ABC Cooking Studio: Ham Mayo and Cinnamon Raisin Bread

A few days ago, a headline on my Facebook news feed caught my eye: "Bangkok's welcomed a serious Japanese cooking school. ABC Cooking Studio"

The next thing I knew, I was here:

Yes I was just that fast. 

The studio is located on the third floor (Beacon zone) of Central World. They just had their opening event the day before I showed up, hence the botanical garden sitting right outside.

Since this is their opening month, trial lessons are priced at 500 Baht (50% discount from their regular price). For the trial lessons, they are currently offering three options:

• Gateau au Chocolat
• Japanese Hamburg Steak
• Ham mayo and Cinnamon roll

Right away I made my choice. The ham mayo and cinnamon roll. If you know me, you'll know the one thing I hate baking is bread. It is my baking nemesis. All that kneading, proofing, yeast blooming: NOPE.

But today is the day I defeat my nemesis. 

Here's my instructor for the day, Sia. Sia's very sweet, knowledgeable and was very eager to answer all my questions (most importantly, she was very tolerant to my non-stop picture taking.)

Sia started off by showing me this adorable illustrated recipe and instructions. Ok now I'm all hyped up. 

We started making the dough by mixing flour, yeast, sugar, water, salt and butter. Everything was measured and scaled right down to the gram. 

To avoid getting flour and dough all over my camera I skipped taking pictures as I wrestled with my dough. (still managed to get flour on my camera anyway though)

And here's my dough after 20 minutes of proofing. 

Isn't it adorable? So round, so smooth, so puffy I could almost hear it screaming "Poke me! Poke me!"

And so I poked it. 

Just kidding. The poking was actually a way to test if the dough was ready to be rolled. If your finger leaves a hole in the dough, it is ready to be rolled. 

Next we cut the dough in half. Half for the cinnamon roll and the other half for three ham and mayo rolls. They are then rolled into squares. For the cinnamon roll we sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar, rum-soaked raisins and sliced almonds (mmmmm) and rolled up. The other half of the dough was simply rolled up with ham and topped with a swirl of mayo and generously brushed with egg wash. 

Behold, the ham and mayo roll is out of the oven.

Drum roll please?

I couldn't resist tasting this one first. The bread was nice and light. The ham and mayo together added just the right richness to it. It would make a perfect on the go breakfast but the next time I make this I will probably add some cheese. That's just how I roll. 

And now to the less photogenic cousin.

My cinnamon roll kind of  fell apart in the oven. Sia said it was because I didn't pinch it together tight enough. Oh well. It tastes much lighter and less sweet than american cinnamon rolls, and it was actually pretty pleasant.

Next week I'll be back for a Gateau au Chocolat class! 

For more details on courses and pricing, visit ABC Cooking Studio Thailand's Facebook or call 02-646-1910

For the love of breakfast (Part 1!)

Since this is my first blog post, let me just get it out there...I'm a breakfast person. A big breakfast person. Making it, eating it, or just the pure sight of it makes me all giddy inside. Back when I was living in Ann Arbor as a grouchy graduate student, breakfast was what motivated me to get up and leave the comfort of my bed to face the day.

Ann Arbor's got a pretty buzzing food scene. Breakfast options ranged from Fleetwood Diner's $6.79 giant platter of eggs, hippie hash and toast to Cafe Zola's $15.95 smoked salmon buckwheat crepe...but for me, half the satisfaction from breakfast comes from getting your hands dirty and actually making it! So here's a little collection of some of the breakfast I made for myself and my friends.

"Puffed" french toast.  (My smoke detector did NOT like this menu!). It's basically french toast with a little more crunch to it from the generous coating of cinnamon sugar. Then I topped it with some mixed berries and a simple cream cheese drizzle I made in the microwave like the lazy girl I am. Oh and yes it's deep fried, I never mentioned this was going to be a healthy blog!

Smoked salmon on toasted rye To be honest I was just trying to use up my leftovers when I made this. I made a simple herbed cream cheese mixture with some fresh dill, spread it on toasted rye, slapped on some smoked salmon, seared asparagus and a poached egg to tie them all together. Hey this one's got asparagus in it, that makes it healthy right? :p

Egg, ham and cheese bread bowl You see, I love eggs, I love cheese, I love bread bowls. So why not throw them all together for a weekend breakfast? For the bread bowl, I rolled some frozen dough together (saved me a whole lot of time), baked it then scooped out the insides leaving enough space for an egg. Then I lined the bowl with some ham, cracked in an egg and topped it with all the mozzarella I could get my hands on and some chopped parsley for color.

Aren't bread bowls just adorable?

Mozzarella, you beauty. 

Andddd time to dig in. (I always save that lid for last. For some reason that will always be the best part of any bread bowl to me!)

And that's part one of my breakfast posts!

Welcome to my food blog!

Hello guys! I am a foodie currently living in Bangkok, Thailand. I have a fascination with cooking, baking and trying out new foods from whatever place life takes me. I have lived in Thailand, the US and traveled across Europe and Asia, so I am finally starting a food blog to share my food experiences and my own cooking stories with everyone. Please know that I am by no means a professional baker, food critic or photographer so...bear with me!

I hope you enjoy my blog! Oh and don't forget to like my Facebook Page Bangkok Noms and follow my instagram @bitefulofthis

-Bam :)