Home-baked Ciabatta

First of all, a very Happy New year to you all! Hope you had wonderful holiday season. Our holidays were so fantastic that I nearly did not want it to end. Much worse, after eating so much calorie-rich food for the holidays, we did not want to cook or eat again for another few years! But it never quite works like that and we were hungry again quite soon. So we decided to stick to simple food and sandwiches for the next couple of weeks. So that is one of the reasons I did not get much to write about in here. But today I got to try Ciabatta bread -which by the way is my favourite kind of bread. Personally, I love the crusty outside, extra-soft inside with those varying sizes of beautiful holes. I could it with pretty much anything, although, I tend to favour savoury food. With Anjalie wanting to help with the kneading of the bread I decided to try baking Ciabatta together with her. We are very pleased with how it has come out, which according to her is "perfect!" I did not need any further praise tbh, but, even my hubby who usually does not care for crusty breads said he enjoyed it and wants this exact same recipe repeated often. So I am one very pleased lady here. I have followed the measurements etc from BBC's Paul Hollywood continental recipes. Link here. But I just followed my own method that suits both Anjalie & my schedule.




You will need:
400 g white bread flour
300 ml water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
30 ml olive oil

Buckwheat Spinach Thepla

Theplas are unleavened bread typically made using bajra/pearl millet/kambhu flour from the North western parts of India (particularly Gujarat). It is very healthy and flavourful due to the spices added to make the dough. They have longer shelf life than bread made with atta/wheat flour. So they are excellent for taking with us for travelling or picnics. They also can be enjoyed hot or otherwise and can be frozen for later use. I usually get bajra flour from the Indian/Asian grocery store here. But when I run out of bajra flour (it does happen), between my trips to the Indian stores, I use buckwheat flour (readily available in many supermarkets). The resulting theplas are excellent if not better than the original recipe. The buckwheat flour has a natural sweet-malty taste that makes these theplas more appealing to children as well. As usual, I try to add some veggies, particularly, leafy greens like Methi or spinach to the roti. Thus making sure that the fussy one in the house, aka, hubby gets to enjoy these usually scorned upon veggies. It is easy to make and Anjalie loves to help with the rolling out of the roti. Since buckwheat is gluten free this recipe can be easily adapted for gluten-free diets.


You will need:
2 cups buckwheat flour + plus extra for dusting
1 cup besan/chickpeas flour
2 tbsp curd
salt to taste
ginger- garlic paste 1/4 tsp
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
black pepper powder to taste
1/2 tsp chilli powder (for adults - optional)
500 gms spinach leaves- washed, coarsely chopped.
water, enough to make a smooth dough.
oil to grease the griddle

Anadama Bread

After a little hiatus, that involved holidays with little to no internet access, time spent with Anjalie & family and starting new project at work and the stress that comes with it, I am back with more yummy recipes that is now approved by Anjalie (who is turning 4 this December- where did the time go!) and the rest of the family. It has been a while (2 months!) since I experimented with bread. So here it is- Anadama bread. This one uses corn meal/polenta and is traditional bread from New England. What attracted me to try this was the story of it's origin and the use of molasses as a sweetener instead of sugar. First the story- like many old recipes there are many, but, here is my favourite one- there once was a fisherman who lived in New England with his wife. All she ever fed him was polenta/cornmeal porridge sweetened with molasses. Eventually, he got tired of it and made bread with the porridge by adding bread flour, all the while saying, "Anna, damn her!" which became Anadama bread :)

Herbs and Cheese loaf

Here is another savoury bread that we enjoy. It goes great with barbecues as well as with pastas and soups. It is pretty easy to put together as well. The whole house smells fantastic when the bread is baking as well :) I tend to use red Leicester cheese for this bread since I like the lovely colour it adds to the bread along with the creamy taste. Buy any hard cheese will work fine. You can even try using soft cheeses like cottage cheese or feta cheese but add them to liquid ingredients (& count them for the liquids measure too!). I try to use fresh herbs as much as possible. But dried herbs will also work well for this bread. During the summer Anjalie & I love to go into the garden to "treasure hunt" for fresh herbs. But I have baked this with dried herbs before with pretty much similar results. When using fresh herbs, try to chop them coarsely to bring out the oil in them.

You will need:
1 and 1/2 scant cups lukewarm water
3 and 1/4 cups unbleached white bread flour
3/4 cup grated Red Leicester/cheddar cheese or any other hard cheese of your choice + 1/4 cup for sprinkling on the top
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cups fresh herbs such as thyme, oregano, basil and rosemary chopped coarsely or equivalent dried herbs.
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp milk powder
1 tbsp butter (at room temperature)
1 tsp instant active dried yeast

Healthier variation of Trinidadian (fry) bake- baked not fried

We all have childhood favourite dishes that we love very much and associate with comfort food. Some times, unfortunately, they are not the healthiest things around. Trinidadian fry bake is Naz's childhood favourite. Anjalie really enjoys them too. Unfortunately, it involves frying the bread dough which, naturally, is not very healthy. I have been looking and experimenting for a recipe that involves baking them instead of frying and still be able to achieve the same soft texture. The trouble is that the same recipe cannot be used to bake. It involves using baking powder, so, baking the dough will result in biscuits. Secondly, I have previously tried yeast instead of baking powder, but, could not get the pocket in the centre which we get when the dough puffs up during frying. I finally figured out the perfect recipe that gives the replica of "fried" bake, i.e., it is soft and has a pocket in the middle to scoop up tomato choka or to put butter and cheese in. But this version is  just healthier having been baked in the oven instead of frying. It only requires very little oil/butter. When I finally served them today, both Naz & Anjalie could not believe that they were not fried. Naz kept on going about how it tastes really great! Just what I wanted to hear :D So, I guess, from now on Trinidad bakes are going to be one of the regular dishes in our home. Again, this goes to show that Healthy food choices does not necessarily mean missing out on our childhood favourites. So without further ado...here is the recipe.

You will need:
2.5 cups all purpose/plain flour (not bread flour)
1 tsp instant dried yeast yeast
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 to 1.5 cups lukewarm water (use as required)
1/2 tbsp oil/butter

Baked Piroshki with Trinidad-style potato stuffing/filling

Piroshki are Russian-style (or mainly Eastern European-style) baked or fried buns with veggie and/or meat fillings. They are perfect for lunch boxes, travels, picnics etc or even as a snack/appetiser. We had a lovely sunny weekend at last, so, I baked these for a picnic at the park. After running around playing in the park, we pretty much finished the entire batch :) Anjalie is a big fan of anything potato and also loves my milky bread, so, it is not surprising that she enjoyed both of them put together. Piroshki can be either fried or baked. I always have gone for the healthy "baked" option. You can try frying with the same recipe for a variation.

You will need:
For the buns:
water roux prepared as shown here (optional)
1.5 to 2 cups milk (will need less if using water roux)
25 g butter
2.5 to 3 cups white bread flour
1-2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
1 tbsp milk powder


For the Trinidad-style potato filling:
2 tsp oil
1 tbsp soft light brown sugar (optional)
small piece of habernero peppers (for adults - optional)
1 small or 1/2 large onion chopped
2 small tomatoes chopped
1 tsp tomato puree
1 stalk celery
1-2 stalks salad/green onions chopped (both white and green)
1 inch piece ginger grated
3 cloves of garlic grated
2 cups of peeled and cubed to bite size potatoes
salt and black pepper to taste
2 tbsps of milk for basting

Milawat Paratha (mixed-up Paratha)

Parathas are flat breads that are usually stuffed with vegetable or meat fillings. Milawat paratha are a quicker version of the stuffed parathas. Instead of stuffing the flat bread, which will require rolling out twice, we just simply mix the filling into the dough for milawat parathas. They taste great and are full of flavour just like the stuffed parathas, but, just require less work. Weekends are great for making rotis for me since I will have Anjalie to help me roll them out :) I was planning on making Aloo/potato paratha and, so, had boiled some potatoes on Sunday. Just then, our friends called to ask if their 3 yr old could come over for a visit around lunch time and stay with us for the afternoon. I had only around 45 mins to finish making lunch and clear up the kitchen before they arrived so that we could all enjoy lunch together. So as a quick alternative, I decided to turn the aloo paratha into milawat paratha. It was not surprising that all of us, including our friends, enjoyed our lunch together and I got rave reviews for the parathas. So without further ramblings, here is the recipe...

You will need:

3 cups flour (I used equal amounts of atta, plain flour/maida and soya flour)

your choice of veggies: potatoes (peeled & boiled), 1 grated carrots/beetroot/broccoli/cabbage /cauliflower, spinach etc...

2 small tomatoes cooked, peeled and mashed

2 fresh chillies chopped (for adults-optional)

salt to taste

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste 

2 tbsp plain yoghurt (optional)

water enough to knead into dough

oil/ghee for greasing the skillet

Soft Scottish dinner baps/rolls (perfect for burgers) -water roux method

Baps in Scotland are much like dinner rolls in the rest of the world, but, they are softer and larger (width-wise) and are not sweet (unlike the Irish ones). They are perfect for barbecue or for burgers. With Summer rolling on soon (hopefully), I thought I will share this recipe just in time for those special Summer barbecues. We love them as sandwiches/burgers or with soup or just steaming hot with butter for breakfast. The water-roux method gives extra soft crumbs and the butter gives great flavour to them. So without further ado, here is the recipe for 8 Baps/rolls.

You will need:

For the water roux:
25 grams of white bread flour
125 ml of water

For the bread dough
Water roux from above
75ml warm milk
225ml warm water (use more or less as required - this will be stickier dough than normal bread dough)
475 g white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar (optional)
1 tbsp milk powder (optional)
2 tsp rapid-raise dried yeast
30g butter, softened
oil, for greasing baking pan

Trinidadian Dumplings

This simple dumplings is usually eaten as part of dinner/lunch instead of bread. Naz and Anjalie usually enjoy theirs with daal, stewed fish (I enjoy mine with quorn) and vegetables (just like they do it in my in-laws home). This recipe is a slight modification of from the one my MIL uses. My MIL's recipe uses baking powder as a leavening agent. But I like to use yeast instead since I find it gives softer dumplings. But this works just fine with baking powder.

You will need:
2 cups plain flour
salt to taste
baking powder/1 tsp yeast
low fat coconut milk/water
1 tsp oil
2.5 litres of water for boiling the dumplings

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread is a long time favourite for both Naz & me to eat with tea/coffee or for breakfast. It is no surprise that Anjalie loves it too. Before, tasting cinnamon-raisin bread, I never cared for sweet things with cinnamon. To me cinnamon was part of spices used in savory food like channa masala or biriyani. So tasting cinnamon raisin bread opened new possibilities of food with cinnamon. Did I say that it is favourite family snack as well? It is not too sweet, unlike cakes, and goes pretty well with spiced chai/coffee too. Nothing can compare to the soft crumb slightly spiced with cinnamon and biting into the plump raisins and then there is the cinnamon-sugar filling that just melts in your mouth, drool! I do use bread machine to do the kneading, but, then shape by hand and bake in conventional oven. However, you can mix and knead by hand as well. Here is the method (step by step) as much as possible.



You will need:
3/4 cup warm water
1 egg
1 tbl spoon softened butter/margarine
2 and 2/3 cups white bread flour
3 tbl spoon dry milk powder
2 tbl spoon sugar
1/3 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 tsp dry yeast.

For the filling:
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp spoon cinnamon

Soft white bread (no water roux needed)

The last time I wrote about baking white bread, I had used water roux (well, pretty much for everything!). But with the entire family affected by flu this time, I really did not have time and energy to make the roux etc to make the bread. But after eating the softest loaf, we were not yet ready to go back to the French bread type loaves the bread machine usually makes. I need not say how great it is to be able to eat freshly baked bread especially when sick and how wonderful it is when we can chuck everything into the bread machine and press a button! Before I found out about the water roux method, I was trying out baking white bread using soya flour as emulsifier to soften the crusts and insides. After varying the amount of soya flour needed to replace my bread flour, today, I finally found the perfect white bread with softer crust and fluffy insides. All these without changing the taste and colour of the bread! Here is my recipe...


You will need:
1 and 1/3 to 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups+ 2 tbsp of strong bread flour
2 tbsp soya flour
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp milk powder
1 tbsp softened butter
1 tsp rapid raise yeast (bread machine yeast)

Healthy Wholemeal Naan with sourdough starter (without tandoor oven)

Naan is a flat bread made from refined white flour that is leavened with yeast traditionally using wild yeast and lactobacilli from yoghurt. The dough is then cooked in Tandoor/clay ovens. However, it can made at home using conventional ovens by grilling or broiling the dough. It can also be made on stove top without oil and, personally, I prefer this method since it works out quicker for me. Naan can be found in most Indian restaurant and whenever we order a take out or eat out Naz usually prefers naan since it is "softer". I generally do not make it often at home and prefer to eat Tandoori rotis as a healthier option even when eating out. With all of us slowly getting better from the flu, I thought I will treat us all to soft Naan, but, with healthier wholemeal. The trouble with using wholemeal flour is that it does not have as much gluten as white flour and hence needs extra help to get it softer. So this wholemeal version works best with sourdough starter than with commercial yeast. This recipe can be adapted to make traditional Naan by replacing wholemeal flour with white flour and sourdough starter with 1 packet rapid raise yeast. Before I go to the recipe, I will tell you the end result of my experiment. All of us enjoyed the wholemeal naan very much with Naz commenting that he could not believe that it was wholemeal with it being "so soft". Nor could he get the "sourdough" taste. I had mentioned in the sourdough starter recipe that it is versatile and can be used in pretty much anything that uses yeast. This experiment of mine goes to show that it can be used even in recipes that are challenging for commercial yeast. Again, I have used my sourdough starter before and am sure that it works well. But if you are unsure about your starter or using it for the first time, you can add a 1/2 tsp of yeast to help with the raising just in case. Here is the recipe:


You will need:
200 g wholemeal flour
200 g white flour
200 g sourdough starter
salt to taste
water to make dough
1 tsp oil

Le Pain de Seigle de Thiézac (French Rye Bread from the Thiézac region)

You will need a sourdough starter for this recipe. If you are looking to make your own rye starter see here to find out how I did it. I actually enjoy rye bread more than wheat bread just because I love the taste. The fact that rye is more nutritionally better is just an added bonus. For more info read here. If you have been following the whole sourdough fiasco in this blog, you will know that I have been planning to make rye bread for a good few weeks now. One thing to note is that pure rye bread will not raise as much as wheat bread. So please do not be disappointed to see that the bread does not look all puffed up in volume. If you prefer a lighter bread you can mix rye flour or use rye starter with wheat flour to bake your bread. See here for a wheat bread recipe with rye starter.

Finally, I have had a chance to make pure rye bread with my rye sourdough starter. Although, I had initially planned on making German rye bread, I changed my mind once I came across the recipe for this French rye bread from the Thiézac region from Fresh loaf website. The pictures looked very inviting that I had to try it myself. For the original recipe look here. The only difference between the recipe given in the Fresh loaf and mine is that I skipped adding any commercial yeast. That is because I have regularly used and was sure of my starter. So I did not think I needed any extra help from the commercial yeast. However, if you are trying this out for the first time with your starter I suggest that you add the commercial yeast as well just in case. For this French bread it takes 3 or 4 days to slowly build the "levain" which is the yeast/leavening agent for the final bread. I started with 10 g of my rye sourdough starter and by the time it was 4 days I had nearly 700 g of the "levain" ready for my bread. This is a great example of how a little bit of sourdough starter can help with baking large quantity of bread. I ended baking 3 small loaves. If I am going to work on it for 4 days I thought I might as well make enough :) Also they can be frozen and keep very well for a good while.

Garlic bread sticks (Olive Garden style) with water-roux (Tangzhang)

Unfortunately, it is my turn to get the flu here. Today is the second/third day of it. I have had a lot of help and attention in the style of "Mr. Large in-charge" from Anjalie and Naz here. By now I felt that I can no longer expect them to do everything around the house. In fact, I myself was getting tired of those canned supermarket soups! So I decided to make my own soup and my personal favorite, minestrone, for dinner tonight. While we lived in the USA, Naz & I used to frequent the Olive Garden chain of restaurants. I loved their minestrone soup and garlic breadsticks. So I decided to make their style of garlic breadsticks to go with my soup tonight. Recently, you might have noticed, I have had great success with water-roux in achieving soft rolls, buns and bread. So, naturally, I used water-roux to give these bread- sticks/rolls the soft texture. I had to rush a bit since it is a weekday and I tried to get some work done from home in a bid to avoid spreading my flu to my colleagues. This meant setting the bread machine to finish the dough cycle at around 5 pm with a plan on getting dinner ready by 7:30 pm (barely enough time)!! But the garlic bread turned out great -golden brown top, soft insides with a chewy bite just the way we remember the Olive garden garlic breadsticks used to be. Anjalie loved it too as well. So a definite keeper that will please the entire family. Bread flour works out best for this recipe. But you can make it with plain/all purpose flour too. Here is the recipe I used...

You will need:
For water roux (Tangzhang):
1/3 cup bread flour
1 cup water
For the garlic bread sticks:
4 cups unbleached white bread flour
1.25 (scant) cups of lukewarm water
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp milk powder
1.5 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp melted butter (for spreading on top after baking)
1 tbsp olive oil/butter ( I like the flavor of olive oil in my bread sticks)
1.5 tsp instant active dried yeast
1 tbsp garlic salt granules/powder

Honey Partybrot/Partybread (water roux method)

Partybrot are traditional Swiss-German rolls, baked as one, in a round pan. As the name suggests partybrot is perfect for sharing. I received a new pot of home-made honey from a friend today and I really wanted to try it tonight (asap). I had wanted to make this tear off bread to share. I just used honey to make a sweet partybrot. It is a weekday but I could not wait to try the fresh honey. So, I quickly made a snack, veggie cutlets, for us while I prepared the partybrot. It was late dinner tonight but was well worth the wait :) I have had great success with water roux method so I used it for making this one too and the end result was perfect, fluffy and soft like cloud  bread that was sweet with great honey flavor. Anjalie loved the tear-off part and insisted on tearing off the bread for us too :)


You will need:
For water roux:
40 grams of bread flour
200 grams of water
For the dough:
Roux made from above
300 grams of bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg lightly beaten egg
1 tsp instant active dry yeast
225-250 grams**(yes, by weight) of lukewarm milk
50 grams of honey (add more if you like them sweeter)
30 grams unsalted butter + more to smear on top
Egg wash (optional): 1 egg + 2 tbsp milk

Malt-house Rye bread (no sourdough starter required)

It has been a while since I did any "bread experiment". The main reason for it is that both Anjalie and Naz have been asking for sandwiches and I was stuck with making sandwich (mainly white and potato) breads. I have been craving my rye bread as well. I was faced with 2 fold problem: 1) To get soft rye bread I need sourdough starter which means a lot of planning and Naz does not care for the sour taste 2) Anjalie & I love the tangy taste of sour dough :( To please everyone, the hamster in my brain came up with the idea of using yogurt instead of sourdough starter. This meant Anjalie & I get to enjoy mildly tangy tasting rye bread and Naz will not have a problem with the "yogurt tangy" taste since it is mild and he is used to that, whew! While, I was at it, I thought I will add in Malted flour for a good measure to get the slightly sweeter taste and darker color at the same time making it multi-grain and healthy. I usually add malt syrup (instead of sugar) to malt house bread. But I was all out of malt syrup though, so, I will have to try that one next time. Since it was the weekend, I hand-kneaded the dough on Saturday night and left it raise over night. I did the final shaping and proofing this morning (shown in the pics below). Unfortunately, with Anjalie around, I could not spend time to take step by step pics. Now for the recipe...


You will need:
2 cups white bread flour
1/2 cup rye bread flour
1/2 malted bread flour
1/4 cup wholewheat bread flour
1 cup non fat yogurt (at room temperature)
3/4 cup warm water + 1/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp softened butter
2 tbsp sugar/malted syrup/maple syrup
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 tsp active dried yeast (you can replace it with instant yeast)

Hot-Cross Buns (just in time for Easter) with water roux

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!

One a penny, two a penny

Hot cross buns!

With Easter almost upon us, I had a few requests to make my hot-cross buns.  This time around, I had decided to try out the water roux method to make these soft melt in your mouth sweet buns even more soft! These traditional buns are very popular here in UK during the Easter time. The traditional cross on these Easter buns probably symbolized the four the seasons and were made during the spring time to point out the end of winter time and the cycle of seasons. But later the cross was associated with Good Friday and the Crucifixion. Regardless, they taste great and are perfect for this time of the year with the smell of spices and mild sweet taste of the dried fruits.

There are many superstitions surrounding hot cross buns. One of them says that buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil or mold during the subsequent year (probably due to the spices in them). Sharing a hot cross bun with another is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year, particularly if "Half for you and half for me, Between us two shall goodwill be" is said at the time. If hung in the kitchen, they are said to protect against fires and ensure that all breads turn out perfectly. The hanging bun is replaced each year. For more info on these look in wikipedia here.

Like many traditional recipes hot-cross buns have many variations. Traditionally the crosses were made with shortcrust pastry. There are recipes that use plain flour and margarine and/or water to make the crosses. I make mine with royal icing (egg whites and icing sugar). If you do not want a sweet tasting crosses, you can use either shortcrust pastry or plain flour and margarine method. Also for the getting the shiny sticky look the hot-cross buns are usually glazed using one of these options: 3 tbsp of apricot jam + 3 tbsp of water- heated up to dissolve completely and sieved or 3 tbsp of sugar + 3 tbsp of milk- heated up to dissolve completely or 3 tbsp of sugar + 3 tbsp of water- heated up to dissolve completely. Again, I use a different glaze here with condensed milk instead. Here is the recipe I have used...

You will need:
water roux prepared as given here
1 - 1 and 1/4 cup warm milk
1 egg/ egg substitute (optional)
4 cups unbleached white bread flour
1 and 1/2 tsp apple pie spice or
1/2 tsp each of ground ginger, nutmeg and all spice
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 and 1/2 tsp of rapid-raise active dry yeast
1/2 cup currants
3 tbsp golden raisins
3 tbsp mixed candied fruit peel
egg wash (optional): 1 egg + 3 tbsp milk

For Glaze:
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk

For the crosses: (choose other methods if you want to avoid using eggs)
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 medium egg white

Kulcha roti

Kulcha rotis are popular flat breads from the North of India. It is very similar to Naan (another variety of flat Indian breads) in the soft texture. The only difference between Kulcha and Naan is that Kulcha is unleavened bread and the soft texture is achieved using baking soda, yogurt and baking powder. However, Naan is leavened bread which requires yeast. Thus Kulcha requires very little raising time compared to Naan. Although, in some parts of South Asia, even Kulcha are made with yeast. Another difference between Naan and Kulcha is that Kulcha often has spices, potatoes or other ingredients mixed into the dough (not used as a filling like parathas). Both Naan and Kulcha are traditionally baked in tandoori ovens. But I just make them on the stove top on a tawa/skillet. Naan and Kulcha are usually festive/ special occasion (wedding) food in South Asia and not especially healthy when compared to wholemeal breads like tandoori roti or phulka. But indulging in these once in a while is a great way to enjoy them while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I learnt to make Kulcha from my college friend who is from the North of India and I usually use potatoes, fresh green chillies, garlic paste/granules and coriander while mixing the dough (just like she used to!). It does remind me of those good old days, but, I do not make these often since they are calorie heavy and not as rich in fiber like phulka roti. But tonight I decided to indulge myself a little. Kulcha are usually served together with Chole/Chana Masala (spicy chickpeas curry). But Kulcha goes well with any curry of your choice.

You will need:
1/2 cup (I use low fat) plain yogurt
1/4 cup (scant) water (use more or less)
1 medium potato boiled, peeled and mashed (optional)
3 cups of plain/all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 fresh green chillies chopped fine (optional)
1/4 cup coriander leaves chopped coarsely (optional)
1 tsp garlic salt granules/garlic paste (optional)
Salt to taste
1 tsp cooking oil
Butter/ghee (optional)

Besan-Soy masala roti (with spicy filling)

Besan, made from chickpeas, and Soy flours are rich in protein, fiber and other nutrients. Besan/Chickpeas flour is much better alternative to refined wheat flours. See http://www.tamaraduker.com/2009/07/fun-with-chickpea-flour/ for more info. Soy flour is another higher-protein, lower-glycemic alternative to refined wheat flour. For more information read: http://www.livestrong.com/article/467469-soy-flour-vs-white-flour/#ixzz2O7aDB4Io Combine these two flours together and they make very soft, healthy and filling rotis. Adding spices to these flours enhances the taste and flavor of these soft rotis making it a perfect combination of mouth watering and healthy food. 

I had a close friend, Sangeetha, who was also my class mate during Primary school. Her family used to make these rotis regularly and I loved it so much that they usually sent some extra rotis with her for lunch (whenever possible) just for me. When I got older, I learnt to make these rotis from Sangeetha's mum and these rotis are in fact one of my childhood favorites. I usually add a little bit of wholemeal flour to the dough, but, you can replace it with soy flour it if you want gluten-free rotis. The soft texture of these rotis is perfect for giving to young children and they are particularly tasty and appealing to them compared to wheat-based rotis. The roti is great on it's own with a little bit of mango chutney and plain yogurt (to balance out the spices if you want). But it also goes great with any curry of your choice. I have given these rotis, with plain yogurt, regularly to Anjalie since she was 6 months old. I used to skip the filling until she was 1 year old and then slowly started adding a little bit of the spices at a time. Now she enjoys them with the filling as much as the adults. Since she is not a big fan of chickpeas, otherwise, these rotis are a great way to get her to eat the nutritious peas. Another great reason for including these rotis as a regular meal is that the ingredients are all natural and does not use any processed/refined food. Moving on to the recipe...


You will need:


For the dough:
Besan/ Chickpeas Flour - 1 cup
Wholemeal wheat Flour - 1/4 cup
Soy flour - 1/2 cup
Oil - 2 tsp (you can also use ghee/butter)
Salt to taste
water to knead


For the filling: (you can adjust the amounts according to your taste)
Cumin Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
black pepper (ground) - 1 tsp
Amchur/ground mango powder - 1 tsp (available, here in the UK, in all Indian/Asian food shops as well as Amazon)
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp (for adults)
fresh green chilly & coriander finely chopped - 1 tsp each (for adults) 
Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp
oil/butter/ghee - 2 tbsps

Italian Breadsticks (Grissini)

Italian Breadsticks (Grissini) make a very healthy snack for children and the entire family. Including a cheesy dip with them is a great way to increase the children's dairy consumption. All of us here including Anjalie love breadsticks and enjoy them as tea time snack. Naz likes them soft and thick and Anjalie and I enjoy them crispy and thin. Regardless, both varieties are made from the same dough but shaped slightly different. I make them every week and store them in air tight containers and we enjoy them during the week. The soft chunky breadsticks should be eaten warm and fresh on the same day. We usually enjoy them with a nice bowl of minestrone or other soups. The crispy ones can be enjoyed with any of your favorite dips. I made my bread sticks with 3 toppings tonight: plain, Italian seasoning-garlic salt and freshly ground pepper-garlic salt. You can use coarsely ground rock salt or sesame seeds or poppy seeds or any of your other favorite topping. This recipe yields around 30-36 crispy bread sticks. Here is the recipe...

You will need:
230-260 ml lukewarm water (more or less)
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cups unbleached white bread flour
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 tsp instant active dried yeast

For coating any of these/combinations: (optional)
rock salt (coarsely ground) - use sparingly
freshly ground black pepper
dried Italian seasoning/oregano
garlic salt granules (not powder)
poppy seeds
sesame seeds
grated parmesan cheese
olive oil for greasing with pastry brush