Which Wich - Tasty Sandwich Rolls

My new found love seems to be bread-making. The freshly made, warm, non-chemical infiltrated bread can't be beat. And who doesn't love the yeasty-toasty aroma the kitchen fills up with while baking? I've been enjoying trying out different recipes and practicing my techniques. Bread making is deeply therapeutic and satisfying. If you have any pent up frustration from work or whatever other things life throws at you, take it out on the dough and knead it out! After the first couple of failed attempts, I've got it down pretty well now. The most important thing to bread making are finding the right balance of flours, kneading the dough really well and giving it time! Yes, I used to get very impatient earlier and not let the dough rise enough or slice the bread too fast after baking - both of which will result in dense, sticky loaves. Once you get past that, you'll realize that the basic technique to making bread is pretty much the same - activate/proof the yeast, add flour, knead, let rise, knead again and bake. 

I had bought a copy of Homemade Bread - Popular Kitchen Series a few months back. It's a great little magazine that explains bread making techniques in detail and has some great recipes anyone can try at home. I've tried a few now, some with my variations, and they worked out great. A few days back, I took a recipe for a basic loaf and made smaller sandwich rolls with some oomph. Jalapeno-parmesan rolls were great to make quick sandwiches - especially for lunchbox. Husband likes them because sandwiches are are easy to eat at work. With a fried egg in between, they make for a great brunch. There's lots of flavor in the bread itself, so anything you stuff in between will taste great. The recipe is very adaptable - you can add a myriad of things to the dough, like olives, onions, sun-dried or regular tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, herbs, any other cheeses you like. Let your creativity go wild. 

Jalapeno-Parmesan Sandwich Rolls

Ingredients:
1 Cup warm water
1 Packet active dry yeast
2 Teaspoons sugar
1 Teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour (APF)
1 + 1/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Cup grated parmesan cheese
3-4 Tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeno - adjust depending on your preference
Olive oil for greasing
Corn flour for dusting

• Add active dry yeast and sugar to warm water and set aside for 10 minutes or until the mixture is fully frothy. Don't heat the water too much else the yeast will just die.
• Once frothy, add salt, olive oil, APF, 1 cup of whole wheat flour, cheese and chopped jalapeno and start kneading. Add whole wheat flour little by little if the dough is too sticky. Only add enough so the dough doesn't stick. You want a soft, pliable dough ball. 
• To really get the gluten working, stretch the dough with the heel of your palm and fold it back. Knead so for 10 mins. Then cover the dough and let it sit for an hour or so or until the dough doubles in size. 
• Punch the risen dough and knead again for another 10 mins. Make 6 equal portions of the dough and roll them round or slightly oval. 
• I prefer using my giant dutch oven for bread baking, but use any thick bottom pan you have. Grease the bottom with some olive oil and dust with a little bit of corn flour. Place the dough balls with some space in between and brush them with oil. Cover and keep aside for another hour. They should rise.
• Preheat oven at 425F and bake the bread for 35-40 mins or until golden brown. 

Let the bread cool completely before cutting it.

Bookmark Thursday

Thursdays are usually 'throw something together and rush out the door' kinda dinner nights for us. I have a dance class every Thursday evening (pursuing a long time dream of learning Kathak :) and I don't get much time to cook anything. Hubby helps himself to some leftovers (if he's really hungry) or waits for me to come back and put anything that's available in the fridge in between two slices of bread and call it a sandwich. After almost 5 months, I was home this Thursday. Bonus time! It was a perfect opportunity to go down some of the bookmarked recipes and try 'em out. 

I had been eyeing these glorious Masala Buns posted by one of my favorite bloggers, US Masala. For a while, it seemed like every other blogger was making buns of some sort and I was the only one missing out. A few days back I came across Sangeetha's blog through her HITS event and saw another recipe for stuffed buns. The recipe looked too tempting not to give it a shot.

Masala buns are simple buns stuffed with some kind of curried vegetable filling. They looked very intimidating to me at first, but except for the fact that you have to wait, the recipe turned out to be quite simple. The fun part is, you stuff the buns before they bake. So as you pull a morsel of a fluffy, soft bun, there's a tasty treat inside! Sangeetha had stuffed the buns with spicy cauliflower, which I'm sure would've tasted great. But I went with a more predictable filling - veggies cooked with Paav-bhaji masala. To make the buns a little 'Indian', should I say, I added toasted cumin seeds to the dough. Aromatic, pillowy buns stuffed with paav-bhaji like bhaji. Tell me you won't like that!

Masala Bun 

Ingredients:
Buns:

1 1/2 Cups All purpose flour

1/4 Cup warm water

1/4 oz. Dry active yeast packet

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Teaspoon toasted cumin seeds

3 tbspn EVOO + as needed

Stuffing:

1 Tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 Large / 2 medium boiled potatoes

1 Small tomato

1/2 Medium onioin
1/2 Cup mixed veggies - I used peas and bell peppers only

2 Garlic cloves - minced
1/2 Inch ginger - minced

1 1/2 Teaspoons paav-bhaji masala

1 Teaspoon Red chili powder

Salt to taste

Dough for the buns:

• Mix yeast, sugar and warm water and let it stand until the mixture gets foamy (~10 mins). Sangeetha mixed the yeast with the flour itself, but I figured getting the yeast acting would be faster and better. 
• Add flour, salt, EVOO. Bruise the cumin seeds on your palm using the thumb slightly to get all the fragrant oils out and add them to the dough. Knead well using a little bit of water as need to form a stiff but soft dough. The original recipe used milk instead of water, I just took the easy way. 
• Cover the dough with a damp towel and keep in a warm place for ~45mins to an hour so to rise. While you are waiting, start working on your stuffing. 
• Once the dough almost doubles in size, punch it gently and knead again for a few mins. 
• Divide the dough in 6 parts and shape them round. Keep on a greased aluminum foil on baking sheet. Let them stand for another 10 mins or so. The dough will rise again slightly.

Stuffing:

• Chop all the veggies finely. Mash the potatoes. 
• Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Once they splutter, add ginger-garlic, onions and tomatoes and saute until the onions are translucent. 
• Add spices, rest of the veggies, salt and cook for 10 mins or until the mixture comes together well. If it becomes too dry, add a little bit of water. Adjust the spices according to your liking. 

Put it together:

• Make a dent in each of the dough balls to form a cup-like shape. Stuff them with a golf-ball size vegetable filling and pinch the dough together to close the dough balls. 
• Brush them with some OO and let them stand for another 10 mins. 
• Bake for 15-18 mins on 375F or until the buns turn golden brown. 
• To serve, brush the buns with a little bit of garlic butter or OO. 

If you have some stuffing leftover - make a sandwich :D.

TLC

I got back from vacation only to find myself under a pile of work. It's never fun to end a vacation; but the first bloom of intoxicatingly frangrant roses in our garden definitely gave us a lovely welcome :). I've been meaning to post some pictures of my garden and this seems just about the right time.

Growing up, I watched my grandparents take care of the beautiful garden they had so lovingly created. Lemon, chikoo, mango, banana and coconut trees stood proudly along side herbs and greens and colorful flowers. Later we moved to a typical urban apartment and had little space to plant anything. My grandma still continued growing some gourds, squash, Indian basil and curry leaves in large pots. I learned from them that a beautiful garden is labor of love!

Turns out, hubby knows about gardening way more than I do. Lucky me! We decided to take full advantage of the small space around our apartment this summer and planted a few flowers, some herbs, tomatoes, yellow zucchini and jalapenos. The rose plant was a surprise gift to me from hubby. He said, "A bouquet would've given you momentary happiness whereas this plant will keep blooming". His thoughtfulness is only one of many things I admire about him :).

Jalapeno, Golden Zucchini, Basil

I came across this post a couple of weeks back and knew I wanted to make it first thing once the tomatoes were ripe. I kept rest of the ingredients ready and came back to find a dozen bright red tomatoes and fragrant basil waiting to be used. I would've made the tomato-basil bread right away, but long work hours left me sleep deprived and I finally got the chance on Friday.

As usual, I wanted to incorporate atleast some amount of whole wheat into the bread. This was my first time making bread though, so I put in some research. That was a good move because as I learned, different flours have different gluten levels that affect the consistency and texture of the end product. Using 100% whole wheat could've made the bread too dense (lower gluten percentage) so I decided to go half-and-half on whole wheat and all purpose flour.

Cooling down

We enjoyed the bread toasted with some butter and mom's garlic chutney!

Tomato-Basil Bread

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup warm water
2 1/2 Teaspoon active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 1/2  + 1 Cups whole wheat flour
3/4 Cup diced red tomatoes
Handful of basil leaves
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Teaspoons salt

• Add a packet of active dry yeast and 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar to warm water. Mix well and let it sit for 5-6 minutes until you see bubbles. 
• Add 3 cups of flour (half and half of all purpose and whole wheat), diced tomatoes, remaining sugar, olive oil and salt and form a dough. Knead this dough well, adding julienne basil, whole wheat flour if and as needed, until it comes together without sticking to the bowl or hands. Brush some olive oil on the dough, cover and let it sit for an hour to rise. 
• The dough will almost double in an hour or so and seem almost hollow. Punch the dough, knead again and form two rounds of the dough. Brush these with some olive oil again, let them sit for 45 minutes. DO NOT disturb the dough at this point!
• Preheat over to 375F degrees on the side.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes until the crust is brown. Slice the bread once cooled down. 

Is it a lot of love and care that make home grown veggies taste much better??