BULOCHKI#BREADBAKERS  Appetite comes at mealtime – Russian Proverb      #Breadbakers theme for the month of May 2016 was decided by Deepti of Baking Yummies. She suggested that we bake rolls. It took me a whole week to decide whether I wanted to bake some sweet or savoury rolls. My sweet tooth ruled and I decided to bake sweet rolls, Bulochki. While most bakeries use the term rolls and buns as they wish, the general rule is that rolls are usually stuffed or rolled with a sweet or savoury filling whereas buns are generally plain and not filled. However, there are no strict rules. Hard crusted breads are included in rolls like French rolls or Kaiser rolls whereas Hot Cross Buns are classified as buns.…

Cocktail or Cock tail??? We Knead to Bake’s #38 bake for the month of April are Coconut Buns or Chinese Cocktail Buns or Gai Mei Bao. These buns were supposedly created in the 1950s in Hong Kong. The owners of a local bakery were left with unsold buns and instead of throwing them away they decided to ground the buns, added sugar and used it as a filling for new buns. These days left over bread has been replaced by a sweet buttery coconut filling. There are two meaning to the cocktail buns. One is that the exotic mixture of filling deserved the name cocktail much like the cocktails created in bars and pubs. The second is that Gai Mei Bao literally means cock’s(chicken) tail…

MULTI GRAIN GARLIC NAAN#BREAD BAKERS      A healthy take on naan As much as we all love naan with our curries, naan is made from refined flour (plain flour, all purpose flour) which is not that healthy. During the process of refining the flour, the husk and bran, the most nutritious part of the wheat grain and rich in fiber is removed. What is left the white part which is carbohydrate, without any vitamins or minerals. Bleaching chemicals are used to make the flour more white. Consuming white flour on a regular basis along with sugar is bad for the body. Weight gain, insulin resistance and diabetes may result in over consumption of white flour. In order to enjoy naan but in a more…

There’s a leopard in my kitchen! When Aparna suggested a leopard patch or leopard spots bread for our March challenge in We Knead to Bake group, I felt right at home. Leopards are not new to me, as I have seen them in the National Parks and at the Animals Orphanage in Nairobi. Years ago it was pretty easy to spot these animals in the parks but these days its pretty difficult because of poaching. Leopards are different from cheetahs. Leopards are nocturnal cats while cheetahs are diurnal. Leopards have shorter legs and more stockier whereas cheetahs have long legs and are slender to enable them to run fast. Now coming to the spots, cheetahs have black spots all over. Leopards have spots that are…

Chocolate Orange Swirl Buns#Bread Bakers Orangey Fragrance Not only is the combination of chocolate and orange heavenly, lovely, delish, flavourful but the aroma is just out of this world especially when baking. When Shireen Sequeira of Ruchik Randhap set the theme of baking with cocoa, cacao, carob in any form for the month of March, I was in a bit of dilemma. Have baked muffins, quick breads, bundt with cocoa. Don’t like carob at all. So I thought of a yeast bake but using cocoa, carob or cacao in a yeast bread, I was a bit apprehensive. Will it turn out too chocolatey, or just right? So the hunt for a recipe started. I knew it had to a yeast based bake though I so desperately…

something different What are brownies? No I’m not talking about the girl guides who are between the ages of seven to ten and called Brownies. I wonder if they still have brownies and girl guides in schools? I was a brownie and a girl guide when I was in school. No, my post is not on girl guides and brownies, but the brownies from the cookery world.  Brownies is a baked flat dessert that became popular in US and Canada during the first half of the 20th century.Depending on the density, it can be cakey or fudgy. They are made with chocolate, either melted chocolate or powder or both with nuts and sometimes dried fruits added to it. You can have a brownie either with…

A Portuguese bread I have not been posting new recipes on a regular basis like before as I am updating my old ones. Whenever I write a post, I do read it again to check for grammatical or spelling mistakes. However, sometimes the eagle eye misses them. I am also updating the photos as my old ones were not good or too hazy. I still am not a professional photographer, but with my iphone, I try my best. Today’s post is a Portuguese corn bread which was our February challenge for the We Knead to Bake (started by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen) members. Milho means cornmeal. This cornmeal is quite different from the one made in US. Its not sweet,it uses yeast, its a bit…

Tiger, tiger burning bright Remember reciting this poem by William Blake when you were in school? I just couldn’t help trying to remember the lines while I was baking this bread. I had to google the poem and check out the correct lines. Still can’t remember the lines. It probably means my brains too are getting old 🙂 So lets come to the actual bread. I saw this mottled topped bread at Nakumatt  and was really fascinated by the effect. Bought the rolls and they tasted like just any other ordinary rolls. Then one fine day I stumbled upon the recipe and actual name of the bread… tiger bread or Dutch Crunch Bread. I wonder why its called tiger bread since there are no stripes…