House of Annie

Third Time’s a Charm?

Longtime readers may recall, we have attempted no-knead recipes in the past, to less than spectacular results. But since I wanted to try no-knead one more time, I decided to go ahead with this recipe. I really wanted to be successful. I looked at the Artisan Bread in Five blog and got their brioche recipe. I read up on all the other people who had success. I made my dough THREE whole days ahead for ultimate flavor. I was excited. I was hopeful. I was drooling, thinking of my beautiful brioche filled with Nutella and Macadamia nuts (didn’t have pistachios).

Making the dough was a piece of cake! Just mix all the ingredients together and give it a good stirring and then cover loosely with plastic and let it sit in my fridge for 3 days. So far so good.

Baking day came along and I went to the fridge and got my dough out. I took off the plastic cover and the first thing that hits me is the smell of yeast. In fact, the yeasty smell was almost overwhelming. I was a little put off but gamely forged ahead.

Risen Brioche Dough

I took out a chunk the size of a cantaloupe. It was very sticky. So sticky that I had to flour my hands and my work surface quite a bit. I had to add more flour to get it to a workable dough. Then after shaping it (it was really nice and soft), and adding the Nutella, I put it in my pan and let it rise. Again, so far, so good.

After the rise and the eggwash and the sprinkling of macadamia nuts, I put it into my preheated oven and let it bake. I was hopeful. I was excited. I was drooling and thinking, Nutella brioche—yummy! My kids were all eagerly waiting on the sidelines (because I had forbidden them from eating any of the Nutella as I needed the whole jar for this recipe and they had finished the other jar—told you we wouldn’t have a problem!).

Nutella Brioche with Macadamia Nuts

It came out, cooled and I cut into it to let Nate take a picture and then, not able to wait any longer, I took a bite.

Yummy?

No.

Good?

No.

Decent? Ehhh…yes.

It wasn’t like any brioche that I’ve ever had at other bakeries. It wasn’t rich yet light and tender. It wasn’t flavorful, want-to-keep-eating-until-your-pants-burst bread. It wasn’t everything that so many other blogs had said they LOVED. It was decent, but not great. Not even close by a mile.

I felt deflated, upset and cheated. The Nutella was great, even awesome BUT I would have enjoyed it more on plain old sliced bread than this so-called “brioche”. My kids couldn’t wait to eat the bread and they didn’t complain. The Nutella had been calling to them after all. But it was telling that my daughter (who is a bread lover) actually only ate the bits where there was Nutella and left most of the bread untouched.

No Knead FAIL

I was going to post this recipe for World Nutella Day. I mean, how can you go wrong with Nutella and Brioche? You can’t, really.

Except somehow I did.

I don’t know what I did wrong. I followed the instructions. I read at least 10 different blogs and sites using this same recipe and all enthused and said good things and took pictures that looked right and droolworthy. I was sure this third time would be the charm and we would be able to proclaim like so many others that no-knead bread works! I REALLY WANTED IT TO WORK! Really really!

Can I just say that Nutella still ROCKS? Nutella ROCKS and if I had had any extra left, I would have made something, anything else to post.

But if Nutella ROCKS, then no-knead bread SUCKS! The bread’s texture and flavor was not good. I don’t know how to describe it well...The crust was tough and the crumb was chewy, almost as if it were undercooked. The brioche did not taste of yeast nor egg nor butter. It was like eating a Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Kitchen Sponge. The only redeeming thing about it was the Nutella. It’s just not bread that I would want to keep eating.

So I’ll say it now: I’m DONE with no-knead breads.

I’m just not doing this again. The anticipation followed by the deflation is not worth it. “No-knead” is supposed to save you time and effort, but what good is it if the bread you get is something you don’t want to eat? Good breads just need more work I guess and I must be willing to put in the time and effort.

Maybe you’ve done no-knead before. Maybe yours turned out great. Maybe I did something wrong. But we’ve done it three times and all three times, they have turned out terrible. When I’ve baked breads using old fashioned kneaded recipes, they’ve all turned out wonderful. I don’t think I’m such a bad baker that I can’t get this right. So I’m calling it quits. I’ll stick to good old fashioned kneaded breads from now on.

Oh well…at least we enjoyed the Nutella! Happy World Nutella Day everyone!

Cheers, Annie

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Irresistible

Now, most recipes that I’ve seen out there call for just a little butter and a small quantity of ripe bananas. But I just can’t resist adding more butter and really upping the quantity of ripe bananas. Maybe that’s why my banana bread turns out to have a more cake-like texture. Whatever it is, I have found that upping these ingredients don’t seem to affect the bread too much and it’s still wonderfully moist and delicious. The extra bananas seem to help to perfume the bread with that heady banana fragrance that makes you want to snatch it out of the oven as it is baking up!

The one key thing to any banana recipe (except banana cream pie where you want the bananas nice and pretty looking) is that you really, really need to wait till your bananas are overripe. Being in Malaysia, this happens more quickly than you think. I find that after just two days, my fresh bananas have become super ripe so I’ve been baking banana bread more often than I’d like. Thankfully, I have friends and neighbors to share this with. If you haven’t gotten a banana bread from me, never fear, you probably will in no time at all (as long as you live close by).

If you find yourself overrun with ripe bananas and cannot keep up, another trick is to peel the bananas, stick them in a freezer bag and freeze them. Then the next time you feel like baking banana bread, you won’t have to wait for your bananas to ripen. Just thaw the bag and mash the bananas and you’re good to go.

Alright, so here is my recipe for banana bread. Do give it a try the next time you have loads of overripe bananas sitting on your kitchen counter! Or if you just love banana bread, buy some bananas and let them get ripe on the counter (or try bargaining with your grocery store manager for the bananas that are already overripe in the store!).

Banana Nut Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).
2. Cream sugar and butter till well mixed.
3. Add eggs and bananas. Blend well.

4. Add milk and vanilla essence and mix till well incorporated.
5. Stir in nuts and dry ingredients (you can sift the dry ingredients if you want but I normally don’t bother) and mix well.

6. Pour into loaf pan and bake for about 60-70 minutes till tester comes out clean. One trick I do is to use two slightly smaller loaf pans and bake up thinner loaves when I’m in a hurry (ie. can’t wait to take a bite into the warm, yummy bread). This way, the baking time will only be about 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Cheers, Annie

This post was entered into the January edition of Sugar High Fridays, created by Jennifer, the Domestic Goddess and hosted by A Merrier World.

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Tips for Making Bread Pudding

I’ve baked this bread pudding quite often and here are some tips I recommend:
1. When you’ve assembled the bread pudding and poured the custard over it, leave it in the fridge for at least a few hours if not overnight so that the bread gets to soak up all the yummy custard. This will lead to a more cohesive bread pudding. Also, if you leave it overnight and bake first thing in the morning, you get to enjoy this for breakfast. Yum!

2. The original recipe called for raisins and apples to be placed on top. If you plan to use any fruit in it, especially dried fruit, don’t sprinkle the fruit on top. Instead, bury the fruit in between the bread. That way, the fruit won’t get dried out and burnt on the top (notice how burnt my apple slices got on top?).

3. The better the bread, the better the bread pudding. If you use wonder bread or really cheap white bread, you’re going to get gummy bread pudding.

4. Stale bread works better than fresh bread (you should be EATING your fresh bread anyway). But if you absolutely have to, I guess you could get some fresh bread to make this (toast it first to dry it out a little). OR, do like me, and go to those bread shops that sell day-old bread and buy some OR go to your favorite bread vendor at the farmer’s market and ask if they have day-old bread to sell to you.

This recipe normally makes enough to fill a 13x9 rectangular baking pan but if you want to make a smaller bread pudding, just cut the recipe based on how much bread you have and the size of your pudding container. Today, I used a deep round casserole dish and thought that the recipe might be a bit much, so I just cut it down by 1/4.

This bread pudding recipe also doesn’t give precise amounts for the broken bread. I would say just tear up the bread to fill your pan and then just pour the custard over it. For my casserole dish, I used about 10 or 11 Pullman loaf-sized slices of bread.

Alrighty then, on to the recipe.

Bread Pudding Recipe

makes one 13x9 pan

Ingredients:
12-16 slices (4-5 cups) stale bread or anything bready, broken up into pieces
4 cups milk (whole is best)
1 stick butter (4 oz), melted
1 1/4 cup sugar (I’ve gotten away with less especially if you’re using sweetened bread)
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Optional ingredients: dried fruit (raisins, cherries, etc), fresh apple slices, bananas
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Bread Pudding Mise en Place

Method:
1. Place broken pieces of bread all over pan. If using fruit, layer some in the middle of the bread and cover with more bread.
2. Beat eggs with vanilla and then mix this with milk, butter and sugar. Whisk to ensure ingredients are mixed evenly.
3. Pour mixed ingredients (custard) over broken bread.

4. Sprinkle with cinnamon on top.

5. Place bread pudding in fridge and let soak for at least 2 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 350 F.
7. Bake for about 1 hour or until tester comes out clean. If using a deep dish casserole, expect it to take a little longer.

I have another bread pudding recipe to share but that will have to wait for another post. That one is a tropical bread pudding that my friend Melissa made for our Ultimate Backyard Lu’au a few months ago that was also a great success. And I recently saw a post by Foodgal on a savory bread pudding from Thomas Keller’s “Ad Hoc at Home” cookbook that I am keen to try too. Man, talk about carb overload. I will need to make more friends to share all this yumminess!

In the meantime, enjoy this easy bread pudding and let me know if you like it!

Cheers, Annie

This post is entered into the Yeast Spotting Roundup for November 20.

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Fancy Baked Mac and Cheese

The first time I made this baked mac and cheese, I thought the amount of sauce was too much. Being the pake Chinese I was, I added more than the one pound of elbow pasta. I decided I could stretch it out and make a pound and a half.

That was a mistake. My son told me, “Mommy, Aunty Felicia’s mac and cheese is better!” I told him, “Fine! Get her to make it for you from now on!” and went off to sulk.

Well, hellooo? It was my own fault for being cheap by trying to stretch it. I had lost the rich, decadent flavor that was the point of this whole mac and cheese recipe! So the next time around, having learnt my lesson, I stuck to only one pound of pasta (which, by the way, still makes a LOT of mac and cheese).

I did adapt it a little this time but not in a way that makes it less tasty. Instead of gruyere, I used Parmesan (I actually prefer the flavor of Parmesan). And instead of fresh breadcrumb, I used panko (Felicia was the one who gave me that tip) and increased the amount because who doesn’t like a nice breadcrumb topping!

The outcome? Absolutely delicious. My son wolfed it all down and asked for seconds AND thirds! There you go, it’s been given his seal of approval.

(Basking in the warmth of son’s approval).

So if you’re looking for a more fancied up version of Mac and Cheese, do give this recipe a try. This recipe really isn’t too hard. Probably the most time consuming part is the grating of the cheese. Other than that, it’s quite quick to assemble.

(It does involve quite a number of pots, though. That part is no fun when you have to clean up. Thankfully, I have a dishwasher named Nate. ^_^)

Fancy Baked Mac and Cheese

adapted from Ina Garten, Food Network

Ingredients
Kosher salt
1 pound elbow macaroni or cavatappi
1 quart milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 ounces Parmesan (the good kind, please don’t use the pre-grated stuff in the green cylinder), grated (4 cups), original recipe called for Gruyere
8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 pound fresh tomatoes (4 small)
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs (or more, I used almost double), original recipe called for fresh bread crumbs

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Set a large pot of water to boil and make sure to salt it well. When boiled, add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.
3. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it.
4. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Turn off the heat, add the Parmesan, Cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

5. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish.
6. Slice the tomatoes and arrange on top.

7. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on top of the mac and cheese.

8. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the breadcrumb topping is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Cheers, Annie

I am entering this post in the November 13 edition of Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by Sweet and Savory Says it All.

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