nothing in particular

Today we are adventurous and ready to explore the unchartered waters of making ciabatta and Taiwan speciality, 卤肉饭.

Ciabatta is a slipper shaped bread, that contains high % of water (VS flour) and its said to be very soft and filled with large holes. K has always wanted to try making this bread, finally he has the courage to try today. As Judy always say, "Ciabatta dough is so soft, you got to treat it like a baby =D".



Pic above is the sponge, that is to be fermented for about 12 hours, made up of flour , yeast, water. The pic below is how it looks like after 12 hours, bubbly and smells like BEER.



I started measuring the ingredients for the main dough and mixing them thoroughly till the dough is formed. And since this recipe contains 85% of water, I can't really knead it. Instead, I try folding it in, while turning the bowl.

Clockwise from top left: After adding all ingredients..so much water in there; water is absorbed in; watery texture still after 10mins from 2nd pic; 40mins later..turning and turning, folding and more folding, a dough seems to be formed o.O *tired arms*



From here on, K takes over cos he was doing the 卤肉 earlier on.
Clockwise from top left: 30mins later..first proofing is over; first folding; second folding at half hour later; final fold at 30mins later.

On hindsight, it would have been better if K used olive oil to lubricate the surface instead of dusting with flour.




Clockwise from top left: Just before proofing; after proofing the dough for 1hour; finally baking time~baking at 200 degrees till golden brown; the crust. It seems folding was not well done, cos there were no large bubbles in the bread and we used bread flour instead of plain flour..so we didn't really succeed but instead made a HIGH WATER RATIO bread XDDDdd

Now for the 卤肉饭 *slurp* K is about to cook the Taiwanese style of 卤肉饭 and 温泉蛋 for dinner.



Ingredients needed: Shallots as above, 五花肉 sort of diced.



Cut the shallots into the above form a.k.a rings.



Stuffs to make the meat taste Taiwanese >.< includes: 肉桂粉, 五香粉, 酱油, 酱油膏, 米酒, 冰糖，水.
All these are to be added to taste, no fixed formula.



Use low heat to slowly brown these shallot rings till light golden brown and quickly take them out without the oil. The oil should be put aside for later use.



Add the onion oil into wok, put in the meat and stir fry.



Clockwise from top left: Cooking the pork; add in the spices,wine and sauce and add in water after pork has simmered in the sauce+spice+wine mixture for awhile; one hour later; half hour later(from 3rd pic), add in the fried onions for that extra oomph.

At about 1.5hrs after the pork has simmered, we tasted the mixture and decided more rock sugar should be added and less 酱油 should be used cos its alittle salty.



K cooking the 温泉蛋, which has semi liquid yolk.
Clockwise from top left: To remove the egg shells from a cooked egg successfully, roll it against the table top then peel it in water; eggs are finally peeled; putting the eggs into the 卤汁 so that they taste and look better; half hour later, the sides are turned so that there's even coloring.

Note that the 卤汁 should be lukewarm so that the eggs won't get cooked further.



Another addition to the sumptuous dinner~ Fried Kuning Fish. =p



Eggs that were soaked till dinner time, are finally ready to be served!



Finally on my dinner table *drools*




The complete package: 卤肉饭 + 温泉蛋, its a pity we didn't have pickles else we would have such an authentic taiwan fare. *drools as I post this*