Blackberry orange sweet rolls

alcoholism genes, and olive oil ice cream of dreams

today’s recipe: eggless yet fluffy and rich

Food news of the week:

Legend has it that exactly after the 29th September (today), the devil spits on all blackberry crops, which obviously means you need to get your hands on the last of the good ones now and nurture them into today’s recipe– these rolls. Then there’s olive oil ice cream at Quality Chop House drenched in elite olive oil from the Greek gods, and I evaluate a hyped Jap spot below– is it an institution because of time passed by, or does it go above and beyond? Finally, you know a place is serious when their flavours are interesting and they import their pistachios from Italy– get the fat fruit sando and pistachio-filled pastry from the new Hachi Bakery in Notting Hill, yum.

olive oil ice cream at QCH!

Hachi pastry fun with my gorgeous friend Stas

Science of the week:

There really are a few genes associated with increased susceptibility to alchoholism, as this Nature article discusses, specifically gene variants of ACH, a group of enzymes that catalyse the oxidation of aldehydes in alcohol.

Insight of the week:

The above is related to my recent experience with drinking; had a surgery recently and since then have found it hard to stomach any type of alcohol let alone my strong-punch-faves like whisky, wine and sake. It’s almost as if my body has the foresight to feel preliminary effects of the drink before it even happens– swelling, inflammation, nausea, the whole lot. The body is smart.

Recipe of the week:

Blackberry Orange Sweet Rolls

The tartness from both the blackberries (my favourite berry by far) and orange makes this recipe a multidimensional dessert winner…

Ingredients

For the dough:

450g plain flour (sub: use half whole-wheat and half plain for something a little more wholesome, although the buns will not turn out as fluffy if you use the latter)

65g (around 1/4 cup) white sugar

7g instant yeast

1 tsp fine salt

zest of 1 orange

240ml (1 cup) unsweetened almond milk

50g (1/4 cup) coconut oil (sub: the same weight of melted vegan butter)

For the filling: 

250-280g frozen blackberries

1 tsp ground cinnamon mixed with 2 tsp white/cane/coconut sugar

For the salted vanilla icing:

160g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp fine salt

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or, alternatively, 1 tsp vanilla extract

5 tbsp milk of choice

1 tbsp orange juice

Directions

First, the dough. In a large bowl, tip in the flour, then put the salt, yeast and sugar on opposite sides of the bowl. Mix briefly, then pour in the milk and coconut oil. Add the orange zest. Using a wooden spoon, mix everything together until you get a taut, firm dough. Flour your hands and work surface and knead the dough for around 5 minutes. Alternatively, you could actually leave the dough in the bowl and use the spoon to ‘knead’ (I like to call this ‘spoon kneading’, kill me if you wish) the dough by mimicking the same movement you would do with hands with the spoon. This technique means less dough on your hands and more left in the bowl for you to enjoy…. duh! You just have to make sure that you’re thorough and not complacent with the kneading. It gets tiring, but it’s worth it. Just 5 minutes, you know.

Cover the bowl with a towel and leave it in a warm place (skip this if you’re in a hot climate, like when I first made this in Singapore) for 1.5 hours. Leave for longer, or up to 2 hours, if your surrounding temperature is under 25C. During the time you have to wait, take your frozen blackberries out to thaw, and mix the ground cinnamon with the sugar in a small bowl. Line a baking tray with a piece of baking parchment and set this aside.

After 2 hours, tip the ball of dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and then roll this out into a relatively large rectangle of 20x30cm. Sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar, then put on as many berries as you can fit, leaving the juice behind. Alternatively, you can use fresh blackberries microwaved for a minute. Leave a border of about an inch on each side of the rectangle. Mash the berries a little using a fork. Roll the rectangle lengthwise (along its length, not the breadth), keeping each roll tight and rolling gently and carefully the whole way. Cut the roll using a serrated knife or piece of dental floss into 6-7 smaller rolls along its length, or 3-4 cm apart each time. As you cut, some of the filling will spill out, and that’s ok. The side at which you cut may have more berry stains– simply lay this side of the roll down on the parchment. Lay all the rolls out on the piece of parchment and leave them to rise and puff out a little more for an hour. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180C (350F).

An hour later, place your rolls in the oven for 25 minutes. As they bake, make the icing by mixing all the icing ingredients in a medium bowl. You should have a thick, runny and opaque white icing. Add the liquid ingredients little by little and stop once you reach the thick, runny consistency you need. Once the rolls are baked, leave to cool for 5-6 minutes before drizzling on the icing. These rolls are best eaten within 3 days of making them. Store them in an airtight container, or in the freezer, where they will last for months!

Restaurant of the week:

tar-tar chips, starring hand models Alex and Ann (mum)

As Eater London said before, a splurge is a state of mind, not fiscal negligence. Omakase is just one of those things which I will happily die on.

Dinings has for some reason never been on my diehard foodie bucket list. Maybe it’s the saturation of reviews, maybe it’s because I already have my favourite Japanese places down pat, but seeing that it’s such a hotspot, despite mixed online reviews, I dragged my visiting mum to try it together (the original one tucked away on Harcourt Street, not SW3).