Spelt Flour Milk Bread

Spelt flour is the one which I started using very recently due to its nutritional values. Spelt flour is made from a cerial grain, known as Spelt, which is also called Dinkel Wheat or Hulled Wheat. It is not same as wheat, even though both are similar in appearance. Spelt has a harder outer shell than wheat. It is nutty and sweet in taste. 

Spelt flour is used in breads, pastas, pizzas, cookies etc. It is less in calories, high in protein and easily digestible. 

The secret of a perfect bread lies in kneading. You must neither knead it less nor more. Also the proofing time matters a lot. The temperature of the oven is another factor. If you take a good care of these things, you will have an amazing outcome.

If you do not have spelt flour, you can make this bread by using only the wheat flour (4 cups wheat flour for this recipe)
I am preparing this bread for the first time and was happy with the result. I have used 50% whle wheat flour and 50% spelt flour in this recipe. Another main ingredient in this recipe is the Vital Wheat Gluten, which gives this bread a firm texture and elasticity. If you do not have VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN, go ahead and replace the whole wheat flour with all purpose flour/maida. 

Ingredients

• Whole Wheat flour - 2 cups
• Spelt Flour - 2 cups
• Vital Wheat Gluten - 1.5 tablespoon (COMPULSORY)
• Warm milk- 1 cup
• Active Dry Yeast - 2.5 teaspoons
• Sugar - 1 tablespoon
• Honey - 4 tablespoons
• Salt - 2 teaspoons
• Melted Butter - 4 tablespoons

Method

• Take a bowl and combine warm milk, yeast and sugar. Mix well and keep aside in a warm place for 10 minutes. Allow it to froth. Make sure that the milk is warm, neither too hot nor cold. Hot milk kills the yeasts and cold milk does not have the ability to make the yeast active. After 10 minutes, if the yeast does not froth enough, you need to start the entire process from the beginning.
• In another big vessel, combine whole wheat flour, spelt flour, Salt and Vital Wheat Gluten. Sieve them 2 or 3 times, until everything is combined well.
• Add honey and 1.5 cups of milk yeast mixture. Use your finger tips to mix then well. Do not knead. Mix until everything comes together.
• Cover and rest it for 10 minutes or so before kneading.
• Now add the remaining milk, butter and mix well. Transfer it to a clean flour dusted working area and start kneading the dough. It will be sticky and this is how it should be. I was not able to knead the entire dough together, so I divided them in to 2 portions and worked out in 2 batches. Knead for about 10 minutes. Do not knead for more time, as it will become rubbery if you do so.
• Wet a clean kitchen towel using hot water and squeeze the excess water from it. Transfer the dough to a greased vessel. Cover with this damp cloth and let it rest in a dark, warm place. Allow it to double in its volume. It will take 40 minutes to 1 hour depending on the temperature. In cold places, it will even take 2 hours approximately. Do not over-proof the dough. Let it rest just until it doubles in size and not more than that
• After it becomes double in volume, punch the dough to release the air and give it another knead.
• Grease a loaf pan using melted butter or any flavorless oil. Shape it like a rectangle and rool it to make like a log. Place it in the greased loaf pan.
• Cover using a damp cloth for about 30 to 50 minutes, again depending on temperature, the time varies. Rest only until the dough rises above the loaf pan. Takecare not to over proof as it will become flat while baking, if you do so. 

• Preheat the oven @190 Degrees C for 10 minutes. Place the loaf pan in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. To avoid over browning, once the desired colour is achieved, cover the bread with an aluminium foil and continue baking. 
• Once done, take out from the oven and brush generous butter on them. The crust will be hard now and as it cools down, it will become soft. The aroma of this bread after brushing the butter is just awesome.

• Take out of the pan and allow it to cool down completely. Do not slice before it cools down completely. If you slice it early, the bread will not be soft, instead too rubbery. So make sure you cool it at least for 4 hours before you slice them.

• Slice and enjoy this super soft bread!!

Eggless Whole Wheat Banana and Candied Cherries Cake

Hii friends,

After long long time!!!!
It has been so long since I posted something in this blog.. I came to India a couple of weeks back and got spoiled by all petting and pampering by my parents and in laws. Everyone were so excited to cook for us and so I hardly get any chance to cook now a days. Still, as cooking is my life breath, it is impossible for me to be without cooking for days together. This is the first time I came to India after staring this blog. I showed my blog, dashboard etc to all my relatives and friends. They gave me enough motivation, encouragement and wishes for my future posts.

About this cake.. This super soft, moist and fluffy cake is very low in calories as it is made using whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour, curds instead of egg and oil instead of butter. I am not a very big fan of cinnamon. But then I started realizing that adding cinnamon powder to banana cakes gives an awesome taste to it. As it is eggless, it can be prepared by vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

Try to use the bananas which are big and has black spots on its skin. The more riper the banana is, the more sweeter your cake will be. 

Have the ingredients and measurements right, the cake will taste simply great. Let's go through the recipe. Try and let me know your feedback.

Ingredients

• Whole wheat flour -  1 cup
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
• Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Candied Cherries - 1/4 cup, roughly chopped
• Sugar - 1/2 cup + 2 tblspns
• Thick unsour yogurt - 1/4 cup
• Oil - 1/4 cup
• Banana - 2, medium sized
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Apple Cider Vinegar- 1 tblspn
• Flax seeds powder - 1 tblspn
• Hot water - 3 tblspn

Method

• Preheat the oven @180 deg C. Grease your cake/ loaf pan with oil/ butter. Dust some flour, spread them all around the pan. Tap off the excess flour. This step will allow the cake from sticking to the pan.
• Mix together flax seeds powder and hot water. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
• Sieve the dry ingredients together for about 2 or 3 times; Wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder and salt. This will make the cake more light and spongy.
• Take some flour in a bowl and mix the chopped candied cherries. Keep aside
• In another bowl, mix all the wet ingredients one by one; oil, sugar, yogurt, vanilla essence, mashed bananas, apple cider vinegar and flax seeds slurry taken out of the fridge.
• Now add half of the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Fold in gently, as slow as you can. Do not over mix or mix vigorously as it would take away the aeration of the cake.
• Now add the remaining dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix in slowly until everything is combined
• Add the flour coated cherries to the batter and fold in gently.
• Pour the batter to the cake/ loaf pan. Bake in the preheated oven @180 deg C for about 40 to 50 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean. The temperature of each oven will vary from each other. So, keep an eye often until it is baked.
• Once baked, take out of the oven. Run a knife over the edges to separate the cake from the pan.
• Allow it to cool for 15 minutes before you remove from the pan.
• Cut / slice once it cools down completely.
• Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee

Eggless Pav Buns

 

Previously, I have already shared a healthy version of pav buns. Today, I am going to show you how I made a soft and fluffy pav buns using maida. I went through a lot of recipes, got to know some tips and implemented on my pav buns. A sticky dough is the main factor in making soft pav buns. Once it is rised well, you can add more flour and knead again.

Please note the measurements and you will never go wrong in making this

Ingredients

• All purpose flour / Maida- 3 cups + more for kneading
• Milk powder - 2 tblspn
• Luke warm water - 1 + 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 2 tblspn
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Unsalted Butter - 3 tblspn (melted)
• Little more butter for greasing

Method

• In a bowl, combine together, luke warm water, yeast and sugar. Mix well and keep it aside for about 5 to 10 minutes. It should froth by then. If not, you must re-start the process again. Make sure your yeast is active. This step is very important. If this goes wrong, the entire process will be an utter failure.
• In another big bowl, combine flour, milk powder and salt. Mix well. Add the melted butter. Mix well until everything is combined.
• Pour the yeast mixture to the flour. Knead it for 15 minutes. It will be very sticky. That is how it should be. Keep scraping your fingers and keep kneading for 15 minutes.
• Form it like a huge mass. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl. Smear some butter on the dough. Cover with a luke warm wet cloth and rest in a warm place for at least one hour.
• The dough would have tripled in size by now.
• Sprinkle some plain flour and start kneading again. Basically, punch out the air bubbles. The dough need not be sticky now. You can sprinkle around 2 tblspn of flour and knead it in this stage. Also, make sure the dough is soft and not too hard.
• Divide the dough in to 9 to 12 lemon sized portion. Roll it like a ball. Make sure there are no cracks. It should be smooth enough.
• Greasing your baking tray with some butter and arrange these on them. Be sure that there are some gap between each ball.
• Cover again with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes. Each ball would have increased in size.
• Pre-heat the oven @220 deg C
• Brush some melted butter on each balls.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until you see the top portion of each bun becomes golden brown in colour.
• Remove from the oven. Again, brush some melted butter immediately.

• Allow it to cool and use per your preference.
• Nothing can beat the smell of a freshly baked pav.. isn't it???? 
• Made pav bhaji out of these...

Eggless Milk Powder Cake

The more I bake, the more I love it.. and now a days I am trying to prepare eggless and butterless cakes, so that to some extent it will be useful for weight watchers like me.
I love simple cakes, which is easy to prepare and with mild falvors.
I had a lot of milk powder at home and was confused about how to finish it. I googled and googled to find out something interesting. At last, I came up with this mind blowing cake.
I have modified the original recipe to suit my diet requirements. But I feel the result was really mind blowing, because it had an amazing texture and colour. I couldn't stop with one slice. My hubby liked it so much that he said 100 times that it is too good and asked me to prepare again and again.

 

Ingredients

• All purpose flour / Maida - 1+3/4 cup (210 gms)
• Sugar - 3/4 cup (150 gms)
• Milk powder - 3/4 cup (100 gms)
• Vanilla essense - 1 tsp
• Oil -  1/2 cup+1 tblspn (100 gms)
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Baking powder - 2 tsp
• Yoghurt (unsour) - 1/2 cup (120 ml)
• Milk - 1/2 cup(120 ml)
• Water - 1/2 cup (120 ml)
• Almonds - 1/4 cup, chopped
• Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 tblspn

Method

• Take all your ingredients (Forgot Apple Cider Vinegar in the pic)

• Preheat the oven @160 Deg Celcious. Take a loaf pan and grease it well using oil or butter. Sprinkle some flour and coat on all the sides. Tap out the excess flour and keep it aside.

• In a vessel, mix together milk, curd and  water. Mix really well.

• Sieve together flour, milk powder, baking soda and baking powder. Sieve them 2 or 3 times until everything is combined.

 

 

• In another vessel, mix oil, sugar, vanilla essence and Apple Cider Vinegar.

• Now all 3 mixtures are ready; flour mixture, sugar and oil mixture and milk-curd mixture.

• To the sugar and oil mixture, add half of the flour mixture and full milk-curd mixture. Use a whisk/spatula and fold in gently.
• Now add the remaining flour mixture and fold again gently, just until there are no lumps and everything is combined.

• Pour the entire batter in to the loaf pan and sprinkle some chopped almonds on top.

 

 

• Bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

• Take out from the oven and allow it to cool atleast for 20 minutes.
• Run a knife through the edges and remove the cake from the pan. Allow it to cool. Slice / cut them and Serve.