try to satisfy a craving?

I must admit, this food item I am about to describe is not strictly Singaporean food, but it's definitely Asian or more specifically Japanese.

Inspired from my trip to Japan, I suddenly craved for those little "croissant shaped" bread rolls from Petit Provence in Holland V.

Yes! They're called Wassants! You trust the Japanese to come up with an Anglicised name for a Japanese product. Trust me: I tried to rationalise this name and find it's origins (or rather an explanation) but to no avail. My conclusion: it's more like "Wah!(as an expression) combined with the "ssant" spelling part of "croissant" to come up with the name "Wassant"! (lol)

Of course, during my trip to Japan I popped into as many boulangeries as I could manage and there were many. The Japanese are obsessed with all the french bakeries and patisserie names and you can find everything from Dallayou, Laduree, Cordon Bleu, Lenotre, and everything else France had to offer! But in Japan!!

Anyway, my search was for a typical Japanese bakery and for that wassant, or anything that vaguely resembles the wassant. The search was entirely futile and the only thing that came close was a loaf of marbled chocolate bread that was completely over-priced (approx Y800 = 7-8 pounds) and taste-wise, was nothing to shout about.

Oh, some of you might ask what a wassant is. It's a bread roll, layered with a chocolate paste, like puff pastry (so you get many thin layers) between soft and milky bread. It's not my usual kind of bread but don't ask me why, I suddenly had a craving for it.

So back in grey and very cold London (I spotted snowflakes yesterday when I popped out), I have yet to satisfy my cravings for that small little breadroll!

I decide to make my own - what better way to satisfy a craving?

A trawl through the WWW returned many results and discussions for this wassant (many fans out there - Singaporeans are real foodies).

Combining a new technique called a 65degrees water roux starter, laminating technique learnt at LCB(for feullettine pastries), a google translate of a Japanese website for the chocolate filling, I embarked on this culinary quest to recreate the wassant in my own kitchen.

As they say, a picture paints a thousand words and here are the results of my experiment:

A taste test by my Korean friend MC and her husband along with Dr O confirmed that this recipe is a keeper. Personally, on my next attempt I would increase the chocolate paste content so that it's more chocolately.

And just a note: the bread remained soft and fluffy even on Day 4 - not that they should last till Day 4!!

What a way to satisfy a craving! More bread making in the pipeline....