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The recipe below makes 1 loaf of bread.

Ingredients (6)

Base:
1. 300g (1.5 cups) flour,sifted
2. 120ml cold water
3. 2 tsp Instant yeast

Shortening
1. 1/4 tsp Salt
2. 3 tsp (12g) Castor sugar
3. 35g Butter

Steps

1. Mix the base ingredients and knead to form a dough.
2. Leave dough for first rise (fermenting) for about 2 hours or until the dough doubles in size.


- Dough First Rise (Fermenting) -

3. Mix shortening ingredients together. Add shortening to the base dough and knead until a smooth dough is formed.


- Completed Dough -

4. Shape the dough, place on a tray and set aside for second rise (poofing). The poofing process should be faster than the first rise, taking about 30 - 45 minutes until the dough doubles in size.


- Dough Second Rise (Poofing) -

5. Pre-heat oven to 180C and bake the bread for 35 - 40 minutes

- Crusty Bread -

For a soft crust, place a bowl of hot water on the lowest oven shelf to steam bake the bread.

- Goes well with balsamic vinegar and olive oil -

I stuffed mine with some dried shrimp sambal my mom made. YUM!

I’ve always loved baked food, especially breads and pastries. Lately, I’ve been doing quite a bit with the oven. Mind you, I’ve never baked before my marriage. It’s not that I didn’t want to but rather I never found the time to do so. Staying in your own place and cooking your own meals gives you a lot more freedom to experiment. Read the rest of this entry »

Come tomorrow midnight, I’ll be out of the country on a long awaited vacation. It’s been 6 months in the making and we were very near canceling the trip on account of the swine flu and all. After much thought, we made the decision to go ahead with the trip *thank goodness*. WL and I will be away for 17 days. Throw in 7 days self quarantine upon returning and I’ll literally be away from the office for the entire month. Read the rest of this entry »

Just realised that the last time I updated was exactly a year ago. It’s been a long and busy one for me at work. The last four months has been particularly packed. Not much surprise with the global economy in its current state. Companies are cutting back on budgets and resourcing. Was chatting with some friends and most of them are nearing burnout. Sadly, I’m not too far from that. On the bright side, I’m planning for my trip down under in a few months time. Really looking forward to that long vacation.

Strangely enough, don’t have much else to add after a year’s hiatus. Until next time…

On Wednesday, I walked into Fitness First and spontaneously signed up for a membership. I was well aware of the fact that I am still a member of California Fitness. So was it a lapse in sanity or something else? Read the rest of this entry »

Had this conversation with my boss over IM this morning. Today being the 1st of April and all… Read the rest of this entry »

I think I had a pretty bad one. Okay. To be honest, it wasn’t all bad. It started this morning when the car overheated during my drive to the office. I wound up stopping at a petrol kiosk to let the engine cool. It was slightly less than an hour under the warm Malaysian weather and I was already sweating like a hog. After the topping up the radiator with water, I thought everything was good and went on my way again. I was already two hours late to work. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a month long break from work. I’ve been keeping busy, mind you. What with the wedding, mini holiday to Phuket, webhost troubles, etc. While I can’t say I didn’t dread coming back to work, it IS good to be back. Read the rest of this entry »

Planning is winding down and the day of our wedding banquet is fast approaching. I started my official leave on Thursday and it extends through to 14th January 2008. Every time someone asks me and I mention the dates, I get surprised looks and eyes popping out of their sockets. Yes, it is a very long vacation. Only a few days shy of a full month. But that’s also only because I’m clearing off my annual leave and all the festive holidays. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Tis just a rhetoric and I don’t consider myself a Romeo. But being my space and all, I guess I have as much right as the next Romeo in line to write whatever he pleases. Having said that, I’ve been busy as of late, hence the sparser (than the already sparse) posts. You might be asking the question on why I bother to maintain this site. Well, it’s for the sole reason of absolutely random stuff like hosting my gallery. Read the rest of this entry »