July SRC: Soft Beer Pretzels!

by

I checked my email with the SRC assignment while on my way back from Phoenix, on our four hour drive to our small mining town.

As soon as I clicked on the link Jane (our group’s hostess and such a dedicated member) sent me, I was literally bowled over by the ingenuity of the dishes Allesio’s blog had. Seriously it was like reading the menu of some Michelin starred restaurant. Case in point- Dark chocolate eggplant. Seriously, who thinks of that!!

There is no bound to the creativity on his site. But honestly, I was intimidated as hell. Having never worked with half of the ingredients on the site, I couldn’t help it. But at the same time, I was loving the challenge ahead.

Just check his top 24 of 2012 list. Seriously, if you are not intimidated its only because you are a professional chef and even then I won’t blame you if you are taking notes!

Read More →

Whole wheat herbed garlic pull-apart bread

by

Pull apart breads. Don’t you just love them.

They could be sweet. Like Joy the baker’s cinnamon pull apart bread. Or, Kitchen Corner’s blueberry one. Or like the pumpkin one I made.

Or they could be savory.

And the flavor combinations for each are plenty.

Since I have already tried my hand at the sweet version, I thought of going the other way this time.

I tried making a whole wheat herbed garlic and sundried tomato pull-apart bread.

And well, it was AWE-SOME!

Read More →

June Daring Bakers’: Battenberg Cake

by

Being Indian I hate wastage. Of any kind. One of the reasons why I gained weight when I came to US (besides, the cliched that I got married) was that I was so used to finish everything on my plate, whenever we went out to eat, I ended up finishing the ridiculously huge portions of food served in restaurants here. Since we stay 4 hours away from all restaurants, doggy pack or to-go was not an option,  and since I had the habit of not wasting, I ate everything. That’s why this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenged proved to be double the challenge it was.

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

I have missed the last two challenges. Although I did a part of the April challenge, I could not get it posted because I was busy with my in-laws visit. Hopefully I should be able to post the recipe soon. ( I seriously have huge backlog!)

Now, I have been eyeing this cake- the Battenberg cake for a while now, ever since I was introduced to the Great British Bake Off cookbook. I don’t have it yet, but amazon’s site has a preview of the book and in that they show pictures of the cake. Since then it’s been on my mind. So when I saw this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, I knew come hay or sunshine, I would make it.

And make I did. Not one but two.

Read More →