Macau Almond Cookie SD
No. You didn’t read that wrong. This bake was inspired by the delicate, melt-in-your-mouth biscuits from Macau. I had no intention to put almonds or seaweed in the dough at first. Yet when the grains were being milled, the aroma of roasted nuts filled the kitchen. It totally blew my mind! Ahem, I came so close to adding pork floss to the dough.
Macau Almond Cookie SD
| Dough flour | Final Dough | Levain | Total Dough | ||||
| g | % | g | % | g | % | g | % |
Flour (All Freshly Milled) | 300 | 100 | 267 | 100 | 33 | 100 | 303 | 100 |
Toasted Buckwheat Flour | 60 | 20 |
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| 60 | 19.80 |
Ssprouted Einkorn Flour | 90 | 30 |
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| 90 | 29.70 |
Whole Spelt Flour | 150 | 50 |
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| 150 | 49.50 |
White Whole Wheat Flour (Starter) |
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| 1.5 | 0.50 |
Whole Rye Flour (Starter) |
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| 1.5 | 0.50 |
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Hydration |
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| 36 | 100 | 269 | 88.78 |
Water |
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| 233 | 87.27 | 33 | 100 | 269 | 88.78 |
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Salt | 4 | 1.33 | 4.00 | 1.50 |
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| 4.00 | 1.32 |
Vital Wheat Gluten | 9 | 3 | 9 | 3.37 |
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| 9 | 2.97 |
Starter (100% hydration) |
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| 6 | 18.18 |
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Levain |
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| 72 | 26.97 |
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Add-ins | 39 | 13 | 39 | 14.61 |
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| 39 | 12.87 |
Roasted Almonds | 36 | 12.00 | 36.00 | 13.48 |
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| 36.00 | 11.88 |
Anonori powder | 3 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 1.12 |
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| 3.00 | 0.99 |
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Total |
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| 624.00 | 233.71 | 72.00 | 218.18 | 624.00 | 205.94 |
Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until ready, about 6 hours (24°C).
Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 33 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of water taken from dough ingredients.
Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the almonds. Ferment for a total of 4 hours. Construct 2 rounds of 3 minute Rubaud mixing at the 30 and 40 minute mark. Fold in the nuts by a set of lamination at the 50 minute mark. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Retard for 8 hours.
Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2 hours before slicing.
It had been a while since the starter was refreshed so it was rather inactive. The dough appeared sluggish that it struggled to rise. You can see that the crumb is on the dense side. Microbes can’t be rushed. I should have known this by now…
Nut lovers would go nuts over this bread. It tastes and smells like roasted nuts & seeds. The toasted buckwheat intensifies the nutty aroma undoubtedly. With the addition of Anonori, this loaf is bursting with umami flavor.
______
Homemade gnocchi with kipper & garlicky spinach
Garides Tourkolimano (Greek shrimp) with 50% mixed grain SD pita
Gobi (cauliflower) chicken Makhani with SD naan
XO sauce fried cheung fun (Chinese rice noodle rolls) with Chinese sausage
Homemade noodles with mushrooms & sugar snap peas in a coconut cream sauce
Pressure cooked lamb shank with mushrooms, bean curd sticks & carrots (Chinese fermented red bean curd seasoned). So good...
Top blade steak chili, oven fried BBQ drumettes, seared scallops with sweet potato fries, Yorkshire pudding, Sautéed brussel sprouts & radishes with toasted walnuts, and pepper rice pilaf
See? The chili wasn't burnt!
And lastly, two green bread for Christmas:
Matcha bagels (30% rye & Red Fife)
Basil pesto SD (40% atta)
Happy New Year to all!
Comments
What is your reason for adding seaweed? As usual, lovely spread!
The two amp up the savory and umami flavor immensely. It's my flavor combo of choice when it comes to Macau souvenir pastries, be it Phoenix egg rolls 鳳凰卷 or almond cookies. Although pork floss wasn't used in this bake, I figured that seaweed would still be a welcome addition. Why miss out the chance to boost dough glutamate level? Seaweed is the MSG of the ocean :) It's often adopted to season Asian snacks like crackers and roasted nuts as well.
Thanks for the praise, Pal! Your exotic food write-up is very enjoyable to read too!
So cool! I have never thought of that, so I asked! I love seaweed and pork floss (one variety of pork floss here always comes with seaweed and sesame seeds). I used to buy a rolled pork floss bread in college as a snack between classes and I might recreate those soon. My first post here even involves pork floss, a pork floss sandwich loaf.
You just answered my question for a long time. I watched a local show here featuring Macau eats a long time ago and was left wondering what could be the name of that rolled snack; yes, they were definitely phoenix egg rolls! Thanks!
Hope you and your family are fine in Hong Kong. Happy New Year!
Not sure if we're talking about the same thing but this is the kind in my mind. It has mayo spread onto it to make the pork floss stick and is coated with sesame and scallions/seaweed. Simply addictive! I used to buy one after school every time I passed by the bakery... That's how one puts on weight, uh oh. Just read your pork floss sandwich post, it makes my stomach growls. Months ago I baked a batch of pork floss stuffed bagels inspired by this as well.
We also have pork floss with seaweed and sesame here, which is always superior to the plain one if you ask me. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of pork floss available, either Taiwanese style or Thailand style. The former is fluffier while the latter is chewier, kind of like dried shredded pork. I much prefer the Taiwanese ones as they're often crunchier and lighter. Although there are also other varieties of pork snacks like crispy, paper-thin pork "paper" and pork floss stick, my favorite is still pork floss. For quite a while, pork/fish floss on white sandwich bread with condensed milk was my breakfast staple.
We're doing fine in HK. Things seem to be calming down. Finger crossed the exam for the new semester can be carried out as normal. I'm so done with the online "exam"... Happy New Year and wish you the best of luck in your teaching career!
I really love that one even though that bakery was a little stingy on the pork floss. I am really craving for it now. Must recreate it soon and try other pork floss baked goods! Thanks!
looking even though you rushed the process. I love everything about this bread. I has to be delicious. Then you made Pita, bagels, green bread and Naan too - all in the same post! Plus ....all the great fare, seafood, lamb, beef, chicken, sausage, shrimp with veggies, red beans, tofu curd, home made noodles and gnocchi - where they SD too? We get our money's worth with your posts even though they are free!
You are such a fine baker and cook at any age much more impressive for being so young too! So creative and inquisitive a good pair of attributes to have - you will never be bored! You are an extraordinary talent with unlimited potential. I expect to see you with your own cooking show on the Food Network or Cooking Channel of Hong Kong before you are 24! You make my day! Now I get to go back a browse all if your older posts I have missed over the past few months. I'm just gobsmacked!
Happy New Year to you and yours Elsie! Keep up the great work!
I'm getting snobbish! You're way too kind. It means a lot to me that I'm receiving these compliments from you, a brilliant cook and baker :) We also get our BBQ, Meixican feast, omelette, pie and salad fix with your posts. Talk about those mind-blowing grilled salmon, sausages, ribs and chicken! Like we ever paid a buck for them all! The gnocchi were not SD but no doubt they'll be the next time.
There are lots of breads in this post since I'm having more free time for baking. We're still taking the holiday break. Thanks to the recent incident, we university students took extra 3 weeks off school. My younger cousin was over-joyed for the semester ended early. Not me though, I start to get bored after a week of holiday typically. Good thing brainstorming food ideas keeps my mind working, I'd be completely bored-out otherwise!
Being a show host sounds like an aggressive goal. It's not something I'd have imagined but who can be certain about the future? Time is really running short. In less than 4 years I'm turning 24... Ugh, seriously where has all the time gone?
Thanks so much for the kind words. Wish you and your family a joyful year ahead! And please do keep us posted on your foods and bakes!
Delicious as always Elsie!
Benny
Appreciate your time to comment as always. Tempted by your post, I'm making SD pizza for lunch tomorrow :)
Hope you post photos of it when you post next Elsie,
Benny
It's at the bottom of my new post. Glad that you're interested, Benny.