The White Ramekins

food & photography

Bagels for breakfast

by

Bagel is basically a bread product, shaped into the form of a ring from yeast dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first poached and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior. To a add little spicy-ness to them, you can top them with seeds which get baked on the outer crust, with the traditional ones being poppy, sesame or caraway (indian name – shah jeera) seeds. They can be eaten as such or in form of a sandwich. Their doughy-ness makes them perfect for a weekend breakfast, which is really satisfying after a heavy workout at gym.
If you haven’t made them before, don’t worry this simple and easy to follow recipe will help you out……. 

Ingredients 

450 gm white flour 
7g sachet fast-acting yeast 
2 tsp salt 
250 ml warm water
2 tbsp honey 
1 tbsp vegetable oil 
3 tbsp molasses
1 egg, beaten 
Sesame seeds, caraway seeds or a savoury topping of your choice (optional) 

Method  

Sift the flour and salt into the bowl you are making the bread in, add the yeast and mix well. Measure the water in a measuring jug then stir in the honey and oil. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour the liquid in gradually, bringing the dough together with your hands. Turn the dough onto a clean, dry and floured work surface. Using more flour if necessary, start kneading the dough, stretching it away with the palm of one hand and folding it back again with the other, keeping this up for 10 minutes. You may need to use more flour as you go, to avoid a sticky dough, which you don’t want. Next, place the dough in a lightly oiled large bowl and turn it in the oil to coat. Cover with cling film or a plastic bag and put in a warm (not hot) place for 1–3 hours or until doubled in size. When the dough is nearly ready – doubled in volume – bring a large saucepan of water to the boil (about 4 liters) and add the molasses. You can substitute molasses with equal amount of honey. Cover and turn off the heat while you shape the bagels. Remove the dough from the bowl, then punch it down and knead it briefly. Roll it into a rough sausage shape and divide into 7 chunks. As you work with one, keep the others covered with a clean tea towel. There are two ways to shape the bagels. One is to firmly roll out each chunk into a long ‘snake-like’ shape, then looping the ‘snake’ and sealing the ends together with a tiny splash of water and squeezing it. The other method is to roll each chunk into a ball. Piercing a hole in the center with your finger, pull the dough open until you can fit your hand inside stretching it wide, turning it around and squeezing it to keep it even – like a steering wheel. Place on the prepared baking trays and repeat with the rest of the dough. Cover and allow to stand for a further 10–20 minutes to allow the dough to bounce back again. Preheat the oven to 220ºC (425°F) and heat the saucepan to a gentle simmer. Gently lift each bagel into the water and poach no more than three at a time, turning gently with a couple of slotted spoons, poaching for about 1 ½ minutes on each side. Remove the bagels from the water, allowing them to drain first, and place on the prepared trays, spacing them about 3–4cm (1 ¼ –1 ½ in) apart. 

 

Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds, sea salt, caraway seeds or a savoury topping of your choice, or just leave them plain, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn them upside down for a further 10 minutes to cook the bases. Cool on a wire rack.

Apple Pie Made Easy

by

An apple a day keep’s a doctor away, some wise men have said this……but sadly, i don’t really like apples as such because of the effort you need to put in to eat them. To be honest, I am the kinda lazy person, generally like the comfort food, which really doesn’t need that much exercising of your jaws. I don’t know how, but it came to my mind of having them cooked and that eventuated in baking an apple pie; sliced, unadorned apples are mounded into a pie crust and topped with a lattice crust. For which, I headed to the nearest grocery store to source the ingredients

for shortcrust pastry:
340gm plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
110 gm butter
5-6 tbsp chilled water

for filling:
8 Granny Smith apples (the green ones)
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp plain flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 egg yolk

Preheat the oven to 220 C. To make pastry, it helps if the fat is cold and firm. If the fat is not cold, it will result into an oily pastry. Cut the butter into small cubes and flour to it. Rub the flour and butter, using your fingertips slowly, until it resembles to coarse grained breadcrumbs (see pic).

Add 4-6 tbsp chilled water, just enough to bring the dough together. Wrap the dough with a cling wrap and refrigerate it for 30 mins. Meanwhile, for the filling, peel and chore the apples and cut them into slices. I prefer to use Granny Smith apples because of their tart flavor and firmness. Also, it gives the pie a sweet and sour flavor. If you like your pie to be more sweet, you may use the normal red apples instead. In a saucepan, melt the butter, add the flour and mix it well. Then add the powdered sugar and cinnamon and bring to a boil and then add pour in this mixture over apples and keep them aside. Now, roll half of the chilled dough using a rolling pin into a 13″ round. Fit it into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Pour in the apple mixture made prepared above. Refrigerate while you roll out dough for top crust. After you roll the second half, cut that into 1 1/2 cm wide strips using a sharp knife to make a lattice crust. To make lattice top, follow this link

To make lattice top

Cover the pie top with the lattice top. Brush the top of the pie using egg yolk to give it a glazed look (you may skip this, if you are strictly vegetarian). Place it in oven for 15 minutes on 220 C and then 35-40 minutes on 180 C. After the top is firm and apples are cooked through, take the pie out of oven and let it cool. Enjoy it with a dollop of very good vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Frosted Walnut Brownies

by

So, here I am sharing a recipe for brownies topped with a chocolate frosting. These could be the richest and the most decadent brownies you have ever tried. Surely, not a recipe for weight watchers. This is what you need to know about these.

75 gm butter
50 gm cocoa powder
2 eggs
100 gm white sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
75 gm plain flour
75 gm chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp baking powder

for the chocolate frosting :
2 tbsp butter
50 gm icing sugar
1 tbsp honey
50 gm dark chocolate
1tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

for the garnishing:
50 gm almonds

Preheat oven to 180 C. Melt the butter and beat in sugar, eggs and vanilla essence. Make sure to powder the sugar, in case you are using granulated one. Mix in sifted flour and baking powder. Prepare a 8 inches square tin with butter paper. Pour in the batter and spread it evenly and put it oven for 25 – 30 minutes for baking. Meanwhile, for the frosting, melt the chocolate over a double boiler and then mix all the ingredients and beat them until the mix is very smooth. If the frosting is too thick, mix in a tbsp of milk, so that it can easily be spread over. Once, the brownies are baked, pour in the frosting when the brownies are still warm. For garnishing, blanch the almonds, toast them in a pan and chop them finely. Sprinkle the almonds generously over the frosting. Bake it for another 5 minutes. Once the brownies are completely cooled off, place them in refrigerator for 2 hours and then using a sharp knife, cut them in small squares or rectangles, depending upon, which shape you like more. You may need to dip knife in warm water, for each cut.

And all you get out of this easy and quick recipe,  the brownies which are dense, gooey, chocolate-y on the inside, moist all over and well-set around the edges. These can be kept for a day or two.