Snacks | My Tryst with Baking

I love all kinds of viennoiserie. Be it croissants, pain au chocolat, danish pastries or bricohes. Unfortunately, these pastries are not easily available in my city. If i really want to have some, I must make them myself.

As I am quite scared of any thing that involves yeast I need to muster up some courage to dig in and dirty my hands. The worst thing i could do would be to just bin them if they turned out too horrible. Alas, I tried my hand at a brioche recipe and it did not turn out as it should have. However, it was just as much tasty and quite addicitve to be frank.

A good Brioche must be rich, slightly puffy with a flaky, soft crust. Mine wasn’t as flaky as it should be. The yeast did not get activated correctly as my dough did not rise too much. Oh! What a bugger! I went ahead and baked them anyway. Much to my surprise, they turned out to be super delicious and a great addition for a Sunday special brunch or tea time snack. These had a buttery, flaky texture and just melted in the mouth.

As they say,”All’s well that ends well.” 😉

Well, not exactly. I felt quite edgy and wanted to make the perfect brioche. So I did the next day. i made a cinnamon walnut brioche loaf and it turned out really well. 🙂

Ingredients:
Parisian Brioche :
250 g all purpose flour
30 g sugar
1 tsp salt
10 g yeast
3 eggs
165 g butter, diced and softened
100 g pearl sugar

Glaze
1 egg/ some milk

Instructions :
Making the Bricohe Dough:
Place the flour, sugar, salt in a mixing bowl. Add in the yeast making sure it doesn’t touch the salt. Knead in the eggs one at a time. Add the softened butter to the dense dough. Continue kneading until the dough is elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 5 to 10 minutes. Stop when you can hold the dough in your hand and it keeps its shape.
Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about one hour. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle. Cut it crosswise into bars. Place the bars on the baking sheet spacing them well apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.

Baking the Brioche Sugar Bars:
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Lightly beat an egg for the glaze. Brush the brioche bars with the egg glaze and sprinkle with the pearl sugar. You can substitute coarse or brown sugar for the topping.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool before serving.

The Brioche recipe has been adapted from Christophe Felder.

For more oomph, sandwich raspberries and nutella between two of these bars! 🙂

I am taking these delicious bars over to Angie’s Fiesta Friday party. See you there!

Bon Apetit!

My earliest memory of eating a veg puff was when I was probably 7. Yes, I loved eating puffs as a child. Infact, I loved eating everything that falls under the umbrella of “Street Food”. My mom’s food was the only saving grace for me fortunately. She took great care to ensure we, my younger brother and I had a well balanced nutritious diet.

Veg puffs, Wada Pav, samosas are some of my favorite snacks and I miss them terribly now being so far away from home! As the end of every school year approached, we would wait eagerly for the last day. Simply because our Rickshaw driver (whom we lovingly called Mama or uncle) would treat us to these goodies and an absolute must ice cream 🙂 I reckon it was his way to show us how proud he was of us…..ah, those were the days!

The love continued when I entered Fergusson college where I spent 5 years, not so much studying, as frequenting different student eateries. The bakery that was most famous for veg puffs in my hometown Pune, was within 5 minutes of walking distance from my college. The popular “Santosh bakery” would make veg puffs only on Thursdays and sold them only for a few hours! Alas, back then these were life’s dilemma. Inadequate supply of my favorite, not so healthy, ultra delicious snacks!

So this time when I made my own puff pastry I knew I had to give these a try! They turned out to be delicious. Indeed, everything tastes better with butter, the more the merrier! It was a hit with my not so Indian-Indian friends as well!

Veg Puffs

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry Recipe, please click here

Veggie Filling : Or Any veg filling of your choice

2 tsp Oil
1 Onion, finely chopped
Salt to taste
1/2 cup Carrots, chopped
1/2 cup Green peas –
1/4 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1/4 tsp Chaat Masala
1/4 tsp Kasuri methi
1/2 tsp Garam masala powder
Red Chili Powder to taste
Coriander leaves, chopped

Instructions:

Veggie Filling:

Heat oil on medium heat in a pan. Add cumin seeds, once they crack add the chopped onions.

Saute till they turn translucent. Add in the ground spices except garam masala powder.
Add in the Veggies and a little salt. Mix well, cover and cook for 7-8 mins. Add the garam masala powder and cook for 30 seconds. Sprinkle over the coriander leaves and give it a stir.

Assembling the Puffs :

Pre-heat the Oven at 210°C.Line a baking tray with parchment paper or sprinkle some flour.

Cut the Pastry sheets strips to form small square/ rectangle. I like mine to be mini bite sized portions.

Put 1 tbsp (approx) of the stuffing in the center.

Brush some water over the edges of the pastry. Fold the Pastry Sheet over the other edge and press into the sides and press away.

Put the Puffs on the baking tray and chill for 15 minutes.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Reduce the temperature to 100°C and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Remove and allow to come to room temperature.