Raisin Brioche Bread

Both my husband and I prefer rich, sweet, fluffy and soft bread.  And I always prefer to make them from scratch at home, not just because they taste better when freshly out the oven but also because I have so much fun in the bread making process.  It feels kind of relaxing and calming when I make bread in my own kitchen.  

I always make them in loaf shape so that I can use the leftover to make brioche French toast which is another breakfast favorite in the house.  (I posted French toast with blueberry sauce before: http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/cinnamon-swirl-french-toast). 

Brioche bread ingredients：

320 g bread flour
2 tablespoons honey
40 g butter, softened and diced
2 large eggs
130 g whole milk
40 g sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
1/8 teaspoon salt
raisins
brown sugar
ground cinnamon
egg wash
white sesame seeds

The whole process is quite similar to the raisin bread I posted before:http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/10/18/2-1

 

Directions：

Heat the milk in microwave for 30 seconds; add the milk to bread machine container; dissolve yeast into the warm milk; and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add eggs, flour, sugar, salt and honey; start dough cycle.  My bread machine (Amazon this one) will knead the dough for 20 minutes and proof for an hour.  When kneading is done, abort the cycle; add diced butter; and start the dough cycle again. It will knead for another 20 minutes, which should be able to get the dough past window panel test.

When the dough is doubled in size, transfer it to a well dusted wooden board.  Gently press down and knead for a minutes; cover and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into three equal pieces.  Roll each piece out; sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins; and then roll them up from one end.

Braid all three rolls into a large loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan (amazon link); cover; and let it proof again for another 30 to 50 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F/204 C.

Brush the bread with egg wash.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.  Cover the bread with a large piece of foil if necessary to prevent dark color on top.

Cool the bread on the cooling rack.  Store the bread in a bread bag.

My favorite way to enjoy it is to slice it thinly and tear them apart with my fingers.  

Raspberry Yogurt

Did I mention that the best yogurt I have ever had is my own blueberry yogurt?  Well, the raspberry yogurt here is equally good if not better. 

I love making yogurt at home so that I can have as much berry sauce/jam as I want.  The best part is that no additives are added!   We all know yogurt is really great for digestion and health.  So we should start asking “got yogurt”? 

ingredients：

4 cups of whole milk
1 pack plain Greek yogurt (172g)
2 cups frozen raspberries
1/3 to 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 to 3 tablespoon blueberries
1 to 2 tablespoon water
fresh raspberries
confectioner’s sugar

I have posted homemade yogurt before.  For more detailed information: http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/homemade-blueberry-yogurt

Directions：

Microwave the milk on high until it boils.  It might take 6 to 8 minutes give or take depending on the microwave oven. 

When the milk cools down, remove the milk skin on top.

Empty the plain Greek yogurt to a large clean bowl; whisk until it becomes smooth and runny. 

Gradually add milk while whisking.

Distribute evenly into the glass jars that come with yogurt maker.  Or you can use any small glass jars as long as they can fit in the yogurt maker.

over with lids and place them in the yogurt maker (buy from AMAZON).  Turn it on.  In 5 to 7 hours, transfer them to refrigerator to settle down overnight.  You will have 7 jars of tasty plain yogurt the next day. 

Leave them in the yogurt maker longer if you prefer firmer yogurt texture. 

When the yogurt maker is doing its job, we can make raspberry sauce.

Combine raspberries, blueberries, water, brown sugar and lemon juice in a small pot; heat over medium high heat until it boils.  Reduce the heat to medium low; cook until the sauce thickens up; stir from time to time to prevent burning on the bottom.

Raspberries will lose their beautiful bright red color once cooked for a certain amount of time.  so I add blueberries to make the color more vibrant.  Just a couple tablespoons of blueberries will do the job.  Don’t add too much, otherwise it is going to be dark red or purple instead of red. 

Remove the raspberry sauce from heat.  Allow it to cool down before transfer to a mason jar.  Seal the jar and store in the refrigerator.  It should be able to last for a week.

Add one layer of raspberry sauce to a glass bowl or jar, add one layer of yogurt, and repeat it again.  Sprinkle on top with fresh raspberries and powder sugar.

Isn’t it pretty? 

A Day at Traverse City, Michigan

Michigan’s spring is finally here, hooray!  Last weekend was sunny and warm.  We spent a day in Traverse city.

It was less than 3 hour drive.  When we got there, the farmer market was still crowded.  So we stopped by to check it out.  I scored several yellow tomato plants and guess what, a Goji berry plant!  Goji plant tips are a special treat in my hometown.  I have seen it for years after I came to America.  I bought one and planted it in my vegetable garden, hoping it will grow bigger and bring me back my childhood memory too.

We were planning to have lunch at an Italian restaurant with good reviews. But when we got the front door only to find out that no one was eating inside the restaurant...  Not a good sign at all.  So we switched to another restaurant, Bubba’s. 

It was not a big restaurant and quite crowed.  We waited for about 15 minutes for our table.  The staff here was very nice.  That made good first impression.

When we were waiting, we went over the menu.  So we ordered as soon as the waitress came to our table, who by the way was also super sweet and nice young lady.

Appetizing snacks. 

I ordered steak fajitas, medium rare.

The taste was good.  The steak was a little bit overdone for medium rare.  And the vegetable was a bit too salty for my taste.

The steak came with another large plate and tortillas. 

I made myself a couple delicious steak tacos.

He ordered Bubba’s tacos.  One was steak and the other one was shrimp.  Good flavor and taste. 

What impressed us the most was the service.  Everyone we met in the restaurant was nice and kind. We will definitely go back there again. O(∩_∩)O~
Food ★★★★☆
Service★★★★★
Ambience ★★★☆☆

We decided to do a winery tour on old mission peninsula.  There are many acres of cherry trees there. It was about to be the peak time for cherry blossoms. 

Guess what?  Turned out my guessing was right.  Thousands of cherry trees were blooming.  It was so beautiful!

I wonder why people don’t rush to Traverse City to see cherry blossoms just like cherry festival.  It is like a post card from any angles. 

There are eight or nine wineries on old mission peninsula.  We have 3 to 4 favorites.

First, we stopped by peninsula cellars.

The tasting room was crowded.  And our bartender was very impatient.  Ok, let’s move on to next one. 

We saw a newly opened sign for Bonobo winery.  Got to check it out!

The interior design is very comforting, modern and bright all at the same time.  I liked it already by the first look.  The bartender was very nice and entertaining.  He introduced with very detailed and educating information every single wine he poured for us, which is so awesome!

One of our favorites is Chateau Chantal. 

We bought wine by glasses here.

A glass of tonight for me.  It is very crispy and bubbly.

A glass of Pinot Grigio for him.

Another glass of Pinot Noir.

Well, their glasses are really small。。。。

The best part of this winery is that there is a huge deck just right outside the tasting room.  You can get a beautiful overlook of the hills and Grand Traverse Bay.

We spent most of the afternoon on the deck.  It felt really good to just relax and enjoy the wine and view.

When we got hungry again, we drove back to downtown to have dinner. Earlier I had my eyes on a little street corner surrounded by several food trucks.  We went there directly.

He bought pulled pork tacos from this food truck. 

The taste was good but the pulled pork at the bottom was too dried out.  Vegetable toppings were awesome.

I bought chicken wings in BBQ sauce from this food truck. 

After a really big bite, the chicken wings turned out to be still raw inside.  I took them back and they made me a new batch of chicken wings.

The taste was good.  

We just walked along the streets in downtown area.  Traverse City downtown is quite neat and clean.  The streets are crowded with all kinds of restaurants, coffee shops, and cute little shops. 

We went into a coffee shop round the corner.

I ordered a cup of cappuccino.  He ordered a latte. 

To be honest, the coffees were not good.  Even I can do much better than that. 

On our way home, we parked in a lakeside park to

 enjoy this gorgeous sunset. What a perfect ending it is for such a perfect day!

Macaroons

中文：马卡龙

More macaroons!  I do love making these little sweet treats. 

I have posted the recipe several times before.  Here we go again.  I add some super fine ground coffee to half of the batch.  That is why some of them are darker color. 

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites

110g powder sugar
24g granulated sugar
60g almond flour (available at Meijer)

Direction:

Combine powder sugar and almond flour.  Pour the mixture into food processor.  Run the processor for about 10 seconds.  And then shift the flour mixture.  Discard any big almond pieces.

Beat the egg white with an electric whisk at medium speed for a couple minutes.  Add sugar when beating, little by little.  Stop beating when the stiff peak forms.

Fold the shifted almond flour mixture into egg whites. Fold it gently until the batter can fall smoothly like a silky ribbon.

Prepare a medium/large size pastry bag and NO. 12 tip.

Line a cookie pan with silicone baking mat.

Fill the pastry bag with almond batter.  Squeeze a dollar coin size batter onto the silicone mat, about a quarter inch in height.   Repeat it until all the batter is finished.  You should be able to get 18 to 22 ones. 

Tap the bottom of the cookie pan when done to smooth the cookie dough tops.

Let the pan sit on countertop until the surface becomes dry to touch.  It might take 30 to 60 minutes depending on the humidity around.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Bake in the oven for 12 to 14 minutes.  DO NOT open the oven to check cookies when baking.

Let cookies cool down on silicone mat a bit before transferring to a cooling rack.

Use any filling of your choice: jam, chocolate, cheese, nutella……….  Be creative! 

Lettuce Salad

中文： 生菜沙拉

I haven’t been cooking and posting as much as I used to because we eat like a rabbit most of the time recently.  O(∩_∩)O~

I love to make all kinds of salads and make them as colorful and appetizing as I can.  Well, it is true that you eat with your eyes first.  The salad showed in the picture is my portion.  It looks good, taste good and healthy.

Ingredients：

Lettuce (I use Boston lettuce and romaine lettuce）
2 mini cucumbers
1 hard-boiled egg
1/2 avocado
1/2 red bell pepper
1 tomato
2 to 3 radishes
dried cranberries
almond
sunflower seeds
crumbled bacon
feta cheese

 

Balsamic vinaigrette dressing：

1 teaspoon honey
2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste

 

Directions：

Combine the honey, balsamic vinegar, black pepper, olive oil, and salt in a bowl.  Whisk like crazy until they are all well combined.

Rinse the lettuces and spin them in a salad spinner. Cut or tear into bite sizes.  Rinse the radishes and cucumbers and then thinly slice them. 

Spoon out avocado fresh; cut into bite sizes.  Do the same to hardboiled egg, tomato and bell pepper.

Add lettuces, tomato, cucumber, radish, avocado, bell pepper and egg to a large salad bowl.  Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette dressing; sprinkle with dried cranberries, almond, sunflower seeds, crumbled bacon and feta cheese. 

Time to enjoy! O(∩_∩)O~