No-Knead Whole Wheat Date & Walnut Mini Buns

I was never much of a bread person till a few years ago when I started on a weight loss programme. The dietitian I was consulting figured that I had been having too much of  food with high Glycemic Index, hence was not losing  as much weight as I should ideally have. One of the breakfast options was whole wheat bread slices with any protein as its partner.  I have been eating bread quite regularly since then, more for the convenience factor than anything else. So when I made idlis or dosas or poha etc for the rest of the family, I would make do, no, I still make do with bread as my breakfast. Bread often finds its way into my kids' snack box as sandwiches, goes in their tummies as a slice of toast with milk in the morning school rush. To cut the long story short, bread is quite indispensable to me!!

Being more of a cake baker all these years, the idea of home baked bread  has opened a whole new world to me. Attention folks!! Eating bread does not have to be monotonous or boring, you don't have to eat tasteless 'varieties' of  store bought bread paying fancy prices. You can bake your own healthy gourmet bread at home, yaaaayyyy!! And to my delight, I am discovering the possibilities are infinite and limited only to your imagination.

If you are not new to my blog, you would know that I have started baking breads only recently. My last couple of bread experiments with whole wheat were not exactly super successful. The right amount of kneading being one of the key factors resulting in a light bread, a no-knead bread gives the new baker better chances at success. So when I saw this recipe on Champa's blog, it instantly went into my new 'Breads' folder in my bursting 'Baking' folder.

Read on to know how I made 'No-Knead Whole Wheat Date & Walnut Mini Buns'
You can find Champa's recipe on Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen here. The only change I have made here is increasing the quantity of sugar by one tablespoon and using dates and walnuts instead of raisins.

 Ingredients:

Whole Wheat flour - 1 1/4 cups
Dry Active Yeast - 1 1/4 tsp
Warm Water - 6 TBSP
Yogurt - 2 TBSP

Oil - 2 TBSP
Sugar - 3 TBSP, can increase by another tablespoon if you want sweeter buns. 

Chopped and lightly toasted walnuts- 1 tablespoon(increase by another 1/2 tablespoon if you want more of these in each bun)

De-seeded chopped dates - 1 tablespoon increase by another 1/2 tablespoon if you want more of these in each bun)

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Procedure as described by Champa:  In a bowl, mix water and sugar. Sprinkle yeast on the top and let it froth about 5 -10 minutes. Add oil, yogurt, salt and flour. Add the dates and walnuts. Stir with a wooden spoon till all the dry flour is incorporated. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise till puffy. This dough will not double in bulk. (My dough was puffy in 2 hours).

But check after 1 hour for indentation. If it remains, then the dough is ready to be put into the pan. When it is doubled, stir with a spoon again to deflate. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Divide the dough between the 12 cups equally.( I made 11 tiny buns.)

With greased hands, roll into balls and place them in the cups.  Cover with a greased aluminum foil and let it rise for about 45 minutes to an hour. Again, dough will not double in bulk. (But I was pleasantly surprised to see the dough double in 45 mins!!)

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C / 375 F. I baked for 25 minutes(the recipe specifies 15 minutes as the baking time) till the buns appeared light brown. If not for the over-baking here, the crust would have been softer too.  Remove from the pan immediately to the wire rack to cool.

The buns tasted slightly sweet, interspersed with the nuttiness of the walnuts and the sweetness of the dates and were quite light textured. So I can consider this as a good attempt by a beginner. Thanks for the accurate recipe Champa!! Indeed a healthy and winning recipe for a beginner!!

Sending these buns to Champa's Bake Off .

These also go to Susan's YeastSpotting