Coconut Milk Bread

I made this last night as my post recovery treat for my upcoming PRK surgery. This is the baby roll and here is the momma loaf. 

Upcoming recipe post in the future so look forward to it!

I made a video!

Many of my friends know that I bake and cook a lot.  In fact, I spend a good amount of time in the kitchen.  For example, today I made Multigrain Bread and blueberry muffins.  I've gotten into the routine of making homemade bread.  Since moving out here, I have had plenty of time to get to know plenty of recipes.  

I often watch things on youtube and subscribe to many youtubers. There are a lot of great channels out there and I am very grateful for the people who make these videos.  I recently made one myself.  

Check out my youtube video entry for Eugenie Kitchen's Nespresso Espresso Maker Video Contest.  I made a Green Tea Castella Cake. I learned a lot about castella in the process and a bunch of other baking techniques.  Baking for me is a lot of fun; so filming it and editing the footage introduced me to a whole another level.  

Green Tea Castella Cake

Over the weekend, I was working on a project. Since I had some free time this weekend, I decided to enter an online giveaway from Eugenie Kitchen.  It's a video response to one of her recipes.  I decided to make her Green Tea Castella Cake.  Below you will find the recipe that I adapted from Eugenie Kitchen.  I'll post my youtube video entry soon, still putting the final touches on it.

Green Tea Castella Cake Print

Yields: 1 small loaf

Recipe adapted from Eugenie Kitchen

Ingredients:

3 eggs, divided

61 g caster sugar ( ¼ cup)

50 g bread flour

2 tbsp honey

½ tbsp green tea powder (1 tbsp)

2 tbsp hot water

Optional topping:

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp hot water

Procedure:

1.  Grease a small loaf pan and line with parchment paper then set aside.

2.  In a bowl, whip up egg whites on medium speed.  Once the egg whites become frothy add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and continue to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.   This method is commonly referred to as the French meringue.

3. Add the egg yolks one at a time and beat until combined.

4. Add the sifted flour with a spatula and stir just until moistened.

5. Add 1 tbsp of hot water into the honey and mix well. 

6. Mix honey mixture into the batter and stir just until combined.

7. Pass the batter through a sieve for finer texture. 

8. In another bowl, set aside 1/3 of the batter.

9. Add 1 tbsp of hot water into the green tea powder and mix well. 

10. Add the green tea mixture into 1/3 of the batter and stir until homogeneous. 

11. In the small loaf pan, add in the plain batter and evenly spread on the bottom with the back of a spoon.  Add in 1-2 tablespoon of the green batter and spread. Repeat until all the batter is used up.  Make sure to only fill 2/3 of the loaf pan.

12. Tap the pan a little and insert in a chopstick to make swirl marble like textures. 

13. Bake at 320˚ F for about 35-40 minutes.  If the top browns too quickly loosely cover with foil. If a toothpick comes out clean then it’s done. 

14.  Brush the top with a honey mixture (1 tbsp honey with 1 tbsp hot water).  After 5 minutes, remove parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours to let the castella flavor develop. 

15. Enjoy and serve with your favorite tea!

Back Pains

Last Friday, I did a general cleaning of my place.  I heard that doing housework can be the cause of lower back pain.  Either that or its age.  Probably a combination of housework and work.  I've had to take a few rest days to let my back heal.  I did yoga for lower back pain, but I still feel very stiff.

Tomorrow, I might have to work; so I am hoping that my back feels better.  Even though, I do not work consistently, I pick up odd end jobs here and there and I think it is also a cause of stress contributing to my body pains.

I also met up with a friend who I haven't seen in a long time.  It was so good catching up.  We checked out this place in downtown that I've wanted to try.  It was a Spanish Tapas place. I like the ambiance there, it's lively.  Then afterwards, I took them to Firecakes.  It's this donut place on Hubbard.  They also have ice cream doughnuts.  The donuts are fresh and not too pricey compared to other places in the surrounding area.  It's definitely more than your average donut though.