black pizza

I have not touched yeast longer than I had expected given that my stand mixer had been with me for more than a month.

I was worried that my pack of yeast had gone dead, so I tried proofing a small amount earlier this week and got positive results. With that, I made pizza :)

I have done pizza more than a few times in the past, but this is the first time since my bread baking class.  I used the same recipe I always used--and will continue to do so until my weighing scale reaches me, then I can play around with recipes.

'before' shots are never flattering!

I used a mix of wholemeal and unbleached all purpose flour.  On top is a medley of my favourite things like squid ink, cherry (or grape) tomatoes, capers, anchovies and while it is not my favourite as I like making my own, random dollops of ready-made spaghetti sauce. 

Some basil would have been great, but I didn't have any.

black is beautiful

Luckily I had cut the pizza right out of the oven because in a matter of seconds almost, it had gone crispy.  Good luck not shattering crispy pizza--even with a sharp pizza roller.

Squid Inked

When a good friend asked me last week what my favorite pasta was, I thought immediately that it is spaghetti.  For sauce my number one is anchovy and garlic oil, close second is puttanesca.  Pesto and Marinara are tied at third.

I told her that I remember feeling down when I found out that one of the cafes that I frequent stopped serving squid ink marinara.  Suddenly, I don't feel like eating their new marinara anymore.  It doesn't taste (and look) as much as coming from the sea with the standard linguine as it did with squid ink spaghetti.

Incidentally, another friend who attended a pasta making class told me that the chef taught them two variations, one was with spinach and the other with, you guessed it!  Squid ink.

These two incidents got me thinking about making squid ink pasta.  So I searched high and low for squid in where I live.  NOT EASY.  

After securing the coveted ingredient I made pasta dough.

What lies beneath?

The dough was so dark and so rich that I could not help but laugh like an evil queen.  

hung

I would have wanted to make spaghetti, but for some reason the idea of black velvet ribbons changed my mind.

happily eaten after

My husband loved the texture and managed to eat three servings.  I struggled to stop at a serving and I half--but a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do :)

I still have packets of Squid Ink, I am thinking of other fun pasta projects I could do with those.

fettuccine

I had been reading a lot and watched videos on pasta making.  What becomes clearer each time is that there is NO ONE best / perfect pasta.

There are good and very good pasta though.

I like how purists talk about less is more, that great pasta do not need bells and whistles.  Simple.  

SIMPLE.  I am so in!

I did not rush to experiment on infused and coloured pasta because I wanted to experience basic pasta first, as in wheat, semolina, all purpose flour and eggs.  That was it.  

I did try it with and without salt and olive oil.  

I am still learning.  I have not decided which one I like best.  

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Having experienced the basic pasta preparation, I ventured on making parsley infused pasta.  It turned out pretty good, so today, I made tomato and pepper fettuccine.

Truth be told I prefer spaghetti, but I though the tomato bits and peppers would show better in thicker noodles.

I know I don't look much, but wait till I had rested!

I did expect the dough to be more red and I was surprised it kind of looked "normal".  Not much colour difference.

This is a mix of all purpose flour and semolina--you can see the texture of the semolina in the dough.  

The smallish tomato bits were also a nice touch--so much better than having pink pasta :) 

find the spots, go on.

When making spaghetti, even with well floured dough I find that I need to separate each strand from the rest which is frustrating.  However, with my fettuccine cutter--there is nothing to it!
 

like soldiers

 Because it is so humid where I live, it sometimes seem like drying the pasta doesn't really dry it.

Oh well, cook fresh :)

excited to find out what I'm gonna be :)

Round 2: Pasta Making

I remember the first time I made fresh pasta.  It was a whim.  I googled the recipe and used the first one I saw.  No reading about dough texture, kneading or best practices. 

I also had no tools except a rolling pin. 

Pasta was pretty decent all things considered.  But with too much energy spent on the pasta itself, I served it with a rushed sauce.  Somehow this made me feel like starting off with great shoelaces and ending up with forgettable shoes.  It did not make sense.  

I remember Marco Pierre White saying that the end result should be better that the ingredients going in.  OBVIOUSLY.

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There was no more pasta making after that, I decided that the only way I’d make pasta again was if I had a pasta roller. 

Last Saturday, my stand mixer came.  It is a little bit funny because my pasta roller attachment came before the stand mixer.  It had been waiting for a while.

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How was my pasta?  Much, much, much better.  I was able to roll it dramatically thinner than last time. 

It also helped that I had been reading about pasta making.

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How do I feel about pasta making now?

I feel that it is definitely worth it—but only when you have time to enjoy the process, are equipped with a pasta roller (mixer or a food processor would be a bonus), and have good sauce worthy of the labored pasta.

There is, I discovered some skill in feeding pasta dough into the roller.  Really.  The last dough ball turned out much better than the first one I rolled out.  Watching videos makes you think that there is nothing to it, but there is.  Experience will allow you to roll better.

Feeling the dough is critical.  It seems like the more I read about pasta making the more I realise that it is really a touchy-feely process.  Your recipes are good guides but you need to know how good dough should feel and look like.  I love how certain chefs and experienced home cooks tell you how it should be.  How it needs to be shiny, how it is smooth, how upon rolling it changes, how suddenly, flour and eggs had transform into silky pasta :)  I love that.

no kneading (promise)

With all my baking stuff packed (and ready to move) and the void that is the absence of a mixer in my life, I had a sneaky suspicion that I would not be making bread anytime soon.  At least not for the next three weeks.

But you see, curiosity and information are dangerous things.  DANGEROUS.

During the classes last week, Chef taught us to make and use sponge and also demonstrated--more like prepared a no knead bread that looked like it was a prop from some artisan bakery photo shoot.  

Without a weighing scale I could not really practice my baking ratios.  I also had only one packet of active yeast--given to me by a good friend because she knew how hard not baking was for me!

So I googled and used a random recipe for no knead bread.  

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Oh, I had to bake my bread using a frying pan.  FRYING PAN.  

Remember?  Baking stuff inaccessible!

I split my dough into two so that I can experiment on the difference in outcomes.  
The first one I baked covered with aluminum foil (and cool frying pan) and the second on a pre-heated frying pan with no cover.

mentos inspired

The second rose much better, it had a rounder profile and had a smoother crust.  

As I finished the entire first loaf--it is clear that there were no complaints here.  The crust was so crispy and inside was soft.

I'm sure Mom is excited to visit to taste these breads.

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I have some left over yeast from the small packet, so I went ahead and made another batch using a different recipe.  We shall see how tomorrow's bread would turn out.

Basic Bread

One day, I was talking to my husband about wanting to learn things to enhance our daily life.  

The principle of doing and (hopefully not too much of) acquiring things that enhance day to day life is something we consciously consider when making purchasing decisions.  Obviously, this won't apply to grocery shopping or eating out or buying shoes, but rather relatively bigger expenses such as appliances, furniture and tuition.  

I had enrolled in a weeklong course of Bread Making in a Culinary School.  

Why bread?  It is a staple.  And I would not mind a life filled with freshly baked bread :)

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It is amazing how combining water and flour turn into something completely different.  The transformation of the flour is amazing.  Really.  

Having time to talk to the Chef really allows you to witness how much love, care and understanding go to making bread.  

I am so tempted to list down everything that I have learnt in class such as baking ratios, ideal temperatures, etc.  but I think the best lesson I took back is that... 

Each baker makes bread differently, you need to play and explore to discover YOUR bread. 

I think that is inspiring.

I think, I can say that the course was a life enhancing experience.

I think, I want to sign up for the advance bread classes to be offered next year.

Happy Sunday!

Chicken Roulade

Chicken is my cooking nemesis.

There was a time that I stirred clear of cooking chicken, well it was not too hard as I don't really like chicken.  In fact, it would be the last thing I order unless I am in a chicken place--obviously.

There was too many beef, pork and fish recipes that I wanted to try anyways.

If I really NEEDED to cook chicken, I'd boil it first.  Then I'd brown it in the oven or on a pan.  That was that.  No baked chicken. 

However, as with life there will come a point when you need to overcome your past failures.  It was funny how my meat thermometer decided to bail on me the first time I wanted to cook chicken without the pre-boil ceremony I had gotten accustomed to.

I picked (I was not going to make it easy) Chicken Roulade.  I have not done roulade anything, so this was exciting.

I also was not too ready--I did not have cooking twine.  I'm sorry to say that I used silk yarns to tie around the flattened, stuffed and rolled chicken breast!

The spices I had were my favorites, chives, butter, garlic, crispy chicken skin, rosemary and salt.  I kept it pretty simple.  Today, it was about cooking moist chicken that is brown outside.

just roll with me, roll with me.

I can't be happier with the end result.  I was surprised on how it came out.  Admittedly I was a little scared slicing through and you can see the hesitation I (and my knife blade) had slicing through.


Looking forward to cooking more chicken--though probably still not as much as other proteins :)