Easy homemade yeast-free flatbread

Recently I've been watching alot of TV, especially food & cooking channels. The one chef that I like most at the moment is Rachel Khoo on BBC Lifestyle, and it always seems a breeze and pretty sight to see how she prepare the delicious dishes. I was very very tempted to go down to Kinokuniya last Saturday to grab a copy of her cookbook as she was also in town for book-signing!

So I was so inspired when I saw an episode where she was doing flatbread! Sadly not all her recipes are featured online, and it's back to googling for "quick & easy" flatbread recipe.

I was quite lucky to chance upon this recipe, and it's sooo good and easy-peasy that I did it 3 times (but half the recipe each time) within a week, and another time making them into pizza (which I will write in a separate post)! What's even better is that there is very little washing, no machine needed and can be ready in less than 30 mins (including cooking and washing).

Easy homemade yeast-free flatbread
Recipe adapted from Keepin' it Kind
(yields 10 mini flatbread, about 4" each)

Ingredients/ Method
1 cup all-purpose flour (extra to flour the surface)
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1/8 cup non-dairy milk (I used half whipping cream-half water)
1 tablespoons olive oil

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well with a spoon until a dough forms.
2. Use hand to knead until it is soft and pliable. The The ball of dough should be soft, pliable, but not sticky. If it is sticky, add flour by the tablespoon until it no longer sticks to your finger when touched.
3. Transfer the ball of dough to a floured surface. 
4. Divide the dough into 10 small balls. 
5. Take one ball and use your fingers to flatten it into a circle. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a 4" circle-ish shape. 
6. Place the flattened dough on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.
7. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat (I did on low-medium heat and with slightly longer cooking time). Place one of the circles of dough in the pan and cook until bubbles begin to form and the edges begin to lift, about 1 to 2 minutes. Use tongs to quickly flip it over and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and place on a plate. Cover with a clean kitchen towel to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining circles of dough.
8. If they are not eaten immediately, let them cool before transferring them to an airtight container. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 days.

The 1st batch of dough, I prepared four circles for our lunch and left the remaining flattened dough without covering for more than 4 hours. It turned out dry and it remained hard even after pan-frying - lesson learnt - rolled out the dough only when ready to cook, and keep the remaining covered with a slightly damp clean kitchen towel.  Another lesson - don't pan fry for too long or else it will turn out hard, though it can still be eaten like a pizza...haha

After the dough is prepared, I let it rested and covered loosely with cling wrap, whilst I prepared the fillings. The fillings can be versatile, and as usual I used whatever is remaining in the fridge, which I sauteed them with black pepper, salt, mixed herbs and dried parsley - potato, shiitake mushrooms, tomato, yellow onion, and add an boiled egg. I also spread some Japanese mayonnaise on the flatbread. Both my boy and I feel like we can eat this everyday, but of course with different variation of fillings!

Salmon, pumpkin & cheese mini pies

Since I've been cooking lunches during most of the weekdays, my pathetic knowledge of cooking is really being put to test. Without letting my boy getting bored with my home-cooked lunches, and myself cooking the same old thing, I will try to prepare different dishes for the little one. Luckily, there are many generous bloggers sharing their interesting recipes, so it is not a very difficult feat. The only tough part is choosing which one to cook/ prepare first.

Before bake

Here's another salmon recipe, and using mini-pies recipe which I bookmarked from Domestic Goddess Wannabe. I've also added some pumpkin puree as I like to incorporate vegetables to make our meal more wholesome and healthier. It turned out really easy and delicious. We had it for our lunch, and the next day, the boys re-heated them as their breakfast!

I'm copying the recipe here, with some modifications, for ready reference.

Salmon, Egg and Cheese Mini-Pies
(makes 4 ramekins)
(Recipe from Domestic Goddess Wannabe, with modifications)

Ingredients/ Method:
150g salmon
1/4 yellow onion, diced
3 tbsp pumpkin puree
1 egg, boiled and chopped
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar/mozzarella
Salt and pepper to taste
Black pepper to sprinkle

1. Pan-fried salmon. Roughly mash them using fork. Set aside.
2. In a pan, saute onions for 2-3 minutes in extra-virgin olive oil.
3. Add salmon, salt and pepper. Stir to mix.
4. Add pumpkin puree, stir to mix. Transfer into a bowl to cool.
5. Greased ramekins with vegetable oil.
6. Add a scant tablespoonful of batter, followed by 2 tablespoons of filling and 1-2 tablespoons of Cheddar/mozzarella. Top with another tablespoon of batter.
7. Sprinkle with black pepper.
8. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes, or until the tops of the pies have turned golden brown.
9. Cool completely before removing from muffin pan and storing in fridge (2-3 days) or freezer (up to 3 months).

For the Batter using Ready-Made Bisquick Mix:

1/4 cup Bisquick mix* (pls refer below for homemade bisquick mix)

1/4 cup milk - this can be whole milk or low-fat milk

1 egg

1. Whisk Bisquick mix, milk and eggs in a bowl until combined.

Homemade Bisquick Mix:

3 cups plain flour, sifted

1/2 tablespoons baking powder, sifted

56.7g cold butter or shortening

1. Place flour, baking powder and butter in a mixing bowl. 
2. Use a pastry cutter (or food processor) to cut in the cold butter until evenly incorporated. (I used rubbing-in method.) 
3. Keep in refrigerator for up to 4 months.

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up (Oct 2014 Event: PUMPKIN) organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Eileen (Eileen's Diary).

Peanut butter jelly rice cereal bars

This September 1-week school holiday has been the most fruitful and fun! We were visiting various places of interests in town, like a tourist, from Science Centre, taking a river cruise at Clarke Quay, Gardens by the Bay, Universal Studios, Kranji farms, to a special invite Skippy Yippee family day, and also baking at home with kids!

When I first received the invite for the launch of Skippy new product range, natural & healthier version, I was kinda surprised but nevertheless accepted it to "fill" one of the school holiday activities. My lil boy was all prep to see Dr jiajia and a radio DJ (Jamie Yeo). And because we went to the Kranji farms in the morning, we actually overslept for the afternoon event (ohno...) ... Luckily we had the car on that day so it was pretty fast speeding reaching Tott where it was held.

I didn't know what to expect in a product launch, but this is pretty cool and fun especially for my lil boy, making peanut butter jelly rice cereal bars like a chef!

Also there were array of food and desserts using peanut butter, and they all look too pretty to eat...haha

Peanut butter jelly rice cereal bars

Ingredients/ Method
60g Skippy natural creamy peanut butter
140g marshmallows
3 cups rice puff cereals
20g grape jelly (or any jam/ spread)

1. Microwave peanut butter in a large bowl for 1 min. 
2. Add in marshmallows and stir, coating them evenly. 
3. Microwave coated marshmallows for another 1 min, or till melted. Using spatula, stir till mixture are evenly mixed and looks gluey. (Have to be quick otherwise the marshmallows will start to turn hard quite fast.) 
4. Pour in rice puff cereals and stir. 
5. Pour half of the mixture in a 7x9" tray and press down.
6. Spread grape jelly on the pressed rice puff cereals. 
7. Pour the remaining mixture over the grape jelly, and press down.
8. Cool completely before cutting into bars. 

Durian cake & cream puffs

Now it's the durian season again and best time to bake a durian cake and cream puffs for my Aunt Ivy's birthday! Yummy cake, durian cream, cream puffs!

Vanilla sponge cake (makes a 6" round cake) 

Ingredients:

(A)
75g cake flour/superfine flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
5g milk powder

(B)
30g cooking oil
25g water
2 (38g) yolks
40g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

(C)
2 (75g) whites
45g castor sugar (original 50g)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Method
1. Sift ingredients (A) and put it aside
2. Whisk yolks and sugar till it turns lemon color
3. Add oil, water and vanilla and mix till well blended
4. Add ingredients (A) and mix it slowly till it forms a smooth batter
5. Whisk (C) till stiff
6. Fold in 1/3 of egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture and gently stir, then fold in the remaining egg white mixture and mix well gently
7. Pour batter into a lined 6" round cake tin
8. Bake in a preheated oven 180C for 25-30 mins or till it springs back when touched
9. Removed from oven and invert the cake on the wire rack until completed cooled.

10. Cut into 3 equal slices. 

Durian cream

3 cups whipping cream

1 tbsp icing sugar 

Durian pulps (approximately 3 durians) 

(Quantity enough to cream the 6" cake and for the cream puffs) 

1. Whisk the whipping cream with icing sugar. 

2. Mix in durian pulps. Keep some fresh durian pulps for assembling the cake. 

Assembly

1. Slice sponge cake into 3 layers.

2. Spread durian cream on the 1st layer and spoon some fresh durian pulps. Repeat the same for 2nd layer. 

3. Spread the top and sides of cake with the durian cream. 

4. Chill well before serving. 

Durian cream puffs (aka Pate a choux puffs)

(recipe adapted from Bisous A Toi, copied here for ready reference) 

Ingredients 

1 cup (250ml) water

115g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (140g) all purpose flour

4 large eggs

Glaze (optional)

1 large egg yolk

1 tsp whole milk 

Method:

1. In a saucepan, add all ingredients except flour. Boil over medium high heat, stirring gently. 
2. Once mixture begins to boil, add the flour all at once and stir rapidly with a spatula until the mixture forms a thick paste and pulls away from the sides of the pan. 
3. Remove from heat and transfer to mixer bowl.
4. Using mixer with paddle attachment, beat the mixture until slightly cool. Add in one egg at a time, making sure each one is completely incorporated before adding the next. 
5. Prepare tray with baking sheet. 
6. Transfer into piping bag with a small tip. Pipe puff about 1 inch in size , leaving 1/2 inch spacing between each puff. 
7. (For puff with shiny glaze, brush the tops of puffs without letting the glaze drip down the sides, which will inhibit rising.)
8. Bake a pre-heated oven 220 deg C for 25 to 30 mins, or until golden brown. Let the puffs rest in oven for 5 mins.
9. Remove from oven and poke each puff in the side with a paring knife so that it releases its steam. Cool completely. 

Assembly

1. Slit the puffs and spoon durian cream.

2. Chill before serving. (I left them in the freezer for fast chilling and it turn out good too!)

Christmas parties... never too many

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2008

After we returned from our HK trip on last Friday nite, time seems to be running too fast. There's no time for xmas shopping for family and friends, no time for preparing food for xmas parties, no time for tiding up the house for the festive season. However, i managed to do a couple of things within three days.

For the office xmas party, we planned to have a potluck, and i chose to make cream puff. It was quite a daring choice cos the last 2 times i did cream puff, i didn't have much luck! Although the outcome was not fantastic, i was lucky that it didn't flop!

The chocolate cookies and lemon custard cookies i planned to pack as little gifts for my family and friends turn out to be disaster! All end up in the trash after 2 (late) nites of last minute baking! My contingency plan was to replace it with chocolates bought from supermarket. I think i won't be able to get them ready on xmas eve without the help of T. He's kind of sweet isn't it?

We had two family parties, one on the eve and the other one just yesterday. I actually wanted to bake something for the xmas eve party, but there's simply isn't any time for me to do anything. For the Sat party, i managed to do a dessert and log cake ( that looks like a 'block' cake instead). Nevertheless, the 'block' cake got rave feedbacks. As for the cream, i've got the idea from HappyHomeBaker, and true enough it tasted very nice and it's a quickie.

Durian and Custard Puff

Had wanted to do this durian puff last Friday, but couldn't find any durians in the supermarket. It seems that this is not the durian season and therefore not easily available. So happened that my brother bought some durians on Sunday and I managed to pack some home to make the durian puff.

The puffs (choux pastry) looked pretty and smell nice. But somehow thought that the skin is rather hard to the touch. Thinking maybe the durian/ custard fillings will 'soften' the skin. It was the beginning of my DISASTER!

I couldn't do a proper soft peak with the whipping cream, so had to throw away the first portion. Tried again and it almost had a soft peak. Added the durian and gelatine, and oh my god, the entire mixture became 'watery'. Since there is gelatine, I assume the durian fillings should be ok after leaving in the fridge. The custard cream didn't turn out well too, but it was better than the durian.

As I started my baking at 10.30pm, I ended up sleeping really in the wee hours, after washing up the utensils and myself!

The 1st thing I woke up in the morning, was worrying over my puffs. T was very supportive, and really tried 2 of the puffs.




"Mission failed" - everything goes into the trash almost immediately!