White bread

Since I fascinated in baking, I always want to bake a white bread. One day I bought a loaf pan and try to make bread. My first bread was fault but the taste is not bad. See!!! How ugly the bread is!!! Last time I use half ingredient to toast so the size is very small. I try to bake again and use the 100% original recipe. It looks much better but the middle of the toast is still raw. I think the dough was too big to bake. Next time I should try 80% of the material.

Ingredients:
A: 500g Bread flour + Sugar 20g + Salt 3g
B: Water 120g + Fresh milk 160g
+ sweet cooking rice seasoning 30g (味霖)
C: Instant yeast 3g
D: Olive oil 28g

Direction:

1. Put A,B,C into the bread baker and set to knead until the surface become smooth.

2. After machine finish the knead process and add olive oil and knead again.

3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest about 1-1.5 hrs.

When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size.

4. Slice the dough into 4 pieces and knead for a few minutes. Shape them into the loaf pan and allow it to rise for another 1.5 hrs or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans..

5. Bake at 200 degrees C for 25-30mins

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies

I bought a large peanut butter from Costco last month due to the Costco coupon.

See how huge this can is!
Because it’s really a big volume and I have to consume it ASAP, otherwise the peanut butter will store at the refrigerator for a long time until it expired. I searched some recipes from the Internet and found a perfect one. Here is the website. http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/phoebe-tajwanka/article?mid=5393

P.S. The percentage of sugar and brown sugar should be half and half but I put 50:100. So the cookie I made looks very brown and you can see some dark spots on the surface. These dark spots are brown sugar. I also put an almond on the top of the cookie and it matches perfectly.

Ingredients
A: 270g Baking flour +30g Plain flour + 1/2 tsp salt
B: 180g Butter + 70g Sugar ( I add 50g)+ 80g Brown sugar ( I add 100g)
C: 1Egg + 100g Crunchy Peanut Butter

How to do:

1. Combine A (the flour and salt) and mix them well.

2. Put the butter and both sugars into a bowl and mix by electric mixer. Until they're light and creamy then add C (egg and Peanut Butter) the mixture may look a bit curdled, but it will be fine once the flour is added.

3. Add the flour mixture to 2 and mix until it just forms a thick soft dough (Don't overdo the mixing in of the flour)

4. Scrape the dough from the bowl and divide it in half.

5. Gently knead one piece of the dough briefly to bring it together, then roll it into a log or square about 3-5 cm in diameter. Repeat with the remaining dough then put the dough into the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

6. Until they're firm enough to slice, at this stage, you can freeze the logs until you need them (they keep well in the freezer for about 5 weeks; just defrost them in the fridge before slicing them.)

7. Preheat your oven to 150C. Unwrap the log and cut into 6-7 mm-thick slices.

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the biscuits are light golden-brown and feel crisp to touch. If your oven cooks a bit unevenly, turn the trays back to front and swap the shelves halfway through the baking time. Remove the trays from the oven and leave the biscuits to cool completely on them. Store the biscuits in an airtight container, where they will keep well for 5-6 days, or freeze them for up to 2 weeks, and when you want, defrost them at room temperature.

Japanese Light Cheese Cake

It has been a long time to bake a cheese cake. I think 10 years at least. I baked cheese cake before and this is the first time to do Japanese light cheese cake. The recipe is from a blogebrity call Ellen and she make this cake when she studied aboard. This is a Japanese-style cheese cake and it’s  not really the “cheese cake” we normally refer to. It's not so cheese and taste not so strong. Just like a cheese-flavored sponge cake. The texture is moist and soft, so you won’t feel too much to have more!! You must try to do this once or you can ask me to bake one for you.

Ingredients：　(about 8" round)

A:
Plain cream cheese (softened) 250g
Milk 170 ml
Butter (softened) 60g

B:
Egg yolks 3 pieces
Cake flour 30g
Milk 20ml

C:
Egg white 3 pieces
5ml of rice vinegar/ lemon juice/ cream of tartar
(Just choose one of them)
Cornstarch 20g (I didn’t add vinegar and cornstarch this time)
Sugar 100g

Procedure：　

1. Combine A. and heat in a double boiler (with simmering water). Stir occasionally while heating until big chunks disappear.

2. Mix B. and pour into A. Beat and add egg yolks into the mixture as well. You may sift to make sure there are no more chunks in the mixture. Preheat oven to 150 C.

3. Use a clean and grease-free mixing bowl to beat egg white and vinegar (material C.). Add sugar and cornstarch in small portions while beating until can form a peak.

4. Scoop 1/3 of the egg white foam to mix with the batter, and then transfer into the rest egg white foam and stir with a spatula. (be careful not to over-mix)

5. Pour the batter into the 8” round pan (I use a square baker). Add warm water in a baking tray and put them in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. Insert a stick to test if it’s done inside. Let cool; transfer to refrigerator and stand for one night. (It tastes great after keeping in fridge for at least one night.)

Bath baking can prevent the cake from heating quickly and thus have cracks on surface, so please do not skip this.

Make a No-knead Bread

Recip:
• Bread flour 330g
• Salt ¼ teaspoon
• Instant yeast ¼ teaspoon
• Sugar 20g
• Water 300-320ml
• Cranberries 30g
• Walnuts 60g

1. Combine flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
Add 300ml water, Don’t add all the water at once and keep 20ml water when the dough is not wet enough.
Stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky.
Add cranberries and walnuts into the dough.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.

Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least 1.5 hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 220℃. Put a covered pot (cast iron) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 8-10 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned.

5.Cool the bread on a rack and enjoy your bread.

Recipe quoted from http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/carol-jay/article?mid=30806  and http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?ex=1320642000&en=d5976d62a4577548&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

My First Bread!!!

This is the first bread made by myself. It's kind of European bread and with crusty surface. The bread tastes a springy but firm texture and it’s really yummy. Sometimes I will add some dregs from soybean milk in the bread, so it’s very nutritional. Unfortunately my daughters don’t like it because it’s not sweet and hard to chew. They prefer tender bread much more. Anyway it’s very easy and you don’t need any special tools except oven. It's a pity that the bread I made can be stored about 1-2 days only. I guess that’s because I don’t add any chemical additive. This home-made bread is not only easy to bake but also good for your health. I made several breads last month and I did enjoy baking since I stared to make the bread. I also make some cookies for my kids and they just love it. Look this picture, don’t you think it’s yummy.
I will show you how to do step by step on next article.

How Do I Personally Affect the Environment

We have read a lot of articles and papers about global warming and it affects the environment widely. Whether we like it or not we are part of it and everyone has to do something to protect our environment. We might be just an ordinary citizen, but we can do something about it. My personal lifestyle did some changes on transportation, consumption habits and recycling and I just wanted to affect the environment as low as possible.

First of all, I changed my lifestyle on transportation, for example, I had gone to work by riding bicycle instead of riding motorcycle since 2007. For instance I usually bring my daughters to school by walk and sometimes by bike. Moreover, I don’t drive car to Taipei City instead of taking train and MRT. Doing so will not only save money on gas but also reduce my own carbon footprint to the environment. Walk more and drive less. It may take longer, but it’s worth doing because I can get more exercise and create less pollution.

Then, I change my personal consumption habits. I buy things I really need and I buy the fruits and vegetables of this season especially organic food. My parents started homesteading since long time ago. Consequently, they become more self-sufficient by doing things by themselves. For example, grow rice and vegetables. Keep chickens and ducks. Moreover, sometimes they share or exchange the food they grew with neighbors and send me the vegetables they grew frequently. In addition, I don’t buy everything new instead of buying used goods at ebay. It’s fun and less expensive.  

        Before the government ask citizens to “ keep trash off the ground” recycling program. I separated the garbage and recycled paper, plastic or metallic cans and glass as much as I can. Recycling is the processes of collecting, processing, remanufacturing, and reusing materials instead of discarding them. This helps conserve raw materials and energy that manufacturers would otherwise use in producing new products. Recycling also reduces enormous materials going into landfills. Recycling helps lower the pollution that may result from waste disposal.

To sum up, I tried to simplify my lifestyle and affect the environment as little as possible. I used environmentally friendly transportation and changed my consumption habits on buying organic food, and did recycling program. I knew they are just small things I did but we all have responsibilities for protect our environment. It’s not too late and we can just start right now from us.

Death Penalty

Capital punishment, frequently known as the death penalty, is highly controversial in some countries. Although laws vary between different countries as to capital punishment, the crimes for which it is most commonly used are killers. The death penalty is the execution of a person for a crime and it’s allowed in Taiwan. I believe it is the best way to protect more people from harm for two reasons: the death penalty gives completion to the victim’s families who have suffered, prisoner paroles or escapes can give criminals another chance to kill someone, and it would definitely help in reducing crime rate in society.

Some people strongly believe that a person who has taken the life of another person does not have a right to live. Sentencing such a criminal can give relief to the family members of the victim and they will feel to obtain justice. However, there is another section of people who believe that it is an immoral and unethical act of violence. But who really care about the feeling of victim’s family. Some family members of victimss may take years or decades to recover from the shock. Some may never recover. I think nobody would forgive criminals if anyone’s family or friends do get murder or rape by criminal.

It also protects other people’s safety because criminals who commit horrifying crimes like murder are believed to have a violent personality. They may, in future, attack someone after releasing, escaping or paroling from the jail. I feel that when a criminal is given a capital punishment, it also dissuades others from committing such serious crimes. They would refrain from such crimes due to fear of losing their lives. By doing this would definitely help in reducing crime rate in society. These reasons emphasize the importance of capital punishment for the improvement of human society.

To sum up, the death penalty gives victim’s families to obtain justice completely. If a criminal is jailed, he may again commit the same crime after being released from prison. Giving him capital punishment would make sure that the society is safe from being attacked by criminals. We don’t have to afraid that when prisoner paroles or escapes can give him another chance to kill someone. The most important is, it would refrain from such crimes due to fear of losing their lives and it would definitely help in reducing crime rate in society.