mrpeabody's blog

OK, so I just posted a recipe for Mochi, which is a non-yeasted dough.  This is "The Fresh Loaf," so I should also give a recipe that is at least yeasted.  Here is my Mom's version of bok hong tay, a sweet steamed rice cake.  Its name is literally "white sweet pastry" in Chinese.  You sometimes see it in Chinese restaurants for dimsum.  My Mom always made it on the thin side, but the restaurants tend to make a thicker version. 

• 4 c long grain rice
• water
• 1 pkg dry yeast (I've made this with regular and rapid-rise and they both work for this)
• 4 c and 1 tablespoon sugar

Wash the rice well and then drain all water. Add to it 4 c of water and let the rice soak overnight in the water (room temperature).

The next day, put the rice-water mix in a blender and whip it smooth (hint: do this in small batches, with a rice-water slurry that is about 80-90% rice. This allows it to blend very smooth. Add the remaining water after it is all blended).

In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 c of lukewarm water, the dry yeast and 1 tbsp sugar. Wrap bowl with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm spot for approx 1 hr. Then add the proofed yeast mixture to the rest of the blended rice/water mixture and let stand at room temperature for 4-5 hrs.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 c water and 4 c sugar. If necessary, add heat to make all of the sugar dissolve. Be sure that the sugar syrup has cooled to room temperature before adding to the rice/water mixture. After adding the sugar syrup, let the mixture stand for another 1/2 hr before cooking the pastry.

To cook: Pour some of the mixture into a well-oiled cake pan (approx. 1/4 inch deep.  Again, my Mom prefered to make this on the thin side, but if you like, you can make it thicker, just adjust the cooking time). Steam the mixture for 15 min (be sure that the water is vigorously boiling). After the pastry is done, brush some oil on the top (note: if the oil had be previously heated to near smoking temp, and then cooled to room temperature, the resultant oil would taste better for brushing on the pastry.  I don't know why this is true, but according to my Mom that the way she always did it.).  When the bok hong tay has cooled down, cut out wedges of the pastry and serve. 

Enjoy, now I have to get back to work on my grant. 

Mr. Peabody

Howdy all,

I've been lurking around this website for about a week and decided to join in. I'm an occasional bread baker who would like to improve my loaves. I got into it because my sons have nut/sesame seed allergies. This meant my wife and I could not trust a normal bakery for good rustic bread because there is no way to be assured that the bread didn't get cross-contaminated with sesame seeds or nut products. Still, my wife and I still really love the occasional crusty loaf, so I started to make some bread (I average baking about twice a month).

We are really busy because we have triplet boys (collective age of 27 years old, look at my white hairs!), so I've had to tweak my protocol for baking bread to be as casual and flexible as possible. So, I thought that I'd submit to all of you what I do for feedback, suggestions, comments, etc.

I do love the taste of bread done with a preferment (a biga) and a slow rise, but with our busy schedule, I needed a way to do this with great flexibility. So...

I mix/knead a bread dough (I use the autolyse technique too) using instant yeast, bread flour, salt, and COLD water in a Kitchenaide mixer. I then put it in a lightly oiled stainless steel mixing bowl, cover with plastic and stick it into the refrigerator for a slow, cold first rise (usually about 18-24 hrs).

The next day, I take it out of the refrigerator, fold the dough (which when cold is somewhat stiff), put the dough into a new lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic and then put the whole thing into a weakly warmed oven (Turned on oven for about 1 min, turn it off and then leave the light on -- my oven gets to around 90 F) and wait for about 1-1/2 hr to 2 hrs.

By then, the dough is slowly warmed to around room temperature (maybe slightly warmer) and undergoes a 2nd rise. I then shape my loaves and let proof. After proofing, I do the normal stuff -- slash, wet, bake.

The bread is pretty good (my wife loves it). I bet if I folded it more often it would rise higher in the oven, but as a trade off in my actual hands-on time, it works for me. It has a faintly sour taste (which I happen to like) and the crumb is somewhat irregular but not extremely open like some of the photos I've seen on this website (though my hydration level may help to explain that, I've been hovering around 65-68% for hydration level)

So, what do you think?

Mr. Peabody