Rosemary Focaccia Bread

I like making bread.  No, wait, I love making bread!  It's so meditative- the mixing, kneading, proofing and baking are just soothing to the soul.  And, of course, eating fresh fragrant home baked bread is such a rewarding experience; there's no better bread than fresh from the oven!

I wanted to share my new favorite bread recipe, Big Bubbly Focaccia, from that most fabulous of bread sites, King Arthur Baking.  I initially tried making this focacia because 1) we looove focaccia and 2) it was King Arthur's 2025 Recipe of the Year (which is a total thing!).  After making it the first time I was flabbergasted by the amazing and easy to achieve results.  This focaccia bread is absolutely fabulous- so airy, tall and light with a most tender and flavorful crumb and a wonderfully golden crispy crust.

We are so in love with this Rosemary Focaccia Bread and have been making it over and over ever since!

Papos Secos Portuguese Rolls

One fine day not long ago my hubby asked me if I knew how to make the kind of bread that is used for the famous Macau Pork Chop Bun 澳門豬扒包.  Pork Chop Bun is a super popular snack in Macau, consisting of a deliciously marinated fried pork chop placed inside a bun (locally called a piglet bun or 豬仔包) that is crispy on the outside and deliciously soft on the inside.  Macau's own version of the hamburger, lol.

I was so very tickled pink cuz hubby never asks me to make bread.  He just be weird like that.  So I dove into the research.  What was this mysterious bread that made the Macau pork chop bun so special?

It turns out, I believe, that this bread bun originated from the traditional Portuguese bread rolls called Papos Secos.  Makes sense, since Macau was a Portuguese colony for over 400 years. To test my theory, I made some papos secos and am quite pleased to report that if this bread isn't it, it's darn tootin' yummilicious enough to be it and more!  Bread that's crispy on the outside but oh so soft and luscious on the inside, we were hooked so hard on this bread at once.   And it's the perfect bread for sandwiching a pork chop or whatever else you want in your gosh darn sandwich.  And, ultimate proof of the pudding, hubby has asked for it again and again!

Keto Almond Flour Bread

Dear readers, have you heard the term 'keto'?  Well, I had seen the term floated about for a while now but I hadn't understood what it meant til lately.  It turns out that keto is a type of diet that utilises the process of 'ketosis' which is what occurs when your body burns stored fat instead of glucose broken down from consumed food.  Burning stored fat can help weight loss and increase energy.  Which is great if you want to lose weight, amiright?

So how does one go about this keto diet?  There is a ton of info on the internet if you want to go in-depth but basically it means eating normally but severely limiting carbohydrate intake.  Carbs breaks down to glucose, you see.

We've been trying to lower our carb intake, sorta tip toeing into a keto diet, and one of the first things that we made specifically for this reason was this gorgeous carb free, gluten free Keto Almond Flour Bread.  Perfect for a keto diet and we couldn't believe how easy and yummy this bread is!

Pandan Bread 香蘭麵包

This delicious bread is made by using the natural flavor and coloring from the pandan leaf.   Yes, that's right, an actual leaf!  The pandan leaf is so packed with flavor and color that it is used to flavor all kinds of foods from the sweet to the savory!

My little girl has always loved the floral, vanilla-y, grassy fragrance and flavor of the pandan leaf and so has long begged me to make her some homemade pandan bread.  Finally I have gotten around to it, coincidentally just in time for St. Patrick's Day.  Make yourself some lucky Pandan Bread 香蘭麵包: deliciously aromatic, soft and fluffy, and verily luckily green!

Homemade Bagel

I've been baking more and more bread over the years.  And happily, as I bake more often, I find that I've been getting better at it.  Yay!  It's the best feeling, really, to be able to provide fresh bread for my little family.  Today I want to share this homemade bagel recipe that's one of our favorite breads.  

First let me tell you that when I first started making bagels I really struggled with it.  I tried different recipes and methods and still my bagels came out really 'meh'.  It was pretty frustrating but I persisted, cuz, duh, bagel ♥️!   

But ultimately my efforts paid off.  Finally my bagels came out the way I wanted.  Every time!  I'm confident that if you follow this recipe you will end up with delicious homemade bagels with a delightfully dense and chewy interior and a shiny and crunchy crust.  Yummilicious!

Pork Floss Buns 豬肉鬆包

Have you ever tried Chinese pork floss, 豬肉鬆?  If not, you're totally missing out cuz pork floss is the bomb and it's the meat version of cotton candy!  Pork floss is meat that is stewed in soy sauce and spices until imbued with flavor and fall apart tender, then teased apart and cooked again until completely dry, in the process becoming a light tender fluff that's packed with intense and incredible yummilicious meat flavor.  It's so good that you just always want to have a bit more!  

Pork floss is used inside rice rolls, or eaten with congee, or with a bit of bread.  One of my favorite (and easy!) tricks is to grab a slice of bread, slaughter on some butter, add some pork floss, roll it up and it's a quick delicious and very popular snack in our household.  Even my wee cat loves the stuff!  

This time I decided to go a bit more formal and make the proper Pork Floss buns, just like you can buy at the bakery!  A soft enriched bun with a hidden heart of pork floss as well as a luscious piling of pork floss on top, this bun is as good looking as it is tasty!

Chinese Cha Siu Bao Roasted Pork Buns 叉燒包

A hot Chinese bun is a wonderful thing.  Hot, steaming and fragrant, each soft pillowy bun encases a delicious filling, sometimes just a bite of savoury meat, sometimes a yummy mix of meat and vegetables and sometimes just a sweet bit of something.

When I was little my dearest grannie 奶奶 would make buns for us girls all the time.  We were skinny Chinese girls in the growing stage and boy-O could we eat alot!  I loved the meat and veggie buns she made (I could eat 3 buns in one go!) but my favorites were the buns stuffed with red bean paste.  To my young taste buds red bean paste tasted as good as chocolate!

This particular type of Chinese bun, the Cha Siu Bao Roasted Pork Bun 叉燒包, is not something my grannie ever made herself but, since living in HK, it's become one of my favorites.  Chinese roasted pork Cha Siu 叉燒 by itself is already soooo good.  But luscious roasted pork cha siu, diced into a deliciously sweet and savory filling as the secret heart of a warm and incredibly soft and hot Chinese bun?  Ammmaazing!

Chinese Custard Buns 奶黃包

A Chinese Custard Bun 奶黃包, white fluffy bread wrapped tenderly about a gorgeous center of creamy milk and egg custard...yummmilicious...!!  Sunshine in a bun, that's what it is.  You can't bite into one of these buns and not get a smile on your face.  

This delectable treat is usually only to be enjoyed when one can spare a leisurely afternoon to enjoy Cantonese Dim Sum but no longer!  Now you won't have to wait for the dim sum cart to roll around, you can enjoy it anytime you want at home with our easy to make Chinese Custard Bun recipe!

Silver Thread Buns 銀絲卷

This playful and tasty bread is a great childhood favorite of mine.  When I was little we used to get to eat it only when we happened to go to Shanghai or Northern Chinese cuisine restaurants, a special treat.  

These Silver Thread Buns 銀絲卷 (or Gold Thread Buns 金絲卷 if deep fried to a golden crispy brown) were a real treat for us kids, delicate fluffy strands of sweet white bread all wrapped inside a bun, a surprise every time!  It was so much fun to slowly tear into the bread and pick out the delicate threads of bread, eating them slowly, one amazing stick at a time.  There's nothing like food you can play with, amirite? 

But, shucks, I gotta admit that I still secretly love to pick these buns apart now that I'm grown up.  (Shhh...don't tell!)  The only difference nowadays is that I can make these Silver Thread Buns myself and enjoy their sweet, delicate white fluffiness (and play with my food!) in the comfort of home!

Indian Chapatis Rotis

I looove Indian breads!  I always make my 老公 annoyed when we go to an Indian restaurant because, in the end, all I really want to eat is the amazing bread!  Hey, I can't help it if the darn bread is so yummilicious, amiright?!  

To go along with our home cooked mini Indian feast which so far has included the delightful Spicy Indian Potato Cauliflower Aloo Gobi and the meatilicious Indian Spicy Baked Chicken  Masaledar Murghi, I decided to make homemade Indian Chapatis Rotis.  I can't tell you how much fun we had at our Indian feast, each of us eating our fresh warm chewy (homemade!) chapatis wrapped around choice tidbits of tender tasty curried meats and veggies!  Plus it's easy to make these delicious flat breads!

Best Banana Bread

If you're anything like us you'll know what I mean when I say that you've got to keep the cookie jar supplied.  I don't like to buy sweet treats from the stores, preferring to make them myself.  But the family eats the sweet treats as fast as I can make them!  And oftentimes when I'm busy doing this and that it always feels like I don't have enough time.  

That's why I love, love, love this banana bread recipe so much!  It's really easy, quick and, best of all, this Best Banana Bread 香蕉麵包 comes out tender and moist and super duper yummilicious every time!