中文：葡萄干BRIOCHE面包

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.

中文版菜谱：红烧肘子肉夹馍

To be honest, it is so hard to come up with a proper English recipe name for this traditional Chinese dish.

Pork hock is one of my favorite meats to cook with. They contain a lot of gelatin which is claimed to be good for the skin. After cooked for a couple hours, they become tender and very flavorful. But they are not always available in my local grocery store. Whenever they show on the shelves, I have to get to them before other Asian people do.

I was lucky enough to score two packages of pork hocks during my last grocery trip. Each hock weighs about one pound, the perfect size. When the pork hocks are cooking on the stove, I use bread machine to make bread dough, and then use an electric grill to make some Asian style pan bread.

Red braised pork hock ingredients:

2 pork hocks (about one pound each)
2 to 3 tablespoon rock sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
1/4 to 1/3cup soy sauce
1large piece of ginger
1tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 cardamoms
2 to 3 star anises
5 to 6 clovers
1 to 2 pieces of dried rhizoma
3 to 4 bay leaves
2 green onions
1/2 cup rice cooking wine
salt to taste
boiling water

Directions：

Wrap the star anises, Sichuan peppercorns, cardamoms，clovers，dried rhizoma and bay leaves with a coffee filter paper（cheese cloth works well too）。

Tie it up.

Bring a large pot of water to boil with pork hocks in the water together. Cook the hocks for 10 minutes after boil, and then fish them out with a thong.

Put the pork hocks, along with spicy bag, rock sugar, rice cooking wine, soy sauce, green onions and ginger into a cast iron pot. I use a 4 and1/4 quart Le Creuset. Fill the pot with fresh boiling water. The water should cover the pork hocks or a little bit above them.

Cook on medium high heat until it boils again, cover the pot and reduce the heat to simmer for about 90 minutes or until a fork or chopstick can easily pierce the meat.

Discard the green onion. Cook on medium high heat again. Cook until the sauce thickens up. Stir gently to prevent meat getting burnt.

When the sauce thickens up enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove from heat and serve immediately.

The remaining sauce should have consistency of dark thick syrup.

Prepare Asian style pan bread while the pork hocks are being braised.

Ingredients：

2 cup bread flour
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
1 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions：

Dissolve the yeast with lukewarm milk. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Transfer the milk into bread machine container, add bread flour, sugar, oil and salt, and start Dough cycle.

The bread machine will automatically work all ingredients into a smooth dough ball and proof it.

When the Dough cycle is done, the dough should be double in size. Sometimes, the dough may double in size before designated time. In that case, remove the dough earlier.

Punch down the dough, fold it gently into a ball, cover and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Evenly divide the dough into 16 pieces.

Using a rolling pin, flatten each dough piece out into a thin flap, roll it up from one end like a jelly roll, and then roll them up again like a dough lollipop as shown in the picture.