Multigrain Extraordinaire

Yeast has turned a friend from a foe and I enjoy watching its magic. Most times, yeast has failed me. I had to keep my fingers crossed while making this multi grain bread. This recipe is from Peter Reinhart's Bread Baking Apprentice, a long  forgotten book in my shelf. The thenmultigrain for BBD led to the use of the book. I had shelved this book owing to the lengthy process but seeing the results, this book will be put to more use. 

This specific recipe for multigrain extraordinaire is a two-day process. The first day is for the soaker. I used polenta, oatmeal and wheat bran for the soaker. This is the first time I worked with a soaker and had no clue as to what it would be after the required soaking time.

For the dough, I used cooked red rice for the required cooked bown rice.  The first rise (as in the picture below) was rapid and in a lesser time than the said 90 minutes.

This recipe yields one 2 pound loaf or 6 to 12 rolls. I shaped them into a so-called flower shape, a loaf and two rolls. I had sesame seeds and replaced them for the required poppy seeds. The surface was brushed with water and the seeds sprinkled over and left for the second rise which was successful too as you see below.

Each of them required a baking time of 30 mins. Cooled and sliced, it was a nice sight to see the visible polenta. It was more nicer to bite into. The use of milk instead of water gave the bread a richer coloured crust.

Like he claims in his book, this made a wondeful toast. Toasted sandwiches to be specific.
  

This is my entry for BBD#20: Multigrain hosted right here. It also is on its way to Susan's yeastspotting.

Corn and Tomato Salsa

My partner for Taste & Create this month was Louise of Livin Local. I made the corn and tomato salsa.

My alterations to Louise's recipe are:

1. I used green bell pepper
2. I used green Jalapeno peppers pickled in brine
3. Louise broiled the salsa in potato jackets while I served them in taco shells.

What you need for the salsa are:

Corn-1 C

I Tomato-diced

Shallots-2 finely sliced

Green Bell Pepper-1/2 C chopped

3 T Pickled Jalapeno

2 T Chopped Cilantro

1 T lime juice

cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

Mix the tomatoes, shallots, bell peppers, jalapeno, Cilantro, limejuice, salt and pepper. Do a taste check while adding the salt. Serve in taco shells with grated cheddar cheese on top.

Devil's Food Cake for Cake Slice Bakers....

The cake slice bakers baked Mile High Devil's Food Cake this month. A lovely moist chocolate cake and a lovely buttercream makes this one of my favouites in the book,  Sky High:Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes  by Alsia Huntsman and Peter Wynne. 

The difference of this cake from the others is the use of baking soda. Cocoa is used instead of chocolate to impart the flavour.

The cake was absolutely divine and so was the buttercream. .I baked my cake in three 5" loaf pans. The cake rose well and the aroma was divine. I chose to do the buttercream hoping it would stiffen. It did until I slathered it on the layers. Soon after the buttercream melted iinto the layers, on my serving platter. I thrust it in the refrigerator and frosted it bending into the refrigerator. Can't help the weather in the city I live. I let the cake remain in the refrigerator a day hoping to settle the buttercream between the layers. The frosting hardened although the buttercream between the layers was absorbed by the layers leaving a vey faint trail! However it added to the flavour of the chocolate layers, so no complaints!

Here's the recipe (I suggest all of you give it a try, it tastes lovely!)

Makes an 8-inch triple layer cake:

• 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa NOT DUTCHED PROCESSED

• 1 and ¼ cups of hot water

• 3 cups of light brown sugar; packed

• 2 and 2/3 cups cake flour*

• 1 and ½ teaspoons baking soda

• ¾ teaspoon of salt

• 9 ounces of unsalted butter at room temperature [2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons]

• 3 large eggs

• 1 and ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract

• ¾ cup of cold water

{*1 cup of cake flour is equal to ¾ cup of flour plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch}

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper and grease the paper as well.

Place the cocoa in a medium bowl and add the hot water. Whisk until smooth and let it cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low blend to combine. Add the butter and the dissolved cocoa. Then raise the mixer to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and cold water until combined. Add this liquid to the batter in three additions scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions. Divide the batter among the three pans.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a cakes tester inserted into the almost comes out clean. There should be a few crumbs attached still. Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes. Then invert and remove parchment paper and cool completely on a wire rack.

Bakers’ choice of: Brown Sugar 7-Minute Frosting or Brown Sugar Buttercream

Brown Sugar 7-Minute Frosting

• 6 egg whites

• 1 and ½ cups of brown sugar

• ¼ cup light corn syrup*

• 2 tablespoons of water

• ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar

{*corn syrup can be substituted with equal parts of treacle OR liquid glucose OR light colored honey}

Do not try to make this frosting on a rainy day or if you live in an extremely humid area. The humidity will make it impossible to work with the egg whites.

Place all the egg whites in a bowl and set them aside while you make the syrup.

In a small heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, and water. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. Boil until the syrup reaches 238 degrees F (softball stage) on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from heat.

Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites in the bowl and beat just to combine. With the mixer on medium speed gradually add the syrup in a thin stream taking care not to hit the beaters. Beat until fairly stiff peaks form but the frosting is still spreadable. If the frosting is too stiff it will be hard to work with. Use immediately.

Brown Sugar Buttercream

• 5 egg whites

• 1 and ¼ cups of packed brown sugar

• ¼ cup of water

• 1 pound of unsalted butter (16 ounces) at room temperature

Place all the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer; set aside.

In a heavy medium saucepan combine the sugar and water. Cook over medium heat stirring to dissolve the sugar. Then bring to a boil without stirring and cook until the syrup reaches 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Begin beating the egg whites on medium low speed. Slowly pour in the syrup making sure not to hit the beater. Increase the mixer speed to medium high and beat until the meringue has cooled to body temperature.

With the mixer on med-low add 1-2 tablespoons of butter at a time. When all the butter has been added increase the mixer’s speed to medium and beat until the mixture looks curdled or separated. Continue to beat until the icing comes together again looking like soft smooth whipped butter.

Assembling the cake:

Place one layer flat side down and cover it with 2/3 cup of the frosting. Top with second layer and repeat process. Top with third layer and frost the sides of the cake.

My substitutions/changes

1. I don't get cakeflour out here, hence used a mix of  Flour and Cornstarch.

2. I ran out of brownsugar for the frosting, hence used white sugar mixed with molasses.

I am sending this cake to the Let's Celebrate event hosted by Ria.

My fellow bakers at Cake slice have some awesome Devil's food cake to show too! Do visit them to read about their cakes....

And yes, Bread Baking Day and MEC (rules have been updated) are hosted here. So do remember to send in your entries.

Mushroom Chettinad- A Must Try!

A welcome shower to cool the very high temperature made me want to take a visit to a resort. Back home after the getaway, making dinner is definitely a chore! A packet of shrooms screamed to be used and like always turned to the web for something easy and spicy. The search led me here. The words "too-darned-hot" was guarantee enough for me to try this.

Nupur's used wild mushrooms while I used button mushrooms and I left out the chana dhal in the spice mixture. Chettinad cuisine has always been a favourite of mine but never have I had a chettinad vegetarian dish.

Mushrooms, curryleaves, tamarind, what more could I ask in a dish. The flavours blended in well with the shrooms and it was lipsmackingly hot! Thanks to Nupur, this served with rotis was a satisfying meal to TH who is otherwise not very happy when there isn't a non-veg dish on the table! 

This spicy fabulous dish is my entry to Bookmarked Recipes.

Reminder for two events (click on the right side bar for details)  hosted here.

Aparna and I have baked something from Austria this time. Do check out the world in our oven here.

A simple white bread....

I have baked  many a bread and just realized that I never really baked a simple white bread. I read many a recipes, tried a many from the net, until I landed here. I decided to do their lessons on breadbaking and what you see in this post is their Lesson One, which is the making of a simple white bread. 

 Their lesson is simple and straightforward and very helpful. I halved their recipe for fear of another failure of the  bread. 

The first and the second rise were sucessful and rapid owing to the high temperature in my kitchen.

I sprinkled sesame seeds on the surface and the bread baked beautifully. It had a chewy crust but the crumb was really tender. 

Toasted  with scrambled eggs, this bread served us a wonderful breakfast this morning. 

I will be doing Lesson 2 shortly, which is about adding something to the loaf!

This loaf is off to Yeastspotting.

On another note,

 MEC: Essential Extras has nil entries to date, so do try to send in some and BBD#20 is on as well. 

A prized recipe....chicken stir fry

I contemplate a lot on my childhood now, more so because I am a mother now. I find it hard to bring up a single child when she made it look easy  bringing up both my siblings and me..three of us- a year between each other.

Many a times, i have wandered aimlessly, she brought me back on track. She set me free the day I got married and it was when I moved away that I realized how much I missed her. A day has never passed without calls to and fro. 

Her most precious gift apart from he limitless love, care and suppot is a handwritten book of recipes given to me the day I got married. Neatly categorized, it is my most prized possession. When I was doing my graduation, there were a lot of people who urged my mother to teach me cooking because according to them every girl should learn cooking or the mother is blamed at a later stage for not doing it. My mother on the other hand believed otherwise. She believed in bringing up a daughter and not a cook.  I have only evolved at cooking. And the book has played a major role in doing it.

What I present today is one such recipe from my prized possession, chicken stir-fry.

What you need ae:

Chicken-500g

Onion-6,sliced(use more if you want more masala)

Green Chillies-6 chopped (this depends on the spiciness you can handle)

Tomato-1, chopped

Ginger-2T, chopped finely

Garlic-5 or 6 cloves, chopped

Chillipowder/Cayenne-2T (again this depends on what you can handle because of the fact that green chillies are already added)

Turmeric Powder-1T

Coriander Powder-3T

Masala Powder-1T (Seena has a version that we use at home too)

Curry Leaves-2 sprigs

Salt as per taste

Coconut Oil-3 T (Use any oil but coconut oil lends a distinct flavour, which works well for this kind of preparation)

Saute the sliced onions and green chillies and curry leavesuntil they turn a golden brown. Add in the ginger garlic and saute for another few minutes. Stir well at this time because they tend to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add in the  powders and the chopped tomato. Stir this until oil emerges from this masal mixture. Add in the chicken pieces and stir to coat them well. On high heat, cook the chicken until they are half done. Lower the heat, close the pan and allow to cook for almost half an hour. It is best that water is added but if the masals starts to stick to the pan add water only in tablespoons. 

This is what I sent over to my mother's place for lunch and her advice was to let the chicken sit for atleast 15 minutes in the cooking pan for the flavours to seep in.

This stir fry is my entry to the event Celebrating Mother's Day . 

And yes, BBD#20 and MEC are hosted right here all through this month. So please bookmark this event.

Announcing Bread Baking Day 20: Multigrain Breads

The first ever cooking or rather baking that I did was to help my mother bake bread. I helped her knead and I did just that apart from helping her slice them. She has taught me many a things about baking bread and  how it has to be done to attain the best results. Her best breads are her multigrain breads, her cereal breads to be precise. And yes, multigrain bread is the theme for Bread Baking Day (BBD#20) for the month of May. BBD,  a monthly event founded by Zorra is an event for passionate and to-be bread bakers. This event is hosted right here this month with the theme Multigrain Breads

Multigrain Bread is made with more than one type of grain, sometimes even 12 different types of grains. Spelt, rye, barley, corn, oats, millet, amaranth  are some of the most commonly used grains in bread. When used in the best proportion to wheat these grains lend the bread a wonderful texture.

Peter Reinhart's book Crust and Crumb has a few but very useful tips when working with multigrains. According to him;

• When using rice or wild rice, it is best to cook the grain because they do not soften in the dough. The same applies for steel-cut oats, millet and other full-sized grains.
• Finely milled grains like cornmeal tend to disappear in the dough. So use coarsely ground grains such as polenta, grits or rye  meal. These do not need cooking, they tend to absorb moisture from the dough.
• Rolled grains like oats will disappear in the dough when baked. Better if used uncooked.Cooked oatmeal results in a dense and heavier bread.

What you need to do is to bake  bread using more than one type of grain. The more the number of grains in a bread, the more we'll all get to learn about it. Size and shape do not matter here. Interesting shapes add to the experience too. 

Do a post on your bread starting today until June 1. If you have a non-English blog, do send me a translation of your post and I will include it in the roundup. If you are a non-blogger, do mail me with the necessary details and your entries will be included.

Once you are done with the post, do send me an email at tangerineskitchen(at)gmail(dot)com with the following details:

1. Subject line should read BBD#20
2. Your Name
3. Your location
4. The name of the bread and the post url
5. The name of your blog and the url
6. A picture of the bread 250px wide

Do use the logo if you wish to and let the entries come in as soon as possible. Happy Baking!

The roundup of BBD#19: Spring Country Breads at Cindystar.

Inji/Ginger Curry.....

More than me, DH is  fond of this curry. This served with plain steaming white rice and dhal and its bliss for him . My mother makes a bottle of this once a week and sends it over. This keeps well when stored in the refrigerator. Since it's been almost two weeks since my last bottle of this curry, and the DH was really craving for it, it was way past time that I learnt to make some myself. I wanted to surprise the mother as well. I resorted to browsing the net and there were so many and a lot different from what I had imagined the ingredients to be.

An Inji or Ginger Curry is made with ginger as the main ingredient and forms a major part of a Kerala Sadya. A simple sour, spicy and sweet curry, which is a tickle to the tastebuds to many a Malayalee, yet to tickle mine though. The recipe that came close to the mother's recipe was the one from Tasty treats by JZ. I followed her recipe exactly and it worked well for the DH.

Tasted exactly the way my mother makes it, a bit less spicier than her version.