Biskut Telinga (Yee Chai Peng)

I made these a few weeks ago but did not have the chance to blog it till now. Now, what exactly are these? Some call it ear biscuits and some call it hats due to its shape, this is one of the many traditional biscuits I used to enjoy as a kid. No Oreos or Famous Amos then but just good old hand crafted biscuits. Until I made these, I never knew or even questioned what was in them, now I know and now I can keep these biscuits going on for a little longer before they dissappear in time. My hat off to these tasty little morsels!

 

8 Plaited Loaf (Chollah)

Inspired by the latest episode of the great British bake-off, a baking contest for amateur bakers (for those of you not familiar with UK tv), I tried my hand at making the technical challenge which is the 8 plaited or braided loaf. Loaves with this type of braiding is also known as Chollah or Challah which is a special Jewish braided bread eaten on Sabbath and holidays.With instructions very like a knitting pattern, I think I managed a fairly passable plait, it would probably be shot down by the competition judge as rubbish looking but I'm rather proud of it! The recipe for the dough though was not the same as the one used in the show but a ThangZhong method bread recipe that I've used before.

 

 

The baked loaf, I used a milk wash rather than a egg wash



Cross section of the loaf, light and fluffy



Deep breath before attempting the twists

 

Second proof before baking