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Today (02/12/2021) is the Lunar New Year. 2021 is the year of Ox, Happy “Niu” Year! “Niu” is the pronunciation of ox in mandarin, in Chinese, croissants are also called Niu Jiao Bao, Ox Horn Bread because the shape of croissants. To celebrate the Lunar New Year, I adopted croissants to a more Asian flavor with my favorite Cantonese steam bun – lava bun with salted egg yolk 流沙包, and taro fillings.
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Innovating croissants to have more Asian elements again after sesame croissant. This time, I included Japanese elements: matcha, red bean and mochi. These ingredients have been use either individually or as combo for boba, mochi fillings, ice cream, crepe, etc. This time after upgrading from last time, fillings did not escape, and the aesthetics has improved! There is definitely a large room for improvement especially the lamination of dough with matcha powder.
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It is a sunny morning on my cheat day from workout, and I have RAISIN WHITE BREAD instead of WHOLE WHEAT bread in stock!! Perfect timing to finally try the air-fry French Toast recipe that I have long saved in my YouTube “watch later” playlist. Honestly, who does not like the deep fried French Toast, especially the Hong Kong style with rich amount of peanut butter, condensed milk, honey running across, and a giant chunk of salted butter that is so heavy to crush and leave a dent on the fluffy toast?
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After trying out rainbow croissants and chocolate strip croissants, I want to innovate a bit and try baking sesame croissants, with sesame powder in dough and also sesame fillings with mochi wrapped inside. Sesame croissants turned out very crispy, the flowy sesame and soft mochi contrasted the crispy dough, giving very unique texture!
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The first time I knew and had a Babka was from Jane the Bakery in Japantown, San Francisco. Its rich, not too sweet chocolate fillings (I LOOOVE dark chocolates), crispy outer layer and soft inner layers captured me right away. I have had Babka from other bakeries, super markets later as well, but none of those triumphs Jane’s so far. Loving it, baking it. Let’s try making, improving and enjoying this Jewish delicacy!
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This is my second time baking a Basque cheesecake. Last time I over-baked my taro Basque cake and did not share the recipe. This time I tried a recipe used by a few homebakers who sell their pastries — Basque Cheesecake with Pumpkin and Salted Egg Yolk! The sweetness of pumpkin and the saltiness kick from salted egg yolk might be a good combination!
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So! After 6 trials for original croissant and 1 tryout on chocolate croissant, I am still here! Trying the colorful, rainbow croissants this time! I baked this new batch of rainbow croissants with more precision such as desired dough temperature (24-26C), croissant shape measurements(4.5mm x 10cm x 25cm), proofing temperature (26-28C), listening to croissants etc. with tricks from the LONGER and more detailed croissant baking videos I watched.
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After 6 trials on baking original croissants, I want to get my hands on the “prettier” and slightly “fancier” croissants — colored and flavored ones. This time I am making the chocolate croissants. The chocolate sheet was drier than planned, resulting in some croissant not fully covered in chocolate sheet, and the chocolate layer was a bit too crispy. As usual, as my lab notebook, I have recorded mistakes and takeaway in details here.
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From the 3 months from May to August 2020, I have 6 croissant trials in total, trying 2 different recipes’ ingredients, 4 different butter brands, and finally had some success. Sharing these 6 trials’ key takeaways, including comparison of 6 trials in ingredients, resting, lamination, shaping & proofing and baking temp & time. KEY TO […]
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My second time making croissants and I think there are a few possible errors I might have made: 1-kneaded dough too long to form gluten 2-lamination was too complex and formed more layers than my current technical skills 3-baking temperature was not right for the dough ingredients/lamination methods; followed too many recipes 太貪心啦!
