20230601 Improved Air Fryer Bake + Air-fried Hong Kong-style French Toast + Garlic Croutons + Kabocha Soup

Remember when I said not to use stainless steel for baking bread in the air fryer? Well, on second thought, I decided to take advantage of its relatively lower thermal conductivity to improve my bakes. By adding a tiny step, the dough now has more time to rise and bloom in the air fryer. The result? Bread that develops a grigne similar to what you would get from a conventional oven!

As usual, mix the dough in the Zo 

bulk ferment in the Zo

shaped, put into the cake barrel, and covered with the pizza pan

Remove the rack from the air fryer, as the pans will be too tall to fit inside otherwise.

Prove in the air fryer, using the dehydrating feature.

proved

scored

Time to bake!

Here's the tiny extra step!

No preheat 

400F x 15-20 mins

then remove the stainless steel dish(18cm dia., often sold in the kitchenware section of an Asian supermarket), which I normally use to steam 🐠🐠🐠😄😄😄

400F x 25 mins

flip

400F x 15 mins

the bottom

the crumb (click to enlarge)

(P.S.

Upon a close review of the crumb in the picture, it appears that the area immediately beneath the crust might benefit from a few more minutes of baking before flipping to bake the bottom.)

To compare apples to apples, this is the same bread I made in my previous air fryer bread post. It's a simple, yet delicious white bread with the following ingredients:

97% AP

3% whole rye CLAS

61% water

2% salt

0.7% dry yeast

Total dough weight ~ 1lb

Air-fried Hong Kong-style French Toast

Ingredients:

- Two big, fat slices of bread (sliced on my meat slicer set at #20), with the crust removed and reserved

- Two eggs, whisked with some heavy cream and a tiny pinch of salt

- Butter for greasing parchment paper

- Peanut butter and condensed milk (mixed at a ratio of 2:1) 

- Cold butter for topping

 - Maple syrup or condensed milk for drizzling 

1. Whisk two eggs with some heavy cream and a tiny pinch of salt

2. Soak the bread in the egg-cream mixture until saturated

3. Preheat the air fryer @ 400°F x 1 min

4. Place the soaked slices on parchment paper greased with butter

P.S.

4a. Brush with melted butter if desired.

5. Air fry at 350°F x 6 mins, until slightly golden brown

6. Flip the slices

P.S.

6a. Brush with melted butter if desired.

7. Air fry at 350°F x 4 mins, until golden brown

8. In the meantime, mix peanut butter with condensed milk at a ratio of 2:1 by weight

9. Slather the toast with the peanut butter mixture.

P.S.

If the peanut butter-condensed milk mixture is too thick, thin it with some water and stir. If it's not homogeneous, microwave it in 10-second increments, stirring in between, until the desired consistency is achieved.

This consistency is more like it:

10. Fold one slice on top of the other.

11. Halve the slices

12. Top with cold butter. Drizzle with maple syrup or condensed milk if desired.

13. Enjoy!

Air-fried Garlic Croutons

It's actually easier to trim the crust with a pair of scissors than with a bread knife. 

Spread the trimmed crust, ~ 75g, onto a pan in a single layer. 

Drizzle 15g or ~1.5 TBS of olive oil over the crust. 

Mince 2 garlic cloves. 

Sprinkle ~1/8 teaspoon of salt. 

Cover the pan with an inverted pan. 

Shake, shake, shake.

Air Fried

350F x 15mins

check, shake

350F x 10mins

check, shake

350F x 5mins

Let cool before serving (click to enlarge)

Serve with Kabocha soup.

I rarely cook without fat or sugar, but using either in this soup would ruin its natural sweetness and creaminess. Therefore, the only seasonings I use are fresh herbs from my garden to complement the natural flavors.

Ingredients:

- 1 kabocha

- 6 large Roma tomatoes

- 2 medium sweet onions (with skin on)

- Fresh rosemary and oregano

Place the ingredients in the inner pot of the Instant Pot, like so. 

+ 200 ml water

Cook under high pressure x 60 mins.

1.

Once cooled, set the kabocha aside and remove the stem stub. 

2.

Remove the stems from the herbs and squeeze the onions from their skin. Discard the onion skins. Transfer all the remaining ingredients from the Instant Pot into the Vitamix. Blend the mixture until it becomes homogeneous.

3.

Set the tomato-onion mixture aside.

4.

+500g of kabocha (including skin and seeds) to the Vitamix

+500g of the tomato-onion mixture

+200-300g of water (add more if needed to run the Vitamix, but do not exceed 400g to avoid straining the motor).

Blend until the mixture is homogenous. 

Pour the blended mixture into a large container.

5.

Repeat 4. until all ingredients are blended. Mix everything well.

Makes about 4 quarts. Serve cold or warm; either way, it is delicious.