Bread Alone with Scones

‘This Book makes me Cook’ will be a regular feature on this blog from this month onwards and I have already started wondering why I had not joined it earlier. First of all as I have mentioned a lot of times earlier, I love reading and in spite of the busy schedule now or earlier when I was working, I have somehow always managed to squeeze in some reading. But most importantly the Book Club gives me an exposure to a lot of good books which otherwise I might not come across.

Take for example, this month’s Bread Alone by Judith Ryan Hendricks. If I had passed this one on the shelf in a library I don't think I would have actually picked it up, but having read it now, I am glad I did.

Its all about ‘Wyn’ who is jolted out of her ‘too good to be true’ comfortable life, which in turn makes her realise that there is more to life than being tied to a single person (her husband in this case). The writing itself was very interesting, changing between past & present tense with ease. The separation from her husband proves to be beneficial to Wyn as she realises her long lost passion for baking bread. Once she has it in her, for baking bread, she is not deterred by various hurdles, the main one being the tough Linda, in the bakery where she takes up work.

The most striking part of the book, for me, was the friendship between Wyn and CM. I completely identified with them and felt fortunate to have experienced a similar kind of relationship with my friends. Its funny how your friends sometimes know you better than yourself and can actually predict how you will react to a certain situation. This was a good read although I would have liked some more ‘action’ in the end.

It looks natural to be making a bread inspired from this book but I settled for Scones. Scones are mentioned on more than two occasions in the book and everytime the vivid description made me want some :) So I decided to make Cherry Scones, following a recipe from the Home Baking Cookbook which is the latest addition to my fast expanding Kitchen bookshelf!

Cherry Scones

Makes 8-10

Ingredients

• 225 gm (2.25 Cups) Plain Flour
• a pinch of salt
• 85 gm (0.4 cups) Butter, chilled
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tblsp Caster Sugar
• 3-4 tblsp Glace Cherries, chopped
• 2-3 tblsp Milk

Method: Pre heat the oven to 220 deg C and grease a baking sheet.

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub the flour & butter between your palms till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir in the sugar, cherries and add the beaten egg. Mix along with 2 tblsp of milk, using a spoon to form a soft dough.

Sprinkle some flour onto the work surface and knead the dough very lightly. Roll out very lightly to a thickness of about 2 cm. Using a cookie cutter, cut out 8 rounds and transfer them to the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough to form more scones. Brush lightly with milk.

Bake the prepared scones in the pre heated oven for about 8-10 min until well risen and golden. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool and then serve with butter.

My Notes: This was our breakfast last Saturday and we loved it. The original recipe has Sultanas along with the cherries but I skipped it as GM is not too fond of them. If you want to use them, add about 2 tblsp of Sultanas along with the chopped glace cherries.

Make sure that the rolled out dough is quite thick otherwise you will end up with cookies instead of scones! Exactly what happened to my second batch of dough :)

Gulab Jamun…

…from scratch! Yes, I have wanted to try this out since a long time but every time I made them, it was for an occasion & so I didn't want to take a chance and ended up using the Gits pack. They always turned out fantastic for me, although I have heard from others that there might be problems even there. So making them from scratch was something very daring and I was not prepared to do it until ICC came by.

Turns out that these Gulab Jamuns are also for an occasion, a milestone to be precise. This is my 100th post and what better way to celebrate than with these universally loved Jamuns!

So here they are, Gulab Jamun from scratch, right from making the Khava/Khoya at home. Well, almost. The challenge gave 2 options, either make the Khava/Khoya at home using milk or start with readymade Khava/Khoya. I found a midway. I made the Khoya at home but not with milk but Ricotta Cheese instead as per this recipe.

This recipe has been one of the most useful ones I have come across through blogging. Staying in London, it is quite difficult to find Khoya, so all those recipes having Khoya as one of the ingredients were just buried in a folder. But thanks to this I can make them now! Ricotta Cheese is easily available & as it turns out, this is quite economical too.

Gulab Jamun

Makes about 25-30 Gulab Jamuns:

For the Khoya

• 500 gm Ricotta Cheese
• 1/2 tsp Ghee (Clarified Butter)

For the syrup

• 2.5 cups Sugar
• 1.5 Cups Water
• 1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
• 6-8 Saffron strands
• 1/2 tsp Rose essence

For the Jamuns

• 1.5 cups Khoya (The recipe for khoya here, yields the exact amount)
• 3/4 cup All purpose Flour (Maida)
• Milk (As reqd, approx 1-2 tblsp)
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• Oil for frying

Method:

To make the Khoya: Take a non stick saucepan & heat the ghee in it. Add the Ricotta cheese and continue to heat this on a low flame. The cheese will appear to be melting in the beginning but will start losing the moisture after some time to get converted into Khoya. Keep stirring in between to avoid burning. The whole procedure will take about 30-40 min.

To make the syrup: Take the sugar in a deep saucepan, add the water and bring to boil while dissolving the sugar. Once it starts boiling, reduce the flame to lowest and add the cardamom powder, Saffron strands and Rose essence (if using). Mix properly & heat on low for another 10 min and then turn off the flame.

To make the Jamuns: Heat the oil for frying. Take the Khoya in a mixing bowl and add the maida and soda. Add milk a few drops at a time to make a soft dough. Make small rounds by taking small amounts of dough and shape them into jamuns, taking care that they turn out with a smooth surface and do not have any cracks on them. For this you might have to press the dough between you palms while shaping them. Fry these Jamuns in the hot oil at a medium-low flame till they turn brown.

Remove and drain them. Then add them to the prepared sugar syrup. Wait for some time for the jamuns to soak up the syrup and then they are ready to be devoured. If they don't get over immediately, store in a closed container. Although the recipe for ICC mentions that they should not be stored in the fridge, I have always kept them in the fridge and never saw any problem. And we do like cold Jamuns :)

My Notes: This was a fabulous experience. I had a sense of achievement at having attempted & successfully made Gulab Jamuns at home without using any ready made packs! The best part was when GM said they were better than the the ones made with Gits packet! I am sure this is the way I am going to make them from now on, sorry Gits, you have just lost a loyal customer!