Happiness is the smell of freshly baked bread!

The smell of freshly baked bread = Happiness and sweet memories. 

Making bread as a beginner for the 1st time can be frustrating for those who failed due to sticky dough, failed rises and a dense loaf or a motivation for those who succeeded in producing an aromatic, tasty, light , bouncy, well risen loaf. Since we are all different, each of us takes failure differently. Those who failed miserably may end up " Never again" to try while others with challenging attitude may keep trying until they succeeded. 

In 2001, I bought a Kenwood bread maker for the first time from Singapore at an offer price, just to satisfy my curiosity of how a bread machine can bake a bread automatically! Though it did bake a bread but the bread was not tasty and appeared very dense and heavy. At that time there was no video to show how to bake a bread or any no other recipe book where I could turn to, for help except the pamphlet with brief instructions that came with the bread machine.

This bread machine followed me whichever country I resided. I had even tried with "Hovis" bread flour when I was in UK but still not up to the par level of the taste I was looking for. So I gave up and the machine ended in my store as a "White elephant".

As years gone by, due to high tech, our handphones kept updating and by the time I retired, there were so many bread making made easy videos, shown in U-tube. Those bread looked so delicious and tempting. That's the time, I took out the bread machine again to bake a bread. Unfortunately the machine which was kept in the box for years became faulty. 😞

I tried to send for repair at the household  appliances repair shop but was informed that it was not worth the repair as the cost would be almost the price of an updated brand new bread machine.

Hearing this, I decided to leave the machine with the handyman as discard item and never bake bread any more. 

Another few years passed and recently in year 2025, my former classmate Jerry posted me a few photos of his successful sourdough bread and other artisan bread that he had baked. 

The bread looked so good that they inspired me to start making bread again. 🤣

Jerry's big ear bread🤭🤣🤣 baked in January 2025

Jerry's latest bread made of 25% milk and 25% wholemeal flour, 😋

Another friend of mine 👆from Singapore, Antoinette also posted some of her successful home made bread. 

German bread

German Bread

All these☝ were her beautifully home-made bread😋 .

Making your own bread is a rewarding process and my hubby loves the aroma of freshly baked bread spreading from the kitchen to the whole house. 

My friend, Antoinette shared me this👆 amazing U-tube video of "No Knead Artisan Bread" , a very forgiving dough indeed😂

After watching the video, I started to explore more of these " No Knead " Artisan bread and gave it a try which turned out well. 

My 1st" No knead" Artisan bread 
15th Jan 2026

   

 20th Feb 2026
My 2nd Artisan bread which I divide the dough into two.

Such successful outcome motivated me to bake more bread especially different types of bread such as Italian, German, European and the Poland bread recipes.

23rd Feb 2026 

My 1st successfully baked Polish bread. 

My 2nd Polish bread 7th March 2026 

Polish bread Recipe:

Faux bread starter for Polish bread.

This is how the faux bread starter looks like ☝by using commercial yeast ( Instant yeast).

The U-tube video of this Polish bread recipe must have a protected link because it won't allow me to share their video here but you can still see their recipe in U-tube called "Meisterhaftes". 

First of all, a bread starter 👇 is needed using commercial yeast:

Pour 200mls warm water in a small bowl.

Add 1 tablespoon sugar+ 5gm dry yeast.

Stir well till fully dissolved. 

Add 150gm flour and mix well.

Cover and let it aside to rest for 20mins.

Prepare a clean bowl of  350flour + 1 teaspoon of salt.
Make a "well" in the center and pour in the prepared "Faux bread starter" over it.
Add 120ml warm water to mix well.

A shaggy dough is what we want. 😂

Cover to rest in warm place for 20 mins

After 20 mins rest, wet hands to perform a few series of the pull and fold on the dough. Cover and rest for  another 20 mins

After 20mins do another series of pull and fold before placing the dough in an oiled bowl. 

Cover and rest for 1 hr.

After 1 hr, lightly dust the counter. Place the dough on the floured counter and shape it in circle.

Cover the dough to rest 15 mins.

After 15mins ,spread out the dough upside down and gently fold into 3 ,then roll up into elongated shape before placing in the floured baking tins
I suggested you watch their video to understand what I am trying to say because visual aids can make you understand better. 

The dough was in it's final stage of Proofing. 

I divided the dough into 2 shape, a round and an oval ones. 

I baked the oval shaped ones  after resting in the fridge for 2hrs, while the other ones I let it rest in the fridge overnight or whenever needed.
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Outcome of my successful German/Polish bread!

The smell of the bread was so flavourful and they taste delicious.
I ate it with cream cheese. So yummy. 😋

My hubby likes the Polish Bread the most. It's Pull and Fold technique and the use of faux bread starter is very easy to make. This bread is tasty, soft and fluffy . Even the skin of the bread was soft which suits elderly like us😁

After my Polish bread, I went on to try a more complicated bread like the Sourdough bread which I never succeed before.

Initially I used my medium size oven to bake my bread but as time goes by, I learnt that the air fryer can also bake bread especially small loaf. Air fryer is fast, more convenient and save cost where electricity is concerned. And the bread always turns out nicely.

 The only bread I failed despite numerous attempt was the sourdough bread. Since I couldn't get those sourdough starter right, I gave up trying and make do with the polish bread until I saw in U-tube, how a bread starter can also be made from yogurt, butter milk and fruit water yeast. I was curious to see if they really work at all and craved to experiment them. So I decided to try all those 3. I will never know if I don't try😜

Tried Grape water yeast from this☝️video.

But unfortunately, it doesn't work on my bread☹️

Everything looked like it's going well.....

But after baking....

The bread was too heavy, dense and doughy. I was not satisfied so I tried the 2nd time. The result was the same. Don't know what went wrong.

I have to admit that I was very disappointed because after all the hours of patience, effort and the ingredients spent and the end result was a failed bread!😡

My husband couldn't stand looking at that bread sitting on the rack and said, " For goodness sake, just throw away that bread. It was so dense, heavy, doughy whatever words you can think of, to describe🤭. And the worst is, it was so hard like a rock that he may need an "electric mini saw " to cut a slice, what a comment😂😂😂

Bread using Apple water yeast starter

I almost believe myself not to try those fruit water yeast again until I saw this video by Stepheno and finds it fascinating.

 The steps looked so simple and easy that I gave myself another last chance to try😂

         Just need 1 apple

Apple water yeast. 

1 medium size apple about 150gm
6 teaspoon sugar
500 mls water

Cover and shake twice a day everyday for 6 days.

Day 3
Bubbles are visible 

Water became more cloudy

Day 6
It's time to make the natural yeast (Fruit water yeast)
Drain the fruit water

Keep in fridge for 24hrs 

No waste, No discard 

To make the bread starter ( Feeding stage)

 Pour out 124 mls of apple water in a clean jar.

Add 124 gm flour and mixed well.

 Cover the jar and leave for 10 - 12 hrs to raise. 

10 hours later

Look at this beauty. 

It's the power of natural Lactobacilla and yeasts living in the apple skin.

The starter has risen (almost triple)!

 

This is the time to start making bread.

Apple water yeast bread recipe:

166mls warm water

1 teaspoon salt. Mixed well till dissolved.

Add in all the starter and mixed well till dissolved.

Add 276 gm flour.

Mixed well and rest , covered for 2 hrs.

State of the dough after leaving in refrigerator for 12hrs for slow fermentation before baking. 
Looks promising!😜

After a couple of failures using grapes as bread starter, I became very excited with this one that I couldn't wait for the baking process to finish and peeped half way through. Very satisfy to see the bread was rising well in the middle of the baking process 😂

At last, a success using natural yeast(apple water yeast) 

This was the outcome of my apple water yeast bread.

It's airy, smells nice and taste so good.
At last I can claim myself, a victory for this sourdough bread  with natural yeast.

Now, let's try the Yogurt starter to make bread....

27th Feb 2026 

1st experiment with bread starter using yogurt. 

Was not sure how good it is to make bread. 

I said to myself, if I don't try, I won't know if the U-tube shown is true or not. So I give it a go even though it was risky like my hubby said🤣😅. 

Proofing stage after using yogurt starter for bread
Looked OK at this stage.😜

After baking

There! My bread made from yogurt bread starter.

Looks good but it doesn't raise as high as I expected and the bread is dense and heavy.

It has a slight sour taste like the original sourdough bread from the bakery.

To me, it's a failed loaf because it was not as airy as I wanted but it was still edible and tasted better than those bought bread from the bakery or supermarkets. Unfortunately, my hubby don't like it at all from taste to texture😂

One of my friends who also loves making bread commented that it looked good and as long as it's light and airy, then it's a success.😜 

Now Let's experiment Bread using Buttermilk starter:

Buttermilk starter for bread:

The video I watched said buttermilk from the store is not the same DIY butter milk and advised to get the proper buttermilk from the store. But in our country it's not easy to find buttermilk so I made do with my DIY buttermilk that's 1/2  cup of milk with 1.5 teaspoon of lemon juice which I stirred well and let it curdled for 10 mins. It's an experiment anyway so I don't expect any good result since I don't have any commercial buttermilk as suggested.

Bread dough unexpectedly raise so beautifully.

After baking, it looked heavy to me 

This is my 1st Bread using DIY buttermilk as starter!

My Honest Comment?

Wow, I am surprised and wasn't expecting it to turn out so good! The texture is better than the ones using yogurt starter. This one really taste nice. Texture was airy and more lighter than the yogurt ones. 

Hubby likes it and requested to repeat recipe 🤣. 

Wholemeal bread using apple water yeast.

Whole-meal bread Recipe:

Same measurement from the recipe shown earlier above with the apple water yeast bread except this time we using is whole-meal flour and instead of 166mls water, I am only using 150mls water to dissolve the apple starter before adding the whole-meal flour.

Whole meal dough raise beautifully on a humid day

Another successful freshly baked bread!

Whole-meal Bread using apple yeast starter

 

Outcome of Bread, made from the amazing DIY apple bread starter.

From my experience as a beginner, I find that "No knead" or simply called "Lazy" Artisan bread recipe, is the best which could almost guaranteed a successful outcome that suits me after several previous unsatisfactory results. 

After I had master the Simple "Lazy" Artisan bread, I began to explore more or risk myself, trying another level of bread recipe such as Polish, European bread. 

After I am happy with my 2nd level of bread making , I went further to do the 3rd level and that's the complicated bread such as Sourdough bread..

From the mistake I had encountered, I would like to share with you some tips given by my friends who had baked their bread successfully,    

- Start from the simplest and less likely to fail bread recipe to motivate us to make more bread and the "No Knead , No wait " Artisan bread recipe is the best.

-  Never use tap water which had chlorine in it can kill the yeast. Use bottled drinking water or mineral water.

- Give time for the dough to rise. Dough rises better in a warm kitchen. When it's so humid especially in our country, the dough will rise faster compared to a rainy cold day. The dough should rise at least double it's size before baking. 

-Use warm water, not hot as it can kill the yeast. Cool water is also not advisable as it will not activate the dough properly, therefore the dough will not rise properly.

 That's all for my topic of the day...Happy baking!😊

Digging up trouble and treasure!

One Saturday morning, my 6 yrs old grandson asked me, " Ah mah (means Grandma in Hokkien), when are you going to start gardening again?"

He was asking me this question because on that day, I was busy cleaning my little studio home instead of doing my routine gardening tasks. He was hoping I would do some gardening so that he can "help" this was his word, i.e. digging and playing with soil, using his toy gardening tools without any disapproving looks from his parents. 🤭 When he showed me his little gardening tools which he had prepared in a little basket, I was trying so hard not to laugh. I must admit, they were so cute. 🤣

Such an enthusiastic gesture from him, motivated me to get him involved in my gardening tasks. It also gives me the opportunity to encourage him to learn about gardening while having fun. I hope to instill his love in nature and gardening at his young age.🙏

At the moment, his brain is full of natural disasters and dinosaurs as I often hear him talk about tsunami's, earthquakes, floods and landslides 🙄.  So a diversion from natural disasters to the beauty of nature is good for his mind. 

Nowadays children are so into ipads, computers, tablets, mostly social media, that they have forgotten about simple and educational outdoor activities, and hands-on experiences which are healthier for the body and mind.

My hard working Little gardener 😂
Gardening with grandchildren, is a joy as well as a lesson taught, whether it's about planting seeds, watering the plants or learning different kinds of plants and many more, that needs creativity, patience, care and responsibility. 

He believes that showering the fruits is "helping me".🙄

Anyway, whatever his method was, seeing him so happy with this task is what counts.😅
It is very rewarding to see happy faces of our grandchildren, who look forward to their gardening activities and their excited expressions, especially when the seeds which they planted have successfully sprouted from the soil. The fun of watering the plants with a garden hose or using his own cute watering can is satisfying. These activities with him are priceless times, the happiness that it gives to us 😀. 

My 3 gardening tools on the left and his 3 little colorful ones on the right😁

Our watering cans, you just have to smile 🤭

Our gardening boots 😅

Our gardening gloves

His pull-cart versus my wheelbarrow🤭

My grandson told me about the cucumber seed he grew in school ( he is in kindergarten grade now😁). Unfortunately his plant died but he didn't know why. 

I decided to teach him about gardening under my supervision, in my garden to build back his confidence.😊

There was an article written by NanaJill in Sept 2022 about gardening with kids she said , "All goods things in life start with a good foundation." It's true to some point such as a need for good soil, good seeds, adequate watering, plenty of sunshine and right guidance to help plants grow successfully. 

I used this 👆 short video clip as his 1st lesson for the bitter gourd planting. 

I don't want to disappoint my grandson based on his previous experience with his failed cucumber plant in school. So, I choose to plant bitter gourd which I have planted before that has never failed. Moreover, those seeds were from my over-ripe bitter gourd so it's sort of free seeds for him to try on.

In the process, he could observe how long it took for the 1st leaf to appear, then the 2nd leaf and so on.

To the kids, the first sprout from the seeds is a good start in life which can bring encouragement and confidence for them to carry on to the next step.

During gardening,  endorphins, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin are released which are the "feel good hormones" that will keep our spirits high all year round. If you have read my previous article  "A garden" (click 👉 "A garden"  will lead you to the page) about the 4 hormones which make us happy during gardening, you will understand why.

Lesson 1:

1. Getting ready the gardening items for him to start his class 😅.

2. Grandson's first gardening lesson:

Mixing soil (top soil + peat moss ) with his gardening tools! 

His parents love to take him to the beach often, where he would dig and play with sand using his tools at the beach.

Now, he is playing with soil in my garden. 

3. Filling his pot with soil and planting a bitter gourd seed into the soil. 

          4. Filling his watering can with rain water.

        

      5.Watering session ,looked more like drowning!😁. 

Good job! 

One of the greatest shared gardening activities is growing a plant in a pot, nurturing it, watering and feeding it and simply watching it grow. It's a great gift for children 

Leaving the pot on a sunny spot where he agrees to take responsibility of watering it everyday with his cute watering can until the seed sprouts.😁. 

The next morning, his mom told me, the first thing he did when he woke up was to water the seed! He excitedly told his mom that the seed will sprout in 6 days time! 😅. 

Lesson 2: 

A Compost Bin

 He was already full of enthusiasm for the next step.😂 I decided to teach him how to make a compost bin out of an empty plastic bottle. This lesson helps to teach him household waste, recycling,  sustainability and enriching the soil.

He was so excited creating a container for compost under my supervision 🤣. 

Look at him! 

So excited to help me to hold the DIY (do it yourself) compost container in place while I filled in soil to anchor it. 

Open ceremony

 Filling the compost bin, it's 1st feed, banana peels! 😁

Lesson 3

Priceless "Treasure hunt" in the garden. 

 1. Earthworms!

Earthworms are best friends for gardeners😁

Teaching my grandson about these slimy creatures.😁

Showing grandson how to handle these slimy creatures, gently with gloves.

Short video clip of us exploring the worms together in the garden.☺️

 Digging and looking for worms with his little gardening tools in the garden while explaining to him how earthworms make the soil healthy by increasing nutrients after leaving its poo as a natural fertiliser and how they create tunnels by wiggling in the soil for better drainage and soil structure.

2. Bird's nest & eggs. 

Short video of a bird nest with eggs! 🌹

While exploring the garden together, we found a bird's nest with 2 white eggs in a tree. It was like a treasure because it is a rare, exciting discovery and a valuable life lesson, for my grandson. Such a discovery brings joy and curiosity to him which evokes a sense of wonder and respect for nature.

Lessons on what to touch and what NOT to touch!

Watching from afar at the mother bird, protecting and incubating her eggs. 

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Lesson 4

From germination of seeds to harvest :

 Day 6 

 Hooray! Bitter gourd seed sprouted.😄

Day 7 

  1st leaf is out! 😁

The first leaf from the seed is often called the seed leaf which gives nourishment to the seedling before photosynthesis begins. 

Day10 

The 2nd leaf is out! 

From the 2nd leaf onwards, they are called the true leaves which are important leaves because they are responsible for photosynthesis, providing food for the plant to grow.

Day 12 

3rd leaf is visible. 

Day 15 

Tendril is visible! 

Once the plant is about 1 foot tall or starting to have 4 or 6 leaves, the vines will start producing tendrils for climbing.

By Day 15, the bitter gourd plant with tendrils were transplanted into a bigger pot for more space for it to grow.

      

Setting up trellis for the plants to climb.

My little gardener loves building this trellis on his own by tying a cable tie to secure the trellis. 

 Another good job done. 

Day 35 

The vines had reached the top of the trellis. This is where the tip of the vines were pinched off, mainly to encourage more side branching and fruit production. 

Day 40

Bitter gourd plants began to produce flowers and fruits

My grandson was so excited to see the first fruit and said, " Oh, so tiny !"😂 This is the right moment to teach him what "patience" means which will take roughly about 2 to 3 weeks more to mature before harvest.

Day 56

Time to harvest what we planted😂

Gardening is a great educator.

Lesson 5

Creativity and imagination.:

Imagination is the ability to create mental images and concept that are not present to the senses (something that's not real into reality) while Creativity is the process of turning those imaginative ideas into something new and valuable such as the original product or concept.

Since we also planted long bean, I made a Teepee Trellis for the plants to climb while creating a hidey-hole for my grandson as his own private space in the garden. 🤭

DIY Teepee trellis using 3 PVC poles and 3 pots of bean plants.

Day 45

The Bean plant has climbed vigorously, forming a perfect green hidey hole and little long beans hanging all over the pole .😊

Little Man's cave.😁

Cozy shade under the teepee trellis 😂

He's so contented to be inside this green hidey-hole, he's catching up on his Biology .
It was also a great place for story telling. 🤣. 

At his age of 6, he has already knows the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. 

It was hilarious to watch how the bean stalk, little house, "Jack", and the giant, sparks imaginations in his mind 🤣

Jack and the bean stalk:

The story goes like this.....Once upon a time... 

That's Jack's house. 

But where is Jack? 

Oh there he is! 

Climbing up the bean stalk🤭

Let's see what's on top of the bean stalk? 

Oh No! That's Wilson, the giant Monkey! 😱

My grandson screamed and ran into the house to hide inside his "Pillow-fort", giggling and laughing at the same time.🤣

Short video of Grandson's Pillow-Fort 😂

Lesson 6

Harvesting sessions ❤️

Digging up troubles and treasure😁

Harvest simply means the time when you reap what you sow. When the fruits or vegetables are matured, they are ready to be plucked or picked. 

 Harvesting long beans

Not only my little grandson has learnt to harvest the bitter gourd and long beans which he planted, he was also able to pluck other ripen fruits from the garden such as.....

Tomato picking

Fleshy red calyces of Roselle plants to make candies.😋 

Red sugar apple fruit

Harvesting ripen passion fruit from the garden.

After plucking the ripen passion fruit for the first time, he ran looking for his mom excitedly with the fruit in his hands to show her, his achievements.😂

Chok Anan mangoes, which he was so curious about.
He asked, " Ah mah, why are your mangoes hanging on the tree for so long and still not yellow (ripe) yet?" This is where I again, emphasized the meaning of "patience" for the fruit to mature before it can be plucked . 😁

Showing my grandson, how the initial appearance of Banana fruits looked like. 

Covering his mouth with his hands, he exclaimed, "oh my!" 🤭

Harvesting fruits and vegetables can be a delightful experience for kids. It gives them the sense of accomplishment and connection to nature.

Whether it's a success or failure in gardening, it's a learning experiment and experiences with hands-on for children.

Despite, whatever our age is, we learn from our 5 senses skills i.e. see, hear, smell, touch and taste every day without realising it, and through these senses, we learn how to apply into our daily practical life. Same goes for gardening. Teaching our grandkids to apply our 5 senses into gardening has a beneficial development to their critical thinking.

Even if we won't last being together forever as children grow up fast but 

 it will definitely create fond memories for them when they grow up. 

Out door activities can make everyone from young to old, happy😊.

Finale lesson:

A garden for kids

My little garden is a magical place for my grandson. Whenever there isn't any gardening task to be done, he's having his happy hours in the garden such as....

Bubble blowing just for fun😁

Zooming on his scooter

Riding his bicycle

Playing on his swing

His pet, a dog doesn't want to miss the fun too😂

Riding on a wheelbarrow was one of his happy moments in the garden.😂

He said his daddy loves to push the wheelbarrow with him in it and running around the garden since he was 3 yrs old and it was fun! That's his comment. 🤣

My grandson enjoying his ride in the wheelbarrow as I was pushing it with him in it. 

Even though I couldn't run fast like my son did, but it's good enough to fill his day with smiles and giggles.🤣

End of the joyful wheelbarrow ride in the garden 😅
I was exhausted pushing him in the wheelbarrow but he ain't had enough yet! Well, his daddy can carry on doing this job!😏

On one occasion, when I was watering the plants in the garden, I would purposely aimed the garden hose at him, drenching him head to toe and he would scream, dodge, run and laughing aloud. 🤣

Oh No! He's running away from the water spray😂 Smart boy!😁

It was a great way to keep him entertained.
However, I am sure it will be a memory he will look back on fondly for the rest of his life.

It's a Life lesson which will help develop his appreciation of nature, and the simple pleasures of life.
For grandparents like us, it's an opportunity not only for bonding or creating memories with them but transferring our life experiences and skills to them by sharing stories and our wisdom and knowledge. 

And all this joy started with just a simple question from a grandson to a grandmother: "Ah Mah ( means Grandma in Hokkien), when are you going to start gardening again?" 🤣

I give thanks to my son and his wife for bringing this boy into our lives.❤️

Story written by "Ah Mah" and edited by Grandpa Stan💞🌹

References:

Gardening with grandchildren

Cultivating growth in children

Seeds leaves and true leave. 

Creativity and imagination

You reap what you sow. 

Climbing beans and trellis

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