A Yeasted Chocolate Banana Loaf

What do I do when I see mushy bananas on the counter. Bake a banana bread. And to make it more exciting throw in some chocolate shavings. No exciting enough? Then get making this and am sure the aroma of chocolate and banana and a yeasty bread baking will sure get you all craving to cut into the loaf and serve yourself some.

The recipe is from "Bread" by Sara Lewis. Get this book if you haven't already. There's lots of good recipes in there and drool worthy pictures too! Every recipe comes with the method to follow if you have a bread machine. And yes, the best part of baking a bread for me is the kneading to get all the stress out and also to watch the dough rise. It is an awesome feeling to see the dough rise. Gives you a sense of feeling that all's well with the dough.

This recipe makes a large loaf.
300g/1+1/4 C bananas
2t Lemon Juice
500g/4+1/2 C All Purpose Flour (The recipe says strong white flour)
2 T White Milk Powder
1/2 t Salt
2 T caster Sugar
2 T Butter
1+1/2 t Fast action dried yeast
200 ml /1 C Water ( I didn't have to use water cos without water the dough came together)
175 g milk chocolate
icing sugar/cocoa powder to decorate

Peel the bananas and mash them. Work in the lemon juice. Into a bowl, add flour, milk powder, salt and sugar. Add butter and rub it in to get a breadcrumb like mixture. Stir in the yeast and mashed bananas. Mix in enough water to make a soft dough. There was no need for me to add water. It turned a soft dough otherwise. Knead for about 5 mins until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover and let it rise. 

Onto a lightly floured surface, tip the dough and knead well. Dice the chocolate and work it into the dough. Grease a loaf tin and put the dough into it. Leave for the second rise.

Remove and bake in a preheated oven (200 degree C/400 degree F) for 35 - 40 mins until the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Do check if there is overbrowning. If so, then cover with foil and continue baking.

Once the bread is baked, transfer to a wire rack and dust with icing sugar and cocoa powder and leave to cool.

As for me, no more just ordinary banana bread, but chocolate banana bread it is until I find another alternative.

This bread is yeastspotted.

Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia

Focaccia has become popular at home during the weekly get togethers...the kids love to pick at the toppings and the adults indulge in it satisfyingly..On one of these recent get-togethers..a rosemary and garlic focaccia was the request.

I recently acquired a slab of baker's yeast and put it to use for this..my dough rose really well thankfully...I never did knead the dough..it was all done by my dutiful processor.

The basic recipe was adapted from Williams Sonoma's Essentials of Baking. I have always used the basic recipe and experimented with toppings.

What you need are:

2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups milk
6 Tbs. olive oil
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
Rosemary-enough to sprinkle over
Garlic pods- 6 to 7 crushed
Bacon chopped bits (optional)
Coarse salt, to taste

Add the yeast to warm water until it turns frothy. Add in milk and half the quantity of olive oil and combine them well.

In the bowl of your processor, add the flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture and process until a dough is formed...

Oil a baking pan and spread the dough using your fingers and cover and let it rise until it has doubled in volume. Once it rises, punch the dough down, make impressions with you fingers, sprinkle the rosemary, plant in the garlic pods and the bacon bits if using...Sprinkle with the remaining olive oil and the coarse salt and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven until it turns a golden brown. Once done, slide onto a rack and cool.

A beautiful, flavourful bread that reigns amongst the breads at our place...

Cheesy Calzones!!!

A Calzone is an Italian dish that is becoming popular all around the world. It has a base made of pizza dough and is filled with varied stuffings and folded over. The calzones that I made contain three cheeses, onion and garlic.

The recipe for the basic dough is from here. I tripled the amount in account of more number of calzones that were required. To the dough, 2 tsps each of dried basil, marjoram,sage and oregano was added.


Filling:

3 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 onions chopped
Salt and pepper
3 cups ricotta or paneer
1 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes

Heat some oil and saute the minced garlic and the chopped onions until lightly browned. Season and cook. Drain the ricotta to remove excess moisture. Remember that the filling has to be dry.

Mix in the cheeses, egg, and pepper in a separate bowl and set aside until use.

Divide the risen dough into sections and roll them into discs. Place the filling on one side of the disc ensuring space along the edges. Spoon the cheese and egg mixture and fold over and crimp the edges using a fork. Let rise for a few more minutes and bake until it is nicely browned.



A substantial meal and the best part is you can vary the fillings to suit your taste.

Sweetened Plum Sauce Bread Rolls

Some yummy rolls topped with homemade plum sauce and sugar crystals were made on a whim to satisfy the hunger of six tiny tots. The tots being, my lil one L, her friends R,A,A,S,D and S. They like to call themselves best of friends. I doubt if they really know what that means. While they were immersed in their fun, I set to bake some yummy rolls which were left to rise.

What you need for these rolls are :

2 Tablespoons yeast
2 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
200 ml milk
1 egg
5 cups all-purpose flour (use
more if the dough is sticky)

Mix yeast into the warm water for 10 minutes. Add sugar, butter,salt, milk, egg, and 3 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Gradually add the remaining flour as neede until you get a soft dough . Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and pliable. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and set it to rise until dough doubles in size. Punch down and divide into balls.Roll them into long strips and coil them and pinch the ends. Brush the tops with melted butter and set aside for the second rise. Before you bake, make a deep hole in the center and put a 1/2 tsp of sweetened plum sauce into the hole and bake until done. Once done, remove and sprinkle sugar on it and serve warm.



The little girls and I loved the rolls. I packed some for them to take home as well...The rolls have a very soft crumb texture and to bite into the sauce smothered sugar layered crust was bliss. The plum sauce was homemade..and the recipe will follow soon..You could also use any flavoured jam instead.



These were made on a whim and are off to grace the event of Small Breads.

Danish Braids, Croissants and... **Daring Bakers**

This is my eighth month with the Daring Bakers and the challenge put forth this month was a Danish Braid chosen by Kelly Of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What’s Cookin’?.


I had never attempted a laminated dough before so this was definitely a challenge for me. There is no mystery to the making a good dough..the only requirement being the understanding and handling of the ingredients that go into making one.

Some terms to be familiar with

Laminated dough – is layered dough created by sandwiching butter between layers of dough
Detrempe – ball of dough
Beurrage – butter block
Turn – each “fold & roll” of the dough produces a single turn in a 3-step process where the dough is folded exactly like a business letter in 3 columns. Each single turn creates 3 layers with this method.

I had no problem with the detrempe as well as the beurrage though there was some oozing of the butter while doing the turns. The aroma of the cardamom in the dough was enticing...The half hour turns went on smoothly..I let it rest after the turns overnight...The next day I cut half of the original half dough into two again..one was braided with caramelized apple fillings and the remaining as danish pinwheels and a plain croissant for the toddler. The croissant kept her busy for quite a while.....



The chopping of the apples to 1/4"cubes was a lengthy but a fulfilling experience...Sauteing them to caramelize them was lengthy again but definitely worth it...

I loved creating danish pinwheels..there's something about cutting and shaping them....They were filled with caramelized apples as well..



The next day was spent fixing a savoury filling for my second half of the dough....Narrowed down to paneer/cottage cheese sauteed with onions, a dash of stir-fry sauce and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper...



This braid was more browned and definitely more crusty!!



Served this for tea....The slightly sweet dough with the spicy filling was definitely a neat contrast of flavours.....



Ultimately this was the only slice that I got to devour!!!!



I must say the braid, pinwheels, croissants looked good,smelt great and tasted great....Butter gave this dough a surpassing flavour and certainly a richness.They are what I would term Light, crisp and tender...

The favourite amongst all my DB challenges

My other DB Challenges

An Opera Cake
Cheesecake Pops
A Party Cake
French Bread
Lemon Meringue Pie
Yule Log
Tender Potato Bread

A braided bread!

A bout of browsing for different bread fillings led me here. I have had my share of stuffed bread but have never had one that I had made myself. Hence the browsing...




The bread was made following this .

For the filling
2 onions chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
1 capsicum chopped
4 to 5 Green Chillies chopped
2 tsps ginger/garlic paste
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp pepper powder
salt to taste
Grated cheese as per the size of the bread


I made the dough for a basic white bread and added a generous sprinkling of dried herbs and mixed them in and left it to rise for the second. The filling and braiding were as per this.

To prepare the filling what you need to is to saute the chopped onions and green chillies in oil until hey turn soft This is followed by the addition of the tomatoes, which need to be cooked until all of the water evaporates. Ginger/ garlic paste, the powders and the sugar are added and finally add in the chopped capsicum and cook to a dry consistency.

On the rolled out dough, the filling was spooned with a generous amount of shredded cheese sprinkled on top and then was braided... I enjoyed braiding the most. After the second rise, it was brushed with melted butter and baked to a lovely brown.




The filling ingredients are what suit an Indian palate. The green chillies added a punch of spiciness!! With the sauteed veggies, the herbs in the dough and the cheese...the taste was something worth the effort.




So there you go...Make one...choose varied fillings and I guarantee you..you'll love it

Olive Oil Bread for Taste and Create

The Taste & Create event caught my attention here . But thereafter there were other things that drew my attention..but then a month further, this loaf of bread for the same event caught my interest, and hence signed in for it.

The Taste and Create event is where the host pairs the participants. I was paired with Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska . What one has to do is to browse the partner's blog and cook up a dish that caught one's interest..

All of the dishes were lovely and new to me..My main criteria was to find a dish which made use of ingredients that were readily available to me...and since I am in a baking spree now I narrowed down to this.



Ladenia or Olive Oil Bread was so good and I had to resist the temptation to keep munching on it entirely on my own.

According to Laurie, Ladenia is a specialty of a tiny Greek Island-Kimolos. Olive oil is used and the bread gets its name from the word Ladi, which means Oil in Greek.

The bread is topped with Tomatoes and Onions and Olive Oil and is baked. For more on ladenia and the toppings that could be used, read about it here

I did not find the small vine-ripened tomatoes, hence I used the regular medium-sized tomatoes.

Here's something that I gave a lot of attention to

Ladenia must be baked in a pan with high sides. After my first disaster, I baked Ladenia in a 15” round tapsi (a Greek stainless steel baking pan with 1 1/2” sides), but any large high-sided pan, such as the bottom section of the 12” x 14” grill pan that comes with most American ovens, would work just as well.

Laurie had a sprinkling of oregano while I sprinkled a mixed seasoning of dried and crushed basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme and sage.


For the Dough

1 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp. dried yeast
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 3/4 – 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Topping

1 1/2 cups diced fresh tomatoes, 3/4” dice
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 – 3 tsp. dried crushed basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme and sage.

Work the yeast for 10 minutes in warm water in a large bowl.. Mix in the olive oil and salt. Stir in the flour and knead to a sticky dough.

Spread some olive oil in a deep roasting pan and spread the dough and cover and let it rise atleast for an hour. When it has risen, make indentations using your finger all over the surface. Mix the remaining olive oil, tomatoes, onions and pepper and spread them over the dough. Follow this with the dried seasoning. Bake until the edges turn brown.



My Verdict
Loved the crust and the toppings...For a husband who couldn't stand tomatoes, this got him eating tomatoes....The edges were crunchy and the insides were soft and well done. Loved the extra zing the seasoning and the tanginess the tomatoes added to the Ladenia. This is something that will be made regularly at home..

Believe it or not, I made it a couple of times in 1 week. Thanks Laurie for this bread!


Here is a slice for my wonderful readers!

The Bread that I kneaded to de-stress!

Baking bread has been a de-stressing activity..not the baking, but the kneading that goes into it..I kneaded the below shown loaf to de-stress me and served it for dinner as well!!



It is a plain white loaf with shredded cheese and chilli flakes added into the dough for that extra zing. This is a savory bread and is light and moist. The aroma of the freshly baked bread is inexplainable..and I can just savour in the aroma for a period of time…

The basic recipe for the bread is courtesy a young lad who kneaded bread at dawn every single day ..His day starts at 4 a.m.every single day ..This lad worked at a small makeshift bakery next door to my apartment in Goa.. Most of us woke up to the aroma of the yeast, the dough etc. On special occasions, there were these long queues of women loaded with cake and loaf pans waiting to get their cakes and loaves baked at this small place….
Most of the dinners and breakfast at my place consisted of freshly baked crisp and aromatic paos wrapped in sheets of newspapers from next door…saved me from the dough kneading and rolling out chapatis!!I would any day opt for a pao to a white bread off the shelves of a bakery..




Coming back to the loaf I baked, the ingredients are

3 Cups of Flour
Yeast- a heaped 1 tsp
Sugar-3 tbsp
Water
Salt

Add a tbsp of sugar to the yeast and add these to the warm water and set aside. Now, to the flour, add in the remaining sugar, salt and knead well until soft. Add in the yeast mixture as well, but only if it has turned frothy. Knead and knead until soft, cover and set aside to double in volume preferably in an oiled dish and in a warm place. When it has doubled in volume, punch the dough down, mix in the chilli flakes (optional) and grated cheese (optional) and knead and knead and knead. Transfer to a loaf tin and set aside for atleast 15 minutes and make a few slashes on the top. Bake until a golden colour is obtained and then, grate some cheese over it and bake for some more time until the loaf is done. When done remove and tap its bottom…it should sound hollow if its done.. Leave on a rack to cool.

Chicken Stew/ Arusuvai Friendship Chain and a Plate of Appams!

Lissie from Salt and Spice sent me a surprise ingredient! And the surprise was a pack of:



There is a lot a person can cook using coconut milk powder and the Keralite in me wanted to go with stew and only stew.. There are a lot of recipes for stew in the blog world...

This is a recipe again courtesy my family that has been handed down the generations.



Chicken stew
1 kg Chicken cut into bite sizes
4 Potatoes cubed
3 Onions sliced
7 Green Chillies slit (more for extra pungency)
2 tsp Ginger Paste
2x2" Pieces of Cinnamon
4 Cardamoms
4 Cloves
4 Shallots sliced
2 tbsp of Appam batter (ref. below) (optional. if no batter, use maida)
Salt and pepper powder to taste
A sprig of Curry Leaves
1/2 Cup Oil
6 tbsp of the Maggi Coconut Milk Powder

The coconut milk added was of a thick consistency. I mixed 6 tbsp of the powder to 2 cups of warm water. For a thinner consistency, reduce the amount of the powder and the water.

To a little oil in a pan,fry the shallots and curry leaves. Remove this from the fire and add to the coconut milk. In the remaining oil, saute the onions, spices,green chillies and ginger until they turn a golden brown.

Follow this by adding the potatoes and chicken. add in the salt and pepper and stir well. Now add the required amount of water for the chicken to cook.

Add the appam batter to the coconut milk and pour this over the chicken curry. Cook until the required thickness is arrived at on a slow flame. For tanginess add vinegar if needed.

For the Appams



Appams are traditionally made using Toddy. But since toddy is not widely available, yeast replaces it.

Soak 1/2 tsp yeast in lukewarm water and set aside. Mix 20g of rice flour in water to a medium thick consitency. To 300 g of scraped coconut, add 500 g of fine rice flour. Now mix in the rice flour paste, yeast, 150 g sugar, salt as per taste and 500 ml water.Leave to ferment preferably overnight.

Heat a griddle aka appam chatti and smear with a little oil. Ladle batter to make appams. They should be golden brown on either side when done.

Ok now go ahead and have a virtual piece of the appam, mop it in the stew and relish!

Shella of Kitchen Art gets a surprise package!

Have fun Shella.

Unleashing the Daring Baker within me!

The wait is finally over.. Baked the below weeks back and since all of us from the daring bakers post on the same day..I had to wait until this very day!!

My first challenge at Daring Bakers. Boy, was I glad to see what was in store.. This month’s challenge as per Tanna of “My Kitchen in Half Cups” was tender potato bread! She had chosen this recipe, for its myriad ways shaping the dough and provides oven times and temperatures for those variations.

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Wow, I have never baked bread ever ever before, always wanted try it though…but never got down to doing it…I had mixed feelings of whether I would be able to go ahead and knead, let it rise and bake and or just sit on the sidelines !!!

Anyway, I decided a day to bake, put my instincts together and plunged into it though had to keep my toddler from fiddling with the dough et al. which was already a sticky mess.

Here is a peek into my bread bowl!!!



I made a medium loaf, a few dinner rolls and a focaccia..

The boiled potatoes cooled soon to the required temperature.. I decided to use the second method of adding yeast, where the yeast was added to the flour and whisked.

The dough was sticky, very sticky at that and it did get me freaking out after a point because the stickiness just did not want to get any lesser!! Anyway as Tanna had mentioned that this would be a sticky one, I comforted myself. The dough scraper was a very handy tool in this case!

The dough rose well for all three. The second rising was uneventful too thanks to my baking stars.

The bread loaf turned out well..though I wanted a more brownish top..just like the rolls..





I loved the foccaccia the best! It looked great. Just couldn’t wait to take pictures and then dig into the breads!!



Get me into the oven quick!

Look at me now!


Like it was proclaimed, the bread was a little tender on the inside and crisp on the outside. The tenderness was just to the extent that we preferred. The bread was toasted and was a nice meal along with mayo coated pasta!

The rolls had a lovely brown to it. Were soft on the interior but a wee bit tough on the exterior..

Focaccia was the most devoured of all. I topped it with rosemary herbs, salt, olive oil and minced meat. Served with a hot caldo soup, this was the winner.

Ok here goes the recipe as was provided.
Makes 1 large tender-crumbed pan loaf and something more; one 10X15 inch crusty yet tender foccacia, 12 soft dinner rolls, or a small pan loaf

4 medium to large floury (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

4 cups water (950 ml to cook potatoes in
from that 4 cups potato water you will need to reserve)

3 cups potato water = 750 ml for mixing into the dough

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

6 ½ cups to 8 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1 cup whole wheat flour

Put the potatoes and 4 cups water in a sauce pan and bring to boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and cook, half covered, until the potatoes are very tender.

Drain the potatoes, SAVE THE POTATO WATER, and mash the potatoes well.
Measure out 3 cups of the reserved potato water (add extra water if needed to make 3 cups). Place the water and mashed potatoes in the bowl you plan to mix the bread in – directions will be for by hand. Let cool to lukewarm – stir well before testing the temperature – it should feel barely warm to your hand. You should be able to submerge you hand in the mix and not be uncomfortable.

Yeast one of two ways:

Mix & stir yeast into cooled water and mashed potatoes & water and let stand 5 minutes.

OR

(Add yeast to 2 cups all-purpose flour and whisk. Add yeast and flour to the cooled mashed potatoes & water and mix well. Allow to rest/sit 5 minutes.)

Sprinkle on the remaining 1 tablespoon salt and the softened butter; mix well. Add the 1 cup whole wheat flour, stir briefly.

Add 3 cups of the unbleached all-purpose flour and stir until all the flour has been incorporated.

I used 7 cups of the possible 8 ½ cups suggested by the recipe

Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, incorporating flour as needed to prevent sticking. The kneaded dough will still be very soft. At this point, add flour to the counter slowly, say a ¼ cup at a time.
The dough is then let to rise for about 2 hours or until doubled in volume.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead gently several minutes. It will be moist and a little sticky.

The dough was then separated for a medium loaf, dinner rolls and a focaccia. The loaf and rolls were given a greedy brush of butter for glazing!

For the foccacia, just before baking, the bread was dimpled all over again with fingertips.. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool before serving.

Bake rolls until golden, about 30 minutes. 230-35mins, 250-5 mins (my bake time)
Bake the small loaf for about 40 minutes. 230-35mins, 250-5 mins(My bake time)

The corners should be firm when pinched and the bread should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Allow to cool before serving.

Always transfer the loaf and the others from the baking tray to a rack immediately for cooling otherwise moisture tends to get in.

A final glimpse!!




Ok Ok just one more!!


Thanks to Tanna, this was a wonderful experience!! And am definitely doing more of this...

Visit here for more potato bread by the Daring Bakers.

Goan Appetite

Goan cuisine apart from its basic fishy curry and rice, has myriad tastes just like its land and culture. Apart from hindu and muslim influences, the Portuguese had left a marked influence on all aspects including their cuisine.

Goa is known for its siestas. All shops in town close by two and re-open only after four in the evening. This time is known as their siesta time. The importance to their siestas is also shared by their cuisine.
Another familiar site are the hawkers who go on bicycles honking to let people know of their arrival to sell hot, fresh from the clay oven pavs. Pav or bread is eaten with fish curry, chicken or any meat curry or vegetable curry..just like how chapati is served with the same gravies.. I had the fortune of having a small bakery right next door..so usually at dinner time..I just have to walk across and buy pav..instead of kneading chapatti doughs..

Coming back to Goan cuisine, sea food is a must on their menu excepting during lent or fasting seasons.

Some of the famous delicacies are chicken cafreal, xacuti, balchao, sorpotel..All these taste good with rice, bread and sannas.

Sannas resemble fluffy idlis..
For Sannas what you need to do is to soak a cup of rice overnight. Grind this soaked rice to a paste the next day. Mix this paste with grated coconut of 1 coconut with 500 ml of sweetened goan toddy (if unavailable use 2 tsps of yeast with sugar and a lil water just like you do for appam). Reserve this aside for it to rise. Like how you make idlis, pour the mixture into the moulds and steam.

Will be back with more updates...until then keep checking my blog :)