My attempt to make baguette finally came to a good result that satisfied me. I made these baguette under the circumstance of lacking some tools. I didn’t have a pastry knife to score the bread and I used a razor blade to score my baguettes. I didn’t have a spraying tool to spray water over the bread during the first baking procedure, so I used a brush to spread water over the bread surface.

Kneading the dough by hands, withstanding a small convention oven that drops temperature each time I opened the door and each time I re-positioned the tray, I felt even happier that my baguettes came out similar to – at least to some degree – ones at bakeries. The crust was hard and sounded beautifully when I broke the bread into halves. I so loved having baguette with soup for dinner.

Recently, if you notice, I’ve made several dishes from bread slices, sometimes called toast or bruschetta. A local magazine in Vietnam ordered me to make some foods suitable for breakfast. Thinking that bread always makes fast and yummy breakfast, sometimes very healthy breakfast too, I decided to make some foods with bread. By coincidence I’ve been practising making baguette (all by hands and human’s strength, though not mine! I asked for my fiance’s help to knead the dough or the dough is too heavy for me and I don’t have a strong mixer), so I often have day-old baguette left in my pantry. 

However, the magazine used them as items for Finger Food category and they asked me to make other foods to fill up the breakfast category Anyway, I’m glad that in one issue, I had 8 different dishes featured and introduced to readers. 

We love these mushroom bruschetta as mushrooms were very fresh and tasty served on crispy baguette slices. The combination of bacon and mushroom was just great. 

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These are the baguette slices we couldn’t finish on the day we baked the baguette, so I decided to make some toasts to make them less boring and more palatable for breakfast. 

Having some pepperonis left in the fridge which I bought to make pizza, I thought why not making some toasts with these pepperoni slices just like making pizza. I also topped the toasts with a few fresh rosemary leaves (I was very eager at using rosemary as this was the first time I could buy fresh rosemary). 

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A light breakfast sometimes keeps us  awake the whole morning. When I stay up late the previous night and still get up at the usual hour, I only feel like having a light breakfast, as heavy breakfast makes me more sleepy. 

This fresh tomato and basil on toast is a good choice in such mornings. The freshness and juiciness of the tomatoes bring about a very refreshing feeling. It was the first time I got fresh basil to use. Fresh basil can be bought at large supermarket but the price is often very high for just a few stalk or leaves. But  this time I could get a pack for quite reasonable price. I was so eager to try my first time bought fresh basil in actual green leaves.  

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This is our breakfast for a weekend morning. I do not often buy "fresh" sausages since they are not so cheap. Normally we only have frozen sausages at barbecue gathering with friends, though knowing that they are almost tasteless and unhealthy,  sausages should always be included as a "norm" here. 

My fiance has never tasted a "real" fresh sausage. I used to have chance to eat real German bratwurst at Oktoberfest and Christmas during my exchange program there, so I knew how great the taste was like. So when shopping at the supermarket this weekend, noticing that the sausages were offered at good price, I decided to treat him a special brunch with this bread and sausage. 

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This was my first time baking savory muffins. It has been very hot these days and I have no appetite for sweet stuffs. Instead, I always want to eat fresh fruits and juice, or drink water. In my menu these days summer soups also appear in every meal. 

However, I started to miss my oven and baking ingredients. So the idea of making savory desserts flashed in my head. I started browsing my books first and I got this muffin recipe from my Taste of Home recipe collection. It was very simple to make these muffins and I had them for my dinner. Freshly baked foods are always so good. What I only needed more is a glass of cold water, and so I really enjoyed my meal. 

Ingredients: (12 muffins)

- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour

- 1 tbs sugar

- 3 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp coarsely ground pepper

- 1 egg

- 1 1/4 cup milk

- 2 tbs vegetable oil

- 110g shredded cheddar cheese

Methods:

- Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Grease the muffin pan or line with paper cases. 

- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and pepper.

- In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk and oil. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in cheese.

- Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full. 

- Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

- Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. 

- Serve warm. 

This is my first time making brioche. Also it is my first time knowing how brioche tastes like. I was amazed at first to find out the large quantity of butter used in making this kind of bread. I was wondering while in the middle of making the dough as well, since I totally had no experience with making high fat content bread before.

Also, I was very naive to brioche. I didn’t know the traditional shape of brioche then. So I just followed the formula and made a dozen of brioche with my brioche tins and the rest of the dough, I baked in the loaf pan. After my products were done, I wanted to compare them with brioche made by other people. So I searched for the images and got to know about the traditional shape of it. I didn’t apply egg wash over my brioche this time. So this is the real color of the crust. With the egg wash, the crust would be more shinny golden brown, I think.

It’s the first time tasting brioche, however, I really like the texture and the rich content of it. So soft and fragrant. I just love it.

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First time I made muffins with frosting.

Are these really muffins? I doubt. I think it is also true to call these cupcakes. However, they taste so good – this is the most important fact.

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