Sweet Bread from scratch!!

Will post pictures soon.

Baked this sweet bread by modifying the recipe and halving it. Added tutti frutti to it
Recipe courtesy: http://sumodtomzcuisines.com/white-bread-loaf/

Ingredients:
Water or Milk – 303g to 340g lukewarm (1 1/3 to 1 ½ cups)
(I used 50:50 water and milk)
Honey or  Sugar – 32g (2 tbs)
Instant yeast – 2 1/4 teaspoons
Salt – 1 3/4 teaspoons
Butter or Olive Oil – 28g soft (2 tbs)
Bread flour or All-purpose Flour or Maida – 482g  (4 cups)
Milk Powder – 35g (1/3 cup)

Method:
Take ¼ cup lukewarm water, add 1 tsp sugar and the instant yeast, mix well and set aside to rise.

Mix the flour, milk powder and salt in a bowl.
In another large bowl mix all the wet ingredients, (except butter).

Add the risen yeast mix to this. Start adding the flour mix, a cup at a time, mixing well with a silicon or plastic scraper (if you do not have a scraper, mix with hand), till you get very wet dough, which starts pulling off from the side of the bowl.

Add butter little at a time to the mix and keep kneading.

Transfer this to a lightly floured work table, knead gently for 10 minutes (lift, spread and throw or stretch and pull), adding little flour at a time (if required only), till you get a very loose, but not sticky dough. (The dough may seem very sticky, but after the above kneading, it will automatically form smooth dough, do not add excess flour, and do not knead hard)

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Grease the dough also.

Cover it, with a wet cloth and let it rise at room temperature (preferably warm place) until it’s doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
Gently deflate the dough, to shape the bread loaf, take the dough and just spread into a rectangular shape with a rolling pin. Roll up tightly into a log. Place the bread dough in lightly greased loaf pan with the seam area at bottom.

Cover with a wet cloth, and let the dough rise for 45 to 60 minutes (preferably warm place), till it has doubled.
15 Minutes before the bake, pre heat the oven at 200 C.
Just before baking, brush the loaf with little milk or melted butter or egg wash.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200 C, for 40 to 45 minutes for the bread loaf. Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out onto a rack to cool.

Orange Flan or Creme Brule

Posting after ages...need to document since I have been trying out new recipes lately. Tried this out today.
Recipe courtesy: http://kannammacooks.com/orange-flan-recipe/

Ingredients

For the Caramel

• ¼ cup water
• ½ cup sugar

For the Custard

• 1½ cups whole milk
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Egg yolk
• 6 tablespoons Sugar
• Zest from an Orange

Instructions

For the Caramel

1. Add sugar to a small sauce pan. Add water from the sides. Combine the water and sugar. Gently stir to moisten the sugar thoroughly.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil until the sugar is completely dissolved and the liquid is clear. ( Do not stir at this stage. Stirring will cause the sugar to crystallize)
3. Continue to cook stirring occasionally until the caramel darkens into a light brown color.
4. Cook until the color of the caramel becomes amber. Do not leave it for too long as the caramel might burn and turn bitter.
5. Remove the pan immediately from the heat and pour a portion of the caramel into each of the four 6-ounce ramekins. Do not touch the caramel as it will be super hot and can even burn your hands. Allow the caramel to harden. It will take about 3-4 minutes.

For the Custard

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 180 degrees C.
2. Zest an orange and add it to the milk. Zest only the skin. The skin has all the essential oils and aroma. Not the pith. Pith is very bitter. Make sure you do not zest the pith. Heat the milk and orange zest in a saucepan over medium heat until it boils. Remove from the heat. Set aside.
3. In the mean time whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks, and sugar slowly in a large bowl until just combined.
4. Add in the milk mixture into the eggs until just combined. Do not keep whisking. You do not want to incorporate air. The mixture should not be extremely foamy. Little foam is OK. Strain the mixture into a large bowl.
5. Divide and pour the mixture in the ramekins. Arrange the ramekins on a large baking dish. Place the baking dish on the rack of the oven.

Water Bath

1. Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Pour the boiling water into the baking dish. The water should be half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake and Serve

1. Bake until a paring knife inserted halfway between the center comes out clean, it can take between 40 – 50 minutes. Transfer the custards to a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.
2. To unmold, slide a paring knife around the sides of the ramekin. Hold a serving plate over the top of the ramekin and invert. Shake the ramekin gently to release the custard. Repeat with the remaining ramekins and serve.

Muesli Cookies

I am not much of a muesli fan...but had two big jars lying unutilized from when I had bought them during my pregnancy time. So one day, I decided to bake simple and healthy cookies with them...so that I can carry them as a snack everyday when I leave for work.

The 1st time that I was baking these cookies, I was very sceptical. While hunting on the blogosphere for a doable recipe, my only intention was to finish off the muesli!! I found plenty of muesli cookie recipes, all most of them seemed quite simple with tasty and healthy outputs. I modified my recipe based on what was available - i hope I am remember all the ingredients:)

Ingredients (to make 16 cookies)
1 cup muesli (untoasted)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar (i use powdered jaggery)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins/black currants (i use a mixture of both)
50 gm butter
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp baking soda

Method:
1. Lightly grease your mini muffin paper cups/cookie liners or baking trays
2. Mix all the muesli, flour, sugar, coconut and raisins well in a big mixing bowl
3. In a saucepan, melt the butter on low heat (take care not to boil it or overheat it). Add the honey and baking soda in it. It will froth nicely.
4. Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in it. Mix it lightly with a fork so that everything sticks together
5. Make small balls of the dough and press it down in the paper liners. Bale in a pre-heated oven for 10-15 mins at 175 C.
6. The cookies will get a nice golden color and the smell of butter and dry fruits will waft in the air. Take out the cookies to cool...after which they will be crunchy to eat.
These stay good for 4-5 days.

2

Super eggless chocolate cake

I was digging around in blogosphere for a do-able recipe for eggless choclate muffin recipes, whenI came across this blog. I also prepare a similar eggless cake, only uwse yoghurt instead of milk as is used here. I decided to prepare this..and it was over in a jiffy. It is as advertised - easy recipe and super moist chocolately cake. Method: 1. Sift 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 cup powdered sugar, 3/4 cup cocoa powder. 2. Mix 1 cup milk with 1/2 cup melted butter in a mixing bowl.Add vanilla essence to this. 3. Mix the dry indgredients into the wet mixture and put it evenly in a baking tin and bake for ~ 20-25 mins @ 180C. The batter is quite thick, but the result is that the cake is very moist and dense. Will post the pics soon - I will be baking this cake very often. Happing baking!!

Coconut Macaroons

Year 2010 was a particularly difficult year for me - the only silver lining being that my son was born in September. Difficult in all senses - health, personal and professional. Therefore I never felt like publishing anything on this blog....so now that my life is back on track, am uploading all the dishes which I had prepared last year. These are coconut macaroons which I'd baked log time back...the recipe is fairly simple using shredded coconut, egg whites and condensed milk - I got the recipe from JoyofBaking (click here for recipe). The macaroons are fairly easy to make and has a sweet coconutty flavour. Do remember to use vanilla extract, or else the macaroons will get an eggy smell.

Another chocolate cake

These are snaps of a chocolate cake that I had baked for hubby's prof's birthday. I am not very keen on cake decoration, but had tried my hands on icing it.

Chimichurri/Argentinian Lamb

This lamb dish is hubby's favourite at Copacabana, a restaurant very near to our place in Pimple Saudagar, Pune. Not only is their food very tasty, but the menu is also extensive (somebody pls categorise the dishes according to cuisine...Lal gosht shares the same page as Quesadillas and Thai green curry!!) and the seating area is huge along with ample parking space. What else does one wish for in a restaurant?!!:)The first time we'd dined there, hubby had randomly picked out this lamb dish for ordering. He liked it so much, that whenever we go there now, atleast ten more times after the first time, he always orders this dish!

Yes, the dish is v nice..lamb is soft and succulent with nice spices, served on a bed of spinach, along with sauteed mushrooms and herbed rice. We were so impressed by this adaptation of the Chimichurri lamb, that I decided to recreate it in my kitchen. I googled for the recipe, and learned that Chimmuchuri is a green spicy rub, made primarily with parsley, and is meant for marinating steak. I tweaked the recipe and ingredients according to availability and my taste, and made this.

The basic chimichurri marinade is made by blending the following ingredients into a thick paste (more like a dhania chutney):

1/2 cup coriander/parsley leaves

1/4 cup olive oil (check how much is required to blend into a thick paste)

4-5 cloves garlic

2 green onions/shallots

1 tsp fresh/dried herbs like oregano or basil

1/2 tsp chilly flakes

1/2 tsp black pepper powder

2 tsp vinegar/lime juice

salt to taste

I marinated my lamb pieces in this paste for 2-3 hours and then cooked it in a little oil and browned onions, till cooked and tender.

I served this with cooked spinach greens and sauteed mushrooms (simply saute sliced mushrooms in a little butter, with black pepper and salt).