Sunday, October 01, 2006

Slowing Down

Yes, I'm am very slow on my baking lately. Seems like my brain cells are dying, with no fresh ideas on what to bake. I usually will make one item on Wednesdays after work, but last Wednesday I reached home, flipped through some books, surfed some websites, and still had no 'urge' to step into my kitchen, ended up I became a couch potato that evening, sigh...

Squeezing my brain juices dry today, finally made something simple and straightforward - Sardine Puffs

Pardon the burnt sardine filling at the edges, through this I learnt that it's better to keep the filling sealed than exposed to prevent burning and drying out.

Since my baking 'drought' has spread to my bread making as well , I'm on the look-out for loaves displayed in bakeries and delis. Here I present an exotic find:

Don't you find this loaf very intriguing? It's actually made from squid ink, from the new French deli Archangel in Great World City. This jet black loaf first caught my eye a few weeks back, when I had dinner at Archangel. I had a crab sandwich made with this loaf, simply because I couldn't give such an interesting bread a miss. I've seen squid-ink pasta, risotto and paella before, but in bread, this is a first.

In case you're wondering, there is no taste of ink in this bread(not that I've tasted ink before). Instead, it has a slight garlicky fragrance. According to the deli, it is infused with chilli as well, though I couldn't really taste that. All in all, it is one loaf which I would buy again, because it has a nice crusty exterior with a soft crumb, just the kind I like.

PS: what you see in the pictures is the true color of the bread, no photoshop effects. Total 'black-out' right?

14 comments:

Edith said...

Squid ink!!!! hmmmm i am really wondering how this taste like?

Gracio said...

interesting squid ink bread!! at 1st i tot it was the photo shop effect until i saw ur note. haha! I love sardine too! Waa,now Im more n more excited to come back already. :)

Gattina Cheung said...

The "drought" also spread to the States Angie, I can't lift up my fingers to open a bag of flour, ha!
Your sardine puff is a feast to my eye! Then the squid ink loaf is a challenge indeed! But you still able to present it in an artistic way!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Wah, really hard to tell this is the true color of the bread, it looks like black and white!

Love your sardine puffs, yum!

Unknown said...

Edith, get one loaf and give it a try :p

Grace, thanks. Me too, I can just have rice with sardines and I’ll be happy :)

Gattina, same same here, that’s why no breads for a long time, at least have this black bread to ‘tide over’, LOL. Here’s pouring some water to you to flood the drought.

Ching, thanks for liking my puffs :)

D said...

Heya,

A friend of mine tried out the roast meats stall at M.Square's foodcourt and gave it a 8.5/10. I have to really try out that place soon! Thanks again for the recommendation.

Cheers,
D

LittleHands said...

Angie, the sardine puff looks great. Me too - rice/bread with sardine chilli padi is so appetising. :-)

Say, what program ('Baking' program or ??) did you use for this puff? The colour of the puff looks so nice.

Anonymous said...

Very nice... last year in S'pore I tried curry puffs and loved them.
Ciao.

Sammy said...

Aiyo Angie don't worry! It's okay if you don't feel like baking. Baking should be something you enjoy! Just take a small break and relax and the mood will eventually come! :)

Unknown said...

Jolene, thanks :) I use the 'convection' mode. How's your oven hunting?

Orchidea, thanks for dropping by.

YD, thanks for your encouragement :)

LittleHands said...

'Convection' mode = 'Traditional' mode? Sorry, I blur blur lah. 1st time considering this type of oven. Have you tried the 'baking' mode before? I'm wondering when using only the back heat, how will the pastry turns out to be. Oven hunting going quite well :-)

LiquidShaDow said...

Interesting heads up. Will check out Archangel for this.

Unknown said...

Jolene, yup. 'Baking' mode I haven't tried, almost all my cakes/bakes stuff are baked on the traditional mode, I find it's sufficient. You're right that the 'baking' mode is suited for pastries, accroding to the manual, but turning on the fan use more electricity.

LiquidShaDow, thanks for dropping by, yea, do check out Archangel :)

LittleHands said...

Oh ya, fan = more electricity, now that you mention it. Thank you very much for the info :-)