mayurisjikoni

Gingerbread and Oatmeal Bread#BreadBakers Theme: Whole Grained Holiday Breads    Whether people would like to admit it or not, December brings about an air of festivities for all. The celebrations begin with ThanksGiving and will end with New Year celebrations. Shops are decorated, Christmas sales are on, friends and relatives share decorated streets, trees, homes photos. One cannot help but get drawn to this seasonal celebration. I consider myself very lucky that I get to enjoy Diwali, Eid and Christmas. As a Hindu living in a predominantly Christian Country and a strong Muslim part of Kenya, I get drawn into celebrating all three festivals.    When Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds suggested Whole Grained Holiday Breads, I tried looking for recipes where I could use whole grains. There are many recipes out there using spelt and rye flour. I don't get either in Kenya or India. Kalyani suggested that we try and use whole grain as much as possible. I was nearly going to s...

Cheese Stuffed Garlic Pull Apart Bread#BreadBakers Theme: Pull Apart Breads   Pull Apart Bread has been on my 'to do' list for a long time. I've done mini ones in a muffin pan, but wanted to bake one in a bundt pan. However, the bundt pan part didn't really work out but the pull apart bread got baked.    My daughter keeps on insisting that she's not going to eat much carbs, so initially I tried baking half the recipe to give a small loaf. First all, its the first time I'm halving a basic bread recipe so forgot that I should add less salt. The small miserable looking loaf didn't come out too well and it was salty. However, my daughter liked the idea of tiny pieces of bread stuffed with cheese so she insisted that I bake one for her to take to work. That was a relief as I now could bake the normal 3-3½ cup flour bread. I used a small cake tin and the shape came out much better, the rise was good and yes it wasn't salty.   Pull Apart Breads is the Novembe...

Happy with my "Princess"    A weird title, right? Well, Princess is the name I've given my sourdough starter. At first I thought it like a weird idea to name the starter. Everyone who successfully makes a sourdough starter at home names it. I was wondering why. Now I know. You actually nuture it like a pet. Feed it and make sure its in the optimum environment.     Most days Princess is happy sitting idle in the fridge but on occasions I take her out and actually make something. This time round I made sourdough pita bread. I used a combination of wheat and plain flours. The pita bread turned out super yummy. I love the slight sour taste and did I mention it was so much lighter on the tummy than the normal pita breads?     Go on make pita bread and enjoy it with some falafels or use it to make your favorite sandwich or just enjoy it with a dip.  I had one left over and next day I enjoyed it with a cup of masala tea. I warmed it up on a frying p...

Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread#BreadBakers Breads with Preferments    When Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories  announced breads with levain, I was excited. Here was a theme that was going to push me to make my own sourdough starter. We were allowed to use other starters like biga, poolish, soakers, tangzhong etc. I left those options if only I failed with the sourdough.    Last year my brother in law from Nairobi had given me a bit of the starter from his batch. I brought it back to Mombasa and fed it till it was nice and bubbly. I tried making a sourdough bread and the mass of dough was just too unmanageable for me. The bread failed in a big (major!) way. The sourdough went into the fridge and stayed there for a few days. Took it out and used it a bit for pancakes.    After that it was forgotten! When I came back from India, of course I had to throw it away. A recent trip to Montreal and enjoying all the variety of sourdough breads was convincing enoug...

Cute bread rolls Theme: Surfing Through The Caribbeans BM #81- Day 2    Today we are visiting Guyana. Its a sovereign state on the northern mainland of South America. Before you think I've got my facts wrong about the Caribbeans, Guyana though not an island in the Caribbean, it is a part of the Caribbean region mainly because of its strong cultural, historical and political ties with the Anglo Caribbean countries and the Caribbean community. The official language is English and the other widely spoken language is Creole. A state with a diverse population consisting of people from Africa, Europe, China and India along with the indigenous people. Colonised by the Dutch and English, people were brought to Guyana to work on the plantations and rice fields.    Guyanese cuisine is influenced by English,African, East Indian,Portuguese, Chinese, Arabian and Amerindian influence. Famous dishes are pepper pot, roti and curry, chowmein, metagee (a stew with dumplings). Breads l...