So, just to let you know that this is NOT a guide to bread making for beginners. I will not be providing you with instructions and will not be guiding you through the steps so that you can bake your bread. 

But I am here to let you know that if you are a person who has never baked bread before, have never seen anyone baked bread in person before… if you’re a noob, like me… I would suggest you buy a premix pack instead of being so gung-ho trying to make it from scratch and might end up failing.

The reason

for getting a premix pack for a first-timer are: 

1. You won’t get demotivated if what you made from scratch comes out not what you expected.
2. You will roughly learn and know the consistency and how the dough should be like when you mix and knead.
3. There are so many different recipes for baking bread online. Which one do you even choose?

I stumbled across the Laucke Crusty White Bread Mix at the supermarket late April since there wasn’t any yeast or flour in stock-in because of all the panic buys during the coronavirus pandemic. And I’m glad I did… 

The instructions on the box were clear and easy enough to do it on your own. You can mix it by hand or with a stand mixer if you have one. Since the one I bought has 4 packs in there, I’ve tried making it with hand and also with my mixer. 

My very first bread-making experience

Since I didn’t own a mixer at that time, I mixed and kneaded it by hand. Followed the instructions which were really easy to follow. However, I didn’t actually wait for the dough to rise on the second time so the bread actually came out smaller and a little more dense. Still edible and tasted ok. I made one medium loaf and three smaller ones.

Other tries

On the second try, I made sure I have more time and waited for the dough to rise properly. No pictures on the second try though but I made two medium-sized loaves. 

On the third try, we added some cheese. We made two loaves where one is normal while the other is cheesed! The cheese bread was yums! Pictured above for the medium bread sizes. One with the bread tin, one without since we only had one bread tin at home. Also pictured below is the cheese added! Yum yum 😋

On the fourth try which was the last of the pack, we made two loaves where one of them was filled with more cheese than the previous try. Probably didn’t seal it nicely into the bread cause when it was in the oven… the cheese was oozing out. Maybe there was too much cheese lol (also no photos for this). Overall, still good to eat! 

Anyways, I am just SUGGESTING that for those who have never baked bread before to try with a premix pack first before starting from scratch. But of course, if you want to bake your bread from scratch, you can! If you’ve done enough research on bread making, I’m sure you’ll succeed!

You don’t have to use the same bread mix as the ones I did which is why I am not going to link it and I’m sure you can find any premix bread brand in your grocery store to try. Once you have learned how to bake bread with the premix, it’ll be easier for you to follow online recipes that you can find since you already know the basics, texture, and consistency of how the dough should be like.

Good luck and happy baking!

PS: I’ve tried a few recipes that I can find online and guess what? Not all recipes can be followed 100%… in the end you still may have to tweak a few things here and there and that’s why I think starting with a premix bread flour is a good idea.

Hello blog!

Yes, I am still here even though I haven’t posted anything so far this month.

I got a little lazy at the start of the month plus I don’t know what to post up since after going through all my old photos from my camera. I realised that there wasn’t much to make a blog post on. Most of the shots were random shots here and there and some of them were taken from places that I don’t even remember which makes it hard to write about…

I even thought I could find more pictures to post up on my Instagram… but somehow most of the nice/good shots that I’ve taken have already been posted before. See if you can spot the same photos on there! lol Anyway, don’t think anyone remembers…

Well, just a little update…

We recently bought a kitchen mixer and lately, we’ve been quite busy playing baking and making stuff.

So far we’ve made:

• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Sausage Buns
• Cuffy Puff
• Mini Orange Poppyseed Cakes
• Bread (I’ve actually started baking this a few times before the mixer arrived)

Maybe I’ll write up some posts about the bakes if it turns out good and consistent. For now since it’s mostly trying out… I better not post anything yet. Except for some pictures maybe haha. Here’s one that I posted on my Instagram yesterday.

If you want some recipes, hit me up! Or you could also share with me some recipes so I can try out 🙂

Three years ago, we met up with some of my cousins for a picnic in one of the parks in Putney. Since they all have kids, it was a great place to chill and just have a day out while the kids can go off and play on their own. It was also a time to catch up with them since we don’t meet up very often.

While we were there having our picnic, we somehow had a conversation that there’s a nice park nearby where there’s a good sunset (a little fuzzy on this actually since it is three years ago!). Not too sure how the conversation came about but it might be one of my cousins trying to tell us that the area is a good place to live and have a family? Or it could be since he was asking what do we usually do over the weekends? Since back then we usually head out to the beach or park to take photos, that might be the reason why my cousin recommended Kissing Point Park.

No photos of the picnic to post here but I’ve got a few really good shots of the sun setting at Kissing Point Park near the boat ramp! The pictures were taken on the same day which we went after the picnic.

Ok, I will not spam the blog with pictures of the same thing over and over again so I’ll just post a few “winning” shots that I think it’s really good.

The color of the sky, the silhouette, the water reflections, the people in the photos, they somehow come out nicely don’t you think? I feel like some of the photos even tells a story.

These photos are not even edited by the way! Straight from my FujiFilm X100s! I somehow managed to snap in the right setting. If you know me well enough, I am actually not very good with the settings on my camera. I am used to point and shoot snaps with my iPhone camera which I use the majority of the time. But of course, iPhone photos can’t compare to a proper camera.

Where is Kissing Point Park?

If you’re interested and would like to visit the park, here’s the map of the location.

Please please please, stay home and quarantine yourself for now. But do go explore once the lockdown is over. It would be a nice place for a walk or maybe even a picnic with your pets/kids/family. Sometimes it’s good to go out somewhere different. Just to explore and have a change in scenery 🙂

Hello again.

So… since we’re in a Coronavirus Pandemic and I’ve been stuck at home for weeks now, I’m starting to get bored and I need something a little more productive than the usual routine that is making me feel super sluggish, demotivated and well… just plain lazy.

I know I’m at home most of the time anyway before the pandemic started but you know… it’s nice to have the option to stay home and be able to head out whenever you want. And not feel restricted. These pictures I found on instagram says it best.

To make myself more productive, I’m going to try my best to do more than just watching TV, playing games, sleeping, and wasting my time away doing unproductive things.

First by restarting this blog again… I know I have done this countless times lol.
Next would be going through some of my old photos and see which photos are nice for editing and maybe post them up online.

It’s been quite a while since I am actively posting pictures on Instagram. Seem to have lost my groove for some reason. My iPhone’s camera roll used to be filled with so many photos of nature, scenery, sunsets, food, and random picture-worthy things but these days it’s just screenshots and nonsense (not picture-worthy at all). This has been going on for more than a year now actually… Not just during this quarantine time.

Oh well, hopefully by the time the lockdown is over I can be out to take more photos and be more appreciative of the outdoors and people. It used to be something that I enjoy doing. Walking around, exploring new roads around my area and finding nice spots or things to take photos of.

I used to walk to and back from work and at times I would just walk on different routes to have a different “scene” just because I felt like it. Walking back from work was quite enjoyable for me unless it rains or if I have to rush for something. Otherwise it’s just great. I take my own sweet time walking around, enjoying the surroundings and also to watch the sun sets as I walk towards my home direction. Haven’t been doing that for almost two years now. How time flies huh…

Maybe I can start taking some photos at home too. It’s also been a long time since I did any of my white project photos or any flatlays. Though I’ll need a white space for my white project photos though… Let’s see how it goes, maybe I’ll end up changing the name to something else rather than white project.

Can’t believe I managed to write over 400 words for this post! LOL. All the while I kept thinking that I’ve got nothing to write about and that my writing is shit.

Anyways, I’ll end the post here for now.