven to 200C. Fill the crust as follows: first scatter some grated cheese to cover the bottom of the quiche, then the lardon/onion mixture, pour the custard in and finally more grated cheese on the top. Bake the quiche at 200C for 30 minutes, rotate the quiche 180 degrees half way through.

*Note: crème fraîche can be replaced with cold milk mixed with vodka. Vodka brings the dough together like water but it's alcohol evaporates during baking which gives a crispy crust. Start with 2 tablespoons of the liquid mixture before adding more. 

I make - Earl Grey Tea Loaf

Ever since I baked Ms Tandoh's tea loaf the first time, I was hooked. It's easy to knock up, full of taste and allows me to slather generous amount of butter without guilt since it's fat free. I have modified her recipe slightly for a gluten-free version as follows. 

Earl Grey Tea Loaf

275g mixed dried fruit (I use sultanas, cranberries and sour cherries)

300ml strong Earl Grey made with two tea bags

2 large eggs

60g soft dark brown sugar

Zest of 1 orange (or orange extract)

275g all-purpose gluten-free flour blend

2½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp psyllium husks

1.5 tsp mixed spice

¼ tsp salt

1 Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin and preheat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3½.

2 Soak the dried fruit in tea for a few hours and stir the mixture a few times whenever you walk past. Overnight is better. In a large bowl, beat egg, sugar and orange zest together. Drizzle in the flour bowl the soaking liquid from the dried fruit mixture. Add in the flour, baking powder, psyllium husks, mixed spice and salt. Stir a few times before adding the hydrated dried fruits along with any remaining soaking liquid. Stir lightly until combined. Spoon into the loaf tin and bake for 50-55 minutes.

3. Cool down to room temperature and enjoy with a thick slather of salted butter!

2020 weekly - week 24 (12th week of confinement)

07/06/2020, Sunday

My ankle circumference seems to reach a steady state right now as the measurements have not changed for a month or so. I also feel my physio routines have been maximised enough for my recovery. Therefore, I will not repeat the same measurements or routines again here. I will just refer back to the last week of May. 

My physio morning and afternoon routines for the coming week.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I finished Killing Eve Season 3 two days ago. I think the portray of Villanelle is just remarkable. It's not just the character but the clothes, the eyes, every inch of her body move. Totally bewitching to see. Story line, on the other hand, does not feel it's getting better and better with the character Villanelle. The stories are still good or at least entertaining but without Jodie Comer's acting running through, I am afraid my attention span would not have lasted that long.

Season 3 also feels like a personal quest for Villanelle, a self exploration journey. She stops being a killing machine (for a moment) and starts to ponder what else is there for her. Even psychopaths do that. Imagine that!

08/06/2020, Monday

Running: 4000 meters

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ever since I saw the sight of gluten-free puff pastry, I have always wanted to try it. So I made a family-size sausage roll on Sunday and the GF puff pastry did not disappoint! The dough seems easier to work with than the conventional one which gets sticky very quickly. The GF version does not and to my surprise it does not tear either (under normal working condition). And the best is the taste! For whatever reason, I managed to make a sausage roll whose crust tastes more flavorful than the filling (sausage meat with browned onions and mushrooms). No Matter. We had a nice meal and good impression with Jus-rol GF puff pastry.

12/06/2020, Friday

Running: 4000 meters

I make - Mock Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour Mix

I was intrigued by the addition of pectin. It does make sense to use pectin to glue everything together and to provide some texture as well. I didn't come up with this mix. It came from Nicole Hunn, the author behind the excellent blog, Gluten free on a shoestring. So I made up 700 g worth to experiment. Watch this space!

Mock Better Batter Flour Mix

1 cup	Ingredients	4 cups	5 cups
42 g	brown rice flour	168 g	210 g
42 g	white rice flour	168 g	210 g
21 g	potato starch	84 g	105 g
21 g	tapioca starch	84 g	105 g
7 g	potato flour	28 g	35 g
4 g	xanthan gum*	16 g	20 g
3 g	pure powdered pectin	12 g	15 g
140 g		560 g	700 g

*I omit xanthan gum in my reproduction to make the blend more flexible for baking.

To make bread flour:

For bread flour with Ultratex 3

105 grams (about 12 tablespoons) Mock Better Batter gluten free flour (75%)

30 grams (about 6 tablespoons) unflavored whey protein isolate (21%)

5 grams (about 2 teaspoons) Ultratex 3 (4%)

Mock Better Batter Flour Mix

Update on 13/06/2020: have made (no-yeast) breadsticks, blondies and yogurt cake. One thing which stands out is that it's harder to tell whether the baking is done because the toothpick always comes out with some crumbs on. Wondering whether it's because of the addition of pectin. As for texture, I can't tell the difference.

2020 weekly - week 23 (11th week of confinement)

31/05/2020, Sunday

Last day of May. It seems that times flies just as fast during the lockdown.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ankle circumference (tape going on top of tibia/fibula pointed parts):
left widest: 23cm
right widest: 24cm

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning routine:

0. Rucksack on with 4 kgs (2 big bottles of laundry liquid)
1. Warm up
    a. Alternating toe and heel walk: 5 minutes
    b. Calf raise on the stairs: 5 minutes
2. Alfredson Protocol: (15 reps on the right leg; 15 reps on the left leg)x3
3. Single leg calf raise: (1 minute on the right leg; 1 minute on the left leg)x3
4. Get up and sit down in a chair: (10 reps with left leg forward; 10 reps with right leg forward)x3
5. Split (stationary) lunges: (10 reps with left leg forward; 10 reps with right leg forward)x3
    5b.Backward lunges: (10 reps with left leg back; 10 reps with right leg back)x3
6. Arabesque: 8x3 (standing on the left leg), 8x3 (standing on the right leg)
7. Sumo squats: 10x2


Afternoon routine:

0. Warm-up: Body-weight squat+heel-raise: 20x4
1. Split (stationary) lunges: (10 reps with left leg forward; 10 reps with right leg forward)x4
2. Walking lunges: 4 minutes
3. Jogging on the spot: 2 minutes
4. Knee-high jumps: (45-sec on + 15-sec off)x4
5. Jumping squats: 10x3
6. Jacks: (Star 10 reps; Scissor 10 reps)x4
7. Standing Abs: cross-elbow, chopping, side leg-raise, front leg-raise
8. Side lunges with arms pushing out
9. Butt kicks: 10x3
10. Push-ups: 10x3

Also, I run three times a week during the afternoon routine, 1200 meters or more in several chunks depending on how I feel on the day. When I run, I just do half of the afternoon routine.

Discovered pan-fried chickpeas recently. It's such a nice side dish for roasted vegetables or any meal. I melted some butter in a pan and pour in cooked and drained chickpeas. Pan fry the chickpeas until the liquid is almost gone and season with cajun spice, garlic powder and sweet chilli sauce. Adjust the seasoning with salt and lemon juice. Serve! 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01/06/2020, Monday

Feeling pretty meh today. Too hot? Maybe. just have no motivation for most things. Did my morning routine, no afternoon one. Went for an evening walk, starting to feel better.

02/06/2020, Tuesday

After a rather dispirited day yesterday, I am glad to say I feel more up this morning with more energy and drive. Did both morning routine and ran 4000 meters today in the park. Feeling content with what I did.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today, I may have the biggest cooking surprise: soy milk made from soy flour! I got a bag of soy flour for gluten-free bread making. The smallest bag I could find is 500 g and I only need 15 g each time for making bread. Knowing that I need to find other ways to use up soy flour, I chanced upon making soy milk from soy flour. What a revelation! I considered myself as knowing what a proper soy milk should taste like and let me tell you soy flour derived soy milk is pretty close. The flavor is 90% similar to the milk made from soy beans, which I am quite pleased to find out. And there is no hassle of grinding and filtering the bean mush. The soy flour is fine enough that its milk tastes pleasantly smooth without filtering.

Here is what I did: Mix 1 cup of soy flour in 4 cups (1 liter) hot water. Bring the pot to boil and reduce the heat to simmer without lid for 20 minutes. That's it! No sieving and you get to enjoy the whole soy beans. Stir or shake the soy milk before drinking. The soy milk is good as is. For variation, I like to add a big dollop of molasses to the soy milk when it's simmering. It's not traditional but provides a nice brown sugar background to the milk which I like.

03/06/2020, Wednesday

I have become a wimp when it comes to warm weather. I simply melt when the temperature is above 20C. After two weeks above 22 degrees, today it cooled down to 18C. Feeling marvelous, especially during the afternoon exercise in the park. Thoroughly enjoyable today.

During my evening walk today, we discovered two take-outs which serve gluten-free fish/chips and pizzas! It almost brought me to tears to see that my dining out (almost) life may not be as bad as I thought.

04/06/2020, Thursday

There was some maintenance work going on in the park so I couldn't do the proper laps. I started with some foot pain but after doing more warm-up seemed to help. In the end, I did roughly 2400 meters. 

Friday, I can't wait.

I make - loaf tin brownies

Using a loaf tin for brownies not only increases the height but also the proportion of chewy crust for each bite! This recipe gave me fudgy brownies with good chocolate flavor, not chewy, for once I quite like the result.

Loaf tin brownies

110 g butter (or butter spread)

40 g dark chocolate squares

200 g sugar (I use 150 g white + 50 g brown)

2 eggs

60 g cocoa powder

80 g gluten-free flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt or miso

1/3 cup chocolate chips

sea salt flakes for topping

Preheat the oven at 180C. Grease and line a loaf tin (or 20x20cm square tin).

In a bowl, melt butter first and then drop the dark chocolate squares in. Stir to mix and add sugar. Mix until sugar is completely dissolved. Beat in 2 eggs. 

Sift cocoa powder and flour into the butter sugar bowl. Add vanilla and salt/miso. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and pour the batter into the prepared tin. Scatter some sea salt flakes on the top.

Bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes. Start checking the brownies at 22 minutes with a toothpick.