Gathiya ( name as suggested by a reader of my page :) )

That day my family wanted to eat something deep fried and crispy, I searched for different flours in my storage and found urad flour, rice flour and bengal gram flour. I mixed these flours and added some freshly ground spices, made a dough and deep fried in oil. My family loved it :)

\

Here goes the simple recipe , all you need is

Rice flour - 1 cup

Urad flour - 1 cup

Bengal gram flour - 2 cups , more if necessary

Butter melted- 1 tbspn

Salt 

Spices - powdered cumin seeds(jeera), carom seeds(ajwain), pepper, turmeric powder, asoafetida, chilli powder

Method

Mix the flours and spices in a large bowl and pour in the melted butter and then slowly add water and knead the dough to a non sticky soft dough. Let it rest for 10 mins or a little more if are patient enough :) .. After that take the chakkali maker , select the mould and put the dough in it after smearing a little oil inside the chakkali maker and close it. Meanwhile keep the kadai on the stove and pour in oil. Once the oil is hot squeeze in the dough in the oil and then fry, strain it once cooked. Done! :) .. Let it cool and store in a airtight container 

Add more bengal gram flour if you feel the dough a little watery. 

French bread

Been long time I have baked a bread and badly wanted to try a new recipe.. Browsed through my ' Joy of cooking' book and was attracted to the french bread recipe. The recipe looked impossible for me ( I know I shudnt :(  ), so I halved the recipe and tried it. To my surprise my bread was too good to believe that the recipe is so simple. Ok so now let me stop boasting about it and get on to the recipe

Combine
4 cups of flour
2 tspns of salt
2 1/4 tspns of active dry yeast

And then make a well in the centre and pour in 
1 1/2 cups of water, at room temperature.

Stir thoroughly by hand or a dough mixer, I used dough mixer, dint mess my hands :), knead the dough until it is soft and elastic. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until the dough doubles in bulk, takes about 2 hours.

Punch down the dough and divide the dough , make two loaves and place in a baking tray and let it rise again.
Meanwhile preheat the oven at 400 degrees Celsius. Place a bowl of water in the bottom of the oven . Bake the bread in the center rack for 15 mins, then reduce the heat to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for some more time. Bake until the crust is golden brown and bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
Remove and let it cool completely on the rack.

Easy na.. bake and enjoy :)