ALMOST CIABATTA

No time to make ciabatta at home?  Here's an easy no-knead bread recipe that makes an almost-ciabatta. 

Depending on how you shape the dough, you can also make a cheat's sourdough using the same technique. (Links updated 28 Dec 2025)

Chilli Crab Kitchen on IG

FRESHLY BAKED

Nothing beats the smell of fresh bread in the morning.  

Last night, I made the dough and left it the fridge for the final proof.  

Up at 7:30 this morning to bake bread but Mum sent me on an errand.  Before I headed out, I removed the dough from the fridge and set it on the dining table to thaw.

Shoved the pan inside a pre-heated 200 degrees C oven at around 8:30AM.  

Got to eat hot, buttery homemade tear-apart butter buns before 9.  How cool is that?

Mum says the bread has "good flavour".  Thanks to the overnight fermentation of the dough.

Bread dough: 250 grams Casarine flour, 1 packet (5 grams) Shirakami Kodama Koubo, 25 grams caster sugar, 2.5 grams salt, 110 grams milk, 70 grams water, 25 grams butter

Filling: 45 grams butter (5 grams x 9)

Chilli Crab Kitchen is on IG.

CHICKY BUNS

I had intended to make Chicky Buns yesterday but life threw a passion fruit seed at me. It hit me hard. 

Still, the pain didn’t stop me from putting together the chicken filling last evening. I also prepared an Old Dough and left it to ferment overnight in the fridge. 

Today, after lunch, I mixed and kneaded the dough.  Then I attended an hour of Pilates.

When I got back about 90 minutes later the dough had finished its first proof.  It was wise use of my time.

*****

Makes 7 (after holding back 115 grams of dough to act as starter for my next batch of bread) 

Bread dough: 17 grams caster sugar, 1 packet (5 grams) Shirakami Kodama Koubo, 5 grams salt, 250 grams Reve de Lapin flour, 30 grams low fat milk, 160 grams water, 10 grams butter (softened), 115 grams Starter 

Pâte fermentée (old dough): 125 grams bread flour, 75 grams water, 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast, 1/4 teaspoon salt 

Placed in a lightly oiled plastic bag to rest overnight in the fridge 

Brine for the chicken thighs: 150ml apple cider, 300ml water, 20 grams salt 

Marinated for 5 hours 

Filling: 2 (should’ve bought 3) boneless chicken thighs (roasted and diced), 1 tablespoon dried cranberries, shredded cheese 

Topping: milk, dried rosemary 

Proofing: 90 minutes + 15 minutes + 75 minutes 

Baking: 200 degrees C, middle rack, 17 min

ALL ZEST UP TUNA BUNS

Made it to the gym at 6:30am thrice in 6 days. Feeling super good about myself.

Today is Deepavali holiday.  I made Tuna Buns.  Spiking the tuna with lime zest and chilli flakes was a real brainwave!

On a trip to Taipei in September, I managed to lay my hands on a pack of Hokkaido bread flour named “The bunny that loves to dream” (爱作梦的小兔子). It came with a recipe. 

I don’t read Japanese so I asked the very nice Aiko from our Tokyo office to translate the names of the ingredients for me. If you're interested, here is what she came back with: 

17 grams sugar
3 grams dried yeast
5 grams salt
6 grams skimmed milk (I’m assuming it’s milk powder)
250 grams flour
180 grams water
10 grams butter, softened

A staff in Champion Hands recommended an instant yeast - Shirakami Kodama Koubo (白神酵母) - suitable for bread machine dough. She suggested 1 packet (5 grams) of said Koubo (yeast) for every 250 grams of flour. 

I kneaded my bread dough by hand using the technique which I learnt at Brettschneider's.

*****

Makes 6

Bread dough: 17 grams caster sugar, 1 packet (5 grams) Shirakami Kodama yeast, 5 grams salt, 250 grams Reve de Lapin flour, 45 grams low fat milk, 135 grams water, 10 grams butter (softened)

Filling: 2 x 150 grams tuna flakes in sunflower oil, 1 small red onion (finely chopped), 1 teaspoon lime zest, 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes, 2 tablespoons Japanese mayonnaise, a pinch of sea salt

Topping: shredded cheese, dried Italian herbs

Proofing: 60 minutes + 15 minutes + 60 minutes

Baking: 200 degrees C, middle rack, 17 minutes

IT'S BEGINNING TO SMELL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

I haven't spent a lot of time in the kitchen in 2018.  Much of the year had been devoted to my Dad who, as you know, was admitted into a nursing home in early January.  In fact, it's hard to believe that the last time that I attended a bread baking class at Brettschneider's Baking & Cooking School was in February 2017.  An entire year has sped me by and I've been too caught up in all my day-to-day craziness to notice.

Today's Christmas Baking is once again sponsored by my very generous boss, Caspar!  We made Stollen, minced pies and fruit cake.  The recipes were fairly easy to follow.

Dean Brettschneider also demonstrated on how to make Panforte.

 



I'm so glad my co-worker, Wedad, asked me to sign up for the class with her.  'Twas a Saturday well spent.

Chilli Crab Kitchen is now on Instagram !

FINALLY FOCACCIA!

Dad is in one of his foul moods - he has been so for the last five days or so.  

A few weeks ago, Dad's bank passbook ran out of pages.  Since he was hard of walking and hearing he did not want to go personally to the bank to get a new passbook.  I explained to him that the bank account is in his name so it would be make sense for him to make a trip.  While we were both in the bank, I enquired if I might apply for new passbooks on Dad's behalf in the future.  Yes, was the answer.  Dad simply needs to place his thumbprint on an authorisation form.  Two bank officers explained this to him separately in Mandarin before Dad affixed his thumbprint.

This week he suddenly felt insecure about the whole thing.  He claims that he didn't sign the form out of his own free will and no one at the bank ever explained anything to him.  Then he even told my Mum that that form would allow me, his daughter, to tap into his bank account and withdraw all his cash!

Each time Dad acts crazy, I'd withdraw into my own bedroom - tormented and depressed - thereby ruining too many perfectly good weekends.  Today, I decided that life is too short to wallow in another person's madness.  Today, nothing would come between and my beloved baking. Today, I made a focaccia that is by far the best one that came out of my kitchen yet.

I keep my focaccia simple.  Light olive oil,  a hint of Italian herbs, a generous scatter of coarse sea salt on the top.  No elaborate topping that would turn it into a pizza.  

Finally, a focaccia that is soft and pillowy, and smells incredible.  I did it.

Bread dough: 300 grams Blue Jacket Bread Flour, 4 grams instant yeast, 4 grams dried Italian herbs, 2 grams caster sugar, 5 grams salt, 1 tablespoon light olive oil, 220 - 240 grams water.  Topping: light olive oil and coarse sea salt

Chilli Crab Kitchen is on IG.

试做 SHIO PAN

台北一禾堂的海盐奶油卷一直很火红。10天前我人在台北，也去朝圣。傍晚6点多，扑了个空。

从台北带回厉害的北海道面粉，今早自己试着做。

觉得还 ok 啦！

Bread dough: 220 grams bread flour, 30 grams Top flour, 3 grams instant yeast, 10 grams caster sugar, 4 grams salt, 180 grams water, 20 grams salted butter

Filling: 40 grams butter (5 grams x 8)

Finish: sea salt, milk for glazing

ADVANCED BREAD BAKING ONE BY DEAN BRETTSCHNEIDER

Back to school to enjoy the 2nd instalment of Christmas gift from my boss, Caspar.  2-day Advanced Bread Baking. Seriously intensive stuff.

Bread making is exhausting.  Was on my feet all day (10AM to 4PM) for both days.  Dean worked the class really hard.

And I loved every minute!

Day 1 (Saturday)

The very first thing we did was got started on the Pain Miche Sourdough.  The prep of sourdough begins with a levain (pre-ferment), a combination of flour and water made several hours (sometimes days) in advance of mixing the final dough.  In view of time, we didn't make the levain in class.  Instead, Dean provided each of us with with the amount of levain required in his recipe.

Miche is a combination of flours, levain, salt and chilled water, mixed together to form a dough.  Then left to proof for 3 hours.  There was a lot going on since we would be making 6 different breads over the two days.  So it was important that we marked our own doughs.

Mixed 11AM - Ferment 3 hours - Knock back 2PM - Rest for 1 hour - Scale 3PM

While Miche was proofing, we made baguettes.  I never knew baguettes could be done so quickly.  

Mixed 12PM - Proof 1 hour - Knock back 1PM - Rest for 30 min - Scale 1:30PM

My baguettes turned out weird-shaped.  Knew I had no talent all along! :-)

Churned out some Feta, Caramelised Garlic, Tomato & Basil Rolls using baguette dough.

Everything else needed long fermentation so the rest of the day was spent prepping for the breads that we would be making the following day:

o Ciabatta. Made a biga (Italian Starter) to be used in making ciabatta the following day.  The biga was covered with plastic wrap and left under our work bench to ferment overnight.

o Fruit & Nut Rye Loaf.  Soaked the grains that would go into the Fruit & Nut Rye Loaf.  This was covered with plastic wrap and left under our work bench.

o Beetroot & Thyme Bread.  Made a Starter dough using flour, instant yeast, dried thyme and cold water.  This was covered with plastic wrap and left under our work bench to ferment overnight.

o Pain Miche Sourdough.  After Miche was knocked back and had a chance to rest (for 1 hour), we placed it in a proofing basket and bid it good evening.  It would spend a night in the fridge for slow fermentation.

Day 2 (Sunday)

9:30AM: Arrived in class and saw that Miche had found its way from fridge to bench, where it had been waiting since 8AM.  

10:30AM: Into the oven goes Miche.

Having left Miche baking happily we proceeded to make the Fruit & Nut Rye Loaf, ciabatta, and Beetroot & Thyme Bread.

Here's how the Pain Miche Sourdough (made with rye, wholemeal and white flours) turned out.

Comparing crumb structures (from the top): baguette, ciabatta, sourdough

BASIC BREAD BAKING BY DEAN BRETTSCHNEIDER

Today I spent a day in Basic Bread Baking at Brettschneider's Baking & Cooking School.  It's Part One of a three-instalment Christmas gift from my boss, Caspar.  Aren't I lucky?

The fun foundation class is thought by Dean Brettschneider himself.  Today we learnt the technique of hand-kneading the dough.

Using the same basic white bread dough, we were able to create two breads of very different texture:

- White Bread loaf that is well-risen, crusty on the outside, soft on the inside.  The crumbs are small and evenly distributed;

- Fougasse that is more of a flatbread with larger, uneven crumbs.

We also made focaccia but mine is hanging its head in shame. :)

My take-away from today's workshop:

(1) If the dough feels very wet and sticky at the beginning, it is normal.  Don't immediately add flour to make it easier to handle.  The ingredients take time to mingle, make friends, and work magic together.

(2) Kneading is essential for a well-risen airy loaf.

(3) The secret of easy and effective kneading by hand is to rest for 30-45 seconds several times during the kneading process. This allows the elastic flour protein to relax a little before further kneading.

(4) For a fluffy loaf with a fine crumb (or 'holes'), the dough is given a "knock-back" in between proofing to expel the gas.

(5) For Fougasse the dough doesn't require knocking back, allowing gas to be trapped, thus creating the porous interior perfect for dipping into soup or soaking up gravy.

(6) Bake loaves (in a tin) on the lowest possible rack of the oven.

(7) Fougasse needs to be baked on the highest rack of the oven.

(8) Baking your bread in a steam oven gelatinizes starch on the outside layer of the dough, producing a bread with a crisp and evenly browned crust.

(9) Baking your bread on a pre-heated pizza stone gives the dough a strong shock of initial heat, puffing up the crust. 

I am very much looking forward to attending the Advanced Bread Baking One - 2 day Intensive.

喘息

忙碌了好几个星期，今天告訴自己一定要小小的喘息一下！

有一整年没自己做面包  感觉生疏了 今天就来做个简易的。

参考 Jamie Oliver 的 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX6K-Z67vI4

用日本凯萨琳高筋粉 Casarine Flour（又称流淚吐司粉 ）做出的focaccia 特别有弹性。

刚烤好 空气充滿香草和淡淡的橄榄油香味。

在忙碌的生活中 希望大家找到最適合自己的紓压方式， 好好地休息！

灰分0.35%  蛋白质 11.6%

Bread dough: 300 grams Casarine flour, 4 grams instant yeast, 4 grams dried Italian herbs, 2 grams caster sugar, 5 grams salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 190 - 210 grams water.  Topping: olive oil and coarse sea salt

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简单就是幸福

昨天应朋友MS 邀请到她家里小聚。因工作的关系MS的先生将在今年低携着一家四口到印尼生活一段时期。

天气持续闷热好多天，前晚拜托老天爷赐点雨水。昨天早上当真下起豪雨， 只好撑伞出门。走在湿答答的路上心里直埋冤：雨就不能聚餐后才下吗？忽然不知怎的 脚下一滑，回过神来已是四脚朝天地躺在行人道上！是老天爷在骂我：没雨水的时候你 complain；雨下了你又嫌下的早啦，到底是想怎样?!

今天是 bank holiday，所以明天（週一）不用去上班 ，真的好开心喔!  将上个週日晚秤好的材料从冰箱里取出，做简单的 double chocolate muffin。能和年迈的父母围着餐桌，看着他们品尝着我亲手做的小点心，也算是一种幸福吧？

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS 巧克力玛芬

Adapted from 我的幸福烘焙廚房: 205道經典烘焙食譜, 完整收藏!

Makes 12 standard-size muffins

140 grams butter

120 grams sugar

Salt

2 eggs

140 grams milk

220 grams cake flour

40 grams Dutch-process cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

100 grams chocolate chips + more for decor

Method: Creaming

Oven temperature: 180ºC / 350ºF

Baking duration: 20 minutes

GLORIOUS MUFFINS

The baking bug beckons!  This afternoon, while Dad fell asleep in his usual armchair, I made muffins.

Most muffin recipes asks for the pans to be filled two-thirds full of batter.  However, I read somewhere that the secret to plump muffins with glorious dome tops is to fill the pans to the brim.  I took that advice and look at those bumps!

I buttered my muffin pans instead of lining them with with paper baking cups because I prefer muffins with a nice crust.

ALL-PURPOSE MUFFINS
From Bake! by Nick Malgieri

Makes 12 standard-size muffins

260 grams all-purpose flour
110 grams sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
110 grams unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 medium egg
240ml full fat milk

Set a rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 190˚C/gas mark 5.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, and set aside.

Pour the butter into a mixing bowl and thoroughly whisk in the egg, then whisk in the milk. Whisk about one third of the flour mixture into the liquid until absorbed. Whisk in another third, again until the liquid is absorbed. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the last of the flour mixture. Transfer the batter to the muffin pan.

Bake the muffins until they are well risen and golden, and the point of a paring knife inserted in the centre of one muffin emerges dry. This will take about 20 minutes. Cool the muffins in the tin on a rack and lift them out when they have cooled completely.

Enjoy!