Whole wheat braided Bread ~ Blog Hopping from Veena's Vegnation

Blog Hop has grown to its 3rd week, and all of us are enjoying it. Going through the different blogs one by one, looking for enticing recipes.. Its a wonderful experience all together for us bloggers... Radhika, the mother of this baby has been very dynamic in her approach and work... Thanks Radhika to bring us all together to take this further....Do have a look what others are following this week here


This week I was paired with Veena of Veena's Vegnation... I must say, she has a beautiful collection of recipes from various cuisines. It was difficult to decide one out of them, ... Infact the this one is a combination of two of her recipes...You can find the original recipe here .

I made this braided bread on a sunny Saturday when I was running out of the options and did not want to make something obvious like Roti - Subzi OR Daal -Rice . Since I was looking over Veena's blog, I decided to make this bread. She was right about baking . We often bake when we are feeling blue and low :) But I did some alterations in the filling as I didnt have all the ingredients she asked for. But this filling was as delicious as it could be. Melting in mouth, tasty and filling. It seemed to be the perfect partner for the bread.

Ingredients:  For the Bread
1. 2 cups Whole Wheat flour
2. 1 cup All purpose flour
3. Salt 3/4 Cup
4. Active Dry yeast 3 tsp
5. Sugar 1/2 tsp
6. Oil / Butter 2 tbsp
7. Warm Milk 1/2 cup
8. Warm water 1/2 cup


For the Filling :

1. 1 cup Ricotta Cheese
2. 1 1/2 cup Spinach leaves , chopped
3. 2 onions, chopped

4. 5-6 cloves garlic , minced

5. 1 tsp salt

6. 1 tsp black pepper

7. 1/2 tsp, ginger powder, cinnamon, red chili powder, Oregano each

8. 1 tsp Olive oil

9. 1/2 cup Grated Cheese

10. 1 egg , to glaze on top ( Optional )

Method:

1. Mix yeast with warm water and sugar and keep it aside to froth up. It will take 10-15 min depending on the type of yeast.

2. Sift flour in a bowl with salt. Mix well.

3. Add yeast water, milk and oil/butter to the flour and knead well. You might have to knead for a good 10-12 min to get the dough in the pliable consistency.

4. Keep this dough in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Keep it to rise in a warm place for at least an hour.

5. Meanwhile, prepare the filling.  Heat oil in a pan, fry minced garlic in it on low flame till it turns light brown. Add onions and saute till brown.

6. Add spinach and saute for a min till it wilts.

7. Now, take the pan off the flame, mix Ricotta cheese and stir well. Keep it on flame again and cook for a min on low flame. Keep stirring.

8. Add all the spices and keep side. Please note that there should be no water left out in the filling. It should absolutely be mixed well.

9. Now, after the dough has risen, transfer it to a wooden board to roll. Roll into the oval shape. Make sure that the ends are not too thick and the center is not too thin.

10. Cut the oval dough roll by both sides as shown below. Take care not to make these cuts way too much towards center. They should come in a straight line.

11. Now, pour in the filling in the central line carefully, making sure that it does not exceed the serrations.

12. Fold in the sides one by one over the filling. Be careful not to overlap them.

13. after completing the plaits, brush some egg over the bread to give it Golden glaze after baking.

14. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top for more cheesy bread.

15. Bake it in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 25-30 min till it turns golden brown.

It was sooo tasty .. I could still feel the taste tingling my taste buds.. Loved it ..

Specially for Radhika's Blog- Hop Wednesdays .
Reposting to Kithi's Savory Bakes
Priya's HCC- Baking announced by Smitha 
Vardhini's LGSS  started by Vatsala