Applesauce breakfast bread

My kids ask for different things in the morning for breakfast. Usually it used to be cereal or pancakes/waffles. But sometimes they eat nutella sandwich with a cup of warm milk. But sometimes they ask what else is there until I run out of  answers. I had a jar of opened applesauce in the refrigerator. I  decided to make the bread so that it covers breakfast and the snack tomorrow.

One year back - Kala Chana Masala without Onion and Garlic, Ricotta Cheese Doodh Peda
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
Packed brown sugar - 1/2 cup (Use 3/4 cup if using unsweetened applesauce)
Sweetened  or unsweetened applesauce - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp
Oil - 1/4 cup
Egg - 1 large
Five spice - 1 tsp - 1 1/2 tsp  (Or you could use a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, all spice, ginger) I used 1 tsp since I felt the spice mixture was very strong
Salt - 1/4 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 8" square pan with vegetable oil spray. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, spice powders, salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together oil, applesauce, brown sugar. Add the egg and beat till all the ingredients combine well. Add the dry mixture and stir making sure not to over mix. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on the wire rack for 15 minutes and then turn on to the wire rack to cool completely. Serve with powdered sugar sprinkled or some honey or maple syrup. I served with maple syrup.

Notes:
The original recipe had 1/2 cup of toasted, chopped walnuts along with 1/2 cup raisins. I didn't add any since my kids don't like nuts in the baked goods. But if you add it, it definitely will make a better bread. I used sweetened applesauce since that is what I had on hand. Make sure you increase the sugar if you use unsweetened one.

Tip:
I usually buy sweetened applesauce and reduce sugar so that I can use the applesauce over a good duration of time. Unsweetened applesauce has to be used up within a week after opening. They cost the same and you are saving on sugar.

Enjoy. Pin It

Eggless Almond Chocolate Biscotti

Have you wondered how looking at recipes on the internet or in a magazine/book is similar to shopping? Be it clothes shopping or looking at the modern furniture. When we look at the display, there are three kinds (in my opinion). First category - you decide that is not for you and don't bother about it at all. Second category - you are suddenly in love with it but want a different color or print. Third category - perfect in all the ways for you and you want to either try it on and later buy it.  Same goes with recipes. First category - you probably will never make it. Second category - you make it but to suit your taste and diet. Third category of course is you follow the recipe to a 'T'. When I saw the Peanut butter pecan biscotti recipe on Joy's site today, it fell into the category two. I wanted to make it right away, but didn't want to use peanut butter. I had some almond butter waiting to be used and here is my adaptation of her recipe. I made it eggless and used chocolate chips since my kids are not fond of nuts in baked goodies.

Adapted from - Joy the baker.
Ingredients:
Almond butter - 1/3 cup (Homemade or store bought)
Vegetable oil / Canola oil - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Powdered Flax seed - 1 1/2 TBSP
Warm water to mix with flax seed powder - 4 1/2 TBSP
Vanilla - 2 tsp
Chocolate chips or chunks - 3/4 cup
Milk - 1 TBSP to brush the log
Turbinado or raw sugar - to sprinkle about 2 TBSP

Method:
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line two small or 1 large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt. Whisk to combine and set aside. In a small bowl, mix warm water with flax seed powder and mix very well. Set aside that for 5 minutes.

In another bowl, take oil, almond butter, sugar. Beat it till everything is very well incorporated. Add the flax seed water mixture and continue to beat till everything comes together. Add vanilla. Add the flour mixture and beat. You will have to use your hands to bring the dough together and it will be very dry. Add the chocolate chips or chunks and form a dough. Dough will be crumbly, but don't worry about it. It will come together when baked.
Divide the dough into two portions and form a log. I made it to almost 10 inches long but short. Its thickness should be about 1/2". Brush with milk and sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes rotating the pan/s half way.
Let it cool to handle but not completely cool. Transfer the logs to the cutting board and slice them to about 1 - 1 1/2" wide. I sliced them vertically instead of diagonally to get more cookies. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes flipping them halfway. Cool and store in an airtight container when completely cool. I got about 3 dozen 3" long and 1" wide biscottis.

Enjoy. Pin It

Bake-Off(1/28/2011)

To participate, read this.

Next Bake-Off will be on '2/4/2011'. Bake-Off archive can be found here.

In the order we have, 

Mango Corn Bread from 'Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes' 

Mocha Cupcakes from 'Kachuss Delights'

Pecan Shortbread cookies from 'Oh Taste N See'

Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes from 'Kachuss Delights'

Sweet Corn Raisin Bread from 'Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen'

Morning Glory Muffins from 'Kitchen Celebrations'

Eggplant Parmesan from 'Sugar N' Spice'

Choccy melts from 'The Black Ladle'

Oats Cashews Cookies from 'Sujana's World'

Orange and chocolate whole wheat rolls from 'Cakes and More'

Italian Herb bread from 'Zestyflavors'

Happy Baking.

Pin It

Penne with Spicy Coriander Pesto (Vegan)

Cuisine is regional, but methods of cooking are not. If you compare two different cuisines, you will see similarities in many dishes. The ingredients used of course will be locally available ones, but methods of preparation and the courses of meals have many similarities. It could be due to foreign influence, but not always.

Pesto is one such preparation that can be compared to our South Indian Chutney. Pesto has nuts and chutney has roasted dal /lentils. Pesto uses Italian herbs and chutney uses Cilantro or mint. The reason for adding olive oil to pesto is to make it shelf stable. If you are using pesto immediately, there is no harm in using water. We use tamarind in chutney as acid and pesto uses lemon juice as acid part of it. I made an Indian version of pesto and made pasta out of it. This is one of the pasta my relatives and friends enjoy very much.

One year back - Banana Oatmeal Bread
Ingredients:
Walnuts - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 6 or to taste (This itself makes it pretty spicy)
Cilantro / Coriander leaves - 2 cups packed (about one big bunch)
Garlic - 3 pods
Olive oil - 4 TBSP
Black pepper - 1/2 TBSP (See Notes)
Lime juice - from 1/2 a lime or 1 TBSP (Could use lemon juice too)

Method:
In a skillet, toast the walnuts till nice smell comes out of them. About 4 - 5 minutes depending on the how high the heat is. Set aside. In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients excluding olive oil. Start the food processor while slowing drizzling the olive oil. Run it till you get a smooth paste. You are done making pesto. You could add salt, but I prefer to add it to the pasta when I cook since I use over salted pasta water to thin down the sauce.

Assembling the pasta:
Here is how I made pasta using this pesto. I used about 2 cups of penne. 2 carrots peeled and sliced, 1 cup of frozen green peas and 2 red onions cut into chunks. Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Salt generously. Add peas and carrots and let them cook for about 3 - 4 minutes. Now add the penne to the same pot and let them cook till al-dente. Meanwhile, heat 1 - 2 TBSP of olive oil. Saute onions. When onions are cooked, add the cooked pasta and vegetables to it, pesto and thin down using pasta water. Only after you add the pasta water, add salt if necessary. Let it all simmer for 3 - 4 minutes and then turn off the heat. This is best served immediately just like any other pasta, but will heat up beautifully. If you are planning to save some, add more of the pasta water to make it very saucy so that it doesn't dry up.  You can use your favorite vegetables and the quantity of them can be varied too.

Notes:
You could add black pepper to the pasta when you cook. In that case, omit black pepper while making pesto. Black pepper and green chillies hit the palate in different places. That is the reason for adding both.

Enjoy. Pin It

Broccoli Masala

I have been in this country for the past 12 years. My husband even longer than that. I should say I have adapted to local ingredients better than him. He has problems with some vegetables which make it impossible for me to buy them often. One such vegetable is 'Broccoli'. The only way he would eat this vegetable was if it was oven roasted with some olive oil, salt and pepper. I had a pack of Broccoli sitting on the counter begging to be used. I wanted to try something that is totally Indian. I was taking a chance of him not even trying it. Since I had a backup of another curry in case he did not like it, I made this and guess what, he loved it. So, if you have any broccoli haters in your house, try it.

Ingredients:
Broccoli florets - 1.5 pounds (I used fresh, but frozen should work fine too)
Garlic - 2 pods
Red onions - 2 medium chopped into big chunks
Green chillies - 5 or to taste
Ginger - 1/2" piece peeled
Potato - 2 medium (I used white) - optional
Crushed tomatoes - 1 1/2 cups (Or tomato puree from 4 - 5 medium tomatoes)
Oil - 3 - 4 TBSP
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander cumin powder - 2 tsp (Or 1 tsp of each cumin powder and coriander powder)
Garam Masala - 1 tsp or to taste
Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
Kasoori methi / dried fenugreek leaves - 3 - 4 TBSP
Salt - to taste

Method:
Bring a big pot of water to boil. Add salt. Add the broccoli florets and let it cook for about 4 - 5 minutes. Remove and put them in a cold water bath. You could use ice in it, but I didn't go to that much of trouble. Drain and set aside.
In a blender/mixie, take onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic and blend it into a puree. It need not be very smooth. Do not add water while grinding. When done, heat a pan. Add oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add cumin seeds. When they pop, add the ground paste. Add turmeric, a little salt and mix. Keep stirring frequently to prevent burning and let the masala cook. It will take anywhere between 8 to 10 minutes (depending on how high the heat is). When the masala is cooked, oil separates and the raw smell of onion and garlic will vanish.
Meanwhile, quarter each potato and slice them to less than 1/8" thick. You could cube them if that is preferred. When the masala is cooked, add the potato slices, about a cup of water. Stir and let the potatoes cook. When potatoes are almost done, add cumin coriander powder, tomato puree. Mix well. Add the broccoli florets and mix to coat all the vegetables with the sauce. Add garam masala, kasoori methi and mix. Adjust the salt if needed. Cover with a lid and keep on very low heat for couple of minutes or until broccoli is cooked. Don't over cook the broccoli. Serve hot / warm with rotis, chapathis or naans.

Notes:
You can buy Kasoori methi in Indian grocery stores.

Enjoy. Pin It

Vegan Tomato Soup

I am not keen on drinking soups in restaurants. Reason being tasting the soup in restaurants and not liking them and the other reason is the fear of being served a vegetarian soup which was made with 'chicken broth'. No I am not kidding. It happened to me once. We went to a Thai restaurant from work and I took the vegetarian combo which had rice with some vegetables, a sweet and sour soup. When the soup was served, for some reason, I could smell something that just wasn't 'right'. When asked, the waitress said the broth was 'chicken broth'. So be very careful when you ask for soup and if you are vegetarian or vegan.

My younger one loves soup. Give some soup with bread or as is, she is a happy person. But, there is a catch to it. It has to have tomatoes in it. I have made pumpkin soup, butternut squash soup which, she will taste once and leave it.  But serve her this tomato soup or Roasted red bellpepper soup, she is a happy girl. I made this especially for her and is the reason for not using any herbs.

One Year Back - Besan Laddoo (Sweet chickpea flour balls)
Ingredients:
Plum tomatoes - 9 medium sized (See Notes)
Red Onions - 3 small diced
Apples - 2 medium cored, peeled and diced (See Notes)
Olive oil or any other oil - 2 TBSP
Garlic - 2 pods crushed
Vegetable broth - 2 - 3 cups
Salt - to taste
Crushed black Pepper - to taste
Hot sauce - 1 tsp or to taste

Method:
Blanch the tomatoes. Peel the skin. Set aside. In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add garlic. Let it cook, but not get brown. Add onions. Sprinkle some salt, crushed black pepper and let it cook. When onions are cooked, add apples, tomatoes. With the back of the spoon, crush the tomatoes and let them all cook till apples are soft and the whole mixture comes to a simmer. Turn off the heat.

When cool enough to be taken into a blender, blend it to a puree. Blend it to the consistency of your liking. I like the soup to be a little chunky but, my kids like them smooth. So, I blended them till it was a smooth puree. Return back to the pan. Add vegetable broth, hot sauce and bring it to a slow boil. Adjust the salt if needed. You could use the herb of your liking. I didn't since if some green 'thing' is floating, my kids would've a problem with the whole bowl of soup. Serve hot/warm with croutons or bread. I served with warmed whole wheat pita bread.

Notes:
To use a shortcut, instead of blanching the tomatoes, you can use 1 can of 1lb 10 Oz can of peeled tomatoes. It will have about 1/2 cup of tomato juice in it and you can empty the whole can into the pot.
I like adding apples or potatoes (just 1 or 2) to thicken the soup naturally instead of adding corn starch or making a roux. Apples eliminate the need of adding sugar to the soup completely. I got this inspiration from Ina Garten's barefoot contessa show.
I am sending this to 'Souper Sunday' hosted at 'Kahakai Kitchen'.
I am also sending this to 'Winter Warmers' hosted at 'The Veggie Hut'  along with Roasted red bellpepper soup.

Enjoy. Pin It

Sweet Corn Raisin Bread

Happy Sunday to all. Do you ever wonder why you have so many half used packs of different flours in your pantry? May be you don't have them in the first place. But if you check my pantry, you probably can find half the kinds of flour you get in wholefood market. Such a half used pack of cornmeal came out of hibernation when I made this loaf. I would love to find a store where I can get everything as much as I want and not how much they have packaged it. Unfortunately, not all ingredients are available in the bulk bin in the grocery stores and that explains the shortage of space in my pantry.

Adapted from: The Fresh Loaf

One Year back - Multigrain Brown Bread, Cake Decorating Basics - Part 4
Ingredients:
Corn meal - 1 cup (I used stone ground yellow cornmeal)
Warm water - 1/2 cup
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 3 TBSP
Instant yeast - 2 tsp
Whole wheat flour - 2 3/4 cups (Start with 2 1/2 cups and add the remaining only if required)
Butter - 2 TBSP
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Vital wheat gluten - 2 TBSP
Raisins - 1 cup

For glaze:
Milk - 1/2 TBSP
Olive oil - 1/2 TBSP
Salt - a pinch
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
You could use egg wash to get a better crust color.

Method:
To make the dough using breadmachine:
Place cornmeal in the bread machine pan. Add warm water. Stir and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then add warm coconut milk, sugar, salt, melted butter to the pan followed by flour, gluten and yeast. Set the machine on dough setting. When the machine beeps, add raisins and check the dough consistency and adjust if needed. When the cycle is complete, take out the dough and proceed with shaping and baking.

To make the dough by hand:
Refer to the source - here.

To shape and bake:
Remove the dough from the bowl  or the bread machine pan and deflate it. Then shape either into a ball or your desired shape. Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise until double again. It took about 40 minutes for mine. I shaped it into a big ball.

Towards the end of rising time, preheat the oven to 425 F. Brush the loaf by mixing all the glaze ingredients. Take a razor sharp knife and slash it. As you can see, I am no good at slashing the loaves. I tried to get some design on the loaf and it sucked even more. Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Turn down the temperature to 350 F and continue to bake for another 35 - 40 minutes rotating the pan half way. Bread is done when it is brown and sounds hollow when tapped at the bottom. Remove on to wire rack to cool. If desired, you can brush this with butter. I didn't. This one makes a very good breakfast bread. Great as is and toasted too. I made nutella sandwiches for kids with this bread. We ate them as is too.

Linking this to yeastspotting and BBD#36 - 'Corn'y breads.

Enjoy. Pin It

Broken Wheat Pudding / Wheat payasam / Godhi Payasa

You don't see too many day to day cooking recipes except for a few rice items and a varied selection of side dishes / curries on this blog. That is because I feel everyone knows about them. And quite frankly, we like how our mothers and grandmothers cooked the everyday meal and we tend to follow them. Then you might ask why post this? The reason being not many people know about this dessert. We were served with this dessert in a gathering and some people didn't know what it was. I thought why not post it. It is of course the recipe of how my mother made this and there could be many other variations to it.

One Year Back - Vegan Applesauce Muffins
Ingredients:
Broken Wheat - 1 cup
Coconut milk or Milk - 1 cup (I used coconut milk)
Water - 2 cups
Powdered jaggery - 1 - 1/2 cups (You could use light brown sugar instead)
Cardamom - 4 pods crushed
Ghee / clarified butter or oil - 2 TBSP (If you use oil and coconut milk, it is a vegan dessert)
Broken Cashews - 2 TBSP
Golden raisins or Indian green raisins - 2 TBSP
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup or more for garnishing (fresh or dried)

Method:
Take broken wheat, water, milk or coconut milk in a pan. Stir it once cook in the pressure cooker. You could cook on stove top but will have to keep an eye on it or else it will burn. When the pressure cooking is done, take another saucepan and melt the jaggery in little water. When jaggery is melted, filter to remove the impurities. Return it to the clean saucepan and bring it to a boil. When it has boiled for couple of minutes and the raw smell of jaggery is gone, add the cooked broken wheat. Stir really well braking any lumps present. Let this come to a simmer and stay there for couple of minutes. You will have to stir frequently so that it doesn't stick to the bottom and burn.

In a small pan, take the ghee and fry cashews and raisins. Add this to the wheat and jaggery mixture. Stir. Add crushed cardamom and grated coconut. Let it all stay on low heat for couple of minutes and then turn off the heat. You can make it thin or thick the way you like it. To thin, add some milk or coconut milk. This is best served warm or cold. Not hot.

Notes: 
If you are using light brown sugar instead of jaggery, you don't have to filter it. Just melt the brown sugar in enough water and bring it to a boil and add the cooked wheat. You could dry roast the broken wheat and then cook it. It actually tastes better but will not be gooey like pudding and will have the consistency of halwa.

Have a great weekend. Pin It

Yeast Bread Troubleshooting

I get quite a few emails explaining what they did and why the outcome was what it was. Here are some tips. This one is from the bread machine manual, so if there is something pertaining to the bread machine, ignore it. I started baking bread in bread machine before using the oven to bake it. Now my bread machine is more of a kneader for me than a bread machine.

Source: Black and Decker bread machine manual

Loaf Rises Then Falls (Cratered Loaf)
-Decrease water or milk by 2 Tbsp. or
-Increase salt by 1/4 tsp. or
-Decrease yeast by 1/2 tsp. or
-Flour, too fine or
-Ingredients not measured properly.

Loaf Sides Caved In:
-Decrease water or milk by 2 Tbsp. or
-Increase salt by 1/4 tsp. or
-Decrease yeast by 1/2 tsp. or
-Ingredients not measured properly.

Loaf Rises Too High (Mushroom Loaf)
-Decrease water or milk by 2 Tbsp. or
-Increase salt by 1/4 tsp. or
-Decrease sugar or honey by 1 tsp. or
-Decrease flour by 2 Tbsp. or
-Decrease yeast by 1/2 tsp. or
-Used wrong type instead of dry granular yeast or
-Ingredients not measured properly.

Loaf Does Not Rise Enough
-Increase water or milk by 2 Tbsp. or
-Decrease salt by 1/4 tsp. or
-Increase sugar or honey by 1 tsp. or
-Increase yeast by 1/2 tsp. or
-Not enough water or milk or
-Flour too old or
-Flour too low in gluten content or
-Flour too fine or
-Used wrong type of yeast instead of dry granular or
-Accidentally measured salt in Tbsp. instead of tsp. or
-Ingredients not measured properly.

Flat Loaf, Little To No Rising, Short and Heavy
-Liquid too hot or too cold or
-Flour too old or
-Flour low in gluten content or
-No yeast added or
-Yeast too old or
-Used wrong type of yeast instead of dry granular or
-Accidentally measured salt in Tbsp. instead of teaspoon or
-Ingredients not measured properly or
-Breadmaker unplugged or power interruption.


Crust Too Dark
-Decrease sugar or honey by 1 tsp. or
-Ingredients not measured properly.

Crust Too Light
-Decrease salt by 1/4 tsp. or
-Increase sugar or honey by 1 tsp. or
-Ingredients not measured properly or
-Breadmaker unplugged or power interruption or
-Incorrect bread setting was used. Or temperature in the oven is not enough.

Uncooked or Partially Cooked
-Decrease water or milk by 2 Tbsp. or
-Breadmaker unplugged or power interruption or
-Incorrect bread setting was used. Or temperature in the oven is not enough.


Overcooked
-Decrease sugar or honey by 1 tsp. or
-Incorrect bread setting was used. Or too hot oven.

Not Mixed or Partially Mixed
-Not enough water or milk or
-Flour too fine or
-Ingredients not measured properly or
-Breadmaker unplugged or power interruption or
-Baking pan not properly seated inside breadmaker or
-Kneading blade not installed correctly. Not enough kneading if by hand.

Loaf is Soggy
-Bread not removed from baking pan soon after baking.

Gnarly Knotted Top
-Increase water or milk by 2 Tbsp. or
-Decrease flour by 2 Tbsp. or
-Not enough water or milk or
-Ingredients not measured properly.

Loaf Core Texture Open, Coarse or Uneven
-Increase salt by 1/4 tsp. or
-Decrease yeast by 1/2 tsp. or
-Forgotten salt or
-Ingredients not measured properly.

Loaf Core Texture Heavy and Dense
-Increase sugar or honey by 1 tsp. or
-Decrease flour by 2 Tbsp. or
-Increase yeast by 1/2 tsp.
-Used wrong type of yeast instead of dry granular or
-Ingredients not measured properly.

High Altitude Adjustment - (this I know nothing about)
-Decrease water or milk by 2 Tbsp. or
-Decrease sugar or honey by 1 tsp. or
-Decrease yeast by 1/2 tsp.

As you can see, a lot depends on how you measure the ingredients. It is best to use a scale, but not everyone has or can have a good digital scale. Once you understand how the dough should feel, you can adjust the liquid or flour accordingly to make successful bread.
I hope this has helped answer at least a few questions if not all the questions. But if you have a different issue, feel free to email me. I don't call myself an expert in anyway, but will try my best.

Happy Friday everyone. Pin It

All about yeast

Disclaimer: This is not my work. As I mentioned earlier in one of the posts that I had a document saved from a bread baking forum many years back. Unfortunately, I don't have any info on the source. I had copied and pasted the topics that I needed on to a word document. If someone knows the source of this, please let me know so that I can post the link here.

This piece of information is about yeast. Like before, my notes are in the parenthesis.

History, biology and nutrition:
Bread yeasts are one-celled fungi found all around us, in our kitchens and outside, in the air, in the soil, and on grains, fruits and vegetables. People have been capturing and propagating these wild yeasts for thousands of years in sourdough starters. Scientific breeding of our domestic strains of bread yeasts really started with Louis Pasteur in the 1800s.

Bread yeast ferments carbohydrates producing alcohol and carbon dioxide gas in the process. The gas bubbles, trapped within the elastic dough are what make dough rise, giving us light flavorful bread. Flavor and texture are not the only benefits. Yeast itself is an excellent source of B-complex vitamins and Thiamine and the action of fermentation makes grains more digestible (these are good reasons to prefer yeasted breads rather than quick-breads as a daily diet.)

Bread yeast is an amazingly versatile and adaptive organism: shut off its oxygen supply and it will still reproduce anaerobically; deprive it of moisture and it will go dormant, but still live. Modern yeast factories capitalize on these characteristics to produce yeast in several forms for the home and professional baker.

Forms of commercial yeast:
You may remember the little foil wrapped cubes of compressed yeast (yeast in a starch medium) that required refrigeration during its 3 week life and needed proofing before use in a recipe. Compressed yeast has been almost entirely supplanted by various kinds of dry yeast (pure yeast that has been air dried into dormant granules) packaged in air tight containers with long shelf lives (look for the "use by" date printed on the package.)

Active Dry Yeast (commonly found brands are Fleischmann's and Red Star) is called active to distinguish it from Nutritional or Brewer's Yeast which is also dry. Nutritional Yeast is dead; it has no leavening power. It may be a nutritious food supplement, but it has no place in breadmaking (The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book says that even a small amount added to dough will decrease the effectiveness of the active yeast and make gummy bread.) Active Dry Yeast is usually sold in those little 3-part envelopes in every grocery store. It requires proofing (dissolving in water) before use.

Rapid Rise Yeast made by Fleischmann's is also sold in envelopes or jars. It probably is a kind of instant yeast, since it doesn't need to be dissolved in water first. (This one acts like instant yeast)

Instant Active Dry Yeast is a new product from Red Star. They have made the granules of their traditional yeast smaller so that dissolving in water is not necessary. (Breadmachines recommend you to use this type of yeast and I use this type even though the brand is different)

Instant yeast is not commonly available in super markets. But it is well worth seeking out at wholesale grocers like Smart & Final or bakery supply houses. Instant yeast is dried at a much lower temperature which keeps more yeast cells alive. It requires no proofing and responds very quickly, rising quite high. This is a professional's yeast. This is the yeast called for in all my recipes on these pages. Commonly available brands are Red Star and Fermipan. Substitution measurements for compressed or active dry yeast are given on the packages.

Why use instant yeast?
A major reason is economy. At $2.00 per pound you could throw most of it away and still save money compared to those little 3-part packages of regular yeast. My total ingredient costs would double if I used the active dry yeast available in the supermarkets. Another reason is convenience: it is always there in the refrigerator, ready to use with no mess or fuss. It lasts more than a year in the refrigerator and longer in the freezer (no need to thaw before using.) (If you live in U.S, buy from costco or B.J's and Sam's. I can get yeast enough for 2 years for me for about 4 dollars. I do bake bread every week so it is well worth it for me. Even if you threw away half of it, it still is cheaper than buying 1/8th of the same quantity for 8 dollars sold in a jar)

Care and feeding of yeast:
Before use, keep your yeast cool and dry. When the yeast is in a dough or batter, it does best in evenly warm and humid surroundings (75 - 90 degrees.) I will keep growing, at a much slower rate, at cooler temperatures, even refrigerated. If an emergency interrupts your baking session, punch down the dough, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until you can get back to it. Then, transfer the dough to a warm bowl and let it warm slowly to continue rising. This is an emergency method only. But emergencies do occur. There are recipes designed to include overnight rising in the refrigerator. See also The Laurel's Kitchen's Bread Book for detailed directions on using sponges (starter doughs) to adjust rising times to fit your schedule. In general, the lower the temperature the slower the rise and the more flavorful and nutritious the bread. (I store good amount in the refrigerator and the bulk in the freezer. They work just fine even after 2 years of opening the package)

Instant yeast doesn't need proofing but, if you are in doubt about some year old yeast, it doesn't hurt to prove it. Put 1/2 cup of warm water (105-115 degrees) in a bowl or glass container with plenty of room for expansion. Add a pinch of sugar or flour, then sprinkle the yeast and stir to dissolve. I use a knife for stirring; it's easier to clean than a spoon. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes. If it still hasn't foamed up after 15 minutes, discard. Yeast does not need to be fed sugar; it will make its own sugars from flour. Yeast doesn't like honey, but will tolerate it mixed in with the other ingredients of the dough. Yeast does better with a succession of rising periods rather than one long one. Each time you punch down the dough and briefly knead it, the yeast is exposed to new food.

Measuring yeast:
You do not need to be exact in measuring yeast. Remember it's going to multiply like crazy anyway. A little less is fine; the dough will rise more slowly and may taste better. I wouldn't increase the yeast measurements in the recipes on these pages; they are already at the high end. Way too much yeast will give an unpleasantly yeasty flavor and aroma.

Enjoy. Pin It

Bake-Off(1/21/2011)

To participate, read this.

Next Bake-Off will be on '1/28/2011'. Bake-Off archive can be found here.

In the order we have,

Eggless Chocolate Banana Bread & mini Bundt Cakes from 'Spicebuds'

Pignoli Financier Tart from 'The Well-Seasoned Cook'

Orange Cinnamon Madeleines from 'Zestyflavors'

Savory Pepper Biscotti from 'Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen'

Spinach Fenugreek Wheat loaf from 'Hobby and More'

Vegan Mango cake from 'Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen'

Chewy Oats,Dates,Figs and Orange Bars from 'Vegetarian Tastebuds'

Breadsticks from 'Sugar N' Spice' 

Eggless Apple Pie from 'Cakes and More' 

Baked Nimki from 'Asankhana' 

Happy Baking.

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Vegan Mango Cake

There is usually always a couple of cans of sweetened condensed mango pulp in my pantry. My younger one's favorite drink is Mango Milk Shake  and hence the stocking. Couple of days back when I made Mango Lassi using the can, I had to reduce the amount due to shortage of yogurt. When I saw the remainder of the pulp in the refrigerator, I thought why not make some cake out of it. I am glad that I made this cake. Next time, I will double the recipe and make in a bundt pan and glaze with some powdered sugar.

One year back -  Butternut Squash Pasta, Eggless Chewy Granola Bars

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Sweetened Mango pulp - 1 cup
Vegetable Oil - 1/2 cup (See Notes)
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Almond extract - 1/2 tsp (Or you could use cardamom powder)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F (I preheated to 325 F since my pan was dark non stick coated). Grease and flour a 8 X 4 pan. Set aside. In a bowl, take all dry ingredients. Whisk them to combine. In another bowl, take the mango pulp, oil and almond extract. Whisk. They will not combine together very well, but that is alright. Pour the wet mixture to dry and stir couple of times. Use a spatula and fold the batter. Batter will be thick. Take care not to mix vigorously. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you are baking at 350 F, you might want to check at 35 minutes. Cool in the pan on the wire rack for 10 - 15 minutes. Turn it on to the wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired. You could glaze the cake too.

Notes:
I used 1/2 cup oil to maintain the moistness of the cake which is a little more for the proportion of flour used in a vegan cake. If you think it is too much, use 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup oil.
This recipe can be doubled and baked in a bundt pan. Bake for 55 minutes to an hour or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
If you want to make this using fresh mango, puree the mango in a blender to get 1 cup of puree. Use 3/4 cup - 1 cup of sugar depending on how sweet the mango is.

Enjoy. Pin It

Pepper Biscotti (Eggless)

In Karnataka (a southern state in India), Iyengar bakeries who have their own name and importance in supplying baked goods sell a spicy cookie called Khara biscuit. Every time I make it, for some reason or the other I am unable to take pictures and post it. But, that cookie uses quite a bit of butter/fat. I wanted to come up with something that is savory and at the same time low in fat content. Then I thought why not convert a biscotti recipe to make a savory cookie. Here is the result of my experiment.

One Year Back - Sprouted Moong Salad,   Eggless Blueberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients: (This is a very small batch. Can be doubled)
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Corn Starch - 2 TBSP
Yogurt - 1/4 cup (measured in wet measuring cup)
Olive oil - 2 TBSP (Can use vegetable or canola oil)
Sugar - 1 TBSP (optional but brings them all together well)
Salt - 1/2 tsp (See Notes)
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper - Crushed by mortar and pestle 2 1/2 tsp - 3 tsp (I used 2 1/2 tsp and it was plenty spicy for us)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a bowl take all the dry ingredients. Whisk them to combine. In a measuring cup, measure yogurt. Add oil to it and whisk together. Add the yogurt and oil mixture to dry ingredients and mix. You will have to use your hands to bring the dough together. It will be a bit dry and stiff. Don't worry about it. It will be just fine. Shape into a long. You can make them wider or narrower for bite sized biscotti. Press them so that they are 1/2" thick. You can wet your hands and shake off excess water to do this. Bake for 35 minutes. It will not brown on the top due to lack of sugar. (Sugar caramelizes giving baked goods a rich color)

Let it cool for 10 - 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 275 F. When cool enough to slice the log, move it on to the cutting board. Slice them 1/2" - 3/4" thick. You can slice them diagonally to get longer cookies or straight to get smaller ones. Since I was working with a very small batch, I sliced them straight to get more. Keep them on the cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes on each side or until dry. Each oven is different and a lot of these timings depend on how thick you have sliced them, so keep an eye on them. Let them cool on wire rack. Store in an air tight container when completely cool. These stay fresh for a week at room temperature. These freeze well too just like other biscotti.

Notes:
If you make it spicier by adding more pepper, you might have to adjust the salt a bit. For those who don't mind eating eggs, replace yogurt with 1 large egg. This could be spiced up with green chillies too. Variations are as many as your imagination takes. You could use just 2 tsp of pepper and after shaping into log, sprinkle some more on the top. If you are planning to do this, brush the log with some water (don't make it too wet) and then sprinkle the crushed pepper.
I was in a hurry and sliced the log too soon when it was still hot. That is the reason why the biscotti looks a little doughy even though in the second bake it dried up.

Enjoy. Pin It

Yeast bread baking tips

I have been baking yeast breads for several years now. I had saved some documents that I found on my old (now almost dead) computer. When I was trying to back up the files to get rid of the hardware, I found them. I do not know the source of this since it was many years back, but I believe it was from some bread baking group or forum. All the tips given in that document are true to my knowledge. Here it is if it helps someone in baking good yeast bread. My additions and notes are in the parenthesis.

1. Using milk in place of water will produce a softer crust. (If you want a gorgeous color but don't want to use egg wash, try mixing equal amounts of milk, oil and sugar to brush the loaf before baking)

2. Olive Oil will prevent the bread from drying out too quickly.

3. You can cut back on the salt and sugar but do not omit them.

4. Do not use Lite or tub margarine if first ingredient is water. Bread will over rise. (This is if the first ingredient in the tub margarine is water)

5. Be sure to spoon the flour and not dip the measuring cup into the flour. Fill the cup over the top and then level off with a straight edge. (Other better option is to weigh the ingredients. Use a digital scale)

6. Vital Gluten is the dried protein taken from the flour by getting rid of the starch. It is a good dough conditioner or enhancement for yeast breads especially for whole grain breads or when using all-purpose flour.

7. If making 100% whole wheat bread, use 1 1/2 teaspoons Vital Wheat Gluten per cup of flour. (I prefer using 1 TBSP of vital wheat gluten for every cup of whole wheat flour)

8. Lite salt can be used if it has both potassium chloride and sodium.

9. One 1/4-ounce packet of yeast equals 2 1/4 teaspoons.


10. During the winter or drier months, the amount of water may need to be increased. (Do this 1 TBSP at a time)

11. During the warmer or more humid months, the amount of water may need to be reduced.

12. Before measuring molasses or honey, oil the measuring spoon to help it run better. (I spray the measuring spoon or cup with vegetable oil spray before measuring honey, molasses or corn syrup)

13. Using water that potatoes have been cooked in produces a higher loaf of bread. (You can use rice water to get the same effect. But, the bread baked with potato water or rice water tends to go bad faster)

14. If using fresh fruit in a bagel or bread recipe, reduce the amount of liquid used. Any fresh fruit will add extra liquid.

15. If bread is falling or is wrinkling on top, too much liquid was used. If bread did not rise, it could be a number of causes: forgot yeast or yeast was expired or stored wrong; forgot to put in the kneading blade; or the salt was omitted.

16. Fruit juices, beer and purees can be used in place of liquids in a recipe. (But be careful about how they affect the yeast. Sugary environment is not all that great for yeast growth)

17. Measure the liquid ingredients in a glass measuring cup.

18. Let the bread cool at least 30 minutes before slicing, and completely (an hour?) before putting it in a storage bag or container.

19. Breads made with oatmeal tend to stay fresh longer.

20. Oat Bran can be substituted for up to 1/4 cup of oatmeal in a recipe.

21. For a bit of crunch add 1/2 Tbs untoasted Wheat Germ per cup of bread flour.

22. Quick Cook Oats or Old Fashioned Oats work best in a bread machine.

23. Too much garlic in a recipe causes bread not to rise. Add garlic to liquid, avoid yeast.

24. Too much cinnamon causes bread not to rise. Use only 1/2 tsp per cup of bread flour.

25. Have all ingredients (milk, juice, butter, etc.) at room temperature before adding to pan improves rising.

26. Refrigerated or frozen dry ingredients should be brought to room temperature before using.

27. Measure accurately - too little or too much yeast can ruin bread making. Too little causes a heavy, dense loaf; too much produces a porous texture and excessive yeast flavor.

28. Recipes to which you increase sugar (or other sweeteners), or add fruits or nuts -- often require more yeast. (Yeast needs sugar to grow at the same time excess sugar hinders yeast growth)

29. Dense, low-gluten dough like those made with rye flour rise better/faster by slightly increasing yeast.

30. A dough with too much flour or lacking enough gluten results in bread that it is dry and dense.

31. Baking bread at lower temperatures (325 to 350 F) creates thicker, chewier crusts, whereas baking bread at higher temperatures (375 to 425 F) produces a thinner, crispier crust.

32. Correct liquid temperature is a critical variable for proofing bread. Measure temperatures of all liquids; adjust to 85 F for normal and rapid cycles, and to 125 F for a FAST 1-hour cycle. (This tip is mainly for bread machine)

Have fun. Pin It

Coconut, Pineapple and Cranberry Chutney

I like makeovers.
But not on me.
I like house make overs, kitchen makeovers and food make overs.
Since house make over and kitchen makeover costs too much money, I am very partial to food make overs. They are cheap and you get to eat yummy stuff out of it.
I gave a make over to coconut chutney.
I made coconut chutney friends with pineapple and cranberry chutney.
Result was awesome in taste, but not so pretty to look. Me think. What do you think?

One Year Back - Ragi Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients:
Cranberry Sauce - 1 can
Crushed Pineapple - 1 20 Oz can drained and juice reserved
Coconut - 1 cup (I used dry, you could use fresh)
Chana dal / Bengal gram dal - 3 TBSP
Urad dal / Black gram dal - 3 TBSP
Curry leaves - few sprigs divided use
Red chillies - 1 broken
Green chillies - 10 - 12 (You could use red chillies instead - this was plenty spicy. Scale down if you don't like spicy food)
Salt - to taste
Oil -2 TBSP
Hing - a generous pinch
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Method:
In a skillet, dry roast bengal gram dal, black gram dal, chillies (green or red) and curry leaves reserving 4 or 5 leaves for tempering. Roast till the dal is golden. Set aside. In the same skillet, take oil. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add hing, broken red chilli, reserved curry leaves. When they are all toasted, add the drained crushed pineapple. Stir well. Add salt and the cranberry sauce. You will have to stir and mix the cranberry sauce with pineapple. While they are cooking, take the roasted ingredients in a blender / mixie with coconut and grind into a fine paste. Use reserved pineapple juice or water. Set aside.

When the pineapple and cranberry sauce have combined together, add this ground paste to the skillet. Stir to combine all of them very well and keep on low flame. Adjust the salt if needed and after about 2 minutes, turn off the heat.

Serve with Dosa, Idli or even as a spread on bread.
In the picture you see this chutney served with gundupongal/appe/paddu/paniyaram. This is made with dosa batter. But this particular one is made with brown rice dosa batter. If you have never tasted brown rice dosa, try it. It is so much tastier than white rice one is healthier too.

Enjoy. Pin It

Salt Pongal and Sweet Pongal for Makara Sankranthi

I wish all my Indian readers a very Happy Makara Sankranthi, Lohri.
It has been a tradition to make 'Ellu' and distribute among the neighbors, friends and relatives. The way I see is; this festival is a harvest festival. In India, at this time, many grains, vegetables are in season and ready for harvesting. Every house in southern India celebrate this by making Pongal/Huggi/Kichadi. Name is different, flavoring is different but the main purpose is the same. To use the freshly harvested rice and lentils.

In Karnataka where I am from, tradition of making Ellu is present. You can read about that here.

Each family has their own way of making these two pongals. I have eaten very nice ones and I have  eaten not so good ones and some very bad ones. Most of the times, these two are made by using ghee/clarified butter liberally. But knowing a good part of what I make gets into my body, I am not so liberal with ghee unless it is absolutely needed.

One Year Back:
Roasting Rava/Soji in the oven
Moong Dal Halwa
Sankranthi Ellu
Ragi Banana Paniyaram/Gundu Pongal
Vegan Ragi Peanut butter Cookies

Uppu Pongal / Savory Pongal / Ven Pongal

Ingredients:
Raw rice - 2 cups (Starchy rice like long grain, not basmati work best for this dish)
Moong dal/ Split yellow lentils - 1/2 cup (See Notes)
Vegetable oil / Peanut Oil - 5 TBSP (See Notes)
Ghee / Clarified Butter - 2 TBSP (optional for flavor)
Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp whole
Black Pepper - 1 - 11/2 TBSP crushed or as per taste
Cumin - 2 1/2 tsp divided use
Hing - a big pinch or two
Dry coconut - grated 1/2 cup
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Ginger - 1 1/2 " piece grated about a little more than 2 TBSP
Cashews - 1/4 cup or more
Salt - to taste

Method:
In a skillet, dry roast the moong dal/split yellow lentils. Keep stirring. You don't want them to brown too much but at the same time you want them nicely toasted. Set aside. Rinse rice and roasted lentils together couple of times. Pour 5 - 6 cups of water to the rinsed and drained rice dal mixture. Add turmeric, whole black pepper and 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds. Pressure cook this till done. When these are cooked, remove from the pressure cooker and start assembling.
In a large pan, heat oil. When hot, add remaining 2 tsp of cumin seeds, hing, crushed black pepper, grated ginger, cashews. Let cashews be toasted. Add the cooked rice and dal mixture. Add about another cup of water and salt. Mix well. Add the grated dry coconut, 2 TBSP of ghee and cover with a lid. Let it stay on low flame for about 5 minutes. Stir and taste and adjust salt if needed. Serve hot or warm or cold. This is traditionally served with either chutney or gojju or sambar.

Notes:
Every person has his/her own proportion of rice and dal in this dish. I use what my mother used. 1 cup rice to 1/4 cup lentil. There are people who add equal amounts of rice and dal too.
Traditionally, this is made with all ghee. Not healthy at all. That too lot more than what I have used (oil and ghee combined). I use ghee to flavor and oil to roast the spices and nuts. If you are one of those who can eat a lot of fatty food and not put on a pound even, go ahead and indulge by using all ghee and more of it.

Sweet Pongal / Shakkar Pongal / Sakkarai Pongal

Ingredients:
Raw rice - 1 cup (Starchy rice like long grain, not basmati work best for this dish)
Moong dal/ Split yellow lentils - 1/4 cup

Ghee / Clarified Butter - 1/3 cup (You can add upto 1/2 cup)
Jaggery - Powdered and measured 1 1/2 cup (You can use up to 2 cups)
Cardamom Powder  - from 6 - 7 whole pods
Ground nutmeg - a pinch
Dry coconut - grated 1 cup
Raisins - 1/4 cup or more
Cashews - 1/4 cup or more
Milk - 1/4 cup (optional - see notes)

Method:
In a skillet, dry roast the moong dal/split yellow lentils. Keep stirring. You don't want them to brown too much but at the same time you want them nicely toasted. Set aside. Rinse rice and roasted lentils together couple of times. Pour 3 cups of water to the rinsed and drained rice dal mixture. Pressure cook this till done. When these are cooked, remove from the pressure cooker and start assembling.
In a pan, take powdered jaggery. Pour enough water to cover it and bring it to a boil. Keep stirring till all the jaggery is melted. Strain through a strainer to remove impurities, stones etch. Place the filtered jaggery syrup back in the pan and heat. You should be able to smell a very nice aroma of the jaggery and it should be bubbling all over vigorously. Add the cooked rice and dal mixture and stir. Lower the heat or else it will burn. Add couple of TBSP of ghee from the 1/3 cup and stir. Let it stay on heat for 5 minutes. Add grated dry coconut, cardamom, nutmeg. Stir well.
In another small pan, heat the remaining ghee. When hot, add cashews. When cashews are almost done, add raisins. When raisins plump up, add the entire mixture to the main pot which has jaggery, rice and lentils. Stir well. Now add the milk and mix well. Turn off the heat and serve warm.

Notes:
This dish uses a lot more ghee than what I have used. The best Shakkar pongal I have eaten had the rice and dal mixture submerged in ghee. God was it good? Yeah, but I cannot afford to eat that rich food and not have to buy new clothes. If you use that much of ghee, you don't need milk. I added milk to avoid crystallization of sugar (jaggery) so that the rice becomes hard. My mother never added any milk to it and she did make this with lot of ghee. You could add saffron and or edible camphor. Edible camphor is very strong. Use sparingly.

Enjoy. Pin It

Bake-Off(01/14/2011)

Thanks to everyone for participating.
If you want to know how to participate, read this.

Next Bake-Off will be on '1/21/2011'. Bake-Off archive can be found here.

Cakes/Cupcakes

Eggless Vanilla Cake from 'Tamalapaku'
Tiramisu Cake from 'Cakes and More'
Eggless Chocolate cake with fudge icing from 'The Veggie Hut'

Cookies/Bars/Scones

Eggless Coconut Macaroons from 'Saras kitchen'
Almond Cookies from 'Vegetarian Tastebuds'
Vegan Coconut Cookies from 'Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen'

Quick Breads/Muffins

Raisins and Cornmeal bread from 'Vegetarian Tastebuds'
Chunky Banana Bran Bread from 'Noshes, Thoughts and Reves'
Whole Wheat Veggie Savory Muffins from 'Sin-A-Mon'

Yeast Breads

Pani Popo from 'A Little bit of everything'
White Bread with Tangzhong Starter from 'Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen'
Zucchini Bread from 'Sizzle N Spice'

Pie/Tart

Red onion and Goat cheese Tart from 'A Little bit of everything'

Miscellaneous

Roasted vegetables from 'Sugar N' Spice'
Pizza from 'Sin-A-Mon'

Happy Baking. Pin It

5 minute pizza/pasta sauce and pizza dough recipe

If you see how easy it is to make pizza/pasta sauce using crushed tomatoes in the can, you'll never buy any pasta sauce or pizza sauce. I followed Heidi's (Author of 101 cookbooks) recipe almost but added dried basil and dried oregano to the sauce. It turned out delicious. For those who want to know how much I added - 1 tsp of each.

I am making pizza for lunch today and the dough I made is from 'Peter Reinhart's Napoletana Pizza Dough Recipe' which, Heidi  has blogged about. What is so special about this dough is it uses cold water to make the dough and the dough is allowed to rest in the refrigerator. We had 6 inches of snow today and knowing that I will have to dig out the snow, I made the dough last night. Took it out 2 hours before the time to feed the kids. I can't understand why anyone has to buy refrigerated pizza dough when making the dough is insanely easy. I made one batch of dough and using only 1/3rd of it today. Rest of them are in the freezer for a later use.

Pizza turned out awesome. But, no pictures due to couple of disasters. Every time my oven is set at 500 F or 550 F and the oven door is opened, the smoke detector alarm starts the screeching noise. It happened today too when the first pizza was put in the oven. In all these commotion, I couldn't take a picture to show you all.

I made one with just cheese and the other without cheese but with lot of veggies. I don't have a pizza peel and was trying to use a cookie sheet as one to slide the pizza on to the stone. Disaster. It didn't slide off easily even when the whole cookie sheet was dusted with cornmeal. Then, I made another mistake. Slightly tried to reposition the hot stone. Big mistake. The stone broke. My pampered chef pizza stone is no more. I had to bake the second pizza on a cookie sheet which took longer to bake, but was delicious.


Do check out the links to see how good these two recipes are. When I make pizza again with the pizza dough that I have kept in the freezer, I will make sure to take pictures and post them.


Enjoy. Pin It

White Bread with Tangzhong starter

If you have tasted bakery bread in Karnataka (a southern state in India), you will not like the bread that you get in grocery stores here in U.S. Don't know what it is (I think I do - it is the freshness and the bread made with no extra fancy additives), but it just is not the same. All that is required to make bread is some flour, tiny bit of sugar, liquid and yeast. If you look at any store bought bread, there will be at least 20 ingredients on the package. Homemade bread goes dry and stale in 4 days unless it is made with lot of fat and eggs. A store bought bread left on the counter stays soft for about 2 weeks.

This bread stayed pretty soft even after 3 days. If you like the brioche bread taste but don't want to eat so much of eggs and butter, this bread is an awesome alternative. I am yet to convert whole wheat bread recipe to use this starter. That will happen pretty soon.

One year back - Eggless Almond Brownies
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 3/4 cups
Sugar - 1/3 cup (You can just use 2 - 3 TBSP. I made it sweet on purpose)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Butter - 4 TBSP melted and cooled (Can use oil)
Warm water - 1/3 cup (Can use milk)
Tangzhong starter - 1/2 cup measured in dry measuring cup
Instant yeast - 2 tsp
Butter or oil for brushing the loaf after baking (optional)

Method:
To make the Tangzhong starter:
Mix 1/3 cup of all purpose flour with 1 cup of water without any lumps. Heat them together stirring continuously. When the whisk or spoon's tracks start being visible, turn off the heat. Pour into a different container and place a plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate it and use within 2 days or use immediately after it has cooled down. I have read that by placing in refrigerator for several hours and using it makes this starter work better. Just bring to room temperature and proceed with the recipe. I used it after overnight chilling in the refrigerator.

To make the dough:
I used the bread machine to make the dough. Place melted butter, warm water, tangzhong starter, sugar, salt, flour, yeast in the order and turn it on dough setting. When the cycle is complete, take out the dough and proceed with shaping and baking.

To make this by hand: Refer to the method mentioned in either this post or this post.

Grease a 9 X 5 pan. Set aside. Deflate the dough and divide them into 6 parts. You can shape it into a single loaf. I just made the logs and placed them side by side in the greased pan. Cover with an oiled aluminum foil and let it rise till double about an hour in warm temperature. I had to place the pan in the oven with light turned on and it rose in an hour.

Towards the end of rise time, preheat the oven to 350 F. (If you have left the pan in the oven, remove them and then turn it on) You could give a milk and oil or even egg glaze. I didn't do any of that. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes rotating the pan halfway. The bread should be a dark golden brown and should sound hollow when the bottom is tapped. Brush with butter or oil to keep the crust soft. Cool on the wire rack and slice when completely cool. This bread tastes amazing. Very soft and flaky. This would make a great toast or sandwich or perfect with a cup of milk or tea as is.

This loaf is yeastspotted.

Enjoy.

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Tofu Butter Masala

"A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away" - Phyllis McGinley.

Above saying is so true at least in my case. Cooking/Baking and now blogging has become such a nice diversion that I feel as long as everyone is passionate about something, there will be no depression. Without going into the touchy zone, I made this tofu butter masala today in which, I did not use any butter. Why do I call it butter masala then? You might ask. It is based on paneer butter masala recipe but I used tofu instead of paneer and no butter at all. But feel free to use butter if you like. This dish is a sibling of Tofu Yogurt Masala that I have posted before. I used milk in this and added cardamom powder. Apart from that they are very similar.

One year back - Black Eyed beans curry in peanut sauce
Ingredients:
Extra firm tofu - 1 pack (firm variety works well too)
Red onions - 3 small or 2 medium chopped fine
Garlic - 3 pods minced
Crushed tomatoes - 1 - 1 1/2 cups or about 3 large tomatoes blanched and pureed
Green Peas - frozen about 1 1/2 cup or 1 16 Oz can drained and rinsed
Cauliflower - 1 small head cut into florets
Milk or heavy cream or half and half - 1 - 1 1/4 cup (I used 2 % milk)
Oil - 4 TBSP divided use (You could butter for the part of making curry - 3 TBSP butter + 1 TBSP oil)
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - a big pinch or two
Black pepper powder - 1 tsp or to taste
Coriander Cumin powder - 1 1/2 tsp or 3/4 tsp of each cumin powder and coriander powder
Cardamom powder - from 3 pods
Red chilli powder - 3/4 tsp - 1 tsp or to taste
Cilantro - few TBSPs for garnish

Method:
Preparation of Tofu:
Drain the tofu and place it on several layers of paper towel. Place some weight like canned beans or a book (cover with some plastic before you place it on) to drain all the water. This will take at least an hour to two. When all the water is drained, cut them into cubes. Heat 1 TBSP of oil in an iron skillet. Dosa tawa works very well too. Place the tofu cubes in a single layer. Let them brown and turn them to brown them all the sides. You could do this in the oven too. I didn't feel like turning the oven on just for that. Drain the tofu on a paper towel. Set aside.

To make the curry:
Heat a pan. When hot, add the remaining 3 TBSP of oil. When oil is heated, add garlic, onions. Sprinkle some salt, turmeric and mix well. Let the onions cook. When onions are cooked, add cauliflower. Mix well and you could cover with a lid and let the cauliflowers cook. If you are using frozen peas, you can add it along with cauliflower. Since I was using canned peas, I waited for the cauliflower to cook and then added the peas. Add crushed tomatoes or tomato puree, all the spice powders. Mix well and let it simmer. When the whole mixture comes to a simmer, add prepared tofu, milk or heavy cream and stir. Adjust the seasonings if required. Let it come to a boil and turn off the heat. Garnish with a few chopped cilantro leaves. You can vary the milk/heavy cream quantity as per your taste and how thick or thin you want your curry. There is no need to add cauliflower and peas. You can just make it with tofu but you will need lots of it. I didn't have that much.

Notes:
You can use mixed vegetable bag for the vegetables part. Or use cubed potatoes. This works well with zucchini too.

Enjoy. Pin It

Vegan Coconut Cookies

There is this new chinese method of bread baking which uses 'Tangzhong starter' which is a water roux in which, flour is cooked in water till about 65 C and then cooled and used in yeast bread recipes. This is suppose to help keep the breads moist for longer time. This is kind of a good thing since the home baked bread tends to go bad faster due to lack of preservatives. I decided to bake a white sweet bread using this starter. So, I made the starter (recipe follows). When I was preparing to chill the starter in the refrigerator, I realized that the starchiness of this starter could work as a great binder since it was like glue. I used 1/4 cup of that starter to make the cookies. What do you know, it works. If not, these cookies would've had ragged edges. But, this came out as if I have used egg in it.

A little story about the inspiration for these cookies..
One of my sister when she moved to Bangalore (in 90s) for work started buying 'Coconut Cookies' from one bakery. And whenever I visited her, she would make sure to buy it for me too. They were out of this world. They were about 5" in diameter (yeah, huge ones) and they were crunchy and thick at the same time. It might sound weird, but I can still taste that cookie.
I have wanted to make something similar for quite some time now. I tried something and since I wanted to eat it, I had to make it eggless. I wouldn't say these cookies match to that awesome cookie, but are very tasty nevertheless. These are chewy and not too sweet. You can definitely bump up the sugar to 1 cup here if you have a sweet tooth.

To make the tangzhong starter:
Mix 1/3 cup of all purpose flour with 1 cup of water without any lumps. Heat them together stirring continuously. When the whisk or spoon's tracks start being visible, turn off the heat. Pour into a different container and place a plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate it and use within 2 days or use immediately after it has cooled down.

One year back - Whole grain waffles with apple butter, Green Mango Onion Subzi
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup (Can use up to 1 cup if you like it sweeter)
Dessicated coconut - 1 cup (fine ground not sweetened - See Notes)
Tangzhong starter - 1/4 cup measured in dry measuring cup
Vegetable / Canola Oil - 1/3 cup
Baking powder - 3/4 tsp
Vanilla - 1 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, dessicated coconut and baking powder. Set aside. In another bowl take sugar, oil and the tangzhong starter. Beat them till everything is combined. Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir. Towards the end you might have to use your hands. Drop by rounded tablespoons on the prepared cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart. These spread but not too much. I used a cookie scoop and got 23 cookies out of this. I could've made them a bit smaller to get more.
Bake for 12 - 14 minutes or till the cookies are pale in color, edges have slightly browned and the bottom is golden. Cookies will be soft when you take them out of the oven. Will set when completely cool.

Notes:
You can use cardamom powder instead of vanilla. Could use almond extract too. If you cannot get fine dessicated coconut, run the unsweetened coconut (dried not fresh) in a spice grinder or blender and then measure the powder.

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Bake-Off(1/7/2011)

Thanks to everyone for participating.
If you want to know how to participate, read this.

Next Bake-Off will be on '1/14/2011'. Bake-Off archive can be found here.

Cakes/Cupcakes

Orange and whipped cream Sponge cake from 'Wit, Wok and Wisdom'
Fruit Cake from 'Zestyflavors'
Chocolate Sheet Cake from 'Sugar N' Spice'
Mini Carrot Cone Cakes from 'Taste of Pearl City'

Cookies/Bars/Scones

Chocolate Sugar cookies from 'Asankhana'
Christmas Sugar Cookies from 'Asankhana'
Cashew Cookies from 'My Culinary Creations'
Plump Orange Cookies from 'Vegetarian Tastebuds'
Eggless Sugar Cookies from 'Spicebuds'
Eggless Coconut macaroons from 'Cakes and More'

Quick Breads/Muffins

Choco Chip Muffins from 'Sin-A-Mon'

Yeast Breads

Naan Flat Bread from 'Torviewtoranto'
Chocolate Chip Bread from 'Cakes and More'
Sundried Tomato and Olive Bread from 'Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen'

Pie/Tart

Eggless Pumpkin Pie from 'Just Homemade'

Miscellaneous

Mixed veggies stuffed in capsicum with cheddar cheese topping from 'Foodlovers'


Happy Baking.

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