Buttermilk Pancakes

I think pancakes fIor breakfast, fresh and fluffy are the best starts to a day. Big Grin :) I've tried making pancakes before but it either turned out dense or tough so I decided to go out looking for ways to make those super cafe-style fluffy pancakes.

For those that want a great recipe and tips for pancakes, I recommend Martha Stewart's Buttermilk Pancakes recommended on Smitten Kitchen. I only used half of her ingredients and it was just enough for two, bare in mind we're big pancake eaters so it was like three pancakes each.

I think its important to sift the dry ingredients first - makes it easier to mix together and I think sifting incorporates a bit more air into the batter. It's really easy to just get the ingredients ready, put the oven at 80 degrees Celcius to keep warm the pancakes and start rolling them out.

Leave the eggs and the buttermilk out for a while so it is not so cold, I find if its too cold, the melted butter hardens when you mix the wet ingredients together.

So here is the recipe for these perfect pancakes (this is enough for 2 people):

1. Mix the Dry Ingredients first

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 1/2 TBS Sugar
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt

2. Mix the Wet Ingredients

• 1 Large Egg
• 1 Cup Buttermilk
• 2 TBS Butter (melted in microwave)
• 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

3. Whisk the dry and wet ingredients together (only briefly)

• There should be small and medium lumps
• Be careful of over-mixing because this will give you horrible dense pancakes

4. Heat a pan up on medium-high heat

• Test it with some water drops, it should spatter
• Pour in your batter
• Lower the heat to low-medium, this will give you nicely brown coloured pancakes
• Cook one side for about 2-3 minutes depending on the size of your pancake - then flip to the other for 1 minute. 
• Put it in baking paper in your oven to keep warm

Getting excited about Peru!

We'll be heading over to Peru next year - it's still a long way away, but I can't wait. So I'm going to keep track of the list of things I have to try and make sure I don't miss any ! We'll also be visiting La Paz in Bolivia.So I'm on the hunt for some good info. Found a really good Peruvian blog (Canela and Comino) and some info on La Paz (see here) right now for my trip plan. There is a Peru Food Magazine called Diva Kozina and also a fast chain burger joint called Bembos!




I'll be posting more things up soon...


For now, I think I definitely have to try a traditional Peru Ceviche. Its a dish with citrus marinated fresh fish with accompaniments added. There is also Peruvian-Chinese fried rice.

Sweet Sausage Bread (Asian Style)

Asian style bread is a sweeter, softer, more puffier type of bread in comparison to the bread we normally get in Australian supermarkets. I think it has something to do with the amount of milk and butter that gets added that gives its texture. There are many types of Asian style sweet bread and you can normally see a few shops in any china town selling red bean, tuna, chicken and our favourite, sausage.


The sausage bread ("Bao" in chinese means bread) is basically just a frankfrut in a bread. Like a hotdog but sweet. There are many dough recipes on the net and for my inspiration, I got the details from Warm and Sweet Home. I modified it a bit by using evaporated milk instead of normal milk and it turned out more similar to the ones we can buy in the asian bakeries.

I used a kitchenaid for mixing the dough. For anyone who likes to cook and bake, its a very good investment. Saves you time at the bench kneading and really helped a beginner like me because I always find dough kneading to be really tricky. A kitchenaid is especially handy for asian sweet bread because the dough is wetter and stickier. 

Ingredients

• 250g High Protein Flour
• 4g Yeast
• 20g Sugar
• 182g Evaporated Milk
• 25g Butter

Method

1. Mix ingredients together until it is smooth and satiny (Speed 2 of Kitchenaid)
2. Oil bowl with olive oil and cover dough for about 45-60 minutes (until it is 2-3 times bigger)
3. Punch out air
4. Divide Dough into 6 portions and leave it for 15 minutes
5. Roll individual dough portions into a long 'log' shape
6. To add the sausage, wrap the dough around the sausage over about 3 turns or more
7. Cover and leave dough to rise again for 45-60 minutes
8. Brush with evaporated milk or egg 
9. Bake for 180 degrees celcius (or 160 in a fan-forced oven) for 12-15 minutes

There is another method of making the dough using a 'starter' then mixing in the remaining 'main dough' ingredients (dough and sponge method). This makes it fluffier and has more flavour. Jo's Deli Bakery has a bit on tips about this. I think the next time I try it will be using the dough and sponge method, lets see how it goes.