My new MOKA

I have a mild obsession with Starbucks. Yes, I am among the thousands who have helped turn Starbucks from a single café in a sleepy town in America to a multimonster billion dollar company it is now. My love for their vanilla ice latte has required me to spend tens of dollars weekly. I spent my days thinking of it, and my evenings hunting for it. I began my quest of making the latte at home by first buying the coffee grinds from Starbucks. The espresso roast is the base for most of their drinks, so that’s what I got. The store that I went to was unfortunately out of the espresso roast which comes in vacuum sealed 250g packs which they open and grind for you. The size of the grind depends on the method you use to make the espresso. I vaguely remember having a drip pot at home so they ground it for me in the coarsest size. Since they were out of the vacuum sealed bags of espresso roast, the barista used the store’s supply from their machines and put it in an ordinary paper bag, throwing in another 120g free. This is in keeping with their wonderful customer service policy that you’ll only fully understand after reading this book. Anyway, I brought the grinds home, couldn’t find my drip pot and experimented with ways to make a shot of espresso. All which failed, too hot water extracts the bitter oils in the coffee. I looked at some espresso machines online and went to Robinson’s to look at them. Finally, the cheap and easy solution.. My MOKA pot! $60 for the 3 cup size from Takashimaya. Refer to diagram below: Just fill B with the grounds, A with water, put on stove and wait about 5 mins and C will fill with freshly brewed espresso. A general rule of thumb for making the ice latte is 1/3 espresso, 1/3 milk, 1/3 ice. Add sugar to taste into the hot espresso before ading cold milk and ice. Now H and I are enjoying our daily latte fixes! Now the only problem is how to drink 320g of coffee grinds in the 3 day limit Starbucks recommends you use their coffee by after they’re ground…

 

Kaiser Roll

I’m still in a bready mood. I had wonderful sticky buns, pesto filled ciabatta and a pain au chocolat at simply bread with an iced latte and an ice chocolate. I made this wonderful Kaiser rolls about 3 weeks ago. I couldn’t estimate the size though so this came out rather big. And I didn’t have a kaiser stamp to make that star pattern on the top so I just split a cross on the top. We had these crusty sesame rolls with feta cheese in olive oil with basil and chilli flakes. There were really good.

 the rolls unbaked, they were then baked in an oven with a tray of water to generate steam for the crisp crust

Kaiser Roll 

Sponge

350g bread flour

4g dried yeast

210ml water

Mix with electric mixture with dough hook attached for 3 mins at low speed. I use the yeast in packets which come in 11 g packs and put roughly half in the sponge and half in the dough. Store in airtight container and leave to ferment for 4-5hours.

Dough

150g bread flour

5g dried yeast

2 tsp salt

110 ml water

1 tsp butter 

When the sponge is ready,repare the dough. Put all dry ingredients into the mixer and mix in water. Slowly add sponge in pieces into the dough and mix at medium speed for 3 mins. Add butter and mix for another 5-7 mins. Rest the dough for 10 mins. Shape into balls, dip into a clean bowl of water and then into a bowl filled with sesame seeds. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cut a cross across each bun. Prove in a warm place for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 230C, bake with a tray of water to generate steam for 12-15 mins or till golden brown.