Time for a challenge post! This month, for We Knead to Bake #34, the bread chosen was Krendel, which is a Russian/ Ukranian fruit bread baked during the festive months and other occasions. Since today is a holiday and I am feeling really lazy, I am not in a mood to type about the history of the bread as such, so you can hop on to Aparna’s post. 😉 This is an rich bread with a delicious fruit flavored jam filling. The first thing I loved about this bread was that there is hardly any sugar. The dough has honey for sweetness, just a little sugar is sprinkled in and the jam is super tasty – you can have it with your toast! I didn’t want to buy prunes to try this, so substituted it with some dates and absolutely loved it. Since I had halved the…
Barmbrack ~ Irish Speckled Fruit Bread/ Cake
It has been quite some time since I have participated in the We Knead to Bake Challenge, that is Aparna’s brainchild. I gave the challenge a skip in July and August and I was so excited about last month’s bake, which was a Whole-wheat Yeasted Banana Bread. On a Friday, when HD was lazying, I double checked with him whether we were going out anywhere and since he replied in the negative, I went ahead doing the dough and proofing it. As it was proofing the second time, the kids threw their tantrums and HD had to reverse his decision. I was totally lost – what do I do now? My gas oven does not have a timer that I could leave it in and go, and my microwave convection had not been used for quite some time, so I was not sure whether it was working. As soon…
Kummelweck Rolls
Another interesting yeasted savory bake for this month’s We Knead To Bake! Each month, Aparna lists a bread, I feel so nice being a part of this group! What exactly is this month’s bake? A very interesting name, isn’t it? Kummelweck Rolls or Buns are of German origin, the literal meaning of the name being “caraway hard rolls”. These rolls have a topping of caraway seeds and a generous sprinkling of coarse sea salt. There was a lot of confusion in the group as to what is the Hindi name of caraway seeds, moving in between shah jeera, cumin and fennel. I decided to top these with my favorite cumin seeds and absolutely loved the flavor. As usual, I halved the recipe and got just what we wanted to have for dinner. I was surprised that the elder kiddo, Rasha who is never fond of my yeasted bakes, had…
Eggless Black Forest Rolls
This month is almost ending…. Wow! Two months of 2015 is done! So soon… Thinking about the start of the year till now, I still have not done much to be proud about, especially on my weight side! The HD is clearly getting irritated about my “I don’t care” attitude towards my weight and before he shows me the door, I have to do something seriously about it… or would I really do anything about it? 😉 Alhamdulillah, I am on the taller side, which means that my height very conveniently camouflages my extra weight, but that definitely does not give me the excuse of not taking care of myself… hmm… Even after this, you will continue to see a lot of sweet stuff coming up on the blog since I have quite a bit in my drafts, but as of now, I have already decided to put a slight…
Julekake/ Julekaga ~ Norwegian Cardamom Scented Bread
I sometimes wonder that I am keeping my zest of cooking and baking by participating in challenges! Really… the new kitchen has created a small dent into my cooking, but I guess that’s the case for everybody till the time you get the whole gyst. Till then, it is only cooking for survival! Hoping to participate in all the challenges for this month and hopefully, you will see all the posts in time… 🙂 The “We Knead To Bake” challenge #23 for this month was a Scandinavian bread called Julekake or Julekaga. It is a cardamom flavored yeasted bread which has a cake-like texture and is normally served during this festive season. Either the bread is served plain with a sprinkling of sugar or with a thick icing. In Norway, traditionally lime green citrus peel was used but now as variations, mixed fruit, candied peel, raisins and even almonds are…
Sheermal/ Shirmal ~ Saffron Flavored Flatbread
Time for this month’s challenge for We Knead to Bake! This time it is edition #22 and Aparna chose a really beautiful bread for us to try – the Sheermal/ Shirmal. A little introduction as provided by her: Sheermal or Shirmal is a saffron-flavored slightly sweet traditional leavened flatbread that is found in various countries on the Asian sub-continent including Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. Sheermal is a Naan-like milk bread, apparently of Persian origins, and it is suggested that the name comes from the Persian word for milk which is “sheer”. In India, this “milk” bread is predominantly found in Muslim neighbourhoods (another reason to suppose it came to India with the Mughals) of Kashmir, Lucknow and Hyderabad. This can be eaten for breakfast along with tea or with some spicy curry for lunch or dinner. Sheermal can be made either with baking powder or yeast, and she…
Mushroom Capsicum Pizza with No-Yeast Base
Time for a challenge post! It was last month I started my tryst with the “We Knead To Bake” challenge with a savory bread and I had done the Chicken Bread. This month, we were asked to bake our own pizzas, moving out of our comfort zone. Even though I bake pizzas on and off, the only three pizzas that I have featured on the blog are here, here and here. The time I saw the challenge, I had my mind set out on trying this fruit pizza, but somehow it didn’t work out. I guess it was mainly because I was doing a lot of baking and the overload of sweet stuff at home was getting onto me, so I cancelled my initial plan. But I still wanted to make it to the challenge of the month, as I am not sure about how I would be able to…
Chicken Bread
The group, We Knead to Bake founded by Aparna, was one group that I have been eyeing to join every since I have started blogging. I love baking and trying out new breads and cakes, but I was really not sure how much time I would be able to give this challenge and therefore delayed myself from joining the group. Last month, they baked the Gibassier, which is a French anise and orange flavored loaf. I couldn’t join in this challenge due to Ramadan and other commitments. For the month of August, since Aparna was busy with the preparation of the first successful Indian Food Bloggers Meet, she suggested the members to try baking any savory filled bread with a design. As soon as I saw the post, the first bread which came into my head was this Chicken Bread, that I had baked some time back and I had completely forgotten…