Braided Paneer& Potato Bread

aaah :)!!! It feels nice to be writing and reading posts by other blogger friends. I feel charged and rejuvenated after a good 10 days break.Mahir and Manasi were home and we spent some wonderful family time.Visited friends ,watched movies,slept late and woke up late and ate some  good food cooked by friends. Oh yes- we also happened to be driving back from New Jersey on the 26th December the dreadful day when east coast was hit by a major nor'easter. We drove 20-30 miles an hour and got home in 3 1/2 hours,but it felt nice to be home safe :)  I cannot describe how special and blessed we felt after having braved the 3/12 hour ordeal on the roads , now back in the luxury and safety of our home :) The night was spent by the fire place enjoying chicken biryani which I had cooked the day before and freezed for later use. We woke up on the morning of 27th to find 11/2 feet of snow on our deck. New year's eve was spent in Schenectady NY,with friends- playing pictionary and dumb charade and eating yummy food and dancing to ring in the New Year :)

I had fun going through all the lovely posts today and the post that instantly caught my eye was Aipi's -Braided paneer bread. It was love at first sight  with this beauty and I was lucky to have found all the ingredients handy.I set out to make this wonderful looking bread with all my favorite ingredients. Aipi I was not sure I would do justice to the bread you had created so well but I  must admit the recipe is so well illustrated and described that the bread actually turned out perfect and I am glad I made it as Manasi also loved it and I am sure Mahir will ,once he gets back from work and gets to taste it.

I have basically done the exact same thing except for the yeast,I have used the dry yeast in place of the rapid rise yeast that the original recipe calls for. I let the yeast sit in 1/4  cup of warm water along with sugar  instead of milk and later on after the yeast was frothy and bubbly I added the milk and reduced the quantity by 1/4  cup. Other than that everything is the same.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour: 11/2 cup

wheat Flour: 1 cup

Instant Dry yeast: 1/2 tbsp

Warm water: 1/4 cup ( to dissolve yeast)

Sugar: 1/2 tbsp

Salt: 1/2 tsp

Olive Oil: 2 tbsp

Milk: 1/2 cup warm and some more to brush the bread before baking

Sesame seeds: 1/2 tsp

Filling For Bread:

Paneer/cottage cheese: grated 1 1/2 cup

Boiled potato's: 2 medium peeled and chopped into tiny pieces

Green peas: boiled 1 cup

Fennel seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Hing: a pinch

salt: to taste

Red pepper: to taste

Chaat Masala: 1 tsp

Mango Powder/amchur: 1 tsp

Garam masala: 1 tsp

Green chilli: 1 chopped fine

Cilantro: chopped 2 tbsp

Oil: 2 tbsp

Take a pan and heat oil,then add fennel , cumin and hing/asfoetida ,when it starts to splutter add the green peas along with  boiled and chopped potato's.Add all the dry masalas, and then add the grated paneer and give it a good stir and add chopped cilantro and keep it aside to cool down.

For the bread:

Take 1/4 cup warm water in a bowl and add yeast and sugar and keep it in a warm place for 10 minutes or till it becomes bubbly and frothy.

Take all purpose flour along with wheat flour and add 2 tbsp oil along with salt and mix it well. Then take the  alive yeast and add 1/2 cup warm milk to it and knead the flour,if you need more liquid to knead the flour take some more warm milk. When the dough is ready take some oil on your palms and coat the kneaded dough well with the oil and then leave it in bowl covered with a wet kitchen towel and keep it in warm place to rise. It will take about an hour to double in size.

Note: I had to use more liquid to knead the flour since I used the golden temple wheat flour which has a lot of husk and is very dry.

Method:

When the dough is double its size,take it out and with your fist deflate the dough.Roll it on floured surface into an oblong shape about 15 inches inches long and 8 inches wide.

Keep the paneer/cottage cheese and potato filling in the centre and make slits on either sides of the rolled out oblong,making sure they are even  and equal on both sides. Now fold them on either side like a braid making sure the filling is secure. You can take the loose ends and fold them under the bread or do an overlapping as shown in the picture. Cover this with a wet cloth and leave it in warm place to rise again for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F. When the bread has doubled in size again ,take off the wet cloth brush the bread with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds and leave it in the oven till it turns golden brown ,it takes about 15- 20 minutes. Let it sit out till it is warm then make slices and enjoy with green chutney or tomato ketchup,mine just flew away between the three of us :) Oh yes- Mahir loved it :)

Herb bread

I was going through Mary's recent round-up on breads and fell in love with each and every recipe and I have promised myself to bake all these breads one by one. I wanted to make the olive herb bread first but I was running out of eggs and had just 4 instead of 6, so I choose this one which was anyways 2nd on my list after the olive bread. I am absolutely thrilled with the result,this savory bread goes so well with a tiny bit of cheese spread and a cup of tea. I ate this for my lunch yesterday and today me and my husband enjoyed it with a glass of Chianti. It tasted absolutely fantastic:) Mary's recipe calls for Non-fat yogurt,but I replaced it with home made yogurt which was a little sour,and instead of Dijon mustard I went in for Napa valley's stone ground mustard which I simply love & also added some red pepper flakes to add the extra kick. The end result was a flavorful  loaf of savory bread,with prominent thyme& basil  flavors mixed with a subtle  tanginess from the sour curd mixed with the stone ground mustard. The recipe called for a 1 quart bread pan,I did not have that so I used a bigger one and you will notice the slices are not big enough as the pan was  quite large for this much batter .

Ingredients:
Unbleached Flour: 1 cup
baking Powder: 2 tsp
Fine Sea salt: 1/2 tsp
Large Eggs: 3 lightly beaten
Yogurt: 1 cup(whole milk)
Stone Ground Mustard: 2 tbsp
Parmesan Cheese grated: 1/2 cup
Basil and thyme: 1/2 cup chopped

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 425 degree f and grease & flour a 1 quart bread pan. Set aside.
Add the flour,baking powder,mustard,salt,eggs and yogurt and , mix in the food processor.Blend well and add cheese and herbs and process to blend well.
Pour this batter in the greased & floured bread pan.Place the bread pan in the centre and bake till the top turns golden brown .Remove from the oven and let it cool.then turn it onto a wire rack and let it cool completely before slicing the loaf.

Thanks Mary for sharing  such a wonderful recipe :)
Notes: You can use dry herbs if you do not have fresh.
I have used dried basil and fresh thyme.