Cute Panda Bread
It's been a long while since I had a post. I have been wanting to write and to bake... but somehow it was difficult to summon energy for it.
I began to wonder how I want my life to be - to fill it with work, or at times allow myself to be idle and dream of cupcakes, cookies and the many things I want to bake in my kitchen.
And it was timely that I came to read this article by Tim Kreider. He talked about people who are afraid of having nothing to do, and therefore they try to fill their time with many things, and making sure they always have SOMETHING to do. These are the people whom you want to invite for lunch, and they would say "I'm busy" or "I'm sorry. I have too much work to do." Tim described this sense of busyness as being being imposed onto the person by themselves. I must admit that article got me a bit uncomfortable, and to question the way I use my time.
He then went on to talk about the beauty of being idle, and I'll share with you my favourite part:
"The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration." - Tim Kreider
This is but a simple reminder that when one has nothing to do, one may achieve a lot more.
Guess I'm not so bad afterall. I did manage to bake occassionally *gives a guilty face*, and I fulfilled my wish to bake this cute panda bread too.
Learning from my previous experience, which I felt the amount stated by the original recipe for the dough was too little, I decided to fall back on my milk loaf recipe. Hmm... but I encountered the same problem when trying to mix in the colors for my dough. What I got was a marbled colour, and I almost wanted to give up and just go to the Singapore Zoo to get some panda buns instead.
Fortunately, once baked, the color still looked alright!
Recipe
Bread dough - from milk loaf recipe
Coloring of the Panda Bread
1 tbsp green tea powder mixed with 2 tsp hot water
31/2 tsp of cocoa powder mixed with 11/2 tsp of hot water
Method
I followed the steps from lilmizlynn
It's been too long since I made bread using a pullman bread tin - thus overcooked the bottom a bit. Notes for self: To place the bread tin on the wire-like rack, instead of the black colored baking tray!
Though I followed the guide by lilmizlynn, it does take a while to get the proportion right, and to build the shape. I may make the white portion smaller, and the green portion bigger.
Have fun experimenting with the recipe, and enjoy the results of your hard work - a peering panda face!
Coloring of the Panda Bread
1 tbsp green tea powder mixed with 2 tsp hot water
31/2 tsp of cocoa powder mixed with 11/2 tsp of hot water
Method
I followed the steps from lilmizlynn
It's been too long since I made bread using a pullman bread tin - thus overcooked the bottom a bit. Notes for self: To place the bread tin on the wire-like rack, instead of the black colored baking tray!
Though I followed the guide by lilmizlynn, it does take a while to get the proportion right, and to build the shape. I may make the white portion smaller, and the green portion bigger.
Have fun experimenting with the recipe, and enjoy the results of your hard work - a peering panda face!
2 comments
hi lala, hope you are good. Thanks for sharing that statement of Tim Kreider, i think it's a good reminder for all..we need to stand back for life at times! I've seen this panda bread before too at several blogs before, i think the one created it is genius. Your bread looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHi Lala,
ReplyDeleteNice that your panda bread works well this time. I'm lazy too after having a break but keep on baking and blogging because I really like baking with my friends... but sometimes wonder too what will happen when I stop blogging :D
Nevertheless, nice to hear from you every now and then and hope to hear from you again in the future :D
Zoe