gothicgirl's blog

When I was taking my Breads & Rolls class last year in culinary school we made an Indian bread called Aloo Paratha. It is a wheat bread dough that is filled with a curried potato mixture, rolled flat and cooked on a hot griddle. They were, in a word, delicious!

I have thought of them fondly, but had not gotten around to making them when the curry bug bit one afternoon. I had potatoes, I had Indian spices, and I had wheat flour. I would make parathas to go along with some Curry Crusted Chicken Thighs.

Aloo Paratha    Yield 8 parathas

For the dough -

2 1/4 whole wheat flour
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt

For the filling -

1 lb. potatoes (about 2 large)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped fine
salt and pepper
vegetable oil, or ghee, for brushing the parathas

In the bowl of a stand mixer mix the flour, salt and water with the dough hook for 5 minutes on medium speed.  The dough should be quite soft and a little sticky.

Cover the bowl with plastic and allow to rest for 30 minutes. 

While that rests make your filling.

Boil the potatoes in their jackets, or microwave for 12 minutes, until soft.  Allow to cool slightly then carefully peel the potatoes and put them in a bowl.  Add the spices, cilantro, oil, mustard, and season with salt and pepper.  Mix well and form the mixture into 8 equal sized balls.  (I used a disher for this to make sure the balls were all the same size)

After the dough is rested turn it out on a floured surface and divide it into eight equal pieces.  Flatten with your fingers and place a ball of filling in the center.  Wrap the filling with the dough, making sure the dough is completely sealed.  Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough and filling.

Gently pat out the parathas into fat disks, then carefully roll them out until they are between 6″ and 7″. 

Cook the parathas on a smooth griddle over medium heat for two minutes.  Flip the parathas, which should be lightly browned and spotty, and brush the cooked side with vegetable oil or ghee.  After two minutes flip again and brush the second side with oil or ghee.  Cook for 30 seconds per side then transfer to a plate and cover with a towel. 

Repeat until all the parathas are cooked.

Published on www.evilshenanigans.com - 3/13/2009

Reverse Puff Pastry

Butter Block:
190 gr soft butter
75 gr flour

Dough:
175 gr flour
7 gr. salt
60 gr melted butter
70 ml water

First, you mix the first quantity of butter and flour together in a large mixer with the paddle attachment.  Mix until it is well combined.  Take this mixture and roll it between two sheets of parchment, as square as you can manage, until it is 3/4 of an inch thick.  Rest in the fridge.

Next, combine the second quantity of flour with the salt, water and melted butter using the dough hook.  Rest for 30 minutes in the fridge. 

After it has rested roll it till it is a little under half the size of the butter.  You will need to leave a border around the outside so you can fully enclose the dough in butter.  Use the parchment paper to help you enclose the package.  Removing the paper can be a trial, but just do the  best you can and repair any holes in the butter.

Allow this to rest in the fridge (this will become a trend if you had not already deduced that for yourself) until the butter is firm but not hard.

Roll out the packet until it is three times as long as it is wide.  Give the dough a three fold.  Rest for 15 to 20 minutes in the fridge and repeat this process 4 more times (for a total of 5 turns)

Roll out and make up as desired!

This is something I sort of threw together for dinner Sunday.  I say 'sort of' because you can't just throw puff pastry together, but I already had that ready from the night before.  I just layered thin sliced apples with cinnamon and sugar on the pastry, baked it, and like magic it's dessert!

I tend to dive head first into projects that are of interest to me.  At the moment, and it should come as no surprise to anyone, my obsession is bread.

Now, we are not talking about the homogeneous loafs of bland white sandwich bread that line the shelves at the super-mega mart.  What we are talking about is the hand crafted, rustic loafs of bread with distinct flavor, crustiness and unique texture. 

I had some minor success with cibatta bread (tasty, but the crumb was too tight and can be improved with a longer final proof ... see below), and I also made two tasty baguettes that were far superior to anything I could buy despite not having quite the texture I would have liked.  There were a little dry, and I need a better recipe I think.   

As you can see below, the crumb on the ciabatta is pretty tight.  That is because I put it into the oven with out a good long final proof.  My husband, who is a real doll most of the time, was tired and wanted to go to bed.  It was either bake the bread after only an hour of proofing, or listen to my darling whine. 

The bread lost.  It was still really tasy, however and had a good crunchy crust.  Gotta love that steam!

And here is my French Baguette that I made for Sunday dinner.

And ... turnovers that I made for dessert.  They had an apple filling, and I glazed them with flat icing when they were cool.  I used blitz puff pastry and I am thinking of doing a little photo demo of the process.  It is really very easy and far superior in flavor to frozen puff. Yeah, it may  not get as much puff, but for a turnover or a Napoleon it is just fine.