Corn n Cheese Bruschetta

Yonks passed and I felt asleep, intoxicated with dreams and memories of past, the childhood and the adolescence. With each passing day I grew lazier and my inner zeal happened to run on a vacation. Sometimes a break is so badly needed, actually needed for good. So guys, with no regrets, I just returned from one.

As vacations are dreamed to be reposeful, I inevitably had some. With ounces heaping on, especially to a person who essays hard to put on some weight and still can't manage to get by any way, this amplification was a bountiful achievement. :P

Since I am talking about calories and weight gain here, I had to undergo a rich diet n regime, wo bhi mumma ke haath ka swadisht khana and then resting, watching television and sleeping the day long. This was perhaps like going to gym for weight reduction for others, which is definitely not as easy as it sounds. For a person like me, who doesn't like to sit even and keep working the max of hours with a small kiddo who keeps you on toes the whole while, this resting phase was not an easy intruder. But gradually it picked up, and indeed so well that now it's so damn tough to get back to the old routine. :P

I cooked and baked seldom in the last three months and was a binge eater most of the time. But then here comes the most beautiful thing I baked ever: scrumptious, beauteous, cheesy Bruschetta that I made with home-baked bread in my newie loaf tin.

The aroma of freshly baked home breads is irresistible. Much easier than it ever sounded to me, baking is just another world of cooking. To most of the Indians, as far as I have understood and known, baking is a not-so-easy type of a thing. Possibly the reason behind is an attempt that never took place, because once you start doing it, it slides smoothly and converts you to a baker soon. Yes, there are blunders and mistakes that might happen while baking, but who said you can make chapathis or curries flawless all the time. It's all that is there in your mind that makes it simple or tough, whether it is dealing with life situations or baking/cooking. So guys, here I give you an idyllic glance of what came out of my oven:

CORN N CHEESE BRUSCHETTA

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Baking Time: 5-10 minutes (for the final toast/grill)

                     30 minutes (for baking the bread/base)

Makes 8 bruschettas

Bruschetta, from the Italian word "bruscare" meaning "to roast over coals" is made by toasting whole, wide slices of a rustic Italian or sourdough type bread. It is an antipasto from Italy whose origin dates to at least the 15th century. It consists of grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with olive oil, salt and pepper. Variations may include toppings of tomato, vegetables, beans, cured meat, or cheese; the most popular recipe outside of Italy involves basil, fresh tomato, garlic and onion or mozzarella. Bruschetta is usually served as a snack or appetizer. In some countries, a topping of chopped tomato, olive oil and herbs is sold as bruschetta.

Ingredients:
For the Base:

1. All Purpose Flour/Maida: 1 and 3/4 cup

2. Active Dry Yeast/ Instant Yeast: 1 tsp

4. Luke Warm Water: 1/4 cup

5. Butter/Olive Oil: 2 tbs

6. Warm Milk: 1/4 cup (use only if required) + 2 tbs for brushing

7. Baking Powder: 1/2 tsp

8. Curd/yogurt: 2 tbs

9. Salt: 1 tsp

10. Sugar: 1 tbs

For the Topping:
1. Sweet Corn Kernels: 1 cup
2. Capsicum/Bell Pepper: 1/2 (finely chopped)
3. Tomato: 1 (finely chopped)
4. Garlic Cloves: 5 (finely chopped)
5. Cheese (Mozarella/ Cheddar): 1 big cube
6. Olives: sliced
7. Olive oil/ Butter
8. Basil, dried herbs and oregano
9. Salt to taste
10. Ground Pepper
11. Chilli Flakes (optional)

Method:

For The Bread:

1. Add the yeast and sugar to luke warm water (1/4 cup) and let it stand for 10 minutes till it starts frothing.
2. Sieve the maida/all purpose flour; add salt and baking powder to it.
3. Now add 1 tbs butter/oil and yogurt to the flour and mix well. Make a well in the center of the flour and slowly pour in the yeast water mix. Keep on kneading and adding slowly till a sticky soft dough is formed. If you find that the water is not enough, then add in some warm milk slowly. The dough will be as soft as the dough we make for naan/chapathi.
4. Knead it well after greasing your hands with some oil, till the dough becomes pliable and soft (I did that for around 10 minutes). 
5. Now grease the outer dough with little oil to avoid drying and keep it covered with a wet clean cloth/cling wrap in a warm place for about an hour or more (till it doubles up in size).
6. After one hour, when it's doubled, deflate it gently with your palms and shape it into an elongated roll so as to fit in a bread loaf/mini french loaf tin.
7. Place the dough in the greased loaf tin.
8. Brush it with milk on the top.
9. Cover this with a wet, clean cloth/cling wrap and keep covered for almost 30-40 minutes (better an hour) for rising again. It should double up in size again and look well puffed.
10. Pre-heat the oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. 
11. Now transfer the loaf/cake tin on a baking tray and take off the cover/cloth/wrap. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius till the top turns light golden brown.
12. Once it is baked, place it on a wire rack to cool.
13. On cooling, slice the loaf into 8 big pieces. The loaf will be crusty and hard on top but soft within. You can wrap it in a cling film and keep for some time to make it softer.
14. These bread slices can be used in multiple ways. You could make some fresh garlic breads, bruschetta, or just relish them with butter. 

Topping: 

1. For Bruschetta, drizzle some olive oil on top, dress up with garlic, and some grated cheese. Embellish further with olives, corn, bell pepper and tomato. Sprinkle basil, herbs, oregano, salt and pepper. 
2. Toast/grill for 4-5 minutes. If you want them crispier, increase the toasting time.
3. Also, you could go the other way. Toast the slices first till they turn crisp n light brown. Then spread some olive oil and follow with the toppings and serve as it is (without grilling/baking the topping). 
4. Traditionally, bruschetta are toasted over the embers of a fire, then rubbed with a clove of garlic and drizzled with your best extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with salt. This is a great way of letting the true flavors of a fresh, golden-hued olive oil shine through. Also, it lends itself to a myriad of fresh and marinated toppings too, you are likely to find it generously topped with either chopped, ripe tomatoes and basil, a purée of fresh fava beans and garlic, sun dried tomato spreads, or whatever vegetables are in season at the time.

 

 

Suggestions:

1. If you are using instant yeast, use the same amount.
2. There's another way of making the dough in which all the ingredients are mixed together and dough is formed; no separate frothing of yeast in water is required. This is good when you are using instant yeast. Although I prefer the original method.
3. If the dough is not rising because of the temperature (i.e. it's not warm), you can place the dish containing the dough over a vessel filled with warm water (and not dipping in the warm water). This will help providing the right temperature for rising.
4. I kept the dough in the closed oven for rising, with the light on. This gave the perfect temperature and environment for rising, and it puffed up double in just 45 minutes. You can also keep it in sun-light which is warm enough to ferment it.
5. Baking timings vary according to different ovens, but this cannot be baked in a microwave oven without convection mode.  
6. I prefer to brush the dough with milk before keeping it for rising again. Don't touch the dough after it has risen, whether to shift, or out of curiosity. It will deflate it, and then it won't puff again and will sink in. If you want to brush it after rising, make sure you do it very softly, so as not to deflate it.
7. The risen dough looks well puffed, also it sticks to the neighboring balls, but don't try to separate that. Just transfer the whole tin to the oven and cut the baked loaf into slices once it has cooled down . 
8. If you wish to use eggs, you can skip the baking powder and curd/yogurt to the dough.
9. Bake the loaf only till the top turns light golden. If you bake it further, the upper crust will harden.
10. While toasting the bruschetta, make sure you do not over-toast else the base will over-char and go hard.
11. The toppings can change with the waves of creativity your brain forms. From spinach bruschetta to mushroom bruschetta, from mint leaves to thyme, just anything can empower it with its distinctive flavor.

'Dive in Five' Homemade Pizza

Yippieeeee Yuppieeee Happieeeeee..... all emotions shrilling with exaltation as I bake my First Pizza with the base as well. In India, I guess 60% people who are 'Pizza-buffs' try baking them at home using the bakery-baked Pizza bases. And how can I forget the way we used to freak upon trying all variations and hit-or-miss toppings on that pancake sized chhotu sa Pizza base. Believe it or not, but the best Pizza to me would always be the Sukhadia Circle wala 'Desi Pizza' with no mozarella cheese, rather processed cheese grated on the top with desi tomato gravy to line. Those days were different; the gust of wind waving the hair and dabbing the cheeks as we rode on Kinetic Honda, staring at all dolled up people taking over our bike, and that free-bird feel that filled the blood with Endorphin, the happy hormone. I still remember the posture in which I would spread my arms like feathers, sitting at the back, next to my darling sis, and feeling those fresh vibes and energy passing through during the ride (though this was occasional; especially done when there was no one on the road to watch such freaks!! :P)
Huuuh, so now it's time to come back to the real world, out of my fantasies and dreams, but yeah, I definitely will do that again with my daughter at least once after she starts riding. :)
Now this Pizza thing actually took my brain to all directions, from creativity to copying, and from experiments to experience. I almost used everything when I made this first Pizza of mine. I copied the basic ingredients and procedures from various sites, jeweled it with some creativity, experimented with multi-grain flour in the next go, and used the earlier experiences on baking to see that the experiment doesn't fail, and when you are this organized and focused, nothing in this world can stop you from reaching the goal. The outcome was flabbergasting! :)
As always, my brain cells were struggling hard to find a good name for the recipe, and finally I settled on this 'Dive in Five' Homemade Pizza because the topping had five major ingredients to fill it with taste and glamor. 

'DIVE IN FIVE' HOME-MADE PIZZA:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Dough Rising Time: 1 hour
Baking Time: 15-20 minutes
Makes 2 Pan Pizzas

Ingredients:
 For the Base:
1. Maida/APF: 3 cups
2. Dry/Instant Yeast: 1 and 1/2 tsp
3. Warm Water: 1 cup
4. Sugar: 1 tbs
5. Salt: 1 tsp
6. Olive Oil: 2 tbs + for greasing, smearing and dabbing
7. Cling Film for wrapping

For The Tomato Gravy:
1. Ripe tomatoes: 2 (blanched and pureed)
2. Onion: 1 (finely chopped)
3. Garlic Pods: 5 (medium sized, finely chopped)
4. Olive Oil: 2 tbs
5. Salt: 1 tsp or as per taste
6. Black Ground Pepper: 1 tsp
7. Tomato Ketchup: 2 tbs
8. Oregano: 1 tsp

For the Topping: 
1. Mozzarella/ Pizza Cheese: 200 gms
2.  Tomato: 1
3. Onion: 1
4. Olives: 8
5. Capsicum: 1/2
6. Paneer: 50 gms
7. Oregano
8. Chilli Flakes (optional)



Method:
For the base:

1. Take 1/4 cup warm water (the bowl/cup should be warm as well) and add sugar to it.
2. Now sprinkle the dry yeast over it and let it foam, say for about 10 minutes.
3. On the other hand, sieve the flour, add salt and oil to it and mix.
4. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add warm dissolved yeast to it.
5. Start kneading and prepare a soft dough with it using the remaining warm water. 
6. The consistency should match that of the dough used for poori/chapathi.
7. Remember, the dough will loosen and soften after fermentation, so don't keep it very soft. 
8. Dab your hands with some oil and keep kneading till it goes smooth. Smear the dough with a little oil.
9. Now place this dough in a greased bowl and cover with a cling film.
10. Keep this bowl in a warm place (either in sunlight, or in an oven with lights on, or in a bigger bowl of warm water)
11. The dough will rise to double in an hour. If not, check with the temperature again and keep for some more time.
12. Now take the dough and punch it down.
13. Divide the dough in two equal parts and keep the other part covered while working with one.
14. Take one part of the dough, make a ball and roll it with a rolling pin. Keep the size of the circle slightly bigger than the size of the base of the pizza pan.
15. If you want, you can stretch the dough using your palms and fingers, too, and thus avoid rolling with a pin.
16. Now place this rolled dough in the base of the pan and stretch with your hands on all sides to fit in it.
17. The dough should be stretched up high till the upper rim of the pan.
18. Dab the base with your fingers so that it doesn't puff on baking.

For the Gravy:

1. Blanch the tomatoes, peel off and puree them.
2. Take oil in a pan and heat it.
3. Add chopped onions and garlic to it and saute till they turn translucent.
4. Now add the tomato puree followed by the salt, pepper.
5. Cook for 5 minutes and then add tomato ketchup and oregano.
6. The gravy is ready to use. Make this during the dough-rising time.

For the Topping:

1. Cut onion, tomato and capsicum in medium sized pieces.
2. Cube the paneer and take a boil for them to soften.
3. Slice the olives into rings.
4. Divide the cheese cube into two for the two pizzas.

Assembling the Pizza:

1. Pre-heat the oven at 230 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
2. Now take the pan with the dough sitting in it.
3. Coat the base with half of the tomato gravy.
4. Now grate half a cube of the mozzarella cheese over the gravy and spread vegetables and olives over it.
5. Now grate the remaining cheese over the veggies and sprinkle some oregano and chilli flakes.
6. Transfer this pan to the pre-heated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes till the top browns.
7. Take it out and carefully lift the pizza out of the pan.
8. Cut it into pieces and serve oven-hot with some ketchup and chilli flakes.

Suggestions:

1. The rising of the dough is the most critical here. I hear many friends complaining that their dough didn't rise well and hence the whole experiment crashed.  My suggestion to them is to check with the yeast they are using first because it could be old or not good enough. Secondly, the temperature for rising matters a lot. If you keep the dough in normal temperature, it might not rise especially in winters or rain, so try keeping it either in an already warmed/heated oven for rising or in a warm bowl of water.
2. You can always play with the base of the pizza. The base could be made 'thin crust' if you keep the dough thin, and this can be made 'deep dish' if you pull the dough high till the upper rim of the pan. 
3. Also, you can make instant thin crust multi-grain pizza without fermentation, just by using more oil like how we keep for Samosa Dough. I tried this and it came out really well, and will post this sometime later for sure.
4. The gravy get vary as per your taste. I even tried with coriander chutney to smear on the base and it was yummilicious.
5. The toppings can go as creative as your mind goes. You could pop in some mushrooms, jalapeno, corn, red bell pepper or other veggies that you love to eat.
6. Do not overheat. As soon as the top browns a bit, take the pan out of the oven.
7. My pizza was baked in about 15 minutes. The oven timings may vary according to the type of oven you are using. 

The recipe flies off to:
My event: Cooking Made Easy With Cheese/Paneer

Bake Fest started by Vardhini guest hosted by Archana  

Home Baked Eggless Paav/Buns

Excuse me for this crime again; I've been boring you guys for a lot of days with baking, baking and just baking, and still can't run away from it. :P

There are a lot of recipes resting in the drafts which I'll be posting gradually; I don't intend to poison you with the sweetness of cakes and muffins all the time. ;) So, today the baking section takes over to the breads again. My first experiment with yeast (Those sexy braided breads if you remember!!) was truly inspirational for me, and I was incited to work more on it. There's a huge list to follow, but the basics need to be mastered first, so I finally shored on this simple yet hearty recipe of Home Baked Paav/Buns. No special skills required, no art n craft to follow, no hustle n bustle, just a smooth, easy going recipe that anyone can cook. 

These breads also became special because they were baked for a special day; my Birthday! I cooked some Aloo Bhaji to go with them; and then there was a Pineapple Bundt Cake to accompany, which I'll post later. :)

I have taken help from Gayatri's Cookspot for this recipe with slight modifications. She has a wonderful collection of egg-less recipes. :)

HOME BAKED EGG-LESS PAAV/BUNS

Preparation Time: 15 minutes (Plus Rising Time: 90-120 minutes)

Baking Time: 15-25 minutes (depending on your oven)

Makes 6 Paav/Buns

Ingredients:

1. All Purpose Flour/Maida: 1 and 1/4 cup (1 and 3/4 cups if you exclude atta)

2. Whole Wheat Flour/ Atta: 1/2 cup (optional)

3. Active Dry Yeast/ Instant Yeast: 1 tsp

4. Luke Warm Water: 1/4 cup

5. Butter/Olive Oil: 2 tbs

6. Warm Milk: 1/4 cup (use only if required) + 2 tbs for brushing

7. Baking Powder: 1/2 tsp

8. Curd/yogurt: 2 tbs

9. Salt: 1 tsp

10. Sugar: 1 tbs

Method:

1. Add the yeast and sugar to luke warm water (1/4 cup) and let it stand for 10 minutes till it starts frothing.
2. Sieve the maida/all purpose flour and aatta/whole wheat flour; add salt and baking powder to it.
3. Now add 1 tbs butter/oil and yogurt to the flour and mix well. Make a well in the center of the flour and slowly pour in the yeast water mix. Keep on kneading and adding slowly till a sticky soft dough is formed. If you find that the water is not enough, then add in some warm milk slowly. The dough will be as soft as the dough we make for naan.
4. Knead it well after greasing your hands with some oil, till the dough becomes pliable and soft (I did that for around 10 minutes). 
5. Now grease the outer dough with little oil to avoid drying and keep it covered with a wet clean cloth/cling wrap in a warm place for about an hour or more (till it doubles up in size).
6. After one hour, when it's doubled, deflate it gently with your palms and make six equal sized balls with it. 
7. Place the balls lying close to each other in a greased loaf tin/square cake tin.
8. Brush them with milk on the top.
   
9. Cover these with a wet, clean cloth/cling wrap and keep covered for almost 30-40 minutes (better an hour) for rising.
10. Pre-heat the oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. 
11. Now transfer the loaf/cake tin (with the dough balls risen within) on a baking tray and take off the cover/cloth/wrap. Bake for 15-25 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius till the top turns light golden brown.
12. Take them out and let them cool for 5 minutes. Smear and toast them with butter before dipping them in some hot Aloo Bhaji.

Suggestions:

1. If you are using instant yeast, use the same amount.
2. There's another way of making the dough in which all the ingredients are mixed together and dough is formed; no separate frothing of yeast in water is required. This is good when you are using instant yeast. Although I prefer the original method.
3. If the dough is not rising because of the temperature (i.e. it's not warm), you can place the dish containing the dough over a vessel filled with warm water (and not dipping in the warm water). This will help providing the right temperature for rising.
4. I kept the dough in the closed oven for rising, with the light on. This gave the perfect temperature and environment for rising, and it puffed up double in just 45 minutes.
   
5. Baking timings vary according to different ovens, but this cannot be baked in a microwave oven without convection mode.  
6. I brushed the dough balls after rising and just before baking, but somehow it made the balls to deflate a bit on the top which you can see in the pics. Before brushing they were puffed, smooth and perfect round on the top. That's why now I prefer to brush the dough balls with milk before keeping them for rising again. Don't touch the balls after they have risen, whether to shift, or out of curiosity. It will deflate them, and then they won't puff again and will sink in. If you want to brush them after rising, make sure you do it very softly, so as not to deflate them.
   
7. The risen dough looks well puffed, also it sticks to the neighboring balls, but don't try to separate that. Just transfer the whole tin to the oven and cut the baked buns into individual pieces once they are baked. 
8. If you want the burger buns which are round, flatten the balls slightly and place them directly on a greased baking tray for rising, with a distance of 2 inches on either sides of each ball. This will provide ample space for puffing and they won't stick to each other on rising.
9. If you wish to use eggs, you can skip the baking powder and curd/yogurt.
10. They can be stored for 2 days in an airtight container, though they always taste better and soft when eaten warm n fresh. 
11. If you refrigerate them, the butter will harden them a bit, so take them out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to use.   

The recipe goes to:

Bake Fest by Vardhini hosted by Sumee,
Any One Can Cook  by Umm,

  Midweek Fiesta at Food Corner

Go Nuts With Donuts

'Go Nuts With Donuts', I possibly couldn't find a better name than this, since I was the first one to go nuts over these donuts. There are certain foods which are always on your wish list and you can wipe them out the moment you get their glance. Donuts do surely top that list and perhaps this was one of those delights that I never thought of experimenting on by myself till a few days back. Baking has caught my nerves these days and so is anything with 'yeast'. After my recent successful venture with the braided bread, I was aroused to drive in for something again with yeast, and in the long mile of thinking, I finally concluded over 'Donuts'. I was terribly tensed on how they would turn up because I had never seen anybody making them in my life and nowhere in the weirdest of my dreams did I think of making them. So, this was an out of the blue experiment for me. Donuts are generally deep fried, but I went for a baked version too, which wasn't bad either. As for my first time, with no donut cutters and proper equipments, the trial wasn't a disaster as I had thought of. They turned out pretty well, though the shape had flaws owing to the use of random cutting objects, but in all, it was a cheering and gratifying endeavor. I'm propelled to try the egg-less version soon, and this time I'll look for some bigger, better circles/caps to cut appropriately. I've taken the recipe from here and have made changes in terms of quantity.

GO NUTS WITH DONUTS

Preparation Time: 15 minutes (excluding the dough-rising time)

Cooking/Baking time: 10 minutes

Yields 12 Donuts

Ingredients:

1. All Purpose Flour/ Maida: 2 cups

2. Sugar: 1/2 cup ( I took 1/4 cup and I found it less sweeter)

3. Egg: 1

4. Warm water: 1/4 cup

5. Luke-warm Milk: 1/2 cup

6. Active Dry Yeast: 1 tsp

7. Salt: 1/2 tsp

8. Oil: 1 tbs for greasing and rest for frying

9. Dark Chocolate: 1 bar

Method:

1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, and 2 cups of the flour.  Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. You can grease your hands with oil to avoid sticking. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double. Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter or if you don't have one, like me, use two different sized caps/circles (one big and the other smaller than it, so as to get the ring shape) to cut. Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double (around 30-40 minutes). Cover loosely with a cloth.
4. Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes and line the parchment paper on the baking tray or grease it.
   
5. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. 
6.  On the other side, for the baked ones, place them in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes till the top goes light brown. Do not over-bake else they will go hard.
7. Microwave chocolate in a bowl for 30-60 seconds (just enough to melt it) and keep it ready.
   
8.  Dip the top cover of the doughnuts into the molten chocolate while still warm, and set onto wire racks to cool or refrigerate for 5 minutes. 
9.  Arrange in the plate and wait for no-one or nothing to gulp them over before you do. 

 

Suggestions:

1. The baked donuts are not round, but have a flat bottom. Make sure you don't over-bake them else they turn hard. I for sure loved the original deep fried version more, but baked ones make a good choice for calorie-conscious people. 
2. Some dough was not utilized and I ended up making some Baked Jam Rolls/Delights with that. You can go innovative in using that dough in multiple ways.
3. Refrigeration will make them hard, so better re-heat them in an oven before use. Though they are best consumed fresh. 
4. You can coat them with sugar-butter-cinnamon syrup and icing sugar or any glaze that you wish. Chocolate glazing was the simplest I found.
5. Appropriate rising is necessary for the perfect texture. Make sure that the dough is kept in a warm place for rising and you do not deep fry/bake them before rising, out of hurry. 
6. If planning to make egg-less ones, replace egg with 4tbs curd/yogurt and 1/2 tsp baking soda. 
7. The original recipe also uses 'shortening', but since I had none, I skipped it.

 The recipe takes off to:
Cooking Made Easy With Chocolates/Cocoa 

 I Love Baking by Radhika,
  Midweek Fiesta at Food Corner,

I'm The Star by  Veg Food and Me, 

Comfort Food by Daily Cuppa 

Garlic Braided Bread with Potato Cheese Capsicum Filling

 
Yippieeeeeee!!!

Ha ha, don't get thrilled, I've not won any medal nor I'm going for a vacation to Seychelles; it's just that I baked my first bread ever and it was really not bad. For more than a week, I had this enthusiasm running in my nerves to bake some home-made buns/burgers. I got a packet of dry yeast for that especially and just don't know what was stopping me to pop it up. Finally, the day arrived, because there was no wheat flour/aata left and I had no other option than to switch over to Maida/APF. I was in a full mood, all set to bake some buns and then was about to prepare some aloo bhaji to go with it, and then suddenly the milk I had kept for boiling otherwise got some chemical issues and wooop, it was no more in its form!! The curdled milk was giving me jitters because that was the last packet I had for my doll, but as it is said, 'Everything happens for a reason'. I never use any tetra packs or fresh packs of milk without taking a boil (a genuine habit, you see) and that perhaps saved me. Fortunately, the security guard came to my rescue buying 2 fresh packets for the little one and then I was excited rather to use this curdled milk in some form. I took a long boil to run over any bacterial deterioration and made sure it was not spoiled or sour smelling. When the mind gave the permission and the 'green signal' was released, I immediately caught hold of it, sieved it, and washed it well with cold water. Again it was caged in the sieve for around 20 minutes to let the excess water drain out. And now was the final question: Whether I make Paneer Pav Bhaji with this or something else? The dough was already sitting in the dish for rising and was almost done and fermented. And then a sudden thought flashed like lightening, directing me to think about a stuffed bread, and what else could I think of better than the 'Braided Bread'!!

Although I had doubts about how it would come up finally since this was my first attempt on breads, but believe me guys, it was worth all the efforts, in fact more than that. When hubby darling arrived from office, the breads were graciously welcoming him on the dining table and he was almost shocked to see that I made them. He said, now we can open a 'Bakery Joint' in Bangalore. (Ha ha, I know he's too sweet, and he always tries to keep my spirits high by saying all these lovely words)

Well, but they weren't that bad, too. I actually loved them, just loved them. They reminded me of the Footlongs we used to relish back in my hometown, and in fact these home-made braided ones had that extra crsip n crust in them which you miss out in footlongs/buns.

Now, here's the simple recipe to charm your hubby, kids, family and even guests.

GARLIC BRAIDED BREAD WITH POTATO CHEESE CAPSICUM FILLING

Preparation Time: 20 minutes (excluding the time taken for dough rising)

Baking Time: 15-25 minutes (depending on your oven)

Makes 2 breads

Ingredients:

For the Bread:

1. Maida/ All Purpose Flour: 1 cup

2. Yogurt/curd: 2 tbs

3. Baking Powder: 1/2 tsp

4. Salt: 1/2 tsp

5. Sugar: 1/2 tbs

6. Dry Yeast: 1/4 tbs

7. Milk: 1/3 cup for the dough + 2 tbs for brushing

8. Butter: 1 tbs

9. Garlic Powder: 1 tsp

For the Filling:

1. Large Potato: 1

2. Paneer/Cottage Cheese: 1/2 a cup

3. Capsicum: 1/4 cup (finely chopped) - roughly half of a capsicum

4. Onion: 1(finely chopped)

5. Tomato: 1 (finely chopped)

6. Green Chilli: 1 (finely chopped) - optional

7. Turmeric Powder: 1/4 tsp

8. Red Chilli Powder: 1/2 tsp

9. Coriander Powder: 2 tsp

10. Cumin Powder: 1/4 tsp

11. Garam Masala: 1/4 tsp

12. Salt: 2 tsp or as per taste

13. Amchoor Powder: 1/2 tsp

14. Chopped cilantro/coriander leaves

15. Oil: 2 tbs

16. Cumin seeds/jeera: 1/4 tsp

17. Fennel seeds/saunf: 1/4 tsp

18. Mayonnaise/Cheese Slices: optional

Method:

1. Add the yeast and sugar to warm milk (1/3 cup) and let it stand for 10 minutes till it starts frothing.
2. Sieve the maida/all purpose flour, and add salt, baking powder, garlic powder to it.
3. Now add butter and yogurt to the flour and mix well. Make a well in the centre of the flour and slowly pour in the yeast milk mix. Keep on kneading and adding slowly till a sticky soft dough is formed. You might not need the complete milk even, so add small quantities and keep kneading. The dough will be as soft as the dough we make for naan.
4. Knead it well till it becomes pliable and soft. 
5. Now grease the outer dough with little oil to avoid drying and keep it covered in a warm place for about an hour or more (till it doubles up in size).
6. In the meanwhile, you can prepare the filling.
7. After one hour, when it's doubled, deflate it gently with your palms and make two equal sized balls with it. 
8. Take a ball and roll it into a cylindrical/oval shape.
9. Place the filling (you can also top the filling with some mayonnaise/cheese slices) on the central vertical line covering 3/4 of the length of it. 
10. Make long slanting slits/cuts on both the sides of the filling in a feather fashion. Make sure that the cuts on both the sides of the filling are the same.
11. Now close one end of the dough by pulling it within near the filling, and then start braiding the strips alternately on both sides like how we braid our hair, tucking in one end below the other and sealing it. Continue till you reach the end and twist the bottom part under the roll/bread.    
12. Cover these with a wet, clean cloth and keep covered for almost 30-40 minutes (better an hour) for rising.
13. Pre-heat the oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes and keep the baking tray greased and ready. 
14. Now brush them with milk (and sesame seeds, if you wish) and place them on the baking tray.
15. Bake for 15-25 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius till the top turns light golden brown. The browner it goes, the crispier it becomes.
16. Take them out and let them cool for 5 minutes. Smear some butter over them and savour with some chutney or tomato ketchup.

 

 For the Filling:

1. Chop all the vegetables finely, including the peeled potatoes.
2. Either prepare paneer/cottage cheese at home or grate the store-bought paneer.
3. Now take oil in a pan and heat it.
4. Once hot, add cumin seeds followed by the fennel seeds. Then add in the chopped onions and fry till turn golden brown.
5. Throw in the chopped capsicum and cook for 2 minutes.
   
6. Add all the spices and give a quick stir.
7. Push in the chopped potatoes and salt and mix well. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes on low-medium flame.
8. Now add in chopped tomatoes and let them cook for 3-4 minutes covered. make sure that the potatoes are cooked by now else continue for some more time. Also, there should be no gravy form and it needs to be dry/slightly moist. If you find it runny or loose, then cook uncovered for some time.
   
9. At last spoon in the grated cheese/paneer and cook covered for 4 minutes. 
10. Give the final flavors with cilantro/coriander leaves and let the mixture cool down.
11. Use as explained above and use the leftover with some chapati or naan. 

Suggestions:

1. If you are using instant yeast, use the same amount.
2. There's another way of making the dough in which all the ingredients are mixed together and dough is formed; no separate frothing of yeast in milk required. Although I prefer the original method.
3. If the dough is not rising because of the temperature (i.e. it's not warm), you can place the dish containing the dough over a vessel filled with warm water (and not dipping in the warm water). This will help providing the right temperature for rising.
4. The filling can vary according to your choice and availability of vegetables.
5. I made two breads, and one of them was also filled with some mayonnaise resting on the veg filling. The taste was amazing and you can use cheese slices in place of that, too. 
6. Baking timings vary according to different ovens, but this cannot be baked in a microwave oven without convection mode. 

 The recipe takes off to:
My event: Cooking Made Easy With Cheese/Paneer
Bake Fest by Vardhini hosted by Kalyani, I Love Baking by Radhika
  Midweek Fiesta and Hot and Spicy Treats at Food Corner,

Healthy Morsels- Pregnancy at Taste of Pearl City, 
Spotlight- Colorful Holi  initiated by Indrani and hosted by Chandrani,
I'm The Star by  Veg Food and Me, Color n Sweet - Holi Fest by Preeti,

EP Series: Herbs and Spices  by Erivum Puliyum, Holi Fest at Kalyani's space,

Comfort Food by Daily Cuppa, Sumee's Bon Vivant: Savory Items