Best Nachos Supreme

 

Who doesn't like nachos? It is easy, you can make it for one person or a crowd, and each person can tailor it to what toppings they like too, and it tastes great! A real crowd pleaser! 

It's one of those food that if it's on the table, you can't stop munching on it. Very popular during game time too!

Shokupan Summarized (Read This!)

With a few of different methods and all the pros and cons of each, I thought it would be so much easier to find the summary and key aspects of each method in one place.

If you are wondering which method to choose, please read this first.

Shokupan (Japanese Milk Bread) with Autolyse Method

Last part of the Shokupan series, straight-dough with autolyse. What is autolyse? It simply means combining water and flour in the dough and let it sit to fully let the flour to hydrate and let magic happens. Who knew that flour can take a long time to fully absorbs the water when you mix it? I have a post dedicated for explaining what happens during autolyse and what benefits it has. 

If you don't have the time or the patience to use pre-ferment (Poolish method from previous post) or Yudane, but still want the bread to have great texture and more flavor, autolyse is the answer. I would say it is an improved straight dough method with very little extra time and no extra work.

Shokupan (Japanese Milk Bread) With Straight Dough Method

It is only fitting to include this one in the series, as this is the most common method that is used by many home bakers and bakeries, including me, for an obvious reason. It is fast, no-fuss method. No need planning, no need preparation the night before or waiting for starter, and it uses more yeast which means faster rising.
This was supposed to be the last version of methods I tried, but there is one more coming ;P.

Caprese Pasta

This marks my first post for a non-dessert type of food. When I first made this blog many moons ago, I was single, living with my brother, and LOVES to bake. I did cook, not intensively, but never thought about making it pretty or put it in a blog.

Shokupan (Japanese Milk Bread) with Yudane Method

The second method I tried in making this Shokupan is yudane method. This method is similar to its more popular relative, Tangzhong. Tangzhong requires the flour and liquid to be boiled until it forms a paste that is then cooled to room temperature before using. The ratio of flour and water is typically 1:5.

With Yudane, the ratio varies a bit, but at most I've seen 1:1.5 and instead of boiling the two together, the water for yudane has to be boiling and you pour it on the flour and mix it to form a dough. The dough is then refrigerated overnight or at least set aside for a few hours. The longer it sits, the more flavor it will develop. The idea behind these two method is to create a gelatinized mixture from the gluten as you mix it with boiling water, creating a chewy bread.

Shokupan (Japanese Milk Bread) with Poolish Method

I have been baking bread quite often, really often in fact, with most of them being Asian buns with assorted fillings. Two or three years ago, I even made bread a few times per week for months during Summer to test out different methods, recipes, experimenting different proportions. This time, I made something different. Basic white bread. Not just any white bread, but Japanese milk bread. 

Double Fromage Cake

Hello and Happy Fall!

Thought I'd pop in here while the baby is napping to do a quick update.

We've had a routine now (yay!) after maybe months of scrambling around with different things. Sophie is now in Kindergarten and Kathryn is now (very) mobile! She is hilarious and definitely has an attitude! Stubborn and very strong-willed (I'm sure she gets this from her father :D).

I haven't been actually completely hiatus from baking. In fact, I have been actually making more cakes, less entremet this time.
One thing doesn't change is that I have been cooking non stop. With each person in the family having different appetite, I try to make different things that they would eat. This is killing me and I am trying hard to simplify this, but we'll take a step at a time. With that many cooking, the positive side is that I get to develop more and more recipes, branching out to other cuisines, perfected it to my taste, took a picture of the final products, hoping someday I will be able to make it into a cookbook for my girls when they grow up.

Now, let's talk dessert. I made this a while ago and meant to post it for you guys since this is one of those winning desserts. The pictures don't do this cake justice as it was really dark and cloudy when I took this, but trust me, you'll love this.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

For as long as I remember, I am not a muffin person, except for my trusty banana muffins (which I am still making in regular basis, a lot). Nothing is really wrong with it, I just thought that they are usually firm and dense, and it makes me want to chug a glass of water after.

But here I am posting another muffin recipe, the second muffin recipe I've ever posted since I've started baking. This muffin recipe was created as a result of desperation. Sophie attends a Christian program every Wednesday night, and it was her turn to bring snacks that week for 20 kids. It was a busy time and with me preparing the upcoming international trip for the whole family, the snack duty got forgotten, until the night before, when I see an empty snack bucket that she brought home the week before.

Meyer Lemon Tart with Lemon Macaron

I am finally writing a new post! Life with two babes are definitely not something one would take lightly. The only way I could write this post is when the two kids miraculously nap at the same time, and I am pumping while writing this post before they wake up (sorry for TMI).

I am not baking as much since Kathryn was born, but I cook way way more. She is almost a year old now, and ever since she was 6 months, I have been cooking four different meals! So to say that there isn't enough time in one day or enough energy on one's body, is not an understatement.

Valentine Cake Idea - Raspberry Rose Lychee Cake

It's Valentine's day today and while it might be too late for anyone looking for Valentine cake idea, at least this can be an inspiration for other occasion, whether it's the decor idea, or the cake idea. You can change up the shape as you'd like, such as numbers, circles, alphabets, or anything at all.

Rouge Entremet

Hi there! I just survived a busy 2-week! I was neck-deep buried in pounds of fondant, raspberries, white chocolate, gallons of cream, you name it, all for the wedding of sweet couple friends (sneak peak on Instagram @the.bs.life). Post and tutorial coming soon.

Today I want to share this red hot cake I made a few weeks back for sis-in-law's Big 4-0 birthday celebration. 

Pistache Noisette Entremet (Pistachio Hazelnut Entremet)

Hi there!

Boy, has it really been 2.5 years? A lot sure happened during that time and this little page of mine been forgotten.

Well, let's start with this blog. I took time off for 2.5 years focusing on my (not so) baby in the beginning and one thing led to another, this blog did not get any attention.
My daughter just turned 3 last week. Yup, how we went from newborn to a whole three years in just a blink of an eye is beyond me, but now she has become a little tiny lady who loves exploring and socializing, though quite a handful at times.  

Banana, Caramel and Hazelnut Entremet

I haven't been making lots of entremet lately since it takes quite some time to make and time is very precious to me lately. I went back to work last December after my 4-month maternity leave, and I am busier than ever.

Before I was back to work, I managed to make this banana, caramel, and hazelnut entremet for my nephew's birthday. I wasn't actually in the mood of spending a great deal in the kitchen since sleep was always my preferred action whenever I have any time, but I had some leftover cake components in the freezer that I wanted to use up before they go bad. And I am glad I did because the cake turned out to be delicious! One of the cake I am proud of.

Product Review: Silicon Baking Cups

Hello,

I thought I would pop in to let you guys know that I am still here. This blog has been abandoned for so long (for a good reason), but I want to try to go back posting more often.

As some of you may know from the last post that I was pregnant and I gave birth to my precious daughter last August. Time has surely flown by since then. It wasn't easy for sure, there were tears, there were a lot of hospital visits, lack of sleeps, and everything else. Now that the baby is a bit older (she just turned 3 months), I am so lucky that she could sleep through the night (mostly), and she is such a good baby. But still, I feel like I need more time every day. I am enjoying being a stay-home mom, but I have to go back to work in three weeks and I am dreading leaving my baby alone :(.

Japanese Cheesecake with Green Tea Swirls

I didn't do much on Memorial Day weekend yesterday. M left to Korea for a business trip, and I went to work on Monday while everyone else was in the pool or BBQ enjoying the sun. I was planning on doing a lot of baking but I didn't do as much as I wanted too. In fact, I only made different components for this and that, but no finished dessert yet. My long-time friend came to visit from Indonesia so we hung out for quite a bit. He was here when I started my early baking life so he got to taste some of my first cakes. I am making some of them while he's here, along with some other desserts like lemon tart.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cake

It was one of my brother's birthday about a month ago. We didn't actually have any plan to celebrate it as his wife took him to a weekend getaway to Napa for his birthday.

The week after, the wife had a last-minute plan to have a gathering with LOTS of cajun-style shrimp among friends (there is this one place that we wanted to try) and a surprise celebration for my brother's birthday, which means that there had to be a cake. It was only two days before the gathering so I didn't have much time to make any fancy cake, not even to think about what cake to make.

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Mango Glaze for A Birthday

Ah. whether has gotten so nice lately and I've also been baking up a storm in my kitchen. I am excited! I guess I should make use of this time as much as I can to bake as I don't think I can bake often enough (or at all) after the baby is born.

The Making of A Wedding Cake

 I had the privileged to make a wedding cake for my friends' wedding, H and C about a month ago.  They asked me if I could make their wedding cake many months prior to the wedding, before I found out I was pregnant. Their request was pretty specific, they wanted a fondant-decorated dummy cake, and fancier cakes for the actual cake. The wife, C, had a specific cake in mind, that I would make my chocolate-hazelnut cake as one of them. I had made this cake countless time here and here and here (and many more not posted since it is the same cake) and each time, I changed it a bit. She wanted two kinds, so I suggested a fruity one. I came up with mango-passion and raspberry cake, similar to this cake, but with a bit of passion fruit added.

Meyer Lemon Tart with Candied Lemon and Peel

Spring is here! It came a month ago already but it seems like California got a late Winter this year. We had cold, rainy, and windy days last week, which is good since we are in severe drought. I even saw some snow on the top of the mountain on my way to work last week. I also saw rainbows, a few times! Despite being thankful for the rain, I have to say that I still LOVE the California sunny warm days, which what we have been getting the past few days after all that cold. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of the year, I open the windows all day, I try to have lunch outdoor, getting ice creams, it also makes me in the mood of baking!