Chocolate Bread

I have not venture much with my bread maker. Other than using it very frequently for the successful normal basic white bread and pizza dough, I've never really use it for other choices of breads.

I am going to try out the Chocolate Bread recipe and see if this will be as successful as the basic white loaf and the pizza dough. After the kneading process, I found the dough slightly wet; as seen from the picture below. I am hoping that it will turn out fine later. I love the smell of the dough already, slightly chocolatey. I simply could not wait how it will turn out later. :)

Ingredients:

(yields 1 lb loaf)

2/3 cup Water

1 3/4 cup Bread Flour

1/2 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 tbsp Sugar

1 1/2 Dry Milk Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tbsp Butter

1 tsp Active Dry Yeast

When beep sounds, add:

1/4 cup Chocolate Chips

Method:

1) Put ingredients accordingly (liquids first followed by dry ingredients) into the baking pan or follow breadmaker's manual/ instructions.

2) Load the baking pan with ingredients into the breadmaker.

3) Choose "Basic" cycle and let the breadmaker performs the kneading. During the last 5 minutes of the kneading cycle, it will beep to indicate the time to add in the Chocolate Chips.

4) Let it continue to knead followed by rising and baking automatically.

5) At the end of the baking, immediately unload the bread from the breadmaker and let it cool down on a rack before cutting it.

Tips:

It is very important to measure the exact amount of ingredients when baking a bread. Slight change in the ingredients might tremendously affect the texture, quality & the outcome of the bread.

Results:

The lingering aroma from the baking bread was so nice; some of my housemates commented that it reminded them of Famous Amos Cookies. I could not wait until morning to cut the bread. After an hour or so of cooling time, I sliced the bread. The texture is soft; the taste of chocolate is subtle but just nice for the bread. Nothing is as satisfying as seeing a successful recipe and having a great breakfast for tomorrow morning! I love my breadmaker!

Cooling Chinese Pear with Honey Soup

This drink/ soup is good for those people who works very late into the nights and for someone as heaty as me. It is cooling and thirst quenching. It has medicinal effect too as the ingredients below are known to treat coughs and beneficial for the lungs system. As it is a sweet soup, you can also treat it as a dessert.

I came across this recipe at this website "Cuisine Paradise" and the blogger did a very good job in describing the function/ benefit of each ingredient. I had boiled this soup a few times and the following yields the best tastes and results:


Ingredients:
(yields 2 litre of soup)


2 litre of Water
2 Chinese Pears
6-8 Red Dates
1 tbs Wolfberries
1 tbs Sweet Almond
1 tbs Bitter Almond
12 strands "Sha Shen"
10g White Fungus
3 tbs Honey


Method:

1. Pour the water into the crockpot/ slowcooker and switch to 'HIGH'.

2. Wash all the Ingredients.

3. Soak White Fungus in water until it is soft. Remove unwanted areas after soaking.

4. Peel, core and cut the pears into chunks.

5. Put all ingredients except Honey into the slow cooker and boil for 3 hours.

6. At the end of 2nd hour, pour in honey.

7. At 3rd hour, switch the crockpot/ slowcooker to 'OFF'

8. Serve hot or cold. Strain the drink as desired.


Results:

Both of us love the drink and normally it is finished within few hours. I have always served it hot or warm. I have never tried it cold. May be it would be as nice if it is cooled for a few hours in the fridge.