Baking Archives - Dees Platter

Garlic knots

Garlic knots are best during the chilled winter season with your morning or evening tea, and are not something very complicated to bake. Garlic knots is just a fancy name for garlic rolls as instead of giving the dough shape of normal buns, we turn them into the shape of knots. They make for attractive snacks when guests come visiting!

You must be wondering that during this Deepawali festive atmosphere why I am posting garlic knots recipe instead of some traditional sweets?

The reason is that finally after one and a half months my OTG got repaired and I was very eager to bake. First I baked White Sandwich Bread(3) to test the oven and then I decided to bake garlic knots as slowly winter is creeping in. To flavor these buns you can buy garlic butter, but it is very easy to prepare that at home also. Peel a few garlic pods, crush them and sauté with butter. Garlic butter is ready. If using unsalted butter, add salt, and to make it more flavored, add mixed pizza spices. If you are calorie conscious, instead of butter, sauté garlic in olive oil.

You can also check a few more posts on baked snacks in the blog…

Baked Snacks

You can check Basics of baking – bread/buns/rolls (Wheat flour buns with pizza spices-2) for a few tips on baking bread.

Ingredients:

White flour (maida) 1+ 3/4 cup
Milk powder 1/4 cup
Salt 1 tsp
Sugar 1 tbsp
Instant active yeast 3/4 tsp
Water 1/2 cup (can increase or reduce if required)
Butter/oil 2 tbsp
Pizza spices 1/2-1 tbsp (optional)
Garlic butter

Few more tips to follow:

All ingredients, other than water, should be at room temperature.
The temperature of the water should be slightly more than lukewarm but not hot.
Milk powder is added to keep the knots soft. If you are not interested in adding milk powder, omit it and add white flour in the same quantity as milk powder.
Instead of water, dough can be kneaded with milk too.
Instead of white flour, wheat flour can be used, but increase the quantity of water while kneading as wheat flour requires more moisture.
If using dry active yeast, increase the quantity to 1 tsp – and remember, dry active yeast has to be bloomed first before adding in the flour.

Process :

Collect all dry ingredients in a big broad vessel.

Start adding water and collect all ingredients in the shape of dough and knead it for 12-15 minutes. Initially, dough will be wet but kneading will make it smooth. Keep adding butter while kneading and mix it nicely into the dough.

Keep this dough in a big oil/butter greased bowl for first proofing. Brush up the top of the dough with melted butter. Cover the bowl with cling film or a wet clean kitchen towel and keep in a warm place so that the dough rises till it is double in the volume. This process might take 60 to 90 minutes, depending on how hot or cold the kitchen temperature is.

After first proofing, gently punch it to knock out the air.

Dust kitchen counter with some flour and knead the dough just to make it smooth. Roll the dough in the shape of a log and cut it for equal sized knots. You can use weighing scale to get exact measurement. Roll these rolls in same length and give them a knot shape. Remember, after tying the knot join both the open edges by pinching them tightly at the bottom. Keep them in an oil greased baking tray, leaving some distance between each because they are going to puff up nicely. Apply some melted butter on them to avoid drying, cover them, and keep them for second proofing.

The second proofing gets over in 20 to 30 minutes. Preheat oven at 180 degrees, ten minutes before second proofing ends.

Brush knots with garlic butter generously and bake them at 180-185 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or till they are nicely brown on the top and bounce back when pressed. After baking again brush them with garlic butter and relish with hot tea/coffee.

November 9, 2020October 30, 2021

Deeksha Pathak124 Comments

Bun Maska (Raisin Buns)

What is Bun Maska (Raisin Buns) ? Buns filled with raisins, slightly sweet in taste and served with white butter and whipped cream along with kadak chai ki pyali (a cup of strong tea) – what a combo!! I am sure Mumbaikars are very well aware of what I am talking about. These are Irani Cafe special Maska buns or Bun Maska (Raisin Buns) which are served with tea as a snack option and you are supposed to dip the bun in tea and enjoy them!

A few days back I was watching a movie ‘Maska’ on Netflix. It’s a decent one-time watch movie where mother is insisting her son to continue running their family’s traditional restaurant. I got inspired to bake these Bun Maska from this movie. You can try these buns by mixing wheat flour and white flour both or with wheat flour only. Generally kids are not fond of raisins, so they can be substituted with tutti – frutti.

I have a few other posts on buns in the blog, so if you are interested, can take a look at them also….

Wheat flour savoury buns with caramelized onion and carom seeds

Pull apart buns/Dinner bread rolls

Buns

Burger Buns

Sweet milk buns/brioche buns

Hot dog buns

For a few basic guidelines on baking buns and breads, you can check this link also…

Basics of baking – bread/buns/rolls (Wheat flour buns with pizza spices-2)

Ingredients :

Maida 2 +1/2 cups
Instant active yeast 1+1/4 tsp
Sugar 4 tbsp
Butter 4 tbsp
Raisins 1/4 cup
Water 1 cup minus 2 tbsp (reduce or increase 1-2 tbsp if required)
Milk powder 2 tbsp
Butter and whipped cream for filling

Points to remember :

Other than water all ingredients should be on room temperature. Water should be slightly warmer than lukewarm but not hot.

You can use dry active yeast also, but increase that to 1+1/2 tsp. Bloom dry active yeast first before adding in the flour.

Milk powder cannot be substituted with milk. So, if you don’t have milk powder, simply skip it and add equal amount of flour.

Process :

Combine all dry ingredients in a big vessel.

Start adding water and collect all ingredients in the shape of a dough and knead it for 12-15 minutes. It will be wet and sticky because of extra sugar, but will become smooth as you knead. Keep adding butter while kneading and mix it nicely into the dough.

Keep this dough in a big oil/butter greased bowl for first proofing. Brush up top of the dough with melted butter. Cover the bowl with cling film or wet clean kitchen towel. Keep it in a warm place so that the dough rises till it is double in volume. This process might take 60 to 90 minutes depending on how cold or warm your kitchen is.

After first proofing, take out the dough on clean oil greased or floured kitchen counter and gently punch it.

Spread the dough, add raisins, knead it again to make it smooth and cut equal sized buns from the dough.

Roll these buns smoothly like a ball and keep them in an oil greased baking tray, keeping some distance in between because they are going to puff up nicely. Apply some melted butter on them to avoid drying, cover them and keep them for second proofing.

Second proofing gets over in 20 to 30 minutes. Pre heat oven at 180 degrees ten minutes before second proofing ends.

Brush up buns with milk and bake them at 180-185 degree for 20-25 minutes till they are nicely brown on the top and bounce back when pressed.

Take out golden brown buns and brush them with butter when they are hot.

Bun Muska ( Raisins Bun) will be shiny with the touch of butter and will remain soft longer. Transfer the buns to a cooling rack. During the time buns cool down, whip up the cream and keep it ready.

Once buns cool down completely, slice them from the middle.

Don’t they look beautiful and irresistible with raisins!!

Now apply one layer of white butter followed by whipped cream and cover them.

Once again cut them in three or four slices and serve with tea…

Or without tea and enjoy just like that…..

May 5, 2020October 30, 2021

Deeksha Pathak57 Comments

10 Hours Proofed Sandwich Bread

Have you ever heard before 10 hours proofed sandwich bread recipe or overnight proofed sandwich bread in the fridge? Why should I ferment my bread dough for a long 10 to 12 hours if the whole process of bread baking can be completed in 3 hours maximum? Well, sometimes after kneading the dough, you get a call from your friend that she needs your help and you just can’t say no! Or we get a reminder message from the phone that today you had your long awaited appointment with the doctor and can’t afford to miss it. Our daily routine also is so hectic sometimes with multiple chores to finish in the day that we are not able to keep a careful watch on the bread dough and it gets over proofed.

Personally, I don’t like over proofed dough as it gives a strong yeasty smell to bread. So to avoid any such situation, we can proof the dough in the fridge with our convenience for an entire day or night and bake it after 10 to 12 hours. That’s how we will get 10 Hours Proofed Sandwich Bread.

Just in case if you have any doubts about the quality of bread after 10 hours of proofing in the cold temperature of fridge (which is quite contrary to the normal proofing done at a warm place), I will show you the picture of bread and then let you decide if still you are having second thoughts to try this 10 hours overnight proofed sandwich bread recipe.

I loved this simple long proofed bread and honestly speaking, there are no specific technical details needed to try this recipe.

The only thing which you have to take care of is not to add more yeast to the flour.

Remember, that because of the cold temperature of the fridge, fermentation process slows down but it is continuously happening. It will just take longer than proofing the dough in warm temperature.

So no need to worry about the proofing part. Rest of the process is same. After 10 to 12 hours take out the dough from the fridge, let it rest for half an hour so that it can come on to room temperature. Later deflate it, knead it a bit, roll it in a shape of loaf, keep it in the bread tin, cover it for second proofing and then bake – that’s it!!!

So, now if you have a busy schedule also, you can still bake a home-baked sandwich bread for your family.

Just in case you are a newbie in bread baking and not comfortable with this 10 hours fermentation process, you can still try this recipe without keeping the dough in the fridge and follow the normal bread baking process. I have a few more sandwich bread posts – you can check them also…

White Sandwich Bread(1) with active dry yeast

Tri colour sandwich bread

Sweet milk bread

Breads

White Flour Sandwich Bread(4) cylindrical shaped

White Sandwich Bread(3)

Wheat flour Sandwich Bread(3) cylindrical shaped

Garlic Bread

For complete tips on bread baking check the following post and if you still have any questions please feel free to ask…

Basics of baking – bread/buns/rolls (Wheat flour buns with pizza spices-2)

Ingredients :

White flour (maida) 3 cups

Milk powder 1/4 cup

Instant active yeast 1 tsp

Salt 1 tsp

Sugar 1+1/2 tbsp

Oil/butter 2 tbsp

Water 1+1/2 cup (reduce or increase as per requirement)

Bread tin size: width: 10 inch height: 3 inch depth 4 inch

Points to remember :

Except water, all ingredients should be on room temperature.
Water should be slightly warmer than lukewarm but not hot.
Dough might dry up a bit inside the fridge – so to keep the moisture as is, I have used slightly more water than usual to knead the dough. But never follow the water quantity blindly as written in the recipe – just knead the dough slightly more wet than usual and of course as per the absorbing quality of your flour.

Process :

Collect all dry ingredients in a big vessel.

Slowly start pouring water and collecting dry ingredients together in the shape of a dough. Don’t worry about loose or tight consistency of dough at this stage.

Now start pouring remaining water 1 tbsp at a time and knead the dough for 12-15 minutes by adding oil/butter simultaneously.

Initially, kneading will look a lot messy, but slowly dough will become smooth.

Keep the dough in an oil greased bowl for first proofing (bowl should be big enough to have extra space for doubled up dough). Apply some oil on top of the dough to avoid it drying up. Cling wrap the bowl with 3-4 layers and keep it in the fridge overnight for first proofing .

In the morning, grease the bread tin and its cover (if using tin with cover) with oil.

After 10 /12 hours take out the dough bowl from the fridge and let it rest for half an hour so that it can come to room temperature.

Sprinkle some flour on clean kitchen counter or grease it with oil. Take out the dough and deflate it softly.

Knead the dough very gently to make it smooth and spread it in a rectangular shape according to the size of the bread tin. Roll it tightly in the shape of the log.

Seal the sides by pinching them.

Keep the log in your ready bread tin by keeping the seam side down. Apply some oil/butter to it, cover it and keep it for second proofing for 20 to 30 minutes.

Just 10 minutes before the baking, preheat your oven at 185-190 degrees for 10 minutes. Give milk wash to the proofed dough and bake it in a preheated oven at the same temperature for 35 to 40 minutes or till the top of the bread starts becoming brown. You can tap on top of the bread – if it sounds hollow, bread is done!!

If you are using bread tin with cover, then uncover the lid after 35-40 minutes and bake on medium rack with top rod on and with fan for 5-7 minutes more. This extra time will be helpful in getting nice brown colour. Be careful – keep an eye on the baking as you don’t want the top of the bread to turn dark brown.

Temperature of every oven varies – so you should be careful and judge the baking time as per your experience.

Take out the tin from the oven, keep it on a cooling rack and apply butter on the top to keep it soft.

After 5-7 minutes clean the edges of the tin with a knife and take out the bread from the tin and let it cool down completely on the cooling rack. Don’t leave the bread for a long time in the bread tin. The heat of hot bread will turn it soggy from the bottom.

Later cling wrap the loaf and keep it in the fridge for 4 to 5 hours.

Though you can slice the bread once it cools down completely, but keeping in the fridge will settle down its crumbs and you will get amazing slices while cutting with serrated knife!!!

April 14, 2020April 28, 2022

Deeksha Pathak62 Comments

Cake Pops

Cake pops are tiny bite-size cake balls prepared with cake and frosting, and they are the centre of attraction for kid’s during birthday celebrations.

You can even call them Cake Lollipops!!

The best part about making cake pops is that we don’t need special moulds. Homemade cake, homemade icing, sprinklers, chocolate and lollipop sticks… that’s all you need!

Preparing cake pops is a lot of fun and we can involve kids in the whole process.

Kids have vivid imagination and we can let them use their favorite sprinklers, crushed cookies, colors for theme based birthday parties and with colourful royal icing they can draw their favorite cartoon characters on cake pops.

You don’t really have to bake a cake for preparing cake pops – you can use left over cake from the fridge. Usually, for cake pops butter cake is better, but if it is not butter cake then also we can use it along with buttercream frosting or chocolate ganache (truffles consistency). Dark Chocolate Ganache

Preparing Cake Pops is not a difficult task but there are a few points that you need to keep in mind.

Points to Remember:

Cake dough should be chilled while rolling cake pops. Cold dough is helpful in keeping the pop’s shape perfect.
Use measuring spoon to get same sized cake pops.
Before inserting stick in the cake pop, dip the stick in melted chocolate first. It will help cake pop to get glued to the stick.
You can use melted white or dark chocolate or white or dark chocolate ganache to coat cake pops.
Use oil based colours to add colors in white chocolate. Chocolate will seize if you will use water based colours.
After some time melted chocolate will start becoming thick, so heat it again for a few seconds in the microwave.
After rolling cake pops, keep them in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
If you have a big batch of cake pops to prepare, then let the half batch remain in the fridge. It is very important that while dipping pops in melted chocolate they are chilled.
If you want to add two colours in one cake pop, then first dip in one colour, let it dry completely and then dip into another colour.
How and where to keep cake pops? I will give you a very simple solution. Don’t throw away the thermocol sheets within various packets that you get during shopping (online or otherwise). Thick thermocol sheet will hold your pop sticks nicely. If you are preparing cake pops for some celebration, then you can decorate these thermocol sheets too.
If you don’t have thermocol sheet, use your cup cake liners and the job is done!

Ingredients:

Butter cake, Buttercream or Chocolate Ganache (truffles consistency), Sprinklers, white or dark chocolate, oil colours (optional), lollipop sticks, thermocol sheets or cupcake liners.

Process :

Crumble the cake in a bowl.

Add butter cream or chocolate ganache and mix it nicely with cake crumbs.

Cover the bowl with cling wrap and keep it in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours. Later, take out the bowl from the fridge and with the help of measuring spoon take a little quantity of the cake dough and prepare round shaped pops.

Keep these pops in a bowl covered with cling wrap back in the fridge till they are nicely chilled.

To melt chocolate, use microwave or double boiler method. Keep sprinklers ready in different bowls. Take out cake pops from the fridge.

First dip the lollipop stick 1/2 inch in the melted chocolate.

Now insert cake pop in this stick and dip it in bowl of melted chocolate. Let the chocolate drip off a little over the bowl.

If you feel that chocolate coating is very thin, you can do second coating also. Remember that cake pops are chilled, so melted chocolate settles down very fast. Before it becomes dry, coat cake pops with sprinklers of your choice and stick them upright on the thermocol sheet or place them on cupcake liners. Finish all your cake pops in the same way.

Aren’t they glorious and gorgeous!!!

You must be having leftover cake in the fridge from Christmas celebrations. Try these colourful cake pops and welcome 2020!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year !!!

December 31, 2019December 31, 2019

Deeksha Pathak93 Comments

Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake with Condensed Milk

Plain vanilla sponge cake always look great served with all other spread at the occasion of tea parties. I have noticed that if people don’t bake their own sponge cake, they still buy and add in their menu for small get-together celebrations.

My choice is always to serve home-baked cake. Just squeeze out little bit time from your busy schedule, as for eggless cakes you don’t need much work. It is just mixing dry ingredients with wet ingredients and rest of the work will be done by your oven!

This recipe gives you a very rich, decadent butter and condensed milk based cake. Addition of fat in recipes always works wonder with taste and texture. So don’t be surprised if after finishing this delicious cake, you will be asked by your guests to share the recipe.

It is really difficult to save this cake for the next day. But still if you manage to save some, cake will become hard in the fridge as it is a butter cake. So, after taking it out from the fridge, let it come on room temperature or just warm it in microwave for a few seconds.

I have baked this cake in a bundt cake mould. It’s a firm cake and bundt tin holds firm cakes very well and of course a different look makes the cake look attractive. But you can bake it in a regular 8 inch deep or 9 inch round or square cake tin or as two sheet cakes.

It’s a simple recipe with vanilla flavour, but variations in flavour can be done by adding good amount of lemon or orange zest in the batter followed by lemon or orange juice drizzle or some fresh fruits after baking.

I have one more post for eggless vanilla sponge cake in the blog. If you are interested can check this link…

Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake

Before we start the process of baking, just take a look at some simple tips on baking the cake:

All ingredients (except hot water) should be on room temperature.
Check expiry date on the pack of your ingredients before using.
Don’t open the door of the oven for the first 20-25 minutes of baking. Uneven temperature might result in collapsing the cake.
All ovens have different settings, so complete baking time may vary as per your oven’s temperature settings.
Don’t let the cake stay in the tin for a long time as heat of the cake will turn the bottom of the cake soggy.
This cake can be baked in microwave also on convection mode using the same settings as given in this recipe.
If even after completing the baking time also the top does not turn brown, just switch on top rod only and bake for a few more minutes, but keep a sharp eye. If done for a longer period, cake might burn with excess heat or it will be dry.

I have used 250 ml measuring cup.

Recipe credit: DivineTaste by Anushruti

Ingredients :

Maida (all purpose flour) 1+3/4 cup

Baking soda 1 tsp

Baking powder 2 tsp

Powdered sugar 3 tbsp

Butter ( melted) 100 gm

Condensed milk 400 gm

Water 3/4 cup

Vanilla essence /extract 2 tsp

Additional 2 tbsp hot water

Process:

Grease and dust baking tin and keep it ready. Preheat oven at 175 degrees for 10 minutes.

Collect all wet ingredients in a bowl except hot water (yellow colour is due to melted butter).

Sieve and collect all dry ingredients in another bowl.

Slowly add wet mix in dry ingredients and simultaneously keep on mixing it with wire whisk. In the end, add 2 tbsp hot water. Mix it properly in the batter. Be careful not to over-mix.

Pour the batter in a cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the sweker or tooth pick comes out clean. Baking time may vary as ovens have different temperature settings.

Keep the tin on a wire rack till it cools down and you are comfortable to hold the tin. Clean the edges with the help of a knife if using normal baking tin and un-mould the cake. Let the cake cool down completely before you serve it.

November 29, 2019November 29, 2019

Deeksha Pathak60 Comments

Eggless Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake lifts up my mood if I am depressed. And if I am happy, then also chocolate cake is there to celebrate. It is favourite for kid’s birthday party, best for dessert option and the best companion while you are alone in the house and lazing around, reading a book or just watching tv.

Basically, chocolate cake can be baked for any occasion! Yes, you add on a few extra calories but then do some jogging, walking, or if there is no time for exercise in your busy schedule, then just don’t use lift while getting down from the office building, and if possible while climbing too.

So, now I guess you are all set to bake chocolate cake and give yourself a delectable treat 😋😋😋😋.

This recipe will give you a very moist chocolate cake. It is so good that you might not wait for any frosting. Just let it cool down and keep your plate ready!!

But if you are interested in a tall cake from this recipe, I would suggest you not to use this recipe. For tall cakes, we need butter as butter makes the cake sturdy.

The reason I am more in favour of oil cakes is that after keeping the cake in the fridge, it does not become hard. It remains soft and moist for 3 to 4 days.

Initially, for trial, I had baked this cake with only half of the recipe. My daughter isn’t fond of any icing on the cake (teenagers are difficult to please). She loved this cake a lot and shared it with her friends. I got wonderful feedback from her friends too!!

So I decided to go ahead with complete recipe. But now I chose to bake in two 6 inches tin, as my husband and I love frosting with chocolate cake a lot!! Ganache frosting – Dark Chocolate Ganache – compliments chocolate cake a lot. But you can go ahead with your choice of frosting of whipping cream, chocolate mousse etc….

So this recipe is kind of one bowl cake recipe where we just take out the cake from the tin, smear it with frosting and give ourselves a delicious treat 😋.

This cake can be baked in one 9 inches tin or two 7 inches tin. The cup I use for measurement is 250 ml.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour (Maida) 1+3/4 cup
Granulated sugar 1 cup (after measuring powder it)
Baking soda 1 tsp
Cocoa powder 1/4 cup
Instant coffee powder 1 tsp
Salt 1/8 tsp
Oil 1/2 cup
Milk 1/2 cup
Hot water 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Vinegar 1 tbsp

Tips:

All ingredients should be on room temperature, except hot water.
Check expiry date before using your ingredients.
Use good quality cocoa powder.
Sieve dry ingredients 4-5 times for eggless cakes. It helps in keeping the flour light and airy.
Do not open oven door until your cake has completely risen, otherwise cake might sink due to variation in room temperature.
Don’t do over-mixing of the batter.
After baking if the top of the cake has slight crust, don’t worry. It will become soft after cooling.
Don’t transfer the cake on a plate while taking it out from the tin. Top layer might stick to the plate as cake will be still hot. Always transfer on a wire rack.

Process:

Grease and dust baking pans. If interested, you can use parchment paper also at the bottom of the pan.

I have used two 7 inch baking pans.

Heat 1/2 cup water and add Instant coffee powder, mix it and keep it separate. Preheat oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.

Spread newspaper on kitchen counter and sieve all dry ingredients. Using newspaper is not compulsory, but I find it very convenient if I have to sieve 4-5 times.

Transfer this sieved flour to a big bowl.

Collect all wet ingredients in another bowl. Just remember to add vinegar in the end and mix everything.

Pour this wet mix over dry ingredients slowly and simultaneously keep mixing with wire whisk. Don’t do over-mixing.

Pour this batter in ready tins, tap the tins 3-4 few times and keep them in preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.

As each oven is different baking time might vary. (check tip no 5) Check the cake by inserting toothpick – if it comes out clean, cake is done.

Take out the tins from the oven and let them cool down on cooling rack. Clean the edges of the tin with the help of a knife and transfer cakes to a wire rack. Remove parchment paper and let the cakes cool down completely.

You can enjoy this delicious moist chocolate cake just like that….

Or frost it with dark chocolate ganache..

and relish your slice!!

November 15, 2019November 19, 2019

Deeksha Pathak43 Comments