Homemade Bread for Taste & Create



















There are a few events in the blogosphere that I try not to miss. One such event is the brainchild of Nicole (aka Myamii) over at For the Love of Food . She is a young mom from the States who has been living in Germany for the past 5 years. I love to visit her site for all the delicious recipes as well as tidbits on how to get more traffic to our own blogs. She even has an on-line store with wonderful kitchen gadgets and gourmet foods. If you haven't had the chance to visit please take the time...you will be glad you did.

The premise of the Taste & Create event is simple... we are paired with another blogger... we choose a recipe from their extensive posts...we prepare the dish and then... blog about it. I love this event because I am able to showcase someone else's blog, a favourite dish or just rave about a blogging friend. The blogosphere is filled with delicious recipes that are piling up waiting for me to try. It's time to get some of them out from the blogosphere and into my kitchen!!!! Taste & Create allows me to to do just that each and every month!!! What could be better!

This is my second installment for this months event. I am paired with 2 special bloggers this month, the second being the talented Aparna at My Diverse Kitchen . Aparna is a stay-at-home mom living in India. She says that as a family they are willing to try any food at least once, providing it is vegetarian and looks appealing enough to eat. In browsing through her blog I have discovered that she loves to make bread, naan, roti, cardamon loaf...you name it. A lot of the Indian spices are still a mystery to me and I just haven't found a source so I opted to showcase her blog with one of her delicious breads.

Aparna says, "This is a bread I bake often. It is very easy to make and doesn’t require any special skills or technique. My daughter and husband call this my “unhealthy” bread. This is because I have a tendency to try and make most of my breads “healthier” by adding whole wheat flour, or bran, or wheat germ, etc.! I have to add that they seem to prefer this “unhealthy” version."

The verdict: This is a very simple bread to make and perfect for the baking challenged like myself. I can see why it would be a recipe that Aparna would go back to time and time again.!!!!!!
**Easy White Bread**

3 cups all purpose flour + flour for dusting
3 T oil
1- ½ tsp active dry yeast
1- ½ tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
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Dissolve the sugar in 1 cup warm water and add the yeast. Keep for about 5 minutes till the yeast froths. Mix the flour and salt together. Add the yeast mixture, oil and enough water to make a soft and pliable dough. Aparan says, "I do this in the food processor and then do a final kneading by hand."

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover and allow to double in volume. Now punch back the risen dough and gently shape into a round. Cut a cross on the top using a sharp knife. (Aparna says. "I do this using a pair of scissors.") Dust the top of the bread with flour. Allow to rise.

Bake at 200C (400 F) for about 30 minutes. If tapped on the top the bread will sound hollow, once it is done. Cool on a rack.

You can find Aparna's original recipe here .