Walnut and Cranberries bread with Ragi and Oats Flour

Walnut and Cranberries Bread with Ragi and Oats' Flour

  The rains are here. 
I stood at the window all morning watching the rain drops dance on the roof tops of the neighbouring houses.
 The birds babbling while taking showers, the butterflies cornered under a shade...
the dog refusing to join his little human friend in the open..the ginger cat scowling...
the bathed greenery around , the cool fragrant air filling up my nostrils...
And then I heard my little one waking up and blinked.
Another day had begun ..
But echoes of my heartbeats were still rhyming with the raindrops ...
One good morning hug from the little sleepy head and the thought crops..
I am holding my own heart in my own arms  .

Back to the bread. It is a very healthy and a hearty bread and fairly easy to put together too. One must remember to knead well and not take any short cut with the kneading part. If dumping everything in one bowl in one go ,makes you feel very messyand the dough becomes difficult to handle then I would suggest to add the lukewarm milk in batches .Stir in one fourth of a cup at a time,  knead it into the flour, followed by another one fourth cup of milk and kneading again till you finish the entire cup of milk. 
I love cinnamon flavoured bread but you can omit it if it does not excite you. You can put other nuts of your choice instead of  walnuts.
This recipe makes one 9x5 inch loaf.

Ingredients

· 1 cup wholewheat flour
. 1 cup oats flour
. 1 cup Ragi flour

·  1/3 cup sugar or less if you want
. 1/4 cup lukewarm water
. 2 tsp oil
. 2 and1/2 tsp active dry yeast
. 2 tsp cinnamon powder(optional)
. 1 and1/2 tsp salt

. 1 cup lukewarm milk
. 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
. 1/2 cup cranberries

Instructions

1.Take a big mixing bowl. Put lukewarm water, stir in sugar and yeast . Give it a good mix and keep it aside.
2. After ten minutes the mixture will become foamy. Apart from Oil, add everything else. Continue stirring till everything comes together.
3.Take the dough out of the bowl and put it on your work surface. Knead it for good ten minutes till it becomes smooth and elastic.Add the oil and knead for another five minutes.Remember it is the kneading that will develop the gluten and give the bread a soft texture. Put the dough in a greased bowl and keep it covered for an hour or till the dough doubles in volume.

4. Take the dough out, gently deflate it with your hands and form a loaf.
    Put the loaf in a greased bread mould and wait for it to rise.
5. Bake the risen loaf at 200 degrees  for half an hour. or till the bread sounds hollow when tapped.When done immediately take it out of the oven and brush it with oil to seal in the moisture and give the crust some sheen.
6.Cool well before  slicing.

Whole wheat potato stuffed buns

Whole wheat buns with potato stuffing

  

May is the month

Of sunshine and Flowers

Birds in their nests,

And one or two showers.

Games to play and kites to fly

Or just looking at the sky.

We could spend a year this way

If the year were made of May...

Ingredients

 for the bun

·   3 cup wholewheat flour
. 1/4 cup lukewarm water

. 1 and 1/2 tsp salt
. 2 tsp sugar
. 2 tsp active dry yeast 
. 2 tsp olive oil

. 1 cup lukewarm milk
. chilli flakes, chopped coriander, carom seeds,onion or garlic powder-optional flavouring for the bread
                          

for the stuffing
. 3 large boiled potatoes smashed
. 1 carrot grated
. 1/2 cup cooked green peas(I defrosted my safal peas in the microwave
.  2 green chillies (minced)
. 1 onion chopped fine
. 1 tsp grated ginger
. 1/2 tsp coriander powder
. 1/4 chilli powder
. salt to taste
. 1/2 cumin seeds
. asoefetida  a pinch
.1/2 tsp garam masala
. 2 tsp oil
                              

Instructions

1.Take a big mixing bowl, stir sugar and lukewarm water and yeast and keep aside for a few minutes. The yeast will froth up with bubbles in a few minutes. If that does not happen, the yeast is not good. Discard and begin afresh.
2. To the frothy yeast mix, add the wholewheat flour, and lukewarm milk  and give it a good stir. Add the garlic powder ,chilli flakes ,coriander leaves etc if using. I picked up a red onion powder while doing grocery shopping last week. While adding, it gave a very promising whiff of flavour but could not be detected in the final product. I used onion powder and chilli flakes, you can use flavours of your choice or leave it as it is. Add salt and more lukewarm milk if the dough feels tight. Add olive oil and knead for another five minutes. Keep this dough covered, in a greased bowl for an hour to double up.
3. For the stuffing, heat oil in a wok on fire. To  the hot oil, add cumin seeds and asoefetida. Once the cumin starts crackling, add onions and cook till soft. Add ginger, chilli, coriander powder and garam masala. Let it fry for a couple of minutes and then add salt. Follow it up with Potatoes, carrot and peas. Mix till there is no moisture and all the flavours are well combined.Take it off the heat and cool for later use

4. Take the dough out, gently deflate it with your hands. Shape the dough into a log and divide it  into 12 pieces.
5. Take one piece,shape it into a disc with your hands, drop a spoonful of the stuffing in the mid. Bring all sides together to form into a ball.Do the same with rest of the pieces and place on a greased baking tray. Rest these for thirty minutes.                      

6. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees and bake the buns for roughly half an hour at the same temperature. Brush them with olive oil immediately after taking them out from the oven. Sprinkle some black pepper on the tops for an extra zing to the buns.