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A Christmas Letter to Young Lawyers
2008-12-22 Dear Young Colleagues, Let’s have a laugh at Christmas － on me. You may know that I am a devoted but inexpert baker. Recently, our oven of 19 years finally retired, and a new oven was installed after much planning. This exciting event fell almost exactly upon the date when I also retired from the executive committee of Civic Party. The AGM to elect the new exco took place on a Saturday. I stayed to watch the first press conference of the young and hopeful team, and then sneaked home to prepare the dough for some Chelsea buns to rise in the refrigerator overnight. Everything went according to plan at first. A much expanded dough greeted me in the morning. I knocked it down, patted it flat, rolled it up with the raisin filling, cut it into 12 pieces, and placed them in the tin to rise a second time. Again the dough rose beautifully. I preheated the oven, and put the buns in. Now the new oven has a wonderful glass door, and the oven light lits up the drama going on inside like a magic stage. I sat upon a low stool and watched as I wrote a note in my diary: “AGM took place yesterday. After working so hard to put the party together in the autumn of 2005, for the first time I relinquished my role…” Not without a small pang, I told myself. But I noted that my Chelsea buns were already starting to colour, instead of first paly rising. This would mean the end product would be too flat and not soft enough. I waited anxiously for them to be cooked, and then for the cooked buns to cool. I bit into one. The texture and taste were not bad. But I was puzzled and dissatisfied. When the next weekend came along, I decided to test the oven with a plain household loaf. I followed a modern recipe: 450g flour, 10g salt, 350ml warm water, one 7g packet instant active yeast. I am not a novice at bread-making, having practised the craft when I was an impoverished graduate student in the United States. So the steps were easy, and made even easier with my worktop mixer which did the initial kneading energetically. The dough rose happily the first time in the bowl, and equally happily the second time in the loaf tin. In accordance with the recipe, oven was pre-heated to 230℃, to be lowered to 200℃ after the first 15 minutes. I put the dough in, sat down on my stool in front of the oven, and watched with the eyes of a hawk. But the dough did not rise as it should in the oven. This time I was really shaken and dismayed. I went to my bookshelf and consulted various books by veteran cooks and learned writers. The dough was supposed to rise in what is called an “oven spring” of some 5-6 minutes, before the heat reaches the centre of the dough, kills the yeast and stays further rise. So what went wrong? Was the instant yeast lacking in sustainable push? Was the heat too great in the oven and snuffed out growth? I decided to test two things together and then, if necessary, isolate the two and test again. I changed the instant yeast for normal active dry yeast and baked at a lower temperature of 200℃ lowered to 170℃, following the ambiguous manufacturer's instruction booklet. The dough came alive and turned silky in my hands. It rose gamely in the bowl and with undiminished verve in the tin. And oh, miraculous! This time, it pushed itself just the extra inch or two in the time-honoured oven spring. This time, the loaf, when cool, was spongy and soft and tasted wonderful. This, I decided, is how I am going to bake from now on. The experiment, though successful, came with a price – I was very full of bread for days! And applied the method I did, to bake my ideal raisin and almond brioche loaf, which is really a festive Christmas loaf. With that, I wish you a Christmas of peace and joy. Yours sincerely Margaret Ng |
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