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.

Chocolate Brownie made super easy

When a girl is not feeling that great well what really perks up her mood..yes we all say loudly Chocolate!!!! (Yet Again).

So yes I have baked couple of intense chocolate things lately. I have a special corner for brownies in my heart, not just because they taste sooo.. good but also for the reason that I have a very simple recipe for that (Because I am just about easy to bake stuff). So I have whipped up and baked these brownies one Sunday morning while making breakfast. Excuse for some not so great pics because before I could click the photograph my two year old would just grab a piece and start eating… :D.

A good brownie has good chocolate flavor loaded with nut and chocolate chunks with this gooey texture and slightly crusty top. Achieving all this not difficult at all. You just need good ingredients and lot of love while handling the batter. Though this recipe is very easy just asks for slightly higher attention while mixing the better. Please do not over mix the better, just enough to bring everything together. Over mixing the batter will spoil the texture of the brownie.

2 ½ Cup Plain Dark Chocolate Chopped

1 Cup unsalted butter

3 Eggs (Use 1 ½ Cup Curd, if you dont want to use eggs and make Eggless Chocolate Brownie) 

1 ¼ Cup Light Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup  Flour

1/2 Tps Baking Powder

1/2 Tps baking Soda

1 Cup gm Walnuts Broken ( You can add chopped milk and white chocolate as well)          

Preheat the oven at 190 ºC. Grease and line a square baking tin.

Melt the plain chocolate and butter in microwave for 2 min but keep string it every 30 sec or you can melt them in heavy base saucepan.

Beat Together eggs and sugar then beat in the melted chocolate mixture.

Shift together flour and baking powder and add this is in wet mixture. Add walnuts and mix to bring everything together.

Pour the batter in the baking tin and bake for 40 minute at 190 ºC until cake feels just firm on the crust but soft underneath.

Please do not overcook or the brownies will be dry.

Leave to cool in the tin and when cooled, turn the cake out and cut square pieces.

Yes, this is it and you will have heavenly chocolate brownies. Believe me you could just keep on eating them and they are so inexpensive as compare to the store brought ones. I hope you would try making them at home, as there is no reason you should not and let me know…who all were drooling after you ;)