Chili Cheese Cornbread

Can I repeat the same picture from last post to say how sorry I am? I don't think so. And sorry means that you won't repeat the mistake. I have been repeating the same mistake again and again. So until I fix it on my side, I wouldn't say anything. Hopefully, all of you are good and eating well.
I have been having a lot of fun and friends, work, people, relationship, and life in general have kept me busy.

Cooking is something which relaxes me every day. In my always moving life, cooking is something that stays on my side. I went to Kerala for my birthday. I went home for Diwali. I also visited Chennai very recently and friends have been visiting throughout. Food is always an integral part of all my trips. These days I have a good balance of outside food and home cooked food.

I am posting a chili cheese cornbread today. As you all know, breads are my favorite. Also, Jamie Oliver is my favorite. And this is one of his creation. I follow him on Instagram and I could not take this bread out of my mind, even when it was out of my sight. One amazing thing about this bread is that it is baked with baking powder and not yeast. So, there is no kneading effort required. There are no yeast nightmares. The combination of maize flour, caramelized onions, crunchy corn, chili, and cheese works amazingly well. The bread will be crunchy from outside and really spongy and soft from inside. Obviously, let's not talk about the aroma that fills the house when the bread is being baked. It is something that you need to experience on your own.

I had it with salad and oh my god!

Let me get started with the recipe. I have drooled enough.

Chili Cheese Cornbread
Adapted From:  Chili Cheese Cornbread

Ingredients:

1. 320 g Maize flour/cornmeal - Basically the granular yellow maize flour and not the white powdered corn flour
2. 250 ml full fat milk
3. 100 g grated mozzarella (original recipe calls for 140 g grated cheddar, mozzarella worked wonders)
4. 2 thinly sliced onions
5. 2 corn cob
6. 1 tsp baking powder
7. 6 tbsp flour
8. 3 green chilies - remove the seeds and fine chop
9. 4 large whole eggs, beaten ( I used 5, as the eggs were small)
10. freshly ground black pepper
11. freshly ground Italian seasoning - optional
12. some butter
13. salt to taste
14. olive oil, for greasing

Steps:

1. Heat a pan, add the onion to it and let them caramelize.
2. While the onion is caramelizing, take out the corn kernels from the cob. To do this, hold the corn upright down on the plate, and run a knife from top to bottom. When the onion is caramelized, add the corn kernels to the pan. Let them cook for five minutes. Take the pan off heat.
3. Preheat the oven at 200 degree Celsius.
4. Add the beaten eggs to a bowl. Add the maize flour, flour, salt, baking powder, a large portion of the cheese, cooled down onion & corn mixture, green chilies, and the milk to the eggs.
5. Mix the mixture properly and season with salt, black pepper and Italian seasoning.
6. Prepare a baking tin of size 22 cm or two smaller ones by greasing them with olive oil and covering them with parchment paper.
7. Pour the mixture into the baking tins, and bake for about 35 minutes.
8. After 25/30 minutes, take out the baking tins and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on the top.
9. Let the bread cool down for 15 minutes or so.
10. Serve hot with soup, salad or whatever you wish.

This bread was amazing. All the ingredients were like made for each other.It is one of the easiest breads to make.

Go ahead and bake :)

Focaccia Caprese

As I unwrap this amazing wonder from Laurel's kitchen, the aroma from yesterday's focaccia still hovers over my mind. The house was filled with the heavenly fragrance. Yeast was devouring its food and gluten was boasting its control. Read this article to find out how the aroma of fresh baked bread can make us kinder to strangers.

Bread means something more to me. As Vikrant parsai rightly said, "If you find bread and water in the desert, you are bound to find God somewhere too".  I can not agree more. 

And what a bread it was! So delicious, soft, flavorful and easy to make. I had it with tomato and spinach soup and it was a sumptuous meal. Then I had it again for breakfast today. I was very satisfied with the outcome of this bread. I have stumbled upon Focaccia Caprese quite a few times. Fellow bloggers post this bread often and I wanted to bake this bread for a long time now. If only, we would do what we wanted to do there and then. I know that day will come in my life. 

Focaccia is my favorite bread. I have posted different focaccias (Masala Focaccia, Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia) before and all were delicious. I have baked them over and over again and they have never disappointed me. 

I will soon start taking deeper dives into the bread book and will bring a lot more wonderful breads to you. Till then, have fun with this focaccia caprese and let me know if it amazed you the way it amazed me. 

Focaccia Caprese

Recipe Adapted from: Aparna

Makes 2 Focaccias

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1. 3 1/2 cup (450 g) bread flour (I used all purpose flour and it turned out just fine)

2. 2 tsp active dry yeast/instant yeast (you will have to proof the active dry yeast before mixing it)

3. 1 tsp salt

4. 1 1/2 tbsp sugar

5. 1/4 cup olive oil + some for greasing

6. 1 - 1 1/2 cup (240 - 360 ml ) warm water

For the topping:

1. 3 - 4 ripe large tomatoes - slice them

2. 15-16 pieces of fresh mozzarella (I didn't have mozzarella and used cottage cheese, worked well)

3. fresh basil leaves to sprinkle and garnish on top (I didn't have fresh basil so I increased the dry basil in the herb oil)

For the herb oil:

1. 1 tsp garlic paste

2. 1/4 cup olive oil

3. 1 tsp red chilly flakes

4. 1 tsp dry oregano

5. 1 1/2 tsp dry basil

6. salt to taste

Steps to prepare dough:

1. Proof the yeast first. Dissolve a pinch of sugar in 1/2 cup of lukewarm water. Now dissolve the yeast in it. Keep this mixture aside covered with a towel for 5-7 minutes.

2. Sieve the salt, sugar and flour together. Add olive oil and yeast to the flour. Now add water slowly and keep mixing the flour meanwhile. Amount of water you need will depend on the quality of flour, humidity etc.

Mix and knead the dough till the point it becomes soft, elastic and just short of being sticky. I needed about 1 1/4 cup of water.

3. Grease a bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl and let it proof for one hour.

Steps to prepare the herb oil:

1. Mix all the ingredients together and keep aside. 

Steps to make the bread:

1. Preheat the oven to 210 degree Celsius.

2. Take out the dough and divide in into two parts. Take a baking try and cover it foil. Grease the foil with olive oil. Now bring the dough pieces to rectangular shapes and to a thickness of about an inch. You can shape the dough with your hand to give the bread a rustic shape. Poke the dough with fingers on regular intervals to give it a classic dimpled effect. Let it rise for 20 minutes.

3. Brush the bread with herb oil. Bake it for about 15-20 minutes or till it turn golden brown.

4. Brush the bread with herb oil again. Place the cheese and tomatoes on the top. Drizzle the remaining herb oil on the top of the bread. Bake it again till the cheese starts melting or for about 5-7 minutes.

5. Serve hot.

  Have fun baking and eating :)

Submitted for YeastSpotting