nothing in particular

The 2nd lesson was kind of hands-off cos the breads to be made were mixed by 2 groups while the rest watched on. It was until the divide and shaping stage when we got to touch the dough.

The 3 breads to be made:
- Baguette using poolish method
- Baguette using sponge method
- Cranberry Raisin Bread

The cranberry raisin dough was divided according to the number of students in the class and everyone had a hand in shaping the breads.

After the baguette was divided and shaped, its time to put them into the linen cloth so that they can maintain their shape for the final proofing stage.


Raisin breads resting in the couches.


Another variation for the baguette..interesting pattern.


By the 2nd lesson, we were starting to appreciate breads with bold bake(darker color) as they have better tasting crust.


After the baguettes have cooled, Hafizh took out a pack of baguette from Brand X, sliced it across and passed it around. He told us to smell it. Everyone took a sniff and had this EWWW look on their face because the bread smelled like overfried french fries! This is what we have been buying commercially OMG~


Hafizh started comparing the high hydration baguettes we make VS the commercial products that do not even smell/look like a baguette.


The crumb for our high hydration baguette. After tasting baguettes made from both poolish and sponge method, we actually found that the sponge method baguette tasted better O_O


Whole load of Cranberry and Raisins bread..


Looks good~


Cross sectional view.

;_; one by one my favourite food stalls are closing, disappearing EVERY YEAR!
What's this???!!!

First it was Geylang(Oppo UOB) Ipoh Horfun, then it was Damen Lou's Swee Kee..
then bad happenings didn't stop...it went on to 作记

And now WASABI TEI...NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!!!!

Nothing tastes good after I returned from Japan, now even my last few edible food joints are closing..
*MAO*

It's the first time Creative Culinaire is organising an Artisan Bread Course class, our first time at Artisan Breads and coincidentally its the instructor's first hands-on lesson too =D

Here's Hafizh explaining/ demonstrating on the usage of this huge production size mixer.
In this lesson, it was less hands on than we expected as the ingredients were mixed in large quantities like, for the whole class. Back in bread course 1/2, every pair in the class have to mix their own dough. But the main reason for mixing/dividing the dough together, is to ensure that everyone's dough can get into oven together. However, we still get the chance to shape the dough.

Lesson 1:
- Raisin Challah (made on our own)
- Challah (made on class scale)
- Baguette
- Pain de Campagne
- Boules


Soaking the raisins in warm water before use. This is for the Raisin Challah.


Making the cold butter plyable by using the rolling pin to beat it.


After adding the butter, mix till window pane appears.


Mixing the raisins in by hand.


Now let the dough rest for 30mins.


After 30mins, the dough is folded to give the dough more strength, distribute the yeast food and distribute the heat. The ideas taught to us in this lesson is kind of new and there were many ??? on everyones' mind.

After another 30mins, its time to divide the dough into the portions we want to work with. Hafizh showed us how we can make life easier for ourselves by putting the weighing scale, main dough, extra dough on different sides of the working space.



After dividing all the dough into equal portions, pre-shape the dough and let them rest seam up.


One of the patterns taught in class, this is made by the instructor =D


K's 6 plait challah, he got kind of confused along the way(which to plait next) LOL~



Meanwhile, the boules were being shaped and left to proof on the linen cloth called couche.


The finished product with sugar rocks (sprinkled before baking) for the raisin challah(above).
That's the 6 plait challah, nicely browned.


The crumb of the challah. The sugar rocks make this bread even more tasty :p


Whole load of baguettes. See the leaf like pattern made using the scissors.


The boules are baked till "black". Actually to us, this standard is chao ta but for artisan breads, it actually brings more flavour for the crust.


The inside of the baguette.


The class ended at about 8pm(after cleaning up and cooling the breads) and many students left at 7pm lol~ so each person had quite alot of bread to bring back >_<'

Back from Japan for 5 days, I am not digesting Singapore food for weird reasons?!
Tokyo is a pretty interesting city, however I would say that Taiwan is more FUN than Tokyo. Probably due to the fact that I prefer the sea, nature, wild flowers..going to a park to admire flowers is not my cup of tea.

Have been busy with post editing for the Japan trip pics, hopefully I can get them done by end of the week. Guess I will be looking out for more options before deciding where to host my travel review as blogspot upload function is really really troublesome.

It's pretty bad that I haven got mood to work. Not really due to holiday mood I would say, but its the dread of doing these stuff. I hope I will be doing something else within the next 1 year *GOSH*

Right now, I should look forward to my artisan bread course starting this Sunday.

K and I are going to Japan on NWA from 1st Aug 09 to 15th Aug 09.
He says he isn't really excited cos he doesn't know what to expect.
Silly boy -.-'

We will leave my place at 3am which is 2.5hours from now..I am sleepy zzz~
My wish to that we can visit 90% if not all of the places we planned in the itinerary.

Visiting:
- Tokyo(mainly)
- Kawagoe
- Hakone
- Shonan
- Enoshima
- Kamakura(maybe)
- And of course 2 outlet stores are planned for =D

Festivals during the trip:
- Bon Dance (4th Aug to 7th Aug) at Asakusa
- Enoshima Fireworks (4th Aug) at Enoshima

*Pray for fair weather*

Just a short update..

Bought this BNWT ripcurl bikini from ebay, hmm pretty good except that the straps are wrongly positioned..or should I say design fault?

Anyway, to correct this problem(of zaogeng)..I cut a pair of hooks off some bra strap and sewn them onto what I deemed as the correct position a.k.a more towards the centre. Tried adding new paddings to it, but this bandeu design does not have wired cups so paddings will only make the top"leave" my chest.
Zzz so no paddings and there's going to a Changi Airport when I wear this. But well luckily I have my tankini which is safer for water sports, so this bikini will be solely for tanning purposes.



Been DIY-ing some victorian style pearl necklace. I am using swarovski pearls, toggle clasp and a victorian cameo(bought from Far East Plaza). It looks kind of boring now cos I need some black colors on it..maybe black lace or some black beads(I can grab some from a necklace that I dun wear anymore)




I love DIY, maybe I should get a sewing machine soon.

Sometimes I don't understand people.

I don't know why my IA student is in the office despite having a sore throat, cough and flu symptoms. The next thing I know is that he has got a fever of 38.3 degrees and he's IN OFFICE! So our OPS I/C came along with a N95 mask on her face, and one mask for the student and escorted him out of the office building. This took place on Thurs.

Fast forward to Sunday night, I smsed the student and asked how is he and he said no one called him and he's feeling ok. He told me that the clinic said IF NO ONE CALLED HIM, it means HE'S NEGATIVE for H1N1. Ok fine, so he came back to office on Monday, thinking he's gonna be fine.

Fuck! Then came this phonecall from the clinic saying that his test results are out and he's POSITIVE for H1N1. *@&#*@^#*&@^#@&*^#&@%^!@$!%$@!%$
So now, the people who had first level of contact with him are all under home quarantine for 7 days. Well done.

But you know what's the most stupid thing here? The h1n1 test takes 2 days to show if one is h1n1 positive and my student was only given 1 day mc(for friday) which means he's not covered for monday. I don't blame him for coming to work, if you were a student whose lifeline depended on your IA grades, you wouldn't want to mess up too.

So the 5 of us were gathered and given N95 masks, disinfected with a spray before we got escorted out of the office building. I am amazed that the cab stopped and took us back home *touched*

For now, home quarantine for 7 days..

I want to go for my Japan trip and I think I hate IA students.