Soft Cinnamon Roll

I love cinnamon rolls but often it is too sweet to my taste so I am so happy when I get to nail this super soft and less sweet cinnamon rolls. I use tanzhong method just like the loaf bread.

Purple Yam / Taro Bread

My second born loves eating purple yam as snack. I usually just baked them in 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes. After that voila, it's ready to be eaten. When we went to Big Island couple years ago, we ate Hawaiian Taro Bread that we love so I thought of making that but using purple yam instead of taro. You can use taro if you prefer just add about 10 grams sugar since taro is not as sweet as purple yam. 

Just combine the bread ingredients in the kitchen aid or bread machine. Then add 100 grams of soft baked taro. Here is what the dough looks like after the kneading and first proofing:

Fail-proof Banana Bread Recipe

 

I wasn't a fan of banana bread before until I tasted the one that my mentor made. She kindly shared her recipe with me, which I've tested for many many times. I only made a little change by reducing the amount of sugar and adding blueberries. If you never make banana bread before, give this recipe a try and you wouldn't want to buy from the store again. 

How to make Roti Boy / Mexican Coffee Bun

Roti Boy is a well known food chain famous all over Asia, including Indonesia where I grew up. They are famous for selling this sweet bun with butter filling and coffee topping. It taste so good and best eaten when it's warm fresh out of the oven. Well, any bread is best eaten when it just came out of the oven. That's the reason I bake breads in addition to save some $$. 

First thing first, make the dough then divide the dough to about 12 small buns:

Then make the filling:

Pipe it on top of the bun in spiral pattern:

Basic Sweet Bread Recipe

I have been making homemade bread ever since Max was a toddler. Can't believe it's been almost 8 years now.  This little boy is not so little any more.
 

I tried many different recipes and methods over the years to make bread that taste good, easy to make, and enough to feed my family breakfast for a few days.

I used to use kitchen aid with the dough attachment to knead the dough until I found Zojirushi breadmaker for 1/2 price on Craigslist. I prefer breadmaker because I can just dump the ingredients and leave. The breadmaker will turn off by itself once it's done kneading so I don't have to "babysit" it. 

After the kneading, I let the dough proof inside the breadmaker for an hour or so. If using kitchen aid then cover the dough with kitchen towel and let it proof until it doubles in size.

Making Bread with Bread Machine using Tanzhong Method

I have been hearing about the tanzhong/ water roux method for years but most of the recipes I found were either in other language that I don't understand or the ingredients measurement was either too much or too little for my bread machine {I have the Zojirushi one from craigslist}, which didn't yield a great result when I tried it on the past.

However, I started seeing home breads made with this method on Instagram a few days ago. So I gathered my courage and giving this a try again. After reviewing many recipes, I went with the dessert first girl's recipe. I made a slight chance and use bread maker instead of kitchen aid. Before I went to bed; I made the water roux and placing all the ingredients in the bread maker. The next morning, I was greeted with this lovely loaf of bread inside the bread maker. Voilaaaa

Banana Chocolate Cheese Bun

Banana Chocolate Cheese Bread is my favorite bread growing up but I couldn't find it here in the States so I decided to make it myself. It's been a long time since I last made this. With the kids activities, baking has been placed in the back burner but we managed to make this yesterday because we were all sick and couldn't go any where.  The boys were so happy and couldn't wait to eat them once they were out of the oven.


Use kitchen aid or bread maker to knead the dough. Cover and let it proof for about 1 hour


Divide the dough into 12 small balls then start filling and shaping each one.

How to make Bruschetta

Bruschetta Ooooo how I love you. I don't know if it's the pesto, the balsamic, or the the combination of all the ingredients. Please don't blame me if you get addicted to it like me. ;)

The ingredients: grape tomatoes , butter, french bread {you can buy it at the store or if you have a bread maker and would like to make one yourself, the recipe can be found here}


Balsamic Vinaigrette

Homemade French Bread

I know French Bread only cost $1 something but the time it takes to get two kids ready and go to the store will probably take me longer than making it myself. Plus, watching the bread maker kneads the dough is pretty entertaining for my kids: