Continuing the experiment in my kitchen: sourdough pretzel

I feel that the winter of New York has come to the peak (maybe one of the peaks) of its power recently. Oh, yeah, I should mention the 'happening' snowstorm this week- yay snow-white New York/nah,,, snow-ruined traffic...

I'm always so late in sensing what's going on. Like this time, I didn't even do my regular weekly grocery shopping, while all my friends go crazy stocking up their fridge (btw, it was said that the electricity system might shut down because of the snow) and got back telling me that supermarkets were empty...

Luckily, until now things are fine. The graduate school is closed for today (Tuesday) but lab buildings are all open lol. I'm enjoying looking at the now through my window, writing this blog and procrastinating to go to work lol...

Excited about the snow, I'm actually the kinda of person who hates coldness to death (a leftover effect of an extremely unforgettable, chilled camping trip.) So since the winter came, I have cut most of my outdoor activities out. My typical weekends now normally include some leftover labwork, some youtube time, and baking!

I'm obsessed with chewy&crunchy texture when it comes to bread, crunchy crusts, bagels and PRETZEL!!! (which gives you both). For this recipe, my secret ingredient to give the perfect brown crust is lye wash. Dissolve 30g lye in 1000ml water, soak your shaped pretzel doughs in for ~30s, bake them at 400F for 20min, and voila~

I used a similar recipe making these bagels.

All recipes using lye wash also say something like "lye is EXTREMELY dangerous so take EXTRA cautions!" Ah I know, it is just like doing experiment in the kitchen. Wait, experiment- I can handle it XD

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First bread in my new kitchen: Thomas Keller's multigrain batard

Follow my blog with Bloglovin Isn't spring the moving season? Yes, to me I guess as I've been moving for two years in a row at this time of year. Sadly I finally moved out from the glorious upper east side of New York after being there for 4 years (can't believe! is it that long already??), to the "humble" Queens.. However, after I moved in, I'm starting to love my neighborhood. There is actually quite a few to explore and to discover (I mean, hmm, restaurant) in Queens. Indeed, I can't just improvise to make a call to order some Chinese food delivered to my door, or walk to the French bakery a few blocks away whenever I want. Luckily I can opt to make my own. With a good multigrain bread, some jam/spread, slices of good cheese, I am considering myself having a perfect breakfast/brunch. Of course, the world is even better if there is a cup of tea :) Multigrain batards are the most frequently-ordered bread I do in store- they're crust...

How to feed A BOYFRIEND when you have no intention to cook

I had almost given up cooking before my boyfriend! I've always been enjoying spending time in the kitchen, but, often time, I just gave in to my laziness. Plus, I had my perfect excuses: 1. I'm a busy phD student; 2. I'm spending most of my "kitchen time" baking. So I'm really used to a rather simple meal plan myself: homemade bread for breakfast, salad for lunch and yogurt for dinner. (I try to balance the protein and starch in it, so, don't worry, I can totally be filled up.) With all my passion (and time), I made bread for myself and cakes for friends. However, all these routine somehow changed when I started to take on the responsibility to feed someone- someone who is an ultimate meat lover, who hates salad (I mean, all the green leaves), who would never join my meal plan. Alas, the game completely changed- only I'm still the lazy girl as I've always been. So I came up with a couple of tricks for the "game": 1. Make it simple...

The lesson from those pancakes, ur... green tea crepe cake, I mean, Green Tea Mille Crêpes

I don't know if it's just the hypes among us trendy New Yorkers, but suddenly all my friends are talking about this bakery called Lady M. It even become a must-try activity in my friends' list when some of them come to NYC. So I can't help but wonder, what's the magic about Lady M? Of course as a phD. student who solves problems by trying them out (rephrase: as a FOODIE who cannot resist to try anything yummy), I waited in the line and finally got to try their signature Green Tea Mille Crêpes. It was worth waiting, the cake was nice with my favorite green Tea and an interesting texture. However, are all the hypes and craziness about this cake really worthy? I wasn't sure... I was expecting something heavenly. Then I looked up their webpage and saw their description about the cake: Fine green tea powder is infused into every element of our delicate Green Tea Mille Crêpes, a sight to behold with no less than twenty lacy thin crêpes enveloping the light...

A touch of Claire- baking, cooking& life

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