Pepper 'n Spice

In French, the toast is called pain perdu which means lost bread. It implies that leftover, stale bread is turned into this eggy toast. In my sweet version, I added a dash of cinnamon and a smidgeon of shredded coconut. The constituents of the gypsy bread.. Sourdough oats bread - 4 slices Organic brown eggs - 1 Cinnamon, powdered - a pinch Coconut flakes - a tad Olive oil, extra virgin -  3 tsps The process to arrive at the bombay toast... Break egg and whisk it with cinnamon and coconut flakes.  Heat a wide, flat saucepan and dribble oil. Tilt the pan so that the oil spreads to the sides. Dip bread slices in the eggy combination and place them gently on the hot oil. Cook on low flame for 5 minutes. Flip sides and toast for another 5 minutes more. Serve the palatable German toast with a touch of honey. Barbara Davis's "When never comes" is an emotional story of the life of Christy-Lynn. She grew up in poverty with an alcohol and drugs addicted mom. She runs away from that...

 Again, oatmeal wins (100g in) :-) My daughter wanted a cake, so I transferred some of the bread batter  into cupcake covers. And announced that I had baked pumpkin cake ;-)  The mini cakes were done in 20 minutes. And the loaf cake took another 10 minutes more..

So, I have converted the  sourdough pizza recipe  to one with oats too (100g oats flour and 198g of all-purpose flour). And it turned out well. Hope you  like too as much as we loved it :-) The integrals of the toppings are carrot, pumpkin, cabbage, green capsicum, corn and chicken.

Effortless protein packed breakfast! The fascinating parts of the toast are.. Sourdought oats bread - 3 or 4 slices Tuna - 1/2 can Green capsicum - 1/4 Celery - 1 stalk with leaves Mozarella cheese - 3 or 4 slices Olive oil - 2 tsps The enchanting procedure is.. Sprinkle oil on a saucepan. Toast both sides of bread slice. Place flakes and chunks of tuna on toast. Then top with minced celery and a small piece of capsicum. Top off with a slice of cheese. Transfer back to pan until the cheese softens and melts. Loved the classy tuna nosh! Hope you do too.

Success!!! I finally converted a  sourdough banana bread recipe  to one with oatmeal. Of course, the 100g sourdough part is still refined flour (I haven't yet had the courage to do a trial run on that). But this oatmeal banana bread came out unimaginably amazing; soft and moist with a surprise strong banana flavor here and there.  Also it took longer to bake than the one with refined flour....about 75 minutes. After the first 35 minutes, tent the bread with a tin foil (so that the top of the bread doesn't burn). After the baking time, take out of oven and cool on a wire rack. Slice after half an hour. :-)

This exceptionally easy breakfast dish is also called eggy bread. In India, it is called Bombay toast, a name coined by the Mumbai street vendors. It can be sweet and sugary with toppings of jam, cream and fruits like strawberry, banana. It can also be made spicy and savory, with salt and pepper and served with ketchup and sausages. We have a local coffeeshop cum bakery called French Toast where their specialties are just this. It was one of our favorite haunts pre-pandemic times. The mystical ingredients are.. Sourdough oats bread - 5 slices Organic brown egg - 1 Honey - 1 tsp Cinnamon powder - a little more than pinch Milk - 2 Tbsp Olive oil - 1 Tbsp Whisk egg, milk, honey and cinnamon.  Slice bread into small pieces (if you want to. I did, so that everyone gets an equal number).  Heat a saucepan with oil. Dip the slices in the eggy mixture and gently place on the pan. After about 5 minutes on low heat, flip the slices. Pan fry until both sides are evenly cooked. To set the ...

"Set your life on fire. Seek those who can fan your flames." - Rumi Pakoda is an Indian dish that is usually deep-fried. But I did a shallow fry with minimal oil. If you have chickpea flour, you can make a pakoda out of almost anything. I had some leftover sourdough bread, so why not. The batter is made from.. Chickpea flour (besan) - 1 cup Semolina (rava) - 2 Tbsp Salt - 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder - 1/2 tsp Water - 1/2 cup Combine the dry ingredients. Add water, little by little, until the batter is neither too thick or too loose. Heat a saucepan with just enough olive oil for shallow frying. Dip the bread slices in the batter and gently place on the sucepan. Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, before flipping. Again cook for 10 minutes or until both sides are evenly cooked and browned. The pakodas with a pressed leaf...done by my daughter :-)

 This is an extension of the basic sourdough bread recipe . I replaced wheat flour with oats flour and added garlic bread seasoning along with salt while kneading the dough. So, 120g of oats flour and 224g of all-purpose flour, the rest remaining the same. Also, for a different touch, I sprinkled a little sesame seed on the top just before baking. These are pics of some plants (the top one is a bougainvillea) in my neighbor aunty's home.

A twist to the usual crumpets  for today's breakfast....by adding spring onions (leaves, onions and all), minced green chili, shredded cabbage, italian seasoning, pink rock salt crushed and pepper. Hubby and daughter loved the crisp crumpets with all the different ingredients.

It's time to take out the starter for my once a week sourdough baking. I read somewhere that to keep the starter active (since its in the refrigerator now), we need to feed it at least once a week, otherwise it has to be kept in the freezer. So it's bread today. This recipe adapted from KAF has minimal oil and no artificial leavening agent. Except for the fact that it is "white bread", it is hundred time's more healthy than a bakery bought white bread. I would only suggest that you combine with a spread or egg if you want to offset the slight sour taste. So the ingredients for this wonderful bread are.. Sourdough (ripe) - 220g All-purpose flour - 301g Wheat flour - 43g Water (at room temperature) - 164g Rock salt, crushed - 1 and 1/2 tsp Olive oil - 1 Tbsp + for brushing the loaves In a large bowl, combine starter, flours and water.            Mix well, until it forms a cohesive dough (not too sticky or too dry). Cover with a kitchen towel. Let it rest for...

Uthapppam is a breakfast dish made from dosa batter. Unlike the crisp thin dosa, uthappam is thick and has onions, tomatoes and chili. I saved up my 3 days sourdough discard just for this. The green and clear glass bowl is a part of the kivi set by Finnish designer Pertti Santalahti for Humppila in the late 70's.  Ingredients are : Sourdough - 527 g Onions - 2 medium, peeled Green chili - 1 Salt - 1 tsp Pepper - 1/4 tsp Mint leaves - a bunch Olive oil - for brushing the pan Combine all the ingredients.  Warm a saucepan. Brush oil. Drop scoops of batter. Cook for a few minutes. Flip. Cook until both sides are lightly browned. Recipe inspiration - my hubby

The banana bread was very moist and nice with my evening cup of tea. Mom had bought a variety of bananas - robusta, njalipoovan, palayankodan and nendra pazham. I waited a day for them to ripen. The recipe recommends overripe bananas, but ripe ones are good enough too. The cobalt blue spatter glass bowl and wooden knives were gifted to my hubby by his Swedish colleague. I am in awe of its beautiful finish.  Ingredients for the bread are... Wet ingredients : Ripe banana - 375 g, weighed with the skin on (3 medium size) Organic jaggery - 200 g Vanilla essence - 1 and 1/2 tsp Organic eggs - 2 Sourdough - 100 g Dry ingredients : All purpose flour - 250 g Salt - 1/4 tsp Baking soda - 1 and 1/2 tsp Olive oil - 125 ml Milk - 60 ml Mash bananas with the back of a fork. Add jaggery and vanilla extract. Mix well. Add eggs one by one, stirring after each. Add starter. Stir to combine. It is okay if there are some small banana lumps. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the dry in...

Pizza is a savoury snack. The sourdough recipe recommends 2 to 4 hours for proofing. But my daughter was so enthusiastic and eager, that she was after me to bake the pizza as soon as possible. She managed to be patient for 3 hours. Luckily the dough too had risen well, thanks to my active sourdough starter. The best thing of sourdough is that one has to add very little additives like yeast or baking powder or baking soda, even sometimes none of these. So it is tremendously healthy. I omitted yeast in this recipe, yet the dough doubled in bulk in the prescribed timeframe. I added paneer, beans and zucchini too. Before baking. Ingredients for the pizza dough are : Sourdough - 227 gms Lukewarm water - 113 gms Alll purpose flour - 298 gms Salt - 1 tsp Olive oil - for greasing dough Tomato pasta sauce  Topping options : Onion Yellow, red and green bell pepper Yellow and green zuccchini Carrot Beans Mushrooms Paneer, frozen Corn, frozen Celery Olives, pitted Oregano, dr...

Crumpets are an English breakfast or snack item. Its an easy way to use discard as it requires only sourdough, salt, jaggery and a pinch of baking soda. Tastes swell with honey. My daughter says that its almost like pancakes. We also tried a savoury combination of crumpets and spicy omelette; it was great. Its a healthy carbohydrate breakfast. Ingredients for the crumpets are : Sourdough - 227 gms Organic jaggery - 1 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Baking soda - 3/8 tsp Options to add to batter Pepper Mint leaves Onions Olive oil - for brushing pan Combine starter, salt, jaggery and baking soda.  Heat a saucepan. Brush with oil. Pour scoops of the batter. After a few minutes, flip. Cook until lightly browned on both sides. Recipe ref : (KAF)  https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-crumpets-recipe

Popovers look like cupcakes, but they are much more lighter and airy. They are a nice treat with jam or honey. Ingredients for popovers are : Sourdough - 113 gms Lukewarm milk - 227 gms Organic eggs - 3 Salt - 3/4 tsp All purpose flour - 120 gms Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp Organic jaggery - 1/2 tsp Combine the ingredients. Do not overmix, its okay to have some lumps.  Pour batter in muffin cups. Preheat oven to 220C. Bake for 5 minutes, it will start to puff up. Turn down oven temperature to 190C and bake for 15 more minutes. Recipe ref : (KAF)  https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-popovers-recipe

Sourdough has been a revelation for me because it is sans any artificial leavening agents like yeast, baking powder and baking soda. It is fermented naturally by the yeast and lactobacilli in the air in my home. A mix of flour and water kept in a container in my kitchen became the base for all my sourdough recipes. It is called a starter and takes about a week to take hold. I have been on a sourdough baking spree ever since my homegrown starter became ripe. Today is biscuit day. Eventhough the recipe called for a pinch of baking powder, I avoided it and the biscuits came out fine. They were crisp on the outside, but surprisingly soft inside. We dunked them in our dinner soup. Ingredients for the biscuits are : Onion - 1, medium size, peeled Organic jaggery - 25 gms All purpose flour - 120 gms Salt - 3/4 tsp Oregano, dried - 2 Tbsp Olive oil - 20 gms Sourdough - 227 gms Thinly slice the onion.  In a saucepan on medium heat, add 1 Tbsp oil. Add onion and jaggery. Saute until they...

Cinnaomon buns or kanelbulle are popular in Sweden during fika, which is the coffee and snack break. My hubby used to have fika in his office every Friday. He and his colleagues took turns to bring the snacks. We used to buy our fika snacks from the rustic Broder Jakob store in Kolstergatan, Lund. Their kanelbulle had a bit of cardamom in it too. Sometimes, we used to get them from Mormors Bageri. I remember the day I landed in Sweden, my hubby bought me a princesstarta to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. It is the traditional princess cake, and there began my love with marzipan. I then discovered the amazing Danish Anthon Berg chocolates - with fruit, liquor and marzipan. Ingredients for the dough are : Sourdough (ripe) - 227 gms Lukewarm milk - 170 gms Organic egg - 1 Organic jaggery - 50 gms Olive oil - 10 gms All purpose flour - 383 gms Salt - 1 and 1/2 tsp Ingredients for the cinnamon filling : Organic jaggery - 159 gms All purpose flour - 28 gms Cinnamon, powdered - 1 Tb...

Cinnamon is a celebrated spice. In Sweden, Cinnamon bun day is celebrated on October 4th. In Denmark, if you are unmarried at 25, you are doused with cinnamon on your birthday. This tradition is probably because is in the olden days, spice salemen used to travel a lot and did not stay long in one place. So they could not settle down with a partner. And if you are unmarried at 30, the Danes would cover you with pepper. Ouch! Ingredients for the bread are : For the dough : Sourdough - 113 gms All purpose flour - 361 gms Organic jaggery - 1 Tbsp Salt - 1 and 1/4 tsp Organic egg - 1 Olive oil - 10 gms Lukewarm water - 152 gms For the filling : Organic jaggery - 50 gms Cinnamon - 1 and 1/2 tsp All purpose flour - 2 tsp Organic egg - 1 Raisins - 74 gms Combine all dough ingredients. Knead by folding like a business letter to get a smooth dough.  Grease dough and place in a bowl. Cover with a kitchen cloth. Keep aside to double in bulk, about 2 hours. Gently deflate. Transfer to a light...

My daughter loved the pancakes so much that she took on the responsibility of making the whole of the second batch on our induction stove. She wanted to make perfect round ones. Have the pancakes with honey, to tide over the sourness.   I replaced jaggery for sugar, crushed pink rock salt for salt and olive oil for butter. The overnight sponge bubbles up, so make sure you put it in a container that is big enough to contain the rise, else it will spill over. I made the pancakes in 3 batches, you get around 20 mini pancakes in one set.  Picture credits : My daughter Ingredients for pancakes are : For the overnight sponge : Sourdough - 241 gms All purpose flour - 241 gms Organic jaggery - 28 gms Buttermilk - 454 gms Organic eggs - 2 Crushed pink rock salt - 3/4 tsp Olive oil - for brushing Combine all the sponge ingredients in a large bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest at room temperature for 12 hours or overnight.  After 12 hours, mix the sponge. I se...

Foccacia is an Italian flat bread. At one time, I was baking this almost every day just so that my daughter could try out her focaccia art designs.   Sourdough (ripe) - 170g Water, lukewarm - 170g All-purpose flour - 360g Olive oil - 37g + extra for pan and for top of focaccia Salt - 1/2 Tbsp Dried oregano Dried rosemary Olives Pink rock salt Method : In a large bowl, mix starter and water. Add flour, salt and oil. Mix. Knead by hand for 12 to 15 minutes (by folding it like a letter, then moving it clockwise, folding again), until dough is smooth. Coat the dough with oil. Place in a bowl. Cover with kitchen towel. Let it rise for an hour. Gently fold dough over 4 or 5 times (by folding it like a letter, then moving it clockwise, folding again). Let it rise for 1 hour. In the baking pan, place a baking sheet. Rub oil on it. Place dough in it and turn it over to coat with oil. Gently stretch the edges of the dough so that it reaches the corners. Cover with...