Fermented

Cheap brioche

August 10, 2019 by Ariel 2 Comments

There’s this really cool bread baking book that’s been gathering dust in my bookshelf for way too long. If you’re a bread making affectionado, you’ve heard of the bread baker apprentice for sure. It offers three different versions of the brioche loaf with titles like: pore man’s brioche, middle class brioche and rich man brioche. What’s being presented, today, is an adaptation of the recipe that is lower in eggs and butter content hence the title of this post: cheap brioche.

Don’t get too excited yet, this is still a pretty caloric bread but it is so worth every bit of sweat and every pieces of butter you’ll be putting in to it. The process is a little longer than a regular bread but it’s mostly proofing time. If you wanted to try something easier, there’s this old recipe for knotted bread that’s pretty decent and this one made with sourdough and pretty fast.

This recipe was also created before I officially converted myself back to the metric system so it’s using cups and teaspoons but, in the future, I’ll make the conversion and update this page. Happy bread baking everyone, it’s the perfect activity to do on a lazy Saturday.

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Two ways dinner rolls

July 30, 2019 by Ariel Leave a Comment

I’m combining “two recipes” in one today. The reason why I’m using “…” it’s because the two recipes aren’t really different but the images displayed in this posts will show you two fun versions for these sweet, airy and soft dinner rolls. The first version is made with fancy molasses which gives the buns an incredible taste and dark colour. The second version, which I think is the most common one, is made with honey and brushed up with an egg wash, topped with Maldon salt flakes, black sesame seeds & hemp seeds.

For freshness, keep them in the fridge or the freezer (even better) and warm up what you need at dinner time. They will feel very hard and stale (even kept in the fridge) but don’t worry because the second you’ll warm them up, the soft texture will come back.

I don’t think I need to say how amazing they are warm, coming out of the oven with only salted butter O_O

This is what life is all about, warm bread with butter.

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Classic Napa Cabbage & Daikon Kimchi

March 21, 2015 by Ariel 3 Comments

Ohhh Kimchi *^_^*

There isn’t enough words in the dictionary to describe my love for kimchi…

What’s so awesome about it? you can basically use it on/with everything! Eat it just like that as an appetizer, use it in all your stir fries, sandwiches, make a soup or a sauce with it, be creative and enjoy experimenting with kimchi because it will jazz up any dishes you create and feed your tummy a ton of probiotic bacterias that are extremely good for your digestive system and overall health.

Like all ferments, it shouldn’t be heated too much (think miso) to make sure not to kill the beneficial bacterias. Eating it straight up is officially the best way to appreciate and absorb all the benefice and flavours of the kimchi but it is totally ok to warm it up and add it to your favourite recipe 🙂

How long can you keep your kimchi?

At this point, it’s a question of personal taste. Some people will tell you to trash it after a few months and others will tell you that it never really go bad. I’m on the “never goes bad” team. The worst that can happen is that after a certain amount of time, some white mold might develop at the top of the jar. What do you do? Scoop it out and eat what’s under!

As the fermentation will happen, the colour and taste of your kimchi will evolve. My favourite kimchi is when it has been fermenting for a good month or two. You start it off by leaving it on the counter for a good week, making sure to press on it’s head every day to drown all the ingredients under the brine (tart temper wrapped in plastic wrap is the best tool for the job), then transfer your jars in the fridge and wait for a month. It’s obviously ready before and every day you can taste your kimchi to discover what level of fermentation you prefer.

This is my twist on the basic napa cabbage & daikon kimchi but you can be more creative and add green apple sliced, carrots for example.

Hope you get to try this recipe, kimchi away and happy!

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