Category Archives: Bakes

Bakes, Vietnamese

Pandan Waffles

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We all know waffles, right? A light, slightly eggy cake cooked in a waffle iron so that it’s crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. We enjoy it with a pat of butter and real maple syrup. Some people eat waffles with fried chicken as a savory Southern twist.

The Southeast Asians put their own twist on the waffle by adding a bit of pandan extract to the batter. Pandan, or screwpine, is a tropical plant that has fans of long, green leaves that, when cooked, imparts a sweet, pleasingly fragrant aroma to whatever it is cooked with. We used whole pandan leaves to infuse our nasi lemak coconut rice dish.

Here’s a pandan waffle recipe that makes a delicious breakfast, snack or dessert so good, you won’t want to stop eating them. It is a tried and true recipe, something we make quite often. The recipe comes from food blogger Andrea Nguyen of Viet World Kitchen, who is the author of “Into the Vietnamese Kitchen“.


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Asian, Bakes, Yeast

Red Bean Buns

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Annie was inspired to make some red bean (azuki) buns after reading some Chinese dim sum and Japanese pastry recipe books she borrowed from the library. She’s made azuki bean buns before but this time she cut each dough ball into three smaller balls, filled those with the azuki bean paste, and placed the three balls into a muffin tin.

Here they are proofing in the tin:

After proofing, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 350*F for 12 minutes until golden brown.

They were great – the bread so light and just the right amount of azuki bean. It was hard to stop popping them, one by one, into my mouth!

The buns in the background that don’t have sesame seeds on them are baked char siu bao. Annie made her own char siu the other day, and then made a filling from that. (That’s another blog post…)

Aloha, Nate

Bakes, Hawaiian, Yeast

Portuguese Sweet Bread

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Growing up, we used to have slices of King’s Hawaiian brand Portuguese Sweet Bread for breakfast. The bread had a sweet, eggy crumb and a dark, almost coffee-flavored crust. I’d smear on pats of spread and devour the loaf. It would be gone within a few days.

Annie found this recipe from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” that was quite easy to do and produced two wonderful loaves. The crust was soft and delicious while the cumb was tight but light.

 

We gave one loaf away and kept one for ourselves. The kids devoured the loaf within a few days.

Aloha, Nate

Bakes, Fruit, Western, Yeast

Cranberry Raisin Walnut Bread

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We’re lucky to have a good, artisanal bakery in the Bay Area known as Acme Breads. We bought (and devoured) a few loaves from their stall at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmer’s Market. Recently, they debuted a cranberry-walnut whole-wheat bread that was divine. Annie tasted some during a trip to Lunardi’s and immediately placed an order for a boule.

A few days later, when that boule was but a happy memory, she decided to make her own cranberry-walnut bread, based on the “Cranberry-Walnut Celebration Bread” recipe in “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”.

Though the recipe called for 3 cups of white flour, she substituted one cup of whole wheat flour and added some vital wheat gluten. She also added some golden raisins to the mix.

Here is the bread at the first rise after kneading.

She skipped the braiding part and just baked the dough as loaves in two bread pans. Here is the final result.

The loaf lasted just about as long as the Acme bread.

Aloha, Nate