Garlic Bread

Garlic bread a a family favorite in my house. It goes great with pasta or pizza.

I was supposed to bake ciabatta bread as the base for my garlic bread but I forgot to get the starter going the night before. I already had everything else planned so I switched to a focaccia type bread recipe and used it for the garlic bread instead. It worked well.

You will need
For the bread
1 1/4 cup bread flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 oz. Fleischman instant yeast (half packet)
1 cup warm water
3 tbsp. olive oil, divided

For the garlic butter
5 cloves garlic
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 springs cilantro
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried thyme

To bake the bread
Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add 2.5 tbsp. of oil and mix it into the flour. Add the warm water a little at a time and form a sticky dough. Knead for about 5-9 minutes to form a soft and elastic dough.

Let it rest in a covered oiled bowl until it doubles in size, about an hour. Punch it down and form into a loaf. Let the loaf rest covered for about 10-15 minutes. Transfer it to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Let it rise for 30 minutes. In the meantime preheat oven to 400 F.

Use the remaining oil to brush the surface of the loaf. Bake the bread in the oven for 20-25 minutes. I put under the broiler to let the top brown but that is not necessary.

To make the garlic butter
Cut off the leaves of the cilantro and mince. In a microwavable bowl boil 1/2 cup of water. Add the garlic cloves with skin and boil again at 50% power for a minute. Take out of the microwave and let them sit in the water for another minute. Scoop out the garlic to a work surface and discard the water.

Once the garlic cools, peel of the skin with your hands. Crush the garlic with a fork. They should be mushy and easily crushed.

Mix all the ingredients together.

To put it all together
Reduce the oven temperature to 375 F. Cut the bread vertically one inch apart. Fill the garlic butter on the cut side of the bread and put all the pieces together on an aluminium foil.

Fold the aluminum foil over the bread and seal it on all sides.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes until the butter melts completely.

Serve hot.

Bulgarian Sunflower Bread

Sunflower Bread is supposed to look like a sunflower. This recipe is made for special occasions in Bulgaria. It is a yeasted bread with yogurt added for softness and flavor.

I have always been in awe of breads that looked like more than a loaf. I had never tried to bake one before. Now that I have I think I will be doing this more often.

This recipe was adapted from this recipe. I played around with the proportions a little and did not use vinegar.

You will need
3 cups bread flour
1 cup yogurt
2 eggs
1/4 oz Fleischmann instant yeast
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tbsp. salt

1/2 tbsp. + 1/3 tsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter + some to grease the baking dish

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp. sesame seeds

Warm the milk. In a mixing bowl mix the milk, sugar, salt, 2 tbsp. bread flour and yeast. In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs. Add the yogurt and whisk together. Add the yeast mixture and olive oil. To this mixture add the flour a little at a time and form a dough. It will be fairly sticky. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

Cut a small ball of dough and keep aside. Divide the rest into 3 portions. Flour a working surface and roll one of the portions into a large disc about 10 in in diameter. Put a third of the butter over the top. 

Roll out the second portion to the same size. Place it on top of the first and apply half of the remaining butter over the top. Roll out the last portion and place it on the first two. Now roll out all three. Do not worry about the size. Keep rolling them out until they get to 1/4 inch in thickness.

Grease a 10 inch baking dish. Using a pizza cutter or a knife cut the disc in 16 pieces. 

Starting from the outer edge roll one of the pieces towards the center aligned on one of the edges. Place it in the baking dish. Repeat for the remaining 15 pieces. Place the ball of dough that was kept aside in the center.

Whisk together the egg yolk and 1/3 tsp. olive oil. Brush over the top of the dough. Sprinkle sesame seeds. Cover and let it rest for an hour. Preheat oven to 375 F.

Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Cover the top with foil and bake for another 5 minutes. A skewer inserted in the center should come out clean.

Let it rest for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

I baked this bread with the group We Knead to Bake. For the month of February the group decided to bake any bread as long as it was yeasted. 

Weizenbrot (Swiss Rustic Bread)

Weizenbrot is a Swiss rustic yeast bread. It can be used for sandwiches but it is best dipped in fondue.

The bread is made using a fairly simple process but takes time to cook. The bread is first cooked briefly at 425 F and then for a longer time at 350 F. This ensures a beautiful crunchy crust and soft center.

You will need
2 cups bread flour (I used King Arthur bread flour)
3 1/4 oz. packets Fleischmann instant yeast
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. oil
2 tbsp. honey
9 oz warm water

Mix all the ingredients except the water in a large mixing bowl. Using the water knead into dough. It will be very sticky. Do not use additional flour, oil or water.

Continue kneading and the dough will turn soft and will not be sticky anymore. It will stick to the bowl and will be springy and bounce back. Cover the dough and let it rise for about 20 minutes or to almost double in size.

Knead the dough again and shape it into a long rope. Start rolling the rope in on itself from one end. Tuck the outer edge under the roll. Never cut or break kneaded dough. Instead work with your hands to get it to the desired shape.

Place the shaped dough on a greased baking sheet and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 F.

Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the bread around in the oven to get even browning. Bake for another 35 minutes or until a knife in the center comes out clean and the bread has a nice brown crust.

Enjoy!

Dudhichya kacharya (Lauki Subzi / Bottle gourd side)

Dudhi or Bottle gourd cooks up really quickly. This is a simple vegetarian side made with bottle gourd.

You will need
1 bottle gourd
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1/4 tsp. asafoetida
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt to taste
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. agave nectar or sugar
1 tsp. coriander cumin powder

Chop the dudhi into slices.

Heat olive oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to crackle add the turmeric powder, asafoetida and coriander cumin powder. Let them mix in the oil and then add the dudhi slices.

Cook uncovered until the dudhi is tender. Add the paprika, agave nectar and salt to taste.

Serve hot with poli.

Enjoy!

Matar Paneer

Matar Paneer is a savory north Indian side. The addition of cashews and cream makes the gravy creamy. This is not a gravy you would have every day. I had some left over paneer that I wanted to finish and matar paneer seemed like a nice way to get that done.

You will need
6 oz. paneer
6-8 cashews
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. ginger garlic paste
1 tsp. coriander cumin powder
1 tsp. paprika
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp. tomato paste
6 oz. frozen peas
1 tsp. kasoori methi
1/4 cup cream (or milk)

salt to taste

3 tbsp. olive oil, divided

a handful cilantro, chopped

Soak the cashews in half a cup of water and keep aside. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a pan. Cut the paneer into cubes and brown them on both sides in the oil on medium heat. Take the paneer out of the oil and place on a paper towel to drain,

Heat the remaining oil in the same pan. Add the onion and cook for about 5-7 minutes until it starts to turn color. Add the ginger garlic paste, coriander cumin powder and paprika and saute for a couple minutes.

Add the tomatoes and the tomato paste. Let it cook until the tomatoes are soft. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.

Grind the cooled onion and tomato mixture. Return the onion tomato paste to the pan and heat it through on medium heat.

While it is heating grind the soaked cashews with their soaking liquid to form a watery paste. Add it to the onion tomato mixture in the pan.

Add the frozen peas without thawing. Mix well and cook covered until the peas are cooked but are not mushy.

Mix in the fried paneer and half the cilantro. Let it cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes. 

Garnish with the rest of the cilantro and serve hot with poli.

Enjoy!

Banana Bread with Ice Cream

After an unusually cold winter we are finally thawing out. We had a really good week with warm temperatures. It seemed like the perfect evening to have banana bread with ice cream for dessert.

If you like to bake then you have most likely baked a banana bread. It is one of the easiest ways to use ripe or over ripe bananas. Today I baked a banana bread with a little twist. I adapted this recipe from the King Arthur flour website. This recipe uses honey and apricot jam. As luck would have it I had just enough apricot jam left over after baking the German Tree cake. I also used mostly whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. The resultant bread was moist and flavorful. And the best part of it was I used up the overripe bananas.

You will need

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. salt

2 large ripe bananas

2 eggs

1/4 cup honey

3 tbsp. apricot jam

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used chappati flour)

3/4 cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325 F if using a glass loaf dish. Preheat to 350 F if using metal.

In a mixing bowl beat the sugar with the butter and oil. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and salt and beat again. Add mashed bananas and mix together. Add the eggs, honey and apricot jam and mix well together. Now stir in the flours a little at a time. You will get a sticky batter.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes. My pan was too small for all the batter so I put some of it into a 6 muffin pan. I set the temperature at 325 F as I used a glass pan. The muffins were done after 45 minutes.

Cover the loaf pan with aluminium foil and bake for another 20 minutes. Let it rest on the counter top for 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before storing.

To serve, cut up a slice and place it on a plate. Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the top.

Enjoy!

Lemon Tart

When I think of fruits in dessert I think of lemon tart. On our trip to Paris we indulged in lemon tarts in the little cafes along the side of the road. Most of them had outdoor seating as well and since we visited in summer we sat outside.

The crust for this recipe was adapted from here. I had noted down the lemon curd recipe a long time ago but never made it before. Though it was a good first attempt I would call this recipe a work in progress. Over time I will continue to refine it and update this post.

You will need
For the crust
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. salt

For the filling
3 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp. butter
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks

To make the crust
Preheat oven to 425 F. Mix the flour and the salt. Add the oil and cold milk and mix together to form a sticky dough. Roll out the dough between parchment paper and transfer to a round pan. Prick the bottom with the tines of a fork about 8 times. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the crust begins to brown. Take it out of the oven and put on a cooling rack to cool.

To make the filling
Lower the heat in the oven to 350 F. Grate the zest of one of the three lemons. Now squeeze the juice of all three lemons and add to the zest in a pan. Cut the butter into pieces and add to the pan along with the sugar. Heat the pan and stir the mixture frequently until the sugar and butter melts.

Whisk the eggs yolks with the egg whites in a separate bowl. Ladle a little of the lemon mixture into the eggs stirring continuously. Lower the heat and pour the beaten eggs into the pan whisking continuously. The mixture will thicken gradually. Continue whisking until the lemon curd is cooked and heated through. You will notice the color begin to change and the mixture would have thickened considerably.

Pour it over the baked crust and bake for 5 minutes to set the curd. Let it cool completely. Serve cut up into wedges.

This is my entry for week three, day one of BM #37 for the theme Fruit based desserts. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#37.

Palkachi Peethperun Bhaji (Palak Bhaji with Besan)

A quick and tasty vegetable side cooked the Maharashtrian way. Spinach shrinks when cooked so you need a lot of spinach leaves to make this bhaji. I used two very large spinach bundles and I had enough to serve four people. You could use baby spinach. This bhaji can also be made with cilantro leaves.

You will need
2 large spinach bundles
3/4 cup besan
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1/4 tsp. asafoetida
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. coriander cumin powder
1 tsp. agave nectar
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt to taste

Soak the spinach in water and wash it clean to remove any dirt on it. Break off the leaves and discard the stems. Cut the leaves in slender strips about an inch long. In a pan heat oil and add the mustard seeds. When they crackle add the asafoetida, turmeric powder and coriander cumin powder. Add the chopped spinach leaves and cook for about 5-7 minutes uncovered.

Add salt to taste, agave nectar and paprika. Mix well. Add the besan and stir it well.

Cover and let the besan cook for 2-3 minutes. Uncover and mix well. Repeat another couple times until besan is cooked. Turn off heat.

Serve with poli.