norwegian cooking: Stuffed Masala Braided Bread ..a detailed explanation

Stuffed Masala Braided Bread ..a detailed explanation

Hi Friends!!!!

I am very, very, very happy today posting this bread. For those who are regular readers will surely understand my happiness….for those who are new to my space and me, I must tell you that I had a huge fear working with the yeast and I was trying hard to come over it by trying simple things which I have posted earlier and now I can say I have finally won over it.

This was my first attempt at braiding the bread and my feelings were a mixed bag…I was quite nervous and at the same time excited too. Nervous as I was going to handle the yeast again and excited that I was trying a braided bread.

I have seen many braided breads in the blogging world and I personally love to eat them. Once in a while I do get the stuffed braided bread from the bakery Grand Plaza here, as my kids love it. Every time I would buy it, I would tell myself that I have to try this one day. Finally the day came and I made an attempt to bake this.

My first step surely was to proof the yeast as I rarely use it, so wanted to confirm that it was active. So I set aside all the ingredients on the platform to bring them at room temperature and proofed the yeast…and it failed. I was disappointed and was wondering what to do when I suddenly remembered I had another pack of yeast which I had not opened, so used that and started to proof the yeast again but this time I did it extremely cautiously taking all due precautions, so used my cooking thermometer and confirmed that the temperature of water was around 100-115F and then I added the sugar and the yeast. In five minutes I could see the yeast frothing up and I grinned….my first baby step towards the bread was successful finally.

After this hurdle things went quite smoothly and in a few hours time I had a beautifully braided, moist and soft stuffed bread. I chuckled looking at the final product and surely had a big grin on my face and I sent S a message…finally I did it….Guess! S kept guessing and I asked him to guess more. As I type this post I have sent him a clue ‘yeast’ and still waiting for his reply. I am sure he will be equally excited to see this bread.

Ingredients for Bread

1.5-2 cups sifted APF

1 egg

1/8 cup butter

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tbsp dry active yeast

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup luke warm water

also an egg white for egg wash

For the stuffing

1 onion finely chopped

1/4 cup corn

1/4 cup capsicum

1 potato boiled

few tbsp grated mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp mixed herbs

1 tbsp red chili flakes

1 garlic pod (Chinese) finely chopped

2 tsp oil

salt to taste

a dash of lime juice

Method Of The Stuffing

Heat oil and add the garlic.

Now add the onions and saute. Add the corn and cook for 2 –3 mins.

Add the spices, salt to taste, also add the potatoes and capsicum. Mix thoroughly. Cool it ,the stuffing is ready to use.

Method for Bread Dough

First proof the yeast. Microwave the water for 30 seconds and add sugar and yeast to it. Let it stand for 5-10 mins till it froths.

Put the bread dough ingredients into the food processor and knead the dough. I used about 1.25 cups of flour initially. This process can be done using hands too.

Remove the dough from the processor and flour the platform and knead the dough again for about 6-7 mins. My dough was quite sticky so I added about 1/4 cup more of APF gradually till the dough was still sticky but not sticking to hand and floor. The pics will help you understand clearly. Do not add excess of flour else the dough will not rise properly.

Grease a bowl and the dough with little oil put the dough in the bowl and cover it with a cling film. Let it rise for an hour or more till it doubles in volume. I preheated my oven at 40C and kept the dough in it to rise, so in approx one hour the dough had doubled.

To check that the dough has risen completely, press the dough, if it does not rebound back, it’s done. Have a look, one can see the depression in the dough where I pressed it, indicating that the dough was ready to use.

Method Of Making Stuffed Braided Bread

Remove the dough to a floured surface and punch it down to release the air trapped and make a ball and flatten it. Roll it into a rectangular shape of about 9”long and 6” broad and thickness 0.5mm. Mine did not become a perfect rectangle.

Leaving a few centimeters from each side, place the stuffing in the centre. Now spread the cheese over it.

Leaving an inch from one side, make slanting cuts on either side at equal distance.

One can see the triangular piece of dough on the right side, cover it from the top and cross the sides like a braid.

Continue braiding the cut sides. And finally at the last tuck the edges under the bread. The braiding can be done directly on the baking sheet too.

Lift gently and place it on a baking sheet and let it rise again. The second rising is faster than the first one and takes about half an hour. Meanwhile cover the bread with a wet cloth to avoid drying.

Apply egg wash or a milk wash and bake in a preheated oven at 190C for 15-20 mins till the outer crust develops a golden brown color. Do not let the color deepen a lot as the crust turns hard otherwise.

Remove it on a cooling tray.

Cut into slices and serve. Else grill with some butter and then serve.

Linking it back to Vegetarian Foodie Fridays #18

sending this to Neha’s Kids Menu Event as this bread is a complete meal in itself. It has veggies providing minerals and vitamins, cheese giving proteins and fats and the bread itself is a rich source of carbohydrates.