Made for Each other and a recipe for Shekhars Basic Crusty Sourdough.

 

Happy New Year!

Yes I know. I have not written in a long time! No year end recap, no New year’s goals. At some point in everyone’s lives, comes a time when all best laid plans fall apart. Thats what happened to me toward the end of 2011. The year didn’t end the way I wanted it to. Disappointed I decided to retreat into myself and just stop worrying.Well, I guess sometimes one needs to take a step back and breathe a little. So I did. But once I got back to Mumbai I got caught up in the whirl of events and appearances I had committed too. And everyday I would log in to my blog with the plan to blog and switch off after a while because nothing seemed right to post about for the first post of 2012. Well today I am determined to break through this blog block. 

And I could not have found a more appropriate topic to post on. 

Valentines Day is almost on us and that means that it will be 16 years to the day I held my husband Shekhars hand for the first time. (Yes I am soppy like that.) I remember some of our earlier Valentines days, I would get so upset because Shekhar neverdid any of the conventional things one would like to be at the receiving end of on the day. But relationships are like recipes, they take their time to reach the perfect results. Today I put Valentines day right up there with Instant coffee, heat and eat food, 2 minute noodles, 30 minute pizza delivery. Just like food is becoming less about enjoyment and more about being unavoidable. Valentines day has come to be a sort of fast food fix - one begins to feel like one is becoming a scrooge like person for not celebrating it. Full of clichés and symbols of love.

But these are not so important. What more important is showing your love everyday. Its in that cup of coffee he wakes you with when you have worked late at night, that smiley he draws with Sriracha on your omelette  when you are stressed out or the garnish he takes extra care to put on your plate to surprise you.In those lucious peach muffins honey drizzled over. And most of those who know me, know that I am utterly, passionately and hopelessly in love with my husband but he is a very private person and does not like too much attention. But he loves his food. He loves my cooking and most importantly he is the wind beneath my wings, the flame under my cooking pots, the olive oil in my pesto, the chilli in my chutney.... (ok. ok I'll stop!)

A while ago family dinner was becoming an endangered activity in our home until I woke up to the smell of sourdough bread baking one Friday morning last year. While I was not looking Shekhar  had given in to a long standing yearning to bake. Inspired I cooked up the best spaghetti and meatballs, ever to go with it that night. And ever since, cooking is something we do together for daily meals as well as more elaborate meals for friends and family. I know I drive Shekhar nuts cooking all sorts of exotic things, getting frustrated when they go wrong and struggle to juggle everything I do so I can get that post out on the blog on schedule. But I have made it my life's work to bring fun and creativity back to everyday cooking and he has been an equal partner in helping me do that. the many cooking projects we get into together that include our friends and family in our love. Because beyond a point a marriage grows to include families. The thing is, Shekhar and I held hands, and we have kept holding them through everything. I truly believe we were Made for each other.

And I am very excited to share that he has agreed to do a couples cooking class with me this Valentines day called Made for Each other in which we will showcase dishes we do well together. Look at our Class Schedule for details on that class here 

I have been mentioning Shekhars breads a lot and many of you have asked for his recipes. So here is his recipe for:

Basic Sourdough Bread Rolls in 4 simple stages

Stage 1: Making a Sourdough starter (10 minutes)

Take 1½ cups of flour (maida) in a large bowl (plastic or glass), and add 1 teaspoon of instant dry yeast. If using Blue Bird yeast (slightly bigger), you may want to add ½ teaspoon more. Make a small well in the middle and add 7/8 cups of water into it.

Mix by moving a (sturdy) fork from the center of the water well outwards in circular motion for around 2 minutes. The end result should be a sticky mess.

Cover the bowl and keep overnight (8-10 hours).

Stage 2: Making the Dough (10 minutes)

In the morning, the dough would have risen into a wet mass with lots of air bubbles. This will be very soft to touch, and sticky to manipulate.

Add another 3 cups of flour (you could do 1 cup maida and 2 cups of whole wheat flour) to the mixture.

Sprinkle another ¼ teaspoon (or ½ teaspoon of Blue Bird) yeast

Sprinkle 1 ½ teaspoon of salt

Mix 2 teaspoons of regular sugar into a bowl containing 7/8 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and 2 tablespoons of milk. Stir briefly.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour the liquids into it. Mix the entire lot again, with a (sturdy) fork, until it starts coming together into soft but crumbly dough.

Pull out the dough out on a lightly powdered flat surface (a kneading bowl or thaali will also do) and start kneading this dough. This can be done by lifting one side of the dough, folding it and pushing it down with your knuckles. Sprinkle maida, as required, to keep the dough from sticking. Repeat this for at least 5-6 minutes until the dough is soft and shiny.

Return the dough to the bowl, cover it, and leave aside for around 10-15 minutes to rest.

Note: Kneading and resting are the most important steps in baking bread. Kneading is required for the gluten in the maida to start its linking process. Resting is required for the yeast create air pockets that help the bread rise.

Stage 3: Shaping the bread (15 minutes)

Pull the dough out on a flat powdered surface. Cut the dough into small equal portions with a knife. Gently, yet firmly, roll each portion into a cylindrical shape that tapers at both ends. Don’t press too hard, or all the air contained in the dough will be released. Place these rolls on a lightly powdered baking tray with enough distance between them to allow them to expand (usually 1-2 inches depending on the size of the roll). Use a knife to slice 6-8, 1-inch long diagonal strips on the top of each roll. Lightly powder the top of the rolls with maida.

Cover the tray with a piece of cloth, and keep aside for 1 hour.

Stage 4: Baking (30 minutes)

Pre-heat the oven (gas/electric oven or OTG) at 220°C for about 15-20 minutes before baking.  Place the tray into the oven quickly and close the lid. For a crusty bread, you should spray a fine film of water into the oven using a water spray at 5 minutes, 6 minutes and 10 minutes. This water should ideally steam quickly, so the oven has to be opened and closed quickly to maintain its temperature.

Bake for 20-22 minutes. The bread should have a nice brown crust on top at the end of the baking process. Remove it from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack for cooling.