Mom's Orange and Raisin Bread

When I was home at my parents', one of my favourite things to do is to look through my mother's recipe collections. It's not exactly a perfectly bind scrapbook but many pieces of hand-written notes and paper. Many of them from years ago when my mother was still a student. I love the old paper and the stains. There's just a mysterious charm about it.

Of course I had to copy some of the recipes and this is one of them. The original hand-written recipe is actually called Raisin Bread, and with being disrespectful, I added the orange element to it.  I had a discussion with mother and baked this bread for her before (with the orange) and she approved!  

I simply adore orange and raisin together; and the scent of warm orange is just so welcoming especially at this time of year. In fact if you want to oomph the orange, you can also add some diced orange peel along with the raisins (mother approved of that too!).

If you're new at baking bread, there is nothing to be intimidated about. This is a pretty easy recipe and even though the method seems long, that's just me rambling around per usual. Any questions, do ask and I'd be happy to answer. Also I've been thinking to create a bread baking video on my YouTube channel. Would anyone like that? 

I do hope you give this a go and enjoy it as much as I enjoy sharing it with all of you. 

Have a great one x

P.S. to all my American readers, I want to wish an early Happy Thanksgiving Day and I wish you all a wonderful day with friends and family with loads to eat and drink!

Mom's Orange and Raisin Bread
Recipe by Mama Toa :)

500 gr strong white bread flour
7 gr dried active instant yeast
2 egg yolks
100 gr caster sugar
75 gr soft unsalted butter
10 gr salt
150 ml water
100 ml whole milk
Zest of 1 orange
100 gr raisins, soaked in the juice of an orange

Start by making a sponge to activate the yeast. In a small bowl, mix the yeast with 60 ml of the water and 2 tablespoons of the flour. Give it a good mix to form a paste or sponge. Cover with a plastic wrap and set it aside for 10-15 minutes or until it starts to bubble which is a good sign; meaning the yeast is alive and ready to go.

In the meantime, zest your orange and set them aside.  Measure out the raisins in a small bowl and squeeze the orange straight to the bowl with the raisins. Also set this to one side.

Measure out the rest of the ingredients into the bowl of your electric mixer with a dough hook attachment. Add the orange zest with all the yeasty paste mix to the bowl and start mixing on a low speed. Once all the ingredients come together, increase the speed to medium and continue mixing for few minutes. At first the mix will look quite wet, perhaps almost like a cake batter rather than a bread dough, but this is nothing to worry about. As it continues mixing, the gluten from the flour will strengthen and eventually it will form a nice and smooth dough. This might take around 8-10 minutes. Give the bowl a good scrape every now and then if necessary.

Drain the raisins and add them to the dough. Give it a good mix for a couple minute or until they are evenly distributed throughout. Lightly flour or oil your hands and take the dough out from the bowl. Form into a nice round shape and place into a big and well-buttered bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it prove for an hour or until it doubles in size. This will vary depending on the temperature on your room. 

Once the dough has doubled in size, scrape it out of the bowl to shape. The texture should be bouncy and shiny. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and shape your dough so it fits evenly into a well-buttered loaf tin, seal-side down. Cover with plastic wrap loosely and let to prove again for another hour or so. 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Using a sharp knife, slash the top of the loaf and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Rotating once after half an hour. It should be beautifully golden all over and it should sound hollow when tapped underneath.

Turn the loaf out and let it cool on a wire rack for at least half an hour. Slice and serve with soft butter or your favourite jam. Enjoy!

(slow-cooker) Korean Beef and Rice Pot

There's something so satisfying and comforting about going back to the place that's familiar. And for me that place is in the kitchen. However corny this may sound, it is in the kitchen where I feel most secure and content.

Throughout my travel all over the world the past few weeks, as much as I love eating out, playing guest and letting someone else does the cooking (and cleaning), I do miss being in kitchen. So, when I was staying with friends at their home, with a working kitchen, I was so happy. I couldn't help myself to visit the farmer's market, get some ingredients, cook, open up a bottle of wine or two and having a night-in. 

I've been back on the island for a week now and it's been really busy in the kitchen at work, with all the preparation for the high season and the holidays just around the corner. Crazy but at the same time, very exciting. I've been baking new recipes and continuously learning.

Yes, I've been back to the kitchen but not until today on my first day off that I'm finally back in my own kitchen at home. I plugged the stove back in just few hours ago and I made this Korean beef and rice pot from my current favourite book, Simply Nigella by the none other Nigella Lawson. And this is just the sort of food I really need right now. It is a grey kind of day here in the Caribbean and this bowl of beef and rice is just so comforting. The rice pot is a little spicy from the Korean chilli paste often known as gochujang, but not too fiery; just enough to keep you wanting more. 

I will admit that it is not the prettiest of food. Perhaps I could present it better, but I was starving. And the idea of faffing about trying to get a nice picture is just... not now, oh please...

The original recipe is actually called slow-cooker Korean beef and rice pot, but I do not own a slow cooker. Luckily the book comes with a method for 'conversion to oven' which is very handy. Here's what you need to do: mix 500 gr of minced beef with 200 gr short grain brown rice, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, 4 tablespoons of gochujang paste, 4 tablespoons of soy sauce and 125 ml of water in a heavy-based pot with a tight-fitting lid. Cook in a preheated 180C oven for 2-2 1/2 hours, or until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Prepare the beansprouts by submerging them in boiling water for a minute before draining and mixing then to the pot. 

Even though I'm only cooking for myself I was happy to make the full recipe which supposed to serves 6 and judging by my leftovers, I have just enough for another two people (don't judge me). I plan to have this again for supper tomorrow night and perhaps with a fried egg too. x

I'm back!

Greetings lovely readers... How is everyone doing? I hope you don't think that I've abandoned any of you :) No, not at all. The thing is, yes, I had been away. If you are a follower on my social media, such as Instagram (@michael_toa) and Twitter (@michaeltoa), surely this is nothing new to you. I've bombarded you with all the things I ate (loads, yes) and you know what I've been up to these last six weeks. 

I spent the last few weeks all over the world... in the States, Singapore, Indonesia and back to the place where I left my heart, the UK. It's great seeing and spending quality time with the family; catching up with many dear friends; and continuously learning and getting inspired about the thing I'm most passionate about: cooking and baking. 

I went to a bread course; got behind the scene of a bakery; ate at many lovely restaurants and pinched some recipes too along the way. I also got to meet one of my culinary inspirations, Nigella Lawson and I look forward to trying many of the recipes from her new book, Simply Nigella.  

There are so many stories and highlights from this trip I'd like to share, and I will do it in the upcoming posts and also videos (www.youtube.com/michaeltoa). 

But six weeks and eighteen flights later, I'm happy to be back on the island. I'm feeling refreshed with new inspirations and I look forward to getting creative again in the kitchen... So, see you around!

MT 

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