Strawberry Lemon Flax Seed Bread!

A lemony twist to the regular Strawberry Bread and some flax seed for your daily dose of omega- 3 fatty acid!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 large egg(naturally nested and organic from local arlington farm, you can also try wilcox cage free eggs which one of the certified humane brands)
• 1 cup strawberry puree( 6-8 strawberries)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons quick rise yeast and .5 teaspoon active yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 Tablespoons flax seed crushed

Directions:

1. Warm 1/4 cup water and add 1 teaspoon sugar and yeast to it . Mix well and keep aside for 10 minutes or until frothy.
2. Grease the mixer bowl and add in the flours, salt, sugar, crushed flaxseed. Mix well.
3. Puree strawberries with little water and add to flour.
4. Add in the oil , 1/2 cup water and yeast mixture and knead for 10-12 minutes( batches of 3-4 minutes and then scrape the bowl and wait for the mixer to cool a little if too warm)
5. Add more water if needed. The strawberries will make the dough moist over time, so keep the dough a bit on the dry side.
6. Dough should be soft and pliable and non sticky.
7. Place dough in well oiled container, covered with plastic wrap in a warm place for 1.5 hours
8. Punch dough down and knead for a minute. Shape into loaf by pulling on all side and tucking under.
9. Place loaf in well oiled bread pan and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise for half an hour. Bake loaf at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes or until it sounds hollow to touch.

Plum Strawberry Orange Mini Muffins!

Whenever I get a sweet craving, I end up either grabbing some ice-cream or making muffins/cupcakes. The muffins I make are usually mildly sweet and depend on the fruits to add the sweetness and flavor. It is getting warm and we picked up some nice fresh fruits this weekend. So here goes.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup self rising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 3 strawberries chopped small
• 1 plum chopped small
• 1 Tablespoon reduced sugar Orange marmalade
• 1 egg ( can be substituted by 2 teaspoons soft butter)
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

Directions:

1. Chop up the fruit and put in a large bowl.
2. Add flour mixed with baking powder to the bowl and mix so all the fruit pieces are covered with flour.
3. Add in the sugar, lightly beaten egg, oil, marmalade and everything else and mix them gently till just about combined.
4. Drop spoonfuls of the batter on a greased min muffin pan.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 360 degrees F for 15 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.
6. Enjoy the batch of 12 mini muffins leaded with fruit for breakfast, snack or anytime of the day!

Sprouts Potato Cutlets/Burger Patty

Another one of the hidden mung bean sprouts. I like sprouts, but I cant keep eating them in salads or the usual quick sprouts stir fry mom style( recipe coming up). So I tried putting them in Potato Cutlets which can also be made into burger patties.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium potato boiled and mashed
• 1 cup mung bean sprouts or any other sprouts you like. I sprouted the green mung for 2 days so the sprout was about 1/4 inch.
• 1 Serrano Chili pepper finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/4 teaspoon rock salt(kala namak)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs or 1 slice bread toasted and coarsely blended.
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 Tablespoons oil

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, add in all the ingredients except flour and mix well.
2. Try to make patties out of the mixture. If the mixture is too soggy, then add the flour and more bread crumbs.
3. Shallow fry the patties on medium heat for 2-3 minutes each side.
4. Serve hot with cilantro chutney and sweet tamarind chutney!
5. I also made some sandwiches with the patties topped with cilantro chutney, some cherry tomatoes, lettuce and some dijon mustard. Enjoy!

Mung Sprouts Wheat Bread

This Bread has Mung bean sprouts and Wheat and some Kashmiri Garam Masala.. Your daily dose of proteins and fibre! I added some garam masala to reduce the sprouted taste from the bread. you can eliminate the masala or use some other spices.  I kept the bread simple as I thought the bread would be very dense because of the sprouts. But it actually turned out quite soft and airy. It is dense with the coarse sprouts and wheat, but still airy enough and makes for an awesome sandwich bread!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1 packet quick rise yeast and .5 teaspoon active yeast
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri Garam Masala( Or cinnamon powder, cloves powder, cardamom powder and some black pepper)
• 1 cup green mung bean sprouts( 2 day sprout of about the same length as the seed.. its warm these days)
• 1 Tablespoon vegan butter 
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• oil or oil spray for greasing

Directions:

1. Sprout the mung bean in a moist cloth in a dark place for 2 days or till the sprouts are the length of the seed. In winter it might take 3 days.
2. Coarsely grind the sprouts in a blender with a little water and keep aside.
3. Warm 1/4 cup water and add yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar to it. Mix well and keep aside for 10 minutes.
4. Grease the mixer bowl and add the bread flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour, salt, kashmiri masala, sugar to it and mix well
5. Add in the olive oil, vegan butter, sprouts mixture and yeast mixture and some more water and knead. Add more water or flour as needed. The sprouts will make the bread more moist with time.
6. Knead for 10-12 minutes( batches of 3-4 minutes in the mixer with occasional scraping) until a soft and not too sticky dough is formed.
7. Place dough in well oiled container , lightly mist it with water then with oil spray, cover with plastic wrap, for 1.5 hours or until doubled.
8. Punch the dough down and knead for a minute. Add some flour to reduce stickiness.
9. Shape into loaf by pulling on all sides and tucking under.
10. Place loaf in greased bread pan. Mist top with water then with oil spray. Cover with towel and keep in warm place for 40 minutes.
11. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until bread sounds hollow.
12. Cool completely before slicing. I usually put the cool bread in the refrigerator for an hour before slicing with my electric knife for some nice slices!

This one is headed to this week's YeastSpotting ! Thanks Susan for the lovely round up and inspiration each week!

Olive Oil Sandwich Loaf! also a Pizza base!

I usually use this recipe to make Pizza base.. usually thin crust. I kneaded about 3 times the required quantity and made one 16 inch pizza and a small loaf out of it. Sorry no Pizza pictures.. But fresh Pizza is always awesome. I rolled out the dough after its first rise, put on olive oil glaze, some thinly sliced bell peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms, thai chillies, basil, cilantro and topped it all nicely with asiago cheese. Baked it at 425 degrees F for about 12 minutes! Awesomeee!!

Ingredients:

• 3-4 cups bread flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons quick rise yeast and .5 teaspoon active yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Warm 1/4 cup water and add suagr and yeast to it . Mix well and keep aside for 10 minutes or until frothy.
2. Grease the mixer bowl and add in the flours, salt and pepper. Mix well.
3. Add in the oil , water and yeast mixture and knead for 10-12 minutes( batches of 3-4 minutes and then scrape the bowl and wait for the mixer to cool a little if too warm)
4. Dough should be soft and pliable and non sticky.
5. Place dough in well oiled container, covered with plastic wrap in a warm place for 1.5 hours
6. Punch dough down and roll into 1/8th inch pizza base or shape into a loaf.
7. Place loaf in well oiled bread pan and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise for half an hour. Bake loaf at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes.
8. If making pizza base, place the rolle dout base on greased parchment and let rise for 15 minutes before topping it up. Bake thin crust pizza at 425 degrees F for 10-12 minutes!