Soft Pretzels

A few weeks ago I made sourdough German pretzels, also known as laugenbrezel. Before that, I have never eaten pretzels before. A friend then asked if I have tried Auntie Anne’s and I realized I have not? I don’t know why. I’ve always seen it in malls in KL. I do know for sure something sold in malls, or a franchise like that surely have a softer texture and richer taste. Not that the ones I made were hard, but they’re definitely on the denser side and tastes leaner. After all, it’s made only with flour, water, salt and a bit of butter. Unfortunately, there is no Auntie Anne’s here in Melbourne. I will have to wait for a day when I visit a mall in KL to try some. 

She said her favourite was the one with cinnamon sugar. Upon googling for recipes sure enough many popped up. 

Comparing to sourdough pretzels, these were definitely softer and sweeter. The preparation was simple although incredibly challenging to shape! It was difficult to roll the dough into a long, pencil thin-cigar shape before they start breaking and tearing. Somehow the dough kept resisting the form. Those two in the picture were the most decent looking ones out of the lot. The rest sort of looked like 💩 and penises haha. 

I used this recipe, as usual, with a few tweaks. This is half the recipe which makes 6 small pretzels or 3-4 larger ones depending on your preference. From my experience, I recommend dividing this amount into 3 large pretzels for it to look decent.

The dough 

1/2 cup milk
1 1/8tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2tbsp brown sugar
1 1/8cups plain flour
1 tbsp butter, softened
1/2tsp salt

Warm milk in the microwave for roughly 30 seconds or warm to touch. Add yeast into warm milk and stir. Let it sit for a few minutes. Place sugar, flour and salt in a stand mixer with hook attachment. Add milk and yeast mixture and mix on medium speed until dough comes together. Add the butter and continue mixing until the dough is very stretchy and smooth, or it passes the windowpane test. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise until double in size; about 1 hour in a warm, humid environment. After 1 hour if not in use, place dough in the fridge. Otherwise, divide into 3-4 equal sizes.

Preheat oven to 220c degrees and have a baking sheet lined with parchment paper ready (not in the oven). Roll out dough into a long, pencil-thin cigar shape or like a thin rope.  Start from the middle, roll towards the ends. Do not apply too much pressure or the dough will tear. Thirty inches or more would be ideal. Form each rope into a pretzel shape. Place the shaped pretzels onto the baking sheet lined with parchment and place it into the fridge for 20 minutes uncovered so that they are easier to hold onto when dipping into the lye bath.

Lye bath 
Traditionally, authentic pretzels go through lye/caustic soda/sodium hydroxide bath. However, lye is not easily obtainable (it's a strong alkali which can cause chemical burns if not handled properly), so baking soda bath (in original recipe) is more commonly used as a substitute. I used lye, which bakes the pretzels into that rich, brown shade and imparts a unique "pretzel" flavour which soda bath cannot do.

300g cold water
16g food grade caustic soda/lye/sodium hydroxide

Wearing protective gloves, place water and lye into a stainless steel bowl. Whisk slowly using a stainless steel whisk until all the lye has dissolved and water is clear. Dip the chilled pretzels into the lye solution then place the pretzels onto the baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for roughly 7 minutes.

Topping

2tbsp melted butter
1/4cup sugar (mix of brown and caster) + 1/2tsp cinnamon

Brush baked pretzels with melted butter. Dip in/sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Peach Galette

First bake of 2019! 

Loving the simplicity and rustic look of this free-form pie! It’s literally fruits and pie crust. So simple yet so tasty 😋 Peaches were harvested from the garden. So many of them had holes with a bit of bugs in them, but at least I know they’re free of pesticide. This year if I can be bothered I might do the Malaysian aunty thing - wrap them in brown paper bags 😆

The recipe I used is from here - although as usual, I made changes to adapt.

Flaky pie dough recipe
Link to recipe has an instructional video which is informative and easy to follow.

112g plain flour (or a mix of whole wheat pastry and plain around 7:3 ratio)
1/2tbsp caster sugar
1/2tsp salt
112g cold butter, cut into roughly 1.5cm cubes
57g cold water

Whisk flour, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Grabbing onto some flour with fingers, smash the butter cubes flat. Repeat until all cubes are smashed. No need to rub, we don't want breadcrumb texture. The butter chunks must be visible. Stir in water, gently knead until the dough comes together into a shaggy ball. If the dough feels too soft and sticky, refrigerate until colder. It should be 18 - 21c degrees, overworking will warm the dough.

On a generously floured surface, roll dough into a 5 x 7.5" rectangle. Fold the dough in half bring the shorter ends together, then repeat. It's like folding an A4 paper into a quarter of its size. Then roll into a round shape, roughly 14". Dust off any excess flour. Transfer onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using.

Peach filling
I did not follow the recipe exactly (mostly because I forgot the tapioca starch step and I didn't have rum) but I can imagine it'll be just as tasty if not better!

350g peaches, cut into 1/2" wedges
1tbsp caster sugar

Preheat oven to 200c degrees. Remove pie dough from the fridge so that it will soften a little before using. Leave it on the counter while you prepare the peaches. Dry peaches as much as possible, then arrange onto the pie dough, starting from the middle, leaving about 2inches border from the edge of the dough. Cut slits in the border from peaches to the edge, spaced around 5 inches apart. Fold each segment of dough over peach, ensuring they overlap. Refrigerate the pie while preparing the egg wash. 

Egg wash
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1tbsp cream
1/8tsp salt

Whisk everything together until runny. Brush onto pie dough evenly ensuring all surfaces, edges and crevice are covered. 

Finishing

1tsp apricot jam warmed in the microwave then mixed with 1tsp water

Bake the pie in the middle rack for 25-30 minutes. 5-10 minutes before finishing brush on apricot jam mixture onto the peaches. This will give a shiny, juicy appearance. Let cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes before serving.

Today I notice I am a ridiculer. I thought I was funny but thinking back, I sounded like a complete pessimist. Not good. 

I need to remind myself to always think carefully before speaking, and to find a balance between pessimism and optimism. 

On an unrelated note... 

... drove into the city to pick this up today. I am obsessed - Lindberg Mette. It sits so well on my flat Asian nose 😆

I've wanted to own a pair of clear acetate frames, and this was love at first sight. Not exactly like what I had in mind, but even better. I was contemplating between matte or shiny titanium rim. Shiny won the vote. My previous frame was matte, so I figured I could use a change?

Prescription increased a wee bit after a year; it's now -4.00 and -5.00 😩 I guess laser will have to wait. 

Today I noticed I should really care less.

Banana Muffins

Overripe bananas, that's why.

I always have this habit of buying too many fruits and forgetting to eat them before they go bad.

This recipe is so easy and straight-forward that it will stick with me for a while. The one change I've made was using wholemeal Spelt flour instead of white whole wheat flour. I was at the grocer, and the only wholemeal variety they had in stock was Spelt. I wouldn't know how different it would have tasted if I have used white whole wheat flour but wholemeal Spelt is good enough for me. The muffins have an almost bread-like crumb/texture instead of cake-like, which a lot of typical banana bread/muffins tend to have. I'm not sure if it's because of the Spelt or the addition of oatmeal. Either way, I think it's a pleasant texture. 

I keep the baked muffins in the freezer. To reheat, nuke them for 30-40 seconds on high, and they're as good as freshly baked. 

The cake stand is adorable, I know. A good friend with brilliant taste has gifted it to me for one of my birthdays, so I have no idea where it's from.

Kimchi 김치

Made some kimchi last week because you know, Korean drama. Me and my cravings. *shrugs* Inexplicable.

By the way, Black 블랙 is hands down the best Kdrama I've watched. It's so good that I am rewatching it. The finale was quite dreadful, but every episode leading up to the second last one was phenomenal. Mind-blowing. (I have to admit Song Seung Heon just made the show that much better GOSH how can someone be that attractive ugh)

Ok back to the point of this post.

I followed a recipe from my favourite Korean Youtuber, Maangchi who creates the most adorable Korean cooking videos. 

The process was not challenging, only laborious. I'm glad I chose to make the full recipe yielding over 3kg of kimchi because I don't think I'll be doing this again. To clarify, it tasted good, but I don't need to eat kimchi every day to want to have this in my fridge all the time. I do like the fact that they can keep for a few months. I have had more than a few occasions of not having kimchi in hand (or not having enough!) to make a dish I wanted to cook, e.g. kimchi fried rice, kimchi jjigae, kimchi pancake etc. so this will come in handy. I have a feeling I'll be 'kimchi-ed out' once I'm done with all 3kg haha.

I was surprised to know there was not a drop of acid (lemon juice, vinegar) in this recipe at all. Surprised because I've always found kimchi to be slightly tart? I learned later that the sour taste is from lactic acid, a byproduct of the fermentation which happens as the kimchi soaks in its own 'juice'. The longer the kimchi stays in the fridge, the sourer it becomes.

Which made me think, hang on. Isn't this the same as milk going bad??!

Thankfully not. Milk is not salty, but kimchi is. Lots of salt is used in kimchi to create an environment where good bacteria thrive, and harmful bacteria don't. 

The Shape of Water

Today I noticed what a good film does to me - it keeps my eyes glued to the screen. Coming from Guillermo del Toro I did not expect less, but at the same time did not know what to expect either. This review is so tastefully written, I hope it will stay on the internet forever.

The movie takes its name from Plato's idea that in its purest form, water takes the shape of an icosahedron, a 20-sided polyhedron, evoking the idea that beauty, and humanity, has many faces.

On a completely unrelated note, this week I had the opportunity to try bubble tea from 2 different stores.

CoCo - Creamy and rich, excellent pearl texture. Love at first taste. I remember seeing many locals holding CoCo drinks in their hands when I was in Taipei. I was disappointed I didn't get a chance to try it while I was there but looks like I am not missing out. 

Tastea - Pleasantly milky with subtle tea flavour. Pearls texture are on the chewier side. 

Here is my personal ranking for pearl milk tea available in Melbourne so far:

1. CoCo

2. Tastea

3. Chatime