Whole Wheat (आटा) Crusty Bread

Usually the first attempt at baking something 'simple' turns out be anything but that... So when I thought of baking bread, I was sure that something or the other would go boink... This one though, worked like a charm... 

One of the advantages of staying in the 'not-so-affluent' part of the Mahim is the proximity of humbler things like an aata chakki (आटा चक्की). On a lazy Saturday, I started thinking of bread as I dozed off on Friday and finally moved/willed myself to the aata guy late in the morning. I realized that he was scalloping the grinding stones of his mill and would not make flour till an hour later. The laziness took over and suddenly it was evening! I woke up with a start and got myself the flour. It was warm and smelt heavenly.


I came back and got the yeast block out of the fridge...

... I sliced off a bit of the yeast and this weighed in at around 52gm...

... I took about half of this (25gm) and about 10gm of sugar and mixed this with some warm water...

Soon the yeast activated and was ready to mix with the dough...

I measured about 3 and a quarter cups of flour to get 501gm and added some salt to it 

Then a quick knead later it put it in a bowl and covered it with a moist face towel.

This I put in the microwave to give dough some privacy while the Mumbai monsoon moist warmth worked its charm. An hour later the dough had doubled in volume and was airy and sticky.

I kneaded this a little more and oiled the tins...

The dough went into the tins and then I poke them with a fork and started preheating the oven. 

The dough went back into the microwave and before I could pop them into the oven, the dough had risen some more...

After about 35min in the oven my bread came out and tasted awesome... 

I carried some for Titin en route to meeting Chandu... :)