I was not aware that making bread is contagious. Am seriuos. And that too when you see some amazing work in the blogworld, it was really hard for me to stay back. Was kind of nervous, since I bake very rarely and have never ever tried any kind of bread.
We were in Walmart yesterday, when hubby went to the bread aisle and I was just getting back there after picking up all the ingredients I needed for baking bread myself. Lately, we have started bringing the healthier breads, like the ones with multi-grains, etc. I told him to put those back and conveyed my idea of fresh bread at home. The look on his face was, " do u know what u r saying, its not a joke !! " kind. Ofcourse yes, I ignored that look :) ...
So, coming back to bread, came across Sunita's wonderful creations and just blindly followed her recipe, which she followed from Tanna's recipe. Meanwhile, from the time I had seen the Khara Buns by Shilpa, I was craving for the Potato Buns of Iyengars Bakery in Bangalore. Yes, I remember those times, when after a hard day at work, and while returning home, passing by Iyengars Bakery without stopping there would be a hard task. The aroma of the freshly baked buns would be all in the air.Ummmmm....
So, here goes the bread dough first...
Ingredients
Potatoes( The baking variety )- 3 medium, peeled and cut into chunks
Salt - 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp
Water - 2 cups ( 475 ml )
Dry active yeast - 1 tsp
All- purpose flour - 3 1/4 to 4 1/4 cups ( 500g - 675g)
Unsalted softened butter - 1/2 tsp
Wheat flour - 1/2 cup ( 65 g)
Italian seasoning, Chilli flakes, Few pods of crushed garlic, olive oil.
Making the Dough ( By hand )
- Put the pototo chunks in 2 cups of water in a pan, add 1/2 tsp salt and boil covered till the pototoes are very tender.
- Drain the water from potatoes, save the water and mash the potatoes very well.
- Take 1 1/2 cups( 375 ml )of the saved water ( add extra water if needed so that it makes 1 1/2 cup) in a bowl in which u will be making the dough.
- Add the mashed potatoes to the water. Let it cool till it is just warm and comfortable to put your hand in it.
- In a separate bowl, add 1 tsp yeast to 1 cup of all-purpose flour and whisk. Add to the warm pototo and water and mix well. Let it rest for 5 mins.
- Add the remaining 1/2 tsp salt and the softened butter to the above and mix well. Add 1/2 cup wheat flour to it and mix briefly.
- Add 1 cup of all-purpose flour and mix till well incorporated.
- So now, you would have used 2 cups of the all-purpose flour.
At this point, the dough looks like this
- Now, turn on the dough to a generously floured surface and knead well for around 10 mins mixing with enough all-purpose flour to prevent stickiness. The dough will be sticky to start with, but with adding more flour, it will become easy to handle but will be still little sticky.
- Apply oil to a bowl and place this dough in it . Cover with plastic wrap or lid and keep it for about 2 hrs or till it rises to double its volume.
The dough ready to be covered and kept for rising
The dough has risen to double the volume
- After the dough has risen, take out of the bowl onto the floured surface and knead again for about 10 mins. It will still be moist and a little sticky.
- Now, I took half of the dough, and in a square baking tray of 8" lined with foil, spread the dough evenly, dimpled it all over with my fingers. Then, I brushed it with olive oil, evenly distributed the chopped garlic, and sprinkled the italian seasoning and the chillie flakes. Covered the tray with plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 mins.
- Then again dimpled the dough a little, and baked at 450F for 10 mins.
- You should let this cool for about 10 mins on a wire rack.
- The other half, I made the much craved for Potato Buns, and a braided roll. These were a hit :).You will also see a small roll which my son pretended to knead and named as his.
For the Potato Buns.-
- Line a baking sheet with foil. Take a small ball of dough, flatten it out on the foil with ur hand, put a generous amount of the potato stuffing, then cover with another flattened ball of dough and seal all the edges. Flatten the whole a little with ur palm.
- After making these, brush them all with a little olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Keep it aside for 20 mins.
- Put in pre-heated oven at 400F for about 10 mins. They should be slightly browned on top.
- Take out from oven, and cool on a wire-rack for 10 mins.
Made the Potato stuffing like this
Red Potatoes - 4 small
Green chilli - 1, cut
Ginger grated - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 4
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Haldi - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
- Boil the potatoes, peel them and mash slightly.
- Take little oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add jeera and green chillies and curry leaves.
- Then add the mashed potatoes, haldi and salt. Mix well.Done.
- I tried a braided roll too, the braided effect dint come out very prominent, but the taste was good.
- I served them with tomato-celery saar/soup, and they were all quickly gone :)...
- This is my son with a little bit of the dough and that is the roll he made (of course, I helped him get the shape )..
