Buttery Cinnamon Rolls

Soft, buttery, sweet and soaked in cinnamon goodness. Here it is, simple yet so gorgeous cinnamon rolls.

Add this comforting warm bread in your breakfast menu or just serve them with a hot cup of tea or coffee. These are super delicious and tad easy to make at home. I have been dyeing to make few types of bread from quite some time. So what was stopping me? It’s a shame to say, but a reality..I don’t get good yeast in the area where I live. It makes me cry. What a fuss for such a simple thing. If get a good one and buy in bulk they will die off eventually. Every time I open a pack and do the test, my heart beats faster and I pray to have a good yeast to continue my endeavor with bread. Of course I was lucky and went on to bake these beauties which are my current favorite (So yummm!!!)

I have mentioned before in my earlier post on bread here the most important thing in bread making is your humble yeast and step to test that your yeast is alive is just not to be skipped. In this recipe all you need is all purpose flour, butter, sugar and cinnamon. Yeah some water and milk as well, and you can have a winner after the process.

2 and 1/2 cups Flour

1/2 cup Water

1/4 cup Milk

3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 and 1/4 teaspoons Instant Yeast

2 and 1/2 Tablespoons Unsalted butter

FILLING

3 Tablespoons Unsalted butter

1 Tablespoon Ground cinnamon

1/4 cup Sugar

For dough:

In a large bowl, toss the 2 and 1/4 cups flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast together until evenly dispersed. Keep ½ cup flour for later use.

Heat the water, milk, and butter together until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot enough to touch. Pour this butter mixture into the flour mixture. You may add the reserved flour to make soft dough, if the mixture is too wet. I just used a spoon more. Your dough will be ready when it gently pulls away from the side of the bowl and has an elastic consistency.

Lightly flour the surface and knead the dough for about 3-4 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl and let rest for about 10 minutes.

For Cinnamon filling: 

After the dough is rested, roll the dough out in a rectangle (approx 12x6 inch). Spread the softened butter on top. Sprinkle it all over the dough. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar.  Roll up the dough tightly. Cut into 8 even pieces and place in a lightly greased the pan. I used a rectangular pan.

Cover the pan with cling film and allow to rise in a warm, for 60-90 minutes. After the rolls have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 180 °C. Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned.

You can make Vanilla glaze by combining 1 cup of icing sugar, with 1 table spoon of Vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon milk. Mix well and spatter over the rolls.

Mini Chocolate Loaf - Easy Breezy Baking

My love for tea has incited my interest to explore more around its cup of warmth. I absolutely love English High tea. I feel it’s so classy and luxurious to spend your evening with a cup of tea being served with nice and fresh tea breads, scones, loafs, cookies, pies, cakes and bars…Umm Yummms. Sounds like pampering. 

Basically this concept of high tea was started by British Royal ladies. In those times of tight corsets it was very difficult to eat much during lunch time.  By early evening hunger use to strike back so this routine of having tea  with small treats at 4 o’ clock started. This not only fill the stomach to go till dinner but tasted great with tea.

And now days as I am more inclined to bake bready things I thought of baking a chocolate tea loaf.  I have been very nervous around yeast lately because most of the time it did nothing to my dough. The thing with instant yeast is you get your success sign in the very beginning. If you were ignorant like me, first thing you need to learn is to know whether your yeast is alive or dead. When you put your yeast with warm water, sugar and milk it start reacting to form a foaming mixture. If you see all that had happened and your mixture is bubbly and foamy, you have a alive yeast. On the contrary, if bubbles are not formed or very thin layer of froth has appeared, you very much have got dead yeast. Only thing you could do is to discard this mixture and start with a new yeast. It’s a must to have an alive yeast or your bread will not prove and rise.

To get started all we need is: 

2 tsp active dry yeast

1½ Tablespoons Lukewarm Water

½  Cup Lukewarm Milk

2 Tablespoons Superfine Sugar

50g Unsalted Butter, melted

2¼ Cups (335g) Flour

1 eggs

Dark Chocolate squares – 6

Place the yeast, water, milk and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a large bowl and set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface.

Add the butter, flour, eggs and another 1 tablespoon sugar to the yeast mixture and use a spatula to mix until a sticky dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean, damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Make a ball of dough and roll out 1cm-thick to make a rectangle.

Divide it by cutting with a sharp knife into 6 rectangle pieces. Place a chocolate square in the middle and fold the dough inward like wrapping a gift and seal the ends to make loaf like shape.

**Please make sure that chocolate pieces are big enough to get wrapped properly and should not be too small or else you would not be able to get good bits of chocolate.

Place these mini loafs on a baking tray lined with baking paper and set aside for 30 minutes or until risen. Sprinkle some granular sugar on top.

Place them in a pre-heated oven at 220°C and bake for 20 min or until golden brown.

Cool on wire rack and you are ready to enjoy crusty from outside and soft buttery bread with a rich gooey chocolate.

Its a winner….and sure pleasure thing to bake and eat.

Pita Bread and Hummus

If you have been following my blog lately you must have wondered where I was gone. Yes I had almost abandoned my blog for a month and so. Work load and not keeping well had taken a toll on me and only thing was on mind was to have some rest.  I was not able to post on blog but it did not mean I was not baking. I just manage to do what I love and so now as I am feeling better I am going to share what I have made lately. I have just posted my Focaccia recipe let me know what do you think.

All I had on my mind is baking savoury. All I wanted was to have fluffy bread with a nice dip so Pita bread and Hummus is so my thing. Once again these two so exotic dishes for an Indian kitchen are so easy to make. Don’t belive me have a look at the recipe down below:

For Pita Bread you’ll need:

3 cups flour

 4 tsp dried yeast

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Salt

2 tbsp Olive oil

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl.

In a smaller bowl, place the yeast and sugar and pour over some lukewarm water. Leave in a warm spot for about 15 minutes until frothy.

Pour the frothy yeast into the flour and mix well to form a soft dough.

Mix the salt and olive oil on the side of bowl and work into the dough. The resultant dough should be soft and smooth like a baby’s bum.

Cover with cling film or damp cloth and leave in a warm spot to double in size (about 15-20 mins.)

Knock back the dough and divide into six equal portions. Leave to rest again for about 5-10 mins.

Roll out each dough to about  3 inches in diameter.

Slap onto a lightly greased and dusted baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 200°C

Remove and cool.

For Hummus:

1 Large cup chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked until tender

2 tbsp Tahini (I use my own home made Tahini, Roast 1 cup of  Sesame  seed on low flame till they start crackling and lightly browned. Remove from heat and let it cool. Grind them with half cup of virgin Olive oil and season with salt. You will get a thick yet runny paste, you can make a fresh batch every time. It’s so quick and easy.)

4 Cloves of garlic

1/4 cup good quality olive oil

Juice of 1 medium sized lemon

Salt to taste

Chili powder to sprinkle on top

Place all the ingredients in a blender and grind to a smooth paste. Top with a liberal glug of more olive oil and sprinkle condiments of choice. Done Ta da!!

All you left to do it DIG IN!!!

PS: You have some left over Pita Bread just cut them in tringle and rub with a mix of olive oil paper and herbs of your choice and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C . Enjoy your Pita chips with Hummus or salsa.

Focaccia with green olives,onion rings and thyme

When it comes to watching TV, many gets surprised that even being a woman I don’t watch much of it. I cant watch movies on TV because I don’t have patence to sit for that long and my “Task to do” keeps popping up in my head and “Soap Opera” we don’t get along. Its only been quite a few food and travel shows which could get my attention. Among them I love Masterchef Australia and lately I have got to learn a lot from food safari.

Focaccia is one of dishes/recipes I got to know through this show. it is a flat oven-baked Italian bread, which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients.

Focaccia’s dough is  similar in style and texture to pizza dough, consisting of high-gluten flour, water, salt and yeast. It is typically rolled out or pressed by hand into a thick layer of dough and then baked in a stone-bottom or hearth oven. Bakers often dot the bread to create multiple wells by finger to relieve bubbling on the surface of the bread.

The recipe fits into my philosophy I tried my hand on it and what I had was unbelievable good looking flat bread which is chewy yet soft and moist from inside. I have tried few versions but today I am sharing Focaccia with green olive and onion rings and thyme.
Genrally  focaccia is made in square shape but I got away with me lazy streak and made it oval this time

150 gm  Flour

1 tsp Dry Yeast

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Salt plus a pinch or two

3-4 Cloves Garlic, chopped

1 cups Lukewarm water

1 Egg, whisked

3-4 Sprigs of fresh thyme

2 Tbsp Olive

1 small red onion, peeled and ringed

8-10 Green olives, pitted and sliced

Freshly crushed peppers

Mix the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, warm water and egg to form a firm, yet soft dough.

Flour the dough lightly and let it rise until it has doubled in size. Keep in covered with a wet cloth or cling film to preserve the moisture in the bread.

Place the chopped garlic cloves and thyme in a bowl with some olive oil and leave it for an hour.

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch out the air with your fingers and let it rise again for 30 minutes.

After the second rise, roll the dough into a large oval (you can do a rectangle, if you want to go traditional way).

Make small holes in the dough with your little finger, without pushing out the air.

 Spread the oil mixture evenly on the surface of the bread. Place the onion rings and olives on the bread. Sprinkle some salt and freshly crushed peppers.

Place the bread on a greased baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 200 ºC for 15-30 minutes until the bread is golden brown in color.
Serve hot with your choice of dip, i like curd with butter roasted garlic dip. Try it out!!