Stuffed Braided Bread

Braided Bread can be made with some stuffing or by braiding strands of dough (3, 5, 7 etc). Today I have tried making bread by adding some stuffing. Once you try this, you can make many variations of the stuffing and try different breads.



We @ Avant Garde Cookies are making bread this month. Am so happy to be part of a group of awesome chefs, encouraging each other and learning new things while having fun cooking up things that we might not usually do without the motivation. Thank you guys for inspiring me to make this bread. Lovely choice.



Ingredients (Makes 2 Big loafs)

Bread Flour 3 cups (you can use APF as well)
Yeast (Fast Acting Instant Yeast) 2 packets, 7gms each
Salt 1 tsp
Sugar 1 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Warm Milk 11/2 cup + a little for brushing

Method of Preparation

1. Take the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the oil and mix well.

2. Make into a dough by adding enough warm milk. I used a little over 11/4 cup of milk. Knead well. Cover and keep aside for 1.5 hours till the dough doubles in size.



Meanwhile make a stuffing of your choice.

Mushroom and Cheese Stuffing 

(Please note that this quantity enough for 1 bread, so double it if you are making both the breads with this stuffing)

Ingredients

Sliced Mushroom 250gm
Onion 1
Grated Mozzarella (or any cheese of your choice) 1 cup
Mixed Dried Herbs 1/2 tsp
Garlic powder a 1/4 tsp
Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the mushroom in microwave for about 7-8 min.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions. Saute till it starts to brown.

3. Add the cooked mushroom and saute for a couple more minutes.

4. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Let it cool.



Soy Chunk Stuffing

(Please note that this stuffing is enough for 2 breads. I made 1 bread with the mushroom stuffing and another with soya stuffing. So had half of this stuffing left over).

Ingredients

Soya Chunks 2 cups
Onions 1
Green Chilli 3
Garlic 2 pods
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Cumin powder 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Jeera 1 tsp
Oil and salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Boil some water in a pot. Add the soya and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and squeeze the water out of it. Keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add some oil and add the cumin. When it sizzles, add the chopped onions and garlic. Saute till it browns.

3. Add the green chillies, turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder and chilli powder along with some salt. Mix well.

4. Add the cooked soya and mix everything together. Let it cool.



Preparing the bread

1. Knead the dough that has risen to let out the air pockets. Split into 2 pieces. Keep one aside and work on one piece.

2. Roll into a rectangular shape. Place the stuffing as required into the centre along the length of the bread.



3. Cut lines on either side of the stuffing at an angle. Make equal number of lines on both sides.

4. Fold them into braids as shown in the pic. Fold in the ends as well. Repeat for the other piece of bread as well.



5. Cover and let them rest for another 20-30 minutes.



6. Preheat oven to 200 C. Brush the top of the bread with some milk and bake for about 10-15 min. Mine was done in about 12 min.



Slice and enjoy soft bread.

AGC are baking bread this week. Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Veena, Priya S