Small Brioche Buns

I am trying a different recipe for these small brioche buns. This is work in progress.

See my other recipes as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 450g of Strong Flour (13g to 14g of Proteins per 100g of flour)
  • 10g kosher salt
  • 50g white sugar
  • 7g bread yeast (I use the DCL Saf Yeast)
  • 100ml of warm milk
  • 4 eggs (for the dough) + 1 egg for the wash
  • 190g of salted, cubed, softened butter

How to make:

  • Warm the milk and dissolve the yeast into it with a bit of sugar
  • Place flour, salt and sugar in a mixer with a dough hook
  • Add milk, yeast, and eggs and mix for 10 minutes.
  • After the 10 minutes have passed, cut the butter into cubes
  • Add butter to the dough over 8 minutes (a few cubes at a time).
  • Let bread rise for 90 minutes
  • Put into the fridge for 60 minutes
  • Bring out of the fridge and separate into six portions
  • Make small balls with each portion by rolling the dough on itself (similar to making other breadsticks)
  • Place onto a silicone sheet and cover with a towel for 30-40 minutes. They will rise again.
  • Use an egg wash to cover the buns.
  • Place into a pre-heated fan oven at 160 degrees. For approximately 15-20 minutes or until nicely golden.

Enjoy!

 

 

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3D Project for Mouse repairs


I am repairing a mouse wheel for a friend.

It was a bit tricky because of the tiny sizes involved. I designed it in Fuion360, then used my new 3D Printer using supports for the overhangs.

It was printed using Carbon Fiber infused PLA. I am unsure if it will last, but now that I have the design, I can re-print it quickly.

 

 

 

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New 3D Printer

I got myself an updated 3D Printer.

One of the first projects was to repair a Marketing stand for my business. The new printer is very nice with good first-layer adhesion and fast speed. It supports almost any type of filament and has a multi-colour automatic switching device.

I am delighted with it, and my love of 3D printing has a renewed lease of life.

Although the technology has not changed too much, the implementation of it is a lot better. For example, the initial purging of the nozzle, the online and App capabilities, the speed, the adhesion of the first layer, the software upgrades and the options available for printing.

I made some End Caps for the aluminium clip, which would open up without End Cap.  I used fursion360 as usual and started from a photo of the edge and then modelled the part iteratively until it would have a good fit. I then used the mirror feature of fusion360 to generate the other side end-cap. I printed the parts using a carbon fiber-infused PLA filament.

The printer is a BambuLab X1 Carbon with the AMS.

 

As I rekindled with my 3D printing, I made some inventory of my old filament and started making sure that the filament I already owned was of good quality. In particular, the filament must be “dry” (as it tends to absorb the ambient humidity).

I realised I already had 30 filaments of various colours and other types.

Examples :

  • Shinny PLA
  • Matt PLA
  • Glow in the Dark Green PLA
  • Glow in the Dark Blue PLA
  • Carbon fiber infused PLA
  • Wood infused PLA
  • Neon coloured PETG
  • NYLON filament
  • Transluscent PLA etc…
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Lamb Shanks

Original post was 8th November 2020

I have made this recipe a few times and need to make a blog post for easy future access.

No Photos yet of mine but trust me it is delicious.

 

 

 

Ingredients :

  • 4 Lamb Shanks
  • 250ml to 500ml of Chicken Stock
  • 2 or 3 onions to taste
  • A bag of carrots
  • 3 cloves of garlic crushed
  • Olive oil for cooking
  • Spices: Salt, Pepper, Ras el Anou, smoked paprika, nutmeg, maybe a bit of herb of Provence.
  • Optional: a glass of red wine to deglaze the casserole with the vegetables.

How to make :

  • It is prepared very similarly to an Osso Bucco
  • Heat a “Le Creuset” casserole with olive oil and spices.
  • The spices are the secret of the final taste. So this is the place to use your own twist.
  • Brown the Shanks for at least 10 minutes in the casserole.
  • As the lamb is browning, peel and cut the carrots in medium-sized slices.
  • Chop the onions and crush the garlic.
  • Set the Shanks in a separate bowl and cook the vegetables for a few minutes.
  • This will lift all the stuck on meat juices and coat the vegetables with fat from the casserole.
  • Once the vegetables have roasted a little, add the shanks back into the casserole with any juices that have come out.
  • Add chicken stock until it covers the vegetables and up to half of the shanks. Probably between 250ml and 500ml of chicken stock.
  • Put the casserole with a lid on in the oven at 180degres for 2 hours. (for fan assisted)

Serve with roasted potatoes and roasted sweet potatoes.

This is a great dish to uplift the spirit in Confinement or early winter…

 

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Getting old

Recently it was my birthday. Now 56, a «non-real number » birthday …had many messages from my friends. Current ones and very old ones. It made me very happy and made the day a lot more bearable.

 

 

 

I won’t talk about my ever-approaching terminal day as somebody famous once said :

Parler de la mort est un manque de savoir vivre.

It is a great play on words that I cannot translate properly to convey the double meaning of savoir vivre. The pure translation would be “knowing how to live”, but in French, it also has the meaning of knowledge of the world and the ways or usages of polite society.

Yes, one day, like everyone else, I will die, but all the other days, I will live !…

Thank you to all my friends.

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Magura Brake Bleed

Very recently, I tried to bleed the front brakes on my bike and made a complete mess out of it. Breaking the bleed valve on the handle.

Below is how to do it for the next time!

Prepare 2 syringes and the yellow bricks.

Remove the brake pads and replace them with yellow bricks to ensure that the brake cylinders are pushed in on both sides evenly.

Remove the brake calliper from the frame, as it will be easier to do the work.

Remove the bleed screw at the calliper and install the syringe with 30ml of blue oil. Try to push the air out of the syringe before connecting. Overall, we are trying to remove any bubbles in the overall system and also replace as much as possible of the oil in the system with new oil.

Adjust the handle so that the bleed port is horizontal. This might require other parts of the handlebar equipment to be moved as well.

Open the bleed port on the handle carefully, as it is made of plastic and will brake if too tight. (0.5Nm max).

Install the top string into the bleed port. No need for adapters. Just push in firmly. This syringe has no plunger.

Use the Caliper side syringe to push and pull the oil through the system to remove all the bubbles. Do it several times to ensure all the little bubbles are out. Tap the line with a tool to dislodge any bubbles that might be in the line.

Remove the calliper syringe. This is best done with the calliper at a similar height to the handle so that there is not too much flow of oil. Close the port.

Do the same with the handle syringe and close the port. Be careful with the bleed screw.

Clean everything with the brake cleaner and re-assemble.

 

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Free

I love the beauty of the sea and how free and also fragile it makes me feel. Very similar to a vertical drop in a large powder field.

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Big Milestone acheived

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This is super nice…

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Using the CNC Mill

At last, I have used my old Sherline Mill with the new Masso controller. This is part of a general upgrade of my tools in my workshop.

I started the upgrade process by replacing the old CO2 laser with a new 60W (just the emitter) and used the opportunity to upgrade the controller to a RUIDA, which now accepts a more modern software controller called Lighburn. I also bought a long overdue Honeycomb plate to prevent back burns on my cuts and finally improved the lighting in the cutting chamber with a new LED light. Not cheap overall, but I had not updated this tool for 10 years or more. The rest of the hardware is still in perfect condition.

While waiting for parts, I tried to use my CNC Mill and realised that it could do with an upgrade as well so I decided to splash out on a new Masso controller. I went for the touch version and am very pleased with it so far.

The first project was to cut a pocket hole into a box I made with the laser a few years ago. I had “forgotten” in my design, that there would be a razor blade. It has been an annoyance for years. I could have redone the whole Laser cut wood bit but I decided I could try to use this as an opportunity for a first CNC project for my new controller.

I used Fusion360 to create the tool paths and downloaded them into the controller. I have recently installed limit switches on my CNC mill, and I should have done this many years ago. It completely transforms the use of the controller and the precision of the milling. I will probably upgrade the end switches as currently they are only installed with double-sided tape!

 

 

 

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Artificial intelligence

The following drawings/pictures have all been created by an artificial intelligence software called midjourney. You provide a TEXT entry and the computer creates the image.

For example here is what I used:

  • A skier in the powder
  • A heart with some code written on it
  • A steampunk device with 2 solar panels and a capacitor
  • A small electronic device which resembles a satellite with a blinking light on a wooden plank in a 16:9 format….

 

It is fun and also scary…

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Spring is on its way

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Limoncello

I am making some Limoncello after our ski trip at Anne and Louis-Carl in Montgenevre, close to Turin. Anne had made some very nice Limoncello and I asked for the recipe, which she kindly shared.

The recipe is very easy, essentially leave some lemon peels in alcohol for a few weeks and then dilute them with sugar syrup.

However, if you do a bit or research online most “British” recipes recommend using a simple basic Vodka as the alcohol (40% proof). In comparison, the traditional Italian recipe uses a lot stronger grain alcohol at 70% or even 90% proof. I found a source of Grain alcohol in the UK and am in the process of making some homemade Limoncello. The cost of the alcohol is ridiculous compared to what I would have to pay in France or Italy for the same product but I did not want to compromise on my first batch…

I will probably buy some “fruit alcohol” in bulk next time I visit France. I am suspicious that the 70% proof alcohol is unavailable in most supermarkets because of the health risk for anybody to drink it pure and suffers an ethylic coma.

 

Ingredients:

  • 5 unwaxed Lemons + 2 unwaxed Limes
  • A bottle of Grain 70% Alcohol (70cl). (Italians use 90%…)
  • 750 sugar
  • 700 ml water (note Anne’s recipe calls for more water which I assume is to compensate for the higher % of alcohol used)
  • A lime juice

How to make:

  • Zest/Peel the Lemons, making sure you do not take any of the white of the lemon peels. A Little bit is ok, but try to avoid it as it will give a bitter taste to the Limoncello.
  • Put the peels and the alcohol in a tight-fitting jar and leave to macerate for one week, shaking the jar daily to stir the mixture.
  • this is were I got to so far….
  • next will be making a syrup with 700ml of boiling water and 750g of sugar. Then mix it all together with lemon peels and alcohol and leave for another week.
  • Strain and put into nice bottles

 

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Getting frustrated

58 minutes to do 6.5 miles in central London…this commute is doing my head in…

 

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Oli’s Duck Rillettes

I made some Duck rillettes!

Another recipe that is very easy to do but requires a little bit of time.

I am keen on learning recipes of the past, which have now become for most people something that you can only purchase from the supermarket when it is very easy to do at home and is a lot nicer…

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

  • A duck!
  • some garlic and Ginger and an Orange
  • Salt and Pepper and herbs as you like
  • Some Cognac or a Brandy

How to make:

  • Stuff the duck with  crushed garlic cloves and ginger and a peeled orange
  • Season generously the outside of the duck with salt and pepper
  • Put into an oven dish wrapped in 2 layers of aluminium foil. (To capture all the fat and juices that are going to render)
  • Cook in the oven a 130-140 for 4 to 5 hours. Until the meat is coming off easily from the bones without it being “overcooked”.
  • Capture all the fat and juices into a jar and pass it through a fine sieve or filter to remove the bits.
  • Let the duck cool down before removing all the meat from the bones.
  • Spend time to reserve only the meat parts of the duck. Discard all bones and skin.
  • Put all the meat in a large bowl and add 3 tablespoons of Cognac or Brandy.
  • Adjust the Salt and Pepper to taste. (this is important). Usually, it requires more salt.
  • The Fat and Juice should have “separated in the jar” as they are cooling down.
  • Mix a little of the fat and a little of the juice into the bowl and start mixing.
  • Keep mixing with a spoon until the meat is moist and the texture is like Rillettes.
  • Put into conserve jars of small size. Put into the fridge for at least 12 hours.

Et voila! Eat on toasted bread with some cornichons or pickled shallots.

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Xerox 6085

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Some old stuff

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Tarte Tatin – Oli simple way

A very simple apple tart which is always a success.

There are a few complicated ways of making a “tarte tatin”.

The following simple method makes a very decent tart…

It is possible to upgrade this one with homemade caramel if you have time to do that.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

  • A bag of Apples, something like 800g. That’s probably 6 small apples or 4 large ones.
  • Best Apples : Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Braeburn
  • A lime juice
  • 50g Cassonade  (Beetroot Sugar), but normal sugar will do as well
  • 50g Butter
  • A sheet of ready-made puff pastry, get the nice one with full fat

How to make:

  • Peel the Apples and cut each apple into 6 pieces. (one-half and then in 3)
  • Put the lime juice and cassonade and mix with apples
  • Place in a circle into a tart oven dish (I prefer the glass ones as they are easy to clean)
  • Place the butter on top
  • Cook in the oven at 140 degrees for 20 minutes or until the apples are getting softer and the butter and sugar are turning into caramel.
  • (Note: It is possible to make a separate caramel to pour on the finished product as well, this is reserved for even more special days…)
  • Take the tart out of the oven and place the sheet of puff pastry on top of the apples.
  • Put back into the oven 200 degrees and cook for another 35-45 minutes, or until the colour of the pastry “looks right”
  • Take out of the oven and let the tart cool down for 20 minutes.
  • Put a serving plate on top of the tart dish and turn it over.
  • The pastry will now be at the bottom and the apples on top with the caramel and juices.

I then upgrade the whole lot by Blow torching the top of the tart to get these small burns and a taste of burned caramel.

Then I finally top it all off with a few crushed hazelnuts (praline)

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Mussels – Upgrading the Tesco version – Moules Frites

I pan fry with a small amount of butter a few carrots, some garlic, a couple of celery stalks and a bit of pepper. (The fancy ones from the larder, like the Madagascar pepper – VOATSIPERIFERY PEPPER)

Add the mussels and let them steam, then add some cream.

Finally, finish it off with some freshly cut curly parsley.

 

 

 

 

You can significantly upgrade the Tesco mussels…

2X500g Tesco mussels is ideal for 3 to 4 people. (That’s £5.50 in 2023 money…)

A few French fries cooked in Peanut Oil

And a glass of white wine (obviously).

 

 

 

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Walnut Oil

Decided to make some walnut oil with all the walnuts from my uncle in Belgium.

I toasted them in a pan and then put them in sunflower oil. I will leave it all to infuse for a few weeks.

I made a label to remember what is in the bottle…. haha…

 

 

 

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