Cilantro, scallions, and green chilis in a style of bread that only requires one rise, yet toasts up like a dream! Since this is a pretty wet dough, you will need a stand mixer to knead the bread properly. You can attempt to knead by hand, but be ready to knead for a long time until the dough gets shiny, and elastic, and stops sticking to your fingers.
I adapted this recipe from a recipe I found on the King Arthur Baking Company’s site for a plain sandwich bread.
Masala Bread (Quick Rise)
Ingredients
- 1 medium Yellow or white onion or a big bunch of scallions
- 1 small bunch Cilantro
- 8-10 Green chilis
- 3 cups 360g Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tbsp 14g Granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp 9g Table salt
- 1/4 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tbsp Active dry yeast
- 1 cup 227g Milk
- 1/4 cup 57g Water
- 3 tbsp 37g Vegetable oil or olive oil
- 1 tsp Yellow cornmeal to sprinkle in loaf pan
- Non stick spray to coat the loaf pan
Equipment
- Stand mixer with dough hook
- 9”x5” loaf pan, or a 1 lb size pullman pan
Instructions
- Heat the milk, oil, and water in a microwave safe measuring jug until it reaches 95 F. Heat it for 40 seconds and test the temperature, and then heat in bursts of 10 seconds until the mixture reaches temperature. If you don’t have a kitchen thermometer, test the temperature with a finger. It should feel like body temperature.
- Add the sugar and yeast to the milk and stir to combine.
- Let this mixture sit for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to activate and bloom.
- While the yeast is activating, proceed to prepping the rest of the ingredients.
- Wash and chop the cilantro and chilis finely
- Chop the onions/scallions finely.
- Lightly whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and set aside.
- Wait until the yeast mixture is frothy.
- Then add the onions, chilis, cilantro, milk and yeast mixture to the dry ingredients in the stand mixer bowl.
- Mix together with a spatula to form a shaggy dough.
- Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead on medium for 20-25 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every few minutes.
- Since this is a wet dough, it will take a long time for the gluten structures to form and the dough to come together. Be patient and resist the urge to add more flour.
- When the dough starts to slap against the side of the bowl and gathers into a ball at the bottom of the bowl, turn off the stand mixer.
- While the dough is kneading, spray the loaf pan with non-stick spray and sprinkle the corn flour on the bottom and sides of the pan.
- Transfer the dough to the greased loaf pan. The dough will still be a bit sticky and wet, but it will hold together. That is to be expected.
- Smooth the top of the dough gently with wet fingers or a spatula until it is even.
- Cover and let the dough proof in a draught free corner of the kitchen. This will take anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes.
- Use visual cues rather than time to check if the bread is proofed. Temperature and humidity will affect the rise time.
- If you are using a pullman pan, the dough is ready to bake when it is a half inch below the top of the pan. Make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the lid of the pan. If you are using a regular loaf pan, the dough should just begin to crest above the rim of the pan.
- When the bread is close to being proofed, preheat the oven to 375F.
- Uncover the loaf pan and bake in the preheated oven for 25-28 minutes until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 190F and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
- To check doneness, remove the loaf from the pan at the end of 25 minutes, and tap the bottom of the loaf. If it still feels a little soft, put the loaf back in the oven without the pan and bake for another 4-5 minutes.
- Cool the bread on a rack until it is completely cool.
- Resist the urge to slice the bread until it is cooled. Bread continues to cook and build structure as it cools. Just walk away for an hour or two.
Notes
This bread makes great toast. Enjoy with some good salted butter and a cup of coffee.
If you don’t have cilantro, you could try using another strong herb like dill, or curly leaf parsley.
It is very important to allow the bread to cool completely before slicing it. This is essential for the bread to finish cooking inside and build a strong crumb structure.
Store in a large zip top bag at room temperature for 2-3 days, or in the refrigerator for a week.