Ensaymada

I was talking to a friend about baking..and we got on the topic of how we like to bake, but we can't eat it all by ourselves..so we decided to make two different things and share. Great idea! What did we decide on? Ode to the Philippines: Ensaymada and sans rival! As you can see, I choose to make ensaymada. It was interesting...kinda like bread dough, but more fluid and sticky like a thick cake batter. At first I thought I made it wrong, but as it baked and the warm smell filled the kitchen..excitedly I peeked and it was rising nicely. They turned out pillowy soft... Melt in your mouth....mmmmm I can't wait to taste my friend's sans rival :)

French onion soup

What naturally goes with bread? A savory soup of course! I love french onion soup...funny, because in general, I do not like onions. Mostly uncooked onions. Anyways, I love french onion soup and have never thought of making it, somehow it seemed a complex mystery to me. I thought it couldn't be so simple. However, it is actually amazingly simple and easy. The secret is red wine and thyme, parsley and bay leaves... in the middle of making it, I realized I did not have thyme, so I substituted with rosemary and it came out so good! now go get cooking!

Take 2!

So I was home for the weekend and was so inspired by making my first bread, I wanted to make another one asap. sifting through my parent's pantry, i got the idea of making rosemary cheddar bread... mmm.. it turned out pretty good and the smell that filled the house was amazing. i didn't really get to eat much of it, so now that I'm back home, I had a craving for it. the above bread is the take 2 version. notice the cheese holes!! the first time i kneaded the cheese in before the first rise. the result was an even bread with the flavor of cheese, but kinda hard to actually see any cheese in it. i'm a big fan of seeing cheese in cheese bread, so on take two, i figured i shouldn't knead it as much and the cheese will melt together.. PLUS i added the cheese after the first rise and.. yup, it worked. i got the result i wanted! :) oh and side note.. the texture of my latest bread (of the three total i've made) was much improved. the first was good but a little heavy and dried quickly. this one is light and fluffy.. mmmm... yea for sandwich lunches this week while it lasts ..

My first bread

So the past month had been a little crazy with moving, traveling, and other events...so I haven't had much time to myself. Yesterday, I was finally able to get back to business...and what came out? My first homemade bread from scratch.

first a little background.... so this kinda really started from a couple months ago back in March when my co-worker made me a victim of the chain goo, also know as amish friendship bread. I skeptically followed the directions.. mush the bag.. mush the bag... mush.. mush.. and 10 days later, I made this wonderful cinnamon sweet bread. I was hooked.

another 10 days later, there was bananna choco chip, another 10 days, blueberry lemon...

having to travel, i did research and found out that keeping it in the fridge would slow down the goo.. research also revealed it's real identity... yeast. and after 3 batches of sweet bread.. frankly we were tired of sweet breads. so more research brought me to find it is also known as herman sourdough... SO thats how we came to yesterday after a 20 day wait... my first loaf.

but wait.. there's more.. i saved the best for last. and here it is:

Tada! look, he's even smiling at me.

can't wait for turtle soup tonight :)