French Breads (II) --- something different

another batch of French Breads....

this time a tried something different....

based on the French Bread recipe,

I changed the ratios of some ingredients a little bit....

(1) I cut down the yeast to 1 teaspoon.

(2) I increased the yogurt to 3/4 cup

(3) I brushed the breads, every 10 minutes, with butter (melted) while I baking them.


Actually the result wasn't bad. The bread tasted, quote "elastic, and very rich" (my wife, my daughter and friends who had it), even I reduced the yeast. I think because the yogurt did its work!

my personal opinion, I liked them both!!

"Mountain" Breads

Ingredients：

Dough
1. all purpose flour 4 and 1/2 cups
2. quick rise yeast 3 teaspoons
3. eggs 4 (large)
4. sugar 4 tablespoons and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
5. salt 1/2 teaspoon
6. butter (or shortening) 1/3 cup
7. warm milk 1 cup
8. "boiled-milk-dough" a few
9. plain yogurt 1/2 cup



Egg Wash:
1 egg yolk and 2 tablespoons milk well blended.



Preparation:
1. First of all,we have to prepare (item 8) a night before.
Use a mixing bowl, add 3/4 cup of all purpose flour, then boil (by microwave) 150ml of milk. Blend the boiling milk into the flour until it becomes sticky dough. Seal it and keep in the fridge overnight.

2. warm up the milk a little bit and add in yeast, stir till it melts in milk.

3. In a big mix bowl, put flour, sugar, maple sugar, salt in and slowly pour in "yeast+milk" mixture (keep kneading while pouring in), then pour in the slightly-beaten-egg, add butter and plain yogurt. Keeping kneading until the dough becomes soft and smooth (adjust by adding cold milk or flour for making perfect dough). I knead the all wheat flour dough for 15 minutes.

4. Put the dough in lightly floured container and cover it by wet cloth. Let it rise for 90 minutes (double the size).

5. Take the risen dough out and lay on the lightly floured working surface and punch the dough down to let the air out.

6. Divide the dough into 2 shares. Then divide each share into 3 shares.

7. Take first 3 shares roll (by rolling pin) into long tongue shapes and roll back like a "hay-bale". Place them in a lightly greased 9"x5" baking pan. (or, actually you can just easily shape them into 3 balls like the whole wheat breads)

8. Take other 3 shares roll into long string shapes and braid them. Place the braid in a lightly greased 9"x5" baking pan.




9. Let them rise for another 60 minutes. (be sure to keep them in moisture environment, like in the oven, put a cup of hot water aside.)



10. Brush the dough surface by egg-wash (I spread some sesames on the braied one), then place the pans on the middle rack of a preheated (350 degrees F) oven and bake for 40~45 minutes. (in case the breads get burned, you can cover them by foil at the last 15 minutes or so)






PS 1. Why are they called Mountain Breads?



PS 2. How would I know my bread is successful?

When you press your bread down, and if it bounces back right away....
Congratulations!!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients：

Dough
1. all purpose whole wheat flour 4 and 1/2 cups
2. quick rise yeast 3 teaspoons
3. eggs 3 (large)
4. sugar 4 tablespoons and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
5. salt 1/2 teaspoon
6. butter (or shortening) 1/3 cup
7. warm milk 1 cup
8. "boiled-milk-dough" a few
9. plain yogurt 1/2 cup
10. quick oatmeal 1 cup


Egg Wash:
1 egg yolk and 2 tablespoons milk well blended.



Preparation:
1. First of all,we have to prepare (item 8) a night before.
Use a mixing bowl, add 3/4 cup of all purpose flour, then boil (by microwave) 150ml of milk. Blend the boiling milk into the flour until it becomes sticky dough. Seal it and keep in the fridge overnight.

2. warm up the milk a little bit and add in yeast, stir till it melts in milk.

3. In a big mix bowl, put flour, sugar, maple sugar, salt in and slowly pour in "yeast+milk" mixture (keep kneading while pouring in), then pour in the slightly-beaten-egg, add butter, oatmeal, and plain yogurt. Keeping kneading until the dough becomes soft and smooth (adjust by adding cold milk or flour for making perfect dough). I knead the all wheat flour dough for 15 minutes.

4. Put the dough in lightly floured container and cover it by wet cloth. Let it rise for 90 minutes (double the size).

5. Take the risen dough out and lay on the lightly floured working surface and punch the dough down to let the air out.

6. Divide the dough into 6 shares. And roll up each share of dough and shape into a "ball".

7. Lightly grease two 9"x5" deep baking pans. An place 3 "balls" of dough in each pan.

8. Let them rise for another 60 minutes. (be sure to keep them in moisture environment, like in the oven, put a cup of hot water aside.)

9. Brush the dough surface by egg-wash, then place the pan on the middle rack of a preheated (350 degrees F) oven and bake for 40~45 minutes. (in case the breads get burned, you can cover them by foil at the last 15 minutes or so)

Maple Syrup Cranberry Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients：

Dough
1. all purpose flour 3 cups
2. quick rise yeast 2 and 1/4 teaspoons
3. eggs 2 (large)
4. sugar 5~6 tablespoon
5. salt 1/4 teaspoon
6. butter (or shortening) 1/4 cup
7. warm milk 1 cup
8. "boiled-milk-dough" a few
9. plain yogurt 1/3 cup


Filling:

1. butter 2 tablespoons (melted)
2. brown sugar 5 tablespoons
3. cinnamon powder 2 teaspoons (if you like cinnamon, you can add more)
4. pecan 1 cup, chopped
5. cranberry 1 cup
6. maple syrup 1/2 cup

In a small container, blend (2) and (3) together. Use another container to mix (4)~(6) together.


Egg Wash:
1 egg yolk and 2 tablespoons milk well blended.



Preparation:
1. First of all,we have to prepare (item 8) a night before.
Use a mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, then boil (by microwave) 110~120ml of milk. Blend the boiling milk into the flour until it becomes sticky dough. Seal it and keep in the fridge overnight.

2. warm up the milk a little bit and add in yeast, stir till it melts in milk.

3. In a big mix bowl, put flour, sugar, salt in and slowly pour in "yeast+milk" mixture (keep kneading while pouring in), then pour in the slightly-beaten-egg, add butter, and plain yogurt. Keeping kneading until the dough becomes soft and smooth (adjust by adding cold milk or flour for making perfect dough). Usually I knead the dough for 12 minutes.

4. Put the dough in lightly floured container and cover it by wet cloth. Let it rise for 90 minutes (double the size).

5. Take the risen dough out and lay on the lightly floured working surface and punch the dough down to let the air out.

6. Follow the following 4 steps to make the rolls.


7. Face the cut sides down and place them on a lightly greased 13"x9" deep baking pan.

8. Let they rise for another 60 minutes. (be sure to keep them in moisture environment, like in the oven, put a cup of hot water aside.)

9. Brush the rolls by egg-wash, then place the pan on the middle rack of a preheated (375 degrees F) oven and bake for 20~25 minutes. (in case the breads get burned, you can cover them by foil at the last 5 minutes or so)





PS.

you can bake the roll by large tray, too.

Just evenly lay the rolls on the lightly greased tray (leave spaces between each roll). Then the rolls are different than you bake them in the deep pan.

Braided Bread

Melon Buns - you would never want to miss this

crispy outside; soft, moist and elastic inside....














these kind melon shells taste different, sort of like the crispy "scone".

Wild Rice Cheese Bread

Cheddar Cheese Bread

French Bread

A Story of Love, Compassion, Friendship & Loyalty

About eight years ago a wild Australian Sulphur Crested Cockatoo flew into a car and broke its wing.
The motorist took it to the Vet in Nerang, Queensland, who had to amputate the wing.
We adopted her - for which we needed a National Parks and Wildlife permit - and kept her in a cage outside where she was often visited by wild Cockatoos.
One of the things that impressed us was how she would push lettuce leaves through the bars of the cage, offering food to visitors.

Last Sunday 23 July 2006, she again had a visitor.

As usual he spent a lot of time sitting on the cage with a tamper proof latch.


There was a lot of talking and grooming. A bloke has to look presentable when courting a bird!


Things got interesting when he approached the front door. . ..


The clever fellow figured out how to undo the tamper proof latch!


He opened the door for a lot of mutual grooming and food sharing...


Oooh that's nice! Scratch a bit more on that side, dear...



He was not shy to get into the cage and would go in and out a number of times.


They mated! We are looking forward to beautiful baby cockatoos. Will keep you posted.


Later on, the whole extended family came visiting but the special mate was back every day so far.

We leave the door open during the day but if we forget, it doesn't matter - cockatoos have intelligence that rival primates.

Because she has only one wing, she stays inside or just sits on top. Guess what happened next...

The Babies

At first it seemed as though he was annoyed because she did not fly off with him and he would squawk a lot. He soon came to understand that she could not fly so he just stayed. However, she was no longer returning to her cage. The two of them would stay in the trees in our garden and because the yard is well fenced, they were safe from dogs but the neighbour's cat is not kept indoors at night and we often have to chase it away. Chances are the cat would come off second best in a confrontation with a Cockatoo but at night cats remain a danger because they could stalk a sleeping bird on the ground.


Cockatoos make their nests in hollow logs but we noticed the male hard at work digging a hole under a clump of Lilly Pilly trees. We put down a hollow log for them but they just ignored us. The nest he dug was a hole with a short tunnel leading off to where she laid her eggs. Once there were eggs in the nest, the male became extremely aggressive. You better not get near the nest or he will take chunks of flesh from your foot. It was difficult to take these pictures because I literally had to steal them while running away from the male.


We kept a vigil to see how things were progressing.

They took turns incubating the eggs and covering the tunnel.

After about three weeks, the eggs hatched. Have a careful look at this picture and try to spot the bit of yellow fluff.

Whenever Mum & Dad Cockatoo leave the nest, we try to get a look but you have to do it while running because Dad Cockatoo is chasing you!


Second lap running around the Lilly Pilly trees!


Well, I hope his mother thinks he is pretty and eventually I might think so too but at the moment, both of them just look like pink balls with a bit of yellow fluff.

We finally got the shots

After a little bit waiting, we finally got the swine flu (or should I say H1N1) shots.

As matter as the fact, I think it all allows up the time-line that government promised before. Not bad, eh!

Today, we didn't really wait too long in the line. Not that like we saw in the TV news said, people had to wait in the line for 2 hours to get the vaccine.



Anyway, I personally feel much safer now.

Canada offers no guarantee of perfect life

Canada offers no guarantee of perfect life

By MINDELLE JACOBS

Welcome to Canada, a country that accepts newcomers with open arms. Now, how quickly can you start complaining?

Boy, have we become a nation of grumps. Decades ago, people immigrated to Canada with nothing but gratitude and high hopes-- not with the expectation that if life didn't turn out as planned, it was all Canada's fault.

Now, it seems, if Canada doesn't live up to people's utopian ideals, the government must set things right.

The UN's expert on minority issues was here last week, lending an ear to various ethnic communities in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Reading Gay McDougall's preliminary report on her visit, you'd think Canada was a hotbed of discrimination.

"Achieving a truly inclusive society requires constant vigilance," she warned. Ethnic and religious minorities believe they face "significant and persistent problems" -- so much so that many feel like second-class citizens in Canada, she says.

"Many of those I have spoken with feel that the government has failed to respond adequately to their problems or to devise meaningful solutions."

Well, here's an important civics lesson, folks. Whether your family has been here for several generations or you're a new immigrant, Canada doesn't guarantee you a perfect life.

In a sense, permanent residency in Canada means you've already won the lottery. Many of you have come from countries with atrocious human rights records, widespread poverty or endemic political corruption.

Canada means a second chance in a country epitomized by a workable multiculturalism (who else does it better?), freedom of religion and the rule of law. You can say pretty much what you want and government goons aren't going to kidnap and torture you if you vote for the opposition.

Yes, there are terrible crimes committed here but, overall, it's still a safe country. Just ask anyone who's emigrated from South Africa.

To be sure, life is hard for some, but there is only so much a government can do to encourage citizens to better themselves. Many new immigrants do not fare as well as longtime Canadians. That is an unfortunate side-effect of starting over in a new country.

But their kids will do better and the next generation will be even more successful. Canada has its bigots and thugs but, for the most part, we've become admirably colour-blind. How it could not be, with about 16% of our population now made up of visible minorities?

In her report, McDougall touches on the high drop-out rates of boys in African and certain Asian communities. "The current discourse and rhetoric of multicultural education appear to be failing these children," she says.

Communities leaders complain, she adds, that the education system doesn't consider different cultures of learning and that, among teachers, minorities are underrepresented.

Sorry, but that's a red herring. Members of minority groups whose children have excelled will tell you that educational and career achievement is driven primarily by family support and a culture of high expectations.

Canada's public schools are very good. If too many young men from certain ethnic groups are dropping out of school, perhaps the spotlight should be on family problems and an unsavoury peer group--not the curriculum.

If McDougall wants to vent her spleen, how about taking a potshot at some real monsters, such as Burma, Saudi Arabia or Sudan?

Be prepared for the winter

Who's dumber?