Corn stuffed bread rolls

Ever since I saw this stuffed bread roll on Sara's Bake tales, I was itching to bake it. The recipe looked simple enough and I decided that a simple filling of corn, tomatoes and capsicum would work really well with this



Since it was really hot in Ahmedabad, it hardly took any time for the dough to rise. I had left it by the light that streaked into through the glass windows of my balcony. When I went back to check on this, there were ants all over the bowl. Summer is a difficult time, dealing with the heat and these ants. They had gone right through the dough. Its just so frustrating when you are waiting to try something out and then something as silly as this happens !



I just had to bake this and eat it that day, so I dumped the entire dough in the bin and started all over again. Since it was close to 5 in the evening, I was a little worried about the dough rising again, but it all worked out fine. I made two 8" size rolls with this dough and really enjoyed it

Sending this to Susan's Yeastspotting

Corn stuffed bread rolls
Adapted from Sara's Baketales

What you need -

For the dough

1 cup (250gm) flour / maida
1.5 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 -3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp butter for brushing over the loaf

For the filling

1 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup chopped capsicum
1 medium sized tomato
1 small onion
3 tbsp grated cheese
1/2 tsp crushed pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano / Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
2 tbsp olive oil

What you do with it -

Take the flour in a large bowl
In a bowl of water water (1/2 cup), sprinkle the yeast, salt, sugar and a spoon of olive oil
If using dry yeast granules, wait for it to froth up a little and then pour over the flour
With instant yeast, you can add it to the flour immediately
Knead the dough, adding little more water, only if required
Make the dough in a large ball and add the remaining olive oil
Place in a greased bowl and cover with cling film or a thin cloth
Keep aside for about 456 to 2 hours depending on how warm it is
Get the filling ready while the dough is rising
Heat a tsp of olive oil in a pan
Add the onions and capsicum pieces
Stir on high heat for 2-3 mins and then add the corn kernels
Once the corn is slightly cooked, add the tomatoes and all the seasoning, salt and pepper
Keep aside and allow it to cool
Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and knead for 2-3 mions on a floor dusted area
Roll into a 10"x 8" rectangle, sprinkle a little olive oil over it
Sprinkle the filling evenly over the top, about an inch away from the sides and then roll it up gently, using both your hands
Fold in the edges under the roll and roll it on the surface to smoothen out the edges, as evenly as possible
Make a few narrow gashes on the roll with a sharp knife
Place it on a greased baking sheet and allow it to rise for another 15-20 mins
Pre heat the oven at 180 C for about 10 mins
Bake at 180 C for 15-20 mins
Once its done, brush with a little butter and wait for it to cool slightly before you cut it

Braided Pesto Bread for World Bread Day

Last time around, when most blogs had beautiful breads served up for World bread day, I really drooled over them and wished I could bake like that. Its not that I hadn't baked bread, but it never looked good enough. I hate that it didn't brown enough in the convection mode of my microwave oven.
I have been contemplating buying an OTG for a really long time now, but kept telling myself I didn't need it. My microwave worked just fine and I don't really bake that much. I am a member in two very active foodie groups on fb and read a lot about the ovens everyone recommended there. I am not really impulsive with my buying, but one day, under the pretext of retail therapy or such, I went and picked up the Morphy Richards 40L OTG. And with a lot of inputs from SJ, I finally made my first nicely browned bread in my new oven.



This braiding of bread is simple and fun and it makes the bread look so pretty. I followed the recipe from here and it started out as a wreath, but I didn't have enough pesto to fill up all the dough, so used half the dough and left it as a braided bread



The aroma with that pesto in the bread filled up the kitchen and that's when all those wonderful descriptions of how baking can be so addictive and so therapeutic start making so much sense. When it turns out right, baking is truly something that can lift your spirits and make you feel good about everything around you.


The swirls of pesto when I cut the bread in half

Instant yeast has been like a wonder find for me. It hasn't failed me once in the last few baking attempts. Thank you Suma and Sayantani for helping me discover this really user-friendly yeast. The bread was really soft and aromatic and the crust had browned really well. The slices looked nice with the swirls of pesto and tasted awesome with some hot soup.



I didn't get to take step-by-step pics of how you get this braid, since my hungry family was waiting for lunch, and pulling out a camera at this stage was not a great idea. Check this beautiful blog for the detailed steps

Sending this to Susan's Yeastspotting

Braided pesto bread
Adapted from 'Confessions of a Foodie Bride'

What you need -

For the bread -

2.5 cups flour (I used maida / APF)
1 cup warm water
1.5 tsp instant yeast (I used gloripan) / 2 tsp active dried yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp sugar

For the pesto -

1 cup cleaned basil leaves
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp grated cheese (I used regular Amul processed cheese)
1/4 cup walnut kernels (Use pine nuts or almonds if you like)
1 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt
3 peppercorns

What you do with it -

For the pesto - Grind all the ingredients along with the olive oil to a coarse paste and store. I made this a week in advance. It keeps well when refrigerated

For the bread -
If using active dried yeast, sprinkle the yeast with the sugar into the lukewarm water and keep in a warm place for about 10 mins. If it gets all frothy, proceed with adding the flour, oil and salt. If not, please don't use this yeast, it will not work
If using instant yeast, just sprinkle the yeast over the flour, add the oil, water, sugar and salt and knead well for about 5-6 mins to form an elastic dough, that's not too sticky. Roll into a ball and place it in a greased bowl. Cover with a moist cloth or cling wrap and allow it to rise, till it doubles. Mine took about 45 mins
Preheat the oven to 200 C
Punch down the dough and roll it out on a floured surface to a rectangle of about 8" x 12"
Spread the pesto over this, leaving about 1/2" along the sides
Start rolling the longer side, towards you, folding the edges in
Use a little water and seal the ends
Cut it lengthwise into 2 and then braid it with the filling showing upwards. Transfer to a loaf pan
Pinch the ends together and allow it to rise for another 20-25 mins
Bake for 20-25 mins (This depends on the oven you have)
Allow to cool slightly before you cut it
Enjoy with some hot soup

Basil and cherry tomato focaccia

Yesterday was Indian Independence day. My son had to go to school for the flag hoisting, and then we watched the movie Gandhi that was showing on TV here.
That movie manages to inspire me, irrespective of the number of times I've watched it. At some points in life, Gandhi-ism, as a concept may seem a little irrelevant, with all the greed, ego clashes and violence that goes on all around the world. A person who worked selflessly for his nation is something we find hard to understand in today's generation, where each one believes that the world revolves around us.

My 6-year old had a lot of questions for me while watching the movie and I hope he manages to imbibe something from Gandhi's life and learn some of the selflessness and dedication of the many freedom fighters who fought for the India's independence.

Since its a National holiday, TH was also at home. I wanted to bake something and decided on this lovely focaccia I had seen on SJ's facebook page. She led me to this link on Sara's page. Thank you SJ and Sara, this turned out so good !



I followed the recipe for the dough from Sara's page but changed the toppings a bit. I have this eternal problem of the crust never really browning enough. I am guessing its got something to do with the fact that I use the convection mode of my microwave to bake. Maybe an OTG will solve the problem. I've been postponing buying one only because I want to be really sure I will use it that much. But considering I bake at least once a week, I think I should go ahead.



I have narrowed down on the 40L OTG from Morphy Richards. I have read up many discussions on various fb groups and this seems like a good option. If you do own this one, do let me know how you like it or if you own any other brand that you think is good, please drop in your suggestions here. I'd love to have some options.



My son has never been fussy about food and now he has started enjoying watching food shows on TV. Masterchef Australia is one of his favourites. When I make something that looks a little fancy, he tells me 'Mamma, this is a Masterchef dish !' His friends' moms are always happy to have him over since he is full of praise for their food !
This one according to my little critic was a 'Masterchef dish'



This goes to Susan's Yeastspotting

I don't know how, but I seem to to have lost all the food pictures in the first 50 odd posts - all these were directly uploaded into blogger. Its a good chance to make these again and put up the pics, but if you know how I could possibly recover them, do let me know. I had the pics on a older laptop that crashed, so no saved copies either.

I made chow chow over the weekend and updated the post with that pic. Take a peek here

Basil and cherry tomato focaccia
Recipe source - Bake tales

What you need -

1 cup APF / maida
1 tsp instant yeast (I used gloripan)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup lukewarm water

Topping
1 sliced onion
a few basil leaves
1/4 cup mozzarella
10-15 cherry tomatoes, quartered
sea salt
crushed pepper
2-3 tbsp olive oil

What you do with it -

In a large bowl, add the flour and mix in the salt and sugar
Make a well, pour in lukewarm water, olive oil and sprinkle yeast over the top
Bring it all together to form a ball of dough. It will be a little sticky, but that's fine
Knead using the base of your palm. Stretch the dough, roll it back, do a quarter turn and stretch it out again. As you work the dough, it will tighten up and become soft and springy
Knead for about 10 mins and then place in a greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave in a warm place till it doubles in size. It should take about an hour. I left mine for close to two hours, because it was pretty cloudy here.
Punch down the dough to expel all the air bubbles. Place it on a dusted worktop and cover with the bowl for about 10 minutes.
Press the dough down and roll it using a rolling pin, into the shape of the pan you are using. I made a 9" x 9" square
Grease the pan, place the dough into it and stretch to fill up the pan around the corners. Cover and allow to rise for 10-15 mins and then dimple with dough with your fingertips
Place the sliced onions and the cherry tomatoes on the dough. Tear the basil leaves and sprinkle over this. Crush the sea salt and sprinkle over the dough, along with the ground pepper
Make pieces of the mozzarella and scatter over the toppings. Drizzle the olive oil over it
Pre-heat the oven to 200 C and then bake for 20-22 mins, till its done
Allow to cool for a few mins. Slice and serve hot.

Baked Doughnuts

For many years during my childhood, baking always meant a nice little home made chocolate cake. Ma had a standard fail-proof chocolate cake recipe that always worked well... I remember her making it in a gas-top oven and we filled sand in a plate at the bottom of the oven. Slowly the electric oven replaced it and we perhaps experimented with some variations, but almost always stuck to cake when it came to baking.

Pizza bases, bread, cupcakes were always something we bought out, I don't think we ever felt the need to bother making it ourselves, when it was always so easily available off the shelf...All this until I started reading food blogs and eventually started this one...Okay, I don't bake that much, but I definitely attempt baking a whole lot more than cakes now.



Doughnuts were something I first had at Hot Breads, the first cool looking bakery that opened up many years back in Bangalore...Chocolate coated doughnuts that looked absolutely delicious ! That was our special treat when Ma and me went shopping on Commercial street...

I was super excited when I tried baking these at home, didn't want fried ones, so used Aparna's recipe for the doughnuts, but baked them instead

I had attempted making these a couple of months back, and had a problem with the size of the doughnuts. It took forever, trying to bake these in my small oven.
This time around, it turned out much better. I bought this mini doughnut cutter when I was in Bangalore last time and the little doughnuts shaped up really well



I did have a some apprehensions about how the baked ones would taste, but I really needn't have worried. They were really soft and delicious. I made two topping for these doughnuts, I glazed the doughnuts with some warm butter and then pressed it down on a mix of cinnamon, vanilla sugar and dessicated coconut.



I did a chocolate topping with some sprinkles for the kids. I was a bit lazy and did not want to make the chocolate glaze, when I had this box of chocolate icing from my lamingtons. The chocolate was dripping off the sides, not that the kids complained, but just that it doesn't look so neat



This goes to Susan's Yeastspotting

Baked Doughnuts
Adapted from My Diverse kitchen

What you need -

5 cups APF / maida
1.5 cups milk
1/3 cup butter
2.5 tsp instant yeast (Gloripan / angel)
1 egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt

Coating
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
2 tsp cinnamon powder

For the chocolate topping, I used the chocolate icing remaining from the lamingtons, which was not such a great idea. Check here for Aparna's beautiful chocolate glaze

What you do with it -

Warm the milk in a pan, keep two tablespoons of milk aside and add the butter to the rest and allow it to melt.
Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and then add it to the milk-butter mixture
In a large bowl, beat the egg and add it along with the sugar and salt to the milk-butter mixture
Add about 2.5 cups of the flour to this and mix well using a spatula, till the flour is incorporated
Add 2 more cups of flour and mix well. If the dough is too sticky, add little more flour and mix well. I used about 4.5 cups of flour for the dough.
Dust your palms with flour, and shape the dough into a ball. Keep in a greased bowl and allow it to rise for about 1 1/2 hours.Place the risen dough in the fridge for another hour or so till it is almost double in volume.
Dust your work surface with flour and place about quarter of the dough on it. Roll it out using a rolling pin and till it is about 1/2" thick. Use the cutter and cut out as many as you can from that dough. Repeat with the remaining dough
Pre heat the oven to 190 C. Place the doughnuts on a lightly greased butter paper and bake for 10-12 mins.
Allow to cool and then glaze them
Mix the dessicated coconut, cinnamon powder and vanilla sugar well and spread in a plate
Brush the doughnuts with some melted butter and then press it on the coconut-cinnamon-sugar topping
Goes great with some hot coffee or tea.

Walnut and Fig Loaf

There's an eternal fight for the TV remote at home - I'm not a part of it though, I gave up long ago. TH and my son are the warriors here and I just sit thru the endless news channels or the cartoon ones, depending on who won !
Ever since Masterchef Australia started screening here, we have peaceful TV viewing time. The little fellow is hooked on to it and has his favourites in each series, TH loves anything to do with food and I am more than happy to sit and watch something of my interest.



When I saw Phillippa Grogan teach this walnut and fig loaf at the Masterclass, I was really tempted to try it. I don't have a regular oven, I just use the convection mode of my microwave to bake, and its been okay so far, but I never get that lovely browning when I bake bread. I decided to give this a shot anyway. I had a lot of figs (dried) and walnuts at home, so this was my afternoon experiment yesterday.

The browning was definitely not enough, but I did land up with a chewy crust. I used the tip of placing ice cubes in a try below. I placed a small ovensafe bowl with ice cubes under the baking rack.

I pretty much followed the recipe, (though that's asking for too much with me, I seem to have a problem sticking to measurements and following recipes to the exact detail) but I goofed up in a couple of places, though it wasn't disastrous

I landed up using extra wheat flour, since the dough got a bit too sticky (I'm guessing the water was little too much) and I needed the flour to get it into some shape. The bread was a slightly dense, or maybe I expected it to be lighter, but the figs in it tasted really nice.

The other mistake I made was that I put it in a plate with semolina during the first proofing (I just didn't read the recipe right) and so when I had to punch it back the next couple of times, the semolina got added into the dough. It wasn't such a bad idea after all, the coarse grains added a bit to the texture of the crust, but you may not want to do that.

I used APF / maida for the white unbleached flour in the recipe. The pre-heating is way faster in a microwave, so the one-hour of pre-heating did not happen, neither could I leave the door partially open in the last five mins

Other than that, it turned out to be a nice loaf. We had it for breakfast again this morning, some slices with cheese, some with honey and butter and another with orange marmalade. Tasted lovely. Thank you Phillippa.
Head over to the recipe here.

This is being Yeastspotted and sent to Let's Cook #17 - Breads at Ticking Palates

Stuffed Buns / Aloo Buns / Potato Buns

Bakeries seem to be something very unique to Bangalore, or perhaps to the states in the South of India. I don't mean the fancy ones with croissants, macarons, cheesecakes, etc...I am talking about the ones with khara biscuits, masala bread, puffs, egg rolls and buns with different stuffing !
Anyone from Bangalore would know exactly what I mean. The residential localities are dotted by such bakeries, dishing out these goodies at a really reasonable price, all through the day...



Here, in Gujarat, you get a lot of snacky food, made mainly of chickpea flour / besan like ghantiya, fafda, sev in various flavours, but I haven't come across any bakery that sells buns with filling, masala bread and those lovely puffs...
For me, the bakeries in Bangalore really rock !!



There is this 'Iyengar bakery' right down the road from my Ma's place..When I was working back in Bangalore, during the monsoons, I would go straight to the bakery and pick up these aloo buns / potato stuffed buns and then call Ma and tell her I am on my way and she would keep the tea ready. Savouring these buns with the hot chai and a nice conversation with my Ma was just the perfect thing to do on a rainy evening.
Its quite obvious that these buns mean so much more to me than just a snack, and I never miss a chance to go pick them up every time I visit Bangalore



I have been raving about these Iyengar bakery special aloo buns to my friend here for a while now. I've been wanting to try these from this recipe on Champa's blog, but have been postponing it. Finally got down to making these yesterday, when my friend was here. They turned out really well and I was pretty happy with the browning too, which has been a big challenge in my convection microwave oven.



I am leaving for Bangalore in a couple of hours, and will get to eat these there again, but for all of you who love the aloo buns of Bangalore, give this recipe a try, its almost like the real deal !

Sending this to Susan's weekly YeastSpotting

Aloo Buns
Recipe source - Champa's Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen

Here's my slightly modified one

What you need -

For the stuffing

3-4 medium size potatoes
6-7 green chillies
1" piece ginger
1 tbsp oil
a handful of chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of turmeric powder
salt to taste

For the dough

1 cup APF / maida
2 cups wheat flour (or use any other combination of flours to make 3 cups)
1.5 tsp instant yeast
1 cup warm milk
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp melted butter

What you do with it -

For the stuffing -
Boil the potatoes, peel and mash coarsely
In a pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, allow to splutter
Add the green chillies, chopped ginger and the turmeric powder
Add the mashed potatoes and sprinkle some water over it
Add salt and allow to cook for 3-4 mins
Add the chopped coriander leaves
Turn off the heat and keep it aside

For the dough

Add the salt and sugar to the warm milk
Stir in the flours, oil and yeast and knead well
If using dry yeast granules, add it to the warm milk with the sugar. Allow it to proof. Once the water gets bubbly, add the flours
After kneading for about 5 mins, add the melted butter and knead again for 3-4 mins
The dough turns a little springy at this stage
Cover with a damp cloth or a cling film and allow it to rise in a warm place for about 45 mins to an hour
Once the dough has risen, punch it down and knead for 2-3 mins
Then make equal size balls. I got about 14 such balls
Grease a pan with some oil
Flatten each ball and roll it out with your palm
Add a ball of the stuffing and then cover the dough from all sides and seal it
Repeat with all the dough and place the stuffed dough with the seam side down in the greased pan
Allow it to rise for another 30-45 mins
Keep the dough balls spaced apart, so that they don't stick to each other as they rise
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C and place the pan in the oven
Before you pop them into the oven, brush the dough with some melted butter and milk
Bake for about 20 mins
Brush with butter again if you'd like and enjoy it with a hot cup of tea !

No-Knead Multigrain Bread

With me, the baking attack always seems to strike in the cooler months and late in the evenings ! Its like a recipe for disaster with the yeast, and I have had some very disastrous bakes, but I don't give up very easily and I tried baking this bread at about 6 in the evening in winter! Thanks to the wonderful instant yeast and to this brilliant recipe by Suma of Cakes and More, I landed up with a really nice loaf of bread !



Big thanks to Sayantani too, who was sweet enough to let me know that she had tried this brand of instant yeast and that it worked really well, no proofing and it made the dough rise, in any weather condition ! I had my mom pick it up for me in Bangalore and send it across to Ahmedabad !
The process of baking bread takes a minimum of 3-4 hours, but this was really fast. Start to finish in less than 2 hours, which I think is great by bread baking standards !



I had picked up this multigrain flour by Pilsbury, which contains whole wheat, soy, oats, maize, raagi (finger millet), chana dal(bengal gram) and barley. I use it to make my rotis at home, and was very keen to try making bread with this flour. The temperature here has dropped quite a bit now and I started the process at about 6 in the evening,so I was really nervous if it would rise at all, but it turned out really well. Suma says that this bread doesn't really rise too much and I did use a largish loaf pan, so it was a flat, short bread, but tasted very healthy !

To add to the health quotient, I also threw in some sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and sesame seeds into the dough

Warmed this the next morning and had it with some orange marmalade and a cup of hot tea - perfect breakfast for a cold morning

Suma's directions are very precise and I tried to stick to it as much as I could, but had a few changes. Check here for her recipe

Sending this to Yeastspotting, Susan's weekly event for yeast breads

Multigrain Bread

What you need -

1 cup lukewarm milk
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tbsp oil (I used sunflower oil)
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp maple syrup (Use 2 tbsp of honey instead)
2 tbsp mixed seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, flax and sesame)
2 tsp instant yeast (I used Gloripan)
1 tsp salt
3 cups multigrain flour
3-4 tbsp water (if required)

What you do with it -

I used a 9 x 5 loaf pan, but a slightly smaller one should work better
Line with pan with parchment paper and grease really well
In a deep bowl, mix together the honey, yeast, warm milk, orange juice and the oil
To this, add the flour and salt and mix well using a hand mixer for 3 minutes
Add the seeds and mix well once more
Add the water, a spoon at a time, to make this dough really sticky and wet
Transfer the dough to the greased pan. Grease you hands with some oil and then smooth the top of the dough
Cover with a greased cling film wrap. Allow the dough to rise to the rim of the pan
This took about 45 mins
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C and bake for 45 mins
Allow to cool completely and then slice
Again, as she mentions, this is not a very high rising bread and since my loaf pan was bigger than the prescribed size, it did turn out quite short and flat

Pesto and Sun-dried Tomato Bread - Arusuvai Season II

This was the first time I tried braiding bread !! I have braided my hair, myself, almost all thru my school life, but when it came to braiding with these strips of dough, it was surprisingly confusing ! I guess I was so used to doing it with my hands behind my head, that with these in front, it was actually confusing !!

This bread had a lovely flavour, and we had it with some pasta for dinner..



Here's a little story behind this...I received a parcel that had some dried active yeast...

The first time I read about Arusuvai,(a friendship chain between food bloggers in India) was on Miri's blog...

This was a really nice concept that was started off by Lathamma, Bharathy and Srivalli.
It was all about sending a 'secret' ingredient to another blogger, who then figured what it was and made something with it, and then in turn, sent some other secret ingredient to other bloggers. It was like a chain that carried on for a while between a lot of food bloggers in India.
Honestly, I felt quite sorry for myself, since I never was part of this chain. I was just about getting active with blogging then..



Thankfully, Sayantani of A Homemaker's Diary has now revived this chain with Arusuvai Season II and I was more than happy about it and signed up rightaway.

I waited (impatiently) for my parcel to arrive. There's something about the words 'secret / surprise', that brought back the child-like eagerness, to wait for the parcel
I got mine from Veena of Kitchen Celebrations, and it was a packet of yeast with a cute little card, a mixing bowl and 2 fruit bowls...I was really happy to see this big box waiting for me...
Thank you Veena, for these lovely gifts..



I have baked bread before, but wanted to try this braiding, and this was a fun experiment ! Sending this to Yeastspotting

Recipe Adapted from the book 'Baking', By Martha Day

What you need -

3.5 cups flour (I used 2.5 cups wheat flour and the rest maida/AP flour)
1.5 tsp yeast
1.5 tsp sugar
1 - 1.5 cups warm water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 tbsp chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 tbsp pesto (I used basil-almond pesto, on the lines of this one)
1 tsp coarse sea-salt

What you do with it -

Take one cup of the warm water and pour into a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast granules over it. Add sugar and mix well. Leave aside for 10-15 mins
Once you see the yeast getting all frothy, you know you are ready to go with the next step
Put the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper.
Make a well in the centre and add pour in the yeast mixture
Add the chopped sun dried tomatoes and the pesto
Gradually mix in the flour to make a soft dough. Add more warm water if required
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead well for 5 mins, till is is smooth and elastic
Return to a clean bowl and cover with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for about 2 hours, till it doubles in volume
Grease a baking sheet and set aside
Once the dough is all risen, transfer to a floured surface and knead again for a few minutes. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and roll to form 3 sausage shape pieces
Dampen the end of the three pieces, press down at one end and then loosely braid it. Dampen the other ends and press together to complete the braid
Place on the baking sheet and cover with the damp cloth again for about 30 mins, till it has risen well
Preheat the oven to 220 deg C
Sprinkle the braid with coarse sea salt
Bake for 10 mins and then lower the temp to 200 and bake for a further 15-20 mins
Cool on a rack and enjoy with a salad, soup or pasta

Am back with some Calzones...

I'm back from a rather long unplanned break from blogging. Was on a month-long vacation and after I got back, it was just too much lethargy to get back to blogging. I cooked a lot, but taking pictures and writing about it seemed like too much effort...
Met up with cousins after a long time, and had a wonderful time together. The kids got along fabulously which was the best part of it all...

We also travelled out to see places and on our visit to Niagara, my cousins from Canada came down to meet us..It was unusually cold out there with rains and crazy wind speeds.. We were cold, tired from the long walk around the falls and really hungry. We then drove down to a lovely Italian restaurant. As we waited to be seated I saw these awesome calzones being served at a few tables. They were huge, compared to the ones I've seen here in India..We ordered for those calzones, pizza, salad and pasta and some really good wine for dinner..





It was a wonderful meal before we headed back into the rains outside..That day turned out to be a little too adventurous, with the fire alarms at the place we stayed going off way past midnight and the hotel being evacuated..We stood holding our son, who was fast asleep, for over an hour in the cold outside..The next day was better, still cold and windy, but we enjoyed seeing the falls..It is really mindblowing seeing the force of all that water...

Now we are back home, and I was still thinking of those calzones and decided to make them last night for dinner..The ones we had there just had a whole lot of cheese as the filling..I looked around in the blogosphere and saw this one on Raaga's blog. She made it seem pretty simple and it was ! Thanks Raaga for a wonderful dinner idea !

I followed the recipe for the dough from Raaga's with a few changes, and for the filling I made some mushrooms in white sauce...

What you need -

For the dough

1.5 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup flour / maida
1.5 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp thyme (use any herb here)
1/2 tsp crushed pepper
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk

For the filling

1 cup cleaned and quartered mushrooms
1 tsp flour / maida
1/2 tsp butter
1/2 cup milk
2-3 tbsp grated cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red chilli flakes
1/4 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp peri peri sauce (optional - i used it to make it spicy)

What you do with it -

For the dough

In a large bowl, add the water, milk, oil and sugar
Stir to make the sugar dissolve
Sprinkle the yeast (I used the active dry yeast) and keep in a warm place for about 10 mins till it gets frothy
Add the herbs, salt, pepper and chilli flakes
Knead in the flours and place in a greased bowl, keep for about an hour in a warm place
Cover with a damp cotton cloth
The dough should double in size, keep longer if required

For the filling

Saute the mushrooms with the salt and spices
In another pan, melt the butter and fry the flour in it for a minute or so
Add the milk and then stir in the cheese
Add the mushrooms to this. Keep stirring on a low flame till it thickens
Add more milk if required

Making the calzone

Punch the dough and keep aside for another 15 mins
Preheat the oven to about 200 deg C
Divide the dough into equal sized balls
Flour the surface and roll out the dough
Add the filling in one half and then cover with the other half
Punch the edges down with a fork and then make small slits on the top
Place in a greased oven pan and bake for about 20-25 mins at 200 deg C
Serve hot

Spinach bread and Pesto Pasta

Last week, Ahmedabad finally saw some rains...Its almost like a desert here, hot, real hot dry summers and the winters are short, but quite cold.
Monsoon is not an official season here, it cant be, because it lasts for about 2-3 days..Last year, it rained for a day, the entire day, but that was it...complete dry spell after that

The hot weather here is great for baking, only because the yeast comes up beautifully, otherwise, the entire house feels like an oven. Temperatures are around 41 C - 44 C, for at least 4 months in a year and it just doesnt seem to be the right time to bake anything



This particular day, it was sunny, but there was a lovely breeze, I decided to put my yeast to test again, made this spinach and cheese bread. By evening, the winds were really strong and in the apartment I live in, you could hear eerie sounds of the wind go thru the columns...It started pouring and went on for about 3 hours

Made this pesto pasta to go with the bread, sat out in our balcony and enjoyed the lovely weather, while muching on the bread and pasta. S was back home early and the change in weather was really welcome. I think this was the first day that I enjoyed being here.



For the Pesto Pasta

What you need -

2 medium sized tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
2 cups of pasta / spaghetti
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp red chilli flakes (optional)
2-3 tbsp milk

Pesto
1 1/2 cup packed, cleaned and chopped coriander
1/2 cup walnuts
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup cheese
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper corns

What you do with it -

Grind together all the ingredients under Pesto to a smooth paste, without adding any water. Add more olive oil if required.
Add salt to water and bring to boil. Cook pasta in it as per instructions on the packet
Chop the garlic and tomatoes
Add a little olive oil in a pan and add then the garlic
Add in the pesto and stir, adding spoonfuls of milk
Add the pasta, salt and chilli flakes
Add tomatoes and turn off the heat
Add grated cheese over the pasta if you like

(You could substitute the coriander with spinach / basil)

Spinach Bread

This one is adapted from this wonderful book 'Baking' by Martha Day, which has well-explained simple steps to baking and great for a beginner like me
Skipped the bacon and use wheat flour instead of the AP flour

Sending this to Yeastspotting, hosted by Nick of imafoodblog this week

What you need -

4 cups wheat flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 onion
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 cups chopped spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup grated cheese

What you do with it -

Put water in a bowl, sprinkle yeast and add sugar
Mix and allow to proof for 10-15 mins
Heat oil in a pan and fry the onion
Add the chopped spinach to this and stir till the spinach is cooked and dry
In a large bowl, add the flour and salt
Make a well in the centre and pour the yeast mixture
Add the onions and spinach and knead to make a soft dough, using a little more olive oil if required
Cover and keep aside for about an hour or till the dough has doubled
Grease a pan / loaf tin
Punch the dough down and knead lightly and transfer to the greased tin and allow to rise again for about 30 mins
Sprinkle the grated cheese over it
Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F
Bake the loaf for 25-30 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool

Not really a "Foot Long"

Bakeries are very popular here in Bangalore, and have been around ever since I remember, but till about 15-20 years back, they weren't so many hip ones that served up croissants, fancy breads, pastries and exotic looking sandwiches.

They were more the 'Iyengar' bakery types that had fresh bread, puffs, cakes with pink and green icing (!!), buns with various fillings and the open bread sandwich which has a slice of bread, with a topping of carrot, onion, chillies and coriander -a pretty popular snack and cream rolls, which was my all time favoutire.
There is also this disc shaped pastry filled with coconut and cherries and called 'dilkhush', which translates to 'happy heart' !! Ma bought it last week for old times sake and my dil was really khush
For the ones who are not familiar with 'Iyengar bakeries', Iyengar is a Brahmin (vegetarian) community in South India and I am not sure how many bakeries were owned by Iyengars, but people felt they were in safe vegetarian hands if they bought from an Iyengar bakery and so the term is still very popular.



The nicest bakery at that time was 'Nilgiris' and 'Sweet Chariot'.
Then came the spanking new and hip 'Hot Breads' - I must have been in school that time and it was a very very popular place to hang out, order cakes, buy some nice fancy bread, croissants, cheese cakes...
They had this really nice bread called 'footlong'. Like you must have guessed, it is a roll which is a foot long. The bread was generally spiced with some herbs/garlic or chillies.



When I made the broccoli and pasta bake the other day, I made a footlong(thats more the name, it really wasnt a foot long) with onions, garlic, herbs and roasted tomatoes. Made thick slices and toasted it with some garlic salt and butter...



What you need -

1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
1.5 cups maida / flour
1.5 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Filling and Topping

1 tbsp oregano
2 onions
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed pepper
1 firm tomato sliced
1 tbsp olive oil

What you do with it -

In a bowl, stir together yeast, sugar and the lukewarm water and proof yeast for 10-15 minutes, or until foamy.
(I had made my last bread in a really hot weather and here, its nice and pleasant and yeast just wouldn't foam up, so I pre heated the oven to 180 deg C and turned it off and kept the bowl of yeast in it)
Stir in flour and wheat flour, 1 tbsp olive oil and the salt, adding as much of the flour as necessary to form a soft and slightly sticky dough
Transfer to a lightly-oiled bowl, cover with cling film or a muslin cloth and let it rise in a warm place(popped it in the over again) for 1 hour until double in size
Meanwhile, chop the onions and garlic lengthwise
In a small pan, heat a tbsp olive oil and fry the onions and garlic
Add the oregano, crushed pepper and salt
To make up for sun dried tomatoes, I cut slices of the tomato, add some oregano, sprinked a pinch of salt and some olive oil
Grilled it for 10 mins in the oven at 200 deg C
Once the dough has risen well, knead it down and press with lightly-oiled hands
Fold in the roasted onion mix, leaving a little for the topping
Make into a long roll and place it on a greased pan
Keep this for about 30 mins till it rises again
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Set rack in center of oven.
Smear a bit of olive oil on top of the dough and sprinkle this fried onion mix on it
Place the tomato slices on the roll and bake for 30 mins

Feast with the yeast - Focaccia, twice in one week

After drooling over a whole lot of blogs where people baked with such ease and made awesome looking breads, I gathered up all my courage to try baking bread at home
I even had a 20 minute call with Miri, who is a dear friend and an inspiration for a lot of things in life, cooking being one...

She told me it was all about the yeast and that if I got that right, nothing could stop my bread from coming up beautifully !

I still dont possess a loaf tin - and decided I would buy one only if I baked something that was successful enough. Miri had this lovely focaccia on her blog, and I thought that would be a perfect beginning to my baking adventure.

It was a Sunday afternoon - perfect time for an experiment in the kitchen. I had the dry yeast (granules) and the first step was to see if the yeast was good enough. Said all my prayers and waited for about 10 minutes - the yeast got all bubbly and frothy - my prayers were answered !!

The final product - a slice of heaven in my plate



I know I am gushing a lot about this, but honestly, I never thought I'd be able to bake bread and this was a first try and successful, am so totally kicked about it, so bear with me...

I made it again, three daya later when I had friends over for dinner. This time I mixed the onions, garlic and spices in the dough and it tasted better than this one. It was all over before I thought of taking pics, but I did manage to take pics of the pasta salad and the strawberry yoghurt which was part of my menu that day...

This attempt is all thanks to Miri and also to Deeba, who is simply amazing with her baking and has the most drool worthy pics on her blog !!

Here's the recipe for my focaccia with fried onions and garlic(adapted from Deeba's)

What you need -

1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar
3 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsps soya flour
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Topping

1/2 cup basil leaves
2 onions
5 pods garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1/2 tsp crushed pepper

What you do with it -

In a bowl, stir together yeast, sugar and 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water and proof yeast for 10-15 minutes, or until foamy
Stir in flour, wheat flour and soya flour, 1 tbsp olive oil and the salt, adding as much of the flour as necessary to form a soft and slightly sticky dough
Transfer to a lightly-oiled bowl, cover with cling film or a muslin cloth and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour until double in size
Knead dough down and press with lightly-oiled hands into a well greased round pan, keeping it to the centre as much as possible
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Set rack in center of oven.
Chop the onions lengthwise
Chop the basil and garlic
In a small pan, heat a tbsp olive oil and fry the onions and garlic
Add the basil leaves, oregano, chilli flakes, crushed pepper and salt
Smear a bit of olive oil on top of the dough and sprinkle this fried onion mix on it

I cant get over how brilliantly the dough literally doubled...i was like this eager child, running every 5-10 mins to check whether its rising - and wow, rise it did !!




Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden

It turned out really nice and golden and the onions tasted really nice, crunchy and spicy, which is how i love it...



Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting
Serve warm or at room temperature

Sending this to Susan@WildYeast for her Yeastspotting