Garlic dough balls

Turns out i am a very sensitive person. I will ask you to give me your honest opinion about something and if you honestly agree with my point of view, all is well. If instead you were to tell me you don't like what i did, i can get cross with you and pretty upset too. This state of being may not last for a long time, but that is the first state i get into. Of course i know better than to let you know i was upset. Because you see, after everything's said and done, i still want only your honest opinion. If you found out i got upset, and you really have a regard for my feelings, i can never trust your honesty again the next time you agree with me. The lesson to be drawn from this is that sensitive people have no business asking for honesty. And if honesty is really your thing, you have no right being sensitive. Unless you are me and you are stuck with both, you just gotta learn to live with one honest opinion at a time.

Mom's favourite Banana Oats Wholewheat Bread

Let me come straight out and say it. My mom is a health nut. I know i am supposed to value half my audience when there are only 2 people reading this whole thing, but hey its true. And she doesn't look like she is going to get cured of it anytime soon. I mean i 've been waiting for what thirty odd years now. I 've learnt to pick my battles when discussing what food is good for you. That is, not pick any when the person on the other end is mom. It's then easier to change sides and quickly jump over to the winning side.

So while my bakes have been commended by one and all, mom has, at best, been quiet about them or gently chided me on why these sugar laden goods with white flour are not really the best for me or anybody. Consequently, when picking a recipe to bake for mom, i hesitantly picked one that i thought had a fighting chance. Little did i know that it was going to be a huge triumph. That this simple bread would be raved about and second helpings would be asked for. And i would finally get unequivocal praise on my bakes from highly health-conscious mom. Of course, she did suggest that i could have done completely without the sugar in this recipe. So there :-)

Purple Grape Jam with White Bread Loaf

I had been eyeing this jam for a couple of months now and i had been sceptical of baking bread for even longer. Then i saw my friend bake bagels from scratch and knew it was time for me to draw some inspiration. I had been telling her that i would bake a bread from her blog because she was doing it all too easily and all too frequently.  I may have been postponing it because nobody was asking me to do these. If i did make both bread and jam from scratch, it would be solely for me. The husband won't touch bread especially when it has jam in it (will eat Subway breads only!). And is not much of a breakfast person either. I decided i should do it for my own satisfaction. Boy was i happy. I finished making jam at 5 in the evening, then made these for the husband to snack on and finally pushed my bread into the oven. Fresh bread came out at 8 pm. And i didn't have the patience to wait till breakfast to try these out. So my dinner came in the form of purple jam lathered over freshly baked and sliced bread. I have no complaints. Making something from scratch going slightly out of your comfort zone gives tremendous satisfaction. And for me, i have not done anything so elaborate just myself after getting married. Usually when the husband is out and i have to cook only for myself, i have only ever made Maggi noodles or eaten left over rice from the morning or convinced him to bring me takeaway. So to go out to such lengths to prepare something only for myself wasn't bad at all. I should try it again sometime.

Fluffy Puri/ Poori/ Indian puffed fried flatbread

Would you believe me if i told you that i have not cooked puris even once in almost two years of married life, until last night? And its not even that i am not fond of them. My mom loves to recount how i would sit next to her in the kitchen when she was making puris and ask to be served fluffy puffed puris straight from the frying fan. It was a favourite breakfast item growing up. And yet i was afraid to make them in my own kitchen for the fear of not getting  them right. 

Last night, i found out all my fears were for nothing.I did make wonderfully puffed up puris and the process was not at all difficult. It is here that i should admit i read through a lot of food blogs in the last six months and read puri tips and tricks at different places, of course some contradicting each other as is bound to happen when there are so many people talking about it. So i will tell you the tips i have followed, also having talked to my mom and mother-in-law before making these. Oh, and it would be remiss if i didn't mention here that my mother-in-law makes the most wonderful puris i have ever eaten, every single one of them always puff up, they are all evenly golden brown and taste delicious. Every single time!

La's Tips

• Mix the dough and allow to rest for 30 minutes to one hour. This will make the dough softer and allow for softer puris. This process will NOT cause the puris to soak more oil.

Black Olive and Rosemary Focaccia

My initial yeast-bread making experiments were a disaster. I mean if you can’t eat a single bite from a loaf of bread and have to throw away whole loaves, you can call it little else. It was a real humbling experience – baking breads. For most of my life, I could succeed fairly well in anything I took up, while also making it appear effortless to on-lookers. Whether it was studies or sports or stove-top cooking too, to an extent. I had very rarely had criticism from others. So I wasn’t too pessimistic about trying yeast breads, i looked for the easiest recipe and went ahead. There was a banana cardamom loaf that was under-baked inside with a blackened bottom. There were multiple attempts at baking Indian dinner rolls (the pav of pav bhaji fame) which simply refused to rise vertically and would instead spread horizontally, and having puffed up outside the oven, would deflate once inside to become biscuits instead of bread. Oh, the experience scarred me. Pizzas were the saving grace, which brought me back to befriend yeast again. Oh and the beloved orange bread i talked about in a previous post too.

But I still had my eyes on Focaccia for a while now, having bought it from a supermarket a few months ago, one of the very few types of bread the picky eater in our house actually picked up. Most of the focaccia recipes called for a herb called Rosemary. And it needs to be fresh. Welcome to another ingredient that is hard to find in Hyderabad. To my delight, I came across a little bunch of fresh organic Rosemary in this supermarket called Spar in central Hyderabad. I almost squealed and jumped in delight. Then I left it sitting in the fridge for a week or more. When it was almost drying out, I finally decided Sunday night was a good enough time to make my first focaccia at home. 

Orange Bread for Breakfast

This bread has a special place in my heart. It was the first yeast bread, after i started my bread baking experiments, that came out with a satisfactory result. It looked as good as a store bought loaf and tasted delicious! You can taste the orange when you bite into a slice. You can make a healthier version by substituting upto 100% of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. It will make a denser bread (i have tried that version too) but i like this bread with the less healthy white flour!

You don't even need two rises for the dough, as called for by most yeast bread recipes and still tastes this good. My taste tester who is not a fan of breads said - "Mmm, its  good, flavourful" and finished a whole big slice. Have i sold this bread enough, already? Then lets get to the recipe, shall we.