Friday, April 29, 2011

Chilled Cinnamon Horchata

Horchata  is a general name for Spanish or Mexican beverages made traditionally rice,barley,almonds etc.There are regional variations and some countries go for a thick milky drink whereas other may like thinned down version.In Mexico, the rice is traditionally made with rice alone, or in comb with other grains along with cinnamon,vanila etc. I have referenced several sites and tried out this simple horchata with just rice & here it is.

Ingredients:
Short grain Rice: 1/4 cup
Cinnamon Stick : 1' long or as per taste
Water:as needed
Honey/Agave Nectar/Sugar: as per taste

Preparation:
Soak rice and cinnamon stick in enough water for atleast 8 hours or overnight.If some picking or cleaning of rice is to be done do so prior to soaking.

Next day grind the soaked ingredients together adding more water if needed to get an almost-smooth creamy liquid. Add in required sugar/sweetner and give a final blend/pulse so that the sugar is fully dissolved.

Pour in glasses and chill till serving time.

On sitting the creamy rice paste settles at the bottom of the glass. So serve after giving a final stirring along with icecubes and  sweetners.


A different yet refreshing drink. I was surprised more that the drink was tasty.Though I love trying out different recipes,I sometimes am not sure what the outcome will taste like. Especially this time, it was the first time I am trying a drink with rice in it. So the first feeling was surprise which then led me to heartily enjoy the drink.Now I am game for any such drinks.

The simple rice drink also goes to Celebrate Sweets -Sweets with Rice at Priya's, an event by Nivedita

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Minty Green Apple Sorbet

This is a simple yet scrumptious Green apple sorbet. As mentioned in my previous post,I have been to an apple cooking  demo by Chef Vicky Ratnani organized by Washington Apple Corporation. We all have been given baskets of different types of apples and before I decided on what to do two of them were snacked upon!. But nobody wanted the tart Granny Smith .So I thought of trying a simple sorbet with it and here it is.I know the colour of the sorbet is not that inviting,but for this once,go for the taste.You will not be disappointed

Ingredients:
Granny Smith Apple - heaped 1 cup unpeeled and diced (almost 3/4th of a regular sized apple)
Mint leaves: packed 1/4 cup or more as per taste

Sugar: 6 tbsp (or more as per taste)
Water: 4 tbsp + 1 tbsp (optional)
Edible Gum: (optional) 1 large pinch (preferably powdered)

Preparation:

Make a simple syrup by bringing to boil  4 tbsp water with powdered gum and sugar. Stir well till sugar is dissolved and take off heat. Cool a bit.

Blend together the diced apple,mint leaves, and the sugar syrup together adding optional 1 tbsp of water if you feel the need.You can strain it at this stage if you like. I didn't as this would mean lots of healthy apple pulp as leftovers.

Pour into a shallow container and freeze for atleast  4 hours. Take out,thaw for 10 -15 minutes, blend again to make it creamy and chill for another 30 minutes,after which you can scoop it into cups and serve. Garnish optionally with honey roasted nuts.


Edible gum is not usually (traditionally) a  part of sorbet.But ever since I had heard about a cupcake,an icecream and a sorbet itself I wanted to try it. An easier option was the sorbet. Also since I have made several sorbets I wanted to see whether it  actually makes a difference to the texture. It DID. The sorbet was like a soft serve ice cream as claimed by Aparna. A tingling refreshing and sweet sorbet. Now Granny smith will be enjoyed in a sweet way.

The sweet sorbet is on way to Healthy Recipe Hunt 3- Healthy Summer at KurinjiKathambam, also goes to Tickling Palates for  Fun n' Sun event as a part of celebrating remarkable 4 years of wonderful blogging.The sorbet also graces the Seasonal Indulgence Series - Summer Coolers at Saffron Streaks.



Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Washington Apple Cooking Demo by Vicky Ratnani


A few days back I had a great opportunity to attend an apple cooking demo by Chef Vicky Ratnani.It was also another chance to meet fellow bloggers as well. The demo was organized by SCS group,as a part of creating awareness about the different types of apple available and exported to  India.The venue was 100ft Boutique Restaurant,Indira Nagar,Bangalore.

SCS Group is a Gurgaon based agri business firm specializing in international trade,marketing and communication related to food and is a pioneer in nutrition based marketing.

 Washington State Apple Commission is a state mandated yet self governing body of apple growers and packers around Washington State. Washington State (not to be confused with the capital Washington DC) is a prominent apple growing state in US right from 1870s.Generally its a leading agriculture state and its favorable climate of dry warm summers and cold winters have made it top in the Apple industry.

An apple surely keeps the doctor away,but How?
Apples are known to improve lungs and also in the prevention of colon cancer and are a source of dietary fiber to help aid digestion and healthy weight loss. Do check out this article for more info.
(Courtesy Washington Apples)

There are thousands of varieties of apple and the top nine are given above.Almost all these are available year round and 7 of them are already a regular sight in high end supermarkets courtesy the SCS Group.

Apples in Cooking
Though all the varieties can be used for snacking,each variety holds it own and differs from the other in scent,flavor,texture and taste.Some like Grannysmith are tangy and best for salads and bakes especially pies.Golden delicious has a mellowed sweetness and a different texture and is also good in baking and salads.Though cooking with apples is a rare thing in India we can surely try out new dishes or rather dress up the authentic recipes making full use of the taste and texture of different apples. I feel  granny smith will be an excellent addition to dals and other snacking apples can also used for making chutneys etc. 

Coming back to the cooking demo,given the chef's penchant for desserts and the Hero of the day being good ol' Apple ,I was thinking of sweet treats and baked goodies,but the chef surprised us with his innovative dishes using apples.

We were treated to a Colonial style Pumpkin Apple Bisque,an Apple Jackfruit salad and finally a main course of risotto with browned apples and hazelnuts.

If you think that each was a sweet dish then you are wrong. The bisque tasted wonderful of its curry seasoning and was pumpkiny yellow,but the apples-rather the tartness of the granny smith and the mellowed sweetness of the golden delicious- stood out.Ditto with innovative apple jackfruit salad and the risotto.


It was a delight to watch the chef  cook in his trademark style seen in Gourmet Central.He stressed on the basic tips of making sushi ginger or a simple vinaigrette etc. and also exhorted us to try out apples in our daily cooking and to add a twist to the traditional dishes like malpuas,jalebis etc. He was patient in answering queries and also came to our tables to show even the small changes or the stepwise cooking.The best part was the tasting of course. It was like having the cake and eating it too. We were also given complimentary apple baskets having different types of apples inorder to encourage cooking with it.

The other foodies who also shared this delicious opportunity with Yours Truly  are Deepthi Shankar(Deesha), Suma Rowjee,Madhuri , ShubhadaAliena Varghese(Ally) and Irin. A wonderful after noon well spent with friends and in the company of an expert chef,thanks to  the SCS Group and Washington State Apples.



Friday, April 22, 2011

Strawberry Almond Crumble

Crumble is an English dessert that has stewed fruits and crumbly topping made with flour,oats etc. It is similar to fruit crisps popular in US. I love trying out different crumbles/crisps as they are easy to make and we can finish off any fruit that has been lying in the fridge for more than a few days. I had earlier tried plum crumble and this time I tried strawberry and almond crumble that I had bookmarked from Food Network,again a recipe by Nigella Lawson.I had made slight changes in that I had added almond meal in the topping and not just with fruit as the recipe suggests.

Ingredients:
Fresh strawberries: around 1.5 cups ,washed and hulled
Caster Sugar: 2-3 tbsp
Almond Meal: 3 tbsp 
(I coarsely powdered whole almonds in the mixer/blender in short bursts)
Vanilla: 2 tsp

Topping:
Flour: 1/4 cup
Almond Meal: 2-3 tbsp
Baking powder: 1/2 tsp
Cold Cubed Butter: 2 tbsp

Almonds: handful chopped (around 3-4 tbsp)
Sugar:3 tbsp or as per taste

Preparation:
Prepare the topping by mixing first the flour,almond meal and baking powder. Rub in the cubed cold butter and pinch and fluff everything till it resembles coarse sand.Fold in the chopped almonds and sugar and mix well.

In a suitable baking dish,put the hulled strawberries and top it with almond meal,caster sugar and vanilla.


Give it a good shake to mix everything.Top the mixed berries with spoonfuls of topping mix we have prepared.Cover the strawberries in an even layer. Most probably little topping mix may be leftover in which case you can store in the fridge for later use.


Bake in a preheated oven at 400F for about 25- 30 minutes or until the topping has started to brown and liquid from the berries bubbles.Keep an eye after 20 minutes onwards.Mine was done around 23 minutes or so. 


Take out and cool for about 10 minutes. Serve  by placing spoonfuls or scoopfuls into dessert bowl/plate along with whipped cream and more strawberries.

You can also bake it in individual bake and serve ramekins for lesser time or reduced temperature and serve as such. This reduces the mess of scooping and serving and the bowl and the picture :) looks much more inviting.Do check out Deeba's Strawberry Apple Crumble.


Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Verdant Salad with a Hint of Red

This is a healthy cabbage,bell pepper and bean coleslaw with a healthy avocado dressing. A much better dressing than the fat laden mayo. I have seen this verdant (green) salad at Nupur's place and have adapted it with almost no change.An easy to make salad and very hearty too. Only changes I made was the use of pink cranberry beans instead of the black beans and the addition of little red pepper along with the green pepper.

Ingredients:
Cooked Beans: 1/2 cup I used cranberry/pink beans
Cabbage: 1/2 cup or more thinly shredded
Green Pepper: 1 big thinly sliced
Red Pepper: thinly sliced: just a few pieces (optional)
Cilantro:Handful chopped/minced

Dressing:
Avocado: 1 big ripe one
Yoghurt: 1/2 cup or as per taste
Green Chilli: 1 hot or more as per taste minced
Onion/Shallots: 1-2 tbsp minced

Salt
Pepper
Lemon Juice

Preparation:
Blend together the dressing ingredients adding little salt and pepper.

Season the salad ingredients with salt,pepper and lemon juice. Pile on a plate/salad bowl and ladle the dressing on top.Mix well and consume adjusting the seasoning.

A simple salad,easy to make. We can say it is like a spicy coleslaw. Except that instead of the fatty mayo healthy avocado has been used. The salad is mostly green with hint of red seen in between. The dressing is spicy and lightly green. The pink beans and the red pepper add the hint of red.

A simple salad that allows you to finish your cooking faster in hot summer and healthy to eat.This healthy coleslaw is on way to NCR:Birthday Edition at Tinned Tomatoes, where we are allowed to make salads/soup based on the themes chosen during our birth months. My birthday falls in August and from the available August Themes - Carrots(NCR 2010), Peppers (NCR 2009) and Dressings (NCR 2008), I have chosen the Pepper theme and this salad with red& green pepper,peppercorns and chilli pepper  is apt for it.A hearty Thanks to Nupur for this hearty recipe .


Monday, April 18, 2011

"Forget Me Not" Sambusik Cookies

I am a little late for this post actually. Last months BookClub choice was "The Language of Baklava" by Diana AbuJaber. An engaging story that tells you about a migrant Jordanian father and an American mother and the family they have raised by fusing or trying to fuse both the cultures. The kids grow up in America and partially in Jordan but the tastebuds are trained in a Jordan kitchen .The father is trying to hold on to his country by cooking its or his food more and more and the kids foodwise get the best of both worlds. A similar story with lots of recipes mostly Jordanian/Middle Eastern.

The author spent memorable part of her childhood in Jordan as well and talks about how she started mingling eith the local children there and formed a play group and also about how her friendship was nearly destroyed by the arrival of an English boy and the lure of a red scooter.She tells about a neighbour who even asked her about why she never mingles with the local kids and that the same neighbour had given her the tempting sambusik cookies just as a symbol of friendship.

Sambusik or sambusak is a cousin of samosa and is a deep fried snack. The above mentioned cookies are stuffed with a filling and are shaped like sambusak. I suppose this gave it the name sambusik cookies.Well here I have recreated Diana's sambusik cookies with a minimum quantity of ingredients.The original recipe was for 3 dozen cookies,but I tried it for barely 6 coookies.

Ingredients:
Ghee/Clarified Butter: 1 tbsp
Sugar: 1 tsp
Milk: 2 and 1/4 tsp
All Purpose Flour: 1/4 cup

Filling:
Ground Walnuts: 4 and 1/2  tsp
Sugar: 1 and 1/2 tsp
Rose Water/essence/oil: a dash
Garnish:
Icing Sugar: 1 tbsp + more if needed 

Preparation:
Mix the filling ingredients and keep aside. I coarsely powdered handful of walnuts along with sugar in a blender and then added a dash of rose water and mixed it well.

Cookies: Mix together oil,milk and sugar. Add in the flour and knead gently to get a smooth dough.

Roll out the dough to atleast 1/4' thickness or as thin as you want. Cut out circles from the dough using  1' cookie cutter. The original mentioned 2' circles, but since I  used the smallest quantity of ingredients,I went for 1' inch circles.

Fill each circle with about 1/4 tsp of filling. Fold over the circle and pinch the sides together.

Bend each cookie to get a crescent shape or sambusik shape.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for about 10 or until the sides/bottoms  are slightly browned. Mine took barely 8 minutes. The baking collage looks like...



Take out,cool a bit and serve dusted with icing sugar.


Simple to make,but heavenly delicious cookies.The rose essence makes the filling delicious which inturn enhances the flaky crumbly dough. mmmmmmmmm Lipsmacking :P

 Lets see what others have made for Diana Abu Jaber.Do check out BookClub.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These are simple muffins that I made from " The Joy of Vegan Baking" by Colleen Patrick Goudreau. I made almost no changes as the recipe was by default egg free and dairy free except the use of chocolate chips which were not vegan.I also halved the recipe and made exactly 6 muffins.

Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour:1 cup
BakingSoda:3/4 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp

Sugar: 1/2 cup
CanolaOil:1/6 cup or 8 tsp

Bananas : 2 Mashed
Water: 2 tbsp + 1-2 tbsp if needed
Vanilla:1/4tsp

Chocolate Chips: 1/2cup + more as per taste

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.Lightly grease or line the muffin tins.

In a medium bowl,whisk together flour,soda and salt together.

In a large/wide bowl,beat together sugar and oil,then add the mashed bananas and mix well. Stir in the water and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mix and the chocolate chips and stir together to get  a thick yet pourable batter. If the batter is too thick,add  1-2 tbsp of water as needed. I had to add 1tbsp water.

Fill each tin halfway  or 3/4th and bake for 15-20 minutes or more until the tester inserted in the middle comes clean.Mine were done in 18th minute. The original recipe calls for 20 -30 minutes. Keep an eye after the 15th minute.

Take out and cool in the rack.

A simple and delicious snack.The choco banana combo is always hearty.The texture was almost same as the regular muffins.I felt a little heaviness as bananas were added. Could because I was expecting it.Anyway nice anytime snack it was.


Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Strawberry Phirni

A phirni or firni  is an Indian dessert  similar to sweetened rice pudding.It differs from kheer/payas/payasam in that it uses coarse/broken rice paste or rice flour paste that sets into a creamy pudding.We can say it is a variant of kheer. Basmathi rice is used to make this and it is traditionally soaked in water for atleast half and hour,drained, sun dried and powdered to make a coarse rice flour which is then mixed with milk and cooked in sweetened cardamom added milk to make phirni.This is what I have  read about traditional way of making phirni. But the quickest way is to use rice flour which allows us to make the dessert instantly  and I follow MadhurJaffrey's recipe she has mentioned in "Climbing the MangoTrees" with the flour. Here I have made the pink  version by adding strawberry puree to it. A delectable twist indeed.

Ingredients:
Milk: 1 and1/4cup
Rice Flour: 1 heaped tbsp or 4 tsp
Sugar: 2 tbsp or as per taste

Strawberry Puree: atleast 4 tbsp

Garnish: Almonds : lightly toasted

Preparation:
In a small bowl,mix together 1/4 cup milk and rice flour to get a thick paste which should be lump free. Keep aside.I have used more rice flour than mentioned in the original recipe.

In a thick bottomed bowl,bring to boil the remaining milk to which sugar has been added.Remove from heat,thoroughly mix  in the rice flour-milk paste and return to heat. Let it simmer till thickens stirring almost constantly.It will thicken maximum within 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and let it come to room temperature. 

Fold in the strawberry puree. I had pureed  strawberries adding a little sugar which I added to the thickened  milk. Pour it in bowls- preferably earthenware or matkas- or any serving bowls and let it chill for atleast 30 minutes or dessert time. Garnish with nuts and serve.


Simple creamy dessert.I have avoided adding cardamom as I felt that the spice overrides the strawberry when I made it the first time.Feel free to make your own version of phirni which is excellent for the summer.

The author herself suggests that you wash the basmathi rice in several changes of water, then dry in the sun and finally grind/powder in a clean coffee grinder for that traditional touch. You can find the original  recipe in BombayFoodie

The strawberry phirni is off to Celebrate Sweets -Sweets with rice at Priya's.

Update: Thanks to Lubna,this delectable phirni is off to Food Palettes Series- Pink at TorviewToronto.


Sunday, April 10, 2011

Pasta alla Genovese-Pasta with Potatoes and Green Beans in Pesto Sauce

Pestosauce actually originated from Genoa, the capital of Liguria  region in Italy. The word pesto is coined from Genovese "pestu" or Italian "pestare" which means to  pound or crush with a mortar and pestle.The sauce as you all know includes lots of fresh basil,garlic cloves,pine nuts, etc blended together- preferably in a mortar the true Genovese way and tossed with pasta or veggies. The pasta used is trofie though any tubular pasta works fine. 

One of the more famous Ligurian style of pasta is tossing the fresh pesto with cooked pasta,potatoes and green beans. This is what I have tried here with the recipe from Nigella's Kitchen as given in  the BBC website. Surprisingly the recipe does not include pine nuts in the recipe-was it a twist by the popular chef or a typo,I am not sure. I had tried this with the leftover pesto I had made and freezed earlier and this one had  pine nuts in it. Feel free to make your own version with our without nuts.:)

Ingredients:
Penne Pasta:2 cups+
Potatoes: cubed/cut into bite sized pieces
Green beans: chopped into half or smaller pieces.

Water: as needed to cook the pasta and the veggies.

Pesto: quantity as you like
Basil
Garlic cloves
Pine nuts
Parmesan Cheese
Extra Virgin Olive oil

Salt & Pepper :as per taste

Preparation:
Pesto: Blend all the ingredients together to get a coarse paste as the pesto should not be too smooth.

Pasta: Boil water in a deep vessel adding enough salt. Add the cubed/chopped potatoes and cook till they are tender. Remove from the vessel.Add pasta in the  same water and cook till al dente or done .Add the trimmed green beans in the last 4- 5 minutes till they are just cooked.

Drain the water away saving 1 cup or so.Toss the pasta and the beans and potatoes with the pesto adding tablespoonfuls of water if needed to get your consistency. Serve optionally topped with more grated parmesan and pepper and salt.


Simple fuss free pasta with comforting potatoes and crunchy beans with the refreshing pesto.Make sure you do not overcook the beans. The beans take barely 4 minutes of cooking.You can if you want cook the beans and potatoes separately or steam them or use the microwave. This method I have used is a single pot one and so less vessels to clean. :)


Thursday, April 7, 2011

Quick Orange Ice Cream

This is a simple no churn orange icecream I adapted from Nigella Lawson. This is not ice cream in the traditional sense,but definitely a life saver in hot summer afternoons.You can use orange in combination with lemon juice or simply bitter seville oranges as the original recipe has,but I went just for orange juice and still no complaints.

Ingredients:
Orange Juice: 8 tbsp (fresh squeezed)
Cream : 1.5 cups (I used the available 25% lowfat amul cream)
Icing Sugar: 10 tbsp or less as per your taste.

Orange zest: as needed

Preparation: 
Add fresh squeezed orange juice in a bowl.Add in the icing sugar and stir to dissolve. Add in the cream -preferably heavy. Whip everything together till they hold soft peaks and then pour in a shallow container. Cover and freeze overnight or atleast 3-5 hours.Take out and let it sit out for 10-15 minutes to ripen and then scoop it up and serve with your choice of accompaniments like ,orange slices,chocolate sauce,choc vermicelli,etc.



If you are sceptical of ice formation within the container,you can place a butter/parchment paper on top of the ice cream before covering and freezing.Do not go by the pics,my scoop started melting,by the time I was ready to click.So everything looked messy Try this out for a quick fuss free and heavenly delicious ice cream.


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Brownie Squares with Praline Topping

Brownies are an indulgence,especially ooey gooey fudgy brownies. No matter how many times you make them you want more and more.With or without icecream they are dessert or anytime snack for me. I adapted these delicious fudgy brownies from here and they are from the book "The Pastry Queen" by Rebecca Rather. I made one -third of the recipe and used my square cake molds to bake three brownie squares.As usual, I made slight changes here and there,like using semi sweet instead of the dark choc in the original and replacing egg with flax seeds.

Ingredients: 
Butter: 1/4 cup
Chocolate: 1 oz (I used semi sweet)

Regular Sugar: 1/3 cup (I used a little less asmy choco was semi sweet)
Brown Sugar: 1/4 cup 

Egg: 1or Egg Replacer :1/4 cup (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water mixed together)

Vanilla : 1 tsp

Instant Coffee Powder: 1 tsp +  Boiling Water: 1tsp mix together


AllPurpose Flour: 1/ 3 cup
Salt:  big pinch (1/12tsp !)(adjust if using salted butter)

Praline Topping: 
Pecans/ Walnuts: 1/3 cup toasted and chopped

Cream: 8 tsp
Brown sugar: 1/3 cup
Corn Syrup: 1 tsp
Butter: 2 tsp

Vanilla: 1 tsp

Preparation:
Chop the choc square and melt it together in a bowl -preferably big- using double boiling method. Stir well until the chocolate has completely melted. Remove from heat and stir in the sugars. Addin the egg or egg replacer mix and vanilla  and stir until you get a smooth shiny batter. Stir in the coffee + water mix.Add in the flour to which a small pinch of salt has been added and stir to combine. Pour into well greased cake molds.


Bake for about 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven at 350F or until most of the bubbling has been stopped and they start to shrink slightly from the edges of the mold. The middle will still be gooey and bubbling. Cool completely in a rack while you prepare the topping.

Praline Topping: 
Toast and chop the nuts and keep aside. Combine together cream,brown sugar,butter and corn syrup-or molasses/honey/maple syrup - together and stir over low heat until the butter melts and the mix is smooth. Bring to a low boil and continue cooking for about 6 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and cool for about 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped nuts and vanilla. Pour this over the cooled brownies and using a spatual or knife, spread it evenly.

Cool for about 15 minutes. Then Dig in  :D 

Oeey gooey brownies. One bite and you are in a chocolate heaven. Do find these brownie squares at the Best Brownie Event at EasyCooking while I have mine with a scoop of vanilla .



Friday, April 1, 2011

No-Knead Crusty Sandwich Rolls

I am a 'dough- kneading' person. Kneading is therapeutic and has worked well for me. Ofcourse some of the bread went straight to the garbage, but I definitely believe that kneading is good. Its like bonding with the food you are making, adding love  or taking out the anger when the world is against you or whatever you feel while kneading. So for this reason alone, I have never ever tried the no-knead breads or the ABin5 breads. Ofcourse its another fact that I feel scared and jinxed while attempting these breads and am always low in confidence when bread baking comes. And the first attempt at a no-knead baguette was a failure.I might have added more water or whatever as I ended up with a very sticky dough,which I simply scraped into a loaf pan and baked after it doubled. This one a second attempt adapted /halved from here came out much better than expected.

Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour: 1.5 cups + more for dusting
Salt :1/2 tsp + 1/8tsp
Sugar: 1/4 tsp
Olive Oil: 2 tsp
Instant Yeast:1/8 tsp
Tepid Water: 3/4 cup

Cornmeal/Semolina : for dusting

Preparation:
 Mix together the dough ingredients from APF to tepid water together with a ladle/wooden spoon to get a soft and sticky dough.Cover with a plasticwrap and let it sit for atleast 12hours in a warm spot. I went for about 18hours. By this time it had expanded/spread and turned little bubbly. 

Line a baking sheet,optionally grease it with oilspray and sprinkle cornmeal/semolina onto it. Heavily dust a counter with flour and using the wooden spoon scrap the dough onto it. Flour you hands and dust the top of the dough with more flour. Shape it into a square and using a knife /pizza cutter cut it into 4 pieces. Using more  flour shape each piece into a round and keep it on the baking sheet seam side down. Sprinkle the top of the rolls with more flour and  cover with a plastic wrap or dry towel. Allow it to rise /double for another hour.

Mine actually expanded sideways than the upwards growth!!.Well, using a knife,make an incision on top of each roll (or bun whatever you call it) and bake in a preheated oven at 218C /425F for 35 minutes or till the tops brown.

The baking collage ...

The original recipe called for a pan of water to be placed in the oven while preheating and also baking .This is to create a steam effect and helps to obtain a hard crusty bread. My OTG is smaller than the normal oven and so I used the sprinkling method to get the same result. 

I preheated normally at 218C/425F. Before putting the rolls in the oven,I sprinkled little water on top of them. Placed them inside and let them cook for 5 minutes after which I sprayed/sprinkled water inside the oven atleast 4-5 times. The rolls were done by 28 -29 minutes.

Take out the rolls and keep them on wire rack.Cool completely before consuming.

The rolls turned out good.They had a hard crust and soft crumb. They are perfect for sandwich- they were hard enough to hold the ingredients and can also soak the liquid/juices but they did not turn soggy or break apart. One was consumed as such  by my daughter (she is a picky eater and loves breads fresh from the oven!) warm from the oven.Other I slit into two and served as sandwich. They can mop up any gravy or soup as well.

This goes to BBD#38 - No Knead Bread Festival , at CindyStar, an event by Zorra.




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