Teddiursa is a perfect demonstration for a cute Johto Pokemon….that turns into something less cute(I’m looking at you, Ursaring). These adorable little teddy bears with a crescent moon pattern have a simple enough shaped head for me to replicate it in pastry form! Truthfully,I had been putting off this recipe for a minute, just because…
Tag: Yeast
White Sesame Tropezienne
Tropezienne has always been one of my sister’s favorites. Fluffy brioche that is brushed with a simple syrup, finished with pastry cream/lemon curd and fresh berries. Basically a shortcake using brioche instead of a biscuit or cake is the simplest way of explaining it. Ever since she had it in France and told me about…
Dijonnaise de Chocolat
So this is probably the most random thing to admit to, but I grew up on shoujou anime(aka CardCaptor Sakura, a pinch of Sailor Moon, and Mirumo De Pon to name the main ones I watched), and there was an anime I was exposed to called “Yumeiro Patissiere”, which was a baking anime. I had…
Confit Garlic Knots with Chili-Lemon Crema
Back in the tail end of 2017, a freshly-minted 23-year Fred was forced to go to a department outing at his first job, on his birthday. Because his boss at the time decided it would be a great idea to plan a department outing on his birthday without telling him. So beyond the fact that…
Ube Wool Buns
I have always adored the aesthetic of wool bread. The dough is scored repeatedly on one side then rolled up prior to baking to create these really pretty ridges on top of the dough. There is just something about that appearance that takes me back to Asian bakeries. I wanted to make sure that this…
Sourdough Pita
The initial idea for this recipe came about because my friend Sylvie was nonstop raving about how good the sourdough at Bavel in LA is. To quote, she said it was the fluffiest pita bread she ever had. And that piqued my interest. I happened to own the Bavel cookbook, so I looked up their…
Brioche and pesto buns
I have been meaning to make these for a couple months now. A few years ago, my sister and I were watching Mind of a Chef, and more specifically, an episode that featured chef April Bloomfield. In that episode, she was making these “breakfast buns”, which consisted of puff pastry and a broccoli rabe pesto….
Pandan Melon Pan
Melon pan is probably one of the most iconic Japanese pastries out there. Soft fluffy bread enrobed in a crunchy, cookie-like shell, these breads are just all kinds of textural fun to eat! If you have ever had Mexican conchas or Chinese/Taiwanese pineapple buns, these are quite similar to those. The name “melon pan” refers…
Herb and mushroom focaccia
So this recipe was actually inspired by a dinner I had at Etta in Culver City. Originally from Chicago, Etta is a modern Italian restaurant that features a lot of upscale versions of Italian classics, namely pizzas, pastas, and bread. The focaccia I had there was super pillowy and light, while speckled with tons of…
Turkish Simit
I first heard about simit years ago when I was binging The Chef’s Line on Netflix. The show is a cooking competition between home cooks and the team from a restaurant, and each week centers around a different restaurant and their style of cuisine. There was a Turkish week where I just learned a lot…
Babka sticky buns with chocolate cake ganache and miso butterscotch
I literally only came up with this recipe because I had a lot of leftover sweet potato paste from making the hiyoko manju. I also had a cake order for a chocolate cake, and whenever I make my layer cakes, I always end up with a decent amount of cake scraps. So with leftover sweet…
Maritozzo buns with cream and Earl Grey tea
I have been wanting to make these buns for what feels like a century(in actuality, closer to 2 months). The idea of these fluffy buns with a perfect line of cream, it just sounds like eating a cloud! For those unfamiliar with what maritozzo are, they are Roman(Italian) bread buns that are stuffed with cream….
Thai Tea-Milk Bread Sticky Buns
So this recipe only came about because I had a ton of Thai tea powder, and I had to get rid of it somehow. I brainstormed a bunch of ideas, like macarons, panna cotta, ice cream, basque cheesecake, and pound cake, but then I realized it had been a while since I made anything with…
Pistachio and chocolate milk bread babkas
So when I was making this recipe, I wanted to do something babka-esque, and as I was measuring out the dry ingredients to make a brioche, it dawned upon me that maybe doing a milk bread babka could be a lot of fun! With brioche, it is rich, dense, and buttery. With milk bread, you…
Matcha bundt babka
Babka are always so much fun to make, and every more fun to eat! I wanted to do a fun little take on the classic babka, and use a matcha filling instead of the traditional chocolate, and bake them in my doughnut molds instead of the loaf pans, just to give them more of a…
Bright lights: a plated dessert
I really wanted to come up with a dessert that showcases the beauty of dairy and light flavors. Since I was making milk bread, I decided to transform that into something akin to a baba(a brioche that is soaked in a rum syrup), but instead of doing the traditional rum soak, I decided to go…
Moussaka pizza
One of my favorite dishes from Greece is moussaka. It’s basically layers of ground meat, typically lamb, sometimes beef, stewed in this tomato sauce with eggplant, potatoes, and a creamy béchamel on top of that is broiled until golden brown. With the exception of the potato, honestly, all of those things could be incorporated into…
Kouign amann egg tarts
When I was figuring out some Easter themed desserts, one thing I couldn’t get out of my head was the idea of doing something egg-themed. It was either that or something rabbit themed, but I’ve done that for the past two years and kind of wanted to change it up. So instead, I went with…
Miso apple pie sticky buns with Calpico cream
So the flavors of this dessert came about from a lot of random things coming together. While in quarantine, I have limited amounts of butter and flour, so I was conceptualizing something where I could combine concepts to not only be original, but to conserve my supplies while hitting on all of the cravings that…
Kuromitsu kouign-amann
Kouign-amann, pronounced almost like “queen a man”, is a popular French/Breton pastry, originating from the Brittany region. I remember first learning about it from “Chef Steps” on YouTube, back in high school, where I horrendously butchered the pronunciation of it because I don’t speak French. The last time I successfully made kouign-amann was spring break, during…
Freddy's Harajuku 