Cinnamon Bun

These Cinnamon buns are a family favourite. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! 

Ingredients
Bread Flour 390 gms (3 cups)

Instant yeast 1 pkt (7gms)
Sugar 50gms (1/4 cup)

Salt 1 tsp

Butter 57gms (1/4 cup)

Egg 1

Warm milk 3/4 cup

For the cinnamon layer

Butter 57gms (1/4 cup)

Brown Sugar 55gms (1/4 cup)

Cinnamon 1 tbsp

Method

1. Add flour, yeast, salt and sugar to a bowl and mix well. 

2. Add the wet ingredients - soft butter, warm milk and egg.

3. Knead till it comes together. Then knead till is soft

4. Place in a buttered bowl and rest for 2-3 hours till it doubles

5. Roll it to a 10*15 inch rectangle, spread the butter on top. 

6. Mix cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle on top of butter. 

7. Roll from the shorter side to get a 10 inch log

8. Cut into 10 * 1 inch pieces. Lie it on a rectangular greased pan

9. Cover and let rise for another 30-45 min

10. Preheat oven to 170C and bake for 15-17 min or will it starts to brown. 

Olive and Fennel Focaccia - Vegan

One of the things I learned and became confident as a result of my blog was baking, especially breads. I am not claiming to be Bake off standard baker. I am far from it. But I know the basics now, which I did not know a few years ago. Bread is probably one of the things I love baking the most. The beauty of kneading the dough, the rising of it, shaping and finally the smell of warm bread fascinates me.

I have been away from my blog for way too long. I almost assumed this journey was over. But then life takes many twists and turns. And today I needed to be here. I needed to bake a bread. Today's bread was served with this Butternut Squash Soup. With Autumn on full swing, and winter slowly creeping in on us, I am sure this will be an amazing dinner.

Vegan Olive Bread - Olive Loaf

Winter has arrived. In our house, this means Soups and Breads on Fridays. As much as I love making breads, I am always happy with a simple bread recipe. This one is very easy to make and will be ready in no time at all. It is packed with flavours  from Olives. Bake it and let me know how you like it.

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Halloween is just round the corner. So I thought I will post some recipes that will be a big hit with kids and adults alike. This Pizza can be made with the kids. So a great party idea. They can make their own Mummies. How cool is that. Give it a try!

Kummelweck Roll - Kimmelweck Roll - Rolls with Caraway Seeds - Vegan

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Vegan Five Seed Wholewheat Pizza - Pizza gets a Super Healthy Makeover

Sometimes little things bring joy to life. For me baking and eating Super Healthy Pizza was the highlight of today. What can you say, I am a foodie and nothing can stop me from enjoying some good food and company on Friday.

My son loves Pizza. Another interesting thing is he loves Seeded bread A LOT! Yes, It had to be written in caps. So I decided to combine his love for seeded bread and pizza into one recipe. I have been baking with whole wheat flour for some time now and I have to say, I love it. It does not taste much different from plain flour and is healthier. So why not. I have baked with just whole wheat flour as well. Just takes a longer time to proof for me.

French Baguette - Vegan - King Arthur Flour Baguette - Vegan

French Baguette is just a dream come true for me. I have been meaning to make this for ages. You see the problem when you get freshly baked bread for less than £1, you sometimes end up just buying them. I then try breads that are not commonly available or breads baked as part of our baking group - We Knead to Bake. But the dream of just baking my own baguette just got better of me.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza - Vegan Version and Cheesy Version

When someone says Pizza, the first thing that comes to mind is the melted cheese on top and the soft warm bread. Growing up, we never knew Pizza. At some point in our lives, Pizza made a grand entry to our lives - for good or bad I don't know. We used to eat out a lot when I started working and pizza with friends was once a week affair. And the pan size pizza from the Dominos outlet in the office was a go to place.

After years of enjoying pizza, the food gods decided I had enough. Being lactose intolerant, I can't eat cheese. So I have devised methods of making the yummiest Pizza which will make you forget about the cheese. I have come to realize how easy it is to make your own Pizza from scratch. Once you make it, you will never order Pizza, trust me. You can customize Pizza for each person in your house. How cool is that?

Garlic Eyeballs - Pizza Dough Balls with Olives

Halloween has come and gone. We had a fun celebration this year. Yes Yes. I know there are people asking why celebrate a pagan festival, why celebrate vampires, what has it got to do with Indians etc. Let me put all your thoughts to rest. We just had loads of fun dressing up, partying with friends, making and eating loads of food. My little one was dressed up as Spiderman for one and Mr. Bump for another. I was a witch in one and a robber in another. My H had fun as Wally (Where's Wally). 

Potato Onion Seeded Bread - Vegan Option

Bread baking has become a weekly ritual at home. We all love the aroma of freshly baked bread. I think I may have told you this before. Earlier, I used to bake/buy bread to go with all the soups that I make. These days, I have a feeling that I make soups to go with all the awesome breads that I bake.

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Curry Leaf Loaf - Curry Leaf Bread - Vegan Option

Curry Leaf is a staple in South Indian cooking. Almost all side dishes have curry leaf as a tempering ingredient. Curry Leaf powder (to make rice) is yet another of my favourites. When I saw a bread which uses Curry leaf, I got super excited. Now the humble curry leaf is travelling beyond the humble South Indian kitchen to the world of breads. It made a wonderful bread and the rise was awesome. I had to place the pan on the bottom rack to prevent it from touching the roof of my oven!!

Vegan Calzone with Homemade Cashew Pesto Sauce

Th easiest way to defines a Calzones is to call it a folded up Pizza. The outside of the calzone is basically the same as a pizza dough. You can fill it up with sauce, cheese and toppings. Fold and bake. Easy, right?

Now today I am presenting to you the best Calzone you will ever eat. The Sauce is just out of the world (and healthy too). And what's more. This calzone is quite easy to make. It will work great in lunch boxes or for picnics as well.

Multi Grain Multi Seed Buttermilk Rolls

As you know I bake as part of a Baking Group called We Knead to Bake (Click here to see all the breads baked so far). Aparna gives us recipes every month and all we have to do is Bake. Simple isn't? Well unfortunately this month she could not give us a recipe to bake cause her oven was giving her misery. So we decided to bake a bread of our choice. I wanted to bake from Aparna's recipe. So I started bookmarking a few. And was at loss. She has so many recipes in her collection. Then finally I decided to go with these cause I had been meaning to make a burger and this worked wonderful with it.

Vegan Heart Beet Bread - Beetroot Bread - Valentine Bread

Wishing all my readers a very Happy Valentine's Day. When you are a blogger who needs to take care of your blog baby, you end up celebrating most festivals twice. It is a sentiment you will understand only if you are a blogger. The recipes need to make it to the blog before the day of the celebration so that the readers can use it to cook for the festival. Then ofcourse, I have to make something for us, don't I?

Focaccia Caprese - Focaccia with Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil

Focaccia Caprese is a variation of Focaccia influenced by the Capri region on Italy. The flavours usually included are Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil like in a Caprese Salad. As you might know I am part of a Baking Group called 'We Knead to Bake'. We bake a bread every month based on the recipe given by Aparna. After a successful year (yes, we baked 12 breads together and learned a lot), we are moving on to the second year with newer members and newer adventures.

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Christmas is a time of celebration and what better way to treat kids than to make this beautiful Santa Bread with some soup! Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, it is a wonderful project to do with kids! If there is one thing I have learned, involving kids in the cooking process makes them more interested in eating the food. And you get to have loads of holiday fun.. So what are you waiting for? Ready, Set, Bake!

Baked Glazed Donut

Donuts or Doughnuts are quite popular in America (and now the rest of the world). There are 2 kinds of donuts - cake donuts and yeasted donuts. I have posted the yeasted donuts once before (cinnamon sugar donuts). That time it was the fried version. This time I am presenting to you the baked version of the donuts

These tasted really good. Personally I liked these better than the fried donuts that I made. But some people in our group felt they will stick to fried version.

Kanel Snegle and Kanelbullar - Swedish Cinnamon Snails and Rolls

Let me start my Christmas recipes with the awesome Cinnamon Rolls! This month’s bread for our group We Knead to Bake is the Kanel Snegle (Cinnamon Snails) or Kanelbullar (Cinnamon Buns) which is the Swedish version (and probably the original version) of the popular American Cinnamon Rolls. The Swedish version are and not sticky like their American counterparts and are also less sweet. They’re are delightfully aromatic, soft and moist, and perfect with a cup of tea/ coffee whether for breakfast or in the evening. Recipe from here. 

Soft Dinner Rolls - Laadi Pav

Dinner rolls are just perfect for soups or just to pass around the table, to eat with butter or just to dip in some olive oil as a pre dinner snack. And here is the perfect recipe for a super soft fluffy dinner roll.

As an Indian, the dinner roll ofcourse takes a whole new meaning. Yes, Pav. Pav Bread is used for the famous chaats of Mumbai like Pav Bhaji, Misal Pav, Vada Pav etc. Check out the recipes for all the chaats in my site. Hope you try some of them

If you are looking for a hard rolls (no they are not hard inside, harder shell and soft inside) for sandwiches, check out here.

Recipe from here

Ingredients

Bread Flour (Or All Purpose Flour) 420 gms to 480 gms (3.5 - 4 cups)
Instant Yeast 1.5 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Sugar 1 tbsp
Milk 1.5 cups
Butter 1.5 tbsp
Butter for Brushing 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation

1. Take the flour (420 gms - 3.5 cups), yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl. Mix well.

2. Warm the milk and butter together till it is warm and the butter melted. Mix well.

3. Add the milk to the bowl and knead well till it starts to come together. I use my stand mixer to do this. You can do by hand as well.

4. When it starts to pull together, add the extra flour as needed till you get a soft dough, just short of being sticky. I needed 3 tbsp of flour.

5. Shape into a neat round and place it in a well oiled bowl. Cover and let it rest till it is doubled in size (about an hour or 2).

6. Punch out the air and divide the dough into 15 equal portions. I find it easier just to weigh the dough and divide the weight by the number of pieces I want. Then divide each portion to that weight. I know it kind of sounds obsessive. But once you do 3-4 pieces you get an idea and you do not need to weigh and you get really uniform bake on the rolls.

7. Grease a 9*13 baking tray with some oil.

8. Shape each portion into a perfect round. Place it on the baking tray in a 5*3 rows and columns, fairly close to each other, but leaving a little space



9. Cover and let it rise till doubled. It will take another 30-45 min.



10. Preheat the oven to 220 C.

11. Bake the rolls for 10 min. The top would start to brown by now.

12. Take it out. Brush with the melted butter.

13. Bake for another 5 min till it is nicely browned on the top.



14. Let it cool on the tray for a few min and the cool on a wire rack.

Serving Suggestion - Check out the recipe for Bhaji here (coming soon). Its a popular Mumbai street food using this bread!

Whole Wheat Bread - Sandwich Bread - Brown Bread

Sliced Bread is consumed every week at our home. I have never made my own bread. I love my white bread. But with the buzz around Whole Wheat Stuff, we usually by a 50-50 bread. A good compromise I feel. 



As you might know, a group of bloggers have been baking breads together (we knead to bake) since the beginning of this year lead by Aparna. This month she sent us a Whole Wheat Bread recipe to try our hands on. A few bakers had mishaps in their bread and so I was not sure if my whole wheat is going to rise. But I was amazed at how well it rose. The one thing I did wrong was to try and shape the bread many times. Thankfully it did not spoil my bread much. Do check out the video link below to see the technique.



About the flour. I did not buy a whole wheat flour specifically from the market. We use Whole Wheat Flour (Indian Brand) almost daily for making our Chapati/Roti. So I just used that. I have used Pillsbury brand Whole Wheat Atta. 

Video on how to shape bread here

Original Recipe PeterReinhart
Adapted by Aparna

Ingredients:

For The Soaker:

Whole Wheat Flour 1 3/4 cups 

Salt 1/2 tsp

Water at room temperature 3/4 - 1 cup

Vinegar 1 tbsp

For The Biga/ Sponge:

Whole Wheat Flour 1 3/4 cups 

Instant Yeast 1/4 tsp

Milk 3/4 cup

Vinegar 1 tbsp

For The Final Dough:

All of the Soaker

All of the Biga/ Sponge

Salt 1/2 tsp

Whole Wheat Flour 1/3 cup (use only as required)

Instant Yeast 2 tsp

Oil 2 tbsp

Honey 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation

Soaker 

Mix all of the Soaker ingredients together in a bowl until all of the flour is hydrated.  Start using 3/4 cup and add till 1 cup if you need. Your Soaker should be somewhat like reasonably firm bread dough in consistency. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 12-24 hours.

Biga/ Sponge
Mix all of the Biga/ Sponge in a bowl and knead together well till a soft ball forms. You might need more than the originally suggested 3/4 cup of liquid. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. This will keep for up to 3 days.

Final Bake

1. Two hours before you plan to mix your dough for the bread, remove the Biga from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. You might find your Biga rising a little during this time.

2. Divide the Biga and Soaker into small pieces (about 12 pieces each) using a sharp knife or scraper and put them in the food processor bowl (or stand mixer). You can knead this by hand too, but the dough will be tacky and a little difficult to manage. Do not be tempted to add more flour.

3. Add the remaining ingredients for the dough, except the 1/3 cup flour) and knead for about 3 minutes.  

4. Let it rest for 5 minutes, then add as much flour as needed (if necessary) to the dough and  knead for another 3-4 minutes. Your dough should now come away from the sides of the bowl but still be a little sticky but somewhat manageable. It’s really important to not add too much extra flour during this step. 

5. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise until almost doubled (about 1 1/2 hours). Then turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat the dough out into a rectangle with a width that just a bit less than your loaf tin. See that you do not tear the dough. Roll it up and shape into a loaf.

6. Place your loaf in a greased and floured loaf tin (I used a 9” by 4” loaf tin) and let it rise until it is just higher than your loaf tin. 

7. Bake the loaf at 180C (350F) for about 40 to 45 minutes until the top is a nice deep brown colour and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

8. Let the loaf cool completely (at least for about 2 hours), before slicing it. Refrigerate the loaf if not consuming immediately.