2021 COVID Year 2 Just Flew Past (with bread making & basil planting)

 As we welcome 2022 with brighter hopes, I was looking back at the last two years and wonder how they just flew by. Two years of many changes, not just due to COVID. Nonetheless it was also a good time to reflect and try new things (at home) for new experiences.

COVID ART Test

Basil Planting

I have never been a green thumb and most of my plants died regardless of how much attention I gave them. So it came as a big surprise when my Lemon Basil plants grew with many green leaves. They did grew up somewhat "bent" instead of straight but heh they grew well! One of the basil plants even flowered! These little white flowers do look quite pretty and I look forward to seeing the basil fruits. Not sure how they look like though.

Basil plant with flower

Bread Making

I was surprised that I actually enjoyed making bread. I didn't have much hope of making good tasty bread when I first started. Indeed my first bun actually felt more "scone-like" rather than the normal bread texture. I think it is an issue of yeast control. I didn't let the bread dough rest enough.

Scone-like bread

The second attempt was not much better, although the bread buns gave a slightly more "bread" feel to it. It felt wasteful to throw them away so I ate some.

For my third attempt, I used a bread tin and followed the recommended timing for the dry yeast to do their proper job. The humid warm weather in Singapore does not create the best environment for bread making. The recommended 1 hour of dough resting in the room "temperature" is meant for those temperate climate with 25 degree Celsius I guess. At the 30 minutes mark, the dough had risen too much that I hastily put the entire concoction into the fridge to cool it down. 

The texture is much better compared to the earlier buns versions but honestly speaking still not good enough. Again the control of temperature and timing for yeast in bread making is critical.

Heh but with many failed attempts, I think I got it right on my fourth attempt! Letting the bread dough slowly rise in the fridge for more than 2 hours helped in the bread baking. This bread finally "tasted" like bread, and the crust gave that satisfactory "crunch" when I bite into the slices. The crust was a bit too thick because I left it in the oven longer to 'brown' it. I should try other methods next time.

Sliced Bread

After the fourth attempt, I tried making one with chocolate. The bread came out fine but the chocolate taste was not sufficient. Ok I guess practice and efforts are the basic ingredients for bread making. At least this side hobby is one good thing that came out of this dreadful COVID pandemic.

Stay Safe!