No-Knead Soft Milk Bread

Making bread is fun for most, but a headache for some, especially if you are not patient. I always find an easy recipe to follow for most of my bread recipes because I am one of the people who do not have patience to make bread the traditional way. This sweet milk bread is best made by a lazy person, but the result is still fantastic. This bread is soft and sweet with a hint of coconut milk. This recipe bakes up with just a few quick steps with very little mess. Making this bread for breakfast or for a snack can be enjoyed often.

Ingredients:

Wet ingredients:

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup coconut milk or regular milk

Dry ingredients:

2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour or bread flour

2 tsp instant yeast or active dry yeast

Other ingredients and equipment:

1/4 cup soft butter

1 egg 

Large baking tray lined with parchment paper

Large bowl with lid

Directions:

In a glass container, combine the sugar, salt, and coconut milk. Warm it up in a microwave for just 1 minute because then the milk will not be too hot to kill the yeast nor not too cold to activate the yeast.

Add egg and mix well.

In a bowl, combine the flour and yeast. Pour the egg-milk mixture over the dry ingredients and whisk until no dry flour remains. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, stir in the soft butter. Use your hands to mix the butter into the dough.

Cover with lid and let it sit at room temperature to rise until double in size.

When the dough is double in size (about 60 to 70 minutes depending upon the temperature in your kitchen), sprinkle flour on the countertop and place the dough on the flour. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. 

Flour your hands and stretch each portion of the dough into a long strip (about 5 inches long).

Place each strip side by side touching each other onto the prepared baking tray. 

Cover with a towel and let rise a second time (about 40 minutes).

After the dough has risen for a second time, break an egg and brush it over the dough.

Bake in the preheated oven at 350° for 15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.

Red Been Mochi

The cakes, known as Mochi, are cute round buns made of soft and chewy rice.  This sweet rice cake is a Japanese tradition served at New Year. The traditional way to make this cute sweet rice cake is complicated. The resulting sticky rice dough then formed into a final Mochi shape, normally will be a round shape, then baked or boiled. Families traditionally celebrate New Year by cooking a vegetable broth in which they heat the Mochi and drink it. The filling for this cute cake is made of red bean paste, mung bean paste, black sesame seed, or nowadays ice cream.  The Mochi is popular all over the world. With a fast moving society that we are now living, the simplest way to make Mochi will be worth it to try at home. Making fresh Mochi at home and filling with your favorite stuffing with this easy Mochi recipe will make all your guests happy.

Ingredients: 

For the dough:

1 cup sweet rice flour (sticky rice)

1 tbs wheat starch (optional)

2 pandan leaves roughly chopped

1 cup water

2 tbs sugar

For the filling:

1/2 cup dry red beans

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbs butter

1/4 cup coconut powder or flakes (optional)

Other ingredients:

1/4 cup cornstarch

Equipment

4 inch diameter glass bowl 

Sauté pan

Instant pot

Directions: 

Soak the dry beans overnight and drain.

Place the soaked beans into the instant pot. Add 1 cup water; close the lid and turn pressure cook for 8 minutes (this assumes that you already know how to use the instant pot). However, you can cook the beans in a pot until soft.

Place all the cooked beans with water into a food processor and grind the cooked beans into a paste.

Pour the bean paste into the sauté pan. Add sugar and coconut flakes and slow cook this paste until it is completely dry, adding the butter at the end which will make the bean paste look glossy. 

You can use the red bean paste in a can. It will save you time for this step. The red bean paste in a can sold at a Korean grocery or Japanese store. 

When the bean paste cools off, wet your hands and divide the bean paste into 12 round portions.

To make Mochi dough:

Place roughly chopped pandan leaves with water into a mixer and blend well. Pour the pandan mixture through a sieve. Discard the leaves.

In the glass bowl, add sweet rice, wheat starch, and sugar. Mix well.

Pour the pandan water into the rice flour mixture and mix well.

Cover the bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Take it out and stir the mixture to prevent any lumps, and put it back into the microwave and cook for another 2 minutes or until the dough looks shiny.

To assemble the Mochi:

On a clean countertop or piece of wooden board, sprinkle the cornstarch onto a work surface big enough to handle the cooked dough.

Pour the cooked dough into the cornstarch mixture. Let it cool off enough for you to handle the dough (about 2 minutes). Form the dough into a baton and divide the dough into 12 portions.

Dip your hand into the cornstarch to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands. Flatten the dough and place the red beans ball into the center of the dough and pinch the dough to cover the filling. This technique will take time for the beginner to make it right. 

Place Mochi into the small muffin paper liners. If you do not eat the Mochi right away, keep them fresh in the refrigerator for up to one week. Bring it out into the room temperature for 10 minutes and enjoy the Mochi.

Tip: if you do not have fresh pandan leaves, you can add vanilla to the dough and use a food coloring to make dough with a different color as you wish. 

Basic Small Cake

Have your cake and eat it too is a phrase that indicates the simple way to do everything. I like this phrase very much and start to implement it with my cooking. I will introduce small-batch desserts or savory special cake for birthdays, even though I am not a baker and never will claim to be. The small-batch of any recipes will make it easy to follow. However, if it does not turn out right, it will not break your bank with only a small investment for the ingredients. Also, for people who like to taste a sweet cake but are afraid of gaining weight, the small-batch recipe will help to prevent that whenever you are hungry for thick layer cakes, pie, cookie, or muffins. This recipe is easy, and the available variations to add different kinds of fruits are simple enough without overdoing it.

 Ingredients:

 Dry ingredients:

1 ¼ cups self-rising flour

 Wet ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup melted butter or vegetable oil

1/3 cup milk

 Other ingredients:

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups chopped apples (gala, pink lady, or Grainy Smith)

 Equipment: 

6 inch diameter round cake pan

Small parchment paper

 Directions:

 Preheat oven to 350°.

Cut the parchment paper to line the bottom of the cake pan and use soft butter to grease the cake pan.

Put all the wet ingredients into a KitchenAid blender and beat for 5 minutes.

Sift the flour and add to the eggs mixture. Add vanilla and apples.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

Enjoy!!!

With this basic cake, you can add carrots, zucchini, berries, bananas, etc. Feel free to explore all the available choices to add that suits your taste.