Khaliat Nahal (Honeycomb buns or Bee Hive's buns)

Khaliat Al Nahal is a middle eastern bread. It means Bee's hive in Arabic, known for it's honeycomb like looks. The buns are baked close to each other in a round pan ...which forms a honeycomb like pattern. They are traditionally made with a sweet stuffing, dunked in honey flavored sugar syrup, though buns with savory stuffings are also made. This bread is made during fasting period of Ramadan, and is served during the evening meal after the day's fasting is over.

This was September 2013 bread, at "We knead to bake" -- bread baking group with our host +Aparna Balasubramanian .

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup lukewarm milk
  
• 1 and half tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 and half cup all purpose flour (I used bread flour)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 40 gm unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp milk for brushing on top of the bread
• For the filling:
•  1 pack cream cheese(about 250 gms)
• For the sugar glaze: 
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• A pinch of saffron
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp lime juice

Recipe:

• Heat milk in a microwave for about 40 seconds. 

• Add yeast and sugar to it. Stir it well and keep it aside.

• Melt the butter and keep it aside to cool.
• Keep 1/2 cup of flour aside.

• Add remaining two cups of flour to the food processor bowl, along with sugar and salt.
• Process for about 20 seconds till everything is well mixed.

• Add melted butter and process again for 20 secs.

• Add the yeast and milk mix to the processor bowl.

• Process for about a minute till everything is mixed well.

• Add the remaining half cup of flour, about a tbsp at a time and process till everything comes together as a soft dough.

• Take out the ball of dough in a well oiled bowl and knead with hands for a few seconds.

• When it becomes a smooth ball of dough, cover it with plastic wrap and leave it aside about about an hour or till it doubles in volume.

• Once the dough has risen, take it out, divide it into small pieces.
• I measured all the pieces to about 20 gms so as to get even balls.

• Cut the cream cheese approximately to a tsp blocks.

• Take a piece of dough, flatten it out and put a tsp of filling of cream cheese on it. Pull up the sides of the dough, enclosing the cream cheese in it and pinch the ends on the top. Roll it to a smooth ball. 

• Repeat with other balls of dough, till all the filling and the dough is used.
• Put all the balls with filling in concentric circles in a greased round cake tin, so as to get a honeycomb like pattern. I used 11 inch round tin.

• Cover the cake tin with a wrap and let the dough rise for the second time, for about 40 minutes.
• The balls will get bigger and stick closer to one another.

• When the dough is rising the second time, make the sugar glaze. 

• Mix the sugar, water and saffron in a pan and heat it for about 5 minutes, till the sugar thickens to a syrup. Turn off the heat, add honey and lemon juice. Keep it aside to cool.

• Brush the top of the dough balls with milk.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 20-25 minutes till the tops are golden.

• Pour the sugar syrup on the warm buns. I chose to drizzle about 2-3 tsps of syrup on the buns with a spoon. 

• Serve warm with tea/coffee.

upside down buns.... 

Quantity:

• Makes about 35 buns.

Notes:

• You can check out this video link to see how it is made.
• You can add flavors to the cream cheese, like more sugar/saffron/other spices or fruit and nuts.
• You can make savory fillings like potato, paneer,chicken,  or even stuff it with chocolate.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds on top, if making savory stuffing.

that's my son grabbing the bun... :)

Baked yeasted doughnuts

We knead to bake #6 June 2013. Half a year is already gone.....and this is the 6th bread, I learnt to bake with success. It was a fool proof and easy recipe. The doughnut glaze was a bit difficult for me, I need to try it again. I made it in a hurry, and dipped and clicked pictures, as I had to take my little one out for his summer holiday activity. The doughnuts were nice and soft. I left the "holes" un-glazed and just dabbed them with melted butter and they tasted lovely just like that. Another beautiful recipe, shared by our host +Aparna Balasubramanian. 

6 months back, I wouldn't have even dreamt about making a doughnut at home... :)  They were so soft and perfect....!!!

Bialys (Chewy rolls with caramelized topping)

We Knead to Bake : May 2013. I am lagging behind, but I am finally done with the May bread baking project. Bialys(pronounced bee-AH-lee) are Polish bread, similar to bagels, but bagels are boiled and baked whereas bialys are just baked. A bialy is round, with a depressed dent in the middle, filled with caramelized onions and poppy seeds. We do not get poppy seeds in Singapore, so I made the filling with just onions and some tomatoes and yellow pepper. A good bialy should have springy soft crumb and chewy and soft crust with holes inside. Bialys are eaten slathered with butter or with cream cheese. Here is a Video which shows how bialys can be eaten :) It's best to consume them within 5-6 hours of baking. I had them after 5 hours, I reheated in the microwave and they were good as when they were freshly made. 

Bialys are best made with bread flour, but if you do not have it, they can be made with regular all purpose flour with a tbsp of vital wheat gluten for every 3 cups of flour. I didn't have either the bread flour, nor the wheat gluten (I do not know what that is, need to search in the baking section)... I made it with regular all purpose flour and they seemed ok... just like other bakers of the group(similar to their pictures, I mean). I haven't tasted an original bialy ever... :)

Herb cheese pull-apart bread

This is an important and symbolic post for me. When +Aparna Balasubramanian, included me in the "We knead to bake" bread baking project for the year 2013, this was the first bread, she chose for us to bake. I had already tried this bread last year and I loved it. So, I tried to post my facebook album link, on her blog... but, as it was too long, I couldn't post it. So, I thought of starting this blog, which was on my mind for a very long time..... :). Made this bread again, last month for my kid's birthday party...! My son loves this bread. I ate it, the very first time at another popular blogger +Durga Arivan's father's day party. It looks lovely, when made in a bundt pan, instead of traditional bread loaf pan. I followed the recipe from "The pastry affair page". A beautiful and delicious bread in a pizza party....!!!

So here is my blog post ready for the first "we knead to bake" project, of January 2013.

Hokkaido Milk bread with Tangzhong

 We knead to bake #3 : March 2013 -- Hokkaido Milk bread with Tangzhong

After last month's very difficult to "knead and laminate" recipe of Classic Croissants, this month's bread baking challenge was quite an easy one. Also, I had made this bread twice before. It has a very soft, cotton-like and pillowy in texture. The recipe is quite simple too. Chinese Tangzhong is like french roux... and the bread is Japanese milk bread... quite a fusion of cultures around the world ....isn't it :)  

Another picture.....

Bread-maki

"Makizushi" is a type of sushi. Japanese cuisine is one of my favorite cuisines after Indian. Japanese cuisine is very attractive visually.  Maki is a roll made with  bunch of fillings over rice, which is stuck over sea-weed rolled with the help of a bamboo mat called "makisu". More about sushi and maki roll here.

This post is about a snack item inspired from the Japanese Maki roll, I make for my kids for their school lunch boxes or evening snacks. Very easy to prepare and quick. All you need is some bread slices, some raw vegetables, some cheese, etc...any filling of your choice.