Soulful Creations

The December 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by the talented Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina. Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread! If you are like us- you would almost always buy Panettone from the store during the holiday season. Panettone: Makes 2 Panettoni Ingredients Sponge 1 satchel (2¼ teaspoons) (7 gm) active dry yeast 1/3 cup (80 ml) warm water ½ cup (70 gm) unbleached all purpose flour First Dough 1 satchel (2¼ teaspoons) (7 gm) active dry yeast 3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water 2 large eggs, at room temp 1¼ cup (175 gm) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour ¼ cup (55 gm) (2 oz) sugar ½ cup (1 stick) (115 gm) unsalted butter, at room temp Second dough 2 large eggs 3 large egg yolks 2/3 cup (150 gm) (5-2/3 oz) sugar 3 tablespoons (45 ml) honey 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract 1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon essence/extract 1 teaspoon (5 ml) orange essence/extract 1 teaspo

Patri of the blog, Asi Son Los Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family’s favorite recipes for Empanadas! We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our Empanadas as creatively as we wished! "An empanada (or empada , in Portuguese) is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Western Europe , Latin America , and parts of Southeast Asia . The name comes from the Galician, Portuguese and Spanish verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread" -source wikipedia I think of an empanada as a variation of Indian samosa... anyhoo on to the recipe     Empanada Dough (a recipe using wheat flour from “La Empanada Gallega”) Servings: 6 Ingredients 3½ cups (500 gm) all-purpose (plain) or bread flour 1 cup (240 ml) warm water ½ cup less 1 tablespoon (100 ml) of liquid fat (oil, margarine, lard) 1 satchel (1 tablespoon) (15 gm) dry yeast or (1 oz)

T'was Ganesh Chathurthi yesterday- the only bright star was this baked gulab jamun I made. Pretty simple actually- (this is a consolidation of recipes, temperatures and times from many blogs) Ingredients 1 pkt Gits Gulab Jamun mix 1/4 cup milk 3 tsp oil a few tbsp water a few tbsp oil For the raw sugar simple syrup (recipe adapted from here ) 1 cup water 1 3/4 cup raw sugar 2 tbsp rose water 1 tsp ground elaichi (cardamom) a pinch camphor Method Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with silicone mat Knead the gulab jamun mix with milk and oil adding water in small amounts (like a tbsp at a time) until everything is mixed Grease your palms and make small rounds of gulab jamun. Place them on the baking sheet (1 inch apart). Bake for 15-20 min (in retrospect might have been a bit too hot for a bit too long- note to self for next time: reduce temperature and time) The jamuns will be light brown in color unlike their fried cousins For the sugar s

Besan (chick pea flour) ki masala roti for this month's ICC hosted by Srivalli. I followed the recipe closely except I made a double batch and froze half uncooked (rolled the rotis out, layered them on to parchment paper, let them harden in the freezer for a few hours before I put them in a ziplock bag!) Below is the recipe from Srivalli's blog Ingredients Needed For roti Gram flour / Besan - 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour / Atta - 1/2 cup Salt to taste Ghee - 2 tbsp For masala filling Cumin powder - 1 1/2 tsp Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Green chilli paste - 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Dry mango powder / Amchur - 1/2 tsp Red chilli powder ; ;1/2 tsp Pure ghee - 1& 1/2 tbsp How to make the Besan Ki Masala Roti In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the masala filling. If the ghee is not enough you can add little oil to make the paste little runny. For the dough, combine all the ingredients, knead into a soft dough using wate

Having been under the weather this past week, put my time to good use. Learned this beautiful right angle weave earring from beaded jewelry diva - it is not perfect though, can see thread in parts! I had very similar colored beads too...

The first time I had this gorgeous Bengali sweet- was at my friend SD's place a long time ago on Diwali (I think!). I knew then that if opportunity presented itself, I would definitely make it. And I did- thanks to ICC this month. It is an eggless crepe called patishaptha and like other crepes and pancakes, the possibilities of various fillings and toppings can put your imagination and creativity to test. I followed the recipe from here , just halved the recipe and added some spices of my own Ingredients For the crepe batter 1 cups AP Flour 1/8 cup Semolina 1/2 tbsp Rice Flour 2 cups Whole Milk pinch of salt about 2-3 tbsp vanilla flavored confectioners sugar For the filling 1 1/2 cups frozen grated coconut  1/2 cup frozen khoya 1/2 cup raw sugar 1 1/2  tbsp Milk 1 tsp Cardamom Powder / 3-4 Cardamom Pods Method To make the filling In a saute pan, mix the grated coconut and raw sugar on a simmer and stir continuously Add the khoya, milk

I know - I am late yet again, (only in posting though, I did make the bread on time) but hey I thought I would not get to bake my favorite braided beauty May’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge was pretty twisted – Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from “A Taste of Challah,” by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads. I followed the recipe from here , except a. instead of earth balance I used crisco vegetable shortening and b. I replaced about 1/2 cup of AP flour with whole wheat flour. Judgement: The bread turned to to be gorgeous and lightly sweet. The only problem was I had to much more flour because whenever I tried to knead the bread it would go back to a very sticky state. But the end was good so it did not matter.

Houston, one of the things I love- my little balcony and the plants I have there  (but you know there is always room for more though!) I totally believe in growing your own food- and now more than ever space does not limit our imagination. Who not love a bounty of peppers, tomatoes, zucchini and those beautiful, heavenly smelling bushels of basil! All grown in containers- if I can do it- You can too.

No recipes, just pictures of appa's tomato rice (yes made appa, my dad cook on his birthday!)   and amma's masal vada with chick peas instead of chana dal!

 

Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread! Dutch Crunch Topping Servings: This recipe should make sufficient topping for two 9x5 loaves (23cmx13cm) or 12 rolls. If you make only 6 rolls in the first soft white roll recipe, you can cut the topping recipe in half. We’ve provided this recipe first because it is the mandatory aspect of the challenge. Note, however, that you should not prepare the topping until the bread you’ve selected to bake is almost finished rising (~15 minutes from baking). Ingredients 2 tablespoons (2 packets) (30 ml) (15 gm/½ oz) active dry yeast 1 cup (240 ml) warm water (105-115º F) (41-46°C) 2 tablespoons (30 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) sugar 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil ½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) salt 1½ cups (3

I finally organized my beading and scrapbooking stations and that seems to be working well especially since I actually could make a couple of decent pieces.

Once again, thanks to the December 2011 DB challenge-I now have a sourdough starter in my refrigerator (I do feed it every week or every two sometimes!). This is my first recipe after the basic sourdough bread I made way back in December. The inspiration of this recipe comes from Christy of Whole foods on a budget . Christy's Family's Favorite Breakfast Cake -- My Version Ingredients 20g  sourdough starter 10g white whole wheat flour (or flour of choice) 10g water 1.5 cups white whole wheat flour 1 cup buttermilk 1/4 cup coconut oil 2 eggs scant 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp vanilla extracts a pinch or two each of ground nutmeg and ground cloves 2 tsp baking soda 2 cups dried wild blueberries and diced dried apricots Method Twenty-four hours prior to baking the cake, combine the first 3 ingredients together in a large glass bowl.  Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap.  Let sit for roughly 12 hours. Uncover the sourdough mixture and add th

Not that I have not been cooking, just that I literally have not been motivated to update my blogs- feel like I am talking to no one. All the effort- not sure why I do it...yeah yeah one of those moments! Anyway I am glad to kick the year off with a DB challenge The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles. Basic Quick Bread Makes one 9” x 5” (23×13 cm) loaf Recipe from Sara Schewe 2 cups (480 ml) (250 gm/9 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour 1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm/8 oz) granulated sugar 1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda 1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) fine sea salt or table salt 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk or soured milk* 1 large egg 1/4 cup (60 ml) mild- or non-flavored oil, like canola 1 teaspoon (5 ml) flavored e