#chewy and bready but thin at the same time

[smolerthanthediagram]

The empty tacos. Could feed on them all night long not kidding

Pick your favorite treat from Brittas pre party snacks. I like the half eaten mini chocolate donut and what looks like ketchup

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: Sakuraco July 21

It’s so hard to focus on work in Summer, between the heat and wanting to get out to enjoy myself (and focus on getting things back in shape around here, and appointments) I haven’t felt much motivation lately. I had planned on working on this during the weekend, but for some reason things were acting weird and I couldn’t.

After this review, I’ll be posting my GachaGacha July box, and the August Sakuraco. As long as things keep working right, it’ll hopefully be within the next few days.

“Naturally the cool climate of Japan’s most northern island, Hokkaido, makes it perfect for a summer getaway. Famed for its beautiful lavender fields and unforgettable cuisine - it’s a wonderland for summer discovery.“

For this month the booklet talks about Hokkaido and one of its food makers, Hokushin. Along with Kibi Dango, Yubari Melon, and Hokkaido’s beautiful lavender.

Peach Matcha Tea

Sorry, no pic for this one, but there are more below!

This tea is the perfect way to shoo out the summer fatigue, with a mix between the acidic and fruity peach and the smooth bitterness of matcha. It can be served hot or cold, and because I was feeling adventurous and usually don’t make iced tea (unless its lemon that is) I decided to try that. I’m very glad I did because it tasted wonderful :3 you get the exact lightness of peach with a hint of matcha in the background, and it was such a pretty light green color~

Rum Raisin & Melon Soft Sand

(Our kitchen accessory for this month is the plate you see the sweets on.)

The sable cookie beloved by sweets lovers who like raisins (like me, but not my mom :P), it’s very soft and chewy, with two types of raisins dipped in rum and then baked to a light gold.

You know, I’ve never tried anything rum raisin before, so this was a bit exciting. It’s very yummy and I liked it since it wasn’t overly filled with them. i like raisins but I’m not in love with them, and as a house with cats, we pretty much forbid raisins here. I tend to worry anytime we get some, or when the neighbor bakes raisin cookies. 

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Our next item is the first example of the melon-themed goods in the box, composed of two thin monaka wafers with a fun, leafy design and text, and filled with a layer of melon cream. Since you can’t see it in the picture, the cream was light green colored, like a honeydew. It’s the only melon thing in the box this color, everything else was orange, so it was a little bit disorienting to see.

Soft sand it isn’t, it’s very crispy-crunchy, but the cream inside is soft and sweet. It tasted a lot like honeydew.

Grilled Corn Senbei & Butter Mochi Senbei

Senbei are crispy, light, airy rice snacks that come in a wide variety of flavors. If you’ve been on this blog before then you’ll recognize them right away. The smaller, yellower senbei is made from sweetcorn grown in Hokkaido and roasted with soy sauce x3 I love Japanese corn snacks, and their soy sauce, so this was the best of both worlds!

Both were produced by the same company, Iwatsuka Confectionary located in Niigata.

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Our other senbei, the bigger, milky-looking one was made from powdered buttermilk, honey, regular milk, and kinako (a sweet roasted soybean powder) to create a sweet partner for the other one.

Okina Dorayaki & Hearty Age Mochi

We’ve all seen Dorayaki on this blog before, I honestly have nothing new or interesting to say about it. Our other snack is a bit more exciting though, fried little pieces of rice made from three types of natural salt and kelp. Their savory flavor will stand out against all the sweetness in the box.

I enjoyed the snack, but it has a sort-of grease flavor that I didn’t find as pleasant as eating it. It left a residue/texture in my mouth that I didn’t like.

Kibi Dango & Milk Mochi

Oh boy, here we go again with two matching snacks :D also produced by the same company, Tengudo takarabune in Hokkaido. Not only that, but now that I know the clear wrapping is an edible product known as oblaat, it’s a bit embarrassing not to have known that sooner. . .

Anyway, dango and mochi are a lot a like, if you didn’t know that already. Especially these types, which share about the same color, texture, etc. You can eat it whole or cut it into squares, both are guaranteed to a chewy delight~

The smaller of the two, the kibi dango was a bit on the generic sweet side, but I really like it. The larger, milk mochi on the other hand tastes very delicious, like a sweetened, creamy milk. It reminded me a lot of a cow tail, a chewy caramel candy with milk cream inside.

Yubari Melon Cream Sandwich Cookies & Milk Cheesecake

And we’re back to melon, this time it’s the delicious Yubari Melon. Which was born in Yubari, Hokkaido in 1957, when farmers cross-bred them trying to preserve their way of life. At their highest quality they are considered to be a very precious, luxurious gift representing a new start, such as marriage or moving into a new home. Some come out so well that they can even be auctioned and can be sold for a really high price!

This sandwich consists of two butter-scented galette cookies with a thick layer of melon cream on the inside, with a speckling of small melon pieces. The cookie was a bit on the harder side, but the cream was lightly sweet and very fluffy~

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I was very excited about this next one for 2 reasons: cheesecake is my most favorite food, and because look at it, it’s a bready-cake with actual cheese looking pieces in it! I love cheese, and cake, so I figured either way it’d be a win-win!

A soft, spongy milk cake with little hunks of cheese mixed into the dough to create a balance of sweet richness. The cheese bits confused me a little initially, because they taste like actual cheese pieces, rather then a sweet creamy cheese like one might expect. It was very good though, I’d highly recommend it if you ever see it. I’d love for the box to include more bready/cake items like this x3

Yubari Melon Jelly & Melon Mochi

We’re down to our last 2 items of the box. First up is this fun-looking jelly made from Yubari Melon... which as sad as it makes me to say, I actually really didn’t like it. I love melon and all, but for some strange, bizarre reason it tasted like tomato. I have no idea why, but that’s immediately what my mind kept coming up with, and if you’re new to this blog, I don’t like tomatoes. Ketchup is fine, tomato-flavored vegetable chips are fine, but don’t ask me to eat an actual tomato (which is funny because my dad loves them). The texture reminded me so much of an actual tomato that I couldn’t even finish it.

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This particular mochi is made from a melon puree, with white chocolate cream inside.

Thankfully, this item fared much better. It was probably in my top 3 for favorites of the box for its amazing cantaloupe flavor that I look forward to eating every summer~

Opinions

Content - 5 out of 5. The only item I didn’t like was the jelly, but I feel like other people probably liked it, and it was still really fun to try. I even liked the tea, which is rare, and the little plate serving piece we got was cute too.

Theme: 5 out of 5. I’m not really sure how Hokkaido is in the summer, but this box definitely felt summery to me. It was very refreshing, the flavors really did a good job of picking me up whenever I was trying/finishing them.

Total Rank: 10 out of 10 Cuties. I liked this box a lot more then the previous box, I’m very excited for the August box, which oddly enough I got very early (about a week ago now I think). I looked through it but I’ve patiently been waiting to really explore it.

[roastpotato]

This post doesn’t have a glamourous title, but it’s a question that’s been bugging me for a while. Why do so many recipes for pizza dough say “use plain flour or strong bread flour”? They are very different flours for very different uses. So how do they both turn out?

Before we start, what’s the difference between plain flour and strong bread flour? Strong white bread flour is higher in protein than plain flour. What does that do? During the process of making the dough more gluten forms which makes the dough more elastic. While baking the dough rises and stretches, catching the air bubbles. This leaves breads light and airy.

A pizza oven

There is an ulterior motive behind researching this. I’ve been cooking a lot of pizza lately*. The reason is I bought a wood oven for the garden. I’ve been after one for years and never committed: I went back and forth on buying one, building one, renting one… finally I settled on it. The La Hacienda Lorenzo Pizza Oven is a tidy little unit. Standing a little over 1.5m tall it’s not too imposing, and has enough cooking area to bake one 15cm pizza at a time.

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The other reason for asking the question is… well in the current UK lockdown flour is a tough commodity to get hold of. The issue is not about producing enough, but the logistics of bagging it in domestic portions. Everyone it seems, has decided to have a go at baking bread, cakes and all sorts. Laudable, but it is making flour hard to come by. Strong flour, the old friend of baking bread is especially difficult. However wiser people than me such as Jack Monroe are adamant you can get as good results with any old flour. This makes for an even more intriguing question.

Pizza recipe

They were baked to the same method: 400g flour, 7g yeast, 1 tablespoon salt and a dash of olive oil. The dough is thoroughly kneaded, rested for an hour, shaped, rested for another hour, then baked in the pizza oven at about 300C**. 

I have loads of pizza recipes here. The Heston pizza recipe makes for interesting reading.

The results

Pizza base baked with plain flour

This is the pizza base baked with plain flour. You can see bubbles and air pockets, with a pleasing crunch to the base. A little snappy and a decent rise.

Pizza base baked with strong flour

You can see much more volume in this one; air bubbles have been trapped and held in the dough as it baked. It’s chewier, with slightly less crunch and has a more pronounced ‘bready’ flavour.

The verdict

So what’s the difference? It’s worth stating outright that both are delicious and will definitely qualify as pizzas. The strong flour has a more complex flavour, a rich and yeasty bread flavour that stays in the mouth. The plain flour gives a slightly chewy but crisp pizza with less rise.

There’s not a great deal in it. They make different kinds of pizza base. If you prefer yours more thin and crisp, I’d go plain. If you prefer a bubbly bread, go strong.

*You’ll notice all sorts of pizza photos in this post. This recipe was thoroughly tested, so I tried all sorts of mixes and toppings.

**Proper clay pizza ovens with stone floors get well over 500C. The shape and dome nature of these makes cooking these very straightforward. With this more ‘barbecue’ style pizza oven, cooking at this temperature burns the dough too quickly as the flames don’t have space to go anywhere. The heat is too direct. I cook at around 300C to get the combo of fast hot air rising and char with even bake.

***A note on 00 flour. This is a finely ground flour generally used in pasta recipes. It can also be used for pizza dough as with other recipes. It goes a stage further than the plain flour, creating an even more light and crisp base.

Plain flour vs strong bread flour in pizza bases. Which should you use? This post doesn't have a glamourous title, but it's a question that's been bugging me for a while.

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: Sakuraco April 21

I’ve had this review ready to work on for a while, but I’ve already explained what kept it so I won’t bother wasting your time. I also found out the May box will be coming soon, so I figured I should really try to get to this. 

Oh, uh, also... I’m sorry for the bad lighting btw. I was in a hurry when I took these pictures and you can see in some of them the clouds couldn’t make up their mind when providing me with lighting. 

“This month, we’re celebrating one of the most timeless flavors - Matcha. With the flowers in bloom and refreshing spring breeze, the earthy flavor of Matcha perfectly aligns with this lush time of the year. Inspired by the vibrant greens of spring, we curated our favorite Matcha sweets made by beloved local makers, and complimented them with additional floral and fruity seasonal delights.“

For this month, the booklet highlights Tsuruya Confectionery (who special in seasonal jellies, puddings, and cakes) and Aziroan (specializing in “Kintsuba”, jelly based wagashi usually made from red bean or sweet potato). As well as the Wakayama prefecture, a history on Matcha/green tea, and a mini-lesson on tea ceremony. The prizes for the photo contest were fancy sakura glasses and handkerchief.

For this box, my extra’s included some little random sweets, a couple from the prior box.

Plum Yokan & Matcha Azuki Waffle

Our first item is a pack of these cute little waffles made by Confectionery Studio Sheri Coco, located in Ibaraki. They’re soft and bready, and the book recommends toasting them to elevate the flavor even more. Vegan friendly. contains egg, soybean, milk, and wheat allergens. 

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If you like green tea but you’re not a huge fan of azuki, this is probably a good balanced treat. I honesty can’t recall getting much flavor from this, and I mainly tasted the matcha. However, the strange thing is, when I came back to the other waffle a day or so later, I was only tasting a plain bread, which is a flavor I strongly dislike.

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This plum yokan comes all the way from Nagano, made by the Kanemata Confectionery. It’s small shape accents it’s cute, floral paper wrapping.

Vegan friendly, contains no allergens.

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I’ve never tried a yokan with a wafer over it, so it was kind of strange having a combination of the two. The plum tastes like an actual, sweet plum fruit, while the wafer is plain. The little beads on top didn’t really add anything more then a little bit more texture, but I really liked the combination. It was yummy!

Sakura Yunomi & Gold Plum Tea

The dish was from our prior months box, while the cup came from this one x3 aren’t they lovely?

The cup comes from Japan Mag located in Osaka. Meanwhile, our tea comes from Sekimoto Foods in Wakayama. This is a very pretty tea, featuring gold leaf that sparkles vibrantly in the light pink tea, along with what I assume are pieces of plum?

It’s vegan friendly and contains no common allergens.

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Okay so it gets a 10 out of 10 on the gorgeous scale, but flavor wise... I definitely prefer it to our previous tea. It was a bit salty like it, but it also offered that sour taste of plum that I feel like would be a hit-or-miss depending on the person drinking it. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either.

Matcha Senbei & Sakura Karinto

Here are two unique looking snacks, our first comes from Kashiwado in Niigata. These thin crackers feature a matcha scent and lovely etched designs. They would go perfect with some tea or as a quick midday snack with friends. Vegan friendly, contain egg, milk, soybeans, and wheat allergens.

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They don’t have too much taste, so if you’re someone who doesn’t like foods you could consider to be plain/bland, I’m not sure you would enjoy this one. I also couldn’t pick up the scent as described- but to be fair my nose only wants to work some times, so it doesn’t pick up some scents. I feel like these would be a good “accent“ to other snacks or drinks.

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Karinto are a very crunchy cracker, these reminded me a lot of fried dough pieces. They were made to emulate sakura mochi. Vegan friendly, wheat allergen.

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These were really good! They have a light sakura scent and taste with a hint of salty-sweetness, and the crunchy texture is just right. It’s not too hard for the mouth either.

Matcha Kintsuba & Yamecha Monaka

These snacks would look lovely paired with some tea wouldn’t they? The Kintsuba was created by Aziroan, a smooth red bean treat covered in a thin, flaky matcha batter-like coat. Vegan friendly, wheat allergen.

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I kind of liked this one, it felt unique to me. I’m not really big on the texture of beans, but it was fun to observe the detail while I was snacking on this. It didn’t taste too bad either.

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This next item is another wafer-jelly sort of combination, coming from Eguchi Confectionery in Fukuoka. “Yamecha“ is a tea known for its refreshing taste, and in this wafer it’s made from syrup and sugar. Vegan friendly, contains no allergens, and they also contain evaporated liqueur.

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I’m not big on green tea, which I’ve mentioned before in various reviews. I’m overcoming that because of all the exposure to it- but with how bitter this was, the past-me wouldn’t have liked it at all o_o I found it to be tolerable, it’d probably be yummy with a green tea drink. I really like the texture of the jelly.

Matcha Mochi & Matcha Pudding

I’m sorry for how gross the mochi looks, sadly it couldn’t be helped and I’ll explain why in a moment. This came from Tengudo in Hokkaido. Vegan friendly, wheat and soybean allergens.

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So... there was more to this mochi. The issue was that it was wrapped in that really thin, dissolvable paper that shows up on occasion in some sweets I’ve had in the past and I never know what to do with it. Is it edible? Is it just supposed to slide off? No clue. The mochi was extremely sticky and overall a big mess.

The booklet suggests chewing slowly to allow it’s full sweetness to come out, and I think it was right. I didn’t hate the taste at all, I just wish I didn’t have to waste it because I can’t eat it properly.

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Our pudding comes from Tsuruya, and if you hadn’t guessed already this is our first non-vegan item, as it contains gelatin. It also has milk, soybean, and egg allergens, and evaporated liqueur. It was made from Shizuoka grown matcha tea leaves.

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I’m not a big pudding consumer, but I enjoy it on occasion. I’ve never had green tea pudding before, and it was delicious. The flavor was on the lighter side and it’s smooth, creaminess won me over. It was also super-wiggly and jiggly, so it’s fun to play with.

Matcha Yokan Roll Cake & Macha Mochi Monaka

(This pic comes from the booklet, I accidentally deleted the picture of the sweets from my phone and didn’t have them uploaded yet <_<)

This pair both come from confectioneries located in Nagano, the top from Nisshindo. Vegan friendly, features the common allergens already listed in this post, and traces of 0.02% rum.

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This is a cute, bite-sized cake that was very soft and fluffy~ The cream looks fairly thin, but I could still taste it pretty well. It was sweet, and the chunk of azuki in the middle added more texture to the overall thing. 

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This other one comes from Bessho, and is pretty much a smaller, fluffier-looking version of the previous monaka snack. This one has azuki combined with the matcha jelly. Vegan friendly, common allergens.

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This was another sweet featuring a combination of sweet and bitter. It was okay, but I think by this point I was a little over the wafer-jelly combination since we had so many of the same textures this box. I don’t remember it’s taste too much but I don’t think I hated it.

Soft Milk and Strawberry Baumkuchen & Sakura Sugar Candy

These are our final items, sweets that we got a couple of each. This picture I just took, which is why they’re still wrapped. Accidentally lost the pic for them too.

I love strawberries, and I’ve always wanted to try a real baumkuchen cake so I was looking forward to something different from the rest of the box. It comes from Daiyo Foods in Aichi. Vegan friendly, common allergens included.

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I loved it’s fluffy-soft texture. It features a light sweetness and was maybe a teensy-bit dry, but the flavors described were extremely faint. I still really liked it though. I love how you can see all the individual layers in the cake too!

But for some reason this snack gave me that... vibe I get whenever I have something with alcohol in it. The booklet doesn’t mention any sort of alchohol though, so I’m not really sure if I was imagining it or what.

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From Tsuyamaya Confectionery located in Shimane comes our final sweet, soft jelly-like candies made from mousse, meringue, ajar jelly, and Sakura ajar jelly. Vegan friendly, egg and soybean allergens. Contains evaporated liqueur. This is a spring limited edition treat. 

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I love candies and sweets like this, they were softly chewy and so pretty to look at. The one I just ate was a bit more firm then the first one was, but still good. The sakura flavoring was pretty light, but the candy itself was very sweet.

Opinions

Content - 3 out of 5. I think I liked this one about the same as the previous box. I wasn’t in love with too many items, but I didn’t think of anything as unpleasant or gross. I feel like we had a lot of the same/similar textures though.

Theme: 3 out of 5. Half of the contents fit the matcha criteria, and overall it had a spring-ish vibe, which it seemed to be going for.

Total Rank: 8 out of 10 Cuties. My excitement for this brand remains strong! For someone who doesn’t like matcha or green tea very much, I enjoyed the box and it’s various tastes of it. Everything seemed to go along together nicely, and it was still a lot of fun to try it all :3