Chocolate cake roll: $12 per roll (apporx 10*4*2 inch)

March 30th, 2012 is our first year anniversary and we had a great dinner up in Indy. We were both so satisfied!

I made this chocolate cake yesterday and was planning to continue the celebration of our 1st anniversary. The cake roll has a rich chocolate flavor and the simple whipped cream goes well with the chocolate cake itself. It's a simple cake roll but classic.

Ingredients:

Cake flour, cocoa  powder, 2% organic milk, oil, eggs, sugar, salt, lemon juice, and whipped cream

123 herbal soap: $3.5 each (appox 3.7 oz)

The reason that this soap is called 123 is because the ratio of amount of coconut oil, palm oil, and olive oil is 1:2:3. In addition, I added some bee wax to increase the hardness of the soap. The Chinese herb powder and pearl powder that I added have the function of lightening the skin tone. Rosemary essential oil was added as well.

p.s. The jar of oil in the picture is the rose infused oil. I made this in mid March and will need to wait till mid May to use it. Can't wait that long!!

Ingredients:

olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, bee wax, Chinese herb powder, pearl powder, essential oil (rosemary), water, and lye

White chocolate cranberry muffin: $14 for eight muffins

Since 1) making muffins is so easy and quick, 2) we have white chocolate that we have been trying to finish and 3) I was going to have an afternoon tea with a friend, I decided to make these white chocolate muffins.

Like the chocolate banana muffins I made few days ago, I used less sugar in these muffins. Also, in order to add the crunchy texture, I added hazelnuts (but I think I still prefer walnuts. I used hazelnuts just because we did not have walnuts at home.) I think the muffins should be slightly sweeter, but my Chinese friend thought the sweetness is good enough. My husband even said he liked this cranberry muffins more than the chocolate banana ones. Oh well, sweetness is so subjective.

Overall, white chocolate cranberry muffins are pretty good.

Ingredients:

All- purpose flour, egg, egg york, sugar, honey, salt, unsalted butter, 2% organic milk, white chocolate,dried cranberry, and hazelnuts

Basic white loaf bread: $4.0 for one loaf (appox 8*4.5*4.5 inch)

The white loaf bread is basic as well as classic.

I decided to make this basic bread yesterday because I suddenly wanted to have the thick toasted bread. In Taiwan, the loaf bread can be sliced thin or thick. The thick one is perfect with peanut butter or garlic butter. Just need to smear the peanut butter or garlic butter, toast it in the oven, and ding done! Of course you can do the same thing to the thin sliced bread but I just feel more satisfied with the thick sliced bread. And  that is my husband's breakfast today too. :)

Ingregients:

Bread flour, whole wheat flour, egg, sugar, 2% organic milk, salt, unsalted butter, and yeast

House chore soap - coconut oil: $3.0 each (approx 3.7 oz)

I just made another kind of house chore soap yesterday. I learned how to make this soap when I attended the soap-making class back in Taiwan. You only need two kinds of oil and it takes only 8 hours for the soap to be removed from the mold. Also, you merely need to wait for two weeks to use the soap.

My mom loves this soap and she does not use dish detergent anymore. She learned how to make it from me and even made 4 molds in a week. This coconut oil  house chore soap creates really delicate foam when you wash the dishes. Grease can be easily removed too. There is not fragrant oil or essential oil added in this soap. Simplicity wins!

Soaps in the picture below are $4.0 each. The size is bigger and it would be a perfect gift.

Ingredients:

Coconut oil, castor oil, water, and lye

Chocolate chip banana muffin: $10 for six muffins

To be honest, this is my first time to make muffins at home. And, the main reason that I decided to make banana muffins is simply because we have a  really ripe banana at home lol I do love really ripe bananas because the flavor of banana is richer and it's sweeter.

I decreased the amount of sugar as I planed to  add chocolate chip inside. I also added some walnuts to create a different texture. The muffins turned out pretty good and so moist. They have the perfect sweetness that I was asking for. I like it!! Now I am having a iced coffee with the chocolate chip banana muffins and enjoying the afternoon of spring. :)

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour, egg, egg york, unsalted butter, baking powder, sugar, salt, honey, 2% organic milk, semi-sweet chocolate chip, banana, chopped walnuts, and ground cinnamon

Strawberry cake roll: $14 per roll (approx 10 inch long)

We had a dinner gathering with other Taiwanese people last Friday and it turned out to be a really fun night. I took this strawberry cake roll to the party and got many compliments. :) The sweetness is perfect, the sponge is soft, and you also have real strawberry inside the cake. Also, I made the strawberry jam from scratch and mixed it when I made the whipped cream. So the color of whipped cream is little pinkish. Great combination! I like it a lot!!

However, if you prefer pure whipped cream or other flavor of whipped cream, we can discuss!

Ingredients:

Cake flour, egg, vitamin D organic milk, sugar, strawberries, lemon juice, salt, olive oil, and heavy whipped cream

Dinner rolls with oatmeal and sunflower seeds: $5.5 for eight rolls

I twisted the dough a little bit to shape these dinner rolls. Also, I garnished the dinner rolls with oatmeal and sunflower seeds.

Ingredients:

Bread flour, whole wheat flour, cake flour, 2% organic milk, egg, unsalted butter, sugar, salt, yeast, oatmeal, and sunflower seeds

Sweet corn bread

Sweet corn bread is one of the most common breads that you can find in the bakery in Taiwan. It is simple but delicious. I added some wasabi into the mayo and mix it with the sweet corns and it turns out pretty good.

Ingredients:



Bread flour, whole wheat flour, cake flour, egg, vitamin D organic milk, sugar, unsalted butter, yeast, salt, sweet corn, light mayo,black pepper, wasabi, dried basil

Loaf bread with bacon and cheese: $8.0 for one loaf (apprx 8*4.5*4.5 inch)

I still remember the first time that I had this bread in Taiwan.....it was so good!!! Bacon and cheese is one of the best combination in the bread. It tastes like pizza too. :) I don't remember seeing this kind of bread in the US and, all of sudden, I just feel I want to make this loaf bread with bacon and cheese today. And I used my Kitchen Aid for the first time too. Love it! As usual, the smell of cheese and bread in the kitchen was great, which is one of my favorite period of time too.

Who can say no to a healthy home-made bread with bacon and cheese??!!

Ingredients:

Bread flour, whole wheat flour, cake flour, 2% organic milk, unsalted butter, egg, yeast, sugar, salt, black pepper, onion powder, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, dried basil, bacon, pizza cheese, and chedder cheese

Garlic cheesy bread

Whenever I bake garlic bread in the kitchen, I just cant resist the smell of the garlic (though your breath does not smell good after eating the garlic bread.) I believe many people love garlic bread. This time, I am using real grated garlic as garnish and, on top of this, I added Parmesan cheese too. Garlic and cheese.......yum yum!

Ingredients:

Bread flour, cake flour, 2% organic milk. sugar, yeast, salt, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, grated garlic, unsalted butter, dried basil, and Parmesan cheese

Taro paste cake roll

Sponge cake roll is one of my favorite dessert because it is soft and light. Let me know if you  are interested  in purchasing.

Ingredients:

Eggs, cake four, sugar,lemon juice, unsalted butter, taro, 2% organic milk, whipped cream, salt

Kick off!

Great! I am wiring my very first article in this blog. But this is definitely not the first time for me to make bread at home.

I used to knead the dough by myself and in the end I just had sore arms. Ever since  I have the bread machine, making bread has become so easy. I still need to keep an eye on the bread and add butter when it's the time, but lots of work are saved because of the machine. Now I make the bread at home 2-3 times a week and never ever purchased bread  from the grocery store again. Why?! They just taste so so different.

I am not really fond of the texture of bread in the US. In Asian, people prefer soft bread. And there are a lot more variety of options of bread at the bakery. Here? None! And that's why I need to make everything by myself.

There are some techniques to make softer bread, and yes, there are also some efforts that you need to make. I personally don't like the bread that's baked inside the bread machine and I like my bread with different shapes, so I only use the bread machine to combine the ingredients and knead dough. I take out the dough and let it raise and bake outside of the bread machine.

Let's start with the technique to have softer bread. The first technique is called water roux method. You combine a small amount of flour (e.g. 50g out of 300g) and milk/water (e.g. 50ml out of 150 ml) and add this mixture later with other ingredients. It will take about 10 minutes at most to have the mixture,but by using this method, the bread will be softer.

The other technique to make the bread softer is sponge dough method. You first combine about 70% of the flour (e.g. 250g out of 370g), milk/water (e.g. 150ml out of 180 ml), and ALL the yeast that is called for in the recipe. Knead the dough as you make the bread and let it raise for 1.5 to 2 hours or until the size of the dough is twice bigger. And then, put this dough inside the bread machine along with other ingredients.

As for the order of the ingredients that need to be put in the bread machine, I always put wet ingredients first (e.g. water, milk, egg, honey, and the dough from either water roux or sponge dough method etc.). And the second layer is flour. And then sugar, salt, any seasonings or powders. I add yeast the last. Everything works really great for me so far.

Okay. let's start with the loaf bread with black sesame powders, raisins, and walnuts then. Happy baking!