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I have been struggling with crumpets for a while. I've tried several recipes and always ended up with blind crumpets (no holes).

So I gave up for a while but not liking to be beaten, I decided to have another go. This time I tried Andy's (Ananda) TFL recipe from way back.

To my surprise I had success! Nice tasty crumpets with open holes, crispy exterior and good flavour. One thing that stands out with Andy's recipe is the large amount of yeast used - 6%! But it does seem to work.

Note that this is 6% fresh yeast. I used fresh yeast. If you ever try this recipe and use IDY, multiply the yeast quantity by your favourite factor - I use 0.4X

Lance

Inspiration

My wife saw Yippee's stunning kouglof and she asked me to bake one. 

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69728/20220117-le-cordon-bleu-lemony-kouglof-clas

Having no experience with this kind of bread, I chose a simpler instant-yeast-based version to see if I could pull it off.

Modifications

I modifed the recipe as follows

• used dried cranberries instead of raisins
• soaked cranberries in fresh lemon juice instead of liquor
• added fresh nutmeg and vanilla bean seeds
• used instant yeast (SAF red) instead of cake yeast, and adapted amount
• incorporared fruit using a spread and roll up method
• used silicone tube mould instead of a proper kugelhopf "flowerpot"

Recipe

adapted from: https://www.my-weekend-in-alsace.com/kugelhopf-recipe-kouglof/

INGREDIENTS

• 500g flour
• 10g instant dried yeast
• 200g milk, lukewarm
• 125g butter, softened
• 100g sugar (I food-processed to caster fine)
• 1/2 Tahitian vanilla bean seeds
• zest 1 small lemon (I would use a lot more)
• juice 1 small lemon (24g)
• 1.4g fresh ground nutmeg
• 80g dried Sultanas or cranberries (soak in the lemon's juice)
• 2 eggs, room temperature, beaten
• 50g almonds
• 10g salt
• tube pan (silicone worked fine)

METHOD

1. Set out eggs, milk, butter to come to room temp
2. Soak fruit in lemon juice or rum  
3. Add yeast to 100g of warm milk, add 100g of flour and mix and let rise
4. In separate bowl, mix 400g flour, eggs, 100g milk, sugar and salt for 10 minutes until doesn’t stick
5. Add butter, lemon zest, vanilla, nutmeg, doubled levain 
6. Cover and let rise one hour
7. Stretch dough into recranglemon work surface
8. Sprinkle dough evenly with fruit
9. Roll up dough into long cylinder
10. Roll cylinder in sliced almonds
11. Butter mould, coat with sliced almonds
12. Fit cylinder into mould and pinch ends together
13. Let dough rise second time, until above edge of mould.
14. Preheat oven 180°C (350f) 
15. Bake 40 minutes (note: for a tube pan, might want to reduce by 5 mins?)

Process

Here are the main parts of the recipe (except butter which was softening a bit in the microwave and missed the photoshoot... maybe the non-name butter was a little annoyed that I keep praising that butter I tasted once in Limerick...)

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Here's the dough after incorporating the above ingredients

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I stretched the dough out like you would with pizza and sprinkled the soaked cranberries over it.

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I rolled up the dough, then rolled it in sliced almonds

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I fit the dough into my silicone mould. I wasn't expecting the dough to fill all those soft grooves. I had no idea what it would look like.

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Surprise! The dough filled all those whirls and sharp edges just fine. Wow, I was surprised and delighted. The bread came out pretty easily... just used two hands to stretch the silicone here and there to free it up.

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Decent crumb on this one. It was WAY easier to slice next day with a smooth knife after spending overnight in a plastic bag. And it had more flavour.

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I'm a convert to brioche breads with inclusions. I can't really handle high fat croissants and kouign amman anymore. This bread was moist, light tasting, had a freshness from the lemon. And I love the lemon juice-soaked cranberries. Really wonderful flavour.

The vanilla and nutmeg and lemon zest didn't come through strongly so I would use a lot more in the future.

I would also put in more fruit... delicious and not cloying... fresh lemon juice plus dried cranberry is surprisingly balanced. And the juices left over would have made an amazing glaze or spread with the fruit.

[UPDATE]

#1 Rugbrod by Jennifer Lapidus from Southern Ground

I chose Rugbrod, as I was looking for an easy naturally leavened traditional rye bread that called for a single whole rye grind that would be friendly to home milling.  I had also made Vollkornbrot a few times and wanted to try something different.  I chose this recipe because (as usual) Benny's post [LINK] included every detail I needed to bake it, it looked fabulous, and I didn't have to look anything up.  Rugbrod also seemed fairly popular on TFL, with three or more bakes in the last week.  I bought an ebook copy of her book Southern Ground after it came out last year and admire her bread journey.  She apprenticed with with Allan Scott and ran a bakery in NC before founding a mill, Carolina Ground.  She is featured on episode 57 of the Rise Up! bread and baker podcast [LINK].  Carolina ground flour can be purchased [HERE].

I baked per the instructions in Benny's post, but substituted 1 1/2 tsp honey for the sorghum, which I don't have.  I baked it in a covered Pullman pan after I noticing about 6 pinholes on the top, as suggested, and the pH was approximately 4.3.  The loaf was removed from the pan for the final 20 minutes and baked open on each side to firm up the crust -- a recommendation from Dan after my first Pullman rye bake.  I've had some questions about how to mill rye, but ended up milling this one rather finely, as I would for whole wheat, with the stones just barely ticking.  The freshly milled rye sour was very lively and the whole process moved along very quickly.  After reading about hard crusts, I wrapped it in a cotton cloth as it cooled overnight and sliced it the following evening.  It seemed to bake well as the knife came out clean and the flavor is excellent.  I haven't had a lot of rye, and I'm sure there is a lot of room for improvement, but I really like the flavor and texture of this bread.  I'm curious how far the seeds can be pushed.  The flavor jumps out much more than the Vollkornbrot loafs I have baked previously using combinations of more coarsely milled rye flour and now I'm curious to compare and contrast the recipes.

[UPDATE]

#2 Westphalia Rye by Ginger (from gingerandbread.com)

Per the recipe [HERE] (discussed previously on TFL), but with the following changes:

• agave syrup instead of golden syrup (I don't have any)
• home milled rye, with a best guess for fine rye meal and perhaps a slightly too fine coarse grit
• greased jars with coconut oil
• baked in sealed Weck jars inside a multi-cooker (pressure cooker)
  • high (estimated 250F) for 1 hour
  • low (estimated 212F) for 15 hours (the timer has a 6 hour limit, so I had to reset it twice)

I'm currently oven-less, as discussed in a recent blog entry, and this steered me towards making this Pumpernickel bread that calls for a long slow bake, which I thought could be approximated in the multi-cooker.  I also have more confidence in leaving that unattended for long periods, so it would be preferable even if my oven was working.  The Icelandic Lava Bread post (sealed and buried in hot spring sand) in the Rye CB gave me some confidence that a sealed "sous vide" cooking approach might work for this 100% rye.  I'm not sure how significant the pressure will be, it seems reduced pressure would be preferable, but I thought it would work fine for this dense bread.

I baked a little longer as I was uncertain of the temperature at "low" and figured erring on the side of overbaking would be preferable.  The measured internal temperature of 204F was somewhat reassuring.  The bread slipped out of the jars without any problem, and the outer loaf started to firm up as it cooled.  I wrapped the mini loaf towers in a tea towel, and will allow them to cool for at least a couple of days at room temperature before sliding into them.

#3 Simple Rye with Coriander by Martadella (as documented [here])

• rye sour build pH @ 3.75
• final mix (unrecorded)
• end final proof pH @ 4.31

This one came out slightly gummy in my first attempt.  I was still using finer home milled rye from a two stage coarse-to-fine process.  Since this bake I have switched to a coarser grind.   

#4 Rugbrod by Jennifer Lapidus (again) 

I really liked the crumb and the texture of the crust on the first Rugbrod bake (documented above) and wanted to see if it was repeatable.    I was juggling a few things on the weekend and didn't portion the dough for the pan, but the otherwise the bread itself was excellent.  I'm very happy with this formula and process using my flour and starter.  The crumb is moist but not gummy and the crust has a subtle enjoyable crunch to it.  I used a slightly coarser grind of rye in this bake and will try that for the next few rye bakes.

• 75 g starter pH 3.72 from scraped jar build overnight at 100% hydration
• rye sour build 75:150:100 start pH @ 4.75; end pH @ 3.89; final mix pH @ 4.63
• made without the sweetener this time -- the flavor is still very nice, but the salt should be dialed back without to match it
• overall still very nice -- my favorite rye so far

Reproducibility, my Chemist husbands says,  is the key to a fine bake. This is definitely a winner. Did exactly what worked for the loaf I posted yesterday and darn if it didn’t work perfectly again! Who da thought ?? 

The loaf actually sang as it slid out of the pan. Fragrance is intoxicating. Serving it for my Chef son’s 47th birthday today!! Pictures later. Next up a German apple cake . c

I have a bucket of buckwheat groats that’s been sitting around for a bit. Time to use some up. 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves 

Porridge 

150 g buckwheat groats

400 g water

50 g honey

50 g butter

Dough

700 g strong bakers unbleached flour

200 g freshly milled whole grain Red Fife flour (200 g Red Fife berries)

100 g freshly milled whole grain Einkorn flour (100 g Einkorn berries)

675 g water

23 g salt

30 g yogurt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra wholegrain flour of your choice and unbleached flour for feeding the levain

The night before:

1. Mill the grains and place in a tub. Add the unbleached flour to the tub as well. Cover and set aside.

2.Take 10 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

Dough Making day:

1. Early in the morning, feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 50 g of strong baker’s flour and 50 g wholegrain flour. Let rise until doubled (about 5 hours).

2. About two hours before the levain is ready, put 675 g of water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for a couple of hours at room temperature. 

3. Toast the groats until golden. Place the groats in a pot with water. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook until tender. This quick so watch the pot. Drain if there is extra water. Measure out 450 g of porridge. Add the butter and the honey and mix well. Set aside. 

4. Once the autolyse is done and the levain has doubled, add the salt, the yogurt, the porridge, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed for 9 minutes.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 45 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 45 minute intervals and then 2 more sets at 30 minutes intervals. Let rise about 30%. This dough was moving fast. I preshaped just a few minutes after the last fold. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~840g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and cross over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice flour and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, about 11 hours later, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

I’ve been gradually making adjustments to my formula and in this case I’ve increased the hydration via increasing the proportion of flour in the tangzhong from 5% to 7.5% keeping the ratio of flour to milk in this tangzhong to 1:5. The resulting dough is a bit stickier to work with, however, I’m hoping that the crumb will be even more soft and tender yet still shreddable.  You probably have noticed that I love black sesame seeds so that was always going to be a good inclusion for this bread.  The honey that I used is special, it came from a friend’s hives so I’m hoping that the honey brings a special sweetness to this bread.

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Pre-bake Wash
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 Tbsp milk

Post-bake Wash
• 1 Tbsp butter (optional)

Instructions
Levain
Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth.
Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.
At a temperature of 76ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak. For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak. The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.
Tangzhong
In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl. Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature. You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk, egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar, diastatic malt and levain. Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces. Next add the flour and vital wheat gluten. I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas. Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes. Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins. Next drizzle in the melted butter a little at a time. Slow the mixer down to avoid splashing the butter at you. The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before drizzling in more butter. Once all the butter has been added and incorporated increase the speed gradually to medium. Mix at medium until the gluten is well developed, approximately 10 mins. You can consider resting the dough intermittently during this time You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat. This is a good time to add inclusions such as my favorite black sesame seeds, that way they do not interfere with the gluten development. If you add inclusions mix until they are well incorporated in the dough.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2.5-3.5 hours at 82ºF. There may be some rise visible at this stage.
You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape. Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer. Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them or line with parchment paper.

Lightly flour the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into four. I like to weigh them to have equal sized lobes. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using a rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Letterfold again from the sides so you have a long narrow dough. Then using a rolling pin, roll flatter but keeping the dough relatively narrow. The reason to do this extra letterfold is that the shorter fatter rolls when placed in the pan will not touch the sides of the pan. This allows the swirled ends to rise during final proof, this is only done for appearance sake and is not necessary. Next roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.

Cover and let proof for 6-8 hours, longer time if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash. Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 5-10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF. You can brush the top of the loaf with butter if you wish at this point while the bread is still hot to keep the top crust soft.

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Jan. 21, 2022. 81st bake.

• 200 g BRM stone-ground WW. 
• 51 g Sharbati Gold WW. 
• 50 g Sher Brar whole grain durum, "Fiber Wala." 
• 50 g Golden Temple durum atta, red/white bag. 
• 51 g Gold Medal bread flour. 
• 30 g starter, "Red." 
• 10 g rye starter. 
• 8 g salt. 
• 352 g spring water. 
• 1.5 tsp bread spice. (toasted first, then ground: anise, fennel, caraway, coriander.)  1.5 tsp was the measurement of the gound spices, not the whole spices.

Baked in a Lodge cast iron loaf pan, 4LP.

Talk about beautiful and easy ! I have another started as soon as I saw  and smelled this one! It’s got RYW and white levain and rye levain . It’s got honey/EVVO/buttermilk in equal parts. It’s in my big Pullman . It’s almost hands free except dropping it into the rising bucket and then the buttered Pullman. 

335g T65 

335g Rouge de Bordeaux fresh milled

70g Semola Rimacinata 

28g rye

150 YW

310 H2O

42g each honey/ EVOO/buttermilk 

126g levain ( combo rye and white) 

13 g salt

 autolyse a couple hrs  all the WW Semolina rye with all the YW and levains and trinity and water . Put it in the KA and mix on one while adding T65 then on 2 for 5 min while sprinkling in salt. Should clean bowl add drops of water or flour as needed . Place in oiled container warm spot till 30-50% growth took only a couple hrs in a sunny window . Grease large Pullman with real butter and “ plop” the dough in. No shaping needed. Let rise 30 min room temp then into fridge overnight… doesn’t matter exact timing. Preheat oven 375 bake covered 30 min uncovered 20 min or till golden and 209 degrees or so. Remove from pan and cool . Try to contain your excitement and let it cool before slicing 😊See below picture. This is why there no s&f’s. Perfect gluten development with 5 min in the KA.

All set for the next two months (+-)

It's the 21st day of 2022, I hope everyone is doing great and keeping up with each resolution-.. I made one this year: I need to drink less coffee this year! I decided to revisit my old habits like making masala tea from scratch. Normally, we would use Assam, Ceylon or even Darjeeling but I've English breakfast for now. The very first loaf of sourdough I made this year only happened the day before yesterday, also thanks to masala tea.

Let's lay blame on the goodies consumed between 24 Dec to 1 Jan for the lack of baking since 2022 began. This little break gave me time to reset (and lose some weight ha!), and shorten a list of Chinese New Year to-do's (this is happening in less than 2 weeks *gulp*)

The starter (Prune) came out from her chilly hibernation and was fed 1:2:2 and then 1:4:4 just before preparing the dough. The proofing time seemed longer than expected but the loaf turned out okay, no discernible sourness, soft crumb with bits of caramelized crust, despite a flaw in the shaping.

Right after baking, with brushed on butter


Masala swirl loaf

Tangzhong
100g masala tea* or milk
20g flour

Dough
All of the Tangzhong
60 - 70g soured milk
25g honey or sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
160g starter (100% hydration, 10 hours at 21°C)
70g all purpose flour
60g atta whole wheat flour
6g salt
50g unsalted butter,

Filling
50g dark brown sugar
1 tbsp (approx 7.5g) masala spice
10g malted milk powder (optional, I used it for a creamy feel)
2 tsp all purpose flour

Egg wash
1 egg
2 tsp milk
A pinch of salt

Masala spice
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves or allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger


Soured milk: Add 1 tsp lemon juice to 1/3 cup milk. Cover and let it rest for at least 15 minutes.  

Flour mixture: Whisk together the flours, salt and yeast in the mixing bowl.

Egg mixture: In a measuring cup or bowl, whisk together egg, honey and vanilla extract.

Prepare Tangzhong and wet ingredients. Remove Tangzhong from heat and stir in soured milk followed by the egg mixture - Tangzhong is ready once the mixture gelatinizes at about 65°C; so when it is mixed with cool or room temp soured milk (60g) followed by the egg mixture, the temperature too low to denature the egg mixture (egg white coagulates at 62 - 65°C) or even the starter, yet warm enough for the dough.

Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture, followed by starter discard. Mix on low until a dough forms, it’ll be sticky at this stage (if it's not, try adding the rest of the soured milk). Cover and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Next, add a tablespoon of butter and mix on low until the butter is absorbed. Flip the dough and add the next tablespoon of butter and repeat mixing until all the butter has been added and absorbed. Increase mixer’s speed to medium low (speed 2 on the KA Artisan) and knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes - stopping every 3 minutes to scrape the sides of the bowl and turning/flipping the dough for even kneading (I believe this step is not required if using a spiral hook). After 15 minutes, the dough should be very smooth, no longer sticky and passes the windowpane test. After mixing, at room temp 22°C, the dough temp was 24.5°C

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased counter. Stretch and fold the dough on all sides and form a boule. Transfer the dough to a grease container or bowl, cover and let it rise for the remaining bulk ferment, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours at 23-24°C.

Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a small bowl. Set aside. Mix egg wash and set aside.

Transfer the risen dough to a lightly floured counter. Gently deflate and stretch or roll the dough to a rectangle about 15” in width and 10” in length.

Brush egg wash over 1/3 of the width in the middle and sprinkle 1/3 of the filling on top of the egg wash. Fold the dough starting from the 1/3 on the left to the middle. Egg wash the folded dough and sprinkle with 1/3 of the filling. Then, fold the dough from the right to the middle.

The folded and filled dough should be about 5” in width and 10” in length now. Gently, roll the dough to about 6” wide and 15-16” in length.

Bottom half, braiding or twists: Sprinkle the bottom half of the dough with flour. With a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut about 6 to 10 strips. Braid or twist each strip to any desired design. Pinch the ends of the braids and brush a bit of egg wash in them.

Top half of the dough: Brush egg wash on the top half of the dough. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/3 of filling, leaving about 1” at the edge clear.

Start rolling the dough from the edge without any filling toward the braided/twisted strips. Do not roll too tightly after reaching the mid section leading to the braids. Let the rolled dough rest on the ends of the braids for 2-3 minutes to seal it. Transfer the dough to a buttered 9” x 5” loaf pan. For 9x4x4 loaf, this recipe will yield a taller loaf.



Cover and let the dough proof once again until the top of it reaches at least 1.5” above the rim of the pan. At 23-24°C, this took 3.75 to 4 hours.

45 minutes into the final proof, preheat the oven to 160 / 180°C, glass or metal pans.

When the dough is ready, gently brush the top with egg wash.

Bake the loaf for 50 to 60 minutes at 160°C or 45 to 50 minutes at 180°C, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after 30 minutes. Bake until crust is golden brown and the internal loaf temperature registers at least 93°C/200°F.

Remove the loaf from the oven, brush the top with butter and let it rest in the pan for 5 minutes. Then, remove the loaf and brush butter all over the sides (optional). Let it cool completely in the cooling down oven, about 2-3 hours or overnight.


Sliced the loaf the next morning. The gap between the braids could've been prevented if I had just made a single braid or braided at an angle.

These were the last 4 slices!


*Masala tea1
Makes 1 large mug or 2 cups

240g (about 1 cup) water2
2 black tea bags or 1 tbsp heaped loose leaves
300g (about 1 1/4 cup) milk or 1:1 milk and 10% cream/evaporated milk
6 green cardamom pods or 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
6 whole cloves or 3/4 tsp ground cloves
3” cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Optional: 1 bay leaf
Optional: sugar, jaggery, maple syrup or honey, to taste

If using, store-bought masala teabags, just skip the spice prep and prepare with water onward.

Crush cardamom pods and cloves with a knife (or mortar & pestle). Break or unravel cinnamon bark into 2 or 3 pieces lengthwise.

Place all the spices, black tea and water in a small saucepan. Bring the water to a boil (100°C) , then remove from heat, cover and let the tea steep for at least 15 minutes, up to 3 hours (or more for deeper, more intense flavors).

Remove bay leaf (if using). Stir in milk and heat the tea to a simmering temperature of about 85 to 93°C over medium heat. Then, reduce to low heat and let it simmer with stirring for 5 to 10 minutes - this prevents a skin from forming over the simmering milky tea. Remove from heat and stir in desired sweetener, if using.

Pour the tea through a fine mesh strainer into mugs. To aid cooling down and to froth the tea a little bit, pull the tea in two mugs (eg. stainless steel travel mugs or pitchers). Pulling about 3 to 5 times cools the tea to a suitable drinkable temperature.

There are many, many different masala tea recipes out there. Being able to adjust the spice content makes it easier for me to enjoy this tea. Personally, I find certain store-bought versions a lil bit too strong and not great when they're using spice oils in them. Adjust spice content and add other spices like black peppercorns, fennel, nutmeg, star anise, fresh ginger to your taste. :)


These are some of the small-batch bakes around Christmas-New Year:


Swiss meringue kisses with a few iced gems using left over pasta frolla dough
Pseudo chocolate truffles - coconut cookies coated in tempered dark chocolate and drizzled in white chocolate
Crostata with mixed berry jam made in pasta frolla crust and topped with Swiss meringue to hide uneven edges (sneaky!)
Baked yogurt oatmeal - a little bit of healthy eats in the morning to start our binge-eating last days of 2021.
Rich fruit cake with citrus peels, dates, raisins, walnuts, overdose of Frangelico - this cake was overly rich and drenched, the first single slice made me dizzy and red. I will have to revisit this with a shorter feeding period and skip the dates..
Tourtière - one of hubby's favorite. I've made this a few times with tweaks here and there. But I need to make it again with some other type of filling, probably with Malay-Indian influence.


Alright, until next moon, have a happy, happy weekend :)


- Christi


Note
1: masala chai = masala tea. It's wrong to say, "Masala chai tea" or "chai tea"
2: water for tea, coffee - hard water makes bad tea/coffee.