Ube Cheese Pandesal

A few weeks ago, I finally got to try making the Ube Cheese Pandesal, which is sort of trending in the Philippines. I was able to buy frozen grated ube from the Filipino store near our place. On my first try, I decided to make the Ube halaya from scratch and use it for the pandesal recipe because I find the bottled ones too sweet and gooey. I wanted to make something like the one that my mom used to cook ever since we were young. I'll try to upload a recipe for that homemade ube halaya next time. The dough turned out a little bit tacky at first, but as I worked the dough, it became more manageable. However, for the second batch that I made, where I used dehydrated ube, the dough turned out super duper sticky. I thought it was not going to work.  It remained sticky until before I rolled the pandesal in bread crumbs. The first batch of Ube Cheese Pandesal turned out flatter than I expected, but it was so delicious. I only put cheese inside. I decided not to put Ube halaya as filling because I thought that it would be overkill already. I liked how the pandesal was kind of crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  On the other hand, for the second batch that I made, where I used dehydrated ube and bottled ube jam and cheese as filling, the pandesal turned out so soft and fluffy. The texture was super amazing. It was like a pillow! However, I found the taste of the bread itself a little bit bland. I am not sure if it was because I did not add sugar to the dehydrated ube when I rehydrated it or if because the ube jam filling is too sweet. Overall, I liked the taste of the first batch and the texture of the second batch. I am hoping next time that I would be able to combine both to make the perfect Ube Cheese Pandesal. 😆

(Scroll to the bottom to see the recipe.)

Here are pictures of the first batch that I made:

homemade Ube Halaya

dry ingredients

wet ingredients

mixing the dough

almost incorporated

ready to prove

after first prove

cheese filling

bring edges together

roll into a ball

place on baking tray

second proving

roll in bread crumbs

ready to bake

baking

done!

Cheesy Ube Pandesal (Frist batch)

Here are pictures of the second batch that I made:

dehydrated ube

bottled ube

ingredients

proved yeast in milk with sugar

ready to prove

super sticky dough

ready to bake (already done proving the 2nd time)

baked!

big and fluffy

pillowy texture

UBE CHEESE PANDESAL
Makes 13-15 rolls, around 72g each

INGREDIENTS:

• 245 g          milk
•   14 g          yeast with improvers or 7 g active yeast
•     2 cups     plain flour
•     1 cup      strong flour
•   90 g          white sugar
• 100 g          canola oil
•     1 tsp       salt
•     1 tsp       vanilla essence
• 165 g          ube halaya
•     1 block   cheese, cut into cubes
•                    violet food coloring gel

PROCEDURE:

IF USING YEAST WITH IMPROVERS:

1. Combine the plain flour, bread flour, salt, white sugar and half of the yeast in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
2. Add half of the milk (cold or in room temperature) and the vanilla extract. Mix a little.
3. Warm the remaining milk. Add the remaining yeast.
4. Add the milk and yeast mixture, as well as the food coloring, to the flour mixture. Mix a little bit until ingredients are a little bit incorporated. 
5. Add the ube halaya and mix well.
6. Once the dough has come together, add the oil. Continue kneading. This will take some time but don't fret. 
7. Transfer the dough on a clean and lightly floured surface and knead it for a few minutes until smooth. Use the windowpane test to ensure that the gluten has developed nicely. You can also press the dough and if the pressed part bounces back, then the dough is ready.
8. Roll the dough nicely into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let prove for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size.
9. Once the dough has double in size, gently deflate the dough by pressing. Roll the dough into a log and cut according to the size that you want. It is best if you get the total weight first and then divide it into the number of even pieces that you want.
10. Once cut, take each piece and of dough and place one cube of cheese inside and bring the edges together to seal. Roll the dough in between the palm of your hand and your working surface to form balls.
11. Place the dough balls on a non-stick baking tray or a baking tray that is lined with baking paper. Make sure that there is 1 to 2 inches gap in between each to allow for it to prove.
12. Let the dough balls prove again. 
13. Meanwhile, preheat your oven at 180C.
14. Once the dough balls have proved, roll each dough in bread crumbs and arrange on the baking tray again.
15. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 180C.
16. Once baked, remove from baking tray and place on a wire rack to cool down. Enjoy!

IF USING ACTIVE YEAST:

1. Warm the milk. Add the yeast and 1 tbsp. of sugar. Allow to prove or wait until frothy.
2. Mix the plain flour, strong flour, white sugar and salt together.
3. In a mixing bowl (if using a mixer), transfer the milk and yeast mixture, vanilla essence and food coloring.
4. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the milk mixture and mix a little. Continue adding the remaining dry ingredients gradually. Doing this ensures that the ingredients are incorporated properly.
5. Add the ube halaya and continue mixing until everything has been incorporated.
6. Once the dough has come together, add the oil. Continue kneading. This will take some time but don't fret. 
7. Transfer the dough on a clean and lightly floured surface and knead it for a few minutes until smooth. Use the windowpane test to ensure that the gluten has developed nicely. You can also press the dough and if the pressed part bounces back, then the dough is ready.
8. Roll the dough nicely into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let prove for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size.
9. Once the dough has double in size, gently deflate the dough by pressing. Roll the dough into a log and cut according to the size that you want. It is best if you get the total weight first and then divide it into the number of even pieces that you want.
10. Once cut, take each piece and of dough and place one cube of cheese inside and bring the edges together to seal. Roll the dough in between the palm of your hand and your working surface to form balls.
11. Place the dough balls on a non-stick baking tray or a baking tray that is lined with baking paper. Make sure that there is 1 to 2 inches gap in between each to allow for it to prove.
12. Let the dough balls prove again. 
13. Meanwhile, preheat your oven at 180C.
14. Once the dough balls have proved, roll each dough in bread crumbs and arrange on the baking tray again.
15. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 180C.
16. Once baked, remove from baking tray and place on a wire rack to cool down. Enjoy!

IF USING DEHYDRATED UBE:

1. Mix 100 g ube powder and 223 g water in a saucepan.
2. Heat until the ube mixture comes together. It will become thick.
3. Add sugar according to your liking. When I did this, I did not add sugar. This is probably the reason why my second batch of pandesal turned out a bit bland.

NOTES:

• The dough will always be tacky, don't panic. It will still turn out okay. I used two forks to hold the dough balls while dipping them in bread crumbs. They were just too sticky to hold. Once they were covered with breadcrumbs, they became easier to handle.
• Watch the pandesal while baking. Once it starts turning a little bit brown, then it will be done in a minute or two. 
• Making your own ube halaya from scratch is way better than using the dehydrated or bottled ones.
• I prefer putting just the cheese as filling. I find the bottled ube jam too sweet as filling but well, it depends on your taste!

Soft and Fluffy Brioche Buns

Last night, I decided to marinate chicken breasts in the leftover buttermilk that I had. I woke up today thinking about what to do with it and then I remember this Buttermilk Chicken Burger that I have tried from Soul Shack along Dixon St. It was so amazing! So, I decided to make my own version from scratch. I made my own version of the fried buttermilk chicken burger (which I am going to write about on another post), other ingredients and the brioche bun!

I ended up looking at recipes for the brioche bun and found one that uses this technique called Tangzhong. Tangzhong is a Japanese technique wherein flour and water (in this case, milk) is mixed on low heat in order to form a paste. It is then incorporated into the rest of the dough ingredients. This gelatinised Tangzhong mix apparently allows the dough to hold more water, resulting in a softer and fluffier bread, which also has a longer shelf life, compared to the traditional ways of just mixing ingredients as is.

Before proofing

                                      

After first proof

Pulled the sides inwards and pinched

Rolled doughs ready for 2nd proofing

After the 2nd proofing

Baked Brioche Buns 😆

SOFT AND FLUFFY BRIOCHE BUNS (USING TANGZHONG TECHNIQUE)

Makes 7 brioche buns (around 80-100g per dough roll)

INGREDIENTS:

          Tangzhong Mix:

•  60  g     milk
•  27  g     water
•  20  g     bread flour

• 120 g     milk 
•     9 g     active yeast
• 320 g     bread flour
•   35 g     sugar
•     7 g     fine salt
•     1 pc   egg
•     1 pc   egg yolk
•   42 g     butter, softened

         Egg wash:

•     1 pc    egg
•   15 g      milk 

PROCEDURE:

1. Warm the 120g milk to around 35c. Add the yeast. Set aside and allow yeast to proof.
2. Make the Tangzhong: Mix the 60 g milk, 27 g water and 20 g flour in a saucepan and put on low heat. Mix until it looks like a paste. This takes only takes a minute or less. Set aside.
3. In the mixer's bowl, mix the remaining flour, sugar and salt. Stir to incorporate.
4. When the yeast has already proved (when it looks bubbly and a foam has already formed on the top part), mix the milk and yeast mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix a little using the dough hook attachment.
5. Add the egg and egg yolk. Continue mixing until everything has been mixed thoroughly.
6. Add the softened butter little by little. Knead until fully incorporated.
7. Take the dough mixture out of the bowl and put on a lightly floured surface.
8. Knead the dough a little bit more. Do the windowpane test to ensure that the dough has been properly kneaded. The windowpane test is done by getting a bit of the dough and stretching it. The dough should be able to stretch without breaking in the middle. The middle becomes super thin that light could pass through it, just like a glass window. 😉
9. Grease another bowl with oil or butter. I used oil for this recipe. 
10. Put the dough in the bowl and allow to proof at room temperature (around 25c) until it becomes double in size. 
11. Once the dough has proved, take it out of the bowl and put on a lightly floured surface.
12. Cut the dough according to your desired weight. For this recipe, I cut them into 90-100g portions. 
13. Take each dough portion and pull the sides inwards. Pinch them on the center so that they hold stick together. Do this a couple of times.
14. Make sure that the pinched portion is on the bottom part. Roll each dough by swirling the dough under your cupped until it forms into a nice smooth ball.
15. Line a baking sheet with a baking paper or use a non-stick baking sheet. Arrange the rolls on it so that there is about 2 inches space in between each roll.
16. Allow this to proof again until the rolls increase in size.
17. Make the egg wash by combining egg and milk. Strain to ensure smoothness.
18. Brush the tops of the buns with egg wash. Be careful not to put too much. We don't want to fry eggs on the bottom.
19. Bake for around 15 minutes at 180c. I suggest keeping an eye on this once it reaches 13 minutes. Mine turned out a little bit more brown than I intended it to be, but it wasn't burnt.
20. Once done, take off the oven and transfer each bun unto a cooling rack to ensure that the bread stops cooking. 
21. Allow to cool down and enjoy!

NOTES:

• The Tangzhong technique definitely works wonders! This is my second time making brioche bread and this one definitely turned out softer and fluffier.
• If you live in a cold country like New Zealand, proofing might be a bit hard. I bought the Brod and Taylor foldable proofer after my first few failed attempts at proofing. 😅 I will probably post a review about it at one point, to rave about it. Hehe! You may also try proofing in an oven. Just heat the oven up to around 25-30c. Put a boiling water on the bottom. At least, this is what other people do. It didn't work for me when I tried it. I think either I was too lazy to watch the temperature or it is just too damn cold in here!
• Always do the windowpane test when making bread. I would say that it is a must!
• Don't be afraid if the dough feels a bit sticky. They will turn out great!
• I suggest that you weigh your dough before cutting and then divide them according to how many buns you want to make. This is to ensure that you have the same weight for each dough. I did not mind having a mini bun, so I just decided to weigh 100 g portions and just roll the remaining dough into a tiny ball.
• It is better to strain the egg wash to achieve a smoother consistency. This is so that no chunks of egg white falls on the bread.
• The timing of the baking would depend on how big or small your buns are. Always keep watch. Take it out when you have reached the desired color. Just make sure that it isn't undercooked or overcooked. I usually take breads out a minute or two before what a recipe tells me, since they continue to cook for a few minutes once you have taken them out of the oven.

Sweet and Garlicky Pork Longganiza (Sweet & Garlicky Filipino Pork Sausage)

Living in another country has been good so far. I am enjoying how different the food product choices here in New Zealand are, compared to what we have in the Philippines. However, sometimes, I do crave for Filipino food, some of which I can actually buy from the Filipino store near our house. It is very convenient to have the shop so near me, but I still find it a bit expensive. One day, I was craving for longganiza. I realized I actually had all the ingredients at home, so I decided to make my own. I looked for recipes online and just decided to play around as usual. 😁

Pork longganiza is a pork sausage made of ground pork, spices and herbs (optional) that is one of the staple breakfast food in the Philippines. I like mine sweet and super garlicky. 

So here is how I made mine. It is pretty easy.

pork mixture

divide into portions

use baking paper to wrap each portion and mold them into logs

pinching it with your fingers helps

final product

cooking in water with oil

halfway there

left on was fried in oil while the right one was cooked in water with oil

SWEET AND GARLICKY PORK LONGGANIZA
Makes 6 pcs (5 inches) logs


INGREDIENTS:

• 250 g           ground pork 
•   30 g           brown sugar
•   30 g           garlic, minced
•   10 g           soy sauce
•     5 g           vinegar
•  3/4 tsp        fine salt
• 3/4 tsp         ground black pepper
•     7 g           water
•     3 g           cornstarch
•     2 drops    red gel food colouring

PROCEDURE:

1. Mix the ground pork, brown sugar, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper together.
2. On a separate bowl, mix water and cornstarch together. Add to the pork mixture.
3. Add red gel food colouring.
4. Mix for as long as you can or until all ingredients have been mixed well with each other.
5. Divide into portions. It would be better if you weigh the entire mixture first and then divide evenly.
6. Form each portion into a log using a baking paper.
7. Freeze before cooking. If you are too hungry, you may just continue cooking. Although, be very careful as it will tend to disintegrate.
8. When cooking, you have two options. You may either fry in oil or cook in water (just enough to cover half the longganiza) first and then add oil when the water is about to fully evaporate. You can also opt to mix the oil to the water. Whichever you prefer.

NOTES:

• You may add as many garlic as you want. You may also add other spices and herbs. Feel free to experiment based on how you want it to taste like. 
• You may make the logs as big or as small as you like.
• I have tried cooking both by frying in oil and cooking in water with oil. I prefer the water and oil cooking because it leaves the longganiza moist inside. 
• Be careful not to overcook, the sugar in it easily burns. It is a pin to wash it off the pan. 😖 
• Enjoy!

Mushroom Risotto with Truffle

Mushroom risotto is one of my favourite rice dishes! I remember liking the one they had at UCC Cafe in Manila before. I also liked the one that Stella (BGC) had but the restaurant already closed unfortunately. Another one of the good ones was in a restaurant in City of Dreams before but then, again, that one had closed already. I used to think that it was a very hard dish to make. It turns out that I was wrong. It is so easy to do but you have to keep an eye on it while cooking. This recipe has mushrooms and a bit of truffle oil. Feel free to add real truffle mushrooms if you can get them. I will also leave some pointers down below. 

food prep

onions and garlic

toasting the Arborio rice

almost there

mushroom risotto with truffle

MUSHROOM RISOTTO WITH TRUFFLE

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

• 500 mL     chicken stock
• 177 mL     water
• 150 g        dried mushrooms
• 25 mL       white wine
• 30 g          butter
• 13 mL       extra virgin olive oil
• 55 g          brown onions (diced small)
• 1 pc          garlic clove (minced)
• 150 g        Arborio rice
• 200 g        brown button mushrooms
• 25 g          parmesan cheese (grated)
•                  salt and pepper (to taste)
• 5 mL         truffle oil
•                  parmesan cheese (shaved, for topping)
•                  parsley (optional, for garnishing)

PROCEDURE:

1. Heat chicken stock and water in a pot until it simmers. Set aside. Keep hot.
2. Heat 1/4 of the butter and 1/2 of the olive oil on a medium saucepan and saute the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent and soft.
3. Add the Arborio rice. Toast gently.
4. Reduce heat and add white wine. Stir until the wine has completely evaporated.
5. Add 1/2 cup of the stock mixture to the rice mixture. Keep stirring until the stock has been absorbed. Keep on adding stock this way until the rice becomes soft and creamy. Be careful not to burn the rice. 
6. On a separate pan, fry mushrooms in 1/3 of the remaining butter and the remaining olive oil. Once done, add a little stock to deglaze the pan. Add to the rice mixture. Stir.
7. Add the parmesan cheese and remaining butter into the risotto. Season with salt and pepper. mix until all the ingredients have been incorporated and heated through. Remove from heat.
8. Add a few drops of truffle oil and stir.
9. Serve in a warm and shallow bowl. Top with shaved parmesan cheese and parsley.

NOTES:

• Make sure that the white wine has completely evaporated before adding the stock. This is to ensure that majority of the alcohol has evaporated already. If a baby, a kid or someone allergic to alcohol is eating this, you may substitute rice wine vinegar to it. I used Sauvignon Blanc.
• It would be better if you have extra stock on hand, enough to cook the rice.
• Don't be afraid to keep adding more stock to the rice. (Even if it means, adding more than what this recipe says.) Just make sure that you don't turn it into a soup. Hehe!
• You can add your favourite greens on step 7, with the parmesan cheese, if you like.
• Keep stirring. Eventually, the rice becomes a little bit tacky and it will be easy to burn.
• Add the truffle oil in the end, so it retains the taste. 
• Feel free to add real truffle with the mushrooms! I am sure it will be way better.

Crunchy Chewy Chocolate Crinkles

We are on our 3rd week of Covid-19 Lockdown here in Welly. Baking ingredients have already disappeared from the supermarket shelves. For some reason, everyone is becoming a home baker. I am so glad that I usually like stocking up on essential kitchen ingredients and items even before the Covid-19 issue came out, so I can pretty much make anything out of what I have in the kitchen. I have actually been experimenting on bread recipes ever since my partner got a hold of a big bag of strong flour from Moore Wilson's a couple of days ago. I made my first ever Cinnamon Rolls, (which was a huge success!) and then went on to making white loaf bread. The white loaf bread did not turn out as I expected and I got kind of disappointed. I decided to move on to something simpler instead, for the meantime, just to get my mojo back. Hehe!

Then, I stumbled across this Chocolate Crinkles recipe from Cafe Delites' website, but  I decided to tweak it to my own liking, based on some tips and tricks that I found around the internet. I added 1/4 tsp of baking powder to the recipe and coated the chocolate balls with granulated sugar first before coating them with the icing sugar. I also carried on to baking it right away after mixing the dough. No need to refrigerate to get this end result.

The product outcome was superb! It was crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Exactly just the way I like it! It is not the puffy kind by the way, I like mine a little bit flat but chewy.

Crunchy Chewy Soft Chocolate Crinkles

Chocolatey Goodness

Granulated Sugar Coating

It is starting to look familiar. :)

Chocolate Crinkles!!!

Chewy and soft...just the way I like it. :-)

This actually reminded me of those chocolate crinkles that I used to buy in school in Manila, back when I was a kid. They were individually wrapped in baking paper. They were so soft and chewy. These chocolate crinkles are definitely making me nostalgic.

The only downside to finding this recipe now is that I couldn't stop eating the crinkles! It is so full of sugar!!! Oh well, during these Covid-19 days and being so far away from home and my family, this is actually giving me comfort.



Here is my tweaked recipe:

CHEWY CHOCOLATE CRINKLES

Makes 12-15 large cookies. Number will depend on the size that you want.


INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup     unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup        white granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup     canola oil (or any vegetable oil)
• 2 pcs         large eggs
• 2 tsp         vanilla extract
• 1 cup        plain flour / all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp         baking powder
• 1/4 tsp      baking soda
• 1/2 tsp      table salt
• 1/4 cup     icing sugar / confectioner's sugar (for coating)
• 1/4 cup     granulated sugar (for coating)

PROCEDURE:

1. Preheat oven to 170C
2. In mixing bowl (if using a stand mixer), mix together the cocoa powder, sugar and canola oil. Add in egg, one at a time to ensure that it is well incorporated. Add in the vanilla. Mix well.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Add this dry ingredients mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix well but do not overmix. 
4. Line baking trays with parchment paper (baking paper) to prevent the dough from sticking to the tray, unless you're using a non-stick baking tray. (Although, I still prefer putting a parchment paper or baking mat on the tray even if it is non-stick.)
5. Scoop 1 tablespoon dough and roll into a ball or use an ice cream scoop to save time.  You may adjust this based on your own preference.
6. Coat each dough ball with granulated sugar first and then coat it again with the icing sugar.
7. Place each ball on the baking tray, making sure that there is about 1 to 2 inches space (depending on how big your ball is) in between each piece. The dough will spread a little as it bakes.
8. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. 
9. Once done, remove the tray from the oven. Allow the cookies to cool down a bit on the baking tray. This will continue cooking because of the heat from the tray. 
10. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack. Let it cool down completely. 
11. Serve the cookies or transfer into an airtight container. 
12. Enjoy eating your newly baked cookies!!!

NOTES:

• If you don't have vanilla extract, don't fret, you can still make this recipe without it. I actually forgot to put it once and it still turned out delicious. The vanilla kind of gives it that sweeter smell though.
• The recipe where that inspired this actually doesn't have baking soda in its ingredients, so I guess it is also okay if you do not have it on hand. 
• Coating with granulated sugar is extra. It helped absorb the moisture inside while baking and also made the outside texture a little bit more crunchy.
• If you have leftover icing sugar, feel free to sprinkle it on top of the baked cookie. It adds an extra oomph factor to it. 😊