Eggless Ragi Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• ½ cup - Ragi flour / finger millet
• ½ cup - Wheat flour
• ¾ cup - Mashed bananas 
• 1 and ½ tsp - Baking powder
  
• ¼ tsp - Baking soda
• ¼ tsp - Salt
• 1 tsp - Vanilla 
• 1 tsp - Nutmeg powder (optional)
• ¼ cup - Honey
• ½ cup - Yogurt
• ¼ cup - Olive oil

Directions:

• Sieve ragi and wheat flour. Add salt, baking soda, baking powder and nutmeg powder. Keep it aside.
• Blend together curd, honey, olive oil and mashed banana.
• Add this wet mixture to dry mixture and combine everything well. Grease loaf pan with little oil. Pour batter into the pan and tap it.
• In a preheated oven, Bake at 180 degree C for 30-40 mins. Once the upper crust turns light brown, insert a toothpick at the center and it should come out clean.

Recipe based on jopreetskitchen.com

Whole Wheat Pancakes

Yeilds: 8 med size pancakes

Recipe adapted from sallysbakingaddiction

Ingredients:

1 cup - whole wheat flour (I used Aashiravad atta)

1/2 cup - quick cook oats

1/4 teaspoon - salt

2 teaspoons - baking powder

1 teaspoon - ground cinnamon

1 egg

1 cup - milk

2 Tablespoons - unrefined sugar

1/4 cup - yogurt

1 teaspoon - vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons - chocolate chips or fruit, optional

Directions:

• Mix together flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and milk together. Whisk in the sugar, yogurt and vanilla until combined.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir gently until just combined. Do not over mix the batter or your pancakes will be tough and very dense. Add the chocolate chips or diced fruits.
• Heat a pan over medium heat. Add a few drops of oil or butter.  Once hot, drop about 1/4 cup of batter on the pan. Cook until the edges look dry and bubbles begin to form on the center or sides. Flip and cook on the other side until cooked through.
• Serve with maple syrup.

Wholewheat Blueberry Scones

Blueberries are one of my favourite fruits to bake with. Adding these juicy blueberries put these homemade scones over the top! They’re super moist and tender in every bite. They also make a great breakfast option.

Recipe adapted from https://daisyandthefox.wordpress.com

Flatten the dough into a circle.

Cut into 8 wedges.

Brush the top with cream and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Wholewheat Blueberry Scones

Yeilds: 8 wedges of scones

Ingredients:

Wholewheat flour – 2 cups (I used Ashirwad Atta)

Sugar – ¾ cup (I used raw sugar. You can use normal white sugar and reduce to ½ cup if using white sugar)

Baking Powder – 1 tablespoon

Grated lemon zest – 1 tablespoon

Salt – ½ teaspoon

Butter – ½ cup (cold and cut into cubes)

Egg – 1

Heavy cream (cold) – ½ cup (I used Paul’s thickened cream)

Fresh blueberries – 1 cup

A few table spoons of additional heavy cream to brush the tops

Raw sugar -1/4 cup for sprinkling on top

Cinnamon powder ½ teaspoon for sprinkling on top

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and the butter. Mix in the stand mixer until fine crumbs form.
• Add the egg and heavy cream to the bowl, and mix until a thick dough forms.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer, and gently fold in the blueberries into the dough.
• Transfer the dough to a floured surface and press into a flat circle with about 1 inch in thickness.
• Cut the dough into 8 wedges and brush the top with some heavy cream.
• Combine the raw sugar and cinnamon powder and sprinkle on top.
• Place the wedges on a baking tray lined with baking paper, and bake for 18 – 20 minutes, until golden brown.
• Store in an air-tight container after the scones have completely cooled down.

Note:

•  When storing, wrap each scone individually with butter paper/baking paper and store in an air-tight container. Otherwise they stick to each other and crumble.
• Keep refrigerated. Warm in the microwave for a few seconds before consuming. Keeps well for 4-5 days.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Rolls

Hello my dear bread bakers, this is a recipe for a healthy morning breakfast rolls.  I am always in the search of healthy breads recipe. This recipe was a great hit. So much health and goodness in one simple roll.

 This is great for the busy mornings, just slit it open and slather with a fruit spread and butter and you are good to go.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Rolls

Makes: 15 rolls

Ingredients:

1 Cup – all purpose flour

3 ½ cups – whole wheat flour

1 cup – rolled oats

2 cups – water

3 tablespoon – Butter

1 tablespoon – instant yeast

1/3 cup – honey

1 ½ teaspoon – salt

1 egg + 1 tablespoon water – for egg wash (Can use milk instead of egg)

Rolled oats for sprinkling

Directions:

• In a pan, boil 1 cup of water. Add the oats and butter to the water and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and set it aside to cool.
• Take 1 cup of warm water, along with the yeast and honey. To this add the cooled oat mixture, salt and all purpose flour, beat until smooth.
• To this mixture slowly add the whole wheat flour to form soft dough.
• On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 6-8 minutes, until smooth and elastic, add more whole wheat flour if needed.
• Place the kneaded dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let it rise to double for about 1-2 hours.
• After rising, punch the dough down and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
• Divide into 15 equal portions and roll into a ball. Place in 1 or 2 greased pans.
• Cover with damp cloth and let it rise for another 45 mintues.
• Before placing into oven, brush the dough tops with the egg wash or plain milk, and sprinkle with the oats.
• Bake at 180° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and let it cool.

Whole-Wheat Bread

Seems like a long time since my last post. I have been busy with a lot of stuff at home lately. But I am still trying out new recipes, just couldn’t find time to post them online.

I am so bored with the store bought ‘wholemeal’ bread. When you read the ingredients list printed on these breads packages, you can notice that white flour still has the major percentage than the whole-wheat flour.  I also like my bread with a bit of chewy texture. Believe it or not, I hate white bread!! I know most of you out there remain sceptics when it comes to brown bread, but you have to give it a try, I promise you will start to love it! Brown bread has so many layers of rich flavour and texture, which you cannot get in a plain white loaf!! Previously I have been successful in converting a lot of my friends to switch from white bread to wholemeal!! And I hope after reading this post, more of you join this fab guilt free option.

Baking with yeast is not my forte, I tried two recipes before with no good results. But this recipe is from www.annies-eats.com seemed easy enough. I agree making homemade bread seems too much of a work. But the result is so worth it. I won’t be baking this every week, but it will be a nice switch once in a while from the god awful NTUC wholemeal bread.  FYI I tried dark rye bread from Giant a few times, and I love it.

The dough doubled in volume after 1 hour.

Dough in pan, doubled in volume after 30 minutes.

Whole-Wheat Bread

Yields: Two 9-inch loaves

Ingredients:

2+1/3Cups– Warm Water (around 100°)

1 ½ tablespoon – Instant Yeast

¼ cup – Honey

4 tablespoon – Unsalted Butter, melted

2 ½ teaspoon – Salt

¼ cup – Rye Flour

½ cup – Toasted Wheat Germ* (Toasted the wheat germ in a dry pan on the stove)

3 cups – Whole-wheat Flour (I used Aashirvaad Atta)

2 ¾ cups – Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I used Plain Flour)

*Wheat Germ - The germ of wheat is the reproductive part of the seed that germinates to grow into a plant. Removal of bran is aimed at producing flour with a white rather than a brown colour, and eliminating fibre.
 Wheat germ is a concentrated source of several essential nutrients including Vitamin E, folic acid, phosphorus, thiamin, zinc and magnesium. It is a good source of fibre.  White bread is made using flour that has had the germ and bran removed. Wheat germ can be added to protein shakes, casseroles, muffins, pancakes, cereals, yogurt, smoothies, cookies, and other goods. 

 Directions: 

• In a bowl, mix the water,yeast,honey,butter and salt with a rubber spatula.
• Mix in the rye flour, wheat germ, and 1 cup of the whole-wheat and all-pupose flour.
• Add the remaining whole-wheat and all-pupose flour, attach the dough hook and knead at low speed until the dough I smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. (If you don’t have a dough hook, then use your hands to knead).
• Transfer the dough to a lightly foured surface and knead the dough for another 30 seconds, until it is soft and smooth.
• Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough inside and cover with plastic wrap or a moist towel.
• Let it rise in a warm area until the dough has doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Heat the oven to 190° C.
• Gently press down the dough and divide it into two equal pieces.
• Gently press each piece into a rectangle about 1-inch thick and 9 inches long. Roll the dough formly into a cylinder, pressing down to make sure the dough sticks to itself.
• Turn the dough seam side up and pinch it closed
• Place the cylinder of dough into a greased 9 X 5 inch loaf pan, seam side down, pressing the dough gently so it touches all sides of the pan.
• Cover the pan, and let it rise for 20-30 minutes, until the dough has doubled in volume.
• Bake for 35-45 minutes.
• Transfer the bread immediately from the baking pans to a wire rack to cool.