Leopard Patch Bread |We Knead to Bake #37

My daughter learned about aestivation last year. Aestivation is the hibernation during summer months.Come April May or the Indian Summer I aestivate.. now I can give a name to my condition.Its tough to blog when exams come, school finally closes and travel plans being made.But my aestivation extends usually more than two months.. I enjoy the process sooooo much that I don't feel like coming back.. Posts line up, deadline for events come and go but I am me.. 

Its good to be back though once that starting trouble is over.This post was supposed to be up in April, but as usual I baked and then put it on backburner.. Blogging is something which always gets the back seat in the journey of life. We know its there but yup its the last in the list.. 

Anyways todays post is the leopard patch bread which I baked in between trips.This was the chosen one by Aparna for We Knead to Bake #37and is inspired by Partricia Nascimentos Pao de leite leopardo. 

Ingredients:

All purpose flour: 2 cups
Whole wheat flour: 1 cup
Warm milk: 2/3 up
Warm water: 1/2 cup
Melted butter: 4 tbsp or 50 gms
Sugar: 4 tbsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Instant yeast: 2 tsp

Dark Brown Dough:
Cocoa Powder: 3 tbsp
Milk: 1 tbsp

Lighter brown dough:
Cocoa Powder: 1.5 tsp
Milk: 1 tbsp

Preparation:

Combine all dough ingredients into a bowl and stir until it starts leaving the sides of the bowl. 

Transfer to a lightly greased surface and with oiled hands knead it for 6-8 minutes till its smooth and supple. 

Divide it into 2 halves.Shape one half into a ball and place it in a greased bowl and let it rise until double for about 2 hours covered loosely.

Take the other half and divid it into 2 equal portions. To one portion add the lighter cocoa milk and knead well in a processor to get a ligter cocolour dough for the leopard patches.

Repeat the same process with the other portion and darker milk to get a dark brown dough. 

Shape each into a ball and let it rise until double.

Gently deflate each of the dough and divide each into 6-8 equal portions.

Roll each light brown dough piece into long ropes of 8.5 " long.

Roll each dark brown dough piece into ropes of similar length. Flatten the dark rope and place the light brown ropes within them.  These need not be perfectly enclosed as imperfections create the unevenness that show up as beautiful leopard patches.

Roll out the white dough pieces into the same length, roll these to flatten them out and enclose the brown ropes cwith the white piece completely.

Gently roll the enclosed ropes gently increasing their length to about 17". Cut each rope into half to get around 14 ropes of 8.5" long

Arrange these a little unevenly in a greased loaf pan, cover and let it rise for an hour of so until doubled in volume. 

Brush the top with milk.

Bake the bread at 180C for 30-35 minutes, until light golden and done. Remove from the oven and cool it on a rack before slicing. 

The bread is not as sweet as you would want. It will be with a dollop  of nutella or peanut butter or whatever spread you like. You can also go for savoury spread but I prefer chocolate with sweet so never tried. The loaf or remaining slices can be frozen till three months. 

Broa de Milho - Portuguese Corn Bread | We Knead to Bake #36

Broa de Milho is a slightly sweet crusty Portuguese bread made from a mix of rye, wheat or corn. It is a dense bread which goes well with soups and stews. The method of cooking is slightly different with the corn or maize flour paste being made with hot water and then added to other ingredients.

I had tried out Aparna's version of broa adapted from KAF site last month itself for We Knead to Bake. I had used Makai ka aatta / Maize Flour available in India. But thanks to exams, couldn't post it till today. I am forcing myself to post it today when I took a break from exam and mommy duties else I will forget my blog itself.. As usual I have halved the recipe and baked a beautiful bread.

Ingredients:

Maize Flour/ Makai ka aatta: 1/2 cup

Boiling hot water: 6 tbsp

Warm milk: 4-6 tbsp

Instant Yeast: 1 tsp

All Purpose Flour: 1.1/4 cup + more for dusting 

Salt: 1/2 tsp

Honey: 1 1/2 tsp

Olive Oil: 1 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

Put cornmeal in a bowl and add hot water to it.Mix together with a fork and then add 4 tbsp of milk. Mix everything to get a paste adding more milk if needed. Let it sit until it cools a bit.

To this add the remaining ingredients and knead together to form a smooth and slightly sticky dough. Mine was not sticky -- just very lightly sticky..

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning it once to coat well. Cover loosely and let it sit until it turns puffy and risen for abut 1-1.5 hrs.

Turn out the dough onto a dustled counter and shape it into a round ball after kneading it lightly for few times. 

Place the ball onto a lined/greased baking sheet and let it sit under a loose plastic wrap or kitchen towel for an hour or so until it becomes more puffy.

Just before baking, you can optionally make 3-4  slashes about 1/4" deep on the top of the dough. Spritz the top lightly with water and bake in a preheated oven at 230C/ 450F for about 10 minutes. After which reduce the temperature to 200C/400F and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Take out. Cool. slice and serve with soups preferably..

A healthy bread which is yellow in colour thanks to the corn flour /maize flour. You can replace half of the all purpose flour with wheat flour which will make it more denser or heavy.

Lets see how Aparna did her broa.

Krendel - Ukrainian/Russian Fruit Filled Pretzel Shaped Festive Bread | We Knead to Bake #34

This post was supposed to be up last month as it was a Christmas Bread. But as usual it got postponed and  I thought I should definitely post this month atleast as it was a very tasty and really festive bread. Festivals definitely put us in a happy space. Time somehow flies and with all the aromas surrounding us we get too carried away. This is one such bread that lifts the mood and definitely makes the day festive and gourmet. The warm spice baked aroma coming out of the oven fills the house and you just can't wait to dig in. 

Krendel is a pretzel shaped Russian/Ukrainian fruit filled Christmas bread. It is  supposed to be of German origin and has a filling of fresh apples and a spiced jam of apricots, prunes and other dry fruits. As usual I halved the recipe and the recipe turned out wonderful. I was in a hurry that I could not click better pics. Serves me right as I need to control myself rather than jumping  on the dish as the aroma from the oven were heavenly. Self control is not my virtue but it definitely helps in getting better pics.

Ingredients:

Instant yeast: 1 tsp
Honey: 1 tbsp
Cream :2 tbsp
Lukewarm milk: 4 tbsp
Soft Butter: 2 tbsp
Egg: 1/2 (3/4 pkd tsp of Ener G + 2 tbsp of water)
Vanilla: 3/4 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
All Purpose Flour: 1 cup &6 tbsp to 1 cup &10 tbsp

Filling:
Applejuice: 1/2 cup
LArge apples: 1 peeled and chopped
Dried figs: 8 tsp finely choppped
Dried apricots: 8 tsp
Chopped Prunes: 1/3 cup
Butter: 2 tsp
Sugar: 1.5 tsp
Chai masala: 1/4 tsp


Spread:
Soft butter: 1 tbsp
Sugar: 1 tbsp
Cinnamon: 1/4 tsp


Glaze: 
2 tsp butter
Hotwater: 2 tsp
Icing sugar: 6-8 tbsp
Grated lemon zest: 1/8 tsp
Sliced almonds: 2 tbsp

Can be avoided. Dust with just icing sugar instead of glze

Preparation: 

Dough:
Put all the ingredients of the dough including 1 cup and 6 tbsp of flour in the processor bowl and knead to get a soft, smooth and elastic dough which is little sticky adding additional flour if needed


Shape into a ball and place it in a well oiled bowl turning once to coat and let it sit covered loosely until doubled in volume around 1.5 hours.

Filling:

Put all ingredients except chai masala in a large sauce pan, bring to boil and then reduce and let it simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally till it reaches a pulpy consistency. Transfer to a bowl and let it cool completely.

Deflate the risen dough and turn it out onto a lightly dusted counter. Roll it out into a medium thick rectangle. Brush soft butter all over the dough within 1" of edges. Mix together cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle uniformly over the butter. Spread the filling over and roll up the rectangle jelly roll style as tightly as possible from the longer side. Seal the seam well and pinch together the ends to prevent the filling from falling out.

Place the dough seam side down on a lined /greased baking sheet. Shape it into a pretzel pinching the ends to the sides or tucking them under.

Loosely cover and let it rise for around 30-45 minutes until puffy. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350F/180C.

Bake the krendel for about 40-45 minutes until golden brown at the top. Take out and let it cool on a wire rack.

If using glaze mix the ingredients for it and brush over the krendel. Else just dust the krendel with confectioners/icing sugar and slice and serve.

Perfect festive treat. It can be consumed anytime including midnight . Its a simple bread made festive with the filling. 

Lets see who all baked the Krendel with us and hop over to Aparna's.

Spiced Pumpkin Rolls for Thanksgiving | We Knead to Bake # 33

Its autumn and season of apples and pumpkins. Thanksgiving which is celebrated on 26th November every year in the US makes full use of autumn produce - pumpkins, orange sweet potatoes, apples, cranberries etc. So its only apt that we decided to bake spiced pumpkin bread rolls to ring in autumn for We Knead to Bake by Aparna. Of course though pumpkin is available year round in India but still its the season of pumpkin and Jack O lanterns.The recipe adapted from BeyondKimchee is super simple and the bread made with and shaped like a pumpkin makes it gourmet.  This makes it real special.

Ingredients:

Warm Milk: 1/3 cup

Honey : 2 tbsp

Instant Yeast: 2 tsp

Pureed pumpkin: 8 tbsp

Melted Butter: 1.5 tbsp

Egg: 1 OR Ener G egg : 1.5 pkd tsp + 3 tbsp of Water

All Purpose Flour: 1.5 cups + 4 tbsp more

Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

Ground Dry Ginger: 1 tsp

Allspice Powdered : 1/2 tsp

Salt: 1 tsp

Preparation:

In a bowl, add in warm milk. Add honey and yeast and mix well and leave aside for 5 minutes until it froths. 

In a processor bowl, add in flour, salt and spice powders and blend well. Add in the yeast mix, pumpkin puree , melted butter and egg.

Knead well until you have asmooth elastic dough thats sticky but which pull away from the side of the bowl. You can add more flour if needed.

Turn it out onto a counter dusted with flour and knead with hand for another minute. Shape it into a big ball and place it in a greased bowl, turning around to coat well. 

Loosely cover and let the dough rise for an hour or so until double in volume.

Gently deflate the dough on a dusted counter and divide it into 8-10 small but equal sized pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball. Flatten it slightly and then using sharp scissors make 8 cuts at equal distances from each other from the edge of the ball to the centre, leaving the centre uncut to resemble a flower.

Place these flowers on a lined/greased baking sheet and let these rise or puff up a bit for about 45 minutes or so.Poke a deep hole in the centre of the flowers to insert a "stem". Brush the flowers with milk or egg wash. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. 

Take out the rolls and brush with melted butter  or honey for more shine. Cool and insert halved pecans into the hole for "stem". You can also use cloves, spring onion greens or celery stalks instead of pecans as stems.

A simple spiced healthy bread shaped like autumnal pumpkin. Firm crust and soft crumb.  A regular sandwich bread which is made gourmet. The breads turns soft the next day. You can actually make it more spicier or more sweeter by altering the spices and adding more honey or sweetness.

Irish BarmBrack or Speckled Bread | We Knead to Bake #32

After spicy quiche, its time for sweet nutty fruity barmbrack. This month Aparna had chosen Irish Barmbrack or speckled bread for the We Knead to bake challenge. A tasty sweet bread it turned out to be with the dry fruits soaked in "tea".

Thats true. Barmbrack or Bairin Breac or simply brack is a dry fruit bread where there the dry fruits are soaked in tea and then added to yeasted and spiced dough. It is actually a part of Irish Halloween tradition and a slice goes very well tea. You can enjoy it buttered or simply toasted or just warm from the oven.

Ingredients:

Chopped dried fruits: 3/4 cup

Strong Black Tea: 1.5 cups

All Purpose Flour: 3.5- 4 cups + more for dusting

Instant Yeast: 2tsp

Granulated Sugar: 2/3 cup

Salt: 1/4 tsp

Ground Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

Ground Ginger: 1/2 tsp

Powdered Allspice: 1/4 tsp

Soft Unsalted Butter: 1 tbsp or 30 gm 

Egg: 1 or Ener G Egg: 1.5 pkd tsp of Ener G + 4 tbsp of water

Milk: 8-12 tbsp to make 1 cup of milky tea.

Preparation:

Soak the dry fruits in hot strong tea overnight or atleast 4 hours. When done, drain them but don't throw away the tea. To this tea add enough hot milk to make a cup.

In a bowl or processor, mix together the flour, yeast,sugar, salt and the spices. Add in soft butter and egg and whisk/beat well. 

Add in the milky tea and knead together to get a slightly sticky dough. Add in enough flour and continue kneading to get an almost nonsticky dough. Transfer the dough onto a dusted counter and flatten it out.

Sprinkle the drained dried fruits and fold in half and fold once again. Basically you need to incorporate the plumped up dry fruits into the bread dough and ensure they are evenly dispersed.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a greased container. 

Let it rise covered with a plastic wrap  until doubled in volume for almost 1.5 hours.

Gently knead the dough and divide into 2 portions. Shape into round balls  and place on greased baking sheets or even loaf tins if using.

Let these rise for another hour or so until they puff up. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 45 minutes until they are golden brown and done. Take out cool on a wire racks and then jump in.

Soft crumb with a firm crust. Sandwich bread texture except that here the crumb is sweeter and little crumbly.

You can warm it in the oven or toast it and you can experience the aromas of spices taking your  moods to a new height and a warmth around you. Wash it down with hot tea and your evening or afternoon is done. Perfect winter bread.

Except for butter and milk the bread is vegan friendly. You can replace butter with vegan substitutes and even avoid milk and go with black tea to make it completely vegan. 

Lets see what else Aparna is talking about the bread.Hop over to her post.

Yeasted Banana Sandwich Bread | We Knead to Bake September '15

I love banana bread though I never tried yeasted version. So when Aparna suggested yeasted version from KingArthurFlour for this months challenge I did try it out and it was perfect with nutella and peanut butter.

I halved the recipe and got a mini loaf which went well with tea.

Ingredients:
Lukewarm Milk:4+ tbsp
Wheat flour: 1 cup
All Purpose Flour: 1/2 cup
Vital wheat gluten: 3/4 tsp
Soft Butter: 1 tbsp
Instant yeast: 1 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Honey: 1.5 tsp
Banana: 3/4 cups chopped +/-(12 tbsp)

Preparation:

In a bowl, mix together the flours,gluten,yeast and salt. Add in honey,butter and milk (3 tbsp at first) and start mixing together adding milk little more if needed. Once a sticky dough is formed, fold in the chopped bananas and continue kneading until you get a smooth soft almost non sticky dough.

Mine was ok -ok. The bananas got mashed and added to the stickiness.I needed barely 5 tbsp of milk.

Shape it into a ball and place in an oiled bowl and let it rise for another 1.5 - 2 hours until it doubles.At this stage you can refrigerate the dough and let it rise in the fridge overnight. If this is done, take it out atleast 20-30 minutes before the second rise.

Gently deflate the dough and place it in a greased loaf tin and let it rise under a loose wrap for an hour until it assumes the shape of the loaf and hopefully rises above the corners of the tin.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180C, brush the top of the bread with milk and sprinkle optional toppings like oats etc.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or more until the top is golden brown. Take out let it cool completely on a wire rack.

The bread is not sweet. Maybe it will be if the bananas used are overtly sweet. The bread can be used as a sandwich bread with even savoury spreads or gravies.
Else you can serve it with maple/butterscotch syrups, nutella and other sweet preserves/spreads.

You can even spice it up with cardamom, cinnamon etc and include nuts as well while kneading the dough. And obviously you can replace the bananas and go for oranges pineapple etc to get a different flavoured bread. Make sure you adjust the sweetness quotient as per your choice.

Mexican Cemita Buns | We Knead to Bake #30

'Cemita' in Spanish refers to sandwich or the bread it is served in. Cemita buns are sandwich rolls/ buns from the city of Puebla in Mexico. These are brioche like egg -rich burger buns and a popular street food in Mexico. The cemita rolls are served with avocado, cheese and salsa rojo or your choice of accompaniments. 

We baked the cemita buns this month for We Knead to Bake by Aparna. The  recipe is adapted from Serious Eats - and ofcourse it was seriously perfect.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour: 2.5-3 cups (I used 2.5 cup + 2-3 tbsp)

Cream: 1/2 cup

Milk: 1/2 cup

Eggs: 2 (1 pkd tbsp of Ener G + 4 tbsp of water)

Instant Yeast: 1 tsp

Salt: 3/4 tsp

Sugar: 1.5 tbsp (4.5 tsp)

Milk : for brushing

Sesame seeds: 1/3 - 1/2 cup 

Coarse sea salt: sprinkling (optional)

Preparation:

Combine flour (2.5 cups), cream,milk, eggs, yeast, sugar and salt in a big bowl of processor. Process until a sticky dough that rides around the blade is formed about 45 seconds. Add extra flour in tbsps if too sticky.

Transfer to a large bowl - optionally greased (I didn't) - cover and let it rise for about 3-4 hours until 1.5 times the original size

Flour the working surface and also flour the dough and transfer the dough to the counter. 

Lightly press down the down and shape into a thick rope shape. Cut this into equal 6 portions with a scraper or knife.

Shape into smooth rounds by stretching tops to form a skin. and arrange these on a lined baking sheet  with an little space between them. Cover and  let these proof for 45 minutes or so until they have risen a bit.

Brush with milks and sprinkle the top with generous amount of sesame seeds -I used black and white. Lightly press the seeds down into the dough. Bake at 230C/450F for about 15 minutes until done and tops turn golden brown.

Cool completely on a wire rack before using. Mine was done in 12 minutes and it looked perfect. I waited for half an hour or so before consuming one just like that and yup it worked. 

It was like regular sandwich bun regarding to texture. Maybe eggs might add extra richness as I had used egg replacer.  I am very happy with how the  buns turned out.

Lets hope over to Aparna's  and see who all enjoyed baking cemita buns.

Cheesy Salad on Weck Rolls | We Knead to Bake #26

Kummelweck or Kimmelweck Rolls are hard and crusty bread rolls topped with caraway seeds and coarse sea salt for the punch. These are similar to kaiser rolls with a caraway seed topping instead of the poppy seeds. Hot favourite in Buffalo and Western NewYork, they are a simple to make and make super burger buns. This is what I found out as I baked these rolls for We Knead to Bake this month as suggested by Aparna. Only that I halved the recipe and since I didnt have shahjeera/caraway seeds and Aparna had allowed us to choose any same family seeds, I went for cumin seeds.

Ingredients:

Instant Yeast: 1 1/4 tsp

Warm Water: 4 tbsp

Warm Milk: 4 tbsp

Oil: 1 tbsp

Honey: 1.5 tsp

Egg White: 1/2 optional (I didn't use)

Salt: 3/4 tsp

Bread Flour: 1.5 to 1.5 cups + 2 tbsp  (1 cup Bread Flour = 1 cup Refined Flour + 1 tsp Vital Gluten)

Caraway seeds & Coarse Sea Salt

Preparation:

Mix  together water and milk and stir in yeast. Keep aside till frothy.

In the processor bowl add yeast mix, oil, honey, optional eggwhite and stir.

Add in the salt and about 1.1/4 cups of flour and knead adding as much flour as needed till you get a smooth and elastic dough that is not sticky.

Shape the dough into a ball, and place it in an oiled bowl. Cover loosely with cling wrap and let it sit until doubled in volume for an hour or so.

Deflate the dough an shape into a round and let it rise for another 30 minutes. 

Divide the dough into 4 pieces and shape each into a smooth ball and lightly flatten it. Place it on lined and greased baking sheets. Lightly brush with oil and loosely cover the dough balls. Let them rise for another 30 minutes of so. 

Brush the top with oil/butter/water/eggwash and then cut slits on top like a plus. Sprinkle the top with coarse sea salt and then caraway /cumin seeds followed by a fine mist of water. Bake the rolls in a preheated oven at 220C for about 5 minutes after which mist the rolls again and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown. 

Cool on wire rack and enjoy as burger buns.  

I had simple tomato cucumber salad with me which I stuffed in the slit buns along with a cheese slice and yum... it made the day. 

The buns are crusty outside but soft inside and are perfect as burger buns. The spice seeds do make the buns special.

Black Forest Buns | We Knead to Bake #25

I remember going 'oooohh' on black forest cake. Layers of chocolate cake with whipped cream and cherries(whole/compote) in between garnished with more cherries,cream and chocolate shavings.More than anything I was intrigued by the name.I used to believe that it was the chocolate shavings that gave rise to the

name black forest and used to wonder why not brown forest.

Later whenever I took a bite I imagined myself near the Black Forest Mountain range in  Southern Germany. I even used to be jealous of the locals there thinking they would be having the cake all the time.

Only recently I got to know it was named after the speciality liquor of the Black Forest region. The authentic Black Forest which is rated as a Top Gourmet Cake gets its flavour from this liquor distilled from tart cherries.Though ofcourse when the cake got popular worldwide, they were manufactured without alcohol  but cherry preserves.

This time for We Knead to Bake, Aparna gave us the yummilicious Black Forest Buns. A fuss free yeasted bread made fancy due to the use of cherry/berry compote and chocolate sponge cake. Easy to make and Gourmet to taste.

Ingredients:

Water: 1/2 cup
Milk: 1/2 cup
Butter: 50gm or 4 tbsp
Sugar: 4 tbsp
Egg: 1 OR Ener G egg = 1.5 pkd tsp of energ + 2 tbsp water

Salt: 3/4 tsp
Instant Yeast:1.5 tsp
All Purpose Flour : 3 cups to 3.5cups

Filling:
Cherry / Strawberry compote/preserve/jam: 3/4 cup
Crumbled chocolate spongecake : around 2 cups

Drizzling: 
chopped and melted semi sweet chocolate or choc syrup or your choice.

Preparation:

Heat water and milk on medium in a saucepan till quite hot but not boiling. Pour this liquid into a large bowl and add butter. Stir until the butter is melted. Then add in the sugar and stir until it dissolves. Once it starts 

cooling down and  becomes luke warm add the yeast and egg. mix well. Then add about 1 cup of flour and mix well. You can do this process by hand or in the processor. 

Add salt and more flour as much is necessary and knead to get a smooth elastic nonsticky dough.In between if the mix becomes difficult to mix in tun it onto the work surface and continue to knead another 10 minutes or so till it becomes elastic and nonsticky. Mine was slightly sticky but workable.

Place the kneaded dough in an oiled bowl turning to coat with oil. Cover loosely and allow the dough to double in volume for about 1-1.5 hours.Now place the dough on a flat surface and roll it out into a 18" x 12" rectangle.

Spread the cherry compote/strawberry jam over leaving a 1/2 " all around. Sprinkle the cake crumbs atop this. Roll the dough away from you,as tightly as possible starting with the 9" edge like jellyroll sealing the edges using water if needed.

Cut into 1.5" pieces and you will get 12 pieces. Place each piece in separate moulds or a baking sheet with just enough space between them to expand.Too much distance will make these spread rather than become tall which is what we want. Cover loosely and allow to rise for another 1 hour or till double.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350F/180C for 25-30 minutes. Remove and cool completely. Garnish with more cherries. Drizzle with melted chocolate and serve.

Perfect Gourmet Bread Buns. We are definitely taken to black forest land thanks to compote and cake. Bake these to taste for yourself. I am going for another batch as the first batch got over right from the oven.

Hop over to Aparna's to see who all baked this treat.

Pane Siciliano - Sicilian Semolina Bread | We Knead to Bake

There was a time I believed semolina /rava was a thing used only in South India. I was surprised to know that semolina is also used in other parts of India. Doubly surprised to know its existence outside India as well. Semolina made by milling the grains usually wheat is known under various names worldwide and used across continents for sweet and savoury dishes. I too have tried few international semolina dishes. But a bread made mostly of semolina is something I have rarely heard. Mix of semolina with majorly all purpose flour that is the common norm isn't it? 

So when Aparna suggested Pane Siciliano for this months We Knead to Bake. I definitely wanted to see how the bread turns out.

Pane siciliano is a semolina based bread from Sicily which is traditionally baked on December 13th every year to celebrate the bravery of St. Lucia. There are several versions or recipes for this but the one given below uses a biga/crescuita which inturns gives it a good texture and taste.

Ingredients:

Cresciuta/Biga/ Pate Fermentee :

Water: 4 tbsp lukewarm

Instant Yeast: 1/4 tsp

All Purpose Flour: 1/4 cup

Dough

Warm Water: 1 cup

Honey: 2 tsp

Instant Yeast: 1/2 tsp

All the prepared biga

Vital Wheat Gluten: 1/2 tsp

Semolina Flour: :2 to 2.75 cups

Salt: 1 tsp

Olive Oil: 1 tbsp

Topping: 

Water

Sesame Seeds: handfuls

Preparation:

In a bowl, sprinkle yeast over lukewarm water and let it sit until frothy for about 5-10 minutes.  Mix in the all purpose flour to obtain a messy batter/dough and let it sit overnight or atleast 4 hours covered loosely with a plastic wrap.

Next day in another big bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water to which honey and been added and let it sit until frothy. 

In another bowl mix in 2 cups semolina flour, gluten if using and salt. If you dont have semolina flour, just run the grainy semolina -that in easily available in the market- in a mixer to get the flour.

To the yeast bowl, add all the bigs prepared earlier and mix well. To this add the semolina mix along with olive oil and mix in to get a liquidy mass. Add more semolina flour as needed to knead it into a non sticky dough. 

Transfer the dough an oiled/greased container turning once to coat and let it sited covered with a plastic wrap until doubled in volume for about 1.5 hours.

Once the dough is doubled, gently punch it down and transfer it to a counter. Roll it out into a long rope and then transfer it to a lined and lightly greased baking tray. Curl the dough back and forth on itself to get a trailing 7 inch tail. Fold the tail over the shaped loaf. 

Loosely cover the dough and let it sit until doubled in size about 1-2 hours. 

Brush the top of the dough with water and sprinkle white sesame seeds on it. Lightly press in the seeds with your fingers so that they don't fall off.

Preheat the oven at 190C/375F with a baking tray placed upside down. Place the dough baking tray on top of the hot baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes until the bread is browned. The bread should sound hollow when tapped at the bottom.

Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

The bread is crust and goes well with a salad or soup. It is a guilt free bread . Normally bread has carbs but this one made with semolina and just 4 tbsp refined flour is as simple and healthy as you can get. So if you enjoy your rava dosa or rava upma in the mornings then this can go very well with you for evening tiffin/tea or even supper along with a heavy side.

Sheermal- Persian Saffron Flatbread | We Knead to Bake #22

I had heard the word sheermal but was under the impression that it was something that existed only in Kashmir. Aunty Google helped me know that it exists even now as a street food in India especially in Muslim neighbourhoods and is an integral though rare  part of Lucknowi especially Awadhi,Kashmiri or Hyderabadi cuisines. Its origins can be traced to the Mughals or Persia as the name is based on the Persian word for milk 'Sheer'. 

Shirmal/Sheermal is a naanlike milk bread made with refined flour, clarified butter/ghee , along with saffron and milk. Slightly sweet in taste, it can be served with spicy kormas/gravies or even sweeter spreads.This month for We Knead to Bake Aparna gave us Sheermal and it was a joy to bake it.

Ingredients:

Instant Yeast: 1 tsp

Sugar: 2 tsp

Luke Warm Water: 4 tbsp

All Purpose Flur: 2.25 cups

Salt :3/4 tsp

Egg: 1 lightly beaten OR Ener G Egg: 1.5 tsp packed powder whipped/mixed with 4 tbsp of water 

Ghee/ Clarified Butter: 4 tbsp

Milk 4-8 tbsp (I needed only 2-3 tbsp)

Kewra Essence /Rose essence: 1 tsp

Few Saffron Strands soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk

Ghee/ Melted Butter : for brushing

Preparation:

Mix yeast & sugar with warm water and keep aside for few minutes until frothy.

In a big bowl or processor, mix together flour & salt. Add in the yeast mixture and egg and whisk/beat well. Add in the ghee in two additions and continue  whisking/beating until it resembles finee crumbs.

Add in milk tablespoons at time -it took just 2 tablespoons for me- and continue kneading until you start getting a dough. Add in the kewra/rose essence -I added rose- and more milk if needed and knead until you a soft and very lightly sticky dough.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, turning once to coat, covering loosely with a plastic wrap and let it sit until doubled for an hour or two.

Meanwhile soak the saffron strands in little warm milk and keep aside. You can see it turning a happy yellow.

Once doubled, take the dough and knead again applying ghee all over. Let it rest again for another 15-20 minutes. 

Dived the dough into 4 equal pieces. Take a piece, roll it out to a circle of 4" diameter or 1/8" thickness. Transfer it to a lined/greased baking sheet. Using a fork, prick holes all over the surface of the bread. Repeat the process with the other three pieces. 

Brush the saffron milk all over the rounds so that it absorbs as much flavour as possible. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/350F for about 10-15 minutes till they turn a lovely golden brown. Take out and lightly brush them with melted ghee/butter. Serve warm. If serving after sometime transfer to a wirerack.

These are perfect when they are warm. They can be enjoyed as such or with any korma/choice of sides.They are only slightly sweet and a yellowish in colour thanks to the saffron. These are usually served in Muslim households with nihari or a slow cooked beef or lamb stew.

Pane Bianco | We Knead to Bake August '14

I love baking breads and love it especially when I have to make it savoury.All the savoury ingredients kneaded into the dough or topped onto it makes it heavenly. Its ok when you roll it out fill it and bake it as a normal rectangle or round loaf / buns. I have tried crescent rolls as well.Thats the max I could go I used to think. Shaping a filled bread always gave me goosebumps.

 But when this month Aparna gave us a theme - savoury filled and differently shaped bread - instead of a recipe I decided to conquer this fear and tried out a bookmarked bread which I used to sigh at. In the end the bread turns out nice and a perfect snack and my confidence several notches up.

I had sourced the recipe for Pane Bianco from the usual source King Arthur Flour. This is an Italian bread where Pane means bread and Bianco stands for white. Apart from this I could not source out more details about this. And as usual I halved the recipe and tried it out. Also I went for roasted tomatoes and Italian seasoning instead of the sundried ones and granulated garlic used in the recipe. You can ofcourse follow the exact recipe.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour: 3 cups

Instant Yeast: 2 tsp

Sugar: 2 tbsp

Salt: 1 tsp

Warm Water: 4 tbsp

Warm Milk: 1/2 cup + optional 1-2 tsp

Extra Virgin Olive Oil : 8 tsp

Egg: 1 or EnerG Egg: 1.5 pkd tsp + 3 tbsp water

Filling/ Stuffing:

Roasted Tomatoes: 2 -3 medium ones.

Italian Mixed cheeses: few tbsp -1/2 cup. I used a mix of mozzarella &parmesan

Fresh Basil: roughly 4 tbsp chiffonaded or torn

Italian seasoning: as per taste

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients - dry ones first and then add the wet ones. Mix and knead to form a smooth soft dough. 

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat and let it rise until doubled covered with a plastic wrap.

Meanwhile line the baking sheet with parchment/foil and optionally grease it.Keep the filling ready in separate bowls. 

Finely chop the tomatoes and keep aside. The recipe went for sundried tomatoes. I went for quick roasted tomatoes. I simply roasted quartered and deseeded tomatoes at 220C after sprikling them with salt, pepper and little sugar and  a drizzle of olive oil. This took around 20 minutes where they caramelized and the juices concetrated.

Gently deflate the dough and divide into half. Roll one piece into rectangle.I went for a thin rectangle so that there could be many layers. Spread the cheese onto the rectangle followed by seasoning, tomatoes and finally basil.

Starting with the longer side, roll the dough into a long log, pinch edges to seal.Place the log seam side down onto the lined sheet. Using shears, start 1/2" from one end and cut lengthwise down to the center about 1" deep to within 1/2" of the other end.Make sure you don't cut the bread fully.

Shape the log into an 's' shape or tuck in both the ends under/ at the sides of  the centre to form an '8'. Pinch the ends together to seal. Cover and let it rise until doubled for another 1 hour. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350F/ 175C for about 35-40 minutes , covering the bread with foil  -else the filling will burn- after 10-15 minutes.

Take out let it cool and serve sliced as a snack. You can go for mini sized versions for individual servings. 

It looks good when you bake a bread shaped with you initials , doesn't it? Enjoy the bread. Its quick and easy to make and texture similar to the loaf bread that we get her. You can play around with the flours if too much experimental and obviously the filling which you can make savoury or sweet. 

Gibasier -French Festive Breakfast Bread | We Knead to Bake #19

Gibasier (zee-bah-see-ay) is a French Breakfast bread especially during Christmas time. Infact it is one of 13 traditional French Christmas desserts and is served after the Midnight Mass to signify the Last Supper of Christ and his 12 apostles. 

The buttery breakfast bread was the chosen one for this month We Knead to Bake by Aparna from Baking Artisan Breads & Pastries. It can be baked as a round loaf or smaller single serve breads with snips that give it a really festive look. Made of orange blossom water and filled with candied orange peel, sprinkled with snowy powdered sugar, definitely I felt festive while baking and loved it first bite onwards.As usual I went for half the recipe and made mini portions.

Ingredients: 

Biga:

Bread Flour: 3/4 cup (i went for all purpose flour)

Milk: 1/4 cup

Instant Yeast: 1/32 tsp 

Dough:

Egg: 1 Ener G Egg: 1.5 pkd tsp of EnerG + 2tbsp water + another 2 tbsp optionally

Olive Oil: 1 tbsp

Orange Blossom Water: 1 tbsp

Warm Water/Orange Juice: 1 tbsp

All the biga from above

Bread Flour/ All Purpose Flour: 1 cup + 10 tbsp

Granulated Sugar: 4 tbsp

Salt: 3/8 tsp

Instant Yeast: 3/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp

Butter: 3 tbsp butter

Anise Seeds: 1 tsp

Candied Orange Peels: 4 tbsp

Orange Zest: 1/2 tsp 

Preparation:

Make the big the previous night by mixing all the ingredients together to get a slightly stiff but smooth dough. Add little more milk if too stiff.

Transfer to an oiled bowl and cover with a plastic wrap loosely. Let it stand overnight at room temperature for about 14-16 hours. By this time it would have risen and have a fermented look.

Bread Dough:

Put the egg(Ener G), olive oil and orange blossom water in a processor bowl and run few time to mix well. Add warm water and mix. Mix all the liquids together with Ener G Egg and olive oil and run a couple of times.

Add the chopped up biga pieces, flour,yeast, sugar and salt and blend together to get a smooth dough.

Add the chunks of butter - just soft and not too soft- to this and knead till the butter is incorporated before adding the next chunk. knead well until the dough is soft and supple.

Add the candied peel, zest and anise seeds and knead till incorporated. Shape into a round and place in a well oiled bowl turning to coat well. Cover loosely and let it sit until doubled up for about 2 hours.

When done, turn the dough into smaller equal sized portions, shape into round portions and let it rest for another 15-20 minutes.

Then take each portion and roll it into a oval or semicrircle. I went for oval (or looking similar :) ) and then halved it so as to get two semicircles. Take each semicircle and make three cuts, one in the centre and two at equal distances from the centre one on either side by pushing the scissors straight into the dough. Then using scissors, make 4 snips at equal distances along the arch.

Lift the piece, stretching it a little so that the slits spread and open and place it in a lined baking sheet . Repeat with remaining portions of the dough and let the gibassiers rise until puffy for about 30-45 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for about 15-18 minutes until golden brown on top. 

Take out and while still hot, brush it with melted/clarified butter(ghee) and immediately sprinkle powdered sugar atop.

Serve as a breakfast pastry or anytime snack. Perfect with tea and definitely give a festive feel.Never before I have felt so festive or Christmassy while sprinkling the powdered sugar over the bread. 

Lets hope all thos who baked felt the same.Peep in over at Aparna's

Komaj- Persian Date & Cumin Bread | We Knead to Bake #18

I am not a great fan of dates. In shakes as syrups, I am ok but won't miss it if not there. Else ofcourse my mother turns it into a sweet snack, which I have no qualms eating but don't ask me to make it. 

Note to  Self: I am making it one day.... umm it will come soon....)

So when Aparna gave a cumin and date bread from Iran I was happy to go with it. After all its tough seeing the date packet peeping out whenever I open the fridge. I know.. 

Anyways the only catch here was will my daughter give a thumbs up? The bread also had spice ingredients like turmeric and cumin seeds along with dates and will the combo be a hit?

I actually couldn't wait to taste the bread and was biting my nails when finally I got a thumbs up sign from her. Whew.. 

Not much can't be found about this bread on googling and this recipe from Aparna for We Knead to Bake #18 is from the Greg & Lucy Malouf's book - Saraban-The Chefs' Journey through Persia.As usual I halved the recipe and replaced egg or rather half of it with cornstarch.Also I replaced almost half of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour.

Ingredients:

Instant Yeast: 1/2 tsp
Warm Water: 1 tbsp + few more tbsp

All Purpose Flour: 1cup
Whole Wheat Flour : 14 tbsp
Cumin seeds: 1.25 -1.5 tsp toasted & coarsely crushed
Sugar: 2 tbsp
Turmeric Powder: 1/4 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp+ optional  1/8 tsp

Egg: 1/2 or optional (replaced with 1 tbsp cornstarch + 1.5 tsp water mixed as a paste)

Warm milk: 1/3 cup + 2-3 tbsp
Olive Oil: 2.1/4 tsp olive oil

Filling:

Dried dates: 8-10 pitted and chopped

Unsalted butter: soft 2 tsp

Cardamom powder: 1/4 tsp

Milk: Brushing on top

Preparation:

Dissolve yeast in water and keep aside for 10 minutes and let it bubble up a bit.

Add in the flours, crushed cumin (1.25 tsp) , sugar, turmeric and salt to a  bowl and mix well. Add the yeast mix and optional egg and mix till it is incorporated. I used 1tbsp cornstarch mixed into a paste with 1.5 tsp of water to replace half an egg.

Add milk and oil and knead to have a smooth pliable dough thats not sticky. I needed more liquid to get a pliable dough. So I added around 2-3 tbsp of milk and water each and kneaded till I got a dough. It was pliable and yellow in colour and moist, but not sticky. It didn't look smooth was  okay. 

Shape into a ball and place in a greased  bowl, turning once to coat. Cover loosely with a plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled for an hour atleast. I went for almost 2 hours.

When risen deflate it , shape into a round and put back for a second rise for an hour or so.

Prepare the filling by mixing the filling ingredients together in a bowl.

Divide the dough into 2 portions and each portion into 2 giving 4 portions. Working with one portion at a time, roll out the portion into a 1/4" -1/8" thick rectangle.

Choose a cookie cutter that is 8cm widest, press it down lightly on one half of the rectangle. You can see the outline/marks on the dough. 

Place 1 tsp of filling at the approximate centre of this mark/outline, fold over the other half of the rectangle over the filling and now it looks like a covered square or circle based on the cookie cutter you have chosen.

With the same cookie cutter, cut the portion with the filling in the centre and in such a way that the sides are neat and well sealed.

Repeat with the remaining portions and reroll the scraps and repeat the process to get 2-3 pieces based on size. I got a total of 6 pieces and 1 smaller piece.

Place the komaj on a lightly greased or lined  baking sheet leaving some space between them as they puff up on baking. Let them sit for 15-20 minutes.

Brush them with milk and sprinkle remaining cumin seeds on top pressing lightly.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 8-10 minutes . Take out and serve warm optionally dusting with powdered sugar.

Yum one as I had mentioned earlier. The dates make it sweet and the cumin adds a bite. umm.
 Let me munch on.. while you take a look at komaj baked by others at Aparna's. 

Psst.. She also had a packet of dates peeping out of fridge.. anyway we can say thanks to komaj, dates ke acche din aaye hain!

Petit Pains Au Lait - French Milk Bread | We Knead to Bake #17

Its been slightly longer than needed since I baked bread. I was running short of instant yeast and used it miserly. It was like I had almost given up baking bread. But now I have hoarded quite a bit of yeast and it was perfect when it was time to bake bread for Aparna's We knead to Bake where this month we were given delicious French milk bread rolls  a.k.a Petit Pains au Lait.

These small milk rolls bread is light but has little and no so huge amount of butter and has milk as the only liquid. They look pretty and shaping these is like an art. I am no artist but I have tried shaping them to the best of my abilities. As usual I halved the recipe but psst.. ended up baking twice. But they definitely got over within an hour.

Ingredients:

Warm Milk: 1/3 cup + more as needed

Instant Yeast: 1/2 tsp

Sugar: 2 tbsp

All Purpose Flour: 1/2cup + 1/3 cup

Bread Flour: 6 tbsp = 1/3 tsp vital wheat gluten + 6 tbsp of all purpose flour

Salt: 1/8 tsp

Butter: 30 gm or 2 tbsp 

Pearl sugar for topping : Optional (I didnot use)

Preparation:

Put the milk, yeast and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Add flour and salt to this and mix until it looks crumbly. You can do this in a food processor bowl or otherwise. Add butter and knead till you have soft smooth,elastic and non sticky dough. You can add more milk if you want to get the required consistency.

Shape into a ball and place in an oiled bowl, turning once to coat it with oil. Cover loosely with a wrap and let it rise until double. This should be done in 1.5 hours.

Turn the dough onto the worktop or kitchen counter. Optionally dusting your palms with flour, gently deflate the dough and divide into 5 equal pieces. Let these rest for 15 minutes.

Roll out each piece into a circle of 4" in diameter. Slowly roll up the circle from end, jelly roll style into a cylider. Pinch the seam closed neatly, place on a greased/lined baking sheet with the seam side down. Cover loosely ad let them rise for an hour until almost double. 

Here as I said, my rolling out into circles was not correct and hence I ended with uuneven /different shaped rolls. Also I flattened them slightly especially at the centre so that the edges will look rounded when they rise. 

Brush lightly with milk and using a pair of sharp scissors, make diagonal cuts on the top . Sprinkle with pearl sugar. I didnot go this topping though it definitley increases the taste of the rolls.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200C/400F for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let them cool on the rack. Serve them warm or at room temperature with coffee or tea.

Yum rolls. First time I made these rolls my daughter snatched these right from the baking sheet. They were just sweet with a firm crust and soft or light crumb.Lets see how others baked theirs. Hop over to Aparna.

Japanese Melon Pan | We Knead to Bake # 15

Melon Pan , or Melon bun is a sweet bun popular in Japan and other places like Taiwan, China and Latin America. These buns are not made of melons of any type.Instead it is a yeast bread dough covered with a thin layer of cookie dough scored in a cross hatch or diamond pattern and baked through. The appearance of the bread resembles a cantaloupe or rock melon and hence the name. 

This time we were given Melon Pan for We Knead to Bake challenge #15 by Aparna. It turned out perfectly- the recipe though involved two dough was good and as usual I replaced my egg with Ener G egg replacer. The bun turned out just sweet -can be sweeter - and ofcourse there are several variations you can try with the given recipe as well.

Ingredients:

Bread Dough:
All Purpose Flour: 1 3/4 cup + more for dusting as needed
Instant Yeast: 1 tsp
Milk Powder: 2 tbsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp

Egg: 1 beaten OR Ener G Egg :1.5 pkd tsp of Ener G + 3 tbsp of water whisked together
Ice cold water: 1/3 cup

Sugar:1 tbsp
Unsalted Soft Butter: 2 tbsp of 25 gm


Cookie Dough:

Unsalted Soft Butter: 60 gm  or 4 tbsp and almost 1 tsp
Castor Sugar: heaped 5 tbsp or 1/3 cup

Egg: 1 beaten or Ener G Egg: 1.5 pkd tsp of Ener G + 4 tbsp of water whisked together
Vanilla extract: 1/2 tsp

All Purpose Flour: 1 1/3 cups
Baking Powder: 3/4 tsp
Salt: a large pinch

Lemon zest: 1 tsp +

Others:
Chocochips: optional (as a layer between bread and cookie doughs)

Castor/ Powdered sugar: for topping

Preparation:

Bread Dough: 

In a big bowl, mix together flour, yeast, milk powder and salt. Beat together egg and cold water and add to the flour mix. Knead well until a dough forms and add in sugar and continue kneading. Add in the butter and knead more to get a smooth soft and elastic dough. 

The more you knead the more the gluten will develop. Roll the dough as a round ball and keep it covered in a greased bowl with wrap , turning once to coat it with oil. Let it sit and rise for about an hour until it doubles in volume.

Cookie dough: 

While the bread dough is rising prepare the cookie dough. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and beat in the egg and vanilla. Add in the mix of flour,salt.lemon zest  and baking powder and whisk at low speed until just combined. Transfer the sandy mass to a plastic wrap and with hands shape into a cylinder. Cover and chill the dough until it is needed.

Melon Pan:

Once the bread dough is doubled in volume, transfer it to a floured counter, deflate it gently and divide into 8 or 10 equal portions. Shape each piece into a round similar to bread rolls. Work with one piece and keep the others covered while doing so to prevent them from drying.

Take out the cookie dough and gently divide it into equal number of pieces as the bread pieces. Take a cookie piece and within two plastic sheets press it into a slightly thin circle.Carefully take a puffed up piece of bread dough and place the pressed out cookie circle on top of it. Cover the bread dough with the cookie circle on all the sides and top leaving the bottom open. 

Hold this piece on the bottom and roll it on sugar to get the top coated with sugar. Then with a sharp knife or similar object ,make a cross hatch or diamond pattern on the cookie dough part making sure the bread dough remains as such. The marks should be deep enough to remain so after baking else they disappear once the bread rises and is baked.

Repeat the process with all the pieces and place the melon pan onto a greased or lined baking sheet and let them rise for another hour or so.

Bake the melonpan in a preheated oven at 350F/180 c for about 25 minutes until the tops just start browning. Take these out and transfer onto wireracks where they can cool till consumption. 

These are preferably served warm and they taste better on the day they are made.

They are perfect with tea or just as an snack and you can make your own variations . The bread dough has no sugar and the sugar is just enough in the cookie crust . So the sugar can be increased by adding another separate layer of chocochips between the cookie and bread layers or in the bread dough as well.

Lets take a look how others fared the melonpan challenge at Aparna.