Wholegrain Caramelized-Banana Bread

Banana bread is probably one those things which everyone bakes all the time. Each one following a time-tested recipe of her own which yields a lovely loaf every time. My favorite recipe is an adaption of Tarla Dalal's Banana Pecan Walnut Muffin Cake, an eggless whole wheat banana muffin recipe with layers of flavors added by the addition of nuts and raisins. Adding cocoa powder and chocolate chips to the basic batter always takes the bread up a notch so I unfailingly do it every time.

Conchas using Scalded Flour Method

Conchas,  also referred to as "pan de huevo" are sweet buttery buns from Mexico. They are famous for their crumbly shell-patterned sugar topping and soft fluffy texture. They are eaten with coffee and milk but mostly with Mexican hot chocolate for breakfast or late supper- known as merienda, a tradition that dates back to the 16th century.

Chocolate Swirl Babka Muffin Buns # Baking Partner's Challenge

Babka, as most of you know, is a traditional Easter coffee bread from Europe. Apparently, babka is also the word for grandmother in Polish...  which is why a traditional babka bread was usually baked in a fluted round mold with a center tube and was said to resemble a women's full skirt from centuries past. The babkas as we know them today are elaborately flavored and heavily downsized... They are strueseled, swirled in chocolate and cinnamon and baked in ordinary loaf pans.. This version, nevertheless delicious, is believed to have descended from the Eastern European Jewish tradition.

Whole Wheat Coconut Muffin Buns

I am not sure if in some other world these whole wheat coconut muffin buns are standard. They ought to be.. They are cute, tasty and delicious. They are everything  you would want to wake up to on a Sunday morning or for that matter any other day of the week. I have a feeling that with a glaze of coconut syrup they might make the ultimate breakfast muffin buns... but I am yet to verify the latter..

As many of you might have recognized, these buns were inspired by the famous Dilkhush Buns. Literally translated, Dilkhush means "makes you happy" and the traditional Dilkhush buns do just that... make you happy with their pillowy soft milk bread casing and coconut-dry fruit-and-tuttti frutti stuffing.  

My muffin buns do the same... though they have a whole wheat potato bread casing rather than a white milk bread. 

Irish Whole Wheat Potato Pull-Apart Rolls

Around St Patrick's day, when I was looking for something Irish to make, I came across the Whole Wheat Potato Bread in Beth Hensperger's Bread lover's bread machine cookbook. Apparently in the late eighteenth century, potatoes or spuds as they called them, became a staple in the Irish diet. One-third of the population then, solely relied on this cheap crop.  Lack of genetic diversity, left the crop vulnerable to diseases and in 1845, the rapid spread of a plant disease called late blight resulted in the crops failure in the poorer communities of western Ireland. That led to the Great Irish Famine, also known as the Irish Potato Famine, in which approximately one million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland. The Irish immigrants apparently brought the tubers to New England, a region were potatoes are grown even today.  

Now about these rolls... They are fairly easy to make and taste great with soup, curry, bhaji... you name it. I believe, the potato in the dough basically does what eggs generally do to the bread, make them soft and light. These rolls are much softer and less dense that most whole grain rolls. Again, I am inclined to believe that the mashed potato is the reason for it.... In any case they are a great addition to a meal and have recently become my go-to recipe for dinner rolls... 

Julekake # Eggless Baking Group

Julekake is a Norwegian Christmas bread flavored with cardamom, raisins and candied citron. It is usually sweeter and flatter than a regular bread and like most holiday breads its dough is enriched with milk, butter and eggs. Traditionally this bread made with all purpose flour, but when Priya Srinivasan of Enveetu Kitchen challenged us, the Eggless Baking Group, to bake an eggless version of it, I decided to get ahead of the challenge and make a whole grain eggless version of it..

I had initially decided to make the bread using whole wheat and all-purpose flour in the ratio 2:1.. With that proportion the dough felt tough so I adjusted by adding extra water and all-purpose flour till the dough texture felt just right. Following the pointers from The Kitchn on How to make Softer and Fluffier Whole wheat bread, I added an extra tablespoon of butter to the dough, kneaded the dough first with hand, allowed the hand-kneaded dough to rest for 20-30 minutes before kneading and poofing it in the bread machine. I am not sure which of the above tricks had worked but I was delighted with the way the loaf turned out... soft and delicious.

Candied citron or citron were unavailable in the stores so I substituted that with homemade candied lemon peel...

Homemade Candied Lemon Peel 

The candied lemon peel were a wonderful addition and I am so glad that I decided to make some at the last moment. Along with the cardamom and raisins, they made the bread slices taste like slices of a holiday cake. Though most Norwegian sites suggested a dab of butter on Julekake, we, at our place loved the bread as it is. Toasted.. but with no extra butter.

Cinnamon Swirl Eggless "Brioche"

This month Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot challenged the members of the Eggless Baking group to make an eggless version of Barbara's Cinnamon Swirl Brioche.

My first reaction after reading her mail was, "What ? Brioche without eggs ? Really ? "

Initially I had decided to skip this challenge... but the pretty cinnamon swirl and the simplicity of the recipe kept bringing me back to it until I finally decided to give the eggless version try.

I usually use the combination of yogurt and baking soda to make an eggless version of an eggy bread. However the mere substitution felt a little inadequate for an eggless version of brioche. After all it was brioche.. and no ordinary bread. How could a simple substitution render the bread its richness and textural lightness. I discussed with my mother and she suggested an extra helping of yeast. Okay. I said and pondered a little more... until I remembered Reeni's review about the scalded flour method. She had used the method for making a Scandinavian White Bread and had compared its texture to a brioche... I decided to modify the method to adapt the given recipe..

The adaptation however did not seem direct...

You see, the scalded flour method(SFM) requires one to make a starter of scalded dough which is cooled and then kneaded together with the remaining dough ingredients to make the dough for the bread. This meant, involing the SFM would add an extra step to the suggested recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, thereby depriving it off its ease and simplicity, the two things that had attracted me towards this bread at the first place. I thought for a while and then decided to try a simple modificaion. Instead of making a scalded dough starter, I decided to beat the yogurt with boiling hot water, then quickly stir in the remaining ingredients including the flour to the hot yogurt.  I am not sure if that little step helped, or if it was just the right proportion of liquid to flour, but things suddenly fell into place and  soon I recognized the dough as brioche-like... soft, flow-y and unmanageable. Thereon I followed the given recipe and was duly rewarded with a lovely loaf the following day.

To be honest, the loaf wasn't as soft as a brioche from the store but the texture was comparable. It was somewhat like my Hokkaido Milk Bread.. only richer with all the extra butter. We were really happy with it and relished it with our morning and evening tea everyday till it got over...

Koulouri / Greek Politiko Simiti

Koulouri is a sesame crusted bread ring from Greece. It is a street food sold by the vendors in Athens. Apparently it is a common snack for both Greeks and Turks and is believed to have been brought to Greece by Greek refugees from Asia Minor and Constantinople(Istanbul). In Turkey they go by the name of Simit or Susam kebabi meaning Sesame kebab. Though a derivative of the Turk Simit, the Politiko Simiti is quite distict from it. It is braided and given a generous coating of petimezi(Greek grape must syrup or grape molasses) before being rolled in sesame seeds and baked. The braiding lends a bagel-type texture to the Koulouri and the grape molasses gives it a mild sweetness, thereby making it a popular breakfast bread or teatime snack for the Greeks. 

Last month Priya Suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes challenged the members of Gayathri's Baking Eggless Group to bake an eggless version of these braided bread rings. The original recipe uses only one large egg, which wasn't much of a challenge to deal with. I simply replaced it with ¼ cup Greek yogurt. The real challenge however was to make the grape must syrup. Most recipes called for petimezi called for grape juice and wood ash. Now we do not have a fireplace or barbeque grill and I did not know where to get the wood ash from.. so after some considerations I decided to simply simmer the grape juice and make a syrup. I am not sure if the thickened grape syrup tasted anything like petimezi, but it was really good... Having said that I must add that though the grape syrup was great by itself, one could barely taste it in the bun. So unless you are in the mood for it, do not sweat it out. Simply substitute the syrup with an equal measure of honey and you are good to go.... 

But... in case you want to make the grape syrup my way here is how you can do it. For 2 cups of grape syrup, blend  5 cups of red grapes, strain the juice into a large saucepan. Over medium heat, bring the juice to a boil, skim off the foam that rises on top and simmer over medium low heat for the next 1½ to 2 hours, until the juice thickens and acquires the consistency of honey. This syrup can be used as a dipping syrup for the bread or served as a sauce with savory snacks. It also tastes good when served over Greek Yogurt or Frozen yogurt. 

Koffiebroodjes (Dutch Sweet Rolls) # Baking Partner's Challenge

This month Kaveri of Palakkad Chamayal challenged the Baking Partners with two lovely Dutch recipes from The Dutch Table... a Dutch Apple Pie and these Dutch Sweet Rolls called Koffiebroodjes. While the spices of the Apple Pie were enticing, the sound of "Koffiebroodjes" was too sweet to pass up. So I decided on baking the later and glazing it with a jam that contained the flavors of the Dutch Apple Pie or Appletart.. The result was a delight and we really enjoyed them with our latte...

Translated literally, Koffiebroodjes means Coffee Buns. Apparently these old-fashioned glazed sweet rolls are available at local bakeries and supermarkets in Netherlands. They are usually eaten around 11:00 am during the coffee break or shared over a cup of coffee with the neighbours. Though the recipe here uses a jam glaze, these buns are also made with a sugar based sweet glaze. In some respect they are very similar to the classic cinnamon buns. They too are sticky from the glaze and have raisins in their folds. However these are not pull-apart buns and there is no brown sugar or cinnamon. These are baked as single units and a vanilla pudding replaces the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture in them, thereby making them quite different from their Siamese twins... the cinnamon rolls.

Eggless Slovak Easter Bread - Paska

Hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving with your dear ones. Now that Thanksgiving is over it is time for everything Christmas-y. But. Oops ! I have a East European Easter Bread for you today. As a compensation I decorated it to look more Christmas-y.. with leaves and berries just so that you do not think that I forgot about Christmas all together and jumped to spring..

I baked this Slovak Easter Bread as part of Gayathri's Baking Eggless Challenge wherein the challenger presents the group with a eggilious recipe and challenges everyone to convert it into an eggless one. This month Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot challenged us with this sweetish butter bread East European Bread. The original recipe was for 3 7 inch round loaves and used 3 large eggs. I decided to make 6 peeps and a 6 inch round loaf and so made only one third of the recipe using whole wheat flour and all purpose flour in 1:1 ratio and yogurt + a pinch of baking soda as a substitute for one egg. The whole wheat made the bread slightly dense, nevertheless it was tasty. We had it with spicy curry for Thanksgiving and enjoyed it much. 

With its buttery deliciousness this loaf will look grand at any holiday table. Be it Christmas or Easter. The peeps of course look more Easter-y so its best to reserve them for spring...

Brown Sugar-Raisin Bread

Food gawker and Taste-spotting are pretty addictive... don't you think ? Once your first photograph gets accepted you want all your food photographs to appear there.  One.It invites traffic. Two. It is strangely satisfying to know that a group of experts consider your food to be as gawk-worthy as you thought it was... But with that first acceptance comes the next stage in a bloggers life .. the big chase... the one that sets a blogger running from one window to another  for that perfect streak of light. The frustration grows when the sun refuses to budge and finally the blogger has to settle for less. It was like that for me yesterday. It was raining cats and dogs and I just could not manage a well-lit-gawk-worthy shot... frustrated, I called up mom and she reminded me of this Brown Sugar-Raisin Bread.....

Back in October, I had baked this loaf along with Joyce, Lena and Zoe. It turned out great. Pretty. Soft and fluffy. We loved it. So I made a second loaf for my sister. Her in-laws were visiting at that time and they were pretty impressed by it. Her mother-in-law immediately took the recipe from me and in one of the recent family gatherings told my mother what a good baker I had become :)  It felt good to be complimented by an ace baker as her..  so I thought it wouldn't be such a bad idea to publish this recipe even though the photographs aren't so great....

Now the recipe that won me praise.... Brown Sugar-Raisin Bread... a bread that is great for gifting, or sharing at festive breakfasts or brunch. The original recipe is from Wiiliam-Sonoma. I tweaked it to bake an eggless loaf.

Chocolate and M & M studded Malted Milk Cookies & Weekly Menu Plan

Hi ! How was your weekend ? Mine wasn't very eventful though we did go thrifting and returned back satisfied. I bought a few pieces of kitchenware, little boy got a BIG car carrier and husband a bunch of music cds. Other than that we did very little...just the regular cleaning, grocery shopping and of course..... I baked these malted cookies and a lovely holiday bread. Will tell you more about the bread soon....but right now  its cookie time...

I had bookmarked these malted cookies from Bake for Happy Kids. The recipe there is an adaption of Pioneer Woman's Malted Milk Chocochip Cookies. Like Zoe I used Horlicks in place of malted milk powder and then tweaked the original recipe further by substituting all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and the chocochips with an assortment of M & M's and pieces of dark chocolate. The final cookie was nice, snappy and addictive. They were a hit even with my toddler and our friend's preschooler so can safely be labeled as kid-friendly !

Pataquetas # Baking Partners November Challenge

With only a week to go most of you must have roughly decided on what to prepare for this Thanksgiving. Perhaps the family favorites and some exquisite recipes that you had pinned, tried and enjoyed. But just in case there is a place in the table for a delicious and handsome bread... try Pataqueta.

These traditional Spanish bread rolls from Valencia's Orchard, with crusty exterior and chewy crumb require very little work. Yet they taste awesome when served with chicken sausages and a dash of mayo and mustard sauce. Shaped into smaller crescents and stuffed appropriately, these rolls will make great appetizers for any dinner party...

This month, a fellow Baking Partner, Marisa of Thermofan suggested that we bake this crescent shaped traditional Spanish bread for our Baking Partner's November Challenge. Apparently this bread is known to have been baked since 17th century. The inhabitants of the Valencia’s Orchard used to eat this bread everyday when they went for work. Nowadays, however they are not as frequently baked. People book in advance to get one. Most of Valencia’s bakers usually bake these in March every year for their main regional festival, "Falles".

Like Ciabatta, these bread rolls are steam-baked and are prepared with a cold ferment. Hence texture-wise they are very similar to Ciabatta... chewy crumb, and extra-crispy crust . The dough is however much easier to handle and  so you really do not have to be a expert bread maker to get these right. Simply follow the recipe and you'll  be rewarded heartily.....

Spiked Pumpkin Bread & Savory Pumpkin Dip Recipe for Halloween and Weekly Menu Plan

Hi ! How are you ? Is it cold in your corners yet ? Here in LI, it is getting a bit chiller by the evening... but the mornings are gorgeous. Bright and sunny !  Our New Hampshire trip, followed by the trip to my cousin's place and then the preparations for the toddler's  birthday party had thrown me off my routine. but after a lazy week at home, I am back on track. Totally charged up for Halloween and Diwali. 

This will be my first Halloween and Diwali here. Actually my second one.. but the first one doesn't count since it was within weeks of the toddlers birth... and i was still recovering from the C-section. In any case I am excited. We haven't yet zeroed on any costume for the toddler...but with this bandana in mind, we are thinking along the line of pirates... 

that is if he obliges... we'll see....

Now about my Spiked Pumpkin Yeast Bread. In my post on Pumpkin Yeast Bread, I had mentioned that I had been playing around with the recipe. What I actually did was that I spiked it up the dough with Pumpkin Ale. I substituted the milk and water in the recipe with an equal amount of beer and baked my first batch the same way as the Pumpkin Yeast Bread... except that I baked it in the form of a Savory Pull Apart Loaf and 4 buns.

The buns were nice and soft and were perfect for sliders. The Pull Apart Bread was also good..  but I wouldn't really recommend it in the form I made. The bread was good and the pumpkin dip that I had slathered on the rolled out dough was also good and the two tasted good together. but it would have been better if I had baked the loaf by itself and served it with the dip.  the dip somewhat made the moist loaf soggy... and texture-wise less appealing. it was however yummy !

Anyways having learnt my lesson, I ditched the idea of a pull apart bread and decided to try out a beer glazed bread for my second batch. Again I did this in two ways. With the Dutch Crunch topping in mind I prepared a mixture with beer, yeast, rice powder, maple syrup and oil . Then shaping the dough into 6 buns and a 6 inch round loaf, I glazed the spiked loaf and 2 buns lightly with the solution and spooned some of the beer and rice flour mixture over two other buns and left the remaining two un-glazed. I baked the un-glazed buns for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F and the others 425 degrees F.  Initially I was quite excited with how they looked. specially the ones with crunch-topping...

But as they say... All that glitters is not gold. While the un-glazed buns, the loaf and the lightly glazed buns were moist and super-flavorful, the buns with crunch topping were terrible. I could not eat those beyond a bite. it was that BAD. I am not sure what the problem was... but since it looked good I have decided to try it again soon. Will let you know it if and when it works out. For now here are the recipes that worked... the Spiked Pumpkin Yeast Bread and the Savory Pumpkin Dip...

Spiked Pumpkin Yeast Bread (Bread Machine) Adapted from my Pumkin Yeast Bread
Preparation Time : 2 hours                                                                                         Baking Time: 30 mins  Yeild: a 9x5 inch loaf + 4 buns or a 6 inch round loaf and 6 buns
Ingredients    for the dough 1/3 + 1/4 cup Harpoon Brewery's Pumpkin Ale (UFO) 1/4 cup yogurt +1/16 tsp baking soda (as a substitute for 1 egg) 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin, fresh or canned(I used canned) 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/8 cup light brown sugar 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground cardamom 1 tbsp bread machine yeast for the glaze 20 ml Harpoon Brewery's Pumpkin Ale (UFO) 2 tbsp rice flour 1 1/2 tsp instant year 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil 1/2 tbsp maple syrup -  Instructions Put all the dough ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order specified by the manufacturer and set it to the dough setting.  When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, turn the dough into a lightly oiled surface. Shape it into a loaf or a loaf and 4-6 buns and place the loaf it in a well greased 9x5 inch  loaf pan or 6 inch round pan and the buns on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover the loaf with a greased plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled 30 to 45 minutes.  In the meantime preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and mix all the ingredients of the glaze and let it stand for about 15 minutes.  Once the dough doubles, lightly glaze the loaf and the buns with the beer and rice flour mixture and transfer the pan/ baking tray to the preheated oven. Bake the buns for 20 minutes and the loaf for 30 minutes. Immediately afterwards remove the loaf from the pan, cool the buns and the loaf on a wire rack, then slice and enjoy with savory Pumpkin dip or otherwise...

So that was all about my experiments with pumpkin bread recipe.  Do let me know if  you have any pointers about the Dutch crunch topping. I'll be happy to work on your suggestions.

Sending the first photographs "Spirit of Fall"  The Colour Me Photography Challenge Series" ~ Colour Me Orange , a photography event  at Priya's  place The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen.


Now this week's Menu at Ma Niche

	This Week's Menu Plan
Sunday	Chicken Fry,  Leftover Lentil curry with veggies and rice
Monday	Moussaka with Radish Salad,  Pasta with yogurt, Cheese Omlet and boiled carrots for the toddler
Tuesday	Carrot and Pea Stir Fry, Gatte ki Kadhi and Roti, Deconstructed Oliver Salad and Teff Crepes for Toddler
Wednesday	Hurry up and Wait Roast Chicken  and Roasted Potatoes
Thursday	French Onion Soup and Vegetable Sandwiches
Friday	Dinner Rolls with Japanese Cream Stew
Saturday	Masoor Dal and Briami with Steamed Rice

 Sharing this with Meal Plan Monday @ Organizing Junkie 

                                       and Meal Plan Monday at The Diary of a Real Housewife.

Yeastspotting the loaf. Also sharing it at the following weekly parties..

Monday Food : Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Inspiration Monday Party, Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party,Mix it up Monday, The Scoop,  Meatless Monday @Veggie Mama's,  Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory

Tuesday Food:  Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations,  Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles, Tasty Tuesday, Hearth and Soul blog Hop

Wednesday Food : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2

Thursday Food: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  

Friday Food: Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes  

Pumpkin Yeast Bread # Baking Partners October Challenge

With the pumpkin season upon us, this month +Tamy Bollar of 3 Sides of Crazy challenged the Baking Partners to bake a pumpkin loaf. The suggested recipes were

• Ginger Pumpkin Bread with Maple Brown Butter Glaze from Simply Scratch Blog
• A yeasted version of pumpkin bread from King Arthur Flour.

As tempting as both the recipes were, I decided to bake the yeasted loaf first and then got stuck at trying few variations of the original recipe. While I am itching to tell you about my experiments and will eventually write about them over the week,  for this post I'll just stick to the version that is closest to the original.

It is a fairly simple bread to bake in case you are using a bread machine or a food processor to knead the dough... and it tastes wonderful. It is soft and moist and is great with both butter and jam. Though we ate most of this loaf with butter or jam for breakfast, recounting from my experience with the other variations, I can assure they'll be great in sandwiches too.

As always, I tweaked the original recipe and substituted half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and added an extra helping of ginger powder to the dough. Also, I made an eggless loaf since I had run out of eggs on that particular day. Using some of the bread recipes from Gayathri's Cook Spot as a reference, I used 1/4 cup yogurt plus a 1/16 tsp baking soda as a substitute for 1 egg. It worked really well. In fact I did not notice any difference in texture between this loaf and the other loaf that i baked with eggs. Though a topping or a glaze was not recommended, I decided to add both.... and I am actually quite happy with the way the loaf turned out.  The maple syrup lent the loaf a lovely hue and the pumpkin seeds added a nice crunch to the bread. So all in all this loaf was a winner at our table...

Now the recipe...

Pumpkin Yeast Bread (Bread Machine) Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Preparation Time : 2 hours                                Baking Time: 30 mins                                        Yeild: 9x5 inch loaf
Ingredients    for the dough 1/4 cup warm water 1/3 warm milk 1/4 cup yogurt +1/16tsp baking soda (as a substitute for 1 egg) 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin, fresh or canned(I used canned) 1 tbsp vegetable oil 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/4 cup light brown sugar 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground cardamom 1 tbsp bread machine yeast 2-3 tbsps pepitas for topping for the glaze 1 tbsp maple syrup 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil -  Instructions Put all the dough ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order specified by the manufacturer and set it to the dough setting. I have listed the ingredients in the order that is specific to my bread machine. 10 minutes down the line check the consistency of the dough. The dough should be soft and smooth. If the dough feels too tough add a teaspoon or so of oil. If the dough isn't stiff enough add a tbsp of flour at a time until the dough attains the correct consistency. I have a Sunbeam bread machine and the measurements given above worked perfectly in it.  When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, turn the dough into a lightly oiled surface. Shape it into a loaf and place it in a well greased 9x5 inch  loaf pan. Cover the loaf with a greased plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled 30 to 45 minutes. (I had kept the shaped out dough in the sun and it doubled in 30 minutes but it might take a little longer in  general.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F while the dough is rises the second time (I say second time since the first rising happens in the machine). Once the dough has doubled, mix the maple syrup and oil in a bowl, glaze the dough with half of the mixture, sprinkle the pepitas on top and then brush the surface lightly with the remaining syrup-oil mixture. Now transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. Immediately remove the bread and cool it on a wire rack to prevent the crust from becoming soggy. Slice and enjoy after the loaf has cooled down completely.

This loaf stays fresh without refrigeration for up to three days and I believe it will stay good for a longer time if refrigerated.

More on my experiments soon. Stay warm and have a great week... Cheers !

Yeastspotting this loaf. Also sharing it at the following weekly parties..

Monday Food : Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Inspiration Monday Party, Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party,Mix it up Monday, The Scoop,  Meatless Monday @Veggie Mama's,  Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory, Just Another Meatless Monday @ Hey What's for Dinner Mom

Tuesday Food:  Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations,  Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles, Tasty Tuesday, Hearth and Soul blog Hop

Wednesday Food : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2

Thursday Food: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  

Friday Food: Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes 

100 % Whole Wheat Bread using Tangzhong

Had I not been this excited, I probably would have postponed posting about this awesome loaf until tomorrow. but i wanted to share it with you while the excitement is still on. so here it is for you, my 100 % whole wheat bread using TangZhong or water roux method. 

A while a back I had baked another loaf using the same TangZhong method. Hokkaido Milk Toast. Remember ? even then I had gone gaga over how soft and awesome the loaf was. but that loaf different. it was with all-purpose flour and had a zillion of other things like butter, milk and heavy cream to make it what it was... heavenly.. i would say but you can choose your own adjective.. this loaf on the other hand uses none of those gorgeous stuff... it is a humble loaf made of whole wheat flour, honey, olive oil, some seeds and nuts.. which despite the presence of whole wheat flour is moist and not very dense. (Thanks to TangZhong !) It is a sweetish bread which can be served with soup for a filling but light dinner or simply slathered with butter or jam for a hearty breakfast.

I adapted the recipe from King Arthur Flour and used tips to convert the loaf into a Tangzhong one from Simply a Food Blog. Basically, the idea of the TangZhong method is to mix 1 part of the total flour for the bread with 5 parts of water (by weight) at 65°C (149 °F) to form a paste/wet dough. At 65°C, the gluten in the flour and water mixture absorb the moisture and become leavened. Thus, when the TangZhong is added into other ingredients of a dough, it heightens and produces a fluffier bread. In order to incorporate the TangZhong method into a bread recipe, one simply has to make the Tangzhong with 5% by weight of the total flour and the 5 parts of liquid (by weight) and reduce the flour and liquid in the original recipe by the quantity used to make the TangZhong. Since I do not have a weighing machine i relied on online conversion tools to go back and forth between cups, grams and tablespoon measures of whole wheat flour and at the end did a bit of rounding of figures. I was a little worried, but thankfully the rounding off did not ruin the bread. I ended up with a nice, soft, fluffy loaf which even my little one did not refuse. there isn't anything that i would change about this recipe except maybe i'll glaze it with milk next time. I just forgot to glaze this time.

100 % Whole Wheat Bread Adapted from: King Arthur Flour

ingredients for the TangZhong 2 1/2 tbsp whole wheat flour 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup milk for the dough 3/4 cup (+ 2 tbsp) water 2(+1) tbsps olive oil 1/4 cup honey all of the TangZhong that you prepraed 3 cups Whole Wheat Flour 1/4 cup of a combination of sesame seeds, flax seeds and walnuts 1 1/2 tsp ginger powder 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast   for glaze milk  references  the method (using bread machine) for the TangZhong  Whisk the flour, milk and water together until there were no lumps. then placing the saucepan over medium heat and stirring continuously, cook the roux until it begins to thicken and stable lines begin to form in the TangZhong, about 2-3 minutes. if you have a thermometer cook the TangZhong till it reaches 65 degrees C and then take is off the heat.then switching off the heat let the water roux rest for at least 2-3 hours, until it cools completely.  for the dough Put all the ingredients for the dough in the bread machine pan and program it for the dough cycle. 10-12 minutes down the line, feel the dough with your hand. it should be smooth. add some more flour if it is sticky and a bit of oil or water if it feels lumpy. I used the Sunbeam bread machine and adjusted the quantities of flour, oil and water as mentioned in the brackets.  once the machine beeps at the end of the dough cycle, shape the dough the way you like, place it in a well greased loaf pan, cover and let it rise until doubled in volume, about 1 -1 1/2 hours. (since i love the way the Hokkaido bread looks, i divided the dough into 3 parts and shaped it the same way as my Hokkaido Milk Toast. but that isn't mandatory.) once the dough has proofed, glaze the loaf with milk and bake it in a preheated oven at  375 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, until the surface looks golden brown. let it cool before slicing.  references  references  Revealing the Ultimate Secret of TangZhong, Simply a Food Blog  Hokkaido Milk Toast with TangZhong, Ma Niche

This loaf is being yeastspotted.