100% Whole Wheat Bread | Conquering the Yeast

Bread has been the big monster in my baking repertoire [if that is what it is ;)] The YEAST beast was too big to handle. It’s not as if I didn’t try, I did. Though the results were not encouraging enough, I did make another attempt to bake a pizza dough but THE monster didn’t froth & foam up & I threw away all the ingredients in the trash. After that no more Yeasty Beasty for me!

Whole Wheat Bread

Till I came across this post by Anushruti. I was planning to travel to Mumbai for a week around that time & I asked her where does she buy her yeast, etc & she gave me the golden words ‘Mauripan- Instant Yeast’. I didn’t find it in international/ gourmet stores across Mumbai or Pune but I found it online on http://www.gourmetco.in/ I ordered COD to be on safer side as I had not heard or used this e-comm earlier. The only grouse is that that they charge INR 75/- delivery for any order less than Rs. 750/-. Well my order was for only Rs. 60 for 60g of Mauripan – Instant Yeast 😦

Whole Wheat Bread

But the result was fantastic, for the first time I saw what it means that yeast will proof, dough will rise, I can go on & on… 🙂

I added powdered milk to give lighter texture as wheat breads are generally denser. Also I slightly increased the quantity of yeast. In my first attempt I wanted to produce something V would eat without nit-picking! Well I was wrong, he didn’t nit-pick, he loved it. He couldn’t keep praising the bread all day, all week! Now he wants me to bake a french loaf using the same recipe, phew men have no control over their wants!

Whole Wheat Bread

I also used canola oil in place of butter or ghee as mentioned in the recipe. I felt it was a good substitute, hardly any flavor of it’s own thereby it didn’t affect the flavor of the bread. A colorless & odorless oil works best in baking in my opinion. Canola Oil by Hudson is now available in India.

Whole Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

Bloggers talk about the wonderful smell of baking bread filling up the kitchen/ home. Well I am not sure what is the smell of baking bread, though my house was filled with smell of yeast, which I am not sure till now whether I liked or not. But that’s me! Don’t let it discourage you, the bread didn’t taste of yeast at all. 🙂

I felt that sugar is a bit low, so if you want you can increase the sugar by 1/2 Tbsp. We prefer less sugar so for us it worked.

Whole Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Divine Taste

Ingredients –

• 1 – 1 1/2 Cups – Water*, lukewarm
• 1 Tbsp – Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp – Canola Oil
• 3 Cups – Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp – Instant Yeast
• 1/4 Cup – Powdered Milk
• 1 tsp – Salt
• sesame seeds & quick cooking oats for sprinkling (optional)

Method –

1. Place 1 Cup lukewarm water in a bowl and stir in brown sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over it & leave the bowl undisturbed for about 10 minutes until bubbly.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, powdered milk & salt. Add in oil & yeast mixture. Combine till the dough starts leaving the sides of the bowl.
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased flat surface or counter. Lightly grease your palms & knead the dough using the heel of your hands for about 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add more water if required. Dough should be soft yet firm enough to knead.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased large bowl, coat the dough with oil. Cover with a cling film. Allow the dough to rise in a warm corner till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk about 1 to 2 hours, depending on the warmth of the kitchen.
5. Once the dough has risen & puffy, transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface. punch it down using your fist & knead it lightly for a couple of minutes. Shape it into an 8″ log**.
6. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2″ X 2 1/2″ loaf pan and cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap. You can use a shower cap here.
7. Allow the dough to rise for another 1 to 2 hours or till the center has crowned about 1″ above the rim of the pan.
8. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 200 C. On the risen dough, brush milk & sprinkle sesame seeds & oats.
9. Bake the bread for about 30-35 mins.
10. The bread should hollow when tapped. Cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan & then turn over the bread.
11. Rub a stick of butter over the crust, if desired. The butter will soak in yielding a soft, flavorful crust & a beautiful satiny finish.
12. Slice when completely cool. Serve toasted or as a sandwich.

* Use greater amount of water in winter. Lesser in summer or humid weather.

** How to Shape a Loaf of Bread

1. Lightly flour a table top or counter. Start by shaping the risen dough into a round. Let it rest for few minutes after you this to give gluten a chance to relax. This makes shaping a lot easier.
2. Using the heel of your palms, gently flatten the round into a rough rectangle.

   

   Whole Wheat Bread

3. The way one would fold a letter into 3 fold, fold the dough – fold the bottom third of the dough over on itself. Then fold the top of the dough over the other layers.
4. Use your fingers to pinch the dough closed where the top layer meets the bottom layers. Pinch the sides too.
5. If the dough still feels little loose after the initial folding, just fold it in half again & pinch it closed. Do this by pressing the middle of the dough & drawing up the sides. Loaf should be taut for even rising & holding the shape.

   

   Whole Wheat Bread

6. Roll over the dough until the seam is facing down. Gently lift the loaf into your pan. The seams should be on the bottom with taut surface facing up.

This 100% Whole Wheat Bread is off to

1. Yeastspotting.
2. What’s with my Cuppa currently hosted by Chef Mireille, orginally started by Nupur
3. Black & White Wednesday # 78 hosted by Aparna. BWW is an event started by Susan, currently managed by Cinzia.

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcakes | Healthy & Tasty | Happy Valentine’s Day

Since joining blogosphere I’ve come across the unbelievably RED Cake quite often. So even I decided to give it a shot. But when I started going through recipes I realized that this cake take ounces of red coloring to get this bright red color. I couldn’t get myself to use that much color. I found to my relief that there are many who feel similarly and have used alternative variations for getting the red tint/ color.

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake

I was quite tempted to make this Red Velvet Cupcake by Hannah of Bittersweet, but just couldn’t bring myself to add so much lemon juice, may be I will do it later.

I was quite happy when little R & D showed that a Red Velvet Cake is different shades of red from dark red to red brown also. So I guess I should own at the beginning that please do not look for that bright red here 🙂

After having a wonderful tasting beet cake a few months ago, I decided to make it into red velvet cupcakes. 🙂

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake

I halved the recipe and it made about 10 cupcakes for me. I skipped coffee here and replaced 1/2 cup flour with wheat flour. I made cupcake liners for this project using brown paper. You can use butter paper as well in place of that. I used my individual silicone muffin cups and lined them. I was really cautious and poured only little batter in each cup, so the shape didn’t turn out as the usual cupcake shape but little too small at the bottom (more like a cone) 🙂

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake

The color of the cupcakes is deep crimson & beautiful. I gave these cupcakes to a couple of neighbors and they all unanimously voted in favor of it as their kids ate it very happily. I’m specially putting a pic in which I’ve managed to capture right color of cupcake. [Please excuse my still deplorable photography skills. I really haven’t done full justice to the cupcakes]

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake

I served it topped with whipped cream. You can serve with traditional cream cheese or Waldorf-Astoria frosting. They taste extremely well chilled & do not smell or taste of beet.

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake –

Ingredients –

• 1/4 Cup – Vegetable Oil
• 3/4 Cup – Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup – Beetroot Puree, (boiled, 2 medium size beets)
• 60gms – Dark Chocolate, melted
• 1 tsp – Vanilla Essence
• 1/2 Cup – APF
• 1/2 Cup – Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 tsp – Baking Powder
• a pinch – Salt

Method –

1. Pre-heat oven at 190 C. Grease a muffin pan or individual cups.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together oil & brown sugar. Add beets, melted chocolate and vanilla. Mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, sieve flour, baking powder & salt, mix well.
4. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined.
5. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 20 mins, till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pan for 10 mins. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Linking this to –

1. Let’s Bake Love – My own event
2. Lets Cook/ Bake for Valentine – Simply Food
3. Bon Vivant # 12 – Sumee’s Culinary Bites
4. Sweet Luv – 2013 by Cook’s Joy
5. Favorite Recipe – Non-Indian Food an event started by Swathi
6. Bake Fest # 16 guest hosted by My Cook Book, event started by Vardhini
7. Chocolate Lover by Daily Cuppa

Eggless Christmas Cake | Soak, Mingle, Age & Feed in Brandy | Merry Xmas

Our Xmas tree (fake) is moving from one place to another every single waking minute. Relax guys, it’s not spooked. My son is a handful at 4 and since morning when I tried putting up the Xmas tree for the season, it never stayed in one place. Earlier keeping something atop a table was enough to discourage him, now stools are his best friends – they take him everywhere. 🙂

I have a love & hate relationship with a Christmas Fruit Cake/ Rum Cake/ Plum Cake. Honestly speaking I do not know if they are same or different. I’m not THAT much pro who can discern subtle differences & google didn’t help AND one of the 3 is available in abundance in most shops during festive season. Well the point is I sometimes like it a lot or sometimes I do not.

Eggless Christmas Cake with soaked fruits

Last year due to pregnancy I did a quick version of Eggless Fruit Cake. But this time round, I wanted to really take my time and do it with lot of fan-fare. 😉 Most recipes online for an eggless version take you to boiled fruits recipe using caramelized sugar or jaggery. That’s not me.

After hours of search I came across a Vegan Cake on Suma, which does not boil fruits. It can be made with soaking fruits overnight or earlier, have 2 baking cycles like a true Christmas cake and it feeds the cake with brandy. Voila! You can’t imagine how thrilled I was on finally getting the perfect version of cake I wanted.

Eggless Christmas Cake with soaked fruits

I quickly de-veganized (for lack of proper word) the recipe i.e made it into a simple eggless recipe and not the vegan version, I skipped lemon zest as I do not have a microplane. I added walnuts & almonds (you can also use other nuts like hazelnuts, pecan, etc.).

I halved the recipe and my biggest challenge was to adjust the baking time & temperature according to the new baking pan. Let me mention here that in blogosphere, I’ve come across very few bloggers who genuinely encourage a novice like me to bake/ cook. Most food bloggers ignore your queries on account of being busy. Since this was my first attempt I really wanted to confirm the adjustment in baking time & temp with some seasoned baker. Believe me when I say that I knocked on plenty of doors & no one responded (one even removed my query from the comment section, I was quite bewildered as it wasn’t spam & I didn’t know why she would do that). Except one – Jules from Butcher, Baker, she responded promptly and since she teaches baking and decorating, I was quite relieved to have her answer. Thank you Jules.

Eggless Christmas Cake with soaked fruits

It is best to make this cake well in advance by 3-4 weeks so it can be brushed with alcohol allowing the flavors to mingle and age. You can feed the cake, over time with alcohol (usually brandy, sometimes rum or fruit juice of your choice). I made this cake 3 weeks in advance & brushed it 1-2 times weekly with brandy. Also, you need to add another 3-4 weeks for soaking the fruits. I didn’t start that early and managed to soak for about 10 days. For best results, start 6-8 weeks before Christmas.

I didn’t want to frost the cake (read: reduce calories) so I used blanched almonds to decorate. My kitchen filled with the aroma of heavenly smelling cake. As usual I baked it when both hubby & kiddo were out. I even fed the cake on the sly as I didn’t want to see V making long face & coming up with numerous arguments on why the cake can be cut or eaten now rather than till Xmas Day. He also thought that I’ve lost it wasting precious mls of his brandy. While feeding the cake, one needs to ensure that it is not over-saturated or it will turn soggy. So before each feed, check if the cake is dry enough to receive more liqueur.

Eggless Christmas Cake with soaked fruits

The cake tasted moist & laden with brandy. Since I knew my son wouldn’t eat a fruit-filled cake, I used brandy. If you wish to give to kids, you can use fruit juice in place of brandy. It is one of the best cake I made or eaten this year.

The cake is perfect for a small gathering or family of 3-4. Though we are 4 in count here but it’s V & me who eats while kids look on. 🙂 So for someone like us this makes a better option than making a full size 8″ cake & then being tempted to finish all of it. 🙂

Eggless Christmas Cake –

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Suma

Ingredients –

• 1 1/2 Cups/ 170 gms – APF
• 3/8 Cup/ 80 gms – Brown Sugar
• 250 gms – Assorted dried fruits roughly chopped (I used currants, sultanas, raisins, glace cherries, mixed peel, tutti-fruity, dates)
• 1/4 Cup – Walnuts & Almonds, roughly chopped & lightly coated in flour
• 2 Tbsps – Ground Almonds
• 140 ml – Milk
• 35 gms – Unsalted Butter
• 1/2 tsp – Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp – Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp – Grated Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp – All Spice Powder/ Garam Masala
• a pinch – Salt
• Brandy (Optional)
• Blanched Almonds for topping

Method –

1. Soak the chopped dried fruits (currants, sultanas, raisins, glace cherries, mixed peel, tutti-fruity, dates) in brandy/ rum/ fruit juice atleast 10 day prior to the cake making. For soaking, place the dried fruits in large air tight bowl & cover with your choice of alcohol or juice. Mix well. Seal the container in cool, dark & dry place. Allow the dried fruits to soak & develop flavor for as long as you can. Occasionally give the whole bowl a gentle shake to allow further mixing. This step can be carried out days/ weeks/ even 1-2 months in advance. I did it 10 days before the baking.
2. Pre-heat oven to 160 C. Lightly grease a 8 X 4.5 X 2.5 inch loaf pan. Line the bottom of the tin with 2 layers butter paper. Also line the sides of the pan with butter paper that extends 2″ above the top edge. (You can hold the strip with a paper clip while filling/ baking).
3. Drain the dried fruits. Reserve the alcohol, if any. You can add the same in the batter or use it to feed the cake after baking. Lightly coat the drained fruit with little flour to avoid sinking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Sift flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg & all spice into a large bowl. Rub in butter using your fingertips.
5. Stir in the sugar, soaked fruits, nuts & ground almonds using wooden spoon. Give it a good stir.
6. Add all but 2 Tbsps of milk & stir gently. Warm the remaining milk in microwave (it should not be boiling but warm to touch). Pour the warm milk on the baking soda and then stir it thoroughly into the mixture. Do not beat.
7. Pour into the prepared pan, slightly hollow out the center so that the cake doesn’t form a dome upon rising. Decorate the top with blanched almonds.
8. Bake at 160 C for 45 mins without opening the door. Then reduce the temp to 150 C & bake for another 30 mins or till a skewer inserted near the center comes out clean with just few moist bits.
9. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. De-mold & remove the butter paper.
10. Marinate a cheesecloth in brandy, allow it to soak well. Gently squeeze the cloth to remove excess brandy, the cloth should be moist enough. The cheesecloth should be able to go round the cake 2-3 times.
11. Using a skewer or tooth pick, poke holes on the underside of the cake. Brush with drained brandy (step 3). Cover the cake completely in cheesecloth going round 2-3 times. Then wrap tightly in aluminum foil and place in an air-tight container. The foil should not come in contact with the cake directly. Do not refrigerate this cake while feeding.
12. After 4-5 days, remove the foil & lightly brush the cake with more brandy through the cheesecloth. Through the old foil & wrap in new foil. Repeat the process till you are ready to eat. This cake keeps well for several weeks.

Linking this to –

1. Merry Christmas Celebrations by Cook, Cook & Cook
2. Cookies & Cakes for Xmas by My Easy to Cook Recipes
3. Spot light: Healthy Baking by Recipe Junction
4. Lets Cook Edible Gifts for Christmas by Simply Food
5. CookEatDelicious : Desserts – Cake hosted this month by Spicy Food
6. Bake Fest #14 by Cooks Joy
7. Know Your Sweetness : Brown Sugar hosted this month by Krithi’s Kitchen
8. Celebrate Series – Christmas – hosted by Divya for Dec
9. Christmas Cook-off Contest by Kavi

Apple Pear Crumble

Crumbles, crisps, cobblers start popping in blogosphere as soon as autumn approaches & stay there for whole of winter. Digging into a warm dish in AW is heaven. If any of you had been in my journey from the beginning then you would know that I had a baking wishlist posted on this blog. And the crumble, crisps & cobblers were on top of that list. Forget making, I’ve never even tasted a crumble before & now both V & I are total converts. 🙂

Apple Pear Crumble

I decided to play safe & took a recipe from Joy of Baking. The recipe called for using cranberries, but they are not available around, so I skipped them. Even apples & pears were local produce & not tart tasting. Probably that is why i found the crumble a bit too sweet. So next time I am going to either use a tart tasting fruit or reduce the sugar. I also used quick cooking oats as old-fashioned rolled oats were not available.

Apple Pear Crumble

I baked the crumble in individual 6 oz ramekins as I do not have a pie dish. This was the first outing for my ramekins as they have been languishing in their carton since traveling 7 seas (US to India) last year. The filling was sufficient for 5 ramekins.

Apple Pear Crumble

All in all I can tell you the we loved the warm treat and I’ve been asked when I’m making the second round. 🙂

Apple Pear Crumble

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients –

Crumble Topping –

• 3/4 Cup – APF
• 3/4 Cup – Light Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp – Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp – Salt
• 3/4 Cup – Oats, I used quick cooking type
• 1/3 Cup – Walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1/2 Cup – Unsalted Butter

Filling –

• 4 – Apples, medium sized
• 3 – Pears, medium sized
• 2 Tbsps – Light Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp – Corn Starch

Method –

1. Pre-heat oven at 190 C. Grease required dish. I used 6 oz ramekins.
2. Place all topping ingredients in a large bowl. Use your fingertips or pastry blender or a food processor to gently bring them together. I used a potato masher.
3. Peel, core & chop into 1″ chunks both the fruits and place in a large bowl. Add corn starch & sugar. Toss them to coat fruits evenly.
4. Place the filling in the prepared dish, evenly spread the topping on top of it. Place the dish on a baking sheet to catch any dripping juices.
5. Bake in pre-heated oven for 35-45 mins. or until bubbly and the topping is brown and crispy. Remove from oven & cool on a wire rack for 15 mins. Serve warm with a scoop of ice-cream or whipped cream.

Linking this to

1. Bake Fest hosted by Anu for the month of Nov ’12
2. I Love Baking # 9
3. Christmas Event by Cook like a Bong
4. Cookies & Cakes for Xmas by My Easy to Cook Recipes