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Thursday, 12 June 2014

Spinach and Corn Swirl Buns

The Smell of Bread....


Freshly baked bread, or still in the oven bread....I swear if there were a bread scented air freshener, i'll probably buy it and spray it in the whole house every day...

We all love the smell of baking goodies in the kitchen, but I believe that its the smell of oven fresh bread that pulls us into a bakery which we initially had no intention of entering and were just going to pass by it.
There is something really satisfying about making bread at home. And the best part with making bread is that your base recipe remains more or less the same, and you can change the form in which its made and voila, you have more than 50 different dishes (thank you artisan bread in 5).
This recipe is kind of like a savory relative of the cinnamon rolls, and you can put whatever filling you want inside.
I choose a spinach, corn and cheese stuffing this time, for a change, coz i usually end up putting pizza toppings or something similar in most of my savory bread, and i wanted something different this time.
Its the best snack you can make for your kids, and yourself...they will even eat up the spinach without making a face.

Best rolls ever


Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup ground oats
1 tbsp yeast
1 tsp salt
1 cup luke warm water
2 eggs
¼ cup sugar or less
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp oregano 
1 tsp dried basil

For filling:-
12 - 15 spinach leaves
1/2 cup of boiled sweet corn
cheese spread of your choice
Mozzerella cheese
chilli flakes
pepper
oregano
basil
sesame seeds for topping 
melted butter for topping

Method:
Soak the yeast in half of the lukewarm water with some dissolved sugar.(keep in a warm place)
mix all the dry ingredients. add the rest of the ingredients, mix with a spoon, and bring together with your hands, you may have to wet your hands a bit.
and keep for proving for two hours, in a cool dry place. If you are using the dough the same day then remove as much as required and shape. you can store the rest in an airtight container in the fridge, or you can even freeze it if you want.
Here is the secret to getting the right texture for the buns. You need to fold the dough over a few times and get that gluten all linked up and excited. Just 3 or 4 turns will do the trick, an extra 30 seconds of work will make all the difference.
let the dough rest for 10 - 15 minutes. Once the dough is ready, roll it to 1/4-inch thick rectangle.
Spread the cheese spread on your dough.
Spread the spinach leaves and corn kernels. Sprinkle with pepper, chilli flakes, oregano, and basil. Cover with thin slices of mozzarella cheese. Roll into a log and cut into 8 - 10 pieces.
Arrange with rolled side on top in a baking tray and allow to rest for half an hour to 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter ans sprinkle with sesame seeds, oregano and basil.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.


healthy and tasty !!!

Thursday, 5 June 2014

Barazeq (Sesame Cookies)

Nutty delights

slightly chewy, slightly crunchy...these biscuits have a lovely earthy,nutty texture and flavor.
These are classic Arabic style cookies loaded with pistachios, which gives them that distinct flavor that can be found in almost every bakery in the gulf.
i knnow i know, i'm reminiscing about the gulf again (i'm sorry but i can't help it), although the first time i actually tried these cookies was after i shifted back to India. Someone had brought us tray of these sesame crusted cookies from Abu Dhabi, and after my first bite into the cookie, i knew i had to try making it.
so as usual and googled various recipes until i found one which looked easily doable. although i still made a few changes to fit my liking better. this recipe doesn't exactly recreate the same flavours that you get from a traditional labanese bakery, but it was still pretty good, and everyone at home enjoyed them.



Ingredients:
200g sesame seeds
120 g pistachio
120 g plain flour
160 g semolina flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
65 g ghee
1 medium sized egg
70 gm castor sugar
a pinch of salt

Method:
mix ghee, egg sugar and salt together until smooth and creamy.
combine, flour, semolina and baking powder together. sift this into the ghee mixture, combine to form a soft dough. set aside.
coarsly chop pistachios an keep in a plate. keep sesame seeds in a seperate bowl
take some dough (1/2 tbsp) and shape into a ball. drop the ball into the pistachios and coat half the ball in pistachios, then transfer into the sesame seeds. gently press so that the sesame seeds will adhere.
place onto a lined baking tray, sesame side up. gently press it flat with a fork
repeat with the rest of the dough.
bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees C for 15 minutes or until done, cool on a wire rack ad store in an airtight container.


Rustic goodness !!!
is