A fortnight ago he gave me a quick surprise and we made our way to a beautiful of Karantaka, Coorg. We had the best time here. It was, beyond doubt, a serene weekend, and we completely cut off ourselves from the outer world. We revelled all the pampering at club mahindra and savored one of the most delectable forms of pure vegetarian and satvik food. Had we stayed for more than just three days, I would have been emotionally attached to this place.
We spent most of our time, walking laround the resort’s quad, amidst thick coffee plantations and wet climate, introspecting and talking, which we fail to do most of the times amidst the alacrities of our daily lives. I savor these sudden getaways as we get a chance to be at ease away from the fast moving world. The light form of rains during the month of March was a surprise.
When I look at this post few months or may be few years down the line, I’d love to feast my eyes and savor that long drive, with our favorite kind of music playing at the background.
Those freezing moments at Mullayanagiri, a place that is the highest peak in Karnataka.
Those lengthy conversations and chats we had over a cup of tea with the green prettiness of our surroundings…
The moments, when I had to shoot a few good looking subjects around me… ;)
Suddenly spotting an amazing coffee shop in the middle of a highway, away from the city…
A three day journey passed by in a single breath and we couldn’t catch hold of time. I only have the moments and memories captured on my camera! The best of those short vacations I had with the loved one…
With my cooking ventures gone for toss, I had to dig into my folders for my queued recipes and photographs. Unattended, my system has a messed up hard drive which has been begging for my attention since weeks. Thanks to my ad-hoc photographing and relaxed attitude!
With many photographs lying unprocessed, I had to pick and choose one recipe that would make a mark on my blog. I knew I had to take my baking ventures to another level. I chose to post this whole wheat bread which recently, I tried from Dassana’s (Author of Veg Recipes of India ) Whole Wheat Bread recipe. Her’s is a dream recipe for whole grain lovers. Whole grain breads are best suited for sandwiches and tea – time toasts sprinkled with some pepper and sugar.
Remember, this bread is NOT a replacement for the sweetened plain flour breads you get in the market, rather these go really well for sandwiches. There is a way to make this bread sweeter, using jaggery which will make the bread even softer and a little darker in color./p>
Whole Wheat Bread
- I’ve used active dry yeast to make this bread. You can also use instant yeast. In case you use instant yeast, you need not soak it in warm water. You need to directly mix the yeast with flour and knead the dough as per the instructions.
Recipe Adapted from Dassana’s Veg Recipes of India
Ingredients
- 3 Cups – Whole Wheat Flour
- 310 ml – Water
- 1/2 tbsp – Active Dry Yeast
- 3 tbsp – Butter
- 2 tbsp – Yoghurt
- 3 tbsp – Sugar
- 1 tsp – Table Salt
- A few drops to brush on top of bread – Milk
Directions
- Take 310 ml of water and make it a little warm. Add sugar and stir till it dissolves. sprinkle the yeast on top of it and let it rest for 10 – 12 minutes to ferment without disturbing the vessel.
- Sieve the flour twice or thrice. In a mixing bowl, add in the salt, butter and yoghurt and keep it aside.
- After 10 – 12 minutes the yeast, sugar and water mixture would have turned frothy. Lightly mix with a spoon. Start kneading the dough with clean hands while adding the yeast mixture to the flour little by little.
- Once all the yeast mixture and flour has been combined, you need to knead the dough for approximately 10 – 15 minutes to activate the gluten in the flour. This is an important step for getting soft textured breads.
- Smear the dough with some water and cover it with a clean kitchen towel. Keep the dough aside in a warm and dry counter for 2 hours. The dough will rise to double the size.
- Punch the risen dough with your knuckles and let the dough collapse. Knead it well for about 5 – 7 minutes.
- In the mean time, grease a loaf tin with butter / oil and keep aside.
- Shape the dough to a rectangle. Roll the dough to form a log shaped structure and tuck the sides. Shape the dough in such a way that it should be slightly narrower than the loaf tin size.
- Carefully place the rolled dough in the loaf tin and cover the tin with a clean wet cloth and allow it to rise for another 1 hour. In the mean time, remember to pre heat the oven at 220 degree Centigrade for 20 minutes.
- After, an hour, the dough would have risen in the tin. Brush the risen dough with milk and make light diagonal impressions on the dough with the tip of a knife. Place the loaf tin in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes at 200 degree Centigrade or till the top turns golden brown. I placed mine in the lower rack, since the dough had already risen considerably.
- Once done, remove the tin and allow the bread to cool for about 10 minutes in the loaf tin before inverting. Invert it on a cooling rack after 10 minutes. Once the entire loaf is completely cooled, cut into slices and serve. Remember, if you do not wait for the bread to cool, the slicing would be difficult.
shall I follow the same this to cook in pressure cooker.
Hello, Sorry for my late replies. Pressure cooker may not give you the required temperature for bread making.
Hi
if we are getting yeast from the US ,which brand do you recommend?
thanks in advance.
sudha.
Hi Sudha.
Go for Fleischmann’s yeast. (http://www.fleischmannsyeast.com/landing.html) They are supposed to be one of the oldest manufacturers of yeast. Good luck with baking :-)
hi,
can we replace butter with vegetable oil in the above recipe..
Sure you can Sudha.
late here. thanks for the words pratibha.
This post is getting old. Need something new madam. Waiting for the next exciting post. You true fan here. :-)
I’m so sorry Disha. No excuses here. I’m still composing the next post :)
Pratiba… made this last night.. turned out superb.. added brown sugar which changeed the color of the bread to a darker shade.. it ws soft and i used it for a grilled s/wich. Thanks to you and Dasanna :-)
Grilled sandwich? Could have given me the recipe and the picture. Would love to try :) Brown sugar is a good option. I would suggest Molasses / Jaggery as well.
Was missing seeing you write.. had been more than a month i guess.. There’s so much of innocence hidden in your writings.. Thats what makes me drawn towards your blog! My baking experiments are on. will give this a try.
Hey really good one Pratibha !!! loved the pics :)
Nishal: Thank you. So happy you liked it. :)
Rakhee: Thank you so much. I love that pic too. :)
Dear Pratiba,
In bread making, you are suggesting to sieve the flour twice or thrice. Can you explain why? Because I have done it for cake making but while making a bread I have not try this step so far.
Thank you Trupti. Happy that you found success in my recipe. Sure I’ll keep up to my work.
From what I’ve learnt, when using whole wheat flour flour or Atta for baking, to be on the safer side it is always better to sieve the flour at – least twice. Wheat flour has more chances of forming lumps while baking or mixing. Hence I’ve mentioned the step specifically. You can also add white sesame seeds for some extra crunch.
Dear Pratiba,
I like your website and all its beautiful content. I tried your whole wheat jaggery cake and that was my first successful cake so far. I, everyday use home made whole wheat bread. As today morning I opened your website , found this recipe, I felt literally joy, thinking, that now I will get systematic approach in my bread making. With each version I find my bread the best. Sometimes I add grated ginger or cinnamon powder in it to add flavour. Thanks for the recipe. I will try your version and let you know about the result.
so happy and nice to see you back with a bang. a huge fan of your blog. i saw the pictures again and again. the places are so beautiful. loved that pic of the white wall you’ve clicked. everything is nice nice nice.