Sourdough Bread

Home baked bread is one of my weaknesses. Its not in the eating, but in the making of it. The waiting for the rise, or rather the 'dramatic wait' for the rising the dough and then the aroma of break baking in the oven. And then the aroma differs from whether you are baking a garlic and herb infused bread or a cinnamon roll or any other kind of bread, pizza or a naan. So while doing a lot of yeasted bread with success, partial success and no success.... I came across something called the Sourdough - what is it. Well I did a lot of research and came across many and I have now settled for a recipe of my own for the tropical weather of India, specifically Kochi in Kerala. Well yes, I have to be specific because the Sourdough goes through a long, slow process of rising and little bit variation in the temperature can upset the process and the result.

If you are still enthusiastic about the bread after seeing the picture and the write up above, okay, lets do it. This is my quick version of the recipe and rule of thumb is not to play around too much tweaking the recipe. Because the amount of water or rather the moisture in the dough is crucial.

For the starter 

Mix 100gm wheat flour with 100 ml water and leave it for 12 to 24 hours. The mix should have doubled in size. 

Once the starter is ready, add 400 gm wheat flour, 50 gm all purpose flour, 200 ml water, 1 table spoon sugar, 2 tablespoon oil and 3/4 tsp salt and give a mix with a spoon to make a wet dough. Leave it aside for about 1 hour. Now fold the dough about 10 to 20 times. If it is not soft and wet enough, you can sprinkle few drops of water. Repeat this one or two more times. Leave it to rise for about 7-8 hours or overnight. Make sure it does not over prove. 

Once it has doubled in size. Sprinkle some flour and give a gentle fold. The dough should be smooth but not wet now. Shape it into a smooth ball and leave it to rise once again. It would take about 2 to 4 hours. A sourdough bread is baked in a deep pan with a lid because the dough will further rise while baking. It commercial terms it is called baking in a Dutch Oven. Before baking the bread you have to score it with a blade or anything thin and sharp to cut through at least 1 cm deep. Preheat oven to 220C or 200 C in a convection and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. You can make stencil with flour as you see in the picture. Just put some flour through a paper stencil and it will stay there. I cut out these leaves and asked my  daughter to fill it with flour. Thats it.

Kerala Porotta / Parotta ( with wheat flour) + Chilly Tomato

It would be very hard to find a Malayalee who does not like Porotta / Parotta. The problem however is that Porotta is made out of Maida. The reviews that are going around even in television shows are about the hazards of consuming maida. I am trying to avoid it in day to day cooking. 

This is a parotta recipe using home made pure wheat flour. We dint miss anything in terms of taste. We had the parotta with Chilly Tomato and Chicken Curry. Though the best combination is chicken, it tasted good actually with the chilly tomato. Now if you have a question why two curries....it is because i prepared this on a weekday morning and kids are not allowed to take non-vegetarian food to school.

 the recipe

Wheat Flour – 3 cups

Egg  - 1

Warm Milk – 1 cup

Sugar – 1 tbsp

Salt – ¾ tsp

Oil – 1 tsp

ingredients to roll the parotta / porotta

Oil

Rice flour / wheat flour

the method

In a bowl, place the egg, salt and sugar and lightly beat them. Stir in the wheat flour and roughly crumble the ingredients. Knead the flour into dough by gradually adding the warm milk. When the milk is completely used and the dough is still sticking onto your fingertips add 1 tsp oil by sprinkling it into the bowl. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and fingers and smoothen the dough. Divide it into 8 large lemon sized balls and leave it in the refrigerator for 20 - 30 minutes.

Take out the dough, sprinkle few drops of oil on a surface and roll the ball into a thin sheet. Pour few drops of oil and sprinkle wheat flour or coarse rice flour (used to make puttu). Fold the sheets as if folding a fan. Gently twist the folded sheets to form spiral shape. Fold it into a round shape. Gently roll it into a parotta. Heat a gridle / tawa place the parotta and sprinkle few drops of oil. Cook for a minute or two. Turn and cook. Serve hot with a dish of your choice.

the recipe goes to Hearth and Soul Blog hop 73: 11/8/11 and to the Kerala Kitchen at Fajis Hot Pot

    

Chilly Tomato

Paalappam / Velleppam / Lace Appam / Hoppers / Aappam

Preparing palappam is an art by itself. The lace like edges of this exotic rice wafer has earned it a name as 'lace appam'. Traditionally 'toddy or kallu'  - a milk like liquid from the coconut tree was used to ferment the rice. In the modern recipe yeast is used to ferment the batter. The addition of coconut water gives a very soft, thin and wafery edge to the palappam. It is crispy outside and fluffy inside.  While preparing the palappam a portion of the batter collects itself in the middle to give the fluffy part. 

Palappam or hoppers can be prepared for breakfast or for special occasions. The accompaniments are usually spicy curries though this can be had with milk or coconut milk. Try it and you'll love it.

the following quantity yields 16 – 18 palappams

Raw rice – ¾ cup

Water – ½ cup ( + 2 tbsp if need be)

Coconut water – ¼ cup

Salt – ½ tsp

Sugar – 2 tbsp

Yeast – 1 tsp

Cooked rice – ¼ cup

Coconut, grated – ½ cup

 the method

Soak the raw rice for about 5 hours. The quality of the rice has an effect on the outcome of the palappam. Choose sticky rice with a pure whitish color. In Kerala, we get a rice called ‘Mavu Rice’ which is very good for a perfect palappam or a dosa.Heat ¼ cup water alongwith sugar and salt. When the water starts to boil turn off heat and add the yeast. Let the yeast melt.In a mixer jar add the coconut, cooked rice and a little soaked rice and the yeasted water and grind it to a smooth paste. Pour into a bowl. Add the remaining rice and water to the mixer jar and grind it to a smooth paste.  Pour the batter into the bowl and add the coconut water and mix well. Let the batter ferment for about  6-8 hours. The fermenting depends on the temperature. Place the batter in a warm place. After the batter is fermented check whether the batter is still thick but in a pouring consistency. Add the 2 tbsp water if need be.

 

preparing the hoppers

Heat an appachatti or a deep pan and pour a ladle full of batter.  Lift the pan from the heat and swirl it. Cover it and cook for about 1 – 1½ minute or until the whitish colour disappears from the middle of the palappam / hoppers. Serve hot with vegetable stew, beef stew, chicken curry, vegetable kurma, egg curry , soya mince curry or just serve with sweetened milk or coconut milk.

Pumpkin & Raisin Bread

Pumpkin, grated – ¾ cup

Wheat flour – 1 cup

Flour – ½ cup

Yeast -1 ½ tbsp

Hot water – ¼ cup + ½ cup

Sugar – 1 heaped tbsp

Salt – ½ tsp

Olive oil / Veg oil – 2 – 3 tbsp + 1 tsp

Butter – 1 tsp

Milk – 1 tbsp

Ingredients to sauté the pumpkin

Veg Oil / Butter / Olive Oil – 1 ½ tbsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Chilly flakes – 1 tsp

Garlic, grated – 4 cloves

Mixed Italian spices – 1 ½ tsp

Raisins, finely chopped – 10

To sauté the pumpkin

Heat oil in a non-stick pan . Add the grated pumpkin, chilly flakes, salt, garlic and oil and saute for a minute and a half. The pumpkin would have reduced to 3/4th its quantity. Add the chopped raisins, stir for few seconds and turn off heat. Add the mixed Italian spices immediately and stir well. Let it cool.

before baking

In a bowl mix the wheat flour and flour. Add the sautéed pumpkin and mix it with the flour to make crumbs. Make a well in the middle of the flour mix. Add the sugar, salt and yeast. Pour ¼ cup hot water. Stir it gently and cover it. Leave it for 5 – 7 minutes. The yeast would have come on top. Start kneading the flour with the yeast mix and then gradually add the oil and the ½ cup water until a dough is formed. Add 1 or 2 tbsp flour if the dough is sticky. Knead the dough for 7 – 10 minutes. Pour 1 tsp oil over the dough and spread it thoroughly. Cover the dough with a wet cloth and leave it aside for 1 ½ hours. The dough would have doubled. Press down the dough.

Grease a baking tray. Place the dough in the middle of the tray. Flatten it gently. Use a dough cutter or knife to draw lines over the dough. Leave it aside for half an hour. Apply milk on top of the dough and bake it at 170 C for 22* minutes. Apply butter as soon as the bread is taken out of the oven. Serve hot or cold with butter or tomato sauce.

* Baking time may differ depending on the oven used. Check the bread with a skewer or tap the bottom of the tray to get a hollow sound to check whether the bread is baked..

Aloo, Palak & Garlic Batura

Off late I have been preparing fatty preparations like butter chicken and this deep fried batura. Batura is usually prepared with maida and potatoes. Since it is still very cold in Kerala, I added palak to induce some heat into the body.  I have heard that palak is widely used in parathas during winter season. The garlic is to season the batura and the two veggies that has gone into the making. Further, this is a wheat + maida batura instead of a maida only one. You can also prepare this using wheat alone though you may have to compromise on the color with no compromise to the taste.

the recipe

maida / flour – ¾ cup

wheat – ¼ cup

salt to taste

palak (spinach), finely chopped – 20 leaves

potato – 1 big (boiled & mashed)

garlic – 8 small cloves or 6 medium cloves (this gives moderate garlic taste)

baking soda- ¼ tsp

water – a little less than ½ cup

oil to deep fry

the method

Place the maida, wheat flour and baking soda in a bowl and mix well.  Stir in the chopped palak, mashed potato and finely chopped garlic. Crumble all the ingredients together with your fingers. Sprinkle salted water little by little until the flour mix is kneaded into dough. Divide it into 8 balls and roll into into slightly thick baturas and deep fry it. Serve it with a curry of your choice.

Peshawari Naan

I came to know about Peshawari naan while searching about the use of Kalonji. Peshawari Naan has similarities to a Kashmiri paratha in terms of the stuffing. I came across two recipes and I have come out with the best of two. I have avoided the use of eggs in the dough and have prepared it with wheat flour instead of maida / flour.

the recipe

Wheat flour - 1 cup

Yeast - 1 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Hot water - 3/4 cup

Butter - 2 tbsp

Butter - for pan frying the naan

Shahi jeera - 1/4 tsp

for the stuffing

Cashew nuts - 2 tbsp

Raisins - 1 tbsp

for rolling

kalonji / nigella seeds - 1 /2 tsp

the method

Place the hot water in a small bowl with the yeast, salt and sugar and lightly stir it. Cover the yeast mix and check it after ten minutes. The yeast would have come up. Place the wheat flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in it. Pour the yeast mix, shahi jeera and 2 tbsp  butter and knead it to a soft dough. Cover the dough with a wet muslic cloth. Let it rise (1 - 1 1/2 hours). Divide the dough into 8 - 10 balls. Stuff each ball with few cashew nuts and raisins. Flour a rolling surface and gently roll out oval shaped naans by sprinkling a tiny pinch of kalonji.

The naan is rolled gently to make sure that the air bubbles formed by the yeast is not pressed down completely.

Naan is usually cooked in a tandoori oven or in a usual oven. Since my previous experience with a baked naan was not good, i fried this in a pan, similar to a chapathi. Cook naan in medium to high heat and apply butter on either side. Serve with Kashmiri Paneer, Green Pea Green Kurma or any dish of your choice.

the recipe goes to Stuffed Paratha by Vardhini

Stuffed Paratha

the recipe

Chapati dough – to make 12 thin chapatis ( I used 1 ¼ cup wheat flour)

black sesame – ½ tsp or more

cumin  - ½ tsp or more

ingredients for the stuffing / filling (the combination and quantity of veggies can be as per need)

potato – 1

carrot – 1

cauliflower – ¾ cup florets

beans – 5-7

onion – 1

garlic paste -  1 tsp

ginger paste -  1 tsp

garam masala -  ½ tsp

turmeric  1/8 tsp

chilly powder – ½ tsp

pepper powder – ¼ tsp

oil – 1 tbsp

butter (optional) – 1 tsp

raisins (optional) – 5

salt – to taste

the method

Heat oil in a pan and stir in the onions. When translucent add garlic and ginger. Stir for a minute and add turmeric, chilly, pepper and garam masala. Stir for few seconds and add all the chopped vegetables. Add the finely chopped raisins and salt. Add enough water to cook the vegetables till soft (pressure cooking is better). Add  butter to the cooked vegetables and mash it to a coarse paste.

Roll out the dough into thin chapattis. While rolling place a pinch of sesame in 6 of the chapattis and place a pinch of cumin in other 6 chapatis.

Assembling

Place a chapatti with the sesame on the rolling board. Place 1 ½ to 2 tbsp of the veg mash in the chapatti and spread it evenly (leaving ¾ inch space on the sides). Close it with another chapatti rolled with the cumin seeds. Seal the edges by gently rolling it. Heat a griddle and cook the stuffed parathas with oil pressing down the sides. Serve with raita or lentil curry.


the recipe goes to Stuffed Paratha event by Vardhini

RoseMary & Garlic Flat Bread

I have considered baking a yeasted bread to be a challenge….always…..and my yeastophobia increased after reading several account of the same in the blogworld. All my fears came true with my failure at the first attempt…..the dough did not rise......but i went ahead and baked it ......hoping that it would rise once it is in the oven......the dough cooked with multiple extension of the baking time......but the final product looked like a thick vattayappam (a rice cake) ........well I dint give up….

This flatbread is a result of my second attempt and I did it….the dough did rise and the bread had a good texture….both outside and inside. But my anxiety played a little part……I forgot to grease the bread mould and as a result I had to pluck it out….carefully though…….for the photo session……hope it doesn’t look that bad ….

the recipe

Flour / Wheat flour – 11/2 cup

Yeast – 1 ½ tsp (alter quantity according to the kind of yeast being used)

Sugar – 1 tsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Veg / Olive oil – 3 tbsp

Water – a little less than ¾ cup
Dried rosemary - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 6 - 8 cloves, finely chopped

the method

Mix the flour with rosemary and garlic.

Place the yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Heat ¼ cup of the water just above luke warm temperature (if the water is too hot it will kill the yeast). Pour it to the mixing bowl and gently stir it. Close it with a lid and set aside for about 6 – 10 minutes.

Heat the remaining ½ cup water to a luke warm temperature. Open the bowl and the yeast would have melted. Add the oil and mix. Stir in the flour and pour the ½ cup water in batches till the flour is completely over. The dough should now be moist. If it is not, sprinkle some luke warm water or oil. Oil would be better b’coz the dough doesn’t get sticky. Knead the dough well for about 5 -7 minutes. 

Grease a bread mould or whatever pan you wish to use and flatten the dough. Make marks as seen in picture if you please. Leave it to rise.

I dint want to take another risk. So I boiled a pan of water, covered it and placed the bread mould on top of the boiled  water. It took about  1 ½ hours for the dough to rise to double its quantity. Punch down the dough and let it rise again. It took about 45 minutes. Preheat oven for  5 minutes at 180^oC.

Brush the top of the dough with milk or egg whites. Bake for about 16 – 20 minutes. Do the toothpick test (check whether a toothpick or skewer comes out clean).

Take the baked bread out and brush it with butter. Enjoy with more butter. We snacked it.

Kashmiri Parantha / Kashmiri Paratha

I came across the name Kashmiri Parantha while dining out in a North Indian restaurant in Kochi. Since the name was new to me, I was euphoric to read the menu that gave a small description about what went into the filling: paneer and dry fruits.

The parantha however had many more flavours which I had to guess ’coz a google search to find the exact recipe seemed to offer only bits of information. The search also revealed that there are veg and non-veg versions.

I prepared a veg Kashmiri parantha with the information from the menu, the web and all the taste I could recollect, and the result was ……..try it and you’ll know it!!

the recipe

ingredients for the dough

Wheat flour – 1 cup

Water – ½ cup or a little less

Salt to taste

ingredients for the filling

Paneer, grated – ½ cup

Raisins, chopped into tiny pieces – 5

Cashew nuts, chopped into tiny pieces – 3

Cherry, chopped – 5

Cumin – 1 pinch

Kasuri methi  – ½ tsp (soak for 2-3 minutes and wash it twice)

Oil / Ghee / Butter – as required

the method

Mix together the ingredient for the filling. Keep it aside.

Prepare dough with the wheat flour, water and salt. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and roll it into paranthas.

placing the filling

Take a parantha and place 1 – 11/2 tbsp of the paneer filling. Close it with another parantha and seal the edges. Cook it on a griddle and apply ghee/ butter / oil.

Kashmiri paranthas tastes good with pickles and raita. A recommended accompaniment is Kashmiri Paneer.

the recipe goes to Stuffed Paratha event by Vardhini