Many a time, I wonder if I had apprenticed at my neighborhood bread maker’s bakery when I was a still an impressionable young person, I might have made a name for myself in the art of making breads. I didn’t apprentice so I have not made anything in the name department for myself. But I did observe and I absorbed. The rhythmic kneading, the gentle folding, the blistering heat and the divine aroma of baked bread. It’s all etched in my memory. And bread making always takes me back home to those carefree days. I hope someday my daughter looks …
Oats and Millet Idli #Breadbakers
It has been a few months since I started baking with my #breadbakers group. I love the variety of breads that are showcased every month and I learn a lot from each and everyone. On most occasions I follow the rules of Bread “baking” completely, but I have been known to bend those rules ever so slightly every now and then. Since I had already presented my fried bread a while ago, I thought it would be nice to introduce the bread bakers to a bread, that is naturally fermented and steamed. Idli, is a much loved bread in all …
Paneer Kulcha Amritsari
As soon as Jenni announced the theme for this month’s Bread Baker’s I knew I wanted to make an Indian bread and that I wanted to make a Kulcha. The theme for this month is “Stuffed Bread”! Bread by itself is temptations galore, and stuffed bread is temptations with some golden butter on top. I make some kind of stuffed bread every once a while and most of the time it is the Aalu Paratha – Potato stuffed flatbread that is fried in ghee on a skillet. But this time I wanted to make a Kulcha and that too an …
Lambropsomo – Greek Easter Bread #BreadBakers
The lampropsomo is the traditional Greek Easter bread. Braided with three strings of dough that symbolize the Holy Trinity, and tucked into the dough are four red eggs that symbolize the blood of Jesus Christ. This bread is traditionally prepared with an essence makhlep, or is flavored with mastic. I used cardamom to add the aroma and shaped it into a round bread. The bread has a nice crust and a tender crumb. Just perfect to eat some lamb with. Though it was a bitter sweet time for us at Easter, I did make it a point to celebrate. My …
Simit – Turkish Ring Bread #Breadbakers
Recently a friend tagged me on Facebook linking an article about Kashmiri Bread. He said he wanted to make me feel home sick. The article talked about Bagerkhani, a layered crispy bread made in a tandoor. The fact that he is a complete bread head and knows how much I love baking bread might have had more to do with it than the alleged evil plan of wanting to make me feel homesick. However, discussing the article with him made me realize that I gravitate towards making breads that somehow resemble the ones that I grew up with. The New …
New York Style Bagels
Someday, I hope, I will have the right words to describe how I feel when I bake bread. Especially a bread which resembles bread from back home in Kashmir. Bread that I have a very old relationship with. And to think that one day I would be baking my own was not something I could have known when I was a little girl, in that Kandir waan. { Story Here} Last summer I went home to visit my Dad and my siblings and my daughter insisted on eating the freshly made breads from the local bake shop. Though the culture …