Bread-Go-Round

Ever since I came across this Cherry-Go-Round of Taste of Home from Bhawna's blog I was tempted to try it out. Thanks a lot Bhawna for introducing me to this great recipe! Bhawna had made a similar one with savoury filling which she called it Stuffed Bread for her hubby's birthday and which gift is ever so precious than the one made with love! And as the author of the recipe in Taste of home said, this is surprisingly very easy to make and makes a great gift. During occasions like summer parties or any get-together what more do you need to welcome your guests?!

Though I followed the folding and rolling techniques from the recipe I changed the ingredients to suit my choice and rather than the sweet filling with cherries I opted for a meat filling. Also the recipe for the dough required butter and since I wanted to cut down on it too I followed my usual Dinner Rolls recipe with slight changes, as I wanted the rolls to be very soft and spongy. Though I had doubt about the baking time and whether the bread would come out soft, since this time the rolls were stuffed, to my amazement it turned out much more softer than I ever imagined!

For vegetarians and those who do not eat meat you may prepare the filling with veggies(as Bhawna did) or chicken/fish. I too wasn't a meat eater but a particular dish made by my husband turned me on and I have enjoyed having meat prepared in this way ever since. I have used a similar filling here too with slight changes and hence I have included it here once more.

This soft stuffed bread can be had even for lunch/dinner and is quite filling. I wanted to make something for next day's lunch that would be easy to pack and since the preparation required much time I made it the previous evening. We relished the taste of roasted meat wrapped in warm soft rolls right after it came out of the oven so much that our tummies were jam packed and hardly had any space left for dinner!

For the dough:

Ingredients:

All purpose flour(Maida) - 3 cups

Salt - 1.5 tsp

Sugar - 1.5 tbsp

Yeast - 2 tsp

Organic Whole milk - 3/4 cup

Egg - 1

Egg yolk - 1

Olive oil - 3 tbsp

For the glaze:

Egg white - 1

Method:

• Dissolve sugar in warm milk and add yeast. Leave the mixture aside for about 15 minutes until it turns frothy.
• Beat egg and egg yolk well.
• Add oil to beaten egg and mix well.
• Add the yeast mixture to the above and combine well. Keep aside.
• Mix flour with enough salt.
• Make a well in the center and add the egg yeast mixture.
• Combine well, make a dough and knead well for ten minutes. The dough will be sticky at first but after the kneading process it would turn smooth and non sticky.
• After the kneading process, do the folding process few times with the dough by folding it as you fold a sheet of paper.
• Keep the dough in a pan and brush with enough oil on the surface.
• Cover the pan with a damp kitchen towel and leave it in a warm place to rise for 2 hours.

For the meat filling:

Ingredients:

Boneless Beef - 2 lb with fat removed cut into small pieces

Red onions - 2 sliced thin

Tomatoes - 2 sliced

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp(or more)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder - 3/4 tsp

Garam masala/Chicken masala - 3/4 tsp

Salt to taste

For marination:

Ground roasted spices(recipe follows)

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Chicken masala/Garam masala - 1 tsp

To dry roast and grind:

Cinnamon stick - 2 each 2.5" long

Cloves - 7

Cardamom seeds - 1/4 tsp

Star anise - 2

Whole Nutmeg - 1/2

Fennel seeds - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Dry roast the spices mentioned above at medium heat until the colour slightly changes and you get the aroma of roasted spices.
• Cool and grind to a fine powder.
• Marinate the beef with the above spices and other ingredients mentioned above under marinade.
• Keep the marinated beef for at least 1 hour.
• Cook beef adding little water in a pressure cooker. Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and saute onions till it turns brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell goes.
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook till it turns mushy.
• Add chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt and saute till the raw smell of spices go.
• Add cooked beef along with water left after pressure cooking beef. Mix well.
• Increase heat to medium high(gas 8) and cook with an open lid until water has evaporated.
• Keep stirring in between to prevent meat from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• When the dish has become completely dry turn off heat.

Assembling:

• Punch the dough to release the trapped air and leave it covered with the towel for 10 minutes.
• Roll the dough to a rectangle 20''*12".
• Place the filling leaving 1/2" on all four sides.
• Start rolling from the longest end of the rectangle to form a log.
• Pinch the seams and tuck the ends under.
• Place seam side down on prepared baking tray and pinch the ends together to form a ring.
• With kitchen scissors cut from outside edge two thirds of the way to the center of the ring at 1" intervals.
• Separate the strips slightly by twisting them to expose the filling(I twisted clockwise)..
• Cover with a damp towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile preheat the oven to 400F(200C).
• Beat the egg white slightly.
• Brush the surface of the dough with egg white.
• Bake for about 14-15 minutes or until golden brown on top.
• Slice and serve hot!

Pooja.

Other Breads:

Dinner Rolls

I'm always fascinated by soft and spongy glazing rolls and the very sight of those creates parade drums in my stomach! I love having these as an appetizer or for breakfast and nothing would ever please me other than warm freshly baked rolls with a slab of butter. Well my first attempt at making dinner rolls was a complete disaster and though the dough was okay(or at least i thought it was!) the final outcome was glazing rolls(thanks to the egg wash) that was very hard to bite and it seemed like an exercise for the teeth.

At that point of time I never knew that the quantity of ingredients that went onto the dough making other than the flour mattered so much and I added everything that I wanted to and finally baked it a temperature I thought was right never bothering to check the timing until I saw the golden glaze on top of the rolls! Of course you cant expect to make perfect rolls this way but so naive was I being new to the baking world and at that point of time nothing else mattered to me other than the final product.

Well I learnt from my mistakes and I should say-the hard way :) After this flopped attempt months back I never ventured into making dinner rolls until I saw Vahrehvah's Bread Rolls recipe. It tempted me enough to give a try and if you would like to know my verdict, this was the softest home made rolls I have ever had. Though the rolls may look a bit hard once you take it out of the oven, after keeping for some time it turns soft and spongy and can be had as such without any spreads. Though I made it to have with stew we ended up snacking half of it and had barely enough to have with stew :)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Melted butter - 2 tbsp

Egg - 1

Warm Milk - 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Yeast - 1 tsp

For glaze:

Egg white - 1

Method:

• Dissolve sugar in warm milk and add yeast. Leave the mixture aside for about 15 minutes until it turns frothy.
• Beat egg well.
• Add melted butter to beaten egg and mix well.
• Add the yeast mixture to the above and combine well. Keep aside.
• Mix flour with enough salt.
• Make a well in the center and add the egg yeast mixture.
• Combine well, make a dough and knead well for ten minutes. The dough will be sticky at first but after the kneading process it would turn smooth and non sticky.
• After the kneading process, do the folding process few times with the dough by folding it as you fold a sheet of paper.
• Keep the dough in a pan and brush with enough oil on the surface.
• Cover the pan with a damp kitchen towel and leave it in a warm place to rise for 1.5 hours.
• After this time the dough would have doubled in size.
• Punch the dough well to release the trapped air.
• Again cover the dough with the damp towel and leave it for 10 minutes.
• Make rolls out of the dough. You may make any shape as you wish.
• Cover the rolls with damp towel and leave it for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400F(200C).
• Take egg white in a small bowl and whisk it slightly.
• Brush the top of the rolls with egg white and bake for about 15 minutes. The rolls would have turned golden brown by this time.
• Serve warm with a slab of butter or any spicy curry!

Pooja.

Other Bread Recipes:

Persimmon Nut Bread-Low Fat Vegan!

When I saw Madhuram's Low Fat Egg less Baking event I loved the theme behind it so much that it tempted me to make something that would fit the theme well. I love foods low in fat that would allow anyone to indulge on it guilt free, and which wouldn't ask for that extra hour of work-out to burn off the extra calories. And egg less baked items! Wow what more could I ask for?

Trying to be health conscious most of the time I always prefer whole foods instead of processed ones and try to include whole grains in our daily diet. Hence whole wheat flour has found a permanent place in my pantry.Starting off the day with a perfect low fat breakfast item was on my mind as I read the theme and of course with whole wheat flour. Though I had few recipes in hand it required eggs and as I was browsing the net I came across Susan's Persimmon Bread. Susan has an amazing collection of low fat vegan recipes and glancing through each made me realize that I have reached the perfect destination and put an end to further searches!

I had few left over persimmons that had been patiently sitting on my kitchen counter for a long time waiting eagerly for its turn and this was the perfect time to try out the bread. As Susan said in her post there are two kinds of Persimmons-Hachiya & Fuyu. Fuyu is the one that can be had even when its not fully ripe and is still sweet. Hachiya has an astringent flavour when not fully ripe due to the high level of tannin. But ripe ones are always sweet and here in this recipe I have used Fuyu. Persimmons have a high nutritional value and is a good source of beta carotene, Vitamin C and potassium.

I made some changes to Susan's recipe and added banana along with persimmons.I love the flavour imparted by honey to any dish and used it in addition to sugar. Since I love nuts a lot I have added almonds and cashews.The bread turned out moist and soft and was like a dense cake. And as Susan said in her post, this bread becomes softer and more delicious when kept for few days.With low fat and eggless this bread is rich in proteins, minerals, vitamins, beta carotene and dietary fiber. What more do you need for a healthy breakfast?

Ingredients:(Recipe Courtesy: Persimmon Bread by Susan of FatFree Vegan Kitchen)

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups

Ripe and sweet Persimmons - 2

Ripe banana - 1

Chopped almonds & cashews- 1/2 cup

Sliced Dates - 1/2 cup

Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Powdered nutmeg - 1/2 tsp

Powdered cinnamon - 1/4 tsp

Powdered cloves - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Honey - 1/4 cup

Granulated sugar - 1/4 cup

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 3/4 tsp

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 F(180 C).
• Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, salt well. Sieve at least thrice. Keep aside.
• Blend persimmons and banana together.
• Transfer the blended ingredients to a mixing bowl and add honey, sugar and oil. Mix well until well blended.
• Add the flour mixture and mix well. Do not overmix at this stage.
• Add chopped almonds, cashews, dates and incorporate it well into the batter.
• Transfer the batter to a well greased loaf tin and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Allow it to cool before unmoulding.
• Cut into slices and serve with hot coffee!

This goes to Low Fat Eggless Baking event hosted by Madhuram.

Pooja.

Other Bread Recipes:

Other Breakfast Dishes:

Pita Bread

Days before, while dining out at one of our favourite restaurants(and a hang out place too) a menu was placed before us that had pictures of the dishes along with the title and description. Through visual viewing of the dishes it was easy to place the order afterwards. Since then I have been thinking to do something similar in my blog too, where an user would be able to select a recipe by viewing the picture of the dish along with the title. I started working on it and though it took me few days due to the limited time I'm able to devote to blogging daily I have finally come up with a new Recipe Index, the link to which I have provided at the top of the page. Hoping this would provide easy access to the recipes.With the page creation having taken much of my blogging time, today I'm here with a simple and easy dish-Pita Bread.

Pita bread is a type of flat bread and belongs to traditional Middle-Eastern cuisine. This soft and spongy bread can made with either wheat flour, all purpose flour or combination of both. This may be served along with dips like Hummus or may be wrapped around fillings like gyros, kebabs to form sandwiches. Pita bread is usually baked at high temperatures that cause the bread to rise and turn puffy. The dough is kneaded well for few minutes and left to ferment for few hours by placing it in a container greased with oil and covered with a damp dish towel. The fermented dough is then punched to release trapped air, spread with a roller and baked.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/4 tbsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

Salt to taste

1.5 tbsp olive oil+ more for greasing

Warm water for making dough

Method:

• Dissolve granulated sugar in 1/4-1/2 cup warm water. Add yeast and keep in a warm place for about 15-20 minutes or until it rises and foam forms at the top.
  
• Mix the flour with oil, yeast and salt. Add enough warm water and make a smooth dough. Knead the dough for at least 7-8 minutes.
  
• Place the dough in a bowl greased with oil and lightly coat the surface of the dough with oil too.
  
• Cover the bowl with a damp towel and keep in a warm place for about 2.5 hours till the dough has doubled in volume.
  
• Punch the dough to release trapped air and divide into equal balls.
  
• Spread out each ball into any shape you desire-oval or round.
  
• Allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes before placing in oven.
  
• While its resting prepare your baking tray. Preheat oven to 400F(200C) and keep your baking tray inside the oven while in preheat mode.
  
• Bake for about 4 minutes. The bread should have puffed up after this time.
  
• Serve hot with hummus.
  

Pooja.

Other Middle-Eastern Dishes: