Hokkaido Milk Bread

Things have been silent here for a while.I have been cooking and trying out new things more than ever, but am finding lesser and lesser time to blog about them and share them with you all. At the very least, I have been taking pictures, so we can hope that the posts could see the light of day at some point.

News on the Baby A front is that we celebrated his second birthday with a little party and a cake. So, he doesn't qualify to be called Baby A anymore. Since none of the established bakeries was willing to make a birthday at CNY, we placed an order with a home baker. We were so stunned by her creation. We asked her to put a few of A's favourite things: Thomas, Spot and Lightning McQueen. A was thrilled! A also started with a playgroup and seems to enjoy it. In his first week, he made pizzas at school! Another foodie in the making?

Earlier this year, I signed up with Aparna to bake 12 breads in 12 months with. I was in India for 3 weeks in February and so I dropped out of February's bread. We enjoyed the pull apart pesto bread so much that I was certain  I simply had to try the others. (OK, let's say the fear of being thrown out of the group also had something to do with the attempt.)

When we returned from India and were unwell for what felt like the longest time. I thought up every excuse in the book to opt out of this one. And then the pictures started pouring in. And I thought it'd be criminal to not even give this a try! So I went along with our credo: We Knead to Bake!

Hokkaido Milk Bread

A little time consuming, but very easy. The original recipe is for this bread is from 65 Degrees Tangzhong “65C Bread Doctor” by Yvonne Chen, and adapted from Kirbie’sCravings.

For The Tangzhong (Flour-Water Roux)

1 1/2 tbsp Flour

1/4 cup Water

1/4 cup Milk 

Whisk together lightly the flour, water and milk in a saucepan until smooth and there are no lumps. Place the saucepan on the stove, and over medium heat, let the roux cook till it starts thickening. Keep stirring/ whisking constantly so no lumps form and the roux is smooth.

Watch the roux/ tangzhong until you start seeing “lines” forming and take the pan off the heat at this point.

Let the roux/ tangzhong cool completely and rest for about 2 to 3 hours at least. It will have the consistency of a soft and creamy crème patisserie.

For The Dough:

 2 1/2 cups Flour

 3 tbsp Sugar

 1tsp Salt

2 tbsp Milk Powder

2 tsp Instant Yeast

1/2 cup Milk

1/8 cup Cream

Tangzhong from the recipe above

25gm Unsalted Butter (cut into small pieces, softened at room temperature)

Put the flour, salt, sugar, powdered milk and instant yeast in a bowl and mix with a hand blender and dough hooks. In another small bowl mix the milk, cream and Tangzhong till smooth and add to the processor bowl. Run on slow speed until the dough comes together. Now add the butter and process till you have a smooth and elastic dough which is just short of sticky.

Knead the dough to make it smooth. If the dough feels firm and not soft to touch, add a couple of tsps of milk till it becomes soft and elastic. When the dough is done, you should be able to stretch the dough without it breaking right away.  When it does break, the break should be form a circle.

Form the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl turning it so it is well coated. Cover with a towel, and let the dough rise for about 1 hour or till almost double in volume.  

Place the dough on the working surface. Divide the dough in 3 equal pieces. Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape, about 1/8” thick. Take one end of the dough from the shorter side of the oval and fold it to the middle of the oval. Take the other end and fold so it slightly overlaps the other fold.

Roll this folded dough with the rolling pin so the unfolded edges are stretched out to form a rectangle. Roll the rectangle from one short edge to the other, pinching the edges to seal well. Do this with each of the three larger pieces and place them, sealed edges down, in a well-oiled loaf tin. Cover with a towel and leave the dough to rise for another hour.

Brush the tops of the loaf with cream and bake at 170C (325F) for about 20 to 30 minutes till done and beautifully browned on top. Let the loaf cool in the tin for about 5 minutes and then unmould and transfer to a rack till slightly warm or cool. Slice and enjoy the fruits of your labour!

Soft and so tasty. This is, by far, the best bread I've baked.

Basil Pesto and Cheese Pull Apart Bread

A new year has dawned upon us. Happy New Year!

 

I just realized that an entire month has gone by and I have not posted anything here. But then, I haven't been as regular with my posting for some time now. But I have been cooking. Not a lot, and not necessarily anything different. But even then, I have a whole load of recipes sitting in my drafts that are waiting for me. The recipe is done and the photographs are taken. But since there's always an attempt to tell a story, I think I am faced with a writer's block. What can I say that I haven't said before? What are my thoughts and how do they link to the recipe? And is there a not so long winded way in which the story can be told? Sometimes, I lose time in just wondering about these things that I forget to actually blog.

 

I have baked "with" other food bloggers a few times before and I have enjoyed it. Very often, while my enthusiasm to bake again together remains intact, life has a way of making other plans. So, when Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen asked if we'd be interested in baking a bread a month, I liked the idea. But I knew that I have my moments when the spirit is willing and the flesh is tired. Sometimes, the schedule is tired. I will bake along with this group now as I know We Knead to Bake!

 

The first bread was a pull apart bread. I have been wanting to make it for some time now and this seemed like the perfect opporutnity. And the way Aparna had posted it, it seemed easier than some of the other methods I had read about. So I baked it last week. We ate it straight out of the pan... so I have no picture of the entire loaf.

My filling was a mixture of different gifts we had received over the holiday season and a little bit of imagination.

 

 

 

For the Dough:

 

1/2 cup warm Milk

1 tsp Sugar

2 tsp active dry Yeast

3 cups Bread Flour

1 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tbsp Butter

1 tsp Mixed Herbs (Parsley, Basil, Chilli Flakes)

3/4 cup Milk (+ a couple of tbsp to brush over the bread)

 

For the filling:

2 tbsp Butter, melted

4 tbsp Basil Pesto

1/4 cup Cumin Gouda Cheese, grated

1/4 cup Habanero Jack Cheese, grated

1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes

 

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar and the yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm milk. Keep aside for about 5 minutes till the yeast mixture bubbles up.

Add the flour, salt, softened butter, and herbs into the bowl and mix well. Add the 3/4 cup of milk and knead till you have a soft, smooth dough which is not sticky.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning the dough to coat it completely with oil. Cover and let it rise for about 1 hour or until almost double in volume.

Deflate the dough, shape it into a square and roll the dough out into a larger square that is about 12" by 12". Brush the surface of the square with the melted butter. Evenly spread the pesto, chilli flakes and the grated cheeses. Lightly press the filling onto the dough.

Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough from top to bottom into 6 long and even strips – they do not have to be perfect. Lay each strip on top of the next, with the topping facing upwards, until you have a stack of the strips. Using a pastry scraper or a sharp knife, cut straight down through the stack dividing it into 6 equal pieces (6 square stacks).

Grease and lightly flour a 9” by 4” loaf tin. Layer the square slices, cut sides down into the loaf tin. Cover the loaf tin loosely with cling film and allow the dough to rise for an hour. Lightly brush some milk over the top of the loaf. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

Bake the dough for about 30 to 40 minutes until it is done and the top is golden brown. Attack!

This bread is great as a side with some soup. But mostly, it is great to just eat simply. Pull yourself a piece and enjoy!

Batata Sukke

 

Potatoes. A vegetable used as often in my house as many others. Many people tell me that they use a higher proportion of potatoes to other vegetables. In our household, that vegetable would be carrots (or peas). It is not that anyone here dislikes potatoes, everyone loves them.  I just don't always think of  the potato as a vegetable in its own right.

This year, for Ganesh Chaturthi, I made the entire amchi spread. We did our puja with somashe, modak, chakli, patrodo, dali saar, karatye ghasshi, phodiyo, etc. It was a huge spread for just us, but I went ahead anyway. One of the dishes that goes into this traditional feast is Batata Sukke.

1/4 kg Potatoes, cooked, peeled and cubed

1/2 tsp Urad Dal
1/2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Oil
1/4 cup Coconut
3-4 Red Chillies
1 tbsp Tamarind Paste
1/4 tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste

For the tempering:
1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves

Heat the oil and fry the fenugreek seeds and the coriander seeds for a minute. Grind this along with the turmeric, tamarind, coconut and red chillies to a somewhat fine paste. Add salt to taste. Coat the potatoes with this mixture.

 

In a large pan, heat the teaspoon of oil for the tempering. Add the mustard and the asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add the potato mixture. Add a little water, if necessary. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Unlid and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Serve hot with rice and dali-saar or chapatis.

Black Forest Brownies

Brownies! I barely know of anyone who doesn't like the stuff. Having said that, I must admit that I have hardly ever been tempted to buy these beauties. Especially since I started baking them at home. I have tried different variations through the years, but have never put up recipes. I usually bake these to give away. So, I rarely take pictures and as a result, the recipes are not shared.

 

 

 

 

While I am yet to start my holiday baking, this seemed like a festive enough way to kickstart the process. We always have a stash of chocolate that is gifted to us throughout the year. While we all love chocolate, we don't eat it as much. Very recently, a friend gifted us a bar of Dairy Milk Black Forest. I just knew that it would also just languish in the pantry unless I rescued it. Now, I think I could do this with other chocolates too.

 

1/2 cup Oil

3/4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Flour
200g Dairy Milk Black Forest Bar (Powdered in a mixie jar)
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt

 

 

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

Beat the eggs and add the sugar, vanilla essence and oil. Add the flour, chocolate, baking powder and salt, gradually to the egg mixture. Spread the batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares and enjoy them.

The black forest chocolate is made with pieces of cherry jelly and biscuits. The surprise is in biting into a chewy brownie and finding an even chewier piece of jelly. Great combination and a keeper recipe.

 

Happy Holidays!



Quinoa Dosa

 

 

When I was India, I read a lot about Quinoa. The super faux grain. The perfect replacement for rice. High in protein, low in calories, a good source of calcium and iron. The list was practically endless. But I had no source for it there. A few months ago, I came across a packet in the local supermarket here. I bought it and as with most things I buy, I forgot about it.

 

 

This morning, I decided to soak rice and dal for making dosas. I make my dosas with brown rice as I wanted to incorporate it into our cooking. I tried several times to use it in place of regular rice, but it just didn't go down as well in our house. I felt that we had to cut down on white rice usage in more palatable ways. I started making dosas with brown rice in India simply because I had stock that had to be used up in some way. And when my dosas turned out fine, there was no turning back.


At a Chinese vegetarian restaurant here that I have been to a couple of times, I tasted red rice. The chef at the place spoke little English, but was happy to teach me how to cook the rice (with the manager translating) and even showed me a packet of the rice while telling me where to buy it. I ended up buying a bag of Red Cargo rice. I wanted to see how my dosas would turn out with this and so looked into my pantry for the red rice. I then saw the forgotten packet of Quinoa. There was a quick change in plans.

It was an experiment and it worked. That I am posting it here means that it was good. But good doesn't even begin to describe this. Golden brown like the dosas you get a hotel and no one will complain. It may be different, but this different is good.

1 cup Quinoa
1 cup Udad

1 cup Brown Rice
1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Wash the urad, quinoa and rice. Add the fenugreek seeds and soak in plenty of water overnight. (At least 4-5 hours). Wash well and grind using a little water. Add salt and water to dilute it as required. (Don't add too much water as the dosas will not turn out well.) If you like, you could allow the batter to ferment overnight. I like dosas made with freshly ground batter. And after I've eaten those, I let the batter ferment overnight.

Heat a tawa and smear a little oil on it. Simmer the flame and pour a ladleful of the batter in the centre of the tawa. Quickly spread the batter while forming concentric circles (spiral actually!). Add a little oil on the sides and centre. Usually not more than 1 small spoonful (1/4 tsp) per dosa. When crisp, carefully turn the dosa over and allow the other side to cook a little (this is not done in restaurants, but I prefer to turn my dosas and toast them on both sides).

Turn the dosa back and fold in half. Serve with chutney, sambar, or molaga podi or a combination of all these.

Humble dosa at probably its nutritious best. And as a plus, it tastes and looks fantastic. 

I think there is no going back for me.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

 

 

I'd never seen these orange sweet potatoes before we moved here. In India, I only saw the ones with the purplish pink skin and yellowish white flesh. Those would have spots that would somehow turn black once I cut them. So, when I saw the orange fleshed ones here, I fell in love with them instantly. They looked just like the stuff I'd seen in my cookbooks, they weren't as sweet as the ones back home, and they didn't get those black spots. I use them quite often in my cooking.

 

I followed the same technique as for baked potato wedges, but I cut the sweet potatoes into fries. (One must at least feel that they are eating fries!) These fries also double up as toddler finger food. Very good for a child who wants to hold his or her own food and act all grown up.

 



 

I followed the same method for the adult and the baby versions, varying only the spices.

 

2 Sweet Potatoes, parboiled, peeled and cut into fries

2 tbsp Oil
1 tbsp Butter
1 tsp Basil
1 tsp Parsley
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
1/2 tsp Garlic PowderSalt and Pepper to taste

For the toddler version, I used paprika, garlic powder and salt.

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

 

Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan. Add the parsley, basil and chilli flakes (or paprika) and fry for a minute. Add the garlic powder and fry another minute. Add the sweet potato, salt and pepper (optional for toddlers). Toss the wedges in the spice mixture. Transfer to a baking sheet. Place it in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy these hot. I tried these again recently with purple fleshed sweet potatoes and we all loved them. Nature has put so much into these sweet potatoes that this cannot even be termed an indulgence. Moderation, of course, is key.

Ragi Appey - Almost Instant Goodness

 

 

Last month, we had been to the US to attend my graduation ceremony. Before the ceremony, we spent a few days with S's sister. She told me about making dosas without grinding. She merely added water and salt to a mixture of rice and udad flours and allowed it to ferment. I had tried something similar before, but had added baking soda to the mixture. I liked the idea of natural fermentation. I wanted to try it after we got back.
 

In one of my recent posts, I talked about how our blogs have crossed the boundaries of the blogosphere and how we are all connected via social media. This post and the dish it talks about have come about thanks to a food related discussion on Facebook.
 

Aparna started a discussion asking people about mannchattis. Suddenly, the discussion spilt over to kalchattis and kuzhipaniyaram pans. Then as a continuation of that, there was more talk of neiyappams and their pans. I was drooling. I was hungry. And I had to do something about it.
 

 

I decided to make grind free dosa batter. I tweaked the batter by adding ragi flour to the it. The weather happened to be rainy and not very hot. So natural fermentation may need a bit of a helping hand, I thought. And my idea worked. I was rewarded with a plate of hot appeys.

 

1 cup Udad Flour

1 cup Rice Flour

1 cup Ragi Flour

1 tsp Instant Yeast

Salt

 

Mix the flours and the salt and add enough water to make a dosa like thick batter. Add the yeast and mix well. Allow to ferment for an hour or so.

 

As a variation to this plain batter, I also made the masala variation by adding to the batter:

 

1 Tomato, finely chopped

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 Green Chilli, finely chopped

1/2" piece Ginger, finely chopped

1/4 cup Coriander Leaves, finely chopped

 

Heat the appey kayli and smear a drop of oil onto each mould. Simmer the flame and pour a spoonful of the batter into each mould. Turn each ball after a few minutes using a pick. Enjoy them fresh off the pan.

 

A, who did not care for dosas made from the same batter, loved these. He called them "ball". They're healthy enough for a toddler, are something he can eat  by himself (when sufficiently cooled) and have everything that makes them a meal. What's not to love?