Monday, September 30, 2013

Pumpkin Challah Bread

I don't know what my obsession with bread baking is. I never get tired of baking yeast breads. If I can find more people to eat the bread I bake, I probably will bake more often. Here is an experiment of pumpkin challah. I tried one of the challah recipes and incorporated pumpkin puree into it. If you are an orange lover, add a TBSP of zest, use orange juice instead of water to make it a perfect autumn bread.
One Year Back - Pumpkin Chocolate chip bread
Two Years Back - Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Cake with peanut butter glaze
Three Years Back - Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cake
Ingredients:  Makes two 8 X 4 loaves or two braids.
All purpose flour - 5 cups
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Active dry yeast - 2 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1/3 cup
Eggs - 2 large
Pumpkin puree - 1/2 cup (measured in dry measuring cup)
Warm Water - 1/2 cup
Sweetened dried cranberries - 1 cup (optional)

Egg Wash:
1 egg mixed with 1 TBSP of water. (You will have left over egg wash)

Method:
Place oil, salt, sugar, water, eggs, pumpkin puree,flour and yeast in this order in the pan of the breadmachine and start on dough setting. When the machine beeps, add the dried cranberries if using. Let it complete the dough cycle. This dough doesn't rise much. When the dough cycle is complete, punch down the dough and divide into two parts. Either make braids dividing each part into three and braiding or shape into a loaf. Place in greased 8 X 4 pan if baking as loaves. You can keep the braids on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes. It will not become double in size. Take care not to let it rise too much. If that happens, it will collapse after baking in the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Before placing the loaves in the oven, brush with egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 325. Continue to bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown on the top and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Brush the loaf with melted butter or oil after taking out of the pan if desired. Cool completely before slicing.
If you want to make it by hand, refer to this post for the method for making the dough: Basic White Bread. 

This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali.     
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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Buttermilk Brownie Muffins

Just because a recipe comes out of a published cookbook/baking book doesn't mean it will make what it advertises for. I had such an experience with this recipe. I won't mention the book name just because I have baked few things from that book and they turned out great every time. So, I will give it a benefit of doubt that it was a mistake in printing.
I have been baking for 15 years now. Very actively after I had kids, about 7+ years. I might not be an expert in baking but very very rarely things don't turn out the way they should when I bake. Because of this vast experience in 'baking', I can make out if something is not correct before it goes into the oven. When I mixed the batter for these muffins, I knew instantly that it will not work. I added more flour to fix it and it turned out perfect. If, I had baked as suggested in the recipe, it would've been a disaster. These are a bit sweeter than regular muffins but the name itself suggests that and I was alright using that much sugar. You can cut it down to 3/4 cup if you don't want a sweeter muffin.
One Year Back - Vegan Navaratna Kurma
Two Years Back - Sweet Couscous and Apple Salad
Three Years Back - Sweet Milk Rolls/Buns

Ingredients: 
Oil - 1/3 cup
Water - 2/3 cup
Buttermilk - 2/3 cup
Unsweetened Cocoa - 1/4 cup
All purpose flour - 2 1/3 cups
Sugar - 1 1/3 cups
Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Egg - 1 large
Vanilla - 1 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line muffin cups with paper liners. This recipe should give 14 regular sized muffins. In a bowl, whisk together salt, baking soda, all purpose flour. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, cocoa, egg until cocoa is mixed well with egg and oil. Add water and buttermilk to it and mix. Stir in vanilla. Dump the dry ingredients to this and whisk gently to mix. Pour into the prepared pan. It gets filled more than 3/4 th of the muffin cup. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on the wire rack for 5 minutes in the pan and then remove to cool completely on the wire rack.

Enjoy.
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Monday, September 23, 2013

Pumpkin Chocolate Bars

My favorite time of the year has started. Autumn is my favorite time of the year. Even when the falling leaves leave the trees bare and the ground gets covered with dry leaves, it has its own beauty. Don't you think? And what other way to celebrate the start of the season by baking these pumpkin bars? For a foodie, it is perfect. These are soft cookie kind of bars but are a bit cakey. The original recipe was for the cookies with butter and different method of mixing and baking. I simplified the recipe and made them into a pan cookie recipe. However it was made, it turned out delicious.
One Year Back - Vegan Navaratna Kurma
Two Years Back - Sweet Couscous and Apple Salad
Three Years Back - Sweet Milk Rolls/BunsAdapted widely from the book 'the complete baking cookbook' by George Geary
Ingredients: 
All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cups
Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Egg - 1 large
Oil - 1/2 cup
Pumpkin puree - 1 cup (store bought or home made)
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Semi sweet chocolate chips or chunks - 1 cup
Optional - 1 cup nuts like walnuts or pecans (I didn't add any)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 13 X 9 pan with vegetable oil spray. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together oil, egg, sugar, pumpkin puree. Stir in vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients to wet and mix gently. Mix till there are no streaks of dry flour left. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (if using). Dump the contents to the pan and smooth with a spatula. Bake for 28 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on the wire rack in the pan. Slice when completely cool.
This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali.    
Enjoy.
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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Aloo Methi Bhath (Potato fenugreek rice dish)

Inspiration can come from anywhere - source unknown.
I don't know where I had read this line but it is so true. I was familiar with the dish Aloo Methi (Potato and fenugreek leaves side dish), I was familiar with aloo paratha, methi paratha. I had no idea that people make aloo methi paratha as a different dish altogether. I was watching a show and in that they serve aloo methi paratha for breakfast. The moment I saw that, this idea came and since I had the main ingredients on hand, I converted it as a rice dish. I might not know rocket science but I can make rice out of anything and everything that is vegetarian. This was delicious. The bunch of fenugreek leaves I used was small. Unless it is huge, you can actually use two bunches to enhance the flavor of methi or fenugreek.
One Year Back - Pumpkin Chocolate Bread
Two Years Back - Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Cake with peanut butter glaze
Three Years Back - Sourdough Pumpkin Spice CakeIngredients: 
Rice -  1 1/2 cups
Potatoes - 2 medium sliced into long thin slices (like french fries cut)
Red Onion - 2 medium sliced thin
Fenugreek leaves - 1 bunch cleaned and leaf and tender stem chopped (Or you could use any other greens of your choice)
Oil - 3 TBSP
Ginger - 1" piece peeled and grated
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Cashews - 3 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Red Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp (Or to taste)
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Amchoor powder / Dry mango powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric - a generous pinch
Sugar - 1 TBSP

Method:
Wash and rinse the rice. Cook and cool. Fluff with a fork to separate the grains and spread it on a plate. In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add ginger followed by cashews. When the cashews turn a little golden, add onions. Sprinkle some salt, turmeric and let it cook. When onions are almost cooked, add potatoes and mix well. Cover a lid and let the potatoes cook till soft but not mushy (5 - 8 minutes based on your pan and how big you have cut them). Keep an eye on it since they will they stick to the pan and burn easily. When potatoes are tender, add the fenugreek leaves. Mix well. Now, add the red chilli powder, sugar, cumin powder, amchoor powder and give it another mix. Greens should cook in less than 5 minutes. When they have wilted, add the cooled rice and mix well. Check for salt and adjust if needed. Cover with a lid and lower the flame to the lowest and let it sit untouched for 4 - 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Serve as is or with a bowl of yogurt.

Enjoy.
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Monday, September 16, 2013

Honey Whole Wheat Bread (Bread Machine recipe)

Sunday morning, after we got done with breakfast, my kids asked me if I had time to take them shopping. Their shopping is mostly for junk that I try to postpone till the end or try to talk them out of buying it. Obviously the answer was "No" and my younger one asked why I didn't have any time for going to Wal-mart for buying fake baby food for her doll. I went on giving the list of chores I had to do that day and one of them was bake bread for sandwiches for the week. She immediately said "Mommy, you can take that out of the list of chores. We can buy bread when we go shopping". Smart, isn't she? But she is stuck with a stubborn mommy who wants to bake bread herself. Whose mistake is that?
One Year Back - Pumpkin Chocolate Bread
Two Years Back - Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Cake with peanut butter glaze
Three Years Back - Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cake
Ingredients: (Adapted from Breadman Pro Breadmachine manual)
Whole Wheat flour - 3 3/4 cups
Vital Wheat gluten - 1/4 cup
Salt - 2 tsp
Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp
Active dry yeast - 2 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1/4 cup
Honey - 1/4 cup
Warm Buttermilk - 1 1/2 cup (1/2 cup yogurt topped with water to get 1 1/2 cups works too)

Method:
Place oil, salt, honey, buttermilk, whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten, baking soda and yeast in this order in the pan of the breadmachine and start on dough setting. If you want to bake it in the bread machine, select whole wheat cycle. If using the dough setting, remove from the machine after the cycle completes, shape into a loaf and place in a greased 9 X 5 pan. Let it rise for 45 minutes to an hour. Preheat the oven to 375 F and bake for 40 - 50 minutes or until brown on the top and sounds hollow when tapped at the bottom. Brush with melted butter or oil on the top after baking. Cool completely on the rack before slicing.

If you want to make it by hand, refer to this post for the method: Basic White Bread.
This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali.    
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Monday, September 9, 2013

Whole Wheat Banana Aebleskiver / Gundu Pongal / Paniyaram

Now that the school has started, dilemma of what to pack for lunch has become a routine. It is very easy if I have bread on hand. It can be turned into some kind of sandwich even if there isn't lot of time. But since I have decided not to buy bread, that means I have to keep baking bread twice a week so that we have bread on hand or come up with something else that kids would eat. Today was one such day where there was no bread and not too much time. I packed these as lunch since they are not that sweet. I thought they taste less sweeter than the nutella sandwich that my kids love.

One Year Back - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Two Years Back - Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Cake with peanut butter glaze
Three Years Back - Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cake
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Flour -1 cup
Fine Soji / Semolina - 1/2 cup (See Notes)
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup (Use almond milk for vegan version)
Banana - 1 large ripe
Water - 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup (depending on how large the banana is and how much water the wheat flour absorbs)
Cardamom - 4 pods crushed into powder (You could use cinnamon instead)
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Oil - for cooking

Method:
Mix the flour, soji, sugar in a bowl. Add the mashed banana along with milk to make a batter. Slowly start adding part of water and mix gently. It should be like a pancake batter, easily scoopable but does run down. Set it aside for 10 minutes. Flour will have absorbed some liquid. Add the remaining water to make the correct consistency batter. Add baking soda and cardamom powder and mix gently.

Heat the Aebleskiver pan / Pancake puff pan and add at least 1/4 tsp of oil to every cup. You might have to use a bit more if your pan is not a non-stick one. Pour the batter and cover with a lid. When you start seeing the steam and the top of the batter has crusted at the edges, gently flip and let the other side cook. Remove and serve with a glass of milk or if more sweetness is desired, with some maple syrup.
This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali.      

Notes:
If you cannot get soji, you could use fine ground cornmeal or even quick oats.

Enjoy.
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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes


This is another set of cupcakes I baked for my neighbor. They make very light and fluffy cupcakes. It was a big hit among the crowd who ate these.
One Year Back - Anise Biscotti
Two Years Back - Healthiest Pie Crust
Three Years Back - Yam Zucchini Curry
Ingredients: 
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1/3 cup
Eggs - 2 large
Buttermilk - 2/3 cup (Or use 1/2 cup thick yogurt and top it with water to reach 2/3 cup and mix)
Vanilla - 2 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a 12 muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder.  In a larger bowl, beat eggs, oil, sugar till thick and creamy. Stir in vanilla. Add dry mixture to the egg and sugar mixture alternating with buttermilk starting and ending with dry mixture. Whisk gently. This is a thin batter. Divide the batter among the cups and place in the oven. Immediately after closing the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350 F (325 in case of non stick or dark pan). Bake for 20 - 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove to the wire rack to cool completely. Serve as is or frost with your favorite frosting.

Enjoy.


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Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Chocolate Cupcakes

One of my blogger friends suggested my blog to her friend/reader when the recipe for chocolate cake was requested. Funny thing is that person got overwhelmed by so many chocolate cake recipes but none of them were simple for her. I think she went through the recipe index for cakes and didn't look down for the 'Quick Chocolate cupcakes'. I had an opportunity to make these cupcakes for my neighbor's kid's birthday. They wanted some vanilla cupcakes and some chocolate cupcakes. This is very chocolatey since coffee enhances the flavor.
One Year Back - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Two Years Back - Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Cake with peanut butter glaze
Three Years Back - Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cake
Ingredients: (Makes 12 standard sized cupcakes)
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Cocoa - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Semi sweet baking chocolate - 1 Oz chopped fine(See Notes)
Oil - 1/3 cup
Eggs - 2 large
Strong freshly brewed coffee - 2/3 cup
Vanilla - 2 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a 12 muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl,  take the semisweet baking chocolate and pour hot coffee over it. Whisk and let it sit till it comes to room temperature and the chocolate has melted. In a larger bowl, beat eggs, oil, cocoa and sugar till thick and creamy. Stir in vanilla. Add dry mixture to the egg and sugar mixture alternating with coffee and chocolate mixture starting and ending with dry mixture. Whisk gently. This is a thin batter. Divide the batter among the cups and place in the oven. Immediately after closing the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350 F (325 in case of non stick or dark pan). Bake for 20 - 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove to the wire rack to cool completely. Serve as is or frost with your favorite frosting.

Notes:
You can use up to 3 Oz of semi sweet chocolate squares. It just increases the intensity of the chocolate and doesn't alter the texture of the cupcakes.

Enjoy.
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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Hawaiian Sweet Bread

I probably own about 10 books that are exclusively on Bread Baking. That combined with numerous baking books which have a section dedicated for bread baking makes me have more recipes than what I can bake in my life. Very rarely I follow any recipe and this one is no exception. The book that it is adapted from talks about short cuts to getting the yeast bread made in half time. Since I was not looking to rise the dough in half time, I made modifications to the recipe and the method. Original recipe also bakes it as a round loaf in a pie plate. But, I was looking for a bread to make sandwich for the kids' lunch and hence baked it in a regular pan. Result was a very rich and fluffy bread that my kids loved with Nutella and as a grilled cheese sandwich.
One Year Back - Whole Wheat Bread with vital wheat gluten
Two Years Back - Easy Marinara Sauce
Three Years Back - Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from Bread in Half the Time by Linda West Eckhardt and Diana Collingwood Butts
Ingredients:
All purpose flour or Bread flour - 3 cups
Active dry yeast - 2 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Sugar - 3 TBSP
Non fat dry milk - 1/4 cup
Oil or melted butter - 1/4 cup
Warm water - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 2 large (Or thick yogurt 1/2 cup)
Butter to brush the loaf after baking - optional, I didn't use it.

Method:
Bread Machine Method: (Warning: Do not bake this in the bread machine, just use it to make the dough)
Place all the ingredients in the pan of the bread machine and set it for dough cycle for 1 1/2 lb loaf. When the cycle completes, take out the dough and shape and bake as explained below.

To make this by hand:
Take water in a bowl. Add sugar and sprinkle yeast on it. Let it froth ( 5 - 10 minutes). To this, add the oil, salt, eggs, vanilla and beat to break the eggs. Slowly add the dry milk powder and start adding the flour. When you can no longer turn the spatula, start kneading by hand to get a smooth dough. It will take about 10 - 15 minutes to get a smooth dough. Dough will not be sticky and will be smooth and silky. Cover and let rise till puffy. It need not double in bulk. It takes between an hour to hour and a half for this. Gently deflate and shape into a loaf. Grease a 9 X 5 pan and place the shaped dough in the pan. Cover and let rise till it reaches the rim of the pan, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 F and bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until dark brown and sounds hollow when tapped. This rises very well in the oven.
Cool on the rack and brush with butter if desired once out of the oven.

Enjoy.
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Monday, September 2, 2013

Cream Cheese Sandwich Bread

No, this blog has not been converted into an exclusive bread baking blog. I have been busy with stuff and the only thing that I have been baking is bread along with regular cooking. Here is another sandwich bread recipe that is adapted from another cream cheese sweet bread on this blog. I cut down the cream cheese amount to make it more of a regular bread that is not too rich.
One Year Back - Anise Biscotti
Two Years Back -  Healthiest Pie Crust
Three Years Back - Yam Zucchini Curry
Ingredients:
1/3 fat Cream cheese - 4 Oz (1/2 of the 8 Oz block)
Sugar - 2 TBSP
Warm Water - 3/4 Cup
All Purpose Flour - 3 Cups
Salt - 1 tsp
Active dry yeast - 2  tsp

Method:
To make the dough by hand: Mix the warm water, sugar, yeast. Let it froth for 5 - 10 minutes. Start mixing the cream cheese, salt and the flour to the yeast mixture and knead it for about 5 - 8 minutes. Coat with a bit of oil and cover and let rise till double about one hour. When the dough has doubled in volume, punch down and deflate and proceed with shaping the dough and baking as described below.

To make the dough in a bread machine: Place all the ingredients except milk in the bread machine pan in this order. Water, cream cheese, salt, sugar, flour and yeast. Set the machine on dough setting and start. When the cycle is complete, take the dough out, deflate it and shape into a loaf.

To Shape and Bake:
Grease a 9 X 5 pan with vegetable oil spray and place the shaped dough in it. Cover loosely with an oiled aluminum foil and let rise till double - about 30 - 45 minutes. When the dough has doubled, preheat the oven to 375 F. Brush the loaf with milk. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn down the oven to 325 F and bake for another 20 minutes or till done. When done, the loaf will have beautiful golden brown and will sound hollow when the bottom is tapped. If the loaf is browning too fast, tent with aluminum foil. Let cool in pan for about 5 minutes. Remove to the wire rack to cool completely. Slice when completely cool.
This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali.     

Enjoy.
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