Creamy Braided Bread

These are the super soft yet tasty bread as it's produced by the cream, milk and butter. I know it's a bit unhealthy as its contain lots of fat in there. Well, I've promised to myself will not make this so often. I've given away a loaf for my friend and left one for our breakfast.

This was my first attempt on making a braided bread, it looks very ugly. Unlike the one I read from the recipe book of 孟老师的100道面包. But, I'll try to make better next time if I found a chance to give away a loaf again :P

Other than the appearance, it taste really good with the soft texture and buttery flavour.

Recipe:

(A) 200g bread flour / 30g sugar / 1/4 tsp salt / 18g egg yolks / 3g yeast / 100g cream / 40g milk / 20g butter

(B) For the crumble toppings: 30g sugar powder / 50g plain flour / 5g milk powder / 40g cold butter

How I made it:

1. Mix ingredients (A) except butter at low speed using a dough hook mixer, then turn to medium speed until it become a smooth dough.
2. Add in the butter and knead with low speed until the butter combine with the dough. Turn to medium speed continue the kneading process until it become a smooth and elastic dough.
3. Place the dough into a lightly grease bowl and cover with cling wrap to proof for 80 minutes.
4. While waiting for the dough, mix the ingredients (B) with finger tips until it become crumbly texture. Set aside and ready to use.
5. Divide the dough into 6 portions and round them into small balls. Let them rest for 15 minutes.
6. Roll each dough into longish shape about 28cm and form a braiding. Tighten up both side of the dough and proof for 30 minutes.
7. Egg wash the doughs and sprinkle over some crumble on the doughs. Bake at 180'C preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.

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Low fat Dhahi Vada

Can you say no to low fat dhahi vadas? I cannot. When I first saw this recipe on Red chilli's blog (click here for the recipe), I thought it was a great idea to make dhahi vadas using kuzhi paniyaram pan. I bookmarked it immediately. Today I saw this recipe on Laavanya's blog (click here for the recipe). I couldn't stop myself from trying it out. This method hardly consumes any oil. But there is no compromise on taste. Vadas come out as soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside as deep fried ones. Many thanks to Red chills -the creator of low fat urud dal vadas :) and Laavanya for reminding me of the same. I combined both their recipes.

Ingredients:
To soak in water for 2 hrs and grind into a smooth paste adding little water(about 3tbsp)
Urud Dal-1 cup
Yellow mung dal-1/2 cup
Red chilli(optional)-1
Cashews-10

Other ingredients:
Green chilli-1 chopped finely
Ginger chopped-1/2 tsp
Salt
Hing-a pinch
Curry leaves-a few
Coriander leaves-a handful chopped
Pepper powder-1/4 tsp

For yogurt sauce:
Yogurt-2 cups
Salt
Red chilli powder- a pinch to sprinkle on top
Garam masala powder- a pinch to sprinkle on top
Coriander leaves-to garnish

Method:
Grind the soaked dals with little water to a smooth paste.
Add rest of the ingredients. Heat kuzhipaniyaram pan and put 2-3 drops of oil in each hole. Using a laddle, pour the batter on each hole. Drizzle 1 drop of oil on top of the vadas. Cover with a lid and let it cook on low flame for 2-3 minutes. Flip over and cook for 2 minutes or until they are done.

Mix all the ingredients listed under "ingredients for yogurt sauce". Tamper mustard seeds in oil and add it to yogurt sauce. Poke tiny holes on the vadas using a pin(this step is optional). Drop them in the yogurt sauce 1 hour before serving.


Note: You can grind coconut and green chilli together and add it to yogurt sauce for enhanced taste.
As Laavanya did, you can dunk the vadas in hot water, gently squeeze extra water and then put them in yogurt sauce.
Or you can even enjoy just plain vadas with coconut chutney.