Month: May 2020

“Every day can be a better day, despite the challenge. All you gotta do is leave it better than you found it. It’s gonna get difficult to stand, but hold your balance. I just say whatever ’cause there is no way around it ’cause. Everyone falls down sometimes, but you just gotta know it’ll all be fine.”  Sunday Best, Surfaces

Traveling is my way to escape from ordinary life, to breathe and discover new places, uses, customs and food. I always wanted to go to Belgium in spring, not only to visit Brussels, the UE capital, but also to go to Liege, “the gaufres home”! There are two different types of gaufres: the Liège gaufres have a thick batter, a longer processing and the “pearl sugar” gives this typical taste and crunchy; Brussels gaufres are simpler and their recipe is more popular, but sometimes “the simple things are the best”!

This recipe is to make “Brussels style” gaufres 😉

Stay tuned!

Sara

S’ gaufres

Ingredients

• 170 g milk
• 140 g butter
• 3 g salt
• 160 g all-purpose flour
• 90 g white egg (n.3)
• 20 g granulated white sugar

Procedure

Heat the butter, the milk and the salt in a small pot: when boil it, remove from the heat and add the flour. Beat the white egg and the sugar until looks like softly whipped cream; add the batter in 2 times. Using your gaufrier instruction, makes the best gaufres ever!

Tips:

• 160 g all purpose-flour: 100 g all purpose-flour + 60 g wholemeal flour / buckwheat
• 160 g all purpose-flour: 130 g all purpose-flour + 30 g unsweetned cocoa powder

Remember, #bakeforlife! 😉

“Y para qué llorar, pa’ qué, si duele una pena, se olvida. Y para qué sufrir, pa’ qué, si así es la vida, hay que vivirla. Voy a vivir el momento para entender el destino. Voy a escuchar en silencio, para encontrar el camino. Voy a reír, voy a bailar, voy a gozar, Vivir mi vida!” Vivir mi vida, Marc Anthony

Today, I want share with you my little goal of the last year, the first place like Best Female Pastry chef at WPS in Milan. I always think “I can do more” but sometimes we need to enjoy the personal success because this is unique and it will never come back!

The Baci di Dama recipe is my cup of tea, the best piece of my WPS selection.

“To make a dream come true, you have to open the drawer and not keep it closed.” SB

Stay tuned!

Sara

BrȃnKiss

Hazelnut and cocoa nibs Baci di dama with a layer of Ruby chocolate.

Ingredients for Bacio di Dama:

• 100 g all-purpose flour
• 100 g light brown sugar
• 100 g cold butter
• 100 g hazelnut flour
• 15 g cocoa nibs flour
• 1 g salt
• 10 g sifted hardboiled yolk

Procedure:

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and, using your fingertips, mix until the mixture is crumbly. Chill the “baci di dama” for 1 hour in a refrigerator. Remove from the fridge and roll out the dough to a thickness of 0,3 cm and, using the cookie cutter 4×4, place the “baci di dama” on  oven tray with baking paper  and bake them at 155°C (311 F) for about 8 min.

How to temper Ruby chocolate

Bring the Ruby chocolate more or less at 42 ° C (107.6 F) in the microwave and pour 2/3 of it on the marble table to work it with the steel spatula; add the chocolate in the bowl and if the temperature is 29.5 ° C (85.1 F) you can proceed to create 4cm wide acetate strips (3 mm thick) to cut, as soon as it is slightly crystallized, 4×4 squares.

How to assemble the Brankiss

You can assemble 2 Baci di Dama squares and 1 Ruby chocolate square with a little bit of tempered Ruby chocolate.

Remember, #bakeforlife 😉

“You know what spreads faster than any virus? It’s fear and when it comes to fear, you can either forget everything and run, or you can face everything and rise. I believe we gonna face everything and rise. I believe that we will win. We can lose the battle, but we gon’ win the war.” I believe that we will win, Pitbull

After 2 months, it was strange to go back to work. People are not ready to go out, to smile, to start again: the sun is shining, the flowers are growing up but there is a dark atmosphere.

This is the time to face everything and rise.

My muffins recipe is extremely simple and perfect for everyday baking: these sweets will always make you happy, even after a hard day 😉

Stay tuned!

Sara

S’ best ever muffin

Ingredients

• 240 g whole milk plain yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 2 g salt
• 60 g evo oil
• 50 g vegetable oil
• 100 g granulated white sugar
• 100 g light brown sugar
• 260 g all-purpose flour
• 11 g baking powder
• 150 g dark chocolate (chopped)

Procedure

Beat the eggs, the yogurt,  the salt, the sugar and the oil in a large bowl with a whisk (or you can use hand mixer / electric mixer); then, add the flour and the baking powder in 2 times; stir in the chopped dark chocolate.  Fill the muffin cases two-thirds full and bake at 165°C (329 F) for about 25 min.

Tips:

• 260 g all-purpose flour: 160 g all-purpose flour + 100 g wholemeal flour, for wholemeal muffins
• 260 g all-purpose flour: 200 g all-purpose flour + 60 g bitter cocoa, for chocolate muffins
• 150 g dark chocolate: 150 g milk chocolate / white chocolate / dried fruit, for new flavors!

Remember, #bakeforlife 😉

“Da quando all’asilo non volevo che mi lasciassi, a quando nei compiti volevo che mi aiutassi. Mi hai insegnato a stare in piedi e ad incassare i colpi. E se di me ora voglio renderti orgogliosa è perché so che per me hai rinunciato ad ogni cosa. Mai lascerò che qualcuno ci divida e se al mio fianco ti avrò, accetterò ogni sfida. Oh amor de mi vida, sei il mio angelo, fammi da guida.” Amor de mi vida, Sottotono

An italian song to show my love to my mum. This is not my kind of music but the lyric describes a deep connection between mother and son/daughter.

She loves chocolate, so I decided to bake for her an “indulgent dessert“: the perfect brownie.

This Brownie recipe does contain lots of chocolate, so it has a deep chocolate flavor with a wonderfully moist texture. Only for chocolate addicted like me or my mother 😉

And you, what will you bake for the mother’s day?

Stay tuned!

Sara

S’ perfect brownie

Ingredients

• 260 g butter
• 400 g chocolate 60%
• 2 g salt
• 4 eggs
• 160 g granulated white sugar
• 160 g light brown sugar
• 27 g unsweetened cocoa
• 80 g all-purpose flour
• 11 g baking powder

Procedure

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Remove it from heat, add the chopped chocolate and the salt (stirring with spatula). Next, whisk in the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder.

Beat the eggs and the sugar in a large bowl with an hand mixer (or you can use the electric mixer) on high speed until this mixture has tripled in volume, and looks like softly whipped cream. Add the batter in 2 times.  Pour into the prepared pan (26 cm) with baking paper, smoothing the top with the spatula.

Bake at 180°C (356 F) for about 10 min, then, at 150 °C (302 F) for about 20 min. Remove from oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Serve the brownie at room temperature or chilled.

Tips: The quality of the chocolate and the butter you use will affect the taste of your brownie. So, buy the best you can afford!

Remember, #bakeforlife 😉