Secondly, this will be a food entry. I am not trying to be insensitive with my muslim brothers and sisters fasting month. But i am sure all of you are strong enough to resist it.
The weekend food quest started on Saturday. Most of you would know that we have a bread making machine and it has been at least 6 weeks since i last made any. FLour price increase la. It went from RM2.40/kg to RM2.90/kg and now, it is RM3.50/kg. Talk about scrapping the bottom of the barrels and making ends meet for us middle class citizen.
I know my electricity won't be any less than RM20 and hence, will not be eligible for free electricity (or if any of you are eligible for that, please tell me how you do it). My pay won't allow me to benefit the extra RM50 personal relief as well. The RM50 was spend today to get some flour, almonds, muffin mix (oh, did i just gave it away what is coming up next?), sunflower seeds and yeast. Bare essential for a baking outing.
Bread for today (or rahter, Merdeka Sunday) was Raisin Bread. I bought some sultanas and we have some raisins and i bought some fruit mix (mainly sultanas and raisins with orange peels and cherry bits). So just like some precision operation, i measured 245ml water and 350gm of high protien flour. Added in 1/5 of a block of butter, pinch of salt and about 50gm of sugar. Place all the ingredient inside and put in half a pack of yeast (about 5.5gm) and set the machine to bake sweet bread. 3:27 later, i should, theorectically, get a loaf of wholesome, soft, bakery standard smelling and non-shortening raisin bread (shortening is the main ingredient that most bakery uses to make their bread soft and supple...and it is also the main culprit in adding those calories and FATS)
I kept my finger crossed and the bread came out perfecto.
Soft. Sweet smelling. Just the right darkness on the crust. Healthy.
Yummy!!!
This one got a big thumbs up from wifey.
The next day (ie Today Monday), to celebrate the holiday, we decided to bake muffins!
While i was away on Saturday battling with the road and heat, wifey made some really nice blueberry muffins. She left 3 for me and i finished it off without asking any further questions.
So, today was to make amend.
Inspired by the successful Raisin Bread the day before, me and wifey decided to just make plain muffins.
As with the bread, we measured 450gm of the muffin mix, melted about 100gm butter (or about half block), stirred in 2 large eggs (for economic reasons, we figured out it is better to get those Grade A eggs from the hypermarket - at least one of those A eggs is as much as 1.5 C eggs, so, technically, 30 A eggs is about 45 C eggs)
Carefully all the ingredient was hand mixed with a ladle. Who else would be more suitable for the job except wifey's expert hands? (She did, afterall, took Sains Rumah Tangga, or Home Sciene, back in Assunta).
The oven was preheated to 180 degree C. We decided to go lowe than the instruction that requires 200 degree C as we did not want the muffins to be that burnt.
melting the butter over Ryan's porridge
While Wifey stir things up
Muffin cups all set in the tray - wanted to make 2 dozens, but realised the oven can take only 1 tray.
All set
20 minutes is all it takes.
0 minutes
20 minutes
And here you go!
Like Magic eh?
Salivating
Moist and with choc chips
The only set back was that because we stored the choc chips with some dried rosemary, the muffin too, smelt of the herbs!
Was the muffin nice? Well, since i can't technically says i prepare it from scratch (as not not give myself too much credit :P), i must say it's better looking than wifey's blueberry muffins (because she set the oven to bake AND grill...first time using the oven mah) but texture wise, the choc chip muffin was not as great as the blueberry. I guess the reason must be the muffin mix. The blueberry muffin mix was of higher quality (premium price at RM5.50/450gm) compared to the plain mix (RM3/450gm - told you i'm scrapping the bottom what).
Nevertheless, with (1) successful Raisin Bread and (2) Choc Chip Muffin, i was very happy. On a roll la, so to say. And i whipped up a french bean dish for dinner.
Shallots, Garlic, French beans and carrot
Fried the shallot until it caramelised slightly and tossed in the garlic and fry until fragrant. THen, throw in the beans and carrot and added a pinch of salt for taste. Stir fried it and added some water to ensure good coverage and distribution of the shallot and garlic around the dish.
Set the plate with some butterhead leaves and transfered the whole stirfried thingmagingy onto the place.
Ta...DA!
We then just opened a can of Campbell soup to complete the meal. There must be enough sodium to last me until Hari Raya.
And since i was on a roll, i completed the day with another loaf of Raisin Bread. But this time around, i think i overdid the salt, as the bread rises promisingly...only to lose steam 15minutes before completion of the baking.
And scaringly, the bread looked utterly familiar like the ride profile i did on Saturday.
*think double horn - pic to come later, was rushing out this morning*
edited : Here you go, the double horn ala Genting Sempah
Nevertheless, just like the loaf i did on Sunday, it is as delicious, if not better (i secretly drop a few drops of vanilla essense into the mix)
And that completes and wrapped up my Merdeka Holiday.
*all the food above were prepared without MSG (ok, maybe the Campbell soup got) and without preservatives (can't say about the soup though)*
And who say i can't bake and cook again? :P
Eat your heart out. ;-)
edited : Here is today's sweat and toil - Blueberry Muffin with Thick Cut Orange Marmalade
Sis came after her class and we made 12 more muffins. Time taken - 35minutes! Happiness factor - 12 yummilicious muffins!
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