How i am besotted with my breads , I want clicking a picture or two every time i bake some . The warm aroma of the bread and a spicy hint of the filling is something to die for . The season is perfect for some warm spiced up bread , stuffed or swirled or even toasted with a hint of garlic and cheese .......... the masala chai , coffee , milk or a soup is not just that ..... the bread takes them to another level .

Recently a couple of friends came to my place to have an experience of bread baking . We had so much fun kneading the dough with hands , proofing , punching down , letting them rise again and then baking a few loaves , challah and swirls . Gorgeous breads coming out of the oven one after the other , cooling on the wire rack ..... what a pretty sight , especially when the breads are this beautiful....... all these breads are essentially whole wheat breads..........


Or like this challah , a braided stuffed bread .


 Here the stuffing is a nice yummy spicy apple and pear chutny...oozing out of the braids ...
A mug of plain white milk is not just that after it gets a companion like this........


 The apple pear chutney spiced with star anise , cinnamon and a dash of red chilly powder .... hot and sweet were never so yummy together....


 The chai comes to another level when it has some of these to savor ........


Whole wheat swirls stuffed with butter-cheese and garlic mixture and the red ones are stuffed with a beet root and soy nuggets masala mix ..........


The swirls can be open or in the form of a loaf...


Whatever way it suits you........



Beet roots were never welcomed so much in my home until i started making this stuffing , children love it too .
Finely ( or even roughly ) chopped beetroots and soy nuggets stir fired in minimal oil with generous amounts of ginger garlic green chillies and freshly crushed black pepper ..... just perfect for a swirl bun .



The apple pear chutny involves cooking the peeled and chopped fruits with some sugar , salt and spices in the microwave .  I prefer mashing the cooked fruit pieces roughly and keeping the chutney in the fridge for a few days ....... it improves after a few days as far as the spice aroma is concerned . It can be used for the stuffing the same day too as in my case the bread is not consumed the same day most of the times.


I am not giving any recipe of the bread as there are so many great blogs and sites specially dedicated to bread baking . You know that i am always there to share the recipe if you want but this post and many other bread posts of mine are just to motivate a few of my readers to start baking healthier breads at home . You get good quality bread fresh at home and a very good mood uplifting exercise as a bonus .... for me it is the mood uplifting experience first and the bread as a bonus ... at least for now...... Just think of the possibility of a bread free of maida ( APF ) , emulsifiers , conditioners and most of the times preservatives too.....excessive amounts of sugar and salt too sometimes....


 Go for it and let me know if you started...........all my breads here use whole wheat ( aashirvaad brand atta ) with just a sprinkling of maida (APF) ...actually for 5 cups of whole wheat i use 2 tbsp of maida and the result is awesome . We don't get any gluten or bread flour in our country so this is the best way to use atta ( whole wheat flour with bran ) for a healthy bread.......Now tell me if you wanna bake some healthy bread.....