Rye bread (baking after a long gap) - creating an herb loaded artisan bread the no knead, no mess way

The recipe is right on the box, but when you cook a recipe with passion, you elevate even a box recipe - chef Jacques from 32 Yolks

I went back to baking after a long hiatus. As some of you may have noticed, my baking recipes have almost dwindled in frequency lately as I haven't baked much. It feels like an extravaganza to bake just for the two of us while DD is away at school (yep, I go through those mom guilt trips) also logistically it doesn't make sense to bake a big batch of something while neither BH nor I will be able to finish it before it goes bad. When DD was home, either she would devour it or have friends over to share. And then we also went through a phase of consciously reducing the amount of flours in every day food, so bread was the first one to feel the pain of the axe :-).

I bought Rye flour in the local grocery store a few months back after eating a byte of the hearty, slightly dense textured store bought rye bread as part of a potluck dinner. The intention to bake a rye bread at home was urgent and genuine but the universe conspired against it from becoming a reality sooner. New year rolled in, on one of my regular 'clean the pantry' efforts, I found the desolate box of rye flour in the dark corner of my pantry completely forgotten and uncared for. Now that cannot be good at all, right? I honestly believe any ingredient that I purchase has potential to turn into something delicious and soul satisfying even if it is the forgotten rye flour. So out came the box and as I went into my deep, meditative thoughts about how to use the rye flour I kept turning the flour package in my hand which is how I ended up seeing the recipe for a traditional rye bread right there on the package cover :-) (That wasn't a surprise, was it? all flour packages logically have a recipe for a bread and a cookie atleast. I was just trying to build a story up:-))

The recipe had the usual suspects, part rye, part bread flour, yeast, a little salt & sugar to activate yeast and ofcourse water. The only deterrent was the step that said, knead vigorously for 10mins with a push and pull method to help develop gluten strands in the dough. Any bread baker worth her (or his) salt is familiar with the kneading process. Somehow that step about kneading didn't sound appealing at all. Lately with the weather being cold and wet, I am not feeling like dealing with wet things for long duration in the kitchen and was in no mood to stand and knead the dough for 10mins. I know I have said before that kneading bread dough is therapeutic but it doesn't feel like it just right now, not yet. May be once the weather warms up a bit, I will be my normal self rearing to go and build my biceps and triceps in the name of kneading bread dough. So, my very smart (and completely lazy) brain was directing me to find a short cut and avoid if possible the part about the kneading. And the smart brain also knew that I had to bake the bread that day otherwise the flour would return back to its desolate corner or vanish into oblivion all together (read as 'end up in the compost bin' because I overlooked the expiry date).

I have baked "no knead" breads before and like the concept of letting the dough slow....ly develop flavors and rise on its own accord with time instead of trying to speed up the process with the kneading. So off I went to search for a no knead rye bread recipe and stumbled on this video here. After trying this recipe out, (see my slow rise pita bread if interested) I am convinced that a naturally ripened bread dough yields a better tasting bread than a 'on a yeast boost' and artificially prepared dough to get the bread into the oven quickly. Simply put, I love the slow rise bread and the fact that there is no kneading involved was a nice bonus on top :-). Slow rise dough also gives the bread a crusty outer later with a wonderful texture on the inside. If you are still not convinced, think one single vessel to wash when this is all done and absolutely no messy counter top to clean up, ah I can see you rushing to your kitchen right this moment to bake a delicious no-knead bread :-), wait, you haven't read my recipe yet.. you are almost there if you have come this far (psst, feel free to skip the next paragraph as it is mainly collected facts about health benefits of rye, the main source being guru google which you can do on your own and at your own convenience :-))

I went back and forth on writing about the health benefits of rye. Given that I am not a nutritionist or even someone that has diligently studied nutrition out of curiosity, my knowledge comes from the all pervading internet just like for most of you. While the free information overload can be overwhelming, my motto is to stay within reasonable limits, eat everything that your body doesn't seem to reject outright and do the physical activity that it takes to digest and use the nutrients well. With that astounding wisdom, I will only point out a few facts about Rye without any personal recommendation to include it in your diet, it is up to you. Rye is a type of grass, at a very broad level belongs to the wheat family. Usually it is unpolished as it is not easy to separate the germ and the bran and hence retains a lot more nutrients than polished wheat. It is a whole grain and is known to help many conditions including diabetes. It does have gluten though much lower than that found in wheat. If you are looking for a lighter, airier bread you need to add wheat flour/bread flour to compensate the gluten deficiency. If you like the hearty flavor of rye and do not mind the denser texture, use all rye in your dough.

Rye breads traditionally use caraway seeds to infuse a distinct aroma. Caraway seeds also known as meridian fennel are one of those ingredients that impart a distinct flavor to the dish. Caraway is also a carminative herb that prevents bloating. I don't have it in my pantry and was not going to hunt for it in my stores for what I thought would be a one time fancy baking. So I used the regular fennel seeds (saunf in hindi) instead. But, added a whole bunch of chopped fresh dill to add that delicious aroma into the bread. You can skip fennel, add just fresh dill or chopped onions or crushed ajwain or shah jeera(black cumin) or regular cumin. Imagine the best flavor that you would like to see your bread infused with and go with that ingredient, nothing stops you from being imaginative in the kitchen.

The recipe uses a scoop and shake method as he says clearly in the video. No weighing of ingredients on this one. So, watch the amount of water you add as you might scoop more, shake less or the other way around and may need a little bit more or less water than prescribed below. My scoops seem to be lighter (or the shakes more vigorous) that I have only used 12Oz water on both attempts that I have made this recipe. See the picture of dough to understand the consistency you are looking for before letting it stay on to raise on its own.

What do you need to make rye bread?
Source: ArtisanbreadwithStev

1 cup rye flour + a tbsp for shaping
2 cups bread flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt 

1/4 tsp instant yeast (bread machine yeast)

2 Tbsp caraway seeds (I didn't have, replaced it with fennel seeds)

1 Tbsp olive oil

12-13 Oz water

1 packed cup chopped fresh dill

How do you make rye bread? 

• Take a wide bowl (make sure it has space to let the dough rise). 
• Add the dry flours, sugar, salt and yeast into the bowl. 
• With a spoon or back of a ladle (I used a colorful wooden chop stick that I have not yet used for noodles :-)) and mix all the ingredients well so they are uniformly incorporated. 

• Add the seeds if you are using at this time and mix them in. 
• Add the olive oil and start with 11oz of water. Stirring the contents with your spoon, bring them together and add the remaining water slowly to make a slightly wet and loose dough. The amount of water depends on the variety of flour and also the accuracy of your scoop and shake :-)

• With the weather being cold, I left the mixed dough outside on the counter top for close to 35hours before taking it for the 2nd rise. 
• Cover and let it rest for atleast 18-20hours but upto 40hours.
• This dough will not double in size but looks stringy and elastic when you take it out after the rising period. 

• Spread a tbsp of flour on a working surface, turn the dough on to it, add the finely chopped dill leaves if using and fold the dough a couple of times to incorporate the leaves homogeneously.

• Shape the dough to suit your baking pan. 
• Take a second similar shaped pan, put a parchment paper on it and lightly grease it with a spray cooking oil. Set the dough on it, cover with a cling wrap and let it rest for another 45mins to an hour.

• Preheat oven to 450F along with the baking pan you will bake the bread in. 
• Once the second rise has taken about an hour, open the oven and get the heated baking pan outside (USE GLOVES AND BE CAREFUL HANDLING HOT UTENSILS PLEASE). 
• Lift the parchment paper along with the shaped bread, drop it into the hot baking pan, score it a couple of places to open it up while backing. 
• Cover it with the lid and return it quickly to the oven. 
• Bake the bread for 25mins with the lid on. 
• Remove the lid and let it bake for 2-3 mins to get a golden crust. 

• Take the bread out and let it cool slightly on a wire rack before slicing. Enjoy the warm, crusty slices or let it cool completely and turn them into a sandwich of choice. 

Baking pan tips: 

• Rye bread bakes at a high temperature of 450F, choose a baking pan that can withstand the preheating and the baking periods. 
• The shape of the pan is only a personal preference. 
• I used my dutch oven to bake the bread which took most (little more than 3/4 of the dough) to make a big one and used a smaller clay container to bake a tiny bread :-). It was just cuteness that I couldn't resist.
• Use a pan that has a lid so the moisture is captured inside while baking. 

Notes:

• Don't be afraid to play around with the proportion of rye and bread flour until you reach your preference for taste and texture of the bread. 
• Replace half the quantity of water with room temperature milk to make the bread softer. 
• If you are in a hot climate, leave the dough outside for about 30mins once you mix it in, cover and refrigerate for anywhere between 24-48 hours before starting to bake. 
• It is important to completely mix the dry ingredients first before starting to add oil and water. There is no kneading and hence yeast doesn't spread evenly if you do not mix the dry ingredients well. 

• It is important to pre heat the baking pan before transferring the shaped dough into it. 
• Alternatives to caraway seeds - fennel/saunf seeds, shahi jeera/black cumin, crushed cumin, ajwain seeds or kalonji/nigella seeds.
• I like to lightly dry roast the seeds if using, cool and crush them before adding to the flour to get a more pronounced aroma of the herbs. 
• I have made the bread with a 1/2 cup of sauteed onions added along with fresh dill as well and the crunch from onions makes this bread so much more delicious. 

Kugelhopf (Gugelhupf) - eggless but deliciously flaky bread

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? 

How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? 

How do you solve a problem like Maria? 

....

How many of you sit up at the sound (or music) of those words and start to hum along, sing along? One of my favorite movies of all time (I can watch it over and over and over again) - Sound of Music, a true life story of WW times made immortal by Julie Andrews & Christopher Plummer on the big screen. When a total misfit at the convent but very sincere in her ways, music loving Maria comes in to the house of strict, disciplinarian widower with 7 children as a governess, things cannot go well at the beginning with the children refusing to allow any governess to stick around. It is such a beautiful story of love, laughter and music even in the morbid and fearful times of war and uncertainty.

I first read an abridged version of the book when I was in grade school, it was my older brother's 'non-detail (another term for fiction)' book in high school and had always wanted to watch the movie. When I came to study in a convent for the high school years, if there ever was a movie that the nuns would approve of, it was this one :-), though I didn't get a chance to see the movie then, I watched several runs of the adapted school play during the 3 years. The first Christmas season here, strolling the festive looking aisles of the stores, I saw the VHS (video cassettes) displayed prominently (classics always make a come back during the holiday season here, perfect for a gift :-)). With a 2 year old tugging at my knees, although splurging money on movies was not a common thing at the time, I made an exception and indulged myself to buying the cassette. We enjoyed the movie so much and after years of rewind and reruns, it gave up on us and a couple years back, BH bought me a blue ray version of the same :-). Love lives on..

What has Sound of Music got to do with today's recipe? Does it even have anything to do with it at all? Well, if you give me a chance, I will connect the two together :-). In addition to the story, I also fell in love with the beautiful and seemingly endless, snow clad mountains of the little country Austria. If you look up the history of Kugelhopf, it tells you clearly that it is a bread popular in Germany, France, Austria, Hungary, Craotia and Serbia but I chose to conveniently ignore all other countries except for Austria on this recipe :-), sounds totally partial but I am a die hard romantic and also I think Austria clinches ownership of this deliciously buttery, flaky bread because of the following trivia - Gugelhupf was the sweet chosen to represent Austria in the Cafe Europe initiative of the Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day in 2006. Maybe Maria and the Von Trapp family ate this bread every day with coffee (or was it tea?)..

So now shall we get back to today's recipe? Oh, I guess I was the one running wayward, so let me get myself back here. This recipe came to me as part of the monthly challenges from Eggless baking group. Though I haven't been regular (sorry Gayathri) but trying to bake & post as much as I can given the hectic life right now. As soon as I saw this recipe (I swear that was before I knew the history and its connection to Austria and to Sound of Music :-)), I thought I would make it, for one the amount of butter didn't sound as big as the Austrian mountains and the procedure seemed really simple.

This is an almost 'no-knead' bread, I say almost because you don't plunk the dough on the counter top and start using that familiar back & forth sway motion exercising your biceps. Instead you use a spatula to move the dough around and bring it to a softer, pliable consistency. What I didn't sign up for though was starting off with a hard mass of dough and making it move around in the bowl. It being a Saturday, totally worked in my favor. BH was up after a good night's sleep and was game for helping me out, we took turns turning the dough (he did it for 3 mins and I took the next 30 secs, then back to him and so on.., you get the picture :-)) and as always great team work produces great results.

Bottom line, get the spouse to help you around when making this bread, save yourselves a sore arm later in the day :-).

I used the measurements Gayathri gave but added a few things to make it bit more livelier. I did the conversions from the gms to cups since I do not own a kitchen scale and was a little apprehensive that my measurements may not have been accurate but they were on the mark. The bread is mildly sweet, deliciously flaky with a super texture. I served it with a spoon of orange marmalade on the side as an after dinner dessert for cousins visiting us yesterday. Our little 1 year old niece seemed to enjoy it as did her parents and brother :-).

What do you need to make Kugelhopf? 
3 & 1/3 cups All purpose flour
2 & 1/4 Tsp instant (rapid rise) yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup + 1 Tbsp milk
2/3 cup butter milk
7 Tbsp butter (softened to room temperature)
1/2 Tsp salt
1 Tbsp raisins
1/4 Tsp cinnamon powder

How do you make Kugelhopf? 

• Add flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. 

• With a spoon or fork mix well and make a hole in the center. 
• Add milk & butter milk into the hole and gently fold in the flour mixture. 

• You will get a lightly moist, crumbly mixture.
• Add the softened butter and mix everything together. 
• The dough will be a stiff lump at this stage. 

• Keep moving/mixing the dough with a spatula for 5-7 minutes until the texture softens. 
• Add cinnamon powder and raisins and give a mix. 

• Smear soft butter to the inner side of a tube or bundt cake pan. 
• Put the soft dough in it and level gently. 

• Cover it with a cling wrap and let it rise for 45mins to an hour or until it doubles in volume and looks light and poofy. 

• Preheat the oven to 375F, bake the bread for 30-35 minutes (mine took 35min to reach the golden brown all around)
• Take it out and let it stand on a wire rack for 5 mins before removing it from the pan. 

• Let it cool completely before slicing. 
• Enjoy it with a drizzle of honey or butter or a jam.  

 Notes: 

• Original recipe didn't have cinnamon or raisins, it is my addition. Feel free to skip, however they enrich the bread
• I added 1 Tbsp additional milk since the dough seemed very hard when I started to move it with the spatula initially. This could have been due to the consistency of my yogurt as I didn't thin it down rather used the home made yogurt by just whisking it with a fork. 
• Watch the oven towards the end of the bake time as oven temperatures differ. 

Zucchini Bread - summer treat perfect for Indian palate

As most of you know we locked up home and went merrily on an India trip recently. While no amount of bribing would have made us trade that trip for something else, 2 things that bothered us were leaving behind Flora in her doggy care for 3 weeks, we had never done that before and the maximum she had stayed out at a stretch had been 4 days of vacation. The completely trusting girl she is, she went in happily with her care taker when BH dropped her off sniffing her food bag we had given, not sure what went on in her mind for the rest of the 3 weeks though. We missed her all the time, hoping and praying she would do alright. She came back home the same day we landed, jumped all over on us and went to sleep in her bed for an entire week getting up only for food :-), she is back to her routine of chasing birds and squirrels all over the back yard now and jumping deftly over my veggie patches to avoid stepping on the tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers. All is well!

Ah, those vegetable and flower plants were the second concern, it was summer, basking in the natural flood of light and warmth, the plants were taking shape and sprouting up well as we got ready to leave. The trip was planned last minute and there was not much we could do in terms of preparing, thankfully a cousin who lives in the town offered to come by every few days and make sure the plants were not dry. BH went ahead and put sprinklers for the plants as a backup and cousin P true to his word made his visits and kept the indoor plants thriving, thanks P, we owe you one on this.

We came back 3 weeks later to find 3 big, ready to be picked zucchinis and several tomatoes in different stages of ripening along with a bounty of greens and lettuce that had grown literally crazy :-). There was nothing we could do with the lettuce but pull them out with the roots as the plants were about 4.5 ft tall and flowering, No pictures however as the bad state of backyard didn't give us any time to stop and do the photo shoot. Our friendly neighbor Mr.J swirls his lawn mower into our front yard as he does his yard and BH returns the favor next time around, so while the front looked decent, the fenced backyard resembled a mini unkempt jungle of sorts! All chores taken care of and back to healthy selves, we are enjoying harvesting multiple batches of the veggies. The cucumbers are petite but very tasty, haven't had that taste in a long while, they are almost like the Indian kheera/kakdi, pop them in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, cut and enjoy the cool, crisp bites, it doesn't get more 'locally grown' than this ;-). Not much luck with eggplants though :-(, still waiting.

So, I am not buying any more tomatoes this summer and definitely not any summer squashes or zucchinis :-), I have more than we can eat and distribute, the problem on hand is to find good ways to use them. Dal - done, pachadi - done, stir fry - done, pizza topping - done, veg crab cakes - done, so what else do I make from these really flavorful and yummy zucchinis? With the entire universe at my finger tips (thanks to Google), I searched and found innumerable recipes and sifting through them for vegetarian, egg free, preferably non sugary, the list got considerably small. But I landed on this bread which seemed like a miracle, easy being the middle name and versatile, the tag line of this particular recipe (ignore that completely cheesy talk, I do that sometimes)! But, truth be told this recipe adapts itself in so many different ways that you can create a new taste every time if you wanted and it was a perfect fit as I was looking for a non-sweet version of the recipe. It seemed a tad bit bland for my taste, so I added a little bit of this, pinch of that to personalize it and here it is, a definite keeper especially when it is such a wonderful way to consume those zucchinis.

What do you need to make Zucchini bread? 
Recipe adapted from: http://roxanashomebaking.com/zucchini-bread-vegan-recipe/
1 cup tightly packed grated zucchini (1/2 big zucchini)
2 green chilies - finely chopped
1/2 Tsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1 Tblsp pine nuts - lightly toasted
1 Tblsp walnuts chopped - lightly toasted
3 cups bread flour
1+1/4 Tsp rapid rise yeast
1 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp fresh ground black pepper
Butter to brush

How do you make Zucchini bread? 

• Wash, remove the ends of the zucchini. 
• Grate about 1 cup (along with the green skin (it makes for beautiful color and is nutritious)
• Set it aside for 10 minutes. 
• Squeeze handfuls of zucchini and collect the water. 
• I got about 1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp of zucchini juice. 
• Warm the zucchini juice for about 15 seconds or until luke warm
• Take the bread flour in a mixing bowl, make a well in the center, sprinkle yeast and add the warm zucchini juice. 
• Mix gently and leave it to proof for about 5-7 minutes. See alternative way of proofing yeast in the notes below. 

• Now add the grated zucchini (squeeze out any additional juice if it looks damp), chopped nuts, salt, green chilies, ginger and chopped cilantro. 
• Bring everything together and hold off on adding water or zucchini juice. 
• Start kneading to make a dough and zucchini will continue to leave juice. Add the reserved juice only if needed. 
• Make a smooth dough and knead it for about 6-8 minutes to make a soft dough. 

• Cover and keep it to rise until it doubles in volume (mine took about 1.5 hours)
• Pre heat the oven to 375F.
• Take the risen dough out, punch it down, knead for a couple of minutes and divide into 2 balls. 

• Let them rest (provide space between the 2 balls to rise) covered for 20-30 minutes. The balls will look fluffier at that point. 
• Bake for 30-35 minutes (watch the oven for the last 10 minutes as it may vary) or until the top starts to get a nice golden hue. 
• Take it out and brush it with butter all over and leave it to cool down. 

• Once cool, cut into slices and enjoy with a pat of butter. 
• DD loved eating toasted slices with salted butter and a sprinkle of chutney pudi :-)

Notes: 

• Replace walnuts and pine nuts with any nuts of choice, I used them since I had them on hand. 
• You can add finely chopped dill leaves or lightly roasted onion but I liked the fresh zucchini flavor and left it untouched.
• Proofing yeast: If you are not sure of the yeast, it is better to proof it outside. Add yeast to a cup and add the warmed juice with a pinch of sugar, stir and let it rise for 5-7 minutes, When bubbles form and the mixture becomes frothy, add it to the bowl with flour. 
• Use the zucchini juice as the liquid in the recipe as much as possible to retain flavor, use water only if you run out of the juice. 

UPDATED ON 9/2/2014

One of my friends from work M who is an avid baker and a Zucchini lover herself, not only made this bread with enhancements but also brought slices for me to taste. One of her variations had chopped Dill & spring onions while the other had cheese and jalapeno in addition to the ingredients listed above. Both tasted delicious. Total euphoria for the blogger in me :-) and I went ahead to make another batch of this yummy bread, adding oil roasted chopped onion and dill leaves, doubled the quantity of nuts and the result was a super delicious loaf (well, 2 loaves) of zucchini bread. We are enjoying it with a topping of pickle :-). So if you want to make this bread super flavorful, roast 1/4 cup finely chopped onion, 2 green chilies and 1 cup of chopped Dill leaves in a Tbsp of oil until onion becomes limp and Dill gives out a wonderful aroma. Let cool and add this to the dough along with grated zucchini. 

Pataqueta - a traditional Valencia orchard bread for Baking Partner's challenge

I am posting back to back recipes this week which is so unlike me :-), but I am enjoying every minute of it. I really wanted to post about the Nallikai chitranna as we celebrated Tulsi habba on Thursday, then Swathi had asked me to be part of the World Diabetes day so came the healthy, diabetic friendly Barley upma. Today is the middle of the month and as has been the tradition over the last few months, I bake with my baking partners group and we all post our experiences and success stories about the month's challenge. Each of the recipes this week is a personal favorite - both for their taste and what they represent. All in all a fulfilling and exhausting week from blogging perspective, my hats off to bloggers who post daily and stay so active in this virtual world. Here I am with my last post for the week :-), hope I didn't bore you with my frequent ramblings. I will see you all next week, have a great weekend.

Taking a slight deviation from her usual choice of recipes for the challenge, Swathi offered us a single recipe this time, a traditional Spanish bread which is known to have been in existence over 300 years. I was excited to try an old world recipe. The bread is traditionally baked in a shape resembling a crescent moon. The ingredients are very minimal as befits a homely bread but the taste and texture are outstanding. This is easily one of the best breads I have baked at home. Originally baked in Moorish ovens, Pataquetas were fed to people as they left home for work. I can imagine why, they are hardy yet soft, stand well either dipped in a soup/stew or made into a sandwich. This delicious bread reminds me of the bakery purchased Italian bread especially Ciabatta. These are no longer cooked regularly at home but are pre ordered on occasions. Thank you Marisa for introducing us to this wonderful bread. Crisp and crackly outside with a beautifully soft inside, perfect with a soup or a spicy chutney, tastes divine.

All happy endings are not necessarily pain free travels. My journey of making Pataqueta had its own challenges. I made the ferment last week and following the instructions, refrigerated it. 48 hours later, the ferment didn't look any different from what had been pushed in, so to say I was a little worried would be an understatement. I panicked and sent an SOS to the baking partners' group. Swathi responded back promptly asking the right questions like if my yeast was active and suggesting I try putting the ferment out for a couple of hours before going any further. I had made a whole wheat bread using the same batch of yeast just a couple of days back and didn't think it was the culprit so took the ferment out in the morning and kept stealing glances at it the whole day to see if it would take some pity on me and show a change. No such luck. Not daring to go forward with that ferment and waste additional flour, I chucked it down the drain and started over. And incidentally my yeast also got over.

So went and got a fresh stock of yeast and made my starter. Taking some cues from the previous disaster, I kept the ferment out on the counter top for about 15 minutes and started seeing bubbles after the first 10 minutes which made my heart sing a happy tune. After this reassurance, the ferment went into the refrigerator. I left it in there for 2 full days before taking it out, the starter didn't seem to have doubled or increased in size, in essence it was pretty much the same as the last time :-(. My heart sank at the sight but I just braved on to make the dough hoping for some edible bread at the end of it. But then life is full of surprises and I ended up with a delicious bread which we all enjoyed. DD, who was home when I baked it, polished off 3 or 4 Pataquetas at one go with a heap of Pudina chutney on the side :-), a Spanish & Indian match made in heaven. We ate it with a hot bowl of soup for dinner, just perfect on a wintry night. By the time Marisa enlightened us about the way it is eaten in Valencia (sliced in half and used as a sandwich bread), we had polished off the bread :-), so the plan as DD says is to make it again soon so we can try the sandwich way.

The recipe is very simple and the ferment doesn't actually rise in volume, since the consistency of the starter is a slightly liquidish. So learning from experience, my first starter would have worked just as well if only I had not thrown it away. The surprising part of this bread is that there is not a single drop of oil or any fat. The ingredients are just flour and water mixed with a leaving agent. The recipe we were given as part of the challenge had a link to a Spanish website so my Spanish studying daughter volunteered happily to read it and translate it for me as I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out anything in my translated English version :-).

What do you need to make Pataqueta?
Ferment or starter ingredients:
100 ml water (room temperature)
1/3 cup All purpose flour
1.5 Tsp instant yeast or 2 Tsp Active dry yeast
1/2 Tsp sugar
Bread dough ingredients:
3 cups bread flour (you can substitute with AP flour if you like)
200 ml luke warm water
1.5 Tsp salt
all of the ferment from above
1/2 Tsp flour to dust on top

How do you make Patequeta?
Making the ferment:

• Take water in a bog bowl, stir in the yeast into the water.
• Add the flour and sugar and mix it.
• This is not a flowing liquid neither is it a tight dough.
• Keep the mixture on counter top for about 10-15 minutes for the yeast to start working.
• You may see some tiny bubbles on top if you have used rapid rise yeast.
• Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and refrigerate for upto 48 hours.
• This helps develop yeast slowly and enhances the taste of the bread.

Making the bread dough:

• Keep the refrigerated ferment out for about 30-45 minutes.
• Add the flour, warm water to the bowl and bring them together using a spoon or a scraper.
• Take the dough on to a flat surface and knead it for about 8-10 minutes - you will not require any dry flour, the dough feels a little sticky to start with but as you work on it becomes soft and pliable.
• Add the salt and continue to knead for another 15 minutes, you will feel the dough changing texture under your fingers, it is such a satisfying feeling if you ask me :-).
• At the end of 20 minutes, you will end up with a soft, pliant and elasticky dough.
• Divide the dough into equal sized balls (I made 14 balls) and roll them gently to remove creases.
• Set them on a tray for 20 minutes to settle down, cover it with a cloth.
• Take out the balls one by one, press it into a disc with hand, make a sharp cut in the bottom half and gently lift the dough sideways to make the shape - watch this video to get an idea.
• Make another horizontal cut in the middle.

• I made all balls but 2 in this shape and used the last two to make some regular rolls.
• Set these shaped breads on cookie sheets an inch apart, cover with a cloth and let them rise for an hour.
• Mine did not exactly double in size but just looked poofy and soft. So don't let the size deter you.
• This bread is steam baked so take a wide baking tray or a oven safe dish and put it in the bottom rack of the oven as you preheat the oven to 390F.
• Take about 4 cups of water and set it to boil.

Making the Pataqueta:

• Take a Tsp of flour in a fine sieve and dust it over the bread lightly.
• Open your oven door, pull the bottom rack and quickly pour the boiling water into it.
• Put the baking sheets with Pataquetas inside the oven on the top rack and close it.
• Bake for 26-30 minutes.
• Enjoy fresh baked, hot bread with soup or chutney as we did. Marisa says it is traditionally eaten as a sandwich bread, so go ahead and make your own filling.

The delicious Pataqueta baked as part of Baking Partner's challenge for Nov, 2013

Whole Wheat bread - it is 100% this time :-)

It has been exactly 2 weeks since I wrote my last post. Anybody missed me? Just say yes and make me happy:-), won't you?. Hope everyone is having a great time cooking, eating and chatting away especially with the Hindu festivals lined up this month. I did all of that and much more, we had a bunch of friends over on varalakshmi habba and made little Krishna's favorite snacks for Gokulashtami/Krishnashtami/Janmashtami. With so much food around me, why wasn't I still posting anything? This is when you guys ask me what was the thing that consumed me so much without feeling the urge to blog about food. Well, without going into a lot of personal details I will tell you, we had the time of our lives as our DD performed solo and did her Bharatanatyam Arangetram. She did a splendid job and we are so very proud of her. An Arangetram is sorta graduation for an Indian classical dance student where she or he presents a solo performance with the blessings of the teacher or Guru in the presence of family, friends and a gathering. The learning doesn't end but the event grants the dancer permission to pursue it with additional passion, get deeper into the art with a more mature perspective. DD has been learning for a decade now and all her hard work and dedication to the art sparkled in last weekend's performance. Last two weeks were hectic not only for the dancer but for the rest of the family and now we are feeling completely dazed out and drained out :-) in a very happy way. The young dancer is taking rest while her parents are trying to tidy up the house, get back to work, push for the photos, video etc. So that is where I have been these last two weeks.

Let me return to our usual chatter about food after that glimpse into my personal life. I cooked up a storm as we had loads of people but didn't stop to take any pictures and also didn't experiment much as I was focused on being efficient and making tasty food for the people that had gathered at home. While I am yet to revert back to my picture taking regimen again, I do have a few posts in the draft with a whole bunch of pictures that I made recently and I plan to use those as fillers. Old or new, every recipe is tested and tasted and certified :-).

I had earlier posted a whole wheat bread (not 100% whole wheat, there was an honest declaration in that blog post), today's post is a 100% whole wheat with no trace of all purpose flour and this is one of the best and healthiest wheat breads I have ever had. It is very easy to make if you are game for a 15 minute kneading exercise, if not you have alternatives - buy a bread machine, recruit the spouse to do the kneading, everything is fair in love, war and bread making. I saw this recipe first on King Arthur's website and while I wanted some more testimonials when I saw it on our versatile baking whizz Priya's website, and I knew I had the right recipe :-).

The best part of this wheat bread is you make it at home and the sturdy loaf is ready in under 4 hours and the wonderful aroma of the fresh bread fills your senses the whole day. You can freeze the slices for upto a week so if you eat bread regularly, go ahead, double the recipe and bake 2 loaves. I made this bread 3 times in the last few weeks as my FIL is on a diabetic diet and I feel comfortable feeding him this home made bread instead of the store bought version since I know exactly what goes into it.

I don't have kitchen scales or a thermometer. So when I say warm, it should pass 'baby test', remember how you would put a drop of the warm milk on the back of your fist before giving the bottle to the little one? Just repeat that test and it works like a charm :-)

What do you need to make (100%) whole wheat bread?
Makes 1 regular loaf (9X5 bread pan)
3.5 cups whole wheat (I used Bob's Red mill flour)
2.5 Tsp Rapid rise yeast (also called bread machine yeast)
1/4 cup oil (I used canola, choose any non-flavored oil)
2 Tblsp honey
1+1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup dry milk powder (I used fat free)
1 Tsp salt
1 stick of butter - no you don't use all of that, infact any of it, it is just easy to hold the stick and brush it on top of hot bread :-), think 2 drops of melted butter if it makes you feel better

How do you make (100%) whole wheat bread?

• Heat the water for 30 seconds in microwave or until water is luke warm.
• Bring all ingredients into a large bowl, add water and mix it until the dough comes together.
• Put the dough on a flat surface and knead it for 10-12 minutes until the dough becomes supple.
• Put it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with an lightly oiled cling wrap and set aside in a warm place for an hour or until the dough increases 1.5-2 times in volume.
• At this time, take the dough out onto a flat surface, gently punch it down and shape it into a loaf (see here for detailed instructions on shaping the dough)

• Put the prepared loaf in the bread pan, cover with the cling wrap and let it rise for 45 minutes to an hour.
• Mean while preheat the oven to 350F.
• Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the top, turn it half way once at 15 minutes or so. 

• Take it out of the oven, let it stay in the pan for 5-7 minutes, turn it over onto a cooling rack, brush butter lightly on the bread. 
• Cover it with a thin wash cloth and let it cool completely for 2-3 hours. 
• Slice the bread with a sharp knife and enjoy it hot or cold, toasted or untoasted in any combination that pleases you.

Notes:

• Add 1 cup of water first into the bowl and then slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup as needed. The resulting dough is not sticky but soft and firm. Since I do not weigh the flour, the measurements depends completely on how you use your measuring cups.
• This dough does not need extra flour while kneading.
• If you are kneading by hand, there is not really an 'over knead' possible so go on and switch the timer for 12 minutes, whistle a tune or two and knead it.
• I like to sprinkle a spoonful of oats or flax seeds at the bottom of the pan and on top of the loaf before baking, this gives a nice crunch while eating.
• You can substitute molasses or maple syrup in place of honey depending on your taste preference.