Chocolate walnut bars

Adapted from recipe below except that I used a chocolate ganache for the topping.

The name of the recipe is a little odd. The bottom is similar to a cookie dough so it's more like a chocolate covered cookie.

Result is not bad though next time I'd used a little less chocolate or a little more cookie crust.

Worlds ugliest pineapple tarts

The dough was very fiddly and crumbly. So I shaped it so very ugly. But the pineapple jam itself is quite nice.

I think next attempt should be open faced cookies as no real shaping needed.

Mussel stew

Not too bad. Used only half the ten dollar pack for 5 people (was slightly too little but made up by the bread).

Slowly fried chopped medium onion with dried fennel, then garlic. Then a tablespoon of tomato paste. Added a healthy dollop of mirrin.Then the blended contents of my steamed canned tomatoes. Finally chopped green olives, thyme and lemon zest. Simmered for a bit. At serving, add in the frozen mussels directly and boil till just done. 

Bread was assortment of Rosemary cheese bread and a baguette.

Accompanied by a sparkling Italian white.

French Baguettes

About 200g of total weight per medium baguette.

This version prob makes 4 loaves.

500g bread flour
8-10g of salt
5g of instant yeast.
325-350gwater. Tried 400g water before - Super sticky and hard to shape.

In a bowl, put in water, salt and yeast and mix well. No need to stand the yeast.

Mix in flour, slowly at first, then faster. Mixing all the time.

once all flour is in, use your hand and keep incorporating the dry flour until most of the flour is in the ball of dough.

Knead a bit more, but mostly just to make sure the flour is incorporated.

Refrigerate 3-5 days.

After 3-5 days, take out flour. Tip on to lightly floured surface.

Stretch and fold the dough. Rest 20 mins. Then repeat another time or two.

Divide the dough. Then stretch and fold into logs and place into baguette molds or just into parchment paper folded to hold the dough shape.

Spritz with water and wait till dough doubles and dough bounces slowly back when pressed.

Preheat oven to as hot as it will go. My old oven 230C. My new oven 250C. Can use baking stone to assist.

Prepare steam. New oven - moderate steam. Old Oven (no built in steam), throw a cup or two of water into the oven after putting the dough in (or put a tray full of water when preheating).

Bake. Need to ensure first 10 mins have lots of steam to provide oven spring and no premature browning.

Recipe for soft loaf

Recording this for reference purposes.

This recipe is divided into core and non-core bits. Makes 2 medium loaves.

Core ingredients.
1. 450g bread flour
2. 290g milk (can form part of the milk weight with heavy cream. Not too much).
3. 50g fine white sugar (brown sugar also can - but loaf will be brown inside).
4. 8g salt (mixed well into the flour)
5. 8g instant yeast
6. some kind of fat. 75g butter, or 45g olive oil.

Non-core ingredients example (all optional).
7. 2 teaspoons of the best pepper you can find.
8. rosemary (prob 1-2 teaspoon of chopped bits)
9. Some chopped olives

Method.
10. Put milk, sugar and yeast into mixer with dough hook.
11. Mix well on low.
12. When mixture is slightly foamy, with the machine running, add flour/salt by the spoonful at first, then more rapidly.
13. wait a min or so. Then add the non-core ingredients.
14. wait another min. Then add the fat.
15. increase speed to medium.
16. Knead for about 17-20 mins or until the dough sticks together and starts picking away from the bowl. If by kneading by hand, perform the window pane test.
17. Take dough out and prove until dough doubles. In the oven proving mode, about 25 mins at 33C. Proving outside, maybe 50 mins in Singapore weather.
18. Tip dough out to floured surface. Divide the dough.
19. gently fold the dough a bit. e.g. take one side and stretch, then fold in. Repeat with other corners.
20. shape the dough. Gently stretch dough into rectangle with one side the same length as the baking container. On the other length, just stretch it then roll the dough back into a log.
21. The dough should expand about 3 times in baking, so the container should be suitably large.
22. Prove the dough until 1.5 to 2 times. Spritz dough with water.
23. Preheat oven to 175C (maybe 180-190 for non-steam oven).
24. Dial steam assist to 50% humidity.
25. Slash the dough.
26. Put baking containers in oven. Bake for 10 mins at high humdity (I used to throw water into the oven).
27. Turn down humidity, and continue baking until the bread turns well browned.
28. take out and cool.

Confirmation bake

In new oven. Not bad, not bad.

The steam really does help in forming handsome looking bread. Can't wait to taste.

French style steamed clams

well.... sort of. As usual, I riffed on the theme. This dish is worth repeating if you have fresh clams (or mussels), so I'm documenting a little bit more detail this time.

The clams (1kg) were given the sea water treatment for 4-5 hours with ice cubes in the water.

Then I sauted a medium onion slowly with a pinch of dried fennel (this proved to be a winner in the final taste), wan sui root, some wan sui leaves, and garlic. I then poured about 1/2 to 1 cup (who's counting when you are pouring it in) of a cheap (can you say 2 for $25?) sweetish Italian sparking (no. not prosecco) and an equivalent amount of chicken stock and boiled it down a little. Just for kicks, I added a cubed potato and sliced carrots (they tasted nice later, but mw says they detract from presentation - just the clams would do) and cooked it a bit more.

I put the clams into a steamer and steamed over the stock. About 4 mins later, the first of the clams started to open. For the next 4-5 mins, I removed the cover,  and removed opened clams. Finally all the clams were out.

I then put a chunk of unsalted butter, and a big handful of chopped wan sui and briefly boiled the stock again.  Salt is added. I then poured the lot over the clams.

The last pic is the ugly one with the diced potatoes getting into the photo (but man were they tasty). 

1 kg is a bit much for 2. I also had a steamed fish (not pictured coz I only thought to take a photo when its halfway eated), some veg, a bit of rice and a hunk of baguette.

The surprisingly drinkable cheap Italian.

Attempt at air frying

Tried to do a air fry.

Steam potato wedges for 9mins. Then into really hot oven. But the browning is uneven. I think still needs a little fat (eg butter) and maybe some injected steam for evenness.

Doing canning of tomatoes in new oven

Chopped fresh tomatoes with garlic celery and other veg. Good for making quick sauce (blended) or as body in stews or as a side dish.

Can freeze.

First bake in new oven

The first batch I did 10 mins with steam then 5 less steam and then a final bake without. Skins a bit soft. Temp 250C

Then I did a second batch but steam all the way till quite brown. Skin when tapped sounds satisfactory.