SP Lesson 21 : Decorative & Showpiece Bread

Today we studied another new dough. It is called '' Dead dough'' also known as Baker's clay. The dough does not contain yeast therefore it does not require proving. This is used for some decorations on showpeice breads because it won't move or change the shape after bake.

Chef Herve showed us the Crocodile bread and Wheat sheaf bread.

Seriously, I think it looks so scary, like lizard.

But after baked, ok .. hehe

My Wheat sheaf bread...

My Crocodile and Platipus. Oh my, the crocodile can't move, his legs are too short lol.

Some products of my classmates... We had fun that day !

SP Lesson 20 : Panettone, Muffin, Focaccia, Stollen

Panettone is a delicate and rich porous festive bread studded with sultanas and flavoured with candied citrus peel. It can be served with cream or mascarpone. To develop the rich yeasty flavours, the dough can be prepared in serveral stages with prolonged maturing times between each stage.

Focaccia derives its name from the Latin word 'focus' which means 'hearth', because it was originally baked on an open hearth. One of my favourite bread- making sandwiches, dipping in an olive oil or even eating plain.

Muffins is a quick bread originated from the United States and now become famous all over the world...I love muffin but at school, chef just show us the Oat Bran Muffin and we were not allowed to make.

Stollen is a German festive cake that is produced at Christmas time. It is usually given as a gift. It is like fruit bread filled with marzipan, really sweet but I like :D

The processes

From Left clockwise : Panettone, Focaccia, Stollen, Muffin

The finished products

From Left clockwise : Panettone, Focaccia, Stollen, Muffin

Let's see my breads...

Focaccia... Don't be surprised that why my Focaccia is so plain. Since I could't find the fresh herbs or olives...

but the texture was still not bad?

Panettone.. After we took it out from the oven, chef put it all together on the wire rack so we didn't know which one is whose... just took it -_-''

It is crispy outside and very rich inside, I like. Because it is yeasted cake, not much gluten texture like normal bread, a bit crumby.

My stollen. haha Just like like fruit bread really !

SP Lesson 19 : Gingerbread House

Festive occasions are times to reflect and to celebrate. Especially this time the christmas is coming... Suitable for making Gingerbread House:)

Gingerbread House is originated from Austria, traditionally reflects the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel and should be finished with the witch, hansel and Gretel and a black cat.

First we made the base with gingerbread (of course haha) but the taste is not as nice as ginger biscuit. This version we want it a bit dry so it can hold the shape. Royal icing is used to stick sides together and to decorate with a chimney, windows, snow effect etc.

I really like making the house...just like playing the doll house !

Chef's Keith's Gingerbread house

Soo Jin and I bought some candies to decorate the house... became like this....

The rows of Gingerbread houses.


I forgot to make the witch and a black cat :P

IP Lesson 16 - 18 : Bread bread bread...

This week, we were making bread again...I like bread lesson because we don't need much equipments (mean we don't need to clean much :P)

Lesson 16 we started at Country style bread (Vegetable) and wholemeal bread (Ring and Pagnotta)

Vegetable bread by chef Michael : There are spinach, carrot, onion and cheese in it...yummy when it just came out from the oven.

30 % Wholemeal Bread by chef Michael. I like this recipe, we put honey in it so it is a bit sweet and can smell honey.

Clockwise from left top (By chef Karen and chef Andre) : Ciabatta, Lavosh, Baguette. The 4th one are baps and soured french baguette.

In chef Andre class, he kindly brought his Port strawberry & orange jam which he made himself...so yummy.


Look ! How can we maintain our weight while we eat like this in tasting time..haha

The following are my products :

Ciabatta and Lavosh.

Clockwise topleft : Vegetable bread, Wholemeal bread, Baguette, Baps and Fruit buns.

I like this picture with my partner, Soo Jin. ^ ^ Anyway, our veggie breads looks like fireball ..lol

IP Lesson 13 : Hot Cross Bun and Baklava

I like Baklava...waiting for this lesson ^ ^

We started with making Hot cross bun which is a type of sweet spiced bun made with currants or raisins and leavened with yeast and has a cross marked on the top.


We used too big nozzle...so the cross on top was so ugly.

Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry. It is a pastry made of layers of filo dough filled with chopped almond, walnuts or pistachios and sweetened with syrup or honey. It can be made into many different shapes such as cigars, birds nest, purses, diamonds, etc.

In the book said that Baklava originated in Greece and is most used in Middle Eastern sweet but chef said it came from Turkey ^ ^

It is quite easy making Baklava...just combine the pastry with nuts. However, filo dry out very quickly so we have to work with it very fast and always cover with damp cloth.


Everyone was busy making it.

Put the cashew nut and filo together then bake..After take it out from the oven, chef pour some excess butter out of the tray. And add hot rosewater flavoured sugar syrup on the baklava and let it stand for a couple of hours for the syrup to be absorbed.

Last, top with pistachio...we won't bake the pistachio cuz it is easily to get burn.


Purse shapes.

Birds nest shapes..

Cigar shapes.

It was sooooooooooooo yummy...

We brought back big box of baklava back...

Lesson 23 : Brioche

Brioches : A French breakfast speciality. It belongs to the family of yeast raised products. The easy adaptation shapes and flavours results in it being a popular product with chefs and patissiers in a variety of areas such as:

• Freshly baked brioche rolls for breakfast (should be served warm)
• The classical brioche (a Tete and Parissienne) mould shape used for entrees, with a savoury filling e.g. Pate, ragout, etc.
• For desserts, filled with Creme Chantilly and a variety of fruits and/or ice creams

There are 4 names of Brioche we learned in the class : Brioche Parisienne, Brioche Nanterre, Brioche Tressee and Brioch a Tete

Brioche dough in the Parisienne mould shape in demo

Chef Karin like the dark colour of the crust....so her egg wash always is 1 whole egg and 1 yolk.

I did 8 Brioche Parisienne, 1 Brioche Nanterre and 1 Plaited

Lots of bread again....

When we slice the Brioche Nanterre and toast...perfect for breakfast !

Lesson 22 : Plaited Bread

Another week we were doing bread..but this time was a sweet yeast bread which contains more butter, sugar and eggs than lean bread or crusty bread...

There are 2, 3 ,4, 5 and 6 strand Plaited bread...Chef Keith want us to make 2 and 3 strand plaited bread...(but I really wanna do at least 4 cuz the bread will be bigger ^ ^'')

We also prepared the Brioche dough for tomorrow...lots of butter ..hehe

Chef Keith showed how to do 6 strand plait...

from chef Keith

Mine and Soo jin's

Ja's plaited bread..

That day I had my bread for dinner, spreaded with peanut butter and Nutella...so niceeeeeee

Lesson 9 : 100 % Wholemeal Bread and Pepita (Seed) Bread

I was a bit excited about today cause we will make Wholemeal bread which I have never done before… Now time to be healthier :D

Bread week was pretty easy..we used just a few of equipments…scraper, knife, brush and your Hands !!!…that’s all…(lucky chef allowed us to use machine also)

Making bread, the temperature is very important.

Finished dough temperature (FDT) = The required temperature for the finished bread dough. It will influence the growth rate of the yeast. The ideal FDT = 27C

Required Water Temperature (RWT) = The temperature that the water must be added to the dough.

We were taught repeatedly how to calculate the RWT for adding into the dry mixture. 3 days, 3 chefs and 3 formulas (-_-“) gave us the same FDT.

100% Wholemeal Bread in Vienna shape...

100% Wholemeal Bread in Cob shape...

My friends brought butter and jam to school…haha…then in tasting time, we ate chef’s breads with butter and jam ^O^

My breads...I do like both, especially pepita bread- add some pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, caraway seed and coriander seed. Really good, got texture and very nutty.

My dinner today was Ginseng spicy beef ribs soup at Sussex Food Court, China Town...Disappointed ! the beef was sticky and the soup was not so tasty. Anyway, at least lots of veggies made me feel better.

Lesson 8 : Crusty and Soft Rolls

More bread today. It was about making crusty and soft rolls…

Crusty bread: The thin crisp crusts of bread doughs are achieved by using recipes with little or no sugar or fat, and baking with steam.

Soft rolls: These recipes incorporate milk, and higher percentages of sugar and fat. They may also include eggs.

Common Faults and causes

1. Poor Volume - too little yeast / weak flour
2. Too much volume - over proofed / too much dough scaled ( If u overproof the dough, big air bubbles will be in the bread when u bake them)
3. Split crust - underfermented dough, oven thats too hot
4. Too coarse / open - too much yeast, incorrect mixing time and overproofed
5. Too dark - too much sugar or milk, oven temperature too high
6. Too pale - too little sugar or milk, oven temperature too low, too much steam in oven
7. Flat fast - too little salt Poor flavour - rancid ingredients, under or overfermented

Crusty rolls displayed by Chef Karin.

Soft rolls by Chef Karin; Doll man, Swiss rolls, mouse, turtle.

My crusty rolls were not bad, don't u think so? The one looks like leaves is called "Epi" I really like it...looks so rustic.

And I was quite happy with my soft rolls as well....this one is called "Braided roll" with sugar pearl on top.

Our cute doll mans...Left is Su jin's and right is mine...I made him carrying something that i don't even know what it is...lol

Su jin and Ja's

Again...I gave some of my breads to cuisine friend- Ricky, Singaporean, and most of the rest to some Thais at Thai Town...

Still got more bread waiting tomorrow...