Pumpkin and Cheese Cream Pull Apart Bread

Hi!

I always curious how can I work on pumpkin. Pumpkin seems to be easily found in supermarket. So, I saw these two recipes, this and that. I thought why not making the pumpkin cheese cream bread into real bread instead of quick bread?

I combined the two recipes above yesterday. In the pull apart bread recipe it calls for 425 grams of pumpkin. Since I used fresh pumpkin, it is a little bit unpredictable how many grams of flesh you can scoop out of the fresh pumpkin, and I decided not to waste anything, so I put them all 460 grams. It results the dough really wet and sticky, so I add 1/4 cup flour, and then another 1/4 cup again. I totally added 1/2 cup flour more than the original recipe. The dough is not as 'dry' as usual bread dough I know. It was still a bit wet and sticky. I try to avoid the stickiness by covering my hands with flour, then water, then oil. Oil is probably the best one, just a drop or two of oil on your hands and shape the dough round. That's it and say bismillah :)

peek-a-boo cheese!


My pumpkin was not a perfectly smooth mashed, but it is alright. My cinnamon was grated freshly, but the ground nutmeg was coming from the box. I used oil instead of butter, so it could be dairy-free bread if you make it without cream cheese. Oh, I also used mix of white flour and wholemeal flour, just whatever I had at home.

I sit the dough overnight with cream cheese filling in it, just because I want it as breakfast the next morning. I was so glad that it came out well, moist and raised. It also has nice natural orange-brownish color.

Have a pumpkin bread :)

closer..

Pumpkin and Cheese Cream Pull Apart Bread


Ingredients:

Bread
3 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1/3 cup lukewarm water
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/3 sunflower oil
460 grams steamed pumpkin
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp ground or grated cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2-4 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp raw sugar

Filling
250 gram cream cheese
1 egg
1/4 white sugar

Directions:

Bread
- In a mixing bowl add the water and sprinkle the yeast. Leave until the yeast dissolves and bubly, about 5 minutes.
- Add the 1/3 cup of oil, the pumpkin, spices, salt, sugar, and the flour.
- Knead the dough with your hand until it is not so sticky and can be shaped into a ball. Oil your palms with a little drop of oil when shaping the dough.
- The dough is sticky but still be able to be shaped into a ball.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic foil and leave at room temperature until doubled in volume.
- Meanwhile, make the cream cheese filling (see bellow).
- When risen, divide the dough in 16 pieces, flatten each piece, spoon about one tablespoon of cheese cream filling in the center and gently fold the buns completely covering the cream cheese.
- Place the filled buns in a greased or lined baking pan (I used one 20x20cm baking pans).
- Cover again with plastic wrap and leave to rise for 30 more minutes. I left it overnight because I want it for breakfast.
- Heat the oven to 180C.
- Just before putting the dough in the oven, brush carefully the oil on top of filled buns. Sprinkle some raw sugar on top and bake for 35 minutes.
- Cool slightly in the pan before removing it.

Filling
- Mix sugar and egg with low speed until just mix.
- Add in cream cheese and mix until smooth.
- Set aside.

Enjoy :)

say 'cheese' :)

Easy Pizza

My eldest son knows Pizza Hut. And KFC. And McDonald. Oh yes, he does. So wherever we go, he could spot those junk food restaurants. He likes pizza. So far after we got here, I just bought pizza crust from stores, and put on the toppings myself, bake few minutes and served. But, since I made bread once or twice, I feel a little confidence to try another type of breads. I made pastry too! But I haven't post anything about it, because I don't think it's 100% success. Well, maybe just about 70-80% success, ha ha!
Anyway, as always, I Googled the easiest recipe there is. I stumbled upon this Jim Lahey's easy way to make pizza crust. The ingredients are just minimum. All you have to do is stir and sleep over it. The change I made was just the water. The recipe just says 'water', but I decided to use lukewarm water instead.

I made it, and it turned out great. Just the way I like it. I made thin pizza with the easiest topping: whatever I had in fridge. Surely, I will make this again.


Easy Pizza

Ingredients:
3 ¾ cups bread flour, plus more for shaping the dough
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 ½ cups lukewarm water

this is the best moment when making bread; when they puffed into chubby but air-light, just like my sons' cheeks when they were babies!

Directions:
- In a medium bowl, stir in yeast into the water. Set aside until it's a bit bubley.
- Thoroughly blend in the flour and salt and with a wooden spoon or your hands.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature for 18 hours or until it has more than doubled. It will take longer in a chilly room and less time in a very warm one. I personally made it after dinner and left it in warmer room over night, then made it as lunch the day after.
- Flour a work surface and scrape out the dough. Divide it into 4 equal parts and shape them: For each portion, start with the edges of the dough and pull it toward the centre. Shape each portion into a round and turn seam side down. Mold the dough into a neat circular mound. The mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust with more flour.
- If you don’t intend to use the dough right away, wrap the balls individually in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Return to room temperature by leaving them out on the counter, covered in a damp cloth, for 2 to 3 hours before needed.
- Flat your dough with your hands, add toppings. I added whatever I could get from the fridge; olive oil, tomato sauce, minced garlic, black pepper, bell pepper, mushroom, beef sausages, chicken dices and mozzarella cheese.
- Grill in oven that already heated up to 250C for about 10 minutes. Enjoy.

Sunday Burger

Hullo!
Yesterday was Sunday, and it's been a long time I want to make my own burger bun. So I got this Indonesian blog, Dapurnya Rina, from a mailing list I joined into. She said in this blog that the bun's recipe actually from Smittenkitchen(which actually got from another source also). So I decided to make burger for Sunday lunch.
Since I don't want to keep so much bread, I made just half of the recipe. The recipe I post below is for one recipe, so if you want just half of it, just cut down all the measurement in half. The buns came out soft and I love it.

The note is don't make any buns to close to meal time. My kids, and my hubby, kept on wandering around the kitchen asking whether the lunch was ready or not. Sometimes they just hang around staring without saying anything. But it's not a new thing in our home. It's not just once or twice men in my home were staring at the fridge and food cupboard as if they were watching TV.

The burger patty I made from this recipe with a little adjustment. It's actually very good, but it makes me having an idea of adding one ingredient in it. If I make it again later(and turn out good), I will post it. (otherwise, I won't post, he he). Oh and I grated the onion because I got this idea from Katjaskitchen. Good idea. Since I ran out of mayonaise, I just put some shredded mozarella on the patty while it's still hot. Put the veggie you like and there it is, the Sunday burger lunch.

I'm so glad I can make this 'fast food' by myself, where I can be sure that the ingredients are fresh, healthier and insyaAllah Halal. You know, since we moved here to NZ we can not just drop by to any fast food restaurant expecting all food are Halal. I told my sons that most of them are not Halal even though the restaurant is just like in Jakarta. So it is so nice to give my kids a treat once in a while. But of course from more trusted hands, which is mine, he he.

Burger buns

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons warm milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs (1 for the dough and 1 for the egg wash)
3 cups bread flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:
- In a bowl, combine one cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.
- In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. The dough will be on the sticky side so it can be a bit messy at first, but keep on kneading and it will get better.
- Shape dough into a ball and leave it in the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, one to two hours. (I just put it in warmed closed oven)
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Divide dough into 8 equal parts(or 4 parts if you make half recipe). Gently roll each into a ball and arrange few centimetres apart on baking sheet. Put in warmed and closed oven again, or cover them with plastic on top and let buns rise in a warm place for one to two hours.

the chubby buns

- Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 200C with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with one tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Makes 8 burger buns


Burger patty

Ingredients:
500g beef mince
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 egg, light beaten
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 small onion, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Directions:
- Add all ingredients into a bowl and then use your hands to make sure the mixture is well combined.
- Make round patties about 1cm thick and 12cm wide.
- The source said that you can use baking paper or cling wrap between the patties to stack up so they don't stick to each other and they store well in freezer too.
- The patties will shrink a little when they are cooked.
- Cook until cooked through.
- Put in the burger bun with all sauce and vegetables of your choice
- Enjoy!

No-Knead Dinner Rolls

My very first bread!
Yay!
Alhamdulillah!

I always thought that making any kind of bread is high risk baking and complicated. All I know that bread need time, kneading, and probably a lot of luck! That's why I never try to make any. I skipped the bread recipes when I read or browse. But, it's been so long that I was eyeing on several no-knead bread recipes. I wondered, are they that easy?

Later, we are now finally moving to Auckland. We have been here for almost two months. I have to gather my guts to drive again. So I drive again, so far only to pick and drop my sons to kindy.
I'm still not so confident to drive too far, other than to the kindy. So, it makes me unable to go to grocery stores by myself. I have to wait for weekend so my hubby can drive me to go shopping. But, you know, sometimes some of the food run out before the weekend comes. Stuffs like bread is gone fast, or meet their expiry date before weekends.

I realize now, that my responsibility, not just about the food, raise so high. I have to stop from my daydreaming, slap my face and work on it!

So I finally try this recipe, after browsing for the most eeeeeasiest and shortest time it could get. I found this, from Sweet & Saucy blog. I never explore this blog before, but now I interested to go 'deeper':)
So after making shortbread yesterday, today I made real bread. After I did my Subuh pray, I started by staring the recipe I was about to make. Mix, mix mix, and I let the dough sit for an hour inside the cabinet under the stove to keep it warm.

It is sooooo nice to see it doubled in size. Looked very promising! After that I make 16 rolls, let sit for half hours.the rolls before raising up again


I cover the rolls with towel since I don't have the plastic wrap.The rolls looked bumping tight shoulder to shoulder.
After they got into the oven, it looked more stuffed and tight between them.
I love watching those little fat rolls. The smells of bread in the oven is warming the house. My heart melt. My bread, my very first bread. Not bad at all for my first time bread making.
The only bad thing that I have done is I think 25 minutes is a bit too long for my oven. So the 'skin'of the bread is a little harder that I expected. If you want to try this recipe, you might want to start with 15-20 minutes. If you think it is not enough, you can add 5 more minutes and see what happen.
Anyway, enough 'talking'. Here, have a bread!

No-Knead Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 large egg (lightly beaten)
3/4 teaspoon of salt
3 cups of bread flour (spooned and leveled)

Directions:
- Put warm water in a large bowl and sprinkled it with one tablespoon of active dry yeast and let the mixture stand until it was foamy (about 5 minutes). --> I don't think mine was foaming (I don't call it foaming, just blending).
- Add sugar, melted butter, egg, and salt to the yeast-water mixture, whisking to combine.
- Add flour, stirring with a wooden spoon until everything is incorporated and a sticky dough has formed.
- Using a brush, brush the top of the dough with more melted butter, cover the bowl with clean kitchen towel, and set it aside until the dough has doubled in bulk (about 1 hour).
- After an hour, turn the dough out onto well-floured chopping board.
- With floured hands, roll the dough into a thick log and cut it into 16 equal pieces.
- Smear a 23x23cm pan with melted butter.
- By hands, fold the edges of each piece towards the center, pressing to secure, until a smooth ball formed.
- Put the dough balls in the prepared baking pan (smooth side up), cover the pan loosely with kitchen towel, and let them rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 30 minutes).
- After the rolls has risen adequately, remove towel from the pan and bake them at 205C for 15 minutes first (and add few minutes more if necessary).
- Take them out of the oven.

Makes 16 rolls.