home made whole wheat breads and more ...the ultimate feelgood cooking exercise....

Baking bread makes me happy.

It is an indulgence, watching the yeast to rise, and i don't feel that the yeast smell is awful ...it is actually a sign of good things to come. 

Kneading the dough and watching it turn pliable ...something you have control over, something you can mold as you like , shape as you like, cut it, fold it, knock it, churn it and pat vigorously...........all by your hands ........ and cook as you feel comfortable .....on a griddle or inside a red hot oven .......and wait for the rising , the browning, and the aroma filling your home..........


                                                                whole wheat bread

The aroma is invigorating, uplifting and and initiating a Pavlovian response ........you feel hungry at once ........ look out for some butter and don't wait for the bread to cool down ....... damn...

But you know the bread needs to cool down to develop a firm crust and a soft airy interior........more anticipation...:)

and finally when you slice it, butter it and layer it into a sandwich or pair it with a soup, you know that all the upper arm work out was well worth it.....

                               
Sometimes the crust is nicely light brown ......and sometimes when you are not watchful enough it turns dark.......


                                                                   semolina bread
But you know the labor of your love and your arms :) .....is well worth ..............when you slice it ........it even makes you fall in love with the knife ............ and you can't even imagine wasting a tiny crumb .........


Because you know that you have used all the best ingredients and made you bread as healthy as you can.......semolina, whole wheat or oats ....or multigrain , seeds as a topping or seeds mixed with the dough......with herbs, butter or olive oil............you work with all permutation and combination and feel like having a new fresh customized loaf of bread each time...........


I love marking them in diamonds...........


 This left one is an oats n whole wheat bread and the right one is whole wheat n cracked wheat (daliya) bread. I do not a have a loaf tin and like to bake my bread in this oval shaped loaf , though i have a pyrex loaf dish but i think the crust is better when the bread is baked this way .............what do you think ???


                                                        oats wholewheat bread

Though the side get cracked sometimes and it becomes a little difficult to hold if you make a heavily loaded sandwich.

I like my bread warm, warmed up in the microwave if not toasted.........lightly buttered with sliced cucumbers (and nothing else) .......



Breads other than the plain white bread are damn costly and it feels good that i make good quality bread at home which is affordable ....apart from the pleasure of baking a loaf....


Someone said that prawns are the Angelina Jolie in the world of food photography...........i disagree .........it is the bread ...........the bread is the ultimate model for photography in the world of edibles...........even though i am not at all a good photographer .........look at those bread baking blogs who showcase such beautiful breads ............ i have to go a long way to shoot such beautiful pics .........i am content with baking a fresh loaf whenever i want and whatever way i want............including oats and other whole grains makes me feel very happy ............


And a small tip to make oats bread .......use cooked oats (even porridge) to make bread, make the yeast starter , mix with the cooked oats and add whole wheat flour to make a dough ......and proceed as you do for other breads.........oats is wonderful in breads............



And here is another tip .....keeping a bowl of boiling water in the oven when the bread is baking, results in a moist bread with good crust.......



Learning is an everlasting process and i am still learning to make better and new types of bread.....

I have posted a basic process of baking breads for beginners  .......... and baking bombay pav for pav bhaji
 ...................and my cute little buns in microwave ............these breads are baked in an oven but i feel there should not be any restriction if you really want to bake your own bread ..... pita bread and kulcha etc. can be baked on griddle too.............just start thinking about healthy ingredients and get going...

I am not providing any recipe of bread here as there are so many wonderful blogs and websites on this topic ..........anybody can learn baking bread from those sites , though i am willing to share these recipes if anybody is interested..............i just wanted to motivate some of you at least ........that it's not that much of hard work ........ once a week a little hard work with lots of fun  ........... can't you do that for your good health ???

Comments

  1. Awesome, I really like your breads. They look awesome and I am sure would taste good too. You inspired me enough to bake my own breads, I do that now. Thanks you so much for such wonderful posts and recipes.

    Have a great day ahead.

    regards

    Shiva

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  2. This is an awesome post .Liked it very much .
    I have never baked breads .What u say is correct,if we bake it at home ,we will know what we have used etc .Thanks for sharing

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  3. Wowwwwwwwwwwwwww... Wonderful post !!

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  4. Wonderful. whenever I see someone baking bread from scratch...I feel like doing the same. Bread baking is really therapeutic. and you made it so so perfect. look at those air bubbles...incredible.
    between which brand of yeast you used?

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  5. Thanks everybody for the sweet words...
    @ Sayantani...i use fresh yeast cuz in my initial trials dry yeast was not as good as this....i have written about it in my earlier post about breads ........ i get my fresh yeast from a bakery n it comes in a 500 gm pack.

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  6. Wow Sangeeta, that is one helpful and wonderful post to save for ever. Lovely and thank you so much for putting them all in once place :)

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  7. Homemade bread is the best! :)

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  8. Lovely and really really inspiring as well as tempting breads!!! and you are absolutely right about the breads other than plain white breads being so costly!!...I keep planning to try baking breads at home but somehow never got round to actually do this after a disasterous first attemptI think that this is the post which will finally make me get over the fear of baking breads and start baking them at home.

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  10. great..bread looks perfect..nothing can beat this home made one...love the slices..looks so beautiful...

    btw, thanks for visiting my blog and for those kind comments out there..appreciated..have a nice weekend and tk care!

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  11. oh wow, the breads turned out really well, Sangeeta! perfect like bakery baked breads.

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  12. i seen so many varities only at stores.. Great that u make them at home..all i know is to get it from stores..

    so why dont u teach me all these :-)

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  13. Love the Homemade Bread. Looks soo yummy!!!

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  14. You have a talent for breads, these look amazing, will def. have to try!



    d e g a i n e

    http://www.fashiondegaine.com

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  15. Awesome, this. Am trawling your blog instead of going out and baking, those pictures are mouth watering! Say hi to Jolie from me! :-D

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