ALL ABOUT FLOURS

this is one of the basics of baking...one should understand the purpose and types of flour available to ensure a successful baking. i for one (obviously wasn't paying any attention when we had our theory lecture on this topic) but i shall explain as best i could base on my dusty old notes hehehe~

you may or may not know that there are many and i mean many types of flour in the market and all are set for different purposes...

1. high protein flour
2. low protein flour
3. all purpose flour
4. soy flour
5. bleached and un bleached flour (is basically all purpose flour)
   
6. whole wheat flour (high fiber flour, gluten content is not that high and you would usually have to mix with all purpose flour or bread flour when use in recipes)
   
7. organic flour (its organic!)
   
8. durum flour (i call it pasta flour as it is great for expending and stretching)
   
9. tapioca flour
10. rice flour
11. corn flour
12. glutinous flour
13. samolina (also great for pasta...and for kueh heheh)
    

...is there more? however i hardly pay any attention to any other flour except for high, low protein and all purpose flour.

high protein flour :
this type of flour also known as bread flour. as it name suggested its HIGH in PROTEIN which also mean that its has high gluten content. it is milled from hard wheat and is best for yeast products.

low protein flour:
this is the opposite of the above *DUH* its has low gluten and also known as pastry flour. this flour is most suitable for a more delicate cakes and pastries such as pie crusts.since it has a low gluten level and is usually used for angel food cakes and cookies. This flour is used when the desired effect is a texture that is tender or delicate.

all purpose flour:
is one of the most accessible and commonly used types of flour. You can buy bleached (i.e. white flour chemically bleached to reduce spoilage) or unbleached all-purpose flour. Bleached flour is good for most pastries, cookies and pancakes, and unbleached flour is great for strudel, cream puffs and éclairs. to sum it up, if you cant find high or low protein flour all purpose flour would substitute just fine as it DOES sits in between the high and low proteins content...

so with all these information i think you'd probably could make your own conclusion on which flour is good for what and why ...(i supposed) mmmm my notes are still long but i'm basically tired of typing and scanning to extract the gist of it... hope you dun mind...but i promise that i'll add on information gardually as we go along so bare with me....

now...have i ever made an entry about the difference between cupcakes and muffins?????

arghhh~ i'm so lazy to check mmmmmm~*contemplating "to write or not to write..indeed tha question"*

Ultimate Banana Muffin<---how can i stay slim this way?

lately i've been craving for a sinful chocolate cakes and muffins..REALLY REALLY fluffy muffins doesn't matter what kind so long that its fluffy ...the story behind this muffin cravings is that last week i went to a flea market in cyberjaya street mall and there was this lady who sells really light n fluffy muffins and its also moist at the same time! the week before that i went there and bought some muffins and last week i was late and her muffins are all sold out and she was packing her stuff already.

i missed her muffins last week hence my craving for muffins arghhhhhhhh~~~~

anyway i went to the wet market this morning after a rather eleborate meeting with my son's preschool teacher <---this is a long story i'll blog about it later . so i was in the market wanting to buy some grated coconut and coconut milk then i saw this huge yam and beside it there's this beautiful banana (pisang emas literally translated as gold banana) its beautiful in shape and its ripeness is just right, just right for baking or making any traditional kueh. and i thought to myself i've got to have it and banana muffin came to mind. that and i also have to have that yam coz its also unusually large and fresh looking spud so i bought that but i have no idea what am i going to do with it yet but i've cleaned,cut and dice the spud. boiled it and keep it frozen until i finally decided what to do with it.... anyhow...in my search of fluffy recipes i failed to find one all somehow turned out to be dense and rather heavy<---this is even when i hand mix to avoid over mixing...now i wonder why... with frustration of failing to get the perfect recipe i decided to call a friend of mine Pastry Chef Roslee or was it Rosly sorry mate m not sure of your spelling. We had a long chat and he refresh my memory about lavenings, flours etc....(bare in mind although i AM a certified pastry chef but i do not practise only at home, had a year of internship and thats about it...) after that fruitful chat, i put my chef hat on and start my muffin making experiment...and with LUCK i have baked the ULTIMATE and may i say PURRRRRRRRFECT muffins although i do imitate lydia's style of decorating the muffin ;) hope you dun mind.

what you need : (A)

2 c low protein flour/pastry flour
3/4 c caster sugar <--if you were to add the chocolate chunks reduce this slightly

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

(B)

1 cup mashed ripe banana (since pisang emas is a very small and cute banana it takes almost the whole bunch) 1/2 cup melted butter 2 eggs 90ml fresh milk

100g chopped milk chocolate <---i add this as i so happen to have some left overs

50g crushed hazelnuts

and some whole hazelnut for decoration

Directions

1. preheat oven at 180c.
   
2. in a mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients together
3. in a different bowl mix melted butter, banana, chopped chocolates,crushed hazelnuts and milk together
4. meanwhile beat the eggs until fluffy then fold in with the other wet ingredients
5. make a well in the dry ingredients mixture then pour in the wet mixture and gently fold in and mix until just combine few lumps is forgiven.
6. AVOID over mixing as it'll make it dense and somewhat dry and oily <--wierd combination huh? but thats how it'll be so try not to mix it more than 5 strokes.
7. then use ice cream scoop to scoop in the mixture into muffin tin
   
8. decorate it with a slice of banana and a single hazelnut on top and bake for 20 minutes or until done

i will explain about types of flour and its usage and other stuff later in my next entry

CUCUR UDANG aka kuih malas aka prawn fritters

this is a tea time snack my family lurve so much...its an all time malaysian snack usually can be found in the night market or sold in a stall by the road side together with banana fritters. But i usually avoid buying them as they tend to be very oily and less prawn so i prefer to make my own...

my recipe is slightly tweeked to suit my family taste (i add crabe filamen/artificial crab meat) so...
p/s: it taste better with real prawn meat

what you need
50g fresh prawn cleaned, de shelled and cut in half
5pieces of crab filamen cut in small pieces
carrot grated (grate as long as possible)
1/2 stalk of chives
1 egg
1 cup of flour (plus minus)
1cup water
salt to taste
1tsp baking soda

mix flour, egg, salt, baking soda and water. mix well control the dough texture by adding more flour or water as the dough should not be too lose.then add in all other ingredients.use spoon or your hand to make a dolop drop and deep fry the fritters. then ready to serve...