Flour and Water

I am fascinated with bread and the wonders of how flour and water combined together can give different flavors and textures.

Just recently, I was very fortunate to have been given the chance to have a day of bread baking training with La Madre Bakery’s Owners. One of our Artisinal bread suppliers in the hotel. Working with starters would be one of the things that is taught in pastry school of course but spending a day with them actually polished off a lot of my bread baking techniques. Even gave us a couple of hundred grams of their 40 year old rye starter. I of course am still attempting to keep it alive up to this point feeding it every other day with “organic” rye flour ( a very expensive feed... costs me $6 for 750g of it!).

Since then, I have tried to make a few loaves of bread from it. I made a sourdough loaf of which I shaped into a tapered batard and proofed it in a banneton. Bannetons are bentwood willow baskets that are used to shape breads.




Like making 8 kilos of puff pastry at work is not enough to satiate my baking craving, I have also decided to make croissants at home. Devoid of the comforts of a commercial pastry kitchen of course where I have a whole room of refrigerator space and a sheeter to roll my dough with a push of a button and a turn of a lever. I almost regretted the moment I even thought of making these breakfast pastries as I was doing my second turn using my small wooden rolling pin on my small kitchen countertop. Flour all over the floor and a few on the carpet as well. I used the recipe on a book a got a long time ago from an American baker. A very popular one in Los Angeles called the La Brea Bakery and one I truly admire. It says the recipe make large croissants. Indeed it was big, very big! I used my starter as part of my detrempe ( the dough in making the pastry). I was happy with the flavor, texture, crust and shape of the croissant I made. Soft crumb inside, flakey layers of pastry and blistered crust! I will however next time definitely make it twice smaller. These ones are huge really huge!

The Bagel. Of all the breads that I made, this one actually got stuck on me. Every time i feed my starter I would actually use half of it to make a small batch of bagel. It took me three tries to make the perfect bagel that well... can make me happy. I would mix the dough on day one, retard it overnight then cook it and bake it the next day. The first few tries, I followed the recipe which instructed to cook the bagel right after it has been retarded. It came out to be a very heavy bagel. The second time around, I proofed it at room temperature. Did not make that much of a difference. Winter is not a very ideal temperature to make breads I realized, not like in Asia where my bread just naturally grows just putting it on a counter top. So I made a makeshift proof box by putting a pot of boiled hot water on the oven floor, my tray of bagels on the second level then closing the door tight. That kept the environment warm and moist activating the yeast quicker than it would be on normal room temperature. The result is an evenly spaced crumb. Boiling the bagel in water gave the crust a chewy texture. Shaping is equally important as well. Too big a hole will give you donut looking bagels, to small and it will look like a navel of a baby’s tummy.



This is so far as my baking adventure has gone. Perhaps on another day, I’ll mix flour and water again.

The champagne that I like

It's funny, but since my initiation to the wonderful world of spirits, liquors, wine and the bubblies, I have not ben exactly a fan of Champagne. You see, my preference is vodka and red wine. But that's not to say I don't dabble in having a pint then and again.

I wonder if it was the reputation of Champagne... for the rich and famous, expensive (usually not within my budget range), and snobbish. It's not me at all. But there is indeed much to learn about Champagne, especially after I've read a few articles about it. The quality of the Champagne compared to artificially carbonating a wine is definitely obvious, since we are comparing the opposite ends of the scale. After a tour in a winery in France (not in Champagne though) I learned a lot about how Champagne, and similar bubblies are produced painstakingly using the traditional method. I was impressed!

Sadly, I am probably not just built to prefer champagne over a nice bottle of red. I have tasted some, like Veuve & Clicquot's Brut Yellow Label; Moet Chandon's Brut Rose, maybe the Brut NV too (but i don't pay attention much, in my earlier days and with my interest not as developed as now), and there are those that have been poured out for me and I don't know what it was - although it was a bubbly. They were ok. While typically, Champagne excites, I learned that the bubbles just get to my head faster than I could say hello and goodbye.

But that was until last week. A friend's birthday eventually introduced me to a bottle that has probably put Champagne on my preferred list of drinks too. Although more expensive than my wines, beers, or cocktails, this one was a keeper. My first sip of that Champagne awakened my senses. And I just want to keep tasting it again and again, and for every sip, seems like there's something new to discover about the drink.

It was crisp, and refreshingly light in the palate. No strong musky scent here, or the weight of the sweet that I sometimes taste in other bubblies. And surprisingly, this one was creamy. Something i wouldn't have expected in a Champagne. Flavors, of honey yes, but vanilla ice cream?  This is Ruinart Blanc de Blanc.

Yes, maybe now I can choose to drink champagne, sometimes.

Fast Food Folly

Another example of the fast food prevalence principle: I’ve been craving a Jolly Hotdog since Friday. And I would’ve gotten one, too, if it hadn’t been for the long line.

Finally, on Monday (and despite trying my best to resist the temptation) I stood in front of the Jollibee counter and ordered myself a Classic Jolly Hotdog.

When you look at the picture above, which is from the Jollibee website and has been food-styled into oblivion, it doesn’t specifically call out to you. It’s certainly no gourmet wiener. But the power of Comfort Food is strong. And the relief you feel upon consuming it is enough to inspire an ode to the Jolly Hotdog.

I am one of the many fools who has tasted the proverbial food rainbow, and yet is still a captive to the trap that is fast food. Perhaps the chefs who have been spearheading the good food revolution are weeping right now. But then they might, one day, find themselves stressed out and starved... How about a quick, greasy meal? (I hear it even serves as a good hangover cure.)

Speaking of chefs, please watch this funny McDonald's commercial.

I have to admit that I've seen a lot of McDo delivery bikes come up to our school. And even the students can be found frequenting McDonald's on their lunch breaks. Guilty pleasure. -You'll probably see that phrase a lot in this blog. I suppose I'm a bit of a hedonist. But I like to think that I enjoy an eclectic variety of food.


Until Later,


P.S. I won't be writing about fast food next time!

it takes två...

So I am lucky enough to be in one of the northernmost city in the world for a few days in the height of summer. Where the sun rises at 2am and does not set until after 11pm. There is no darkness for days/nights on end, and there would be a slight dimness to the sky, where in a few hours, the sun will rise again.

This is stockholm, sweden. I work for a Swedish company, and it does have its perks. The swedes are a cool, intelligent and good looking bunch of people. they love the sun (they don't have so much of it, 2/3 of the time, it's dark and wintry they say), and they love their boats...

On my first night, i was taken to a bar called två (read as t-voh) which means two. I have been here 

before and we always enjoy the cocktails here... http://www.två.se/

The place is quite simple, elegant, but the bar is loaded! The people are well-dressed and prim without being too snobbish. I order, for my first drink on a bright and sunny evening - yes, you read it right - bright and sunny at 7pm... a drink called solero. On the menu, it says:

Absolut vanilj björnbär björnbärslikör citron 7up

and this is what i get:

crushed blackberries, in a tall glass filled with blackberry liquor, absolut vanilla vodka and topped with 7up. Complete with a cute orange twist for style. I loved the blackberries... it was the best part of the drink. Especially drinking it in the summer -- which is not sweltering, but just bright and warm enough that it's not freezing.

When I get the chance, tomorrow i will show you what a swedish zabaione is like...

Saucy Sauces

There might be something wrong with my palate. Lately, I’ve noticed that I’ve taken a liking to sauce. Yes, sauce. I will gladly admit that the extra “X” lbs. that I have gained in the course of a year is due to something that I would consider a sauce addiction.

Of course, I’d primarily place the blame on myself. My obvious lack of self control when it comes to food intake is the main culprit for my falling off the “healthier” wagon. Making Hollandaise has its pitfalls, when you are the type to find amazement in its rich flavour way too much!

I have quite a few cringing witnesses who’ve informed me that French fries swimming in a bucket of ketchup --yes, it’s a condiment. I know.-- hardly constitutes a tasty, if not healthy meal.

But here’s the thing, I realize that there is a huge sauce culture out there. I learned in school, as well as in some culinary books that sauces are the shizz, for lack of a better term. Sauciers were held in high esteem, especially in the olden days, for their ability to make the ordinary extraordinary, in addition to masking the taste and smell of slightly past-its-prime food (due to the lack of preservation know-how). And it became a routine: When you requested for a dish, you expected a corresponding sauce.

This sort of mentality has endured so well in the modern world. It’s come to a point where the idea of eating a certain food item without a sauce (say, grilled chicken breast) starts to feel like it’s only meant for hard-core dieters. It’s as though the food is sure to be bland.

That is why all these fried chicken places, --especially the ones I see here in the Philippines, are so protective of their gravy recipes. Personally, I can’t imagine eating my *Jollibee Chicken Joy without its gravy. Neither can I fathom eating McDonald’s fries without a serious helping of ketchup. Also, I know a lot of people who like their viands in lots of sauce because they are able to flavour their rice with spoonfuls of yummy sauce. I’m even guilty of that.

I was quite relieved to hear about the rise of Nouvelle Cuisine in one of our culinary history lectures. The new top chefs are going for concepts like fresh, lean, healthy, organic, natural, simplistic,… etc. You get the picture.

The trend in sauces has shifted towards light dressings, vinaigrette, salsas, and olive-oil concoctions. And they are actually a formidable force in terms of flavor, texture, appearance, and nutrition.

Perhaps it’s a marketing tactic: Keep customers healthy, so they can patronize your establishment longer. Clever, isn’t it?

*Watch the Jollibee Chicken Joy ad here, and see how they’ve made gravy as much a part of the fried chicken as anything else.

Until Later,

Starfruit & Apple Juice

While i am refreshing myself with a glass of freshly juiced starfruit and apple, I wondered what nutritional values this drink has. When I was growing up, the starfruit i knew were usually small, the size of a five year-old's fist, and always sour. It was fun to eat because you cringe and you get tingles all over... a sprinkling of salt helps to neutralize the sharp sourness of the fruit.

Coming to Singapore, I found bigger star fruits - they were as big as my hand now -- about 4-5 inches long and quite large, compared to the ones I know from the Philippines. They were crisp to the bite, but surprisingly lacking of any dominant flavors. It has a slight tartness in the end, but one would neither say it's sweet or sour... it's just slightly flavored water...

What a very pleasant surprise to find out that the starfruit is also very high in vitamin C, full of anti-oxidants and flavanoids too! Good for dieters, a website said... 

Even when I've mixed the apple and starfuit juices together, the unique scent of the starfruit and its tartness came out rounding off the sweetness that the apples usually punches out to you. It becomes a wonderful, after gym drink... really really delicious! 

barbera - the graceful one.

I don't recall if Barbera was indeed the first Italian wine I've ever tasted, but it doesn't matter. I found it easy to drink and pleasant for asia's harsh warm weather.  Only lately did i find out that this is a wine that does not have a great reputation among those who pride themselves of knowing wine, or make a living out of it, or find that it's a redeeming quality in supposedly being an expert in drinking wine. More on that later... but now I want to talk about this badly misplaced wine.

Barbera is an italian red, of which most recommend to drink while young. the bouquet explodes with floral scents, and the taste is refreshing with a hint of over ripe cherries. I love this particular bottle (pictured above) -- there's no earthliness to this wine, no heavy, thick tar, or spice or wood in it... which makes this a lovely red for me. This glass has a beautiful deep red violet tint to match its gentle flavors.

One website says:

"While Barbera has been sneered at, spat upon and spurned, bottles of it are commonly found as the table wine in Italian restaurants. What do they know that the snooty critics don't? Barbera may be underrated, but it's the everyday underrated drinking wine." 

It gets me thinking... what makes wine a good wine? Does it have to do with price? with the color? with its characteristics????  Eventually, after all the hustle and bustle, it boils down to one's preference. Whether you prefer a lighter, fruitier red than a punchy pinot noir, is not to be criticized upon. It's all a matter of appreciation and respect for the wine, the vine and the winemaker.

more on Barbera here: http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/barbera.html