Garlicky Pull apart Bread

Baking has become a passion of mine over the years. When I am baking, the entire house fills up with such nice aroma and makes me super happy:) So when the team of "Culinary Hoppers" chose "BAKES" as the topic of the blog hop event, I was super excited. I already have many cake  and bread recipes in the blog (You can check all the other baking recipes here ). For this event, I wanted to make something beautiful , something perfect when you have friends over, a gorgeous bake that would make a great centerpiece on the dining table. That's when I thought about these yummy GARLICKY PULL APART BREAD.

Eggless pav

Hey all.. Hope you had a great Diwali:) I had a good Diwali and an awesome Halloween too:)..Before Diwali, I was busy preparing the delicacies.. After Diwali, it was time to start preparing for halloween and because of all this my poor blog remained un attended:(.
So here I am back with a recipe that is totally fool proof. Yes a fool proof recipe for PAV. I have tried this recipe so many times by now and never ever has it disappointed me. Enjoy this pav with batata vada as "vada pav", or serve it as "pav bhaaji" or serve it as "dabheli" or serve it with misal and usal.

Tomato Mozzarella Panini

To begin with, let me say PANERA BREAD is a great place... esp the sandwiches are too good .They just have two veggie sandwiches:(.. Wish they had more This place was referred to us by our  good friend Nimisha. Once we got introduced to it, we started going in there regularly (We still go but  the frequency has reduced because i started making a few dishes at home :)).One of the sandwiches that we would order was TOMATO MOZZARELLA PANINI.. Its super tasty:).. After eating it may be 4 times or so, I decided to make my own version of that sandwich. It not only  saved me some money but also gave me the satisfaction that it was made by me at home:).

Eggless banana bread/cake

I had posted a recipe on BANANA BREAD earlier. But many of my friends asked me if there was a way to make this bread with out the eggs. Finally got one such recipe, tried it and loved it:)..made some changes to the original recipe but stuck to the most part. The original recipe calls for blending the bananas in to a puree while I like to mash them leaving them lumpy. This gives a nice texture to the bread.

So here goes the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
Note: All measurements are based on the US measuring cup and spoon sizes where 1 cup = 235 ml

1. Wheat flour: 3/4th cup
2. All purpose flour: 3/4th cup
3. Sugar: 3/4th cup
4. Baking soda: 1 tsp
5. Salt: 1/2 tsp
6. Apple sauce: 1/2 cup
7. Milk: 1/3rd cup
8. Butter : 4tbsp
9. Bananas: 2 large ripe
10. Walnuts (toasted and chopped): 1/4th cup
11. Vanilla essence: 1 tsp

METHOD:

1. Mash the bananas with sugar, milk and vanilla essence.
2. Melt the butter and keep it aside.
3. Mix in all the dry ingredients like wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, salt and the chopped walnuts.
4. Add the melted butter, apple sauce and the banana mixture to the dry ingredients.
5. Mix with a spatulla lightly until everything is well mixed.
6. Preheat the oven 350deg F.
7. Take a bread loaf pan and spray some PAM baking spray.
8. Pour the batter in the loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Time of baking varies from oven to oven.

Note: Instead of making a bread , you can make similar banana muffins. To make the muffins blend the bananas in a blender to make a puree and do not added chopped walnuts. Pour the batter in the muffin moulds and then bake for 20-25 minutes.

To view the recipe of the banana bread using eggs , click here.

Banana bread/ banana cake

This is my second submission to the "Tried & tested event". As I was going through Prathy's blog, i came across this post on Banana bread/cake. I actually happened to have some ripe bananas, hence decided give it a try immediately. Baking is always a fun thing at my place as my son is totally involved and has such a blast.This bread/cake is perfect accompaniment to coffee or tea.I was so happy that it came perfect in my first attempt. Indeed a great recipe!!


Ingredients:

1. 3 nos  large ripe bananas(approx. 1 lb )
2. 1 and 3/4 cup  all purpose flour (approx.230gms)
3. 1/2 cup unsalted butter
4. 1 tsp baking powder
5. 1/4 tsp baking soda
6. 2 large eggs at room temperature
7. 1/4 tsp vanilla essence 
8. 1/4tsp salt
9. 3/4 cup white granulated sugar (approx. 150 gms)
10. 1 cup walnuts slightly toasted.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and place the oven rack to the middle position.Butter and flour the bottom and the sides (use can even use the nonstick flour spray) of a loaf pan (9x5x3 inch) 
2. Melt the butter and let it cool.
3. Coarsely chop the toasted walnuts.
4. Mash the bananas with fork or a masher. Its ok if they are slightly chunky.Add the sugar to this bananas and mix well.
5. In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder.Add the toasted walnuts to this. 
6. In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add melted butter (cooled) to this. Also mix the vanilla extract. and mix well.To this add the banana and sugar mixture.
7. Now lightly fold in the wet ingredients (as in step 6) to the dry ingredients (as in step 5) just until combined and the mixture is thick and chunky. It is important not to over mix the batter. You do not want it smooth. Over mixing will yield in a tough  rubbery bread.
8. Scrape the batter in to the prepared pan.
9. Bake until the bread(the crust or the outer layer of the bread) is golden brown and the toothpick comes out clean. It takes about 55 to 60 minutes.(This time may vary from oven to oven. So keep an eye on the bread as soon as you hit the 50 minute mark)
10. Once baked, keep on the wire rack to cool and then remove from the pan.
11. You can serve the cake at room temperature or slightly warm.

Note:

• Instead of walnuts, you can use other nuts like pecans, almonds etc.As a variation you can even use raisins or semi sweet chocolate chips.
• The original recipe used 1 tsp ground cinnamon but i did not use it as my hubby does not like the flavor of cinnamon in cakes. hence it omitted it but you are welcome to use it.
• You serve it slightly warm with coffee or tea. you can even serve it with some vanilla ice cream on top of it.
• I have even tried making this cake with vegetable oil instead of butter and it turns out equally good.