Garlic and Oregano Bread

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

I can proudly say that I made up this recipe, and I am satisfied with the result. I hope you would agree with me on loving it.

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbs yeast

1 tsp salt

4 tbs olive oil (and extra for kneading)

1 tbs mashed garlic

2 tbs oregano

water, for kneading (about 1 1/2 cups)

Method:

• Mix flour, salt
• dissolve yeast in a cup of water, set aside
• mix oregano and mashed garlic, and add olive oil to the mixture, shift into the flour
• Add water to flour and start kneading, add extra oil if necessary, knead till it is well combined, soft, and not too sticky
• cover the dough and let it rise for an hour
• roll the dough and cut into squares, arrange them in the baking pan, brush the top with milk or beaten egg
• bake for half an hour or till ready in a 175 degrees preheated oven
• let it cool before serving (and this is my mistake as I wanted to take a picture while it was still warm and cutting the bread at this stage makes it look heavy and wet)
• enjoy

Paratha

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Quite similar to chapati I posted before, but with less ingredients and a slight different frying method.

Ingredients (makes 12 medium sized parathas):

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tbs oil for the dough (plus more for frying)

1 tsp salt

ghee

Ghee

1+ cup water

• Mix all ingredients (except ghee), knead the dough in a floured surface, add more flour if it sticks and knead till you get a smooth dough, the longer you knead the better

• take small portions (size depends on how big or small you want your parathas)

• Using a rolling pin, roll the balls till they are thin. Add a little less than a teaspoon of ghee and rub over the chapati

• roll them as shown in pictures (after this step, you can put them in a flat surface with flour so they don't stick to each other, and freeze them. take them out to room temperature and fry them).

tucked down

• heat a pan (medium heat), add a teaspoon of oil and top it with the rolled paratha

• you might need to squeeze the paratha a little, so it can have some colour, then add a teaspoon of oil on top of it, and turn it..each side should take around two minutes.

• serve warm, but you can still reheat them without adding any oil, or freeze them straight after they are cooled.

Diversity is beautiful, mandazi

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم..

Isn't it,, I mean we have this African (East African) version of doughnuts (doughnuts will be the English translation, I guessed/learnt from googling) and in Oman as one of the popular and very common food known by everybody..

I've been asking many relatives for the perfect recipe, and believe me I have passed though loads of trial and error phase, till I made my favourite recipe/and tips,

Ingredients:

2 full cups of all-purpose flour (and more for kneading)

6-7 tbs granulated sugar

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

2 tbs milk powder

2 tbs oil (you might need extra for kneading)

1 tbs yeast

about 3/4 cup water

Method:

• start by adding the yeast into 1/4 cup water, mix well till it dissolves
• mix the rest of the ingredients together (except water), add the yeast water, knead and add the rest of the water as you knead
• your dough consistency is very important, I have given you the ingredients but as you knead, you have to have a soft dough but not sticky, a too hard dough result in a very heavy mandazi which has no air inside, and a too soft dough will give you an empty inside and quite hard. We want ours to be in between
• knead for 7-10 minutes.
• divide the dough into three balls, roll them but don't make them thin, see picture below..
• cut them with a sharp knife, you will get 18 pieces.

• now flour them and cover them with a cloth for about 30 minutes or till they rise a bit, we don't want them to rise too much
• at this step you can freeze them, arrange them on a try into the freeze, and as they freeze you can put them in one sealed bag. to make them again take them out of the freezer, let them reach the room temperature, but don't let them rise again, and fry them
• put a deep frying pan on a high heat, make sure it is high, start putting your shapes into the oil, keep it really fast here because otherwise you can get a really dark mandazi or even burnt, they take less than a minute/or about a minute to be ready

• they should be covered in oil, when they puff, turn them, let them for few seconds, and turn again, as you get the brown colour and the puffiness, take them out into a sieve which you covered with a tissue for the excess oil

• when they cool, you can also wrap them in a container, and freeze them, they will still taste and feel fresh when you use them later..
• served with tea only, or with honey, or with curries...

I've been doing some reading on food photography, it is amazing, I wish I could be a pro on that..

Rolls

بسم الله الرحمــن الرحيم

Recipe adapted from My Kitchen Cafe but with few changes, Million thanks to the lady who has provided the recipe.It is so soft mashallah.

Ingredients:

5-6 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tbs yeast

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup powdered milk

2 cups water

المقادير:

5-6 أكواب طحين

ملعقة طعام ونصف خميرة

ثلث كوب سكر

ثلث كوب زبدة لينة

بيضة واحدة

ملعقة شاي ملح

ثلثي كوب حليب بودرة

كوبين ماء

Method:

• Mix butter, sugar, salt, powdered milk, egg and two cups flour, knead till you have a smooth texture.
• add remaining flour gradually while you knead, the dough will be very soft.
• I did need for nearly 10 minutes and than covered it
• Let it double, I let it rest for around two hours but you wouldn't need all that time.
• The picture shows what you should do next

• brush your rectangle with melted butter
• Roll each rectangle
• Arrange them on your baking tray and let them rest for about half an hour
• Bake for around 15-20 minutes

Loaf or roll, what should I call it??

بسم الله الرحمــن الرحيم

I love this loaf, it is soft inside and kind of crispy outside. These ingredients should give you two medium-sized loaf, I've done one and it came out huge, but nonetheless, I really liked it.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbs olive oil

1 tbs brown sugar (I've seen it used in many bread-baking so I gave it a try)

1 tbs yeast

1 tsp salt

around 1 and 1/4 cups water

Method:

• Mix water and yeast
• Mix flour, sugar and salt. Add water and yeast, and knead
• Add oil and knead for around 10 minutes
• sprinkle flour on the dough and cover for one hour

sorry I don't have a picture before the doubling of size

• After one hour, roll the dough into a long-shaped bread and cover for other 30 minutes
• Now cut the top of the loaf using a knife into three lines
• Bake the dough for around 40 minutes or until it is ready
• leave to cool before serving

I know it is a bit pale, but I am an impatient person.

Chapati

Bismilahi er-rahman elrahim

Chapati has been mainly introduced to Oman by Omanis who lived in Zanzibar and the East coast of Tanzania Now. Zanzibar and the areas in the coast were under Oman, conquered in the seventeenth century till the last century.

I would guess that it started with people living there who originally are from the Indian sub-continent. Whether this is called chapati or not in these areas I am not sure, but it is known as chapati in Oman.

Ingredients:

These ingredients will give you six medium-sized chapatis

2 glasses of flour (I mix 1 cup of all purpose flour and a cup of wholewheat flour)

2 tbs powdered milk

2 tbs ghee

1 tsp salt

1 glass water

المقادير:

كوبين طحين (كوب طحين ابيض, وكوب طحين اسمر)

ملعقتي طعام حليب باودر

ملعقتي طعام سمن

ملعقة شاي ملح

كوب ماء

Method:

• Mix all ingredients, knead the dough in a floured surface, add more flour if it sticks and knead till you get a smooth dough, the longer time you knead the better

• divide into 3 balls

• use a rolling pin, roll the balls till they are very thin, don't focus on them being perfectly round because it's not your last step. Add a little less than a teaspoon of ghee and rub over the chapati, the next pictures show you what to do next.

• Here you might need to hold the mid-part of the chapati so it doesn't be pulled while you roll.

• Here you will need to squeeze them to be sort of flat. the corn-shaped one move the top part in circular motion as you move down,I don't know if I am clear!

• Heat a pan (low heat), roll into not very thin chapatis, cook till you see puffy chapati, and turn it to the other side, in this step always increase the heat to moderate, and squeeze the chapati a little.

• Turn the chapati again but now add a tsp of greese, turn it back and squeeze it.

• Turn it again to the other side for few seconds, and remove it to the plate.

I hope I was clear. Chapatis are served anytime, with breakfast we have them with milk tea or herbal tea. Or at lunch or dinner with curry or salad.