Sheermal - a Mughalai bread

Bread baking is addictive, meditative, relaxing.. I could go on and on, but will stop now. Some of you had been asking me about the bread posts that have been far and few this year. Yes, this blog has been on the back burner for a while now. Thankfully, my oven wasn't. Its just that I never found the time to take pictures of the final product before my family descended and polished it off. November is coming to an end and thankfully the non-posting inertia is also fading away.. This month's to-do bread (in the bread baking group I belong to, We Knead to Bake) was a rare delicacy called Sheermal. According to what I read up - Sheer means milk in Persian. This bread is kneaded using the moisture only from Eggs, milk and ghee. Ghee gives this bread a wonderful taste, so don't skimp on it, go for an extra walk instead. This is one of the easier breads to bake, so even if you are new to bread baking, I don't think you could go wrong with this bread.
Find the original recipe here

I used only Kewra water to flavour this bread, although many use rose water, elaichi (cardamom)and even orange blossom water. Who is to stop a baker on roll ;) The toppings can also vary, I've seen folks top it with a generous portion of almond shavings, other nuts... My family loved the mild fragrance of Kewra in the bread....
I didn’t make any changes to the original recipe except to increase the sugar and decrease the salt. And the plan was to have it for evening tea - this bread is a traditional accompaniment to Korma and Nihari. If you'd rather have it in a restaurant, you might have to search hard and probably might find it in a humble eatery somewhere in your city, I haven’t seen in any of the mid range or higher end restaurants menus yet.

Ingredients

1 tsp active dried yeast
3 tsp sugar (Aparna’s recipe uses only 2 tsps)
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I had to use a little more)
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup ghee (I used home made ghee)
1/2 cup milk (or more, as required for kneading)
1 tsp kewra water (screw pine essence)
¼ tsp saffron strands soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk
Ghee, for brushing


Method
Activate the yeast by mixing in warm water with sugar in the bowl of your mixer. It starts frothing in 5-10 minutes, in the meantime get ready with the other ingredients.
Sift flour and salt in a bowl and set aside. Lightly whisk the egg and keep aside.
Add the flour and the beaten egg to the mixer bowl of your stand mixer and ensure that the dry and wet ingredients are mixed. Then add the ghee and ensure that it gets evenly distributed. I did this process by hand.
Attach the dough hook and start adding the warm milk, follow it up with the kewra water.
You will notice that the dough starts to pull away from the sides and gets a smooth texture. This takes about 8 minutes. Knead by hand to get the final consistency. I found that I needed a bit more flour (2 tbsp) more than the recipe mentioned. You will get a smooth, silky dough (due to the milk and fat) that is quite sticky. Shape into a ball and proof it in a greased bowl. Cover it with a damp cloth and proof it till doubles (it took the dough about 1 hour or so).
Knead the dough again (dust the worktable with a little bit of flour if required). Shape into a ball, lightly coat all over with a little ghee, cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for about 15 to 20 minutes. You can preheat your oven now.
Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and using your fingers/rolling pin, press out each portion into a round of approximately 4” diameter (about 1/8” thick). Place the rounds on a parchment lined or lightly greased baking tray and using a fork, dock (prick holes) the whole surface of the dough rounds. Brush the surface of the bread liberally with saffron milk
Note: I tried lining the pan with parchment paper for one lot and greased butter paper for another. The bread got stuck in the butter paper lined tray.

Bake for 15 minutes @180C. The bread has to be lightly browned, The more it bakes the crisper it gets and we don’t want that. A well-made Sheermal is soft not crisp.
Also remember to brush the baked Sheermal with ghee as soon as its out of the oven.

We had this aromatic bread with a cup of tea. You can try it with a spicy gravy. If so, then reduce the sugar and increase the salt by a notch.
Let me know if this bread was a hit with your family

Apple-Walnut-Raisin Cake

So birthdays normally are associated with a nice rich cake with a creamy or chocolaty frosting. But what kind of a cake can you bake for a person who likes all sweet things as long as they are not too sweet? I had to make one such cake recently and came across a recipe from my long time favourite - Joy of baking website. Click on the headline of this post to go to the original recipe or search for apple cake in www.joyofbaking.com, you'll find the video and the tested recipe of this cake..


I did not make ANY changes to the recipe mentioned..

Couple of pointers for those trying to attempt this recipe..
1 Omit the Apricot glaze if you dont like your desserts very sweet - the cake just has a hint of sweetness
2. toast the walnuts very lightly
3. dont use golden raisins like i did for the recipe, dont quite like the taste..
4. this is a fruit muffin kinda cake, dont overbeat the batter
5. I didnt add lemon juice to cut apples (the cutting takes the longest part of the recipe preperation!)I just kept cutting it and storing it in a tight plastic box and after that stored in the fridge for a bit when i was making the batter for the cake...
6. This is quite moist cake and the peices cant be cut evenly because of the apple chunks..
7. The cake was LOVED by all.......

Garlic Pull Apart Rolls

Making your breakfast before and having it on a lazy Saturday morning is something you can do easily if you bake... I used this strategy yesterday and made some Garlic Pull Apart Rolls. They are again from Monika's blog.

Its a fairly simple recipe and since I wanted to use wholewheat - I used 2 cups of wholewheat in this recipe...This is Monika's recipe with my notes and pics inbetween :)

Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
•All Purpose Flour - 3 cups (I used 1 cup Maida and 2 cups Aashirwad Whole Wheat Atta - the strategy i use to measure is scoop the flour into the measuring cup, tap it once and even it out with a spatula)
• Warm Water- 1 cup (tipd keep 20-30 ml more water as atta needs more water - warm the entire quantity and keep 1 cup aside. Use this first and the rest if required
• Dry Active Yeast- 1tbsp (easily available Eagle Brand)
• Salt – 1tsp
• Sugar- 2 tbps
• Olive Oil- 3 tbps
• 1 tbsp milk for basting the buns before baking
For the garlic filling
• Salted Butter- 50grams
• Garlic- 6-7 finely chopped
• Parsley and Thyme – 3 tbps (chopped)
• 3/4 tsp chilli flakes


Method:

• Mix abt 2 tbsp of warm water (from the one cup mentioned), sugar and yeast together and leave aside for 5 minutes till it looks a little frothy. Thats when the yeast has been activated and is ready to use
• Mix the above starter with dough and knead lightly till everything comes together as a dough. No need to over knead it.
• Add oil to it and knead for another 5 minutes till it starts springing back
• Keep the dough for resting covered by cling film for about 30-45 mins till it almost doubles depending on the weather. (My dough doubled in just 20 mintues.)

• While the dough is proofing u can make the garlic spread ready by mixing all the ingredients together at room temperature.
• After its doubled in size, knock down to remove the air and roll in to a half an inch thickness sheet. Use dry flour to prevent it from sticking
• Apply the garlic filling/spread evenly on the dough and roll the dough from one end to another.
• Using a knife or a thread cut it into 8-10 rolls of equal size (I used a combination of thread and pizza cutter for the cutting) and got 14 rolls or so
• Line them in a greased loaf pan, spread the left over garlic spread on top and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.

• leave it for proofing again for 30 mins or so
• Apply egg wash (optional) (I used a milk wash)and bake it in a preheated oven at 180C for about 20-25 mins
(If you are using a milk wash, top the baked rolls with some butter for a soft crust, empty over a wire rack after 5 minutes of cooling in the pan else the rolls get stuck)
• Pull them apart and eat fresh and warm.

Update on 25/Nov/2014 I made these rolls again with stone ground coarse organic wheat flour in the same proportion mentioned instead of store brought one. The difference to the texture of the bread is to be seen to be believed. Its definitely worth the effort to buy grains and mill your flour. The filling this time had the coriander-mint chutney, grated carrot, dried basil. I was a little sceptical of how the combination of mint-bail-coriander-garlic and carrot would work - but they really pair well. Try out this variation too, but make sure that the chutney is on the drier side...

Latest in the baking marathon - Veggie calzone

Vegetarian Calzone

For the covering
250 gms APF
7.5 gms Fresh Yeast (or 3.75 gms Active yeast)
10 gms sugar
5 gms salt
10 gms butter
150-180 ml water
Italian seasoning and chilli flakes depending on your taste

For the filling
1 tbsp oil
Bell pepper, mushroom, onion (sliced/ cut finely) – abt 1 – 1.5 each
Sundried tomatoes – abt ¼ cup
Grated Mozzarella cheese – 75-100 gms
Chilli flakes – according to taste (I didn’t use any)

Method:
For the filling
Sauté onion, peppers and mushroom in abt 1 tbsp of oil till crisp and cooked. Add sun dried tomatoes and salt to taste. Remember there will be cheese too, so adjust salt accordingly. I did not add any extra flavouring as the herbs in the sundried tomatoes were very strong. You can use normal tomatoes (discard the seeds and the water parts) and add fresh herbs (basil/thyme/rosemary or a mix of all) and garlic. The filling should be well cooked and dry. Let it cool.

Keep the grated cheese handy along with the filling – do not mix them. You can use grated paneer instead of cheese – and mix it in the last state of preparation of the filling too.

For the covering
Measure out 150 ml of water. Then in a bowl add sugar and yeast and add enough water from the measured water to submerge the yeast. I used fresh yeast. Sieve the flour once and then add the seasoning and salt. Mix. Make a well and pour the yeast mixture into it. Mix well and add water and knead till you get a dough that is like that of Poori dough in consistency. Add abt 20 ml more water and knead. Add the butter (u can melt it after measuring it) and ensure that it is incorporated well. Keep kneading for 15-20 minutes, keep adding water as required. When the dough passes the Window Pane test, you can keep it for the first proofing. Let it rise for abt 15 minutes (it becomes puffy but doesn’t double). The puffy state is important – timing can vary depending on the climatic conditions.

Preheat your oven to 185 Celsius degrees. The test being that the temp for calzone is abt 15 degrees Celsius lesser than that what you bake a pizza in. So reduce accordingly.

Knock down the air and you can divide the dough into 8 portions. Roll out each portion into a small roti, brush with some melted butter, place filling in the centre, and add some cheese and some chilli flakes. Wet the edges with water and close the puri to form a crescent. Use a fork to seal the edges by pressing on the edge. Keep aside in a greased tray (that you will use for baking) for proofing for 15-20 minutes. Brush the tops with oil and put into the oven for baking. It takes about 10 minutes or so. If you want the crust more browned then increase the temperature to 200 degrees Celsius and bake for abt 2-3 minutes more.


Cool on a wire rack and brush the tops with more oil/butter. Serve with Ketchup.