Wheat Flax Sandwich Bread

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One of my most recent appliance purchase has been a bread machine. I had been wanting to buy one for a while and a couple of months back I picked up the bread machine when it was on sale. Usually I read reviews and make sure of the features of the appliances I buy, this time I made an impulse purchase. So far I haven't had any reason to regret my impulse :) Keeping my fingers crossed that it will remain the same in the future too:)

Since I got the machine I have been making bread almost once every week. One of the downsides of the machine that I noticed was it leaves a hole at the bottom of the bread because of the kneading paddle. That hole bugs me quite a bit,  so I end up using the dough cycle, and bake the bread in a conventional oven. This way I do not have to contend with the hole and it saves me time and effort of kneading and proofing the yeast etc. A win win in my book :)

Since I got the machine, I have used it to make this wheat flax sandwich bread most frequently. Initially I played around with the proportions of different flours and even experimented with using bread flour. But this recipe has worked out the best for us in terms of taste and texture. We just love this bread, whether I use it in sandwiches similar to this one, or even just toasted with some mixed fruit jam, this bread tastes very good and has become our new favorite :-)



Here is the close up view of the bread....



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Ingredients and Method to make Wheat Flax Sandwich bread
1 1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/4 cup powdered flax (alsi/ ali virai)
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
2 cups whole wheat flour (atta/godumai maavu)
3 tbsp oat bran (see notes)
1 1/2 tbsp bread machine yeast (see notes)

a few drops of oil to grease loaf pan (optional)(see notes)

Place all the contents in the bread machine pan in the order specified in your owners manual. Mine states all the liquid ingredients first, then the dry ingredients and lastly the yeast. (If you do not want to use the bread machine see notes)
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Set the bread machine to the dough cycle. When done, remove fold down gently and place in the prepared loaf pan. Allow to rise until it doubles.

Preheat oven to 375 deg
Place the loaf pan in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 mins or until the bread turns a golden brown color and when you tap it, makes a little hollow sound.
Remove, cool, slice and serve :)

Notes
If you do not have oat bran it can be substituted with equal quantity of whole wheat flour
If you do not have a bread machine and want to make this bread by hand, then substitute bread machine yeast with equal quantity of active dry yeast and use this post for the steps of making bread.Just follow the steps from this post with the proportions given in this recipe and proceed.

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Vegan Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

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Regular readers of this site have probably noticed that basic whole wheat sandwich bread has been in my upcoming posts for months. I am not quite sure why I procrastinated so long to post this. There always seemed to be just one other post that had to be posted first and somehow this bread had to wait this long :-(
Some of you expressed an interest in seeing this post soon, so I decided that I would not put it off any more and finally got to it.

Using flour with the right amount of protein is very important to give bread a good rise and good texture. That is why cake flours and some other type of flours cannot be used in bread making on its own because they lack protein content. Gluten is a substance made up of proteins that gives bread its structure, texture and strength. I was aware that vital wheat gluten was available in stores and could be added to bread to give it a good rise. This bread is the first one that I experimented with adding wheat gluten to it. It really does make a difference, the bread rose beautifully.

I have made this bread many times since the first time and even made it once with white wheat flour instead of whole wheat flour ( read more about white wheat flour in this post). If you have used white wheat flour, you know that it does not have much protein and tends to be light. Yet adding gluten to that bread helped so much that I got a really soft yet well risen bread with good texture. I have included a picture of the white wheat version below the whole wheat version picture, so you can compare and see how it worked out with each flour.

 


This is how the bread turned out when I tried it with white wheat flour.....



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Ingredients and Method to make Basic whole wheat bread
3 cups whole wheat flour ( I used regular whole wheat flour )
1/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)
3 tbsp vital wheat gluten (optional see notes)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water + 1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup oil + 1 tsp oil

In a large bowl, add whole wheat flour, salt, vital wheat gluten, all purpose flour and mix well.
Grease a loaf pan and keep aside. 

To half cup of warm water add sugar and active dry yeast and allow the yeast to rise for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Add yeast water completely to the dry flour and then the other 1 cup of warm water a little at a time and knead to form a non sticky dough.Add oil and continue to knead for another few minutes. Knead the dough for at least 7 to 10 mins, as this helps to strengthen the gluten which gives the bread structure and texture.  Keep bowl covered and allow the dough to rise for about an hour.
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Gently flatten the dough, folding it down a few times and place in the loaf pan.Cover with tea towel or damp kitchen cloth or tissue and allow to rise for another hour. 

Pre heat oven to 375 deg F. Remove the tea towel/cloth and place the loaf pan in pre heated oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until browned on top and sounds hollow when you tap it. I used a 5 X 9 size glass loaf pan.

Cool, slice and serve. Tastes best fresh or within a day or two of baking.

Notes
If you have flour that is specially marked as bread flour then you can skip the gluten if you choose, since bread flour usually has higher content of protein and does not need the additional gluten. If you use half all purpose flour and half whole wheat bread flour, then you can use half the quantity of gluten specified above since all purpose flour has lesser protein content than whole wheat flour.

If you use white wheat flour or any other lighter flours with less protein content, than use the entire quantity of wheat gluten so that it gives you a good rise and good texture.

If you want to make this bread in the bread machine, you can follow the instructions of the bread machine manufacturer for the order, mine says liquids first, then flours, then salt, sugar and yeast. Just substitute bread machine yeast for active dry yeast. If you do not like the hole that the bread machine leaves at the bottom of your bread, just use the dough cycle and place in a pre greased loaf tin and bake in pre heated oven as mentioned above.

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Savory Tomato Wheat Bread Rolls

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Now that spring is here, I have been wanting to plant some herbs in containers and enjoy some fresh herbs in summer months. So every chance I get, I visit the local garden center to check out their herb selection. On my last trip there I came across a very unique herb called culantro. No I did not misspell cilantro (coriander leaves) , I really came across something called culantro.

At first I thought that there was some mistake, I have never heard of any herb called culantro before. But the description of the herb said that culantro was stronger and more fragrant than cilantro and could be used in salads. Its leaves also looked like a thicker version of cilantro leaves. I am really curious about this herb, so I just wanted to check with my readers to see if any of you have used it so far and if you have what are your impressions of this herb, is it really a lot like cilantro, do let me know :)

Moving on, usually when I plan to make soup, I always have some type of bread to go with it. Mostly it is store bought bread, but sometimes I end up baking bread myself. Last week when I wanted to make some bread to go with soup, I thought of trying tomato bread. I guess I was in somewhat of a playful mood so I ended up giving fun shapes to the dough before baking and I enjoyed the bread both for its taste and its shapes :-)
Update: Since a lot of you have sent me emails on shaping the dough, I have updated this post with the method to shape dough at the bottom in the notes section.




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Ingredients and Method to make Tomato Wheat Bread Rolls

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp red chili powder (or to taste)

1 1/2 cups of warm water
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
3 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp oil + a few more drops of oil to apply on dough

In a large bowl, add the first four ingredients and mix well.

In a small bowl add 1/2 cup warm water, add sugar and yeast to it and let it sit for five to ten minutes until it gets frothy.

Dilute tomato paste in 2 to 3 tbsp of warm water, and add it to the flour mixture. Add yeast + water to the flour mixture as well. Adding the balance of warm water as required knead to form a soft and non sticky dough.
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Add oil and knead once more. Coat the dough with a few drops of oil. Place dough in a large container, cover it and place in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours.

Line a baking tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper and keep aside.

After two hours gently fold down the dough and knead gently a few times. Divide dough into small sized balls and place in the tray about an inch apart or give it some shape.
Update: I have added instructions on shaping the dough below in the notes section.  If you have any further questions on shaping then please contact me.

Keep the tray covered with a slightly damp kitchen tissue or tea towel in a warm place for about an hour or so.


Pre heat oven to 375 deg F.

Place tray in oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the rolls turn golden and lower side browns slightly.

Serve hot with soup of choice or use to make sandwiches.

Yield will depend on the size of the rolls.

These rolls are off to the weekly yeastspotting event

Notes:
For braiding the tomato buns,after the first rise of two hours gently fold down the dough. If you want to braid all of the dough, then divide the dough into 3 parts. Shape the three parts of dough into thin ropes. Join the 3 ropes of dough at the top. Then braid as you would do for hair, in the sense, in alternate turns bring each rope to the center. continue until all the dough is used up, then press together at the bottom to join it. Let this rise for an hour or so , then bake.

For the wheel like shape, roll the dough and flatten it slightly, then score straight lines with a dull knife making sure not to press too much into the dough from the center like spokes of a wheel. Again allow to rise for an hour and bake.

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Vegan Orange Cranberry Wheat Bread

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For some time now I have been wanting to try different egg substitutes that I haven't used yet, to see what kind of results I get with each of them. Usually my default egg substitute is flax, because it is both healthy and works as a great binding agent in bakes. In the past I have also used corn starch, soy flour, bananas and other fruit purees as egg substitutes successfully.

I came upon a reference to apple cider vinegar as an egg substitute in some book some time back, but I am not able to recall the name of the book and decided to give it a try in this bread. I loved how the vinegar gave the bread a very light and airy texture which was great but just vinegar by itself is not too much of a binding agent and resulted in a more crumbly bread.

So for my second try, I made this bread with both flax and apple cider vinegar and it worked out perfectly. If you liked this Orange flavored oatmeal bar then you will surely like this bread too, so go ahead give this one a try, it is really quite simple to make despite its long list of ingredients that  make it seem quite daunting:-)




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Ingredients and Method to make Orange cranberry wheat bread

Dry Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup whole white wheat flour ( Read more about this flour here)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp powdered dried orange (optional) (see notes)
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp orange essence

In place of 1 egg
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar+ 1 tbsp oil + 1 tsp baking powder (whisked together)

In place of the second egg
1 tbsp flax seeds/alsi + 3 tbsp water (flax seeds powdered fine and whisked together with 3 tbsp water)

a few extra drops of oil to grease the loaf pan

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a loaf pan and keep aside.

In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well.

Powder 1 tbsp flax seeds in a spice grinder and whisk it with 3 tbsp water and let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl mix together orange juice, orange essence and oil.

Then whisk together apple cider vinegar+ oil + baking powder together and add to this mixture.

Add the flax seeds + water mixture to this and mix well.

Quickly add this entire wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix in gently with a spatula.

The resultant mixture looks lumpy and just enough wet.

Pour this mixture into pre greased loaf pan, place in oven and bake for 35 to 40 mins until toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes clean.

Remove from oven and cool thoroughly before slicing and serving. Use within a couple of days. Refrigerate or freeze the balance of the bread if you will not use it up within a couple of days.

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 Notes

I regularly keep a stock of sliced oranges dried in the oven at 200 deg F for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, read more on how to do this here So for this recipe, I just powdered one such slice and added it to the dry ingredients for a more orangey flavor. The earlier time I made this I tried it with only 1 tsp orange essence for flavor and it worked well too, so the powdered dried orange is entirely optional.

The first time I made this I used just apple cider vinegar, oil and baking powder to replace eggs and found that the resulting bread was quite crumbly so I would suggest using at least one tbsp of flax + water and not replacing both eggs with apple cider vinegar + oil combination.

This bread turned out soft fluffy and just right as far as moisture is concerned for me. If you want to have a more moist bread, replace apple cider vinegar + oil mixture with another tbsp of flax seeds + 3 tbsp of water,to be powdered and whisked with water, as has been described earlier.

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Vegan Apple Carrot Zucchini Whole Wheat bread

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Thanks to my hectic schedule these past few months, any type of baking has taken a back seat. But with cooler weather and the festive season both arriving, I could not resist the lure of my oven any longer. The thought of my kitchen filled with wonderful fragrances from baking kept swirling through my mind and finally I gave up and decided to bake something immediately.

I had bought some whole white wheat flour some time back as I had heard good things about it and heard that it gave a lighter texture to breads and cakes as compared to regular whole wheat flour. I decided to try using this flour in an apple carrot zucchini bread and I loosely based my recipe on this one . I added a little barley flour, reduced the sugar and increased the quantity of apple to bring some more natural sweetness. The resulting bread was so soft, moist and delicious that it has been disappearing quickly and I know I am going to make a second batch soon. This would make an excellent breakfast bread, but would taste just as good as a snack with tea or an anytime snack. I believe that the picture I was able to take does not do enough justice to this bread, trust me it tasted far better than it looks :-)

 

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Ingredients and method to make Apple carrot zucchini whole wheat bread

1 cup white whole wheat flour (see notes for substitutions)
1/2 cup barley flour (see notes for substitutions)
1/2 cup all purpose flour (see notes)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup walnut pieces
1 cup grated carrot (from 2 medium carrots)
1 cup peeled and grated zucchini (from 2 medium sized zucchini)
2 cup cored and grated apple (from 2 red apples) (see notes)

4 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax/ alsi) + 12 tbsp water
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 375 deg F

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients (items 1 through 9) well and add grated carrots, grated zucchini and grated apple and mix well.

In a separate bowl whisk together flax seed meal + water until the mixture blends together a bit and becomes slightly gelatinous.

Mix oil to this and pour the entire oil+ flax seed mixture on the dried flour+ fruits mixture and mix gently.

Grease one large bread loaf tin or dish or two mini loaves tin or dishes and pour this mixture into it slowly.

Bake at 375 deg F for about 30 to 45 minutes for a large loaf or 20 to 35 minutes for mini loaves or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Cool thoroughly, slice and serve. This makes a great breakfast bread or a healthy snack for tea time or any other time

Refrigerate the balance of the bread and use within a few days.

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If you plan to keep for long you can freeze the balance of the bread and thaw it, warm it in the microwave and serve

Notes

The whole wheat flour mentioned above is not bleached whole wheat flour but unbleached flour made out of white whole wheat. This flour has a slightly lighter feel than regular whole wheat flour so the resulting bread is more airy and light.

If you do not want to use either white whole wheat flour or barley flour you can use either all purpose flour (maida) entirely or half regular whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour adding up to 2 cups of flour.

Instead of grating apple, you can also peel, core and cut the apple into small pieces.

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Oat Pav (Bread)

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Since I have already mentioned what a pav is in this post , I will not go into it again. This rustic Indian bread has a special place in our hearts and I love the texture and softness of this bread. Unfortunately the all purpose flour does not satisfy the health conscious part of my mind and the wheat version does not completely satisfy R's taste buds. With the intention of satisfying both our requirements and making a healthier version of pav, I thought of adding oats to it.

The good thing about adding oats in breads is that it does not make the bread too dense or interfere with the taste of the bread, both of which I feel wheat does, so I like to experiment with oats in my bakes more than wheat. It also helps that oats is an amazing super food and I keep looking for as many ways to include this grain in our diet. I was amazed at how perfect the pav tasted and this one turned out special because it satisfied both my health consciousness and R's taste buds, in short, a real winner :-)

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Ingredients and method to make Oat Pav

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (maida)

1/2 cup oat flour (rolled oats powdered in spice grinder until fine) (store bought oat flour would work just as well)

1/2 cup quick cooking steel cut oats

1 tsp salt

1 cup warm water

3 tsp sugar

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

2 1/2 tsp unsalted butter + a little additional butter to brush on top of the bread

+ 2 additional tsp unsalted butter (optional)

This bread works slightly differently from the usual breads in the sense the kneading is done after 30 minutes of mixing all the ingredients. This lets the steel cuts oats soak up some of the moisture and become a little more soft and cooked.

In a large bowl, mix all purpose flour, oat flour, steel cut oats and salt and keep aside.

In a small bowl add warm water and add sugar and yeast to it and let the yeast rise for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Add this warm water +sugar + yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix well . This will be a little sticky at this point. Let this sit for about 30 mins.

After 30 minutes add butter (at least 2 1/2 tsp of butter + additional 2 tsp of butter if you are using it ) to this dough and knead well until the dough is soft and non sticky. Add a little flour if required (I did not need additional flour)

Let this dough rise for about an hour.

When the dough has doubled in size, gently fold it down and divide the dough into large lemon size rolls.

Line a baking sheet/ tray with parchment paper and place the divided dough about 1/2 an inch apart.

Cover this with a moist kitchen tissue and let it rise for another hour.

Pre heat oven to 375 deg F.

When the divided dough has risen and doubled in size, you will find that the dough is joined at the ends.

Place the baking sheet/ tray in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until the tops of the bread begin to brown.

Remove from oven and brush with a little butter on the top of the bread and place back in the oven and bake an additional 5 minutes.

Remove and serve hot with either bhaji (mixed spiced vegetables) for pav bhaji or use in sandwiches or burgers

This healthier version of pav is off to Madhuram's Low fat baking event

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Oat Banana Bread with Condensed Milk

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Its been a while since I baked anything, so the sight of three over ripe bananas in my fruit bowl failed to evoke the usual feelings of guilt I feel when I see over ripe bananas. Why guilt you wonder? well....... somehow having over ripe bananas makes me feel guilty because I feel responsible for not having consumed these bananas, or put them to some use before they got to this stage. This time though it actually made me feel some anticipation as I was cooking up ideas in my head as to what bakes I would try with these bananas.

After discarding the ideas of muffins and cakes (too much butter and sugar in each of these to make me happy) I finally settled on wanting to make banana bread....again :-)    Only I wanted to try something different from the types of banana bread I have made in the past. As is often the case with me, I was unable to find time to research out a good recipe for the same. So I did what I do when I lack time, I just made up the recipe as I went along and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.The bread turned out soft, moist, fluffy and sufficiently sweet and I am looking forward to having ripe bananas soon so that I can make another round of this bread.

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Ingredients and Method to make Oat Banana Bread with condensed milk

1 cup rolled oat flour (See notes)

1 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder (aluminum free) , 

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

3 large ripe bananas (yielded 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas)

3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk (sweetened evaporated milk)

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup milk

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F

Grease a bread loaf pan made with metal or glass with a drop or two of oil and keep aside.

Mix oat flour, AP flour and Whole wheat flour in a large bowl. Add to this salt, soda, baking powder and cinnamon powder and mix well.

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Add condensed milk to this mixture and stir it in slowly. Add mashed bananas and mix it in to this mixture.

Add oil, milk and essence and mix well. The mixture should be of dropping consistency.

Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and level it gently.

Place the pan into the oven and bake for about 35 to 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Cool, slice and serve.

Notes

I just processed rolled oats in my spice grinder until it yielded me fine flour. You can use store bought oat flour for this bread too .

If you like your bread very sweet like cake, then you can increase the condensed milk to 1 cup and do not have to add 1/4 cup of milk.

Update: This picture is from a subsequent time I made it when I baked the bread in a bundt pan. It takes a little less time to bake when baked in a bundt pan but not much, about 5 to 6 minutes less. 

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Spiced Sweet Potato Rolls

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As I mentioned in my earlier post , sweet potatoes are power houses of nutrition and I try my level best to find new ways to include this wonderful food in our diet. Since the inclusion of sweet potato in Roti's (Indian flat bread) enhanced the softness and texture of the roti, I was very keen to try using sweet potato in a bread roll. I was curious to see if the sweet potato enhanced the softness and texture of bread too. When I found exactly two sweet potatoes left in my potato basket, I thought this would be a great way to use them up. 

So I started out on these rolls and was very pleased with the outcome. The bread was soft and chewy and the sweet potatoes did really seem to improve the texture of the bread, in addition, the inclusion of cumin, black pepper and red pepper saved the bread from turning bland and made it far more interesting. Though this bread tasted great in sandwiches and as a side for soups, I enjoyed it just on its own too, with nothing added to it. For some true fusion, try this with some hot and spicy chutney applied to it or use it instead of your regular burger buns.

Some more views of the rolls.......

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Ingredients and Method to make the spiced sweet potato rolls

3/4 cup oat flour ( I processed rolled oats in the spice grinder to a fine powder, you can use store bought oat flour too)

1 cup whole wheat flour ( atta)

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1 1/2 tsp quick rise yeast ( See Notes)

2 tsp brown sugar 

1/2 cup warm water

2 medium sized sweet potatoes (yielded about 3/4 cup of cooked and mashed potatoes)

1 1/4 tsp salt

4 tsp flax seed meal ( see notes) (optional)

1/2 tsp dry crushed red pepper (or according to taste) (optional)

3 1/2 tbsp olive oil (or any other oil)

Dry grind

1 tsp cumin seeds

pinch of carom seeds (ajwain) (optional)

1/4 tsp whole black pepper

A little butter or smart balance for brushing on top (optional)

In a large bowl mix together oat flour, whole wheat flour, salt , wheat germ, flax seed meal and keep aside.

In the microwave, cook the sweet potatoes with the skin until soft and slightly shriveled ( I placed the sweet potatoes in a large microwave safe bowl with a little water and cooked on high for about 3 to 4 minutes turning the potatoes around every minute) Cool the sweet potatoes and remove the skin. Mash the potatoes and keep aside.

In the spice grinder or blender dry grind the cumin seeds, carom seeds ( if you are using it) and whole black pepper until powdered reasonably fine. You can grind it coarse if you like to taste the bite of the spices in your bread. Add the ground mixture into the bowl with the dry flours and mix well.

Add the crushed red pepper if you plan to use it to the dry flour mixture and mix well.

In a small bowl add warm water and mix in the sugar and yeast into the water and keep aside.

When the yeast froths up, usually takes about 5 minutes pour the water + yeast mixture into the bowl with all the dry ingredients. 

Add the cooked sweet potatoes to this mixture as well and knead well until the dough is soft, pliable and non sticky. (about 5 to 6  minutes)

Add olive oil (reserve 1/2 tbsp) and continue to knead the dough (for about 2 to 3 minutes)

Apply reserved 1/2 tbsp olive oil to the dough and keep the dough covered in a warm place to rise for an hour.

After an hour when the dough has doubled, gently flatten the dough, knead a few times and divide the dough into eight equal sections.

Line a baking sheet/ tray with parchment paper and keep aside.

Roll each of the eight sections of dough, slightly flatten it and place on the lined tray about an inch or more apart.

Cover the tray and place it in a warm place for about another hour or so.

Preheat oven at 375 deg F

Bake for 15 mins or until done. Remove from oven brush some butter or smart balance on top and bake again for another 2 minutes.

Serve hot with soup of choice, or use this bread to make sandwiches or burgers.

Refrigerate the balance and use within a couple of days. Warm the bread after removing from refrigerator before use

Yielded 8 rolls

Notes:

The sweet potatoes contain moisture too, so I have used only 1/2 cup warm water and between the two there was enough moisture to bind and form the dough.

I used quick rise yeast instead of active dry yeast since I ran out of active dry yeast.I have found rapid rise yeast to be more potent and much more stronger, so I used less of it. You can easily use active dry yeast in its place. Just use about 2 tsp of active dry yeast instead of rapid rise yeast for the above proportions and proceed with the rest of the steps given.

The flax seed meal is not used as a substitute for eggs in this recipe, just used to make the bread healthy ,so it can be omitted if you do not want to add it. 

The bread was very very mildly spiced, so if you like more heat then you can increase the quantity of whole black pepper or crushed red pepper according to taste.

These rolls are off to the Think Spice- Think Pepper event being hosted by Divya originally started by Sunita 

These rolls are also off to the Yeastspotting event being hosted by Susan

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Pesto Pizza with Oat Wheat Crust

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Oat and Oat flour are fast becoming my favorite resource in baking breads. Oats,  in addition to being ultra healthy, add such a wonderful texture to bread. Also unlike whole wheat flour, oat flour does not seem to make the bread too dense and makes it easier to make bread healthier without compromising on the lightness of the bread. 

After having experimented with oat flour in loaf bread a few times, I thought of trying oat flour in pizza crust. I have also been wanting to try the idea of adding a small amount of cornmeal to the pizza crust, since I read somewhere, that doing so,  makes the crust a little more crunchy. The verdict....the pizza crust turned out fantastic, we loved it even more than the whole wheat crust I regularly make. The crust was slightly crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, just the way I like  it:-)    Try this if you are looking for a healthier alternative to the all purpose flour crust but find the whole wheat a little too dense for  your liking.

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Ingredients and method for the crust

1 1/4 cup oat flour (I powdered Rolled Oats in my spice jar of my blender to get flour)

1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)

1 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1 tbsp active dry yeast

2 heaped tbsp cornmeal

1 tsp sugar

3 tbsp olive oil

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp Italian seasoning (optional)

3/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

For the pizza

2 tbsp pesto 

toppings according to choice (I used onions, mushrooms, bell pepper)

Crushed red pepper (according to taste) (Optional)

Shredded pizza blend cheese (a combination of cheddar and mozzarella) (according to taste) 

Mix the oat flour, wheat flour, all purpose flour, cornmeal, salt and Italian seasoning in a large bowl and keep aside

Place warm water in  a bowl add active dry yeast and sugar to it and mix well. Keep aside for about 5 to 10 minutes until it froths up.

Pour this water and warm milk as needed to knead into a soft pliable dough. Knead for about ten minutes.

Add olive oil to this and knead again for a few minutes.

Keep covered in a warm place for about an hour to an hour and a half. (I place this in my oven with the light on)

Remove, punch down gently and knead again for a minute or two and divide the dough into three parts and keep covered in a warm place to rise again.

Pre heat oven to 425 deg F

Roll the dough to required thickness and apply pesto sauce.

Top with toppings of choice and finally add grated cheese

Bake in oven for about 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese on top is melted and beginning to brown slightly.

Remove, cut into wedges and serve  hot.

This yielded me about 3 eight inch crusts of medium thickness.

Notes

You can use store bought oat flour instead of grinding rolled oats.

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Pav (Bread) for a good cause

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For a while now I have been wanting to make pav ( an Indian version of bread).Pav refers to a simple and humble version of bread that is made in India and is sold at bakeries all over, in addition you have "Pav wallahs " as they are known in Bombay, go from street to street on the bicycle selling this bread in addition to other goodies from their bakeries like nankhatai (an Indian cookie). This bread is used for a lot of fast food/ street food goodies  like Vada pav (Vada is spiced potatoes dipped in batter and fried and placed between (Pav) bread with some spices/chutney to further spice it up) and Pav bhaji ( a  yum combination of bread and mixed vegetables served with a dollop of butter) Pav is different from the regular dinner roll as it is not very sweet and tends to have a more chewy quality to it, I often feel it resembles the ciabatta bread but has a softer feel to it.



Ning  from Heart and Hearth tagged me to participate in a very worthwhile event by  Breadline Africa.This tag served as a motivation for me to get around to making this pav. This tag is also a challenge, and the challenge is to do something that you do not do normally, and baking this pav definitely qualifies on two levels, one I have never baked pav before, so it is definitely  different from my usual baking. Additionally I never bake with all purpose flour , but this time I decided to make an exception, I thought this tag provided the perfect excuse to bake with all purpose flour :-)   For pav recipes I used refered to Cham's recipe of pav here  and to Jugalbandi's recipe of pav here  and came up with a slightly modified version of my own which I give below.

I made two versions of this pav one completely with all purpose flour and the other partially with whole wheat flour and partially with all purpose flour. The breads turned out soft and perfect.The only thing I thought I would change was to make smaller pav the next time and keep them closer on the baking tray to get the squarish shape that pav is normally associated with. I thought both versions were very tasty but mostly I was relieved as I normally am after making bread, that the yeast did not fail to work and that the bread actually rose as it should :-) 

I would in turn like to pass on this tag to Divya  , Curry Leaf  , Navita , Karuna and Sukanya 

Click here for a printable view of this recipe 

Ingredients and Method to make Pav/ Bread

All purpose flour pav

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour 

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk (or warm water, see notes below)

1 and 1/2 tsp sugar

3 tsp active dry yeast

2 Tbsp melted butter ( or oil for a vegan version)

a little additional butter (or for a vegan version, use non diary butter) to apply on top of the bread

For the whole wheat flour pav I substituted all purpose flour with 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour + 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour and proceeded in the same manner as below

Mix sugar and yeast in warm water and keep aside for a few minutes until it froths up

In a large mixing bowl, mix the all purpose flour and salt and keep aside.

Add the yeast  and warm milk to the all purpose flour and knead to make a soft and smooth dough.

Add melted butter (or smart balance) to this and knead some more until the dough is soft and non sticky and smooth. Knead totally for about 10 minutes

Place this dough in a greased container and keep covered with plastic wrap or tea towel and keep aside for the dough to rise (approximately one hour)

Grease a baking tray and keep aside.

When the dough has risen (should be double) punch it down gently and make equal sized balls with the dough and place it on the baking tray about 1/2 an inch apart.

Cover with a plastic wrap and let rise for another hour. 

Preheat oven to 375 deg F.

After the dough has risen the second time (notice that the bread is joined at the ends), place the baking tray in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the bread is baked to a nice brown color on top.

Remove from oven, when you tap the top of the bread it will be a little hard and sound a bit hollow, apply a little butter/smart balance on top and bake for another couple of minutes.

Remove, pull apart and serve with vegetables as pav bhaji or with soup or just enjoy one warm from the oven with a little butter or jam

Updated Notes

For a more authentic pav or a vegan version use only water and skip the milk.

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Simple and Quick Whole Wheat Pizza

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The first time I made pizza from scratch including the crust was a long time back. In those halcyon college days when everything seemed adventurous and lack of ingredients or the long process involved did not faze me or my cousin who used to hang out with me and who joined me in my kitchen adventures.The first step in making the pizza involved a trip to various stores around our block armed with a long list of ingredients that included basics such as all purpose flour, yeast and marinara sauce, since all of these items were completely absent from my pantry in those days. My oven at that time was a tiny space ship shaped portable oven that had a small circular glass on the top that we would keep looking into to see how the baking was proceeding. Maybe it was beginners luck or maybe it was because we followed the recipe to the letter but our first attempt at pizza itself was a wonderful success.We thoroughly enjoyed both making and having it :-)



After that one time of making pizza from scratch, pizza has always meant either dine in or to go, until recently when I started making my own pizza base again.  After several attempts and experiments with varying  different quantities of flours, I now have a version that has become my go to version for whole wheat pizza.
Updated to add: I have now included bread machine instructions at the bottom of the recipe



Click here for a printable view of this recipe

For the crust.
2 and 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (atta)
3/4 cup all purpose flour (maida) (see notes)
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten flour (optional, see notes)
2 heaped tbsp cornmeal (makkai ka atta)
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Italian seasoning (optional)
a little extra cornmeal for dusting.

For the toppings
Marinara sauce as required
choice of toppings (about 1 cup per pizza) (I have used any combination of onions, bell pepper (capsicum), mushrooms, jalapenos and pineapples during my various tries with this pizza and liked all versions)
Shredded Cheese as per choice
For cheese I tried a new type of grated cheese available in the grocery called pizza blend cheese which was a mixture of mozarella and cheddar, but you can use mozzarella cheese that is usually used in pizza too.
a little olive oil to apply on top (optional)
serve with a little crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Dissolve yeast + sugar in warm water and keep aside for 5 to 10 minutes until slightly frothy

In a large bowl mix together all the flours, salt and Italian seasoning

Add water with yeast and olive oil to the flour mixture and knead. Knead for a few minutes, apply a tsp of olive oil to it and keep aside in a warm place to rise for about an hour. (I placed it in my oven with the oven light on so that it would provide some warmth)

After the dough doubles, flatten it a little and divide into two or three balls. Let the divided dough rise again for about an hour.

Pre heat oven to 425 deg F. Roll one of the balls of dough into a thin crust or regular crust with a help of a little cornmeal if required.If you are adventurous you could try tossing the dough to stretch it or use your fists to stretch and shape the dough too, I just rolled it out normally this time :-)

Once rolled out, brush on a little olive oil on top, then spread marinara sauce as required.

Add cheese as required, then toppings as per choice.
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Bake in the oven for about 20 mins to 25 mins depending on thickness until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted and slightly golden on the top. Sprinkle a few crushed red pepper flakes on top (optional) and enjoy the pizza while still hot.

If not using all the dough refrigerate the balance dough for a day or two and remove and use as required.

Yield will depend on thickness and size of crust. (I have gotten about 3 personal sized pizzas with this quantity or one extra large pizza base depending on how I rolled it out )

Notes: I have made this with all whole wheat flour too in the past, but find that a combination of whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and vital wheat gluten gives me the best results. If you get whole wheat bread flour that would be a good choice to use for this base, and you can skip the vital wheat gluten flour. Also you can reduce the all purpose flour to 1/2 cup and increase the quantity of whole wheat flour by the same quantity.

Bread machine instructions
Place all the ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order specified in the manual. Mine specifies, liquids first, then dry ingredients and lastly yeast. I used 1 tbsp bread machine yeast, and skipped the italian seasoning entirely. Set the bread machine to dough cycle, when completed, remove and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

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Semolina Bread

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Baking bread is something that a lot of my blogger buddies seem to do regularly and beautifully. Every time I saw a blog post on some one else's blog about bread baking I always wanted to try those recipes but somehow the thought of baking a loaf of bread seemed very daunting. Then I came across this encouraging post with a step by step pictorial on Divya's blog and thought this seemed like  a good place for me to start.

She mentions semolina flour in her post and I went to Whole foods to buy it, only to find that the semolina flour in the store looked and felt a lot like the fine semolina (fine rava) that I had in large quantities from the last time I had purchased that from the Indian store. I decided to try it with the fine rava I had at home but was a little nervous about it. My fears were unfounded as the bread worked out flawlessly and we loved the taste and texture of this bread. I mention this for those of you who have copious amounts of fine rava at home, you can use that to make this bread and save yourself a trip to the grocery :-)

It was not as dense and chewy as wheat bread and yet it was not exactly like the regular all purpose flour bread either. It was quite delicious and yum and for those of you who want to start baking bread this really is a good place to start or if you already are an expert baker try this for a change of pace...

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and method to make Semolina bread

3 1/4 cups semolina flour (fine rava/sooji)

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp instant yeast (I used active dry yeast)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup warm water

Dissolve yeast & sugar in warm water and keep aside for five minutes

Grease a bread loaf pan and keep aside

In a large bowl mix flour and salt.

Add the warm water and olive oil to the flour and knead well. Knead for about ten minutes.

Coat with a teaspoon of oil and keep aside to rise for a couple of hours.

Fold the dough three to four times and add to the greased bread loaf pan and flatten and keep aside to rise for another 2 hours

Pre heat oven to 375 deg F

Bake for about 35 to 45 minutes until the crust is golden brown 

Remove from oven and cool thoroughly.

Slice and enjoy.

This is my entry into the  bookmarked events  being hosted by Ruth.

Related Recipes

Eggless Cornbread

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Eggless Cornbread

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What would you consider the most irritating or frustrating part of watching television ? For me its got to be the loud ads during the break. It happens every time I am getting dinner ready in the kitchen and the television is turned on to the news, just when my hands are occupied with either cutting veggies or kneading some dough, the anchor will announce the ad break and the ad will come on at a jarring volume much louder than the original program. 

Yikes...talk about deafening....I am really not against ads, there are a few of them I actually enjoy watching , but I wish the channels would play them at the same volume as the original program. I understand that the intent is to attract the viewer but most of the times at least in my case I end up turning off the television entirely and play some music. Ah...peace...

Moving on to the recipe of cornbread. On the days that I am looking for something more than plain bread to accompany soups I make this cornbread. I find this a nice change of pace with the addition of spice and sweet corn and find that it  works with soups that tend to have some sweetness to it like the butternut squash with lentils soup  or the  carrot soup.

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Eggless Cornbread

1 cup self raising corn meal

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

salt to taste ( I used about 1 1/4 tsp for this quantity)

1/2 tsp chilli powder 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp brown sugar

1 cup white or yellow sweet corn (either fresh or frozen) (I used frozen white)

1 1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup plain yogurt

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

 

2 cubes of light cheese (optional) (about 1.5 oz)

Pre heat oven to 375 deg F

Grease a large glass dish with a few drops of olive oil or any other oil and keep aside. ( I used a 10 X 14 inches glass dish)

In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.

Add the milk and keep mixing. Add the yogurt and mix well.

Add  sweet corn and mix well.

Finally add olive oil and mix well.

Pour this mixture into the greased dish,gently flatten with a knife and place in the oven.

Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cut into little squares and serve with soup of choice.

Variation

Try using finely sliced green chillies according to taste instead of chilli powder.

Add finely chopped cilantro to the corn mixture before baking for a slightly different flavor 

Notes:

Baking times will vary depending on the size and material of your baking dish.

You can replace the whole wheat pastry flour with equal quantity of all purpose flour.

Related Recipes

Carrot Cilantro Soup

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