Pasta Stuffed Braided Bread & Nutella-Banana Stuffed Braided Bread

I love baking breads of different shapes and types. Well, this has been my first attempt of braiding and it was so much fun and enjoyment while doing. I have used large qty of flour so that i can make two breads. One bread has the stuffing of Macaroni pasta and that was our dinner which was accompanied with a simple tomato soup that i made, and the other bread is Nutella- banana stuffed bread, that was for breakfast for lazy Sunday. Check both the yummies below and enjoy braiding..!!

Pasta Stuffed Braided Bread:

Ingredients:

For Bread:

• 1 1/2 cup of Maida/APF (all purpose flour)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tbsp yeast
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1/2 cup of warm milk (and some extra for brushing the bread)
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup of water 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil /or any other vegetable oil

For Pasta Mixture Stuffing:

• 1 cup of macaroni pasta
• Sufficient Water to boil pasta
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil or butter
• 1/3 cup small chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup small chopped yellow bell pepper
• 3/4 cup small chopped onion
• 1/2 cup small chopped tomatoes
• 3 pods of garlic finely grated
• 2-3 tbsp small chopped fresh Italian Basil
• 1 tbsp dried oregano herb
• 1/3-1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp black salt powder
• 1 tsp red chilly flakes
• Black pepper powder to taste
• Salt to taste

Recipe:

For Bread:

• In a large bowl, mix together all purpose flour with whole wheat flour, salt and olive oil. Mix well and keep it aside
• In a small bowl pour warm milk and mix it with sugar and instant dry yeast. Stir and keep it aside atleast for 10 minutes or until mixture turns frothy.
• Once the yeast mixture in a small bowl turns frothy, add the same in flour mixture. 
• Add water slowly gradually to form a dough. Knead for 5-6 min or until smooth, soft and elastic but a non sticky dough.
• Grease the dough with oil and cover the dough loosely with a plastic cling film and allow it rise in a warm place, until it doubles in volume (approx 1hr- 1hr 30 minutes). 
• Meanwhile prepare pasta stuffing..

For Pasta Stuffing:

• Chop all the ingredients listed above for making pasta stuffing..
• In a small pan, pour sufficient amount of water for boiling pasta and let it boil.        
• Meanwhile in another pan, heat oil or butter, add small chopped onion and finely grated garlic. Saute it for a while until onions are translucent and soft. 
• Now add small chopped red and yellow bell pepper, small chopped tomato, black salt, dried oregano chilly flakes and shredded cheddar cheese. Mix all well until cheese melts.
• Now drain water from the boiled pasta. Add those pasta in a pan mixture and cook further for 2-3 minutes. 
• Turn off the flame and sprinkle those small chopped fresh Italian Basil on top. (Sprinkling fresh chopped basil lastly, will keep its aroma and taste more alive).
• For braiding and stuffing:
• Now come back to dough.
• Punch the dough down which has rised and doubled in volume.
• Sprinkle some flour on a work surface and bring the dough down there. Knead for few seconds.
• Divide the dough in two equal dough balls and keep the other aside.
• Roll the dough ball with a rolling pin in a large square shape
• With Pizza cuter or a sharp knife, make cuts 1 inch apart on the sides of the long rolled dough as shown below and spread the stuffing in centre
• Alternately, cross the strips over the stuffing and seal the ends and edges slightly to avoid stuffing coming out.
• Carefully lift the braided bread and place it on baking tray dusted with flour.
• Cover it lightly and allow it rise for about 30-35 minutes.
• Prehaet the Oven at 200 degree Celsius.
• Brush the rised braided bread with milk and bake it for 22-25 minutes in preheated oven.
• Once done, bring out and allow it to cool on wire rack
• Slice  and serve..!!

Nutella Stuffed Braided Bread

Nutella-Banana Stuffed Braided Bread

Ingredients:

Above half dough ball

1 cup Nutella 

3 medium ripe bananas

Milk for brushing the dough

Method:

• As described above, follow the same pattern.
• Simply roll the dough in to a rectangle, make cuts 1 inch apart on the sides of the long rolled dough, spread nutella and banana in the center and cross the strips over the stuffing and seal the edges.
• Carefully Lift the dough and place the same in a baking tray dusted with flour.
• Cover it and allow to rise for 30-35 minutes, brush the rised bread with milk and bake for 22-25 minutes in preheated oven at 200 degree Celsius.
• Slice and Enjoy with cup of hot coffee..!!

Paneer (Cottage Cheese) Shawarma Wrap

Shawarma is a roti wrap or a roll which is wrapped with Paneer or boneless chicken piece or a meat with spreads and sliced onions and tomatoes. Which is easy, healthy and quick if you are having all the ingredients handy. I myself tried it first time but find it really tasty and healthy other than spring rolls which are fried. 

Here i have used home made tomato paste and bell pepper paste as a spread on wrap. If running short of time, you can also buy tomato paste jar readily available in market. As it was not in a stock, so i made it by myself. Below you can see its recipe. If you end up making tomato paste in large qty, than can store in cleaned glass jar in refrigerator for months.

Ingredients:

Tomato Paste:

6-7 large size bright red tomatoes

3 pods of garlic

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 -1 tsp salt or to taste

Green Bell Pepper Paste

2 Green bell pepper Roasted on Gas Flame (1 large and other medium small)

1 1/2 tbsp Sesame seeds

Salt to Taste

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1 small green chilly

For Marinating Paneer (Cottage Cheese)

100 gms Paneer (Cottage Cheese)

2 tbsp thick creamy Curd or Yogurt

1 3/4 tsp Tomato Paste

2 tsp Bell pepper paste

1 tsp ginger- garlic paste each

1 tsp Red chilly powder (adjust the spice level to your taste)

1 tsp Pickle powder or paste (optional.. I bought ready pickle mix powder packet that is used in making pickles, if you do not have, can skip)

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp lemon juice

For Wrap

1 Cup whole wheat flour

1 cup Maida/APF

1 tsp Instant dry yeast

1 tbsp Olive oil

3/4 cup warm water

1/2 tsp sugar

salt to taste

For Garnishing and Serving:

1 Large Onion Sliced

1 large Tomato Sliced

1 cup of freshly chopped green Coriander leaves.

Recipe: 

1. For Tomato Paste 

In a heavy vessel pan, boil tomatoes with tsp of salt. Boil until its outer skin can be peeled easily. Bring the boiled tomatoes out of water, peel all and puree all the peeled tomatoes in a mixer jar with garlic and olive oil until nicely pureed. 

Heat a pan, pour all the blended puree in to it and cook on medium-high flame for 20-30 minutes. Keep a watch and stir in between, Quantity will reduce little by the time. Later turn the flame to medium and cook until you get thick paste like consistency.. (Consistency should be similar to tomato catch up)

    2. For Green Bell Pepper Paste

Roast Green bell pepper greased with olive oil on a gas flame, until soft and shrinks a little.

Once roasted, Remove its seeds and chop roughly, blend in mixer jar with sesame seeds, small green chilly, olive oil and salt to taste. Blend until smooth.

   3. For Marinating Paneer (Cottage Cheese)

Cut Paneer (Cottage Cheese) in to finger size. Marinate it with ready Tomato Paste, Green bell pepper paste, thick creamy curd/yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, pickle powder or pickle paste, red chilly powder and salt to taste. (Save some tomato paste and bell pepper paste for spreading on wrap).

Mix all well. Cover and let it stand for 20 minutes.

In a Non stick pan, heat a tsp or little more oil, and shallow fry panner (cottage cheese) until light brown. If you want to avoid shallow frying, can also grill in Oven or on non stick grill pan on flame. (Save some marination mixture for spreading on wrap).

    4. For Wrap

Dissolve yeast in warm water with sugar, let it stand until mixture is frothy. (about 10-15 minutes)

In a large bowl, Mix Whole wheat flour and Maida/APF with salt and olive oil. Add Frothy yeast mixture to the flour and knead in to soft, smooth and elastic dough. Once Kneaded, Cover it with a tea towel and allow to rise until it doubles in volume (about 45min-1 hour).

Once it is proofed, deflate the dough by punching down. 

Pull out large lemon size ball of the ready yeasted dough and roll each dough ball with a rolling pin in to a round roti shape.

Roast all the rolled rotis in a non-stick pan with slight patches on both the sides.

Wrapping Shawrma...

• Spread a little of saved marinated mixture, tomato paste, bell pepper paste on roasted roti. Add 2-3 Shallow fried or grilled Paneer Fingers, sliced onions, tomatoes, freshly chopped Corriander leaves and Roll it. 
• Serve the Paneer Shawrma wrap or a roll in a plate with few more sliced onion and tomatoes.
• So here you are ready with your delicious and tangy Paneer Shawrama.
• Non Vegetarians can use Grilled and marinated boneless chicken and meat by replacing paneer that too will taste yummm...

Coffee Custard Filled Buns

Since long i was planning to bake buns but always end up making loafs..But this time it was only buns in mind. Few time back my dear friend Priyanka Chakraborty, posted Custard filled buns on Facebook food forum group that i follow. I bookmarked her recipe link. And yesterday was a day when i was checking all those bookmarked links and came across her recipe. I quickly made up my mind and experimented it with small batch.
Her recipe has vanilla custard filling inside, but i wanted to bake something with coffee flavor so i added instant coffee powder and cocoa powder to the vanilla custard and filled the bun with it..

Check my coffee Custard Filled buns recipe below:

 Here is her Blog page with all wonderful goodies..Following her blog is truly inspirational..
Source: My Experiments with Food-Lusciously Soft and Creamy Custard Buns

Ingredients:

For Coffee Custard Filling
3 tbsp custard powder
500 ml milk
7 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp fresh cream
11/4 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp cocoa powder

For Buns
2 cups Maida / All purpose flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp Instant Dry yeast
1 beaten egg
100 ml warm milk and some extra for brushing buns
Olive oil / Butter for greasing bun dough
3 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (For activating yeast)

Recipe:

For Coffee Custard Filling

Dissolve Custard powder, Instant coffee powder and cocoa powder in 2 tbsp milk and keep aside.
In a pan Pour milk, add sugar and cream and bring to boil. Turn the flame to medium and add the dissolved coffee custard mixture in a pan. Keep stirring until mixture thickens and very much similar to the cake batter consistency. Allow the mixture again to come to boil while you keep stirring and turn the flame off. Pour the filling in bowl and allow it cool completely. Later place the bowl in a refrigerator for 1-2 hours or until custard sets.
Meanwhile be ready with your bun dough..

For Bun Dough

• In a large bowl, Mix sifted Maida or all purpose flour with powdered sugar, melted butter, salt and mix all.
• Dissolve Instant dry yeast in warm milk with a tsp of sugar. Let the yeast mixture stand for 10-15 minutes until frothy.
• Now in a flour mixture bowl, make well in between and add beaten egg and mix.
• Add frothy yeast mixture in flour mixture and start gathering all to form a dough. Knead dough for 4-5 minutes until smooth, elastic and non sticky.
• Grease the dough in a bowl with butter or oil and cover the bowl with plastic cling film or tea towel and allow the dough to proof for 1-1/2 hour or until doubles in volume.
• Once the dough doubles in volume, punch back down and knead again for a minute. Prepare a baking sheet. 
• Divide dough in to 11-12 lemon size balls. 
• Take a lemon size dough ball, make indentation in between and spoon a tsp of set coffee custard filling in to it.
• Carefully fold the edges of the dough ball up and around the filling. You can't get any of the filling on the edges or it simply won't seal. Pinch all of the edges together and seal as well as possible (although be careful the coffee custard filling should not be too thin else it will be difficult to fill in dough balls, it should set in refrigerator before use). Same way fill all the dough balls with custard.
• Place the filled and sealed buns on lined baking sheet and let rest with a tea towel covered for another 30-35 minutes or until nearly doubled in size.
• Brush all the rised dough balls with milk and bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius.
• Once baked, bring the buns out and transfer on wire rack. Allow it to cool completely and here you are ready to enjoy your relish with cuppa of coffee or tea..:)

Note:  I have microwave convection and have baked it on convection mode for 15 minutes in preheated temperature at 180 degree Celsius, and later grilled it for 2 minutes to get nice golden crust on top (Use rack for baking)
If using Proper Electric oven, bake the buns on toast mode for 10-12 minutes in preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius or until crust is golden.



Yields: 10-12 Buns with this measurement.

Paneer Cutlet (Patty made with Cottage Cheese) and Sandwiches.

As monsoons around, this is a quick and healthy recipe for munching. A very easy recipe, where you wont stop eating one. The Cutlet or patties can be shallow fried or deep fried, but i myself prefer to have shallow fried Cutlets. Have a look below.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup Shredded Paneer (Cottage cheese) 

1 Medium boiled and mashed potato

1 medium small chopped onion

2 bread sliced (dip in water and crumble it in the mixture)

1 tbsp kasuri methi slightly crushed between your palms (dry fenugreek leaves)

2 tbsp besan (chickpea flour)

1/4 cup grated cheese (i used Parmesan cheese which was left out, but please feel free to use process cheese or cheddar cheese any of it)

1 tsp Cumin Powder

1/2 tsp Garam masala powder

1 tsp red chilly powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Ginger paste

1 tsp green chilly paste

Salt to taste and 

Olive oil or any other oil for shallow frying the cutlets..

Recipe:

• In a bowl, Mix grated paneer, boiled and mashed potato, chopped onion, bread dipped in water and crumbled a little, slightly crushed kasuri methi,  besan, grated cheese, cumin powder, garam masala powder, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, ginger paste, green chilly paste and salt. 

• Now give a usual Cutlet or patty shape.
• Heat a little qty of oil in a non stick pan for shallow frying the Cutlets /Patties.

• Shallow fry it on medium flame until light golden brown from both the sides with crunchy texture from outside and soft from inside.
• Serve hot with tomato ketchup or Green coriander or Mint Chutney.

Serving Tip:

Take two slice of a bread, Spread butter and Green coriander or mint chutney, and place Paneer Cutlet /Patty. Cover it with another bread slice for sandwich. 

Here is your Paneer cutlet Sandwich ready to serve. Or else you can Grilled the sandwiches too.

Enjoy..:)

Jam Filled Croissants

Recently we had a freshly baked croissants on our holiday. Me and My husband is very much fond of it and thus i wanted to try the same at home. Came across so many recipes, but was finding it little complex to work on as i was unable to understand the procedure. But few picture inscrutable for shaping croissants made little easy to understand..Here i have tried my best to make all you viewers to get proper understanding.
As this summer i stored mango jam in a large qty so thought to make Jam filled Croissants for breakfast...
But to be honest, i was little disappointed with the color crust as i myself forgot to Egg wash the Croissants that gives a nice glaze and golden crust.
Please be careful and don't forget to egg wash before baking...I have mentioned below for the same.

Ingredients:

For Dough:
3 cups Maida / All purpose flour
3/4 cup warm milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp Instant dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cup cold grated butter

1 beaten egg for egg washing the croissants.

For Filling:
1 cup home made or store bought Mango Jam (Click on the link for the jam recipe)

Note: I used mango jam but feel free to use Jams or preserves of your choice. For filling Per croissant, you will need 1 tsp of jams/preserve that you will use. Best part is,  you can play with the fillings inside and create your own version...Dough measurements will remains same.
Try the one Savoury croissants.


Recipe:

• In a small bowl, pour milk and sprinkle sugar and yeast. Let the yeast mixture stand until frothy, about 15 minutes.
•  In a large bowl, Mix Maida / All purpose flour with salt and olive oil. Now pour frothy yeast milk mixture in to it, pour water and accumulate all into a sticky dough mixture. (You may need extra flour for dusting and kneading the dough to form a smooth, soft and elastic dough)
• Keep Kneading for 5 minutes until smooth, soft and elastic. Grease the dough with olive oil, cover it with a plastic cling film and allow it rise until doubles in volume, about 30-35 minutes. 
• 
  
• Mean while tear a cling film and grate cold butter on to it. Disperse a little and cover it with the cling film. Refrigerate the butter in a cling film about 40 minutes or an hour, until again hard and stiff. 

(see the picture below)

• Once the dough rises, deflate it by punching down. 
• Again tear a cling film and place it on a work surface, sprinkle it with some flour and bring the dough on the dusted cling film, knead the dough for 2 minutes. Roll the dough with a rolling pin in a rectangular shape.

Bring out the dispersed chilled butter from fridge. Unwrap it and place it on the rolled dough and make 2 folds of the dough. Roll it again with a rolling pin and again make 2-3 folds out of it. Wrap the dough with the film and refrigerate for atleast 30 minutes.
(see the picture below)

• After 30 minutes bring the dough out, unwrap the dough and roll. Fold it as shown above, Re-wrap and refrigerate again for 30 minutes. Repeat the procedure for total 4 times. (i know its little time consuming but for achieving something good and best it does takes time and the end seeing the results you will feel worth doing this, infact i enjoyed the whole process and i am sure you too will)
• Now once you finish the rolling and wrapping procedure four times, its time for making croissants and its filling...( Alas Finallyy...;) 

For shaping Croissants:

(Follow the step-by-step pic below)

• Unwrap the dough, roll it in a large rectangular shape about 16"x7"
• Cut the rectangular dough in half diagonally forming 7-8 triangle. 
• Take one triangle of the dough, pull on the corners of  a triangle unlike a little stretching. 
• Take a tsp of Mango jam or preserves of your choice and place it on a triangle dough, fold it till the end carefully..Like wise make croissants of each triangle and line it on a greased baking tray.
• Cover the tray with a tea towel and allow the croissants to rise for about an hour.
• Once it rises, egg wash the top of all the croissants before baking. 
• Pre-heat oven at 180 degree Celsius.
• Bake the rised croissants for 20 minutes and after that reduce the temperature at 160 degree Celsius and allow to bake more for 15 minutes, or until you get nice golden crust on top. (place a bowl of water in lower rack of oven and croissants on top rack, keep a check on the crust to avoid over baking and burning)
• Once Baked allow all the croissants to cool on wire rack.

Here you are ready with your freshly baked Jam Filled Croissants for breakfast..
Enjoy...:)