Another one from classic breads and buns. This time I felt ready to try out the breads which were shown among 'the more care needed' section. The monkey bread looked appealing in the picture but I have given up eggs (I thought for good!) and so I was a little hesitant. My son asked me why I did not want to make it, and when I told him the reason, he reminded me that except me all of them do eat eggs! That did it! I made this one for them.
Ingredients:
14g dry active yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup milk
60g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
4-5 cups flour (I used 21/2 cups maida and 21/2 cups whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg lightly beaten
50g butter melted (Extra for the dip)
1/2 cup currants / raisins / tutti-fruity
Method:1. Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Cover and keep aside till frothy.
2. Heat the milk, butter and sugar in a small pan till the butter melts. The milk should be warm and not hot.
3. Sift 4 cups of flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast, milk mixture and beaten egg. Mix thoroughly until well combined. It will be an extremely sticky mixture. Add another 1/2 cup flour and make a soft dough. Mine was still sticky and clung to my fingers as I have shown here. The picture shook a little but you can make out how it is.
4. Place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover airtight and leave to rise. Meanwhile you could do your shopping like I did. Returned back in about 2hrs. and found that the dough had beautifully risen as shown here.
5. Punch the dough and knead for a minute. Pull small lime sized balls apart and shape them round. The dough is no longer sticky but it still pulls.
6. Combine the extra butter with brown sugar and currants / raisins till the sugar melts.
7. Dip each ball into the glaze to coat.
8. Arrange the balls in 2 or 3 layers in any prepared bundt or tube cake tin.
9. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. The balls will double in volume so one has to select the tin accordingly. Leave margin for the bread to rise while baking. It touched the top in my case.
10. Pre-heat oven to 210 deg. Cel. and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce to 180 deg. Cel. and bake further for 35 to 40 minutes until the bread top is browned. (Mine got almost burnt - I put it into the oven quite some time after dinner and started feeling drowsy soon. So I tried increasing the oven temp. since the slight browning had already started. This is what haste does! Next time I shall cover it with foil.)
11. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes before turning onto a rack. Leave to cool completely covering carefully with the pan again so that the bread does not come apart (It doesn't but no harm in taking the precaution).
12. Serve after inverting. My son enjoyed pulling it apart. I drizzled 2tbsp. of the reserve butter glaze over the bread. The burning was only on the top. Otherwise it was really nice looking.
It is a very tasty and sweet bread and can be served at any time. No accompaniments needed. The book says its a North American bread and the name relates to the unusual shape of the bread. It also says that the bread stays upto 5 days in an airtight container or freezes well for upto 1 month. Mine did not require that. It got over the day it was served ;) (I served it the next day after leaving it overnight to cool).
Since I have no further words of praise for the bread (book rather!)(I end up saying the same things because each recipe from this book has been a winner!!), I leave it to you to look the chunks here, and decide for yourself.
I have tried a better photo essay this time. Hope it is a good one. Criticisms are welcome as long as it is a learning experience for me. Please do let me know on the photography aspect too.
