Spinach Feta bread roll!

Same as the Spinach Feta Buns I made earlier. I dint slice them before baking. And came up with a bread roll. Sliced them after cooling a bit and enjoyed with hot masala chai and some more cheese sprinkled on top!

Indian Gooseberry Preserve Wheat Bread (Amla Murabba in Bread)

Amla or Indian Gooseberry is a tangy fruit and is a great source of Vitamin C. It is considered a wonder fruit and the preserve made from it called the Amla Murabba is very tangy, sweet and sour. It helps keep the immune system functioning well and also helps regulate the digestive system. Read more about the Indian Gooseberry and how to make the preserve here http://indiacuisine.blogspot.com/2005/12/wonder-herb-amla-or-indian-gooseberry_04.html

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3-4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1.25 cup water
• 2 tablespoons oil or butter
• 1 large egg( wilcox organic cage free)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Indian Gooseberry preserve syrup
• 2 Amlas, preserved Indian gooseberries, seed removed.
• 2 teaspoons active yeast

Directions:

1. Warm half a cup of water and add sugar and yeast to it. Mix well
2. Let it sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.
3. Remove the seed from the Gooseberries and Coarsely blend them with the syrup.
4. In a greased mixing bowl, add the flours, salt and mix well.
5. Add the oil, egg, yeast mixture, gooseberries and and knead for 8-10 minutes. ( if using stand mixer, 3-4 minute batches with intermittent scraping)
6. Add more water if needed.
7. Place dough in a well greased container, covered in a warm place for 2 hours.
8. Lightly punch the dough and using a little flour knead and shape into a loaf by pulling on all sides and tucking under.
9. Place loaf in well oiled bread pan and cover with damp towel. Let rise for an hour.
10. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes.
11. Cool completely before slicing!

Wheat Oats Flaxseed everyday Sandwich Loaf!

Another healthy multi-grain Sandwich Loaf!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup bread flour
• 3-4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1.25 cup water
• 2 tablespoons oil or butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cracked wheat
• 1/2 cup organic oats
• 1/4 cup flax seeds
• 2 teaspoons active yeast

Directions:

1. Warm half a cup of water and add sugar and yeast to it. Mix well
2. Let it sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.
3. In another half cup of water, boil the cracked wheat for 5 minutes.
4. Coarsely blend the flax seeds and oats and add to the boiling cracked wheat mixture. Mix well and switch off and cool.
5. In a greased mixing bowl, add the flours, salt and mix well.
6. Add the oil, yeast mixture, oats wheat mixture and and knead for 8-10 minutes. ( if using stand mixer, 3-4 minute batches with intermittent scraping)
7. Add more water if needed.
8. Place dough in a well greased container, covered in a warm place for 2 hours.
9. Lightly punch the dough and using a little flour knead and shape into a loaf by pulling on all sides and tucking under.
10. Place loaf in well oiled bread pan and cover with damp towel. Let rise for an hour.
11. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes.
12. Cool completely before slicing!

Chocolate swirls Bread!

Some pretty chocolate swirls in the a bread similar to Pan de Hojaldre.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups bread flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1.5 cups water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons active yeast
• 2 Tablespoons organic cocoa powder
• oil for greasing

Directions:

1. Warm half a cup of water and add 1 teaspoon sugar and yeast to it. Mix well
2. Let it sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.
3. In 1/4 cup hot water, mix in the cocoa powder and 1 Tablespoon sugar and keep aside for cooling.
4. Take 1/3 of the yeast mixture, 1 (or 1.5)cup bread flour, cocoa mixture, 1 teaspoon butter and knead into a soft dough.
5. In a greased mixing bowl, add the rest of the flours and salt and mix well.
6. Add the remaining butter, yeast mixture, and water and knead for 8-10 minutes. ( if using stand mixer, 3-4 minute batches with intermittent scraping)
7. Add more water if needed.
8. Place both doughs in separate well greased containers, covered in a warm place for 2 hours.
9. Knead the doughs separately into balls.
10. Take both doughs and roll them out into 10 or 12 inch squares of even thickness. The chocolate dough will be about 1/8 inch thick and the regular dough about a 1/4 inch thick. Use extra flour if necessary.
11. Place the chocolate dough on top on the regular dough square.
12. Fold them together twice to get a smaller square.
13. Roll them out again to about 10 inches square.
14. Roll them like a jelly roll from one side tightly and seal the open side to the roll with water.
15. Place the roll on a greased baking tray with the sealed side down.
16. Make deep cuts on the roll an inch apart. Step by step and pictorial for similar shaping here http://cindystarblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/pan-de-hojaldre.html
17. Spray some oil on top and cover with damp towel. Let rise for 40 minutes.
18. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes.
19. Cool completely before slicing!
20. Enjoy warm with butter! or dipped in hot coffee!

GingerBread Bread!

GingerBread cookies or GingerBread Bread :) I made the bread! The bread had a tad more water than required and I was feeling lazy to add more flour and keep it for another rise.. so it deflated a bit. But a bread is a bread! a bit denser but still a bread!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup bread flour
• 3-4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup water ( I used whey leftover after I used the curdled milk to make Rasgullas)
• 2 tablespoons oil or butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 Tablespoon molasses
• 2 inch piece of fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• pinch of clove powder
• pinch of cardamom powder
• 2 teaspoons active yeast

Directions:

1. Warm half a cup of water and add sugar and yeast to it. Mix well
2. Let it sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.
3. In a blender, blend the ginger with a little water, spices and molasses and keep aside.
4. In a greased mixing bowl, add the flours, salt and mix well.
5. Add the oil, yeast mixture, ginger mixture and and knead for 8-10 minutes. ( if using stand mixer, 3-4 minute batches with intermittent scraping)
6. Add more water if needed.
7. Place dough in a well greased container, covered in a warm place for 2 hours.
8. Lightly punch the dough and using a little flour knead and shape into a loaf by pulling on all sides and tucking under.
9. Place loaf in well oiled bread pan and cover with damp towel. Let rise for an hour.
10. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes.
11. Cool completely before slicing!

Rasogulla!

Rasgulla is a very popular cheese based sweet syrupy indian dessert.

I have tried to make these before twice and once they came out good and the other time they were too hard. I wanted to get them right before posting on the blog! Mom made them this time, and she followed Manjula's Kitchen recipe. Watch the video for some tips on how to get them right. We used whole milk(Organic Valley) and they turned out all nice squishy and amazingly soft and tasty!

Some tips:

• Knead the chenna(Paneer) nicely to make it smooth and then make the balls.
• Mom pressure cooked the balls for 7 minutes, waited for 2 minutes before pouring cold water on the cooker and removing the pressure.
• There should enough water and space for the Rasgullas to expand! Some of our rasgullas got stuck to each other. But they all turned out very spongy!
• I added a pinch of cardamom powder to the sugar syrup.

Enjoy them chilled if you can wait that long!

Organic Valley is rated 4 stars on cornucopia which means that the cows are treated very well, are on small farms, are on pastures, are fed organic, no antibiotics, with a very low cull rate. To find animal friendly milk farms check out the Cornucopia list here http://www.cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html

Animal friendly products are not just friendly to animals, they are friendly to you as well. It means that you are getting a good, nutritious, organic, no hormones product which is the best for you and your family in the long run. So by supporting a caring farm, you are supporting a healthy life for your own family along with the animals!

I will try to make a Vegan version next time!

Date Maple Wheat Bread!

September is here and I still have a bunch of Dates and Figs left to use. So I decided to make a Date Bread with pureed dates. You can use chopped chunks as well. Here is the Date Bread with chunks of Dates

Pretty pictures and pretty flowers by hubbs.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup bread flour
• 3-4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 cup dates(10-12)
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons oil or butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Maple syrup
• 1.5 teaspoons active yeast

Directions:

1. Warm half a cup of water and add sugar and yeast to it. Mix well
2. Let it sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.
3. Soak pit-less dates in hot water and keep for an hour.
4. In a blender, blend the dates with a little water coarsely and keep aside.
5. In a greased mixing bowl, add the flours and salt and mix well.
6. Add the oil, yeast mixture, dates and maple syrup and and knead for 8-10 minutes. ( if using stand mixer, 3-4 minute batches with intermittent scraping)
7. Add more water if needed.
8. Place dough in a well greased container, covered in a warm place for 2 hours.
9. Lightly punch the dough and using a little flour knead and shape into a loaf by pulling on all sides and tucking under.
10. Place loaf in well oiled bread pan and cover with damp towel. Let rise for an hour.
11. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes.
12. Cool completely before slicing!