Sweet Bread Pudding

Somehow I have escaped making puddings. Today I made pudding for the first time ever. A group that I am a part of, had mentioned pudding as the weekly target. So pudding struck me maybe there. Also when you have never made something and you are trying to avoid it, it keeps coming back to you. The more you try to avoid it, the more it will cross your paths. And why do you need to avoid something? I ask myself a lot of time. Shouldn't you be more excited and open towards the things you have not tried? Well, ideally yes. But I am not a perfect being. I never was. In fact, I feel that I am a highly imperfect one. So much more room to improve and do things in a better way. Cooking is one of the mediums which tells me the same. Everyday whenever I cook or I see what other people have made, I realize the importance of learning and to the extent I still have to learn. 

Be always open to learn new things from whom so ever. This is what is going to shape your present and future and will later become your past. 

Yeah, so the post is about bread pudding. Puddings have always sound inviting to me. I started with a simple sweet bread pudding. I modified the recipe as per my liking and the result was very nice.

Bread pudding is a good way to use up lying around stale bread. So if you have some, get going with this simple and delicious pudding. It is very easy to make it and you can enjoy it in breakfast, dessert or to calm down your midnight hunger pangs. You can also add dry fruits, fresh fruits, rum, lemon zest, orange zest, brown sugar etc for extra taste and flavor. 

Bread Pudding

Baking Equipment: 9X7 baking tin/pan

Recipe adapted from: Sweet Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1. 9-10 pieces (6 cups) of whole wheat bread (You can use any kind of bread that you like. Sweet buns, cinnamon rolls etc would add some distinctive taste and flavor. I though cooked with normal bread as I did not have any saved up bread)

2. 2 tsp vanilla extract

3. 1 tsp cinnamon powder

4. 4 eggs

5. 250 g granulated sugar

6. pinch of salt

7. 2 tsp coffee powder

8. 500 ml milk

9. butter for greasing

Steps:

1. Grease a pan with butter

2. Cut or tore the bread pieces into bite sized chunks

3. Place/arrange the bread pieces in the pan

4. Whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon powder, sugar, salt, coffee and milk together in a separate bowl

5. Pour over the milk mixture into the pan over the bread

6. Cover and refrigerate the pan for an hour or overnight so that the mixture is well absorbed by the bread

     (I kept it overnight)

7. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius

8. Bake the pudding pan in the oven for about 45-55 minutes

    (Toothpick inserted shall come out clean)

Keep aside for sometime so that it cools down a bit. Serve hot. 

Absolutely warm, delicious, homely and comforting pudding. You may reduce the amount of sugar if you take desserts a bit on the lower side of sugar. 

Have fun baking and eating guys :)

Masala Focaccia

I love baking bread. There is no other reason for me to make this recipe apart from my ever increasing love for baking breads and then eating them. Finally I am able to overpower the yeast and it has started becoming a friend of mine. Whenever I see the glass of yeast with bubbles over the surface, I start smiling. Or whenever I see that the dough is rising as expected or the bread is rising in the oven or the bubbles in the dough as I roll it out, I am the most happy person on this planet.

Focaccia is one of my favorites. This is a classic focaccia recipe with a masala twist. A very light and delicious bread with a mesmerizing coriander flavor.  It tasted amazing and was over within an hour. I could just manage to take pictures of a small piece of the bread .

Let me take you through the recipe.  

Masala Focaccia
Serves: 4
Adapted from : Tadka Pasta

Ingredients:
1. 1 1/4 cup (140 g) all purpose flour
2. 1/2 cup (65 g) whole wheat flour
3. 3/4 cup (180 g) lukewarm water
4. 2 tsp yeast
5. 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
6. 3 tbsp olive oil + olive oil to drizzle
7. 3/4 tsp salt
8. 3 green chilly
9. 2 red onion
10. handful of chopped coriander

First step is proofing the yeast. Dissolve the sugar in the lukewarm water. Make sure that the water is lukewarm, it should neither be cold nor hot to touch. If the water is too cold, yeast won't activate and if the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast. Now dissolve the yeast in it. Keep this mixture aside covered with a towel for 5-7 minutes.

Meanwhile heat a table spoon of oil in a pan. Fry the finely chopped red onion, green chilly and coriander in the oil for a minute or so. Let it sit on the side to cool down.

If the yeast is active (it should have bubbles/foam on the top of it), it is ready to use. Else let it sit for some more time. Sift the flour and salt together. Now put in the sauteed onion and coriander into the flour. Add the yeast to the flour while constantly beating with a wooden spatula. Mix properly till all the ingredients seem to have well blended.

Take a 9x9 or 8x8 baking pan and line it with parchment paper. Now cover the inside of the parchment paper with 2 tablespoon of olive oil. Transfer the dough into the baking pan with the help of a spatula. Using the spatula or wet fingers, spread the dough evenly on the surface of the pan. You will have to spread it out to the edges. Now cover the pan with a towel and keep it in a warm place for an hour or so. Poke the surface of the dough with wet fingers for the classic focaccia and drizzle good amount of olive oil. I drizzled about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Preheat an oven to 180 degree Celsius and keep the baking pan inside the oven at the middle level.
Bake the bread for about 25 minutes or till it is golden brown.

Take the baking pan out and let the bread cool down for a few minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the bread to make sure it is not stuck to the pan. Take it out and remove the parchment paper. If you have used oil generously it would come out very clean.

Cut and serve hot along with mayonnaise or any cheesy dip.

It was a very light, flavorful, soft and an olivy focaccia. It is a recipe which I will make over and over again. Its a conquest for me in the world of breads and definitely spot on in terms of taste and flavors.