Pav Bread

Pav Bread

I have made this pav to have it with misal and it turned out AWESOME. So, thought of sharing the recipe with you all.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all puropse flour
• 2 ¼ tsp instant dry yeast
• 2 tbsp maple syrup(or you can use honey)
• 1 cup warm milk plus 2tbsp water
• 2 heaped tbsp Amul butter( you can use any salted butter)
• 2 tbsp butter to brush the Pav

Method:

• Mix maple syrup  and yeast in luke warm milk and let it sit for 5-7 minutes, until it begins to bubble.
• In another bowl, mix together the amul butter and all-purpose flour.
• Start kneading the dough with 1 cup of yeast-milk mixture until you get a smooth, elastic ball of dough. If it is too dry, add 1 tbsp. water at a time. If it is too wet, add 1 tbsp. flour at a time. I have added 2 tbsp of more water.
•  Coat a big bowl with the tablespoon of oil, drop in the dough, and coat with oil all over. Seal the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.
• Punch air out of dough. Divide the dough into 8 equal sized round balls.
• Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper, almost touching, about 1 inch apart.
• Cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees farheit.  When rolls have risen, brush them generously with butter.
• Bake rolls until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
• Transfer to a cooling rack and cool to serve.

Note:

Instead of salted butter, you can add 2 tbsp of unsalted butter and 1 tbsp salt to the flour.

Pav Bread

Homemade Whole Wheat Pita bread

 I always use to buy these from grocery store, whenever I wanted to make some pita sandwich. Finally, on this weekend I decided to try my hand at making them at home and here’s the result.

They turn out exactly the way they’re supposed to. And they were puffed up like a balloon getting filled with air when baking them in oven. I was getting so excited to see them getting puff up that I made an video of the process.

This pita bread recipe makes soft and fluffy pitas and thousand times better than the store-bought ones. Yeah I know, little bit of work but it’s all worth, the moment you bite one of these. Only disadvantage is whenever I made something at home, I get so used to the fresh and homemade ones, I don’t even touch the ones we get at grocery stores.

You can stuff the pockets with a filling of your choice and your pita sandwich is ready. I have made my pita sandwich with masala chickpeas with some onion-cucumber salad  topped with yogurt sauce…Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ( I have used King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour)
• 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (I have used Indian Sujata Atta)
• 2¼ tsp instant yeast
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1¼ cups warm water
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• Semolina or Cornmeal, for sprinkling

Method:

• In a small bowl, combine the yeast, honey and water and stir gently to dissolve. Let the mixture stand until the yeast comes alive and starts to foam, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Add the olive oil and salt to the yeast-honey-water mixture.
• Dump the flour in a large mixing bowl, slowly adding the yeast mixture , knead the dough until smooth and no longer sticky.
• Shape the dough into a large ball and coat lightly with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Place in a bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size about 1 to 2 hour.
• After the dough has risen,  time to knead back the dough again ,knead it to push all the air out of it.
• Punch down the dough and divide into 8 equal parts. 
• Roll each portion into a smooth ball .
• On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6-inch circle and 1/4 inch thick discs. Transfer the discs to a baking sheet sprinkle with cornmeal. Repeat to complete the rest of the balls.
• Cover the uncooked pita bread with the damp kitchen towel loosely and let them rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or until slightly puffy.
• Meanwhile, heat oven to 500 degrees F and adjust oven rack to lowest position and place a baking sheet or cast iron skillet in oven.
• With a wet hand generously rub the surface of the disc before putting it in oven. This help them to puff up nicely.
• Transfer 1 pita bread on the skillet and bake until puffed and slightly golden in color(Mine took 3-4 minutes approx).Gently flip the pita using a spatula and bake the other side for 1 more minute or so. After couple of pitas on skillet, I used baking sheet to speed up the process and that worked well too.
• Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.  Repeat with the remaining pitas.
• Stuff with your favorite stuffing and enjoy.

Pizza Dough

I love making my own pizza dough, I don’t know I never got comfortable with the store bought ones. Since I can remember, I always make my own and its hardly any diffcult. You just need to throw in some ingredients, knead and let it rise. In couple of hours, you will have your own pizza dough to make a perfect pizza crust. You can also freeze this dough and use it later. Whenever I am making the dough, I always make some exta and freeze some for later use. There’s nothing better than making your own pizza crust and enjoy the goodness every bite.

Everyone has a favorite recipe and have different idea of perfect pizza crust but believe me this is the ultimate pizza crust recipe. After trying countless recipe, I think I am going to stick with this one, hence posting it here……what I love about this recipe is the dough came out so smooth and beautiful. And after baking it, it is crispy on the outside, fluffy and soft on the inside. No matter what kind of crust you what to make, thin or thick it always turned out great. Hence this is the great pizza crust recipe that is fool proof. Try it once and you will never go looking for some other recipe…I know that!!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1  1/2 cup warm water ( about 100 or 110 degree F)
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Yeast showing it's magic!

Method:

• In a small bowl, combine the yeast, honey and water and stir gently to dissolve. Let the mixture stand until the yeast comes alive and starts to foam, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Add the 2 tablespoon of olive oil and salt to the yeast-honey-water mixture.
• Dump the flour in a large mixing bowl, slowly adding the yeast mixture , knead the dough until smotth and no longer sticky.
• Shape the dough into a large ball and coat lightly with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Place in a bowl and cover with a damp towel. Set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size about 1 hour.
• After the dough has risen,  time to Knead back the dough again ,knead it to push all the air out of it.
• Punch down the dough and divide into 3 equal parts. This will make  three 12 inch pizzas.
• At this point, you can use the dough immediately for whatever you had planned. Otherwise, you can freeze it in a frezzer bag for later use.

Whenever you feel like having pizza at home, just take out the dough from the freezer and let it get thaw over the counter for couple of hours, throw in you favorite topping and sauce AND enjoy!! It can’t get any easier than this!! So, try out and enjoy your homemade pizza fresh from the oven. YUM!!

Pizza Recipe:

• 1 Batch Pizza dough
• tomato basil sauce(store bought)
• cooked chicken breast pieces,cubed
• cherry tomatoes(halves), green bell pepper(cubed), yellow bell pepper(cubed), Red onion(cubed), 1 garlic(crushed), 1 teaspoon chilli garlic sauce, 1 teaspoon EVOO, salt to taste.
• grated  mozzarella cheese

While the dough is rising, toss together the veggies in olive oil, salt, crushed garlic, garlic chilli sauce and keep it aside to marinate.

Method:

• Place pizza pan in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to highest temperature of your oven for at least 15 minutes. Shape the dough and transfer to a pizza pan dusted with semolina or cornmeal.  Spread the sauce, then place the marinated veggies on top of sauce. Sprinkle chicken and top with the grated mozzarella cheese.
• Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 12 to 14 minutes.
• Let stand 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Garnish with fresh basil leaves and serve!

Enjoy!!

White Sandwich Bread & Awards!!

Since, I am getting comfortable with yeast, the next thing I wanted to try baking is simple white sandwich bread. The best thing I have learned after couple of fail attempts and couple of success is that you have to be patient while working with yeast. It really takes time to shows its magic. And the outcome will always amazed you. I always considered baking bread would be a whole lot of task but within 2 1/2 hrs, I was done with everything and have put the bread in oven to bake…AMAZING!! Isn’t it??

The best part when you bake your bread is your whole house is filled with freshly baked aroma which is mind-blowing. Anything ‘Home-made’ means you know where your food comes from and what’s in it. Also, you can control the qualities of ingredients going in your food…Win-win!!

This is my favorite recipe and I loved the outcome, it is dense, hearty, crusty yet still moist and fresh. It is delicious with just some butter or jam on side. ahh..simply YUMM!! This recipe is surely a keeper in my house, I hope you guys also try this recipe and love it as much as I do.

Recipe Adapted from browneyedbaker

Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2  1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter,  melted and cooled
• 1 cup 2% milk, warm
• 1/4 cup water, warm
• 1  1/2  teaspoon salt

Method:

• In a bowl, combine milk, water, honey and microwave for 45-47 seconds or until the liquid is luke warm.
• To this fluid add the cooled butter and yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes or until the yeast gets active.
• In another bowl, mix together the salt and all-purpose flour.
• Pour the yeast mixture into bowl of dry ingredients, using a mixer with dough hook, or by hand, knead dough until smooth but not sticky.
• Coat a big bowl with the 1/2 teaspoon of oil, drop in the dough, and coat with oil all over. Seal the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.You’ll know the dough has finished rising when you poke it with your finger and it holds the depression and doesn’t bounce back. At this point, punch down the dough lightly.
• Shape the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick, 4 inches wide, and 9 inch long. The length and width should be approximately the size of your loaf pan. Form it into a loaf by rolling the dough from the length side, pinching the crease with each rotation.  In other words, shape the dough into loaves by stretching around the sides gently and forming a seam at the bottom.
• Place the loaf, seam side down, in a greased loaf pan, the ends of the loaf should touch the ends of the pan. Cover the pan with a kitchen towel and put them in a warm place to rise again for about 30 minutes or until the dough just comes lightly above the rims of the pan.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Bake the bread for 40-45 minutes, or until the crust is well browned.
• When the bread is finished baking, remove it from the loaf pan and cool completely on a rack before slicing and enjoying the slices.

Now comes the award:
I got these awards from Deepa at Hamaree Rasoi..thanks Deepa for sharing the same with me, very kind and sweet of you dear..you are an inspiration, love your blog and recipes..Also, invite you all to visit her sites if you have not done already.

As the rule says, I have to forward these awards to 15 other bloggers to keep the ball rolling. And let the nominated bloggers know about their award. So, here’s goes the name in a random order and  everyone listed below, please accept the awards…Thanks!!

Aipi from US Masala,    Nashira from Plateful,     Ananda from A pinch of Love,    KanKana from Sunshine and Smile,  Sangeetha from Kothiyavunu,   Shobha from Good Food ,   Biny from Binysrecipes, Priya from Priya’s Easy and Tasty Recipes,    Swathi from Zesty South Indian Kitchen ,   Sonia from My Creative Flavors,    Sarah Naveen from @ Vazhayila,   Sushma Mallya from Authentic Food Delight,    Devaki from Weave a Thousand Flavors,   Mary from One Perfect Bite,   Joumana from Taste of Beirut

Pav Bread (White Dinner Rolls)

It took me two attempts to get a beautiful, soft and perfect buns. I had the recipe in memory second time, which is in way great that I didn’t have to look for or write down the ingredients. At my first attempt, I think the dough didn’t rise properly, may be the milk must have got a bit hot and have killed the yeast. This is a very common mistake you can make while working with yeast.

But after working with yeast for couple of times I have figured it out that you just need the temperature of fluid to be about 100 or 110 degrees. So, what I do is just microwave the milk or liquid for 45-47 seconds at max. Since, I  am getting comfortable with yeast, I love working with it. There is something really different and wonderful to see when the yeast shows its magic. I really get excited and happy when I see my dough getting doubled. Anyways, coming back to the dish.

Pav is nothing but white dinner rolls. In Mumbai the most favorite and famous food around the city is associated with Pav. And they are Pav Bhaji and Pav Vada (known more specifically as Vada Pav) . But this time when I made this, it was so soft, perfect and fresh that we had it with butter and some mixed fruit jam…mmmm..simply YUM!

Pav Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoon dry yeast
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup plus 1/4 tablespoon warm milk
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup warm water

Pav Bread

Method:

• Mix sugar and yeast in luke warm water and let it sit for 5-7 minutes, until it begins to bubble.
• In another bowl, mix together the salt and all-purpose flour.
• In a small pan, combine milk and butter, and microwave the same for 45 seconds or until milk is lukewarm.
• Remove 2 tablespoon of milk mixture and keep it aside.
• Add the yeast mixture to milk and mix everything together.
• Pour into bowl of dry ingredients, using a mixer with dough hook, or by hand, knead dough until smooth but not sticky..
•  Coat a big bowl with the tablespoon of oil, drop in the dough, and coat with oil all over. Seal the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.
• Punch air out of dough. Divide the dough into 10-11 equal sized round balls.
• Place on baking sheet almost touching, about 1/4 inch apart.
• Cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, heat oven to 425 degrees.  When rolls have risen, brush them with reserved butter and milk liquid.
• Bake rolls until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
• Transfer to a cooling rack and cool to serve.

Pav Bread

Naan

Naan is a thick flat indian bread, which is cooked in a tandoor. Tandoor is a clay oven used in cooking and baking, this commonly used in South and middle eastern Asian countries. The heat for tandoor is traditionally generated by a charcoal fire or wood fire, inside the tandoor itself and the food is cooked exposing to live-fire. It really gives a wonderful and rustic smell to the food.

Naan is typically made by mixing all-purpose flour with salt, yeast culture and yogurt to make a smooth, elastic dough. Every Indian restaurants serves this flat bread with different exotic side dishes.

Naan

I wanted to make naan at home since long, but some or the other way it didn’t happen. So, when I saw this posting at Soma’s blog, I couldn’t resist any further.. Hence decided to make some naan for ourselves.

Naan

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 warm water
• 1 teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 5 1/2 tablespoon thick yogurt

Method:

•  Mix active dry yeast and honey in lukewarm water and let it sit for 5-7 minutes or until the mixture becomes frothy.
•  Add salt and baking soda to the flour and mix well. Add the oil and yogurt  to the flour and combine everything together.After incorporating the ingredients you will have a crumbly dough.
•  Now slowly add the water/yeast mixture and knead the dough until it is smooth and soft. Coat a big bowl with olive oil, drop in the dough, and turn it to oil it all over. Seal the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.
•  Punch down the risen dough and knead briefly. Gently press and stretch it into an evenly flat round and divide the dough into 5 equal triangles.
•  Brush the top slightly with oil and keep aside to rise once again.
•  When you ready to serve, heat a heavy bottom flat pan over high heat.Roll each slice in triangle-shaped bread and brush one side with water and place the water side down on to the skillet.
• Cover with a lid immediately. You will see the top of the naan bubbling because of the steam getting gathering inside. After a minute or so, flip naan to other side and let it cook for few seconds and then with help of tongs expose the side to direct flame and cook for half a second or so or until you get some desired burned flames marks.
• Brush butter on the naan and sprinkle some nigella seeds and finely chopped cilantro leaves on top.  Keep it in a foil lined with kitchen towel. Cover the foil and follow the same method to complete the rest of the slices.
• Serve hot with  dish of your choice. Enjoy!!

Naan