Bread Baking

Day 3 of 7 days of Recipe Marathon.

I am not much of a baker. I have previously attempted to bake(bread), but it was a total disaster. So I was waiting to try baking (esp bread) with someone who knows about baking.

Last week I was able to visit our friend (Cindy) who happens to be our neighbor as well. First we baked some sugar cookies for my daughter to take to her Christmas party. Later that week we baked some bread loaf, bread rolls, donuts and Cinnamon rolls. After tasting all the goodies, we are loving the taste of freshly baked home made bread.

After baking with her and getting some tips from her , I feel confident to try it on my own. So today I made bread using her basic bread baking recipe, to give some extra flavor I have added little cumin ,chili powder and Carom seeds (Ajwain/Oma).

So here is very basic and simple recipe for Bread Making. I call it Cindy's Recipe.

Ingredients:

• Water - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 1 cup (Boiled and cooled, one can use a cup water instead)
• Vegetable Oil - 2tbsp (butter can be used as well)
• Yeast - 1 package (2 tbsp)
• Sugar - 2 tbsp ( 1 tbsp for dissolving with yeast + 1 tbsp with the flour )
• Salt - 1tsp
• All purpose flour - 2 cups ( I have used unbleached bread flour)
• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Spices : 1/2 tsp of each cumin & chili powder and carom (ajwain/oma) seeds,for some extra flavor.

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 tbsp of sugar (sugar helps yeast to get active). Cover and let it sit for 5-10 mins until foamy.
2. After yeast turns foamy, add milk and oil mix well.
3. Mix all the other dry ingredients together in a different bowl. Now add it slowly to the yeast mixture.



4. Mix well and knead for 5 mins to make the dough soft . Cover and keep for 30 mins to 1 hour or until dough doubles its volume.
5. Now punch the dough and form into balls(for rolls) or desired shapes.I made some balls and made like a log for bread loaf.



6. Cover and let it raise for another hour.
7. Bake the rolls at 350 F for 10 - 12 mins and bake loaf for 20-25 mins or until golden brown on top ( keep checking inbetween, since the oven temperatures may vary).



8. Take out and butter the top when its warm. Let it cool a bit. Cut a slice and enjoy with little butter on top.

* Make sure the water temperature is not too hot or cold, but just right. This is the most important part, once the yeast is dissloved and foamy. The rest will be easy.

Recipe Marathon : Day 1- Chapatis , Day 2- Jodala Rotti .