Soft Pretzels

Soft Pretzels 

(Launghenbrezel)

When I first saw the challenge for We Knead to Bake of this month by Aparna, I was sure that they are very difficult to make.. so I kept on sort of delaying them, but since I had not done last month's bread also and everybody's pretzels were looking so delicious and yummy I thought of tring them myself. Making the doiugh in a food processor is very easy (This I have learnt from Aparna). Keep the dough for rising ...shape them....dip them in soda bath...and bake them.....AND they R Ready..!!! Soft, Easy and delicious pretzels....!!

Ingredients 

2 1/2 tsp dried active yeast

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1 cup warm milk

3 cups + 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

(For Soda Bath)

6 cups water

2 tbsp baking soda

1 tsp cornmeal or semolina

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp white sesame seeds

1 tbsp chille flakes

Method

1. Take the yeast and sugar in a bowl and mix them with warm milk and allow that to stand for about 5 minutes.

2. Take the flour, salt and the yeast mixture in a food processor and make the dough by adding milk to it.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

4.Form the dough into a ball and place in a large oiled bowl, turning to coat the dough with oil. Cover and allow the dough to rise for about 40 minutes or until doubled in size.

5.Deflate the dough, cover and let it rest 5 minutes. Divide dough into 12 equal portions.

6.Roll each portion into an 18-inch-long rope with tapered ends. Cross one end of rope over the other to form a circle, leaving about 4 inches at end of each rope. Twist the rope at the base of the circle. Fold the ends over the circle and into a traditional pretzel shape, pinching gently to seal. Place pretzels on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise 10 minutes (pretzels will rise only slightly).

7. Put the 6 cups of water and baking soda in a non-aluminium pan and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer. Gently lower a pretzel into the simmering water. Cook on each side for about 15 seconds. The pretzel will swell/ puff up a bit. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place on a greased wire rack. This will prevent the pretzel from sticking to the rack. Repeat with the remaining pretzels.

8.Place the pretzels on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal or semolina. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 220C (425F) for 12 minutes or until pretzels are deep golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

9. Serve warm with a dip of your choice or just plain. They’re best eaten fresh, and on the same day. This recipe makes 12 Pretzels.

Corn and Onion Pizza with Tomato Pizza Sauce

                                                            

Corn and Onion Pizza with Tomato Pizza Sauce

It was a delight to be a part of the Home Baker's Challenge Group started by Priya of . This months challenge was hosted by Divya  . It was a home made pizza with a choice of home made tomato pizza sauce or pesto sauce . I chose tomato sauce. This was the first time I made any pizza sauce at home and believe me it was more yummier and affordable than the ready made.

I was not able to take good pics as my pizza vanished before I could take the final shots.....(so you can well imagine how tasty it was) , But next time I will definetly try and take pics before I serve it ......!!

Ingredients
 Recipe source Martha Stewart

For the Dough

3 cups Flour/ Maida 

7 gms Dry  instant yeast (1 pkt.)

1 tsp Salt 

2 tsp Sugar 

2 ½ tbsp Olive oil 

1 tsp Mixed herbs 

½ tsp Chili flakes 

1/2 cup coarse cornmeal for dusting the base

 For the Tomato Pizza Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

500 gms red & ripe tomatoes (roughly chopped)

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Pour olive oil into a large skillet, and place over medium heat. 
2. Using your hands, squeeze tomatoes to crush them. Add to the warm olive oil, along with the remaining ingredients. 
3. Cook over medium-low heat, breaking up tomatoes with a wooden spoon, until the sauce is thick, 40 to 50 minutes.
4. Pass sauce through a food mill, discard the seeds, and let cool.

Method for Making Pizza Base

1.    Mix dry yeast with a little warm water and sugar. Keep it for 5 - 10 mins.
2.    Mix  flour, salt, mixed herbs and chilli flakes. Keep them aside.
3.    Make a soft dough using all the ingredients and using little water as required..
4.    Keep the dough covered with a cling wrap for about ½ an hour.
5.    Divide the dough into four balls and dust some cornmeal and roll them keeping ¼ “ thickness.
6.     Prick them with a toothpick.
7.    Keep it for about 15- 20 mins for proofing.
8.    Apply pizza sauce and chopped vegetables according to  taste.
9.     Put pizza cheese on top and bake for about 15 – 20 mins at 220 o C.
10. Cut into wedges and serve.

** You can make the pizza base in advance and store them for a day. Just roll them and bake for about 10 mins. Take them out and cool them properly. cling wrap them and they can be stored for a day at room temp. and for about 2 days if refrigerated.

Tomato Tarte Tatin

Tomato Tarte Tatin

Ingredients

Filling
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp caster sugar
250 gms cherry tomatoes (cut into halves)
2 garlic gloves (finely chopped)
1 tbsp white vinegar
Salt & Pepper - To taste

Tart
1 cup flour
40 gms butter
1 tsp oregano (chopped if using fresh)
4-5 tbsp cold water

Method

1. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the sugar and stir over high flame till it becomes golden brown.
2. Lower the flame and add cherry tomatoes and garlic.

3. Switch off the flame, add vinegar, salt and pepper acoording to taste.
4.Put the cherry tomato filling in a 6-7" pan and set aside.

5. For the Tart, put flour, salt, butter and oregano in a food processor and pulse it till the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
7. Add enough cold water to make a soft dough.
8. Roll the dough in a 7" cirle and place over tomatoes tucking in the edges.

8. Pierce with a fork. abd bake in a preheated oven for about 30-35 mins till golden brown.

9. Run a knife around the edges and invert in a plate .
10. Put some oregano on top for garnishing, cut into wedges and serve.

Classic & Buttery Croissants

We Knead to Bake #2 : Classic Croissants

This month's challenge was to bake Croissants . Lovely, Buttery, Chocolaty.........Croissants. When I saw the text I felt I would not be able to do it. Though I have made Croissants before also ( a shortcut method) , this was the CLASSIC CROISSANTS.....But when I read the doc twice sent by our group leader, everyone's Fav ..  Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen, I knew that though its going to be a lengthy process, I'll be able to do it...... and I DIT IT !! Aparna has taken all the pain to write such a lenghty process in such a manner that everything is clear...with the help of her pics and the video it made simpler.....Hats Off to her for teaching us in such an easy way !!. I felt She was with me all the time guiding me.....After making these Lovely Croissants, I felt I have become a better Baker and a lot more confident..!!

I have followed the recipe as it was making no changes....I just halved the final dough made some 8 big croissants and a few small ones from the sides.....Kept the other half dough in the freezer for about a week... and made some more using chocolate and jam preserve for the filling this time..... They also tasted awesome though I was not able to take pics of those as something went wrong with the battery of my camera.....and they just vanished by some guests coming over who enjoyed then thoroughly.!!

 For the detailed recipe, pics and tips I think U should follow the link as I did.....

http://www.mydiversekitchen.com/2013/02/we-knead-to-bake-2-classic-croissants.html

and must try making these.........!!

Ready to go into the oven

Freshly Baked

My helping Hand

Buttery Croissants

Another useful resource which you can follow is by Fine Cooking.


Happy Baking !!

Herbed Bread with Caramalised Onions

Herbed Bread with Caramalised Onions

This bread was quick to make and very delicious to eat.  The herbs inside it filled the whole house with its magnetic aroma (.as  soon as it started baking in the oven.) ..and every one just couldn't wait to taste it...  Bread making is very infectious.  As you start baking some home made breads you want to try out more. I hope you all would also try out these easy and simple recipies....

Ingredients

For the Dough

Flour/ Maida 3 cups

Wholw Wheat flour 1/4 cup

Dry  yeast  1 tbsp

Salt  1½ tsp

Sugar 3 tsp

Olive oil 2 ½ tbsp

Mixed herbs 1 tsp

Chili flakes 1 tsp

To caramelize onions

2 medium sized onions (thinly sliced)

1½ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

Method

1    1.   Mix dry yeast with warm water and sugar. Keep it for 5 - 10 mins.
2.    Sieve both the flours and salt together. Keep them aside.
3.    Make a dough using all the ingredients.
4.    Keep the dough covered with a cling wrap for about ½ an hour.
5.    Roll  the dough into a rectangle of about 9" by 6".
6.     Spread the caranalized onions on the top.
7.   Roll the dough in the shape of a loaf.
8.   Place it into a well greased laof tin of 9" X 4".
9.   Keep it again for about an hour and a half.
10. Brush it with egg wash or milk wash.
11.  Bake it in a preheated oven for about 35-40 mins at 200 o C.
12.  Rub some butter on the whole loaf as soon as you take it out from the oven.
13.  Cut into slices and serve with some hot soup.


To carmalize onions, Take a pan and put 2 tsp of oil and saute onions for a few minutes. Add sugar to give it a deep brown colour and then add salt . Keep aside to cool down.

Herb & Cheese Pull-Apart Bread

Herb & Cheese Pull-Apart Bread

The moment I saw   Aparna 's invitation on the facebook for bread baking every month, I knew I had to do this. Though a baking enthusiast, otherwise being a lazy person, the list of bookmarked recipes ( to be tried )go on piling. This was the best opportunity for me to come out of my shell and bake with others. Making  Herb & Cheese Pull-apart Loaf  was so much fun. I absolutely enjoyed it. Though I have baked quite a few breads earlier also, but this was differrent. 

The recipe was quite easy to follow and I used Food processor to knead the dough for the bread first time. It was not sticky and came out very well. I followed it the recipe making very few changes. The most important thing everybody at home loved it too.

Herb & Cheese Pull-Apart Bread

 Ingredients

For the Dough:

1/2 cup warm milk
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 3/4 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
25gm butter, soft at room temperature
3/4 to 1 tsp finely chopped garlic 
3/4 cup milk (+ a couple of tbsp to brush over the bread)

For the Filling

15 - 20gm melted butter
2 tsp dried mixed herbs/Oregano
Crushed black pepper/ red chilli flakes 
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese 

Method:

1.Dissolve the sugar and the yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm milk. Keep it aside for about 5 -10 minutes till the yeast mixture bubbles up.

2. In the food processor  bowl, Put 2 3/4 cup of flour, salt, softened butter, and chopped garlic  in the food processor bowl (or a large bowl) and pulse a couple of times to mix. 

3. Add the yeast mixture and the 3/4 cup of milk and knead till you have a soft, smooth and elastic/ pliable dough which is not sticky. Add a little extra flour if your dough is sticking, but only just as much as is necessary.

4. 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 to 1 1/2 hours or until almost double in volume.

5. Dust your work surface lightly with flour. Punch  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. 

6.Sprinkle the herbs, pepper/ chilli flakes and then the grated cheese. Use a rolling pin to  lightly press the topping into the dough so that the topping doesn’t fall off. 

7. Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough from top to bottom into 6 long and even strips. Lay each strip on top of the next, with the topping facing upwards, until you have a stack of the strips.

8. Using a sharp knife, cut straight down through the stack dividing it into 6 equal pieces (6 square stacks).

9. Grease and lightly flour a 9” by 4” (or 5”) loaf tin. Layer the square slices, cut sides down into the loaf tin. 

10. Cover the loaf tin dough with a cling and allow the dough to rise for an hour or so. You can put a little grated cheese at this stage if you want it to be more cheesy kind. Lightly brush some milk or egg wash over the top of the loaf.

11. Bake the dough at 180 C (350F) for about 30 to 40 minutes until it is done and the top is golden brown. 

Multi Grain Loaf

Multi Grain Loaf

After all the Diwali sweets and festive tiredness. one just want to relax and do nothing. A cup of coffee , a slice of freshly baked home made Multi Grain Bread and a nice book feels heavenly. So this simple and quick recipe just for you who love baking breads at home........

Ingredients

For the Dough

Flour/ Maida 125 gms/ 1cup

Wheat flour ½ cup

Oat flour ½ cup

Luke warm milk ½ - ¾ cup

Fresh yeast 2 tbsp / dry yeast 1 tbsp

Salt 1 tsp

Honey 1-1/2  1tsp

Oil 1 tsp

Egg 1  (beaten)

Bread Improver 1 tsp

Gluten ½ tsp

Method

1. Mix fresh yeast with 1 tsp of warm milk and 1 tsp of honey. Keep it aside for a few minutes.

2. Sieve maida , mix in  bread improver, gluten, salt, sugar, egg and 1 cup of luke warm milk & yeast mixture & knead to a smooth dough.

3. Apply some oil on the dough ,cling wrap and keep it for proving (fermenting) for about 45 mins to 1 hr. till it doubles in size. (Increase this time to 2-3 hours in winters).

4. Knock down the dough & knead to a smooth ball.

5. Roll the dough into the shape of loaf.

6. Seal by pinching the sides.

8. Place in a greased loaf tin for 20- 30- mins.

9. Apply some egg wash.( use milk to substitute egg).

10. Sprinkle some rolled Oats, flax, poppy &  sesame seeds on top.

11. Bake at 220 o C for 35- 40 mins.or till golden in colour.

Garlic Knots

  

 Garlic Knots


Everybody is loving bread. Not only eating it but making a bread is also fun to make. It's a versatile food which can be enjoyed as a starter, snack or main course. And making a home made bread adds to the zing. Though I have made Garlic bread earlier also , this time I thought of giving it a braided shape and also tried making knots from the same dough ....It all came out so well.....


Ingredients


500 gms flour
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt 
2 tsp fresh yeast (about 25-30 gms)
(If using dry instant yeast use half the quantity of fresh yeast)
25 ml oil
1 1/2 cups water 
3-4 garlic cloves (finely chopped)


Method


1. Soak yeast in 2 tbsp of lukewarm water and 1 tsp sugar. Leave this for about 15 minutes   until the yeast starts bubbling.
2. Make a soft dough with all the above ingredients and cover the bowl with a cling wrap for about an hour or untill the dough is double in size.
3. Now I have used 3/4 dough for the braided bread and made four knots with the left 1/4 dough.
4. Roll the dough and put chopped garlic in the center and then again roll it and then cut it into the required shape.
5. For the rest of the method you can please follow the pics. ( I think it will be easier).
6. Put the bread in tin or on a baking tray. Put some egg wash on the top for that browning effect and bake it a preheated oven at 220 o C for about 35 minutes.




                                                             Braided bread

Garlic Knots 

Cut into thick slices after it is baked and cooled. Apply some butter and then again toast it You can also add some dried herbs in the butter.

Baked Cornmeal and Spinach Bread

Baked Cornmeal and Spinach Bread 

It seems that this month had been the busiest month this year for me. With so many social and family engagements, I have really been tied up. Squeezing between my all other responsibilities I tried this Cornmeal and Spinach bread. It was nutritous, healthy and easy to make. But it didn't tingled my family's taste buds. So I tried to give it an Indian twist to it (though was not able to click any photograph for the end product as it was all gone within minutes). Now its up to you to decide which way its better.


Ingredients


100 gms cornmeal ( Makke ka atta)
100 gms plain flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp salt
40 gms grated cheese ( I used Amul Processed Cheese)
1 egg
300 ml milk
40 gms butter
1/2 bunch chopped spinach
1 large chopped onion
ground black pepper


Method


1. Sift cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and ground black pepper.

2. Beat together egg, milk and melted butter.
3. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well.
4. Add chopped spinach, onion and grated half the cheese.

5. Put the mixture in a 6 1/2 square inch greased tin.
6. Sprinkle the remaining Cheese over the mixture.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for about 35-40 mins at 180 o C or till golden brown.
8. Cut it into square pieces and serve it with any chutney or sauce.

Indian Twist
 1. Cut it into further small pieces.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok.
3. Add a few mustard seeds and let them splutter.
4. Saute it till a little crispy.