Soft and Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

中文： 薯泥玫瑰小餐包

Unlike other baking lovers, I like to bake soft, sweet fluffy dinner rolls instead of French bread or sour dough bread.  Mashed sweet potato is a great ingredient in making dinner rolls.  It gives the rolls such pretty and bright vibrant yellow color, light sweetness and softer texture.

Ingredients：

250 g bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
50 to 60 g whole milk
100 to 110 mashed sweet potato
1 large egg
40 g sugar
20 g butter (soften, or heated in microwave for a few seconds )
3 to 4 gluten flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
egg wash or honey + water for brushing

Note：

You can get mashed sweet potato from baked, boiled or steamed sweet potatoes.  Please remember that water content will differ greatly in each cooking ways.  You may need to adjust how much bread flour is needed here depending on the mashed sweet potato.  I get mine from baked sweet potato.

I add extra gluten flour to help with bread texture because 100 g mashed sweet potato is a lot for this recipe. 

Directions：

Heat the milk in microwave for 30 seconds; add the milk to bread machine container; dissolve yeast into the warm milk; and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add eggs, flour, gluten flour, sugar, salt and mashed sweet potato; start dough cycle.  My bread machine will knead the dough for 20 minutes and proof for an hour. 

When kneading is done, abort the cycle; add diced butter; and start the dough cycle again. It will knead the dough for another 20 minutes, which should be able to get the dough past window panel test.

When the dough is doubled in size, transfer it to a well dusted wooden board.  Gently press down and knead for a minutes; cover and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 32 equal pieces.  Roll each piece out; and line up four together.

Roll them up from one end

Cut it right in the middle.  Now you have two yellow roses!

Repeat the process until all dough pieces are turned into roses.  Place them cut side down in a greased baking pan; cover; and let it proof again for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F/204 C.

Brush the bread with egg wash or honey + water.  Bake for 14 to 16 minutes.  Cover the bread with a large piece of foil if necessary to prevent dark color on top.

How beautiful they are!

Garlic Croutons

 中文： 蒜香面包块

One of the must-haves when I make salad at home is croutons. The garlicky and crunch croutons add so much flavors and textures to the salad.  I can’t have enough of them! O(∩_∩)O~

You can buy your croutons from store, or you can spend several minutes to make a large batch of your own. 

Ingredients：

1 loaf of French bread
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil (preferably in spray bottle)
1 to 2 teaspoons garlic salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325F/ 163°C

Dice up French bread into little bite size cubes, around half by half inch. 

In a large bowl, add bread cubes, shake while spraying the bread with olive oil.  Try to coat bread cubes as evenly as possible.  Sprinkle with garlic salt, shake well again and spread cubes onto a large baking sheet.

Bake the croutons for 20 to 24 minutes or until they are golden brown.  Cool completely on the baking sheet.  Store in airtight zip-loc bag or container. 

Dutch Baby Pancake with Apple Filling

中文： 铁锅苹果薄饼

The Dutch baby pancake is one of our favorite Saturday and Sunday Brunches.   When it is baking in the oven, I can take my time to make coffee, sunny side up eggs, and pan-fried bacons. Isn’t it wonderful? O(∩_∩)O~ 

Ingredients：

2 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla exact
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions：

Preheat oven to 425F/218 C.  

You can either preheat an 8 inches cast iron skillet in the oven or on the stove.  Either way is ok. 

Add eggs, flour, milk, sugar and vanilla exact to a blender container; blend on high speed for 20 to 30 seconds or until the batter is runny and smooth.

Add vegetable oil to preheated cast iron skillet, swirl the pan so that the oil can evenly coat the bottom.  Pour in the batter.  Bake it in oven for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the whole pancake is puffy and golden brown. 

The pancake will fall after being out of oven, so that the center is perfect of filling.  I love to fill it with blueberry sauce or apple.

Ingredients for apple filling：

2 to 3 medium size apples (I use the spy apples I got from farmer market.  They are tart and sweet with crunchy texture, which is perfect here.)
1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 to 1/3 cup packed brown sugar (use more if prefer sweeter taste)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 to 1 teaspooncorn starch
2 to 3 tablespoons water
powder sugar to sprinkle on top (optional )

Directions：

Peel and core the apples. Cut into bite size pieces.  Add apple along with ground cinnamon, brown sugar, lemon juice and water to a medium pot.  Cook over medium high heat for about 10 minutes.  Stir constantly to prevent burning at the bottom.

In a small bowl, combine corn starch and 1 to 2 tablespoons water, whisk well and add to apple while stirring.  Cook for another couple minutes, remove from heat and pour onto Dutch baby pancake.  Sprinkle with powder sugar and serve immediately.  

It tastes very much like popover.  Yum! ~O(∩_∩)O~

Fire-grilled Burgers

中文：自己在家做汉堡包

Ok, we were kind of disappointed last time when we went to the burger shop in Ann Arbor, which was supposed to be great according to FoodNetwork and Travel Channel.  (see here ) So we decided to make burgers at home the way we like it. 

I made the sesame buns and beef patties from scratch.  It might be easier to just buy them from store, but it would take the fun and pride when you make your own burger, wouldn’t it?

I posted the bread recipe before.  Here it is again.

Ingredients for bread:

300 g bread flour
165 to 180 g whole milk
1 large egg
20 g butter, softened at room temperature and diced
30 g sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1/8 teaspoon salt
egg wash
white sesame seeds

Directions：

Microwave the milk on high for 30 to 45 second.  Stir in yeast and let it sit for 5 to 8 minutes.

In the bread machine’s mixing bowl, add milk with yeast, flour, sugar, salt and egg.  Start “dough” cycle.  My machine will knead for 20 minutes and proof the dough automatically for 60 minutes.  When it finishes kneading, stop it completely.  Add diced butter, and start “dough” cycle all over again.

This time, let the machine do the kneading and proof for you.  All you need to do is to check if the dough is double in size at the end of “dough” cycle.  Sometimes the dough is ready before it ends.

Transfer the dough to a well-dusted wood board.  Punch it down and knead gently just until you eliminate all the big bubbles.  Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts.  Roll each of them into a round shape ball.  Place them on a baking pan lined up with parchment paper or baking mat, about 1 or two inches apart from each other.

Cover and let them sit at room temperature for another 25 to 35 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F/204°C.

Brush the dough balls with egg wash and sprinkle white sesame seeds on top.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes.  You might need to cover them with foil for the last 4 to 6 minutes if the bread brown quickly.

Hot and fresh out the oven!  Aren’t they beautiful?

Now we are ready to make beef patties.

Ingredients:

(The ingredients listed here are enough to make 6 to 8 burgers.  I can freeze the extra patties so that I can simple thaw them next time I make burgers at home.)

2 pounds ground beef (80/20)
2 eggs
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon McCormick grilling seasoning
1 to 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
salt to taste

For 3 burgers：

1 to 2 onions, grilled
6 slices of bacon, grilled
cheddar cheese
3 eggs. fried
lettuce or other leafy greens
mayonnaise / ketchup

Directions:

In a large bowl, add beef, eggs, onion, bread crumbs, black pepper, sugar, paprika, garlic powder, grilling seasoning, werstershire sauce, rosemary and salt. 

Mix with hands just until everything is well combined.  Do not over mix.  

Divide into 6 to 8 parts. Round each of them into a big meatball and press them down with your palm.  And with your thumb, make a dent in the center.  It helps to cook the patties evenly. 

Preheat the grill to 450F/232°C.  Brush the grill with oil.  Place the beef patties in the center and grill for 2 minutes. 

2 minutes later

Grill another 2 minutes.  Top them with cheddar cheese.  I prefer thick cut. O(∩_∩)O~

1 or 2 minutes later, the cheese melts beautifully.  Transfer them to a cooler zone on the grill.

Turn the heat to minimum and toast the sesame buns for a couple minutes. 

Ok, finally it is time a grab a plate.  Pick your bread and top it with grilled beef patty with cheese.

Top it with grilled bacon, grilled onion, fried eggs, leafy greens, mayonnaise or ketchup.  

Time to enjoy the burger you work so hard for.  Yum! 

Homemade Hot and Spicy Noodles

中文： STAND MIXER洗面皮版之酸辣凉皮

This is a very special kind of noodle.  It originated in Southwest of China, and now it is widely popular through the whole main land. 

Unlike the noodle people have in mind, this one is not served hot in soup.  It is tossed with all kinds of spices and seasoning, more like noodle salad.  What really makes it special is how the noodle is made.  Simply put, you need to knead a piece of dough, and then you need to work on the dough in water to separate the wheat gluten and starch, and then make noodle out of starchy water.  It is a very interesting process but also quite labor intensive.  Although it is very widely popular in China, not many people like to make it from scratch at home.  So many restaurants, food trucks and street vendors sell these noodles that you can get them almost anywhere and anytime.

My husband and I live in a small town in Michigan where there is no Asian grocery store.  That means I need to DIY any authentic Chinese food we crave for, and fortunately, I very much enjoy doing so. And I also enjoy sharing with everyone else. O(∩_∩)O~

I use kitchenaid stand mixer to work on the dough and to separate wheat gluten and starch.  It is traditionally done by hands.  Stand mixer is such a great help in my kitchen!  

For the noodle：

2 1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
9 to 10 cups water (to work with dough)

Noodle seasoning：

Red chili oil sauce (homemade or available in Asian grocery store)
sesame oil
garlic water (2 gloves of garlic, minced and soaked in 2 tablespoons water)
soy sauce
sugar
chopped green onion
chopped cilantro
cucumber, peeled and cut into French fries size
freshly roasted peanut, crushed
rice vinegar
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 to 2 tablespoon sesame paste

Direction：

 In the stand mixer mixing bowl, add flour, salt and water.  Turn it on and knead the dough at speed 2 for 12 to 15 minutes.

The dough is becoming smooth and elastic.

Cover the dough and allow it to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Switch the dough hook to paddle. Add 1 1/2 cups water into the mixing bowl.

What I am using is KitchenAid professional600.  The mixing bowl is 6 quarts so I can do this without getting a big mess in the kitchen.  It is not recommended for any mixing bowl smaller than 6 quarts. 

Put on the pouring shield.  Turn on the machine and set to speed 2 again.  Knead for 4 minutes.

4 minutes later.  The water becomes white and starchy.

Drain the water to a big glass bowl.

Add another 1 1/2 cup water.

Speed 2, knead for 4 minutes.

Water becomes starchy again.  

Drain the water to the big glass bowl. 

After the third kneading

After the forth kneading

The fifth

After the sixth kneading, the water is pale, which means most starch has been extracted.  What we have left in the mixing bowl is wheat gluten. 

Steam the gluten on high heat for 16 to 20 minutes. 

Cool for 10 minutes and then dice it up. 

All the starchy water has been collected in a big glass bowl.   

Cover and let it sit for at least 4 hours. 

You can see that starchy water separates again.  All the starch sinks to the bottom.

Drain the clear water on top.  Please remember to do it very gently; otherwise the starch may be stirred up again.

With a whisk, whisk the remaining starchy mixture into smooth batter. 

Bring a large pot of water to boil.

Brush two 8 inches wilton cake pans with a little bit of oil. 

Add a big spoon of batter to a cake pan.  

Swirl the pan so that the batter can evenly coated the pan. 

Place the pan on boiling water top, cover, and steam on high heat for 1 minutes.

Fill another pot with ice water.

When the pan has been steamed for 1 minute, transfer the pan from boiling water pot to the one filled with ice water.  The ice water will cool down the cake pan fast and it would be easier to remove noodle from pan.

Here is one big piece of noodle!

It is almost paper thin and elastic.

Repeat the steaming and cooling process until all the batter is used.  You should be able to get between 14 and 18 pieces.

Cut them into thick strings and place in a big bowl. 

Add the prepared noodle seasonings. There is no rule here how much of what should be added.  You can add whatever to create your own flavor. 

I usually add red chili pepper oil sauce, sesame oil, garlic water, soy sauce, sugar, green onion, cilantro, cucumber, vinegar, peanut butter, sesame paste, and the diced steamed gluten bread.  

Mix gently until everything combines together, sprinkle with crushed peanut and serve immediately. 

That is one bowl of authentic hot and spicy Chinese noodle!