Glazed Pumpkin Spice Bread

These are absolutely delicious. It is one of my favorite breads to make in fall.  I have made these for the fall season for past 5  years . This spice bread is  packed with  great flavor and is very moist.
Recipe source:Tammy's Recipes
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
Zest of 1 orange
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
Glaze ingredients:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon water
Method:
In a medium mixing bowl, beat sugar, oil, eggs, pumpkin, orange juice, and orange zest. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients. Pour mixed wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients, and stir until no lumps remain.
Lightly grease and flour loaf pans or muffin pans. (This recipe will fill about 8 mini loaf pans, OR 2 regular loaf pans, OR 24 muffins.) Fill pans or muffin cups 3/4 full.Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes (muffins), 20 minutes (mini loaves), or 35 to 40 minutes (regular loaves). Check with a toothpick or fork (should come out clean).
Remove bread from pans and place on a wire rack to cool, covered with a clean towel. Mix powdered sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add just enough water to make a glaze. Poke tops of bread with a fork or toothpick, and drizzle the glaze over the warm bread.
Slice bread with a thin serrated knife and serve warm, or allow bread to finish cooling, and store in a sealed bag or container.
Yield:
8 mini loaves, 2 regular loaves, or 24 muffins

Thin crust Pizza

Friday nights are pizza nights at our home. We love to have variety, so we always try different versions like thin crust /thick crust as well as different toppings. Mostly this thin crust is the base when I make thin crust pizza. The toppings are typically based on what we feel like having that day or what I have in my pantry.
Recipe source: Tammy's Recipes
Crust Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 to 2.5 cups bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Sauce Ingredients:
1/3 cup Light or Fat Free Italian salad dressing
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of black pepper
or you can just use pizza sauce of your choice

Toppings:
3-4 cups (12-16 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup Sun Dried tomatoes
1/2 to 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup diced onions, optional
1 cup (or one small handful) fresh baby spinach leaves
1 medium-large Roma tomato, diced
Crushed red pepper, for serving (optional)
Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Method:
 To make pizza crust, combine warm water and salt in a mixing bowl. Add about 2 cups of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir until a sticky dough forms. Add more flour as needed, and knead dough with clean hands until a soft, elastic dough forms. Knead for 5 minutes or so.
 Liberally butter a 16-inch round pizza pan. With clean buttery hands, spread and press the dough into the pan to form a pizza crust.

 Mix sauce ingredients together and spread over the dough. Sprinkle toppings on.  The toppings are listed  in the order  that is preferred to add them (sun dried tomatoes can get too dark if they're added last; the spinach shrinks substantially as it cooks and will look like a lot less in the end!).

If you like a thinner crust, pre-heat oven and bake immediately. If you prefer a slightly thicker/fluffier crust, allow pizza to rest for 15-20 minutes before baking.

 Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Bake pizza for 10-12 minutes, until the crust is browned on bottom and the toppings are hot and bubbly.

If  using a thinner, non-stick pizza pan, bake it on the top oven rack. For a heavier/thicker stainless steel pan, use the bottom oven rack to ensure that the crust gets fully cooked.
 Remove pizza from oven; cut into slices after about 5 minutes. Serve with crushed red pepper and Parmesan cheese if desired.

Buttermilk Cornbread

It had been quite cold for the last couple of days. Ideal for some hot chili. Even though chili itself is a complete meal, we like to have something solid to go along with that. So I made these cornbread to go along with this. It tastes like freshly baked pound cake, though with a grainier texture. The sweetness of the cornbread nicely complements the spiciness of the chili. You could have this as a stand alone snack also if you like to.
Recipe Source: Allrecipes
Ingredients:
 1/2 cup butter
 2/3 cup white sugar
 2 eggs
 1 cup buttermilk
 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
 1 cup cornmeal
 1 cup all-purpose flour
 1/2 teaspoon salt
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cheesy'N Garlicy Cauliflower Bread

I am yet to see any kid who doesn't like pizza. But that is not the same when it comes to veggies for most kids. One of the complaints that I often hear from moms is about how difficult it is for them to make their little ones have their daily dose of veggies. But what if you can make a pizza with just the veggies only - and tasting as delicious as a real pizza? Well, look no further. This recipe is so easy to make and so...so delicious that your little ones would be after you asking for more.

Recipe Source:Mom,What's For Dinner
Ingredients:
1 &1/2 cups cooked, riced cauliflower
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
Olive oil
For Topping:
2 tablespoons softened salted butter
 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
*Optional Marinara sauce for dipping
 Method:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Wash the cauliflower and rice the cauliflower. I minced it in my food processor.The minced cauliflower should be around 1 1/2 cups, for that amount I used half a medium sized cauliflower.Now microwave this for 5 minutes.Let it cool.

Meanwhile prepare your baking sheet or pan by spreading a small amount of olive oil on it and top with parchment paper,I used aluminium foil and it turned out sticky at the edges.
In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg, Parmesan and Mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir.
Transfer to the baking stone or sheet, and using your hands, pat out into desired shape
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven.

Mix 2 Tbs butter and garlic in a small bowl and.spread the butter and garlic mixture over baked cauliflower bread and top with Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses.

Place back in the 450 degree oven until all cheese is melted.
Slice and Serve!

Garlic Naan

Most of the Indian breads I have tried making at home. But naan was an exception. But this is a favorite of Aishwarya. Whenever we go out to an Indian restaurant, she would have this for sure. So one day she challenged (tricked ?? ) me to making naan.
This turned out to be soft and fluffy and retained its softness even after a few hours. I already made it couple of times and am sure would be making many more times.

Ingredients
1 tbs active yeast
1 cup warm water, about 110 degrees F
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup milk, scalded but cooled to warm
4 ounces melted butter, plus 2 ounces
6 cups flour or as needed
16 cloves of garlic
Cilantro optional
Nigella seeds optional

Method:
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit until lightly foamy, then stir in sugar and add egg, salt, warm milk, and 4 ounces of butter. Slowly add 5 cups flour, adding more as needed to make an elastic dough. Mix well, then roll out to floured surface and knead dough for about 5 minutes.
Place dough in buttered bowl, cover with towel, and set in a warm place to rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour.
knead the dough again for a minute
Preheat the oven with baking tray to 500 degrees F .Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and shape them into balls.Roll out each ball into triangle, ovals or your favorite shape about 1 cm thick. If desired, top with nigella seeds or minced garlic and cilantro.I used only garlic.Slightly press it into the dough.Transfer the rolled out dough into the baking tray and bake for 4 to 5 minutes.Then after that broil for 1 minute.
Take naan out and brush with butter and serve hot.

Pizza Pull-Apart Bread for Super Bowl Sunday!

With the Super Bowl fever on, everyone is loading up with foods to go with the big occasion. Of course, being San Francisco Bay Area residents, we would be rooting for 49ers. But whichever team you are rooting for, this would be a good snack to root for.
Recipe source: Southern Bite
Ingredients
2 – 6.3 oz can of large southern style biscuits (8 in each can)
1 – 14.5 oz jar of pizza sauce
1/2 green pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 onion, diced
2.25 oz can sliced black olives
2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Method:
Open biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters. Place in a large bowl.
Add pizza sauce to bowl and Stir gently to coat. Add diced pepper and onion, Parmesan, olives,  and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Stir gently to combine.
Pour mixture into a greased Bundt or tube pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown and biscuits are done throughout.
Remove from oven and invert onto a platter while hot. Top with remaining cup of mozzarella.

Honey White Bread

I had been using a bread-machine  for over an year now. Since that time we hardly ever buy the bread from the shops.
If you can whip up  hot, yummy bread without much effort, who would then go for the store bought ones?
This is a white bread recipe. I also make a wheat and white bread combo, which I shall be posting some time later.
Even though this  original recipe uses an electric mixer with the hook attachment, you can do the same in a bread machine too. Though I use the bread machine, I don't use it to bake the bread because I am not a big fan of  the shape of the bread that my bread machine makes. So  I use it only to make the dough.
Recipe source:Ina ( Barefoot Contessa)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 packages dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups warm whole milk (110 degrees)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 extra-large egg yolks
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Method:
Place the water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. If the bowl is cold, be sure the water temperature doesn't drop below 110 degrees F. Add the yeast and sugar; stir and allow them to dissolve for 5 minutes.

Add the milk, butter, and honey. Mix on medium speed until blended. Add the egg yolks, 3 cups of the flour, and the salt. Mix on low speed for about 5 minutes. With the mixer still on low speed, add 2 more cups of flour. Raise the speed to medium and slowly add just enough of the remaining flour so the dough doesn't stick to the bowl. Add the flour slowly; you can always add more but you can't take it out. Knead on medium speed for about 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary.

Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for a minute, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Grease a bowl with butter, put the dough in the bowl, then turn it over so the top is lightly buttered. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and allow it to rise for one hour, until doubled in volume.

Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans with butter. Divide the dough in half, roll each half into a loaf shape and place each in a prepared pan. Cover again with the damp towel, and allow to rise again for an hour, until doubled in volume.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. When the dough is ready, brush the tops with the egg white and bake the breads for 40 to 45 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped.Leave them in the pan for 5 minutes covered with a kitchen towel after applying a bit of butter to the crust.  Turn them out of the pans and cool completely on a wire rack by covering with a kitchen towel before slicing.

Thattil Kutti Dosa & Garlic chutney

This is my version of that dosa and chutney combo made famous by the Malayalam movie " Salt'N Pepper". I haven't yet got a chance to taste the original one. From googling about this I understand that this originated in Thrissur, which is where I am also from. So the next time I am in India, I am definitely planning to pay a visit to this dosa's birth-place and try this out.
Thattil Kutty Dosa literally means "the small dosa made in a pan". The Garlic Chutney is what was shown as the accompaniment for this in the movie. I referred to many recipes in the internet and came up with this version both for the dosa and chutney.
It is a good change from the regular dosa and we all liked it.
Ingredients:
For the Dosa batter:
2 cups rice
1 cup urad dal
1 tbsp fenugreek seeds
Method:
Soak the rice, fenugreek and the dal separately for 4-5 hrs.
Grind together the rice and fenugreek to a fine paste. Also grind the dal  to a fine paste adding enough water. Mix the rice and the dal and let it ferment over night.
Before making the Dosa, add water to the batter to bring it to a pouring consistency. Add salt and mix.
Heat the Non Stick Pan, pour 1/2 ladleful batter about 1/2 cup and small dosas. No need to spread the batter unless it is too thick.Cook in low to medium flame to get golden crust. Drizzle some oil/ghee on the dosas.Flip once the bottom turns golden and cook in low to medium flame for a minute or 2 or until golden in colour. Drizzle oil when ever desired.  Serve with garlic chutney / sambar ...

Garlic Chutney
Ingredients:
Coconut(grated)- 1 cup
Dried red chilli -8
Garlic cloves-8
Tamarind-1 tsp
Shallots-1
Salt- to taste

Seasoning:
Oil-2 tbs
Mustard-1 tsp
Dried red chilli-1

Method:
Heat a teaspoon of oil and roast the red chilli till they turn crisp.Set it aside. In the same pan brown crushed garlic.Now grind all the ingredients to a fine paste adding as little water as possible. Now heat the oil and add mustard followed by red chilli,once the mustard is done with the spluttering  add it to the ground chutney.

Dinner Rolls

If you are on a search for a good dinner roll for this Thanksgiving, this would be a good one to try.
Recipe Source:Itsfordinner.com
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup slightly warm milk
3 tablespoons melted but not hot butter
1 beaten egg
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Method:
Combine wet ingredients plus the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment
Add in flour a cup at a time, still using the paddle attachment
Once fully incorporated, switch the dough hook and knead until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, approximately 10 minutes. The dough will remain quite sticky, this is normal.
Cover and let dough rest in mixing bowl for an hour
Punch down and turn dough out onto a board or countertop, it will still be somewhat sticky so use some bench flour to help keep everything together
Portion into 12 equal pieces and place onto a half sheet pan (use a SILPAT if you have one). We use a scale, which comes to 2.5oz portions, but if that's too Bill Nye for you just make three equal pieces, cut each of those into two and then each of those into two.
Cover and let rise for another hour, remembering to start pre-heating the oven to 350º halfway through
Bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes.Once out of the oven cover with kitchen towel for 5 minutes.
(Brush with butter if desired)

Dry Fruits Cinnamon Focaccia

I was on a search for a new dish to try out.When I found this recipe for sweet Focaccia I didn't have to think further on what to make. The reasons why I stopped my search there were: 1) It had cinnamon,which I love so very much and 2) it was a sweet dish. As usual I have added a few twists to the recipe to personalize it.The end result was one delicious Focaccia. Thank you Achu for this delectable bread.

Recipe Adapted from Tangy Minds
Ingredients:
1 cup Lukewarm water
1/2 Tbsp Active dry yeast
2 cups All purpose flour
1and1/2 tsp Gluten
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1/8 cup Butter, melted
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Sugar
1/4 cup Brown sugar
Raisins and cranberry as required
Method:
In a large mixing bowl mix flour,gluten and salt. Mix yeast  1 tsp sugar  and water. After 5 minutes add this to flour mix and Stir with a spoon until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and is smooth.
Cover dough and let rise for 1 hour.Pour onto greased cookie sheet.With greased hands, spread dough on the cookie sheet. Using your knuckles spread dough out forming holes in the dough. Brush melted butter onto bread.Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar and brown sugar,add a raisin or a cranberry into each hole in the dough.Rest this for 15 minutes.Bake in a preheated 350 F degree oven for about 12 minutes or until bread is golden brown.Drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze or spread with cream cheese frosting.

Anda Paratha - Egg-Stuffed Indian Flatbread

If you don't have enough time to make an elaborate meal, yet want to make sure your family gets their daily dose of proteins, carbs and veggies, this is the dish for you. This is also ideal if  you want to sneak in some veggies into your kids diet. With Aishwarya, my problem is that though she doesn't mind having most of the veggies,she doesn't like to have eggs in most typical forms. So this is one of the ways I can get some of the goodness of the eggs into her.
Ingredients:
Wheat flour  -  2 cups
Eggs - 4 nos
Fresh Cilantro, diced - 3 tbsp
Green chilli peppers, diced - 4-5 nos
Fresh spinach - 1/4 cup, optional
Ajwain (carom seed) - 1/2 tsp
Mozzarella cheese - 1/4 cup, optional
Chaat masala - 1/4 tsp, optional
Salt - to taste
Butter - as required

Method:
Mix the wheat flour with 1 egg, ajwain, salt, green-chilli and 1 tbsp of cilantro. Add 1/2 a cup of water to this and mix it well. Form it into a dough with the consistency of the usual roti/chapatti dough, by adding additional water as may be required. Let it rest for at least 15 mts.
Beat the remaining 3 eggs along with the spinach and a bit of salt in a bowl. Take a golf ball sized dough and roll it out as thin as possible into a disc shape. Put this roti on a heated tawa (pan). Now take about 3 tbsp of egg mix and spread it over the entire top of the roti. Sprinkle cilantro and cheese over the eggs. Now fold the paratha from 3 sides to form a triangle. Flip the paratha over and roast by applying butter on both sides till done.
Sprinkle a pinch of chat masala and serve it hot. You may serve it with a dollop of yogurt or with some ketchup or mint chutney.

Adai Dosa / Multi Grains Crepes

Adai Dosa is a popular, power packed variant of the traditional dosa. Being high on the pulses this is a much more healthier option than the original. Unlike the traditional dosa, this takes very little preparation time as this doesn't need fermentation at all. I find it very convenient to make when I have to put something together in a jiffy. Even the typical soaking time needed can be reduced if you have a super powerful grinder like the VitaMix, which I use. This typically reduces my soaking time to a mere 1 hour.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup ( I used jasmine rice)
Chana dal-1/2 cup
Green Gram Dal  - 1/2 cup
Masoor Dal / Red Lentil - 1/2 cup
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal  - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 large
Green Chilli - 5
Ginger - 2 inch piece
Curry leaves a handful
Chilli powder - 2 tbs or to taste
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Ghee/Butter/Oil for making dosa

Method:
Wash and soak the first 6 ingredints in water for 3 hours.  After 3 hours puree in a grinder to a fine paste by adding little water, the final batter should be thick as a pancake batter or dosa batter. Now take onion, green chilli, ginger and curry leaves in a food processor and chop them finely.Add it to the batter and mix well.(if you love a dosa of even texture you can add these along with the grains when you are pureeing them). Add asafoetida, salt, chilli powder to the batter and mix well. Heat a nonstick pan. Take a ladleful of batter and make into a thin dosa.Apply ghee on the dosa and cook till its crisp to your liking.Serve  hot with cuthney of your choice.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

 If you are looking for a way other than regular banana bread to finish of those bananas that are browning, do give this a try.Soon you would  deliberately brown your bananas just for this recipe.
Recipe Source: Savory Sweet Life
Ingredients
1 stick of salted butter, softened to room temp.
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 large ripened bananas mashed ( or 2.5 small bananas)
1 tsp. vanilla
1&1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 Tbl. cocoa powder
1/2 cup of sour cream/Plain yogurt
1 cup of mini chocolate chips (regular chocolate chips work too)
optional 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease a 9×5 loaf pan, or 2 mini pans with non-stick spray.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Stir in egg, mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla until well blended.
Add baking soda, cocoa, and flour.
Mix everything until well incorporated (about 3 minutes using a mixer).
Add chocolate chips and nuts (if applicable).
Pour batter into loaf pan(s) and bake for 60 minutes – 70 minutes.
Insert a tooth pick into the center of the loaf and check to see if it comes out clean when you pull it out.
Remove from heat and allow bread to rest in the loaf pan for 10 minutes.
Invert the loaf pans onto a cooling rack. Enjoy warm or cold.

Zucchini Pizza

It is summer-time and whenever I go out for grocery and produce shopping, I find zucchini in abundance (though here in the bay area I find it year round ). I love eating Zucchini by itself, but wanted to try out some variations. So the last time Aishwarya wanted a pizza, I thought of trying this out as the topping so that I could put some veggies also into her. The result turned out to be a keeper.
Ingredients:
2 large zucchinis
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup feta cheese
sea salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
pizza dough(used the same recipe used for this bread)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Grate the zucchinis and press out the water from zucchini using your hand.Soak up any extra water with paper towels. Mix the zucchini with the mozzarella feta and a dash of salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.In another bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, Italian seasoning or seasoning of your choice and garlic. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.
Work the pizza dough into whatever shape your heart desires. Spread the ricotta cheese on top and then top with the zucchini mixture. Add some red pepper flakes if you like . Reduce oven temperature to 450 and bake pizza for about 11 minutes, or until the crust begins to turn golden and the cheese has started to bubble.

Italian Cheese Bread

If you are looking for an alternative for garlic bread look no further. This bread is the perfect one for you. This savory bread can be had as a part of your main course,appetizer or snack This is so easy to put together and tastes awesome.  

Ingredients:
Bread:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Topping:
1/4 cup prepared Italian salad dressing/dressing of your choice
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
Dash pepper/Chilli flakes
1-2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Methods:
In a bowl, add the lukewarm water along with sugar and yeast. After it yeast proofs, add all the other ingredients listed under bread and knead to form a soft dough. Add additional flour if needed. Turn onto a floured surface; knead for 1-2 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes punch the dough down; place on a greased cookie pan or a pizza pan  and pat into the pan uniformly. Brush with salad dressing. Combine the seasonings; sprinkle over top. Sprinkle with cheeses. Allow the bread to rest for 15 minutes or so. 
Pre-heat the oven to 450*F. Bake for 11-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Bathura

In my good old younger days ( I am not saying that I am old now  ), whenever we went out to a restaurant, bathura was one of the hot favorites that I would order. But now, being wiser and being the responsible adult and parent, I try limiting fried food to special occasions or once in a month or so. Though fried, these bathuras retain very little oil and you can eat it almost guilt-free.
Recipe Source:Vahrehvah
Ingredient:
All purpose flour - 2cups
Baking powder -1/2 tbs
Curd/butter milk -1/2 cup
Salt-1/2tsp
Suji/semolina-1/2 cup
Sugar-1 tbs
Oil-2tbs
Water as needed
Method:
In a bowl mix flour and suji well .  Mix salt, sugar,oil and baking powder with butter milk.Add this to the flour mix and using enough water  make a soft dough.Cover this with a wet towel.Rest atleast for 2 hours .Divide the dough into little balls  the size of a lemon ,roll them out and fry in hot vegetable oil.

Mediterranean Pizza

Friday nights are pizza nights for us. But the last Friday,  when I checked my refrigerator, I realized that I had so much of left-overs from the New Year celebrations that I decided to make it a left-over Friday instead! So to make up for that (and owing to the persistent demands of the pizza lovers in my family), I ended up making this pizza today. As it was a Sunday, I wanted to make something simple, easy, yet delicious; and this was the perfect choice.

Serves: 3-4
Ingredients:
Crust Ingredients:
3/4 cup water (110-115 degrees, preferably)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, melted or very softened
2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon yeast
Toppings:
Crumbled feta cheese
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Minced Parsley
Red onion, sliced
Black olives, chopped
Sliced tomato
Chilli flakes
Dried oregano
Olive oil, to top

Method:
Proof the yeast by mixing with lukewarm water and sugar.Add butter and flour,knead for  6-8 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Set dough in  a bowl and grease the top. Cover with a towel and set in a warm place to rise for about 45 minutes. After dough has risen the first time, punch down and knead until air bubbles are removed.
Liberally butter a 16-inch round pizza pan, and press dough onto pan.  Then top with veggies and cheeses of your choice. Let the dough rise for 15-20 minutes (as the oven heats up).
Place pizza in oven and turn heat to 400 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes; rotate crust and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until top is browned. (Be sure to watch so it doesn't burn; every oven is different!)
 When pizza is browned, turn off heat and open oven door. Leave pizza in oven until ready to serve.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

This would be my last post of this year. So I thought of putting something that would be good to make as a New Year breakfast, for a new beginning. I had made this for Christmas, though. As this re heats well, you may even make it ahead of time and have a relaxed beginning to your New Year, after the festivities of the new year's eve. I have combined the recipes from the Cinnamon Pull-Apart recipe from  Joy the Baker and the Cinnabons recipe from Across the range, as the original Cinnamon Pull-apart recipe doesn't re-heat well. But if you have enough time and you can go with the original recipe itself.
Pssst...my hubby was so generous with presents this Christmas (or was it Santa himself, I am not sure!..), I got an overload of presents - a bread machine,a digital food scale, a new camera and all the other stuff from my wish list. May be I was such a good girl throughout the year!! With all these new gadgets I hope to make my blog even better next year - of course, with all your encouragement and support.

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!

Ingredients:
1 cup milk - heat in microwave for 1 minute
1 egg, beaten
1/4  Cup melted butter
7 tbs water
1 box (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding powder
4 Cup bread or white flour
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp traditional yeast

Filling
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
Method:
Dough can either be made in bread maker or the old fashioned way with hand. If using a breadmaker add the ingredients in the following order: boiling water, cold milk, melted butter, sugar, salt, egg, 1 cup of the flour, the pudding mix, 2 1/2 more cups of flour and dry yeast. Add another 1/2 cup of flour as the dough cycle runs, or as much flour as needed to make a soft, smooth dough . If  making the dough by hand in traditional manner take a large mixing bowl, combine the hot water with the cup of (cold) milk to make a luke warm milk-water mixture. Add dry yeast and when it starts to froth add the butter, sugar, salt, egg, flour and vanilla pudding mix. Then  make a sticky dough. Add more flour as needed (about a cup more, or as much as it takes to make a smooth dough). Let rise for an hour. Punch down. Roll dough to 17" x 10".
Combine filling ingredients and mix well. Heat in microwave 10 seconds to make it spreadable. Spread over rolled out dough getting as close to the edges as possible.  Slice the dough vertically, into six equal-sized strips.  Stack the strips on top of one another and slice the stack into six equal slices once again.  You’ll have six stacks of six squares.  Layer the dough squares in the loaf pan like a flip-book.  Place a kitchen towel over the loaf pan and allow in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until almost doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Transfer the loaf to the oven and bake 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  (If the top seems to be browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil at the end of baking.)  Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan 20-30 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen and carefully turn the loaf out, transferring to a serving plate.  Serve warm.
Sending this over to Radhika's Let's cook #10 Baked Goodies event

and Sangeetha's Bake fest # 2 an event started by Vardhini

Avocado Chapati

For this weeks Blog Hop Wednesday  by Radhika I am paired with Harini and  this Avocado Chapati is what I tried from her blog.I didn't alter the recipe much ,the only small change I did was using pulp of two avocado instead  of one and making this in the form of a triangle and layered chapati. The end result was a soft and delicious chapati which was well liked by all at home.
Ingredients -
Whole Wheat Flour- 2 cups
Avocado (pulp) - 2
Salt as per taste
Chat Masala -1/2 tsp
Chilli Powder- 1/2 tsp
Kasoori Methi- 1/2 tsp (Optional)
Method :
In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients and knead well with very little water. Since the avocado pulp will have some moisture, add water gradually and make dough.
Cover the dough for about 10-15 min while the rest of the stuff is arranged.
Make about 12 equal portions of the dough and roll out rotis,apply a little oil and sprinkle some flour and fold in half .Apply little more oil and fold the semicircle again  to form a triangle ,roll out the triangle to form a thinner triangle. Cook both sides of the chapati on a hot griddle/tava.

Scallion'N Garlic Pancakes

Scallion pancakes are pan-fried bread. It has origins in the Chinese culture. Unlike a true pancake, it is made from dough instead of batter and is a lot like Indian parathas and other simple flat breads. I have used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour  and and alterd the filling to my taste.This would make a nice appetizer or a filling breakfast.
Ingredients:
Dough
Whole wheat flour-1 &1/2 cups
 Luke warm water-2/3rd cup
Oil -1 tbs
Salt-1/4tsp
Filling 
Scallion/Spring onion-1 cup(thinly sliced)
Garlic-4 cloves(thinly sliced)
Chilli flakes-1tsp
Salt -1/4 tsp
Vegetable oil-2tbs
Method:
Mix flour, salt , water and oil together to make a soft dough (add more water if needed).
Knead the dough on a lightly greased surface to make the dough smooth and pliable.
Set the dough aside and cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough rest for at least ten minutes or more.
Divide the dough into 8 equal parts.
Mix all the ingredients listed under the filling.
Roll the dough out into a thin pancake about 1/4th inch thickness.Spread a thin layer of the filling over the pancake roll the pancake like a rug, wind the pancake into a spiral as if shaping a cinnamon roll, then tuck the loose end underneath.Roll out the rolled pancake to 1/8th inch thickness, pan-fry in a little oil on both sides until golden Slice into quarters or eighths and  serve.
Sending this over to Kaveri's  Herbs and Flowers in my platter event