Zucchini & Coconut Bread with Coconut Rum Lime glaze

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Zucchini & Coconut Lime Bread

The very talented Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin started The Secret Recipe Club (or TSRC, here on) a while back. I know! Doesn’t it sound so cool and fun! Well, it is! The idea behind TSRC is simple. Each participating blogger is assigned one of the other participating blogs (much like a Secret Santa). No one reveals whose blog they have, they just visit, pick a recipe, and make it! My assigned blog this month was Suz’s Thru The Bugs on My Windshield.

Now, the moment I clicked on Suz’s blog, I knew what I wanted to make. Because the first recipe itself caught my eye! Now, I have to tell you, recently I have this craving for everything coconut. The list includes coconut chocolates, Indian dishes with coconut like the Kerala cauliflower dish I recently made and Pina Colada (yes, alcohol can never be left behind, can it!). So when I saw Suz’s recipe for coconut banana bread which was topped with coconut lime sauce (coconut lime sauce- who can resist that!) , I was sold.

Coincidentally, Suz tried this recipe for her last month’s TSRC blog hop. Well, Suz and I get attracted to the same sweet things, I guess! Besides this recipe, Suz who lives with her Mountain Man, has a lot of other good recipes that I am tempted to try and have bookmarked, including her Chicken Asparagus Penne Pasta salad, her never-fail Pie crust and Amanda’s Cantaloupe Quick Bread. Do check her blog out, guys (she makes her own homemade vanilla extract- yup, she is that good!) I did a slight variation to the recipe. Though I would have loved to try the recipe with bananas, my stomach just can’t digest it anymore. It’s sad, really, it is, especially at times like these! I used to love banana bread and to have coconut in it, ah! How good would that have been! Sigh! Well, some things you just can’t help, can you. So, instead of banana, I thought of using zucchini. The substitution worked really well, more than what I expected. The only problem, I feel, some might have is that since I took out the banana, some of the sweetness also went away with it. V found the sweetness perfect, and with the glaze you don’t miss the sugar, but if you like your stuff sweet, you should up the sugar amount. Another reason why the sweetness might have been off the mark was that I did not realise that my stock of sugar was low, and found out only when I started mixing everything up.

Now, not that I need a reason to make Pina Coladas, but this was a perfect time to make some! So, there I was, sipping my Pina Colada and biting into my take on Suz & Krista’s coconut banana bread, with this song playing on my mind.

Yes I like Pina Coladas
And getting caught in the rain
I’m not much into health food
I am into champagne
I’ve got to meet you by tomorrow noon
And cut through all this red-tape
At a bar called O’Malley’s
Where we’ll plan our escape.

Zucchini & Coconut Lime Bread

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Mark Bittman’s No-Work Bread

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Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread | The Novice Housewife

Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread | The Novice Housewife Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread | The Novice Housewife
A mother is a person who seeing there

are only four pieces of pie for five people,

promptly announces

she never did care for pie.

~Tenneva Jordan

I read this quote a few days back and found it so true. It sums up every mother so well! And especially mine!

Happy Mother’s Day mom! I hope you know how much you mean to me.

Love you and sorry for all the trouble I keep giving you!

 You will always be the best human being for me.

Hope one day I can sacrifice my piece of pie for you. Till then, here’s a whole bread for you!

Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread | The Novice Housewife

I recently downloaded Mark Bittman’s iPhone app, How to Cook Everything. And, the first recipe that caught my eye was Jim Lahey’s No- Work Bread.  Quoting Bittman, who used to write the food column The Minimalist for the New York Times, the introduction for this bread goes as follows:

This innovation- the word “recipe” does not do the technique justice- came from Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery in NYC. Jim has created a way for home cooks (and not even ones who are serious bakers) to nearly duplicate an artisan bakery loaf, with a crackling crust, open-holed crumb, light texture, and fantastic flavor. All without kneading, fancy ingredients, or special equipments.

Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread | The Novice Housewife

Bittman’s description is bang on target. The beauty of this bread- it needs no kneading- you just mix everything together- sit it out in the refrigerator or outside if the temperatures are cool- take it out the next day, shape into a ball and let it bake! And you have a crusty, heavenly smelling bread. A wet dough, along with slow fermentation is the secret to its yeasty flavor and open crumb.

You do need to plan ahead for this bread. It is a 24- hour long process, but you would be in the kitchen for only 15 minutes working on it.

Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread | The Novice Housewife

from the original post.

The method involves the bread to be baked in a covered pot in the oven. One could use a dutch oven but I do not own one. I used a crock pot. The crockpot website says that if the pot/crock is detachable you can use it in the oven. Instead of the lid I used aluminium foil. It worked for me but you should try it at your own risk!

True to myself, I goofed up while transferring the dough to the crock pot. But, you guys be careful and keep the seam up, to get a beautiful crack on the top of the bread. So that you can brag about how professional you have become at bread making!

I have made the basic version, which makes a fantastic bread, but of course, you can  be more adventurous with the  formula and use whole-wheat and other flours and different seeds to make it to your liking.

*UPDATED* (March 2014) : I tried this bread by substituting 1 1/2 cups of the bread flour with a mix of whole wheat flour, soy flour, flax seeds, wheat germ, barley flour that I use. And it still turned out great. The updated pictures are from that loaf. Also, I now do own a dutch oven. This one, in case you are wondering- Lodge Double Dutch Oven and Casserole with Skillet Cover

Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread | The Novice HousewifeMark Bittman's No Knead Bread | The Novice Housewife

JIM LAHEY' NO-WORK BREAD
 
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Author:
Ingredients
  • Ingredients
  • 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus flour for dusting (400 gms)
  • ½ tsp scant instant yeast
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 cups water at 70 F
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)
  • cornmeal/semolina/wheat bran, as needed
Instructions
  1. Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and stir until blended. The dough will be sticky and that's how it should be(add a little more water if it seems dry). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, or transfer the dough to another greased bowl, and turn the dough to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap.
  2. Let rest for about 18 hours at about 70 F. (You can put it in the refrigerator overnight and about 5-6 hours before you want to bake it.)
  3. Lightly flour a work surface, remove the dough and fold once or twice; it will be soft, but once sprinkled with flour, not terribly sticky. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rest for about 15 minutes.
  4. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking, gently and quickly shape the dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton (not terry cloth) towel with cornmeal. You can use silpat like I did. Put the dough seam down on the towel and dust with more flour or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel (or plastic wrap) and let risefor about 2 hours.
  5. When it's ready, the dough will be more than doubled in size and won't spring back readily when poked with your finger.
  6. At least half hour before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 450 F. Put a 3-to-4 quart covered pot (with the cover)- it may be cast-iron, enamel, pyrex, or ceramic- in the oven as it heats.
  7. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. (It's messy, and it probably won't fall in artfully, but it will straighten out as it bakes.)
  8. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 20-30 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. (If you feel the bread is scorching, lower the temperature.)
  9. Let the bread cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
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Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread | The Novice Housewife

from the original post

 

 

Tres leches Cake: A Cinco De Mayo Treat!

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Tres leches is a light airy sponge cake, soaked in three kinds of milk- evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. 

Tres leches Cake

Updated June 29 2017: 

This tres leches cake has been a favorite of mine ever since I posted it for the first time in 2011.  I made it again recently and thought will update the post with recent pics of the tres leches cake and have added a printable recipe as well for this three milk cake.  As always, have kept a picture that went along with the original post of tres leches cake (the one at the end), to remind myself how much I have grown in terms of photography and styling and how much more I can grow. 

Original post dated May 5, 2011:

I am back with Office Thursdays. Office Thursdays was something I started to solve the problem of me baking and then having no one to eat it since V is not fond of sweets. As a result, I would end up eating most of what I baked, and you all know what havoc that does to your body. Of course, I could have just not baked at all- but I love baking and I do crave for the occasional freshly baked good- not what you get in stores but what you get fresh from the oven in your house! So some solution had to be found- one that would allow me to bake but not end up with all the calories that go into it. Thus, the idea of Office Thursdays (at that time I could come up with no better name and so it stuck) came up. Every Thursdays, V has a meeting that he conducts, and several of his co-workers attend it. So, V and I decided that I would bake for these meetings and save for two-four pieces (for the two of us), rest would be served at these meetings.

Tres leches Cake


For today’s office Thursday, since it is cinco de mayo (a Mexican holiday celebrated every 5th of May to commemorate Mexican victory over the French forces in Battle of Puebla, 1862) and a lot of people at V’s office are mexican, I thought of making a traditional Mexican dessert- Tres Leches Cake. Of course, it might have been a very wrong decision- they would know how it actually tastes, so I had to turn to the best-Alton Brown. His measurements were in weights and since I do not own a weighing scale (and I call myself a passionate baker!) , I found a recipe I could work with at Brenda’s blog. Brenda has a beautiful blog and an amazing collection of recipes. Do check her out.

Tres Leches Cake: Tres in spanish means three and leche means milk. So the cake roughly translated is three milk cake. The cake is a sponge like cake that is drenched in a glaze of three different kinds of milk- condensed milk, evaporated milk and half & half. Topped with a whipped cream frosting, you can make several variations to the cake by either adding chocolate, or layering some strawberry whipped cream in between or like Brenda, adding cinnamon to the batter. No matter what you do, you will still be licking your fingers away!

This cake also goes out to one of my blogger friends, Abhi and to the girl who introduced me to his blog (one of my best friends, Elgo), both of whom had their birthday in April! I had promised Abhi a cake, so here it is! I would have made a more extravagant cake- firstly, if I knew how to and secondly, had these guys been here to eat it. Now, Abhi, for whatever reason, does not blog regularly but I have seen the pics of his culinary adventures on Facebook and they all look so mouth watering good. I wish he would blog more often so that I get to learn more from him and not just sit and admire his pictures on FB.

Tres leches Cake


Now, typical to all my new baking adventures I erred here too. I had kept the eggs out in the morning so that they would be at room temperature by the time I was ready to bake the cake in the afternoon. But, when I added them, the eggs were cold, solidifying the butter a bit. Arghh!! What do I do now! I took the bowl and hugged it, hoping my body heat would help the eggs and the butter to come back to room temperature. And well it did work! A hug can melt anyone and this just proved it!

The cake is seriously addictive. While photographing I kept on eating piece after piece. Granted I was hungry after the exercise but one piece would have worked, but I just could not resist! I happily packed these for V’s office-  finally there is some one to take these baked goods off my hand!

The recipe is adapted from here.

Tres leches Cake

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