Friday, February 28, 2014

Whole wheat banana muffins

4
This is a muffin i make quite regularly. It is a very healthy recipe and all three of us like it a lot. Ritu keeps asking for "more mussin". This uses overripe bananas,so this recipe comes handy when you have overripe bananas that you neither want to have nor want to throw off. These muffins are dense yet soft. It is called  banana bread muffin because the batter is very similar to that of banana bread.







Banana whole wheat muffins

Recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
6 Tablespoons olive oil (or canola/vegetable oil/coconut oil)
1 cup mashed ripe banana (2 bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (i skip this as we are not found of the flavor and I never have it in my pantry)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or white-whole wheat or all-purpose flour)

Method

Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Line 12-count muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.

Make the muffin batter by whisking together the egg and sugar for about 4 minutes until light in color. Stir in the oil, banana, and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, mix together the salt, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and flour. Slowly pour dry mixture into wet mixture. Stir together until just combined (do not overmix). Spoon batter into each liner- about 3/4 full. Fill any unused muffin cavities with 2-3 Tablespoons of water to assure the muffins bake evenly.


Bake muffins for 5 minutes at 425F degrees. Lower temperature dial down to 350F degrees and continue to bake for about 15 more minutes* until the muffins are set and lightly browned or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Baking in high temperature for 5 min and then bringing down the temperature gives the muffin a high dome. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tins and transfer to wire rack to cool completely before glazing.




* - 15 min for medium sized muffin pan, 11 min for mini muffin pan

These muffins have always come out well. The only place you can go wrong is the baking time. Since the baking time can vary between ovens it is a good idea to keep checking if the muffins are done towards the end.


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Saturday, February 22, 2014

Focaccia bread with herb oil

2
I am on a baking spree this month. It all started with Arun's b'day for which I did quite a lot of research and finalized on a mango custard cake with mango pudding filling and mango cream frosting.


I have been thinking of baking a bread since sometime now. So when I saw a recipe for Focaccia caprese in Ria's Collection I thought I would try baking the focaccia bread. Focaccia is a type of flat Italian bread made with yeast and olive oil and flavored with herbs. Caprese is a salad of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. Focaccia bread in the recipe was topped with this trio combination and hence the name Focaccia Caprese. This recipe is an adapted version by Aparna of the original recipe from Kitchen Whisperer. This recipe does not require any fancy gadget and I kneaded the dough with my hands. And I modified the recipe a bit due to unavailability of an ingredient. You might think it must be one of the herbs which is not usually used in south Indian cooking. But no, I had all of those, but I had only 2 cups of all purpose flour. So I used 2 cups of all purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat floor. Now when I think of it, I feel glad I didn't have 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour. If I had I wouldn't have dared to use whole wheat flour in my first attempt to bake a bread. Now that I have used it and found that the bread came out good and since these days I am in search of healthy recipes, I would probably stick on to that.







Focaccia with herb oil


Original recipe: Kitchen whisperer
Adapted by: Aparna
Makes two medium sized or four small focaccia

Ingredients

For the bread
2 teaspoon instant yeast

1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
3 1/2 cups all purpose (I used 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 olive oil (regular also works)
1 - 1 1/2 cups warm water
A little more olive oil for brushing the dough
For the herb oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
Salt to taste

Method

Herb oil: Mix together all the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.


Bread: Mix together all the ingredients through olive oil and then add in the warm water and form a soft elastic dough that is just short of sticky. Form a ball of the dough, take it out, oil the bowl with some extra olive oil, put the dough back in and coat it by turning the dough a couple of times. Cover and let it rise until doubled, for about an hour.


Pre heat the oven to 210C / 400F. Once risen, take the dough out and divide into two. Place them on a cookie sheet and press it out gently to 1 inch thickness.I shaped mine into a circle. Let it rise for 20 mins. Slightly oil your fingers and poke into the dough at equal intervals to create a dimpled effect. Brush the top of the bread with the herb oil, generously. Bake for 18-20 mins or until golden brown.
I made 2 medium sized Focaccia. We had one straight out of oven (along with soup) and the other, next day. It was a bit chewy when we had it the first day. I think that was because we didn't wait for the bread to cool down even a bit. When I said 'straight out of oven' I meant literally and not figuratively. It was dense yet spongy on the second day. The flavorful herb oil made contributed heavily in making this bread totally delicious. I would definitely make this again and next time possibly make some sandwiches out of it.

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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

365 days - One frame a day - Feb 18th

9
Helping out achan to set up new solar garden lamps: when Arun said that we have some pani(work) to get done, and handed over one of the lamps, Ritu went and fixed it just like he showed. And then told him, " Acha more pani".


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Auto Awesome Movies

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I am loving the Auto awesome movies created automatically by the Google photo app that combines the photos and videos in our mobile. It is like getting a surprise gift and lovely to watch all the photos and videos as a small short films.

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Monday, February 17, 2014

365 days - one frame a day - Feb 17th

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With her new ride: She was very excited to try it out and kept on going from one end of the house to the other.

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Sunday, February 16, 2014

365 days: One frame a day - Feb 16th

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Reading together is fun!!!

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Saturday, February 15, 2014