I took a little break from sourdough bread making, but I still enjoy it when I do.
At this point I feel pretty comfortable with the process.
Every time my bread turns out good, it gives me confidence.
Italian herbs.
The bread smelled so good even when it was still in the oven.
Banana bread is something I get craving for, probably once a month.
I liked my last banana bread where I didn’t add any sweetener (the only sweetness came from the bananas), I decided to do the same, but with different flavors.
This one is chai!
I added ground Assam tea leaves and various spices (typically used for chai tea).
Turned out great!
Love the chai flavor, and it re-confirmed that I don’t need additional sweetener.
Plenty sweet, especially because I like to eat my banana bread for breakfast as a meal
I do take butter, though.
Here is another flavored version of Shokupan.
This tomato shokupan turned out beautiful.
I actually haven’t tasted it yet, but my husband, who has had a few slices already, said this is one of his favorites.
I’ve been taking a little break from making sourdough bread.
But yesterday I was in the mood.
The tricky thing about sourdough break making is that it dictates my day (and evening),
I don’t make it often enough, I don’t have a good idea about how long it takes for my starter to be at the peak.
Yesterday it got ready so much faster than I had expected, which messed up my schedule completely!
I ended up staying up late, baking the bread at 2:00 in the morning…
My original plan was to bake it the next day.
But, well, when it’s ready, it’s ready.
I’m not complaining much though.
Look at this final result!
So beautiful.
I’ve been going back and forth between water and soy milk in pursuit of the best Shokupan.
I thought I decided to go with water last time, but I thought I would try one more time using soy milk before I completely get rid of the idea.
And now I’m again undecided because this milk shokupan turned out awesome.
Super soft and silky.
Exactly what I want in my Shokupan.
BUT at the same time the texture is slightly different from the one made with water.
It’s hard to precisely describe the difference without a side-by-side comparison.
Bus as my trusting foodie friend pointed out not long ago, the water version seems a little more “relaxed” than the milk version.
It doesn’t mean which is better or worse.
At this point I just have to accept the fact that they are slightly different from one another, but they are BOTH great.
I was having craving for raisin shokupan.
My husband is not a big fan of raisin, so I just put them in half of the loaf.
This is the half with raisins.
I soak them in warm water (this time rum) for 10 minutes before adding them to the dough.
I like to do this so that the raisins become plump and juicy.
Love having Shokupan for breakfast.
Another weekend.
More bread-baking.
This time it was easy to decide what kind of bagels I wanted to make because I found this at Aldi.
I liked that all the bits and pieces mostly stayed on the bagels so that I didn’t have to waste too much during the baking process.
My husband really likes everything bagel, and I have to admit the seasoning does add nice flavor.
Wow, it’s been such a long time since the last time I had pirozhki.
I was probably 8?
My mother used to make them when I was little.
I almost forgot about its existence until recently I happened to see someone’s picture of pirozhki.
It’s a kind of Russian (if I’m not mistaken) bread stuffed with vegetables, meat, eggs, or jam.
I think my mother learned how to make it when she was taking bread-baking classes (she used to take so many different classes when I was little, and she was always so good at everything!).
It’s not a hugely popular bread in Japan, but many people do know about it.
Unfortunately it’s not known well at all in the U.S.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard pirozhki since I came to the U.S.
My mother deep-fried her pirozhki, but I recently learned (when I did a little research about this bread) that in Russia fried and baked versions are both equally popular.
So I decided to bake mine.
My mother used to stuff her pirozhki heavily with meat and some vegetables, but I decided to go with all veggies (garlic, onion, cabbage) and spices (caraway and coriander).
This turned out great!
The bread is soft and the simple filling was very flavorful.
I’ve been having so much fun baking Shokupan lately.
This time, a purple potato version!
Can you tell how soft it is?
Toasted.
It really shows off the beautiful purple color when toasted.
I feel like I’m baking Banana Shokupan every weekend.
That’s how much I’m obsessed with this bread.
The smell and the flavor of the banana in this bread is just amazing.
This time I added cardamom, and the combination of cardamom and banana was fantastic.
Toasted.
I wish you could smell it!
I like baking, and you probably know but I enjoy baking bread a lot.
But bagel is one of my favorite bread to make.
It’s easy and quick.
The whole process is fun, from forming, boiling, to watching them rise in the oven.
And they almost never fail!
