I... make... BREAD!!!

I feel like Tom Hanks in 'Castaway' when he finally gets the fire going. "I... MAKE.... FIRRREEE!!!" A real 'who the man' moment, except in my case, it's really more like "WHO THE BAKER??" hahhahahha... (bear with me, please.. hehe..)



I know that it's only plain white loaf bread I made but bread making is a real extravagant way to spend time in Asia (I was at it till 2 am last night) since you could always pop by the supermarket just 5 minutes away and get a loaf for less than 10 HK dollars.

However, the store bought bread you get in Hong Kong doesn't quite taste like Gardenia brand breads that I'm used to. The Garden brand bread has this weird rancid milk aftertaste.. smells weird, tastes weird, even feels weirdly damp... Other brands like Maxim's are much better but they always seem to run out of them quick (probably cos no one else wants to end up with the Garden ones either) It was the same in Shanghai as well. I just ended up not eating bread for a year or so.

Since I'm probably not going to do this often.. (there is a lot of waiting involved, though, steps are few and quite straightforward), I'm just going to keep more pictures for remembrance.



The texture on the crust is really quite intriguing. What I'll probably do differently, if I make it again, is to have the dough ready and bake it the morning I intend to eat it.. The crust does get a little stiff when you keep it overnight. But nothing hard to manage.. I just don't like crust.

All this effort though.. simply so that we can enjoy toast with the lovely Yakun Kaya that we got from our friends a week ago. Yummy.... well worth it!



I used this recipe from Nigella Lawson:

500g bread flour
2tsp salt
20g unsalted butter, softened
2tsp caster sugar
7g (1 sachets) easyblend/instant yeast (NOT dry-active)
300ml lukewarm water

(1) Pop the flour in the microwave for 20 sec. Mix the salt with the flour and rub in the butter gently until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the sugar and yeast well.

(2) Make a well in the flour and pour in approx 3/4 of the warm water. Using a wooden spoon, start mixing in the flour. Add the rest of the water if necessary.

(3) I gave up at this stage and used my hands and kneaded for approx 5 minutes. The dough will feel firmer, very smooth and pliable. If it's too sticky, use more flour.. Return the dough to the mixing bowl (wash it out and lightly oil), cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for about one hour until doubled in size.

(4) Punch down into the dough and knead for a short while and fashion into a roll to be put into the loaf. Cover with warm tea towel or clingfilm for 30 mins. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 230 C.

(5) When the dough has risen to almost double the size, dust some flour over the top and pop it in for 30-35 mins.

(6) Remove when ready and let cool.