Braided bread(Pan de trenza)

Normal bread becomes cuter if we make it into a braid.
So today I have baked Braided bread (Pan de trenza), and made some sandwiches for lunch.
I used Soy milk instead of normal milk so that the bread became more doughy.
If it is sunny and warm, it is nice to go to a park for a picnic with sandwiches.
Thinking of Japan with beautiful streets with cherry blossoms...

＜Recipe＞

Strong flour　200g
Wheat flour  　50g
Sugar      　　   12g
Dry yeast     　   5g
Soy milk 　　 160g
Salt 　　　　　　　5g
Butter　　　　　 15g

1.　Mix flour, sugar, yeast, soy milk(40℃) and salt.
2.　Once mixed, add butter(room temperature) and mix them.
3.　Knead it on the table.
4.　Leave it to be fermented(around 1hour until the volume is doubled)
5.　Remove the gas, form into a ball once again and leave it for 15minutes.
6.   Divide the dough into 8 pieces, press each piece with a hand to flatten into a triangle shape.
7.   At 1 cm below the corner of triangle(you have to keep this 1 cm triangle), start to make 2 lengthwise cut in to have 3 strings of dough which are still together on the top, and make them into a braid(fold the end into the backside).
9.　Sift flour on the top and leave them to be fermented. (Until doubled, around 1 hour)
10.　Once fermented, bake them in the oven(180℃ for 15minutes)

This time, I made Smoke salmon + Mayonnaise and Ham + Mayonnaise sandwiches.

I baked ham mayo sandwiches in the toaster for 5minutes.
Once baked mayonese tastes nicer♪

Bon profit!!!

Chiffon cake - OIL FREE -

As I could not find any mold for chiffon cake(chifón) around here, when I went back to Japan, I took one from home and started to make it in Spain.
We don't see a lot this kind of fluffy texture cake in Spain, and our family and friends who tasted it for the first time loved it.

This time I made Hojicha chiffon cake with HOJICHA Powder currently I was into.
Hojicha is made from Japanese green tea by roasting the tea leaves and turning them into brown color. It has less caffein and mild taste so we can drink even before sleeping. Of course it is nice to drink as tea but so different to cook something with the powder and I love to make cake using it.

Moreover, we are recently little bit worried about our belly, so I made oil-free version.
I was not sure, but the result was quite fine♪ So please try it!

＜Recipe＞

Yolk　 　 　　　　　　　　　　 5
Sugar　 　　　　　　　　　　50g
Water　　　　　　　　　　　 50g
Milk  　 　　　　　　　　　　50g
Flour  　　　　　　　　　　　70g
Hojicha powder　　　　　　5g
Baking powder    　           1 tea spoon
Egg white 　　　　　　　　　 5
Sugar　　　　　　　　　　　 50g

1.　Whip yolks and sugar in a bowl until becomes white.
2.　Add water and milk mixed in advance into 1 and mix them.
3.　Add sifted flours and mix them.
4.　Make meringue whipping egg whites and sugar.
5.　Add 1/3 of meringue into 3 and mix them. （Repeat 2 times more）
6.　Once mix the mixture and all meringue, pour the mixture into a chiffon cake mold (around 20cm diameter) and bake it in a oven with 170℃ for around 40 minutes.
7. Once baked, turn the mold upside down and leave it until becomes cold.
    (Like below ↓)

8. When the cake cools down, remove it from the mold cutting the sponge along the mold carefully using a slim long nife(first outside of the sponge, separate the exterior and cut the down and the last medial side).

Red beans I made was remained, so I added them.

Bon profit!!!

Cake Salé

It is not sweet but this time I made Cake Salé(salty pastel)...

Because Spanish people (or Catalunya people) customarily eat Mona, traditional sweet, on the last Monday(used to be Sunday) of Easter Holiday（Semana Santa）, and of course we are no exception.
It seems there are basically 2 types of Mona, brioche type like Tortell for Christmas and sponge one, and the most traditional one is decorated with butter cream which is not popular among our family, so this year my mother-in-law brought egg cream(? like adding more yolk to custard cream) version.
Normally Godfather(Padrino) and Godmother(Madrina) present Mona to their godchildren(ahijado/a). But as we are all adult, now my mother-in-law is in charge of buying Mona for us.

Generally the cake has egg shaped chocolate or baby chick but this time there was bear!

So we were in charge of cooking.

Main dish was Roast Chicken and we started with Cake Salé.

Cake Salé with lots of vegetable was very well recieved♪

＜Recipe＞

Egg　　　　　 　　  　 2
Olive oil 　　　  　 70g
Milk　　　　　　   130g
Flour　　　　　　  150g
Baking powder　    2 tea spoons
Salt&pepper

Onion　  　　　　　　1
Cherry tomato 　 10
Bacon　　　　　　　4 slices
Mushroom　　　　6
Cheese  　　　　　60g

1.　Whip eggs until become white and fluffy.
2.　Add olive oil and milk, which are mixed in advance, to 1 and mix them.
3.　Add sifted flour and salt&pepper and mix.
4.　Cut onion, bacon, mushroom into thin slices and tomato in half.
5.　Grate or cut cheese you like(Parmigiano, Gruyère, Chedder or etc.) into small pieces and add with 4 into 3, and mix them roughly.
6.　Pour the mixture into a mold for pound cake and bake it in a oven with 170℃ for around 50 minutes.

Bon profit!!!

Strawberry Shortcake

Speaking of strawberry, we should not forget Strawberry shortcake！
In Japan, it is the essential sweet for Birthday, Christmas, etc.♪

I have made several of them for our family, relatives, friends for this Christmas.
Even though we are in Spain, these days we are celebrating events, like Birthday and Christmas with Strawberry shortcake as in Japan.
I want to eat more while we can find strawberry！
With Calon-Ségur we received and heart shape candle my brother's wife made...

＜Recipe＞

－Sponge　18㎝ X 1－
Egg　            　　 　3
Sugar　　　           75g
Vanilla essence  2-3 drops
Flour　                 80g
Butter             　　20g

－Cream－
Fresh cream　300cc
Sugar 　　　　　 30g

1.　Whip eggs and sugar until becomes white and fluffy but thick enough to leave the pattern when drop the mixture on the surface.
2.　Add vanilla essence and mix them.
3.　Add sifted flour and mix them like cutting the flour into the 2.
4.　Add melted butter and mix them from the bottom.
5.　Pour 4 in the mold buttered and floured and bake it in a oven with 170℃ for 30 minutes.
6.　Once becomes cold, cut into half, cover the surface with the whipped cream, put the strawberries, put the other slice on it and decorated with whipped cream and strawberries.

* If you apply the syrup (water 30ml+sugar 10g+liquor like kirsch 10g）, the cake will be more moist and delicious.

Bon profit!!!

Cafeteria in Madrid - 4th Recommendation - Living in London

As my friend knew I loved Scone&Clotted cream, she was planning to bring me to a cafeteria, called "Living in London".
It was Sunday and it just opened from 16:30, so we went there to the opening.

And we found people waiting for the seat inside. Wow, it is popular!
In the shop, we can buy sweets, tea, lots of products from UK.

Finally our turn came and we could sit.

Inside was dimly illuminated and there was another room with more seats at the back.

We enjoyed English Tea Time with scones&clotted cream and tea for a while.

Here is the shop information:

Living in London
Santa Engracia 4, Madrid 28010
TEL 91-319-7958
Principe de Vergara 34, Madrid 28002
TEL 91-435-4897

If you start missing UK in Spain, please try.

Bon profit!!!

Matcha Fondant au Chocolat

As I found an article which recommended us to drink more tea for detox, I made Fondant au Chocolat with Matcha. (Of course I am also drinking tea;-))

Let's detox having Vitamins + Antioxidant of Matcha♪

＜Recipe＞

－Sponge－
White chocolate　 60g
Butter    　　 　　　 40g
Egg　　　　　 　　　　2
Sugar　　　 　　　　40g
Fresh cream 　　　15g
Matcha　　　　　　　 5g
Flour   　　 　　　　25g

Please refer to Fondant au Chocolat for Ganache and the process to make.

Ganache sank to the bottom... But don't mind!

Bon profit!!!

Cafeteria in Madrid - 3rd Recommendation - Vailima

I had been interested in since I had seen this cafeteria in Madrid, "Vailima" on TV, so I took the opportunity of being in Madrid and went there.
The entrance was pastel color and tea pots and ornaments on the window were lovely♪

In the shop, we can buy variety types of tea from THEODOR. Tea caddies in different colors were so cute♪

From the selection of baked goods in the glass case, I chose a scone and my friend chose a piece of carrot cake and we had them with a cup of tea.
The cream served with the scone was not clotted cream but whipped cream, but I was quite fine with the scones which I had for the first time in ages.

If you feel to go to a cafeteria with homey atmosphere, please try.

Here is the information：

Vailima

C/ General Pardiñas, 54

28001 Madrid

Next time, I will introduce another cafeteria where we can have clotted cream！

Bon profit!!!