Masala Bread - Taming The Yeast!!

I am on a real high since yesterday!! Baking bread has been an intimidating thought for me as my first two attempts were not-so-successful. Thanks to Champa for being a constant source of inspiration and guidance to me for baking bread. She blogs at Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen and has a huge variety of breads, muffins,cakes among a lot more scrumptious stuff, making her a truly versatile foodie. Who can resist the idea of recreating the magic of  Iyengar Bakery style Stuffed Potato Buns, Iyengar Bakery Toast, Pav buns and a whole lot of fresh home-made baked goodies?? You can't resist right?? Neither can I!! And to top it all, she also does a lot of cake decoration too. Do definitely visit Champa's blog for all this and more, if you haven't done so yet. You will be glad u did!!

I made Masala Bread from this recipe of Basic White Bread from Champa's blog. It was so satisfying to see the dough double in volume(not withstanding the dreary, cloudy weather and no sun) and rise so beautifully in the oven.Sigh! The bread tasted wonderfully good, what a keeper of a recipe!!

I have made some modifications(as suggested by Champa) to make a savory masala version of the white bread. Here is what I did.

Ingredients:

• Warm water - 3/4 cup
• Sugar- 2 TBSP
• Oil - 2 TBSP
• Salt - 1.5 tsp
• Active dry yeast - 2 1/4 tsp or 1 packet
• Bread flour or all purpose flour - 3 - 3 1/4 cups 
• Finely chopped onion - 3/4 cup
• Jeera - 1 teaspoon
• Finely chopped fresh mint leaves - A generous handful
• Extra 1 teaspoon oil for sauteing the onions 
• Finely chopped green chillies(optional, I did not use any)

      For the masala: 
      Heat one teaspoon oil in a pan. Add the jeera, saute for a few seconds. Add the onion, saute till translucent. Add the mint leaves just a minute before you turn off the heat. Keep aside.
      In a large bowl, combine warm water, sugar and yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes or till frothy. Now add the salt, oil. Mix well. Slowly start adding flour and then the masala to make a smooth dough.  Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. I started with about 3 cups of flour (as suggested by Champa) as the onion would leave out water while kneading and I would need to add more flour. I eventually ended up using a little more than 3 and 1/4 cup of flour. (would the bread have been more lighter if I had used only 3 1/4 cup I wonder??)

Coat with oil, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for about an hour or till double in volume. (I kept my dough in  a vessel covered with another vessel, covered by fleece material - Champa's tip, and then kept the whole thing in the microwave to help the dough rise The dough had doubled in 1.5 hours.)

After the initial rise, deflate the dough gently and on a lightly floured surface, shape into the loaf. Grease a 9 X 5 pan with vegetable oil spray and place the shaped dough in it. Cover loosely with an oiled aluminum foil and place in a warm place till double about 45 minutes to an hour.(Mine took almost 1.5 hours again to double) Towards the end of the final rise, preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. When ready to bake, place the pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 160 degrees C and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes or till the crust is nicely brown and bottom sounds hollow when tapped. If you feel it is browning too fast, cover loosely with an aluminum foil and then bake. (Do this after the first 20 minutes of baking) Cool on wire rack. You could brush with some milk or milk and oil mixture before baking to get a nice color.
When still warm, brush with butter to get a softer crust.

Champa advises to take the loaf out of the tin within 10 minutes of baking the bread and cool it on a wire rack. If baking in an OTG, lower the temperature by 25 F and bake for 5- 8 minutes longer.

I did not leave it in for the extra time, may be the reason for the bread not being real light. But it was light enough texture wise and great taste wise. And I could not wait till the bread cooled fully before I sliced it:-)) The bread is supposed to be still cooking when it is warm so needs to be sliced once it cools completely. Yeah, these notes are for me to refer next time I bake and for beginners like me. Thanks so very much Champa!

Champa has a great giveaway from CSN Stores for 60 dollars!!! Isn't that cool??? You just need to bake or cook something form her blog and post it on your blog with a link to Champa's blog to get a chance to win this giveaway. More details here here.

I can see myself trying breads more often...breads here I come!!  This goes to Champa's weekly Bake Off.