Baking good bread at home has been quite a bit of challenge. I have tried my hand at it couple of times and I don’t say I had great success. Some times they turned out good and other times, total flop. But it is definitely something I always loved to learn. So here was a golden opportunity for me.
Our friend Cindy had called us for lunch few days ago. When we reached her home, out-of-the-world delicious aroma of bread baking invited us. She served us just-out-of-oven bread which was one of the tastiest breads I have ever had. I could not believe she had baked such good bread. So I asked her for the recipe.
She sent it to me and I baked it last week. When I started with it and the dough beautifully rose,I knew it was going to be a success. As expected, it was absolutely delicious. I gave it a foccacia bread shape and topped with olives. That was my personal touch, it is great as simple bread sticks too.
I made the bread with half the measurements given below, i.e. half the quantity.
Ingredients: 2 envelopes active dry yeast (1 envelope = 2 1/4 teaspoons) 2 cups warm water (100-110F) 2/3 cup olive oil 3 tbl spn sugar 4 1/2 – 5 cups all purpose flour (use the least necessary) 2 tea spn salt 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 6 cloves garlic (run through press or mince very fine) 2 tea spn dried mixed Italian seasonings 1 tsp dried basil
I used half all purpose flour and half wheat flour.
Method: Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Add oil, sugar, 3 and 1/2 cups flour. Mix until smooth. Let sponge rest about 20 minutes. (At this stage, the dough is very sticky) Mix down, add salt, garlic, seasonings and basil. Stir in more flour until it is easy to handle. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes by hand). Leave it overnight (I left it sit just for 1 hr instead of overnight ) and next day, take out, Shape into loaves. I made it into 4 bread sticks and 1 foccacia ( as I said, I had used half the quantity ) Place into greased baking pans or sheets. Cover with towel and let rise until doubled in size. Approx 1 hour. I sprinkled them with some parmesan cheese and olives. Also drizzled some olive oil on top. Preheat the oven at 350F for about 10mins. Bake for 30-35mins at 350F or till it is done. I served it with marinara sauce, topped it with red chili flakes while serving. But it tastes on its own too.
The quantity mentioned above, makes 2 big round loaves.
I am sending this to Mansi’s Monthly mingle – Appetizers & Hors’Doeuvres event .
These days I am trying to use greens at least once in a week. Because, I find it difficult to do shopping everyday, whenever I buy greens, I have to finish them off in one or two days. Usually I buy spinach, but this time I bought green collard greens . I had no idea what to cook with them, but I was in a mood to cook something new. So I came up with this.
When cooked these in cooker, a very familiar aroma started filling the kitchen. I thought they smell/taste a lot like kohlrabi (navalkol) . Unlike spinach, they don’t become completely mushy after cooking. We loved this dish.
Now about click – A monthly photo event organized by Bee and Jai at Jugalbandee . I haven’t been participating in it even though I wanted to, for a while now :(. Last month, V even clicked a beans picture for it, but I remembered about it only after the last date. This month’s click is a special edition for raising funds for Briana. So far 54% of the amount is collected, still 46% to go. So my sincere request to all of you to please chip in as much as you can, and thanks for the tremendous support you’ve shown so far.
Toor dal is only next to the white rice when it comes to ‘food ingredient priorities’ in our households. These are the pictures of the cooked dal, you can spot the small onion in the first pic. I love all of the following 3 pictures. Let me know which one you like the best.
Update: The above picture goes to click.
Note : Many of my readers who read about ‘click’ asked me if it is a kind of ad program, and we would get some money if you “clicked” on the link. That is not how it works. Please read about the photo event from Jugalbandi.info or from the link in the right sidebar.
Ingredients: 2 cups chopped green collard greens 1/2 cup onion 1/2 cup tomato 1/2 cup + 1/2 tea spn chana dal 1/2 cup moong dal 1/2 cup toor dal Oil 1 tea spn chili powder A pinch turmeric 1/2 tea spn urad dal 1/2 tea spn coriander seeds 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn methi seeds A pinch asafoetida 2-3 kokum pieces Salt
Method: Cook 1/2 cup chana dal, toor dal, moong dal with turmeric in cooker. Cook greens. I used two cooker vessels, placed the dals in the bottom one and greens in top one. Heat oil and fry chana dal , methi seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, urad dal , coriander seeds, asafoetida. Grind to a powder. Heat oil and fry onions. When they are brownish, add tomato and cook. Add dal , greens, chili powder, kokum, ground powder, salt and cook. Serve hot.
Serves : 5-6 Preparation time : 30mins
Update: The first picture goes to click :). Thanks for all your feedback.
