Cranberry Walnut Bread - From The Bread Bible

Have been visiting the city library quite often these days, especially for little Adu who loves books and also the time he gets to spend at the baby section there, with other kids and truck loads of books. And then after that I get drifted towards the cookery section and get carried away by the wonderful cook and bake books there. Just can't resist myself from picking up a couple of them. And then I come home and sit with the books, adoring and admiring the recipes, the pictures, the author for all the hard work and dream about making a few of them, and note a few... And occasionally I do attempt to make one or two too, after all the drooling! And a couple of times, it so happened that I returned the books without noting the recipes that I tried from them and liked. And return back to the library again, looking for the same book, so as to note down at least the one I tried!

So this time, when I came home with the humongous book 'The Bread Bible' by Rose Levy Beranbaum, I was determined to make a few of them, and to note them down before returning! And so I tried out this recipe, as I was also looking for a recipe to make use of the dried cranberries that I had got and the pack of walnuts lying in the kitchen. The recipe is originally a Raisin Pecan bread, to which the author suggests this variation of cranberries and walnuts.

The bread turned out very nice, with a beautiful texture. The process however was a bit more lengthy than the ones I usually prefer, with the sponge and its resting time taking up extra hours, but then its not a complicated process anyway. Just needs more time, and the end result was a really beautiful loaf. I've simplified it by using a loaf pan, as opposed to shaping a free form loaf and baking on a sheet.

Here's the recipe, shortened from the version in the book...

Cranberry Walnut Bread

Preparation time: 10-15 min

Dough starter: min 1 ½ hrs, max 24 hrs

Minimum Rising time: abt 3 ½ hours

Baking time: 45 – 55 min

Source: Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'The Bread Bible'

Ingredients:

For the Soaked Cranberries

Dried Cranberries – 1 cup

Hot water – 1/3 cup

For the Sponge / Dough Starter

Bread Flour - 1 cup

Instant Yeast – ½ tsp

Water at Room temperature - 1 cup (Incl cranberry soaking water)

Honey / Light Corn syrup – 1 Tbsp

For the flour mixture:

Bread flour – 1 ¼ cup

Whole wheat flour – 1/3 cup

Instant Yeast – ¾ tsp

Walnuts – 2 cups, divided use

Salt – 1 ¼ tsp

Vegetable oil - 1 Tbsp

Method:

• Soak the Cranberries in the hot water for about 30 min, until soft and plump
• Drain them and reserve the water in a 1 cup measuring jar
• Add more water to make this 1 cup water to use in the sponge below
• Prepare walnuts: Toast the walnuts either on stovetop or in the over at 170deg C for about 7 minutes. Peel off the skin with a clean kitchen towel as much as possible
• Finely grind ½ cup of this along with whole wheat flour. Chop the other 1 ½ cups into fine pieces and keep aside.
• Make the Sponge: In a large bowl or mixer bowl, place the ingredients for the starter and whisk for about 2 min until very smooth.
• Scrape down the sides, cover with a wrap and set aside while making the flour mixture
• Make the flour mixture: Mix together all the ingredients except the chopped walnuts, oil, salt and a ¼ cup of flour. Spoon the mixture over the sponge lightly and cover tightly and let sit for 1 to 4 hours. The sponge will bubble through the flour mixture.
• Mix the dough: Add the salt and oil, and mix with a wooden spoon or with hands to bring the dough together. Knead for 5 minutes adding the reserved flour to prevent sticking.
• Keep covered for about 20 minutes and again knead the dough for 5 minutes till very smooth and elastic.
• Spread the dough into a rectangle and add the walnuts and soaked cranberries over it and roll it and mix it in to evenly distribute.
• Let the dough rise until it is double in volume for about 1 ½ hours, placing it in an oiled bowl, covered with a cling wrap.
• Shape the dough into a 11” long loaf on a floured counter. I simply shaped it into a greased loaf pan and spread it to fill it. Let the dough rise till double again, for about an hour
• Preheat oven to 220 deg C (400 F) and place a cast iron skillet or a sheet pan in the lowest shelf for water.
• Bake the bread: Slash the bread with a sharp knife ¼ to ½ inch deep parallel slashes on the top of the dough. Mist the dough with a little water and quickly place it on the oven.
• Toss ½ cup ice cubes into the tray at the bottom shelf of the oven and close the oven door quickly.
• Bake for 5 minutes and reduce the oven temperature to 180 deg C (375 F) and continue baking for 40 – 50 min until the top is golden, and a skewer inserted comes out clean or the bread internal temperature reads 190 F (Mine was done in 45 min)
• Cool the bread on a wire rack for about 2 hours before slicing it with a serrated knife into slices

Notes:

• This is a variation of the Raisin Pecan bread that Rose suggests in the book
• I added a mixture of cranberries and raisins.
• I reduced the cranberries and walnuts by about half a cup thinking it was to much, but then later realised the amounts given by the author were perfect. Mine seemed a little too less in the bread
  

  
  

Lussekatter / Lucia Cats / Sweet Saffron Buns

The whole city is glittering in the Christmas and New year spirit.... with the roads glittering with lights, malls with X-mas tree decorated so well, all the window panes of apartments shining with a star and candles, shops bustling with people... It is such a nice feeling in the cold month of December, that keeps the spirits up when the days are so short and hardly any trace of Sun and cold weather outside.

From the beginning of December the stores are selling a lot of Christmas goodies, most of them traditional, sold and eaten mostly in the month of X-mas. One of them is this Saffron Buns that the Swedes call Lussekatter or Lucia Cats.

These buns are traditionally served in Scandinavia on 13 December, St. Lucia Day. But people also have it on Christmas and also on other days of December.

They contain butter, milk and optionally a small amount of egg, sweet and loaded with a flavor of Saffron. The saffron also gives them a nice golden color. Seeing them all over the stores, I was tempted to make them too! And here they are...

Lussekatter / Lucia Cats / Sweet Saffron Buns

Preparation time: ~20 min + ~10 min + rising time

Baking Time: ~15 min

Adapted from: http://etherwork.net/ejmtph/recipes/luciacats_saffron.html

Ingredients:

• Milk – 1 ¼ Cup
• Butter - ½ c (100 g)
• Instant Yeast - 2½ tsp
• Sugar - ⅓ cup
• Saffron threads - ½ tsp (approx 1g)
• Salt - ½ tsp
• Egg - ½, beaten
• All-Purpose Flour - 3 c (450g)
• Cream or Milk (or the other half egg), for brushing
• Raisins, for decoration
  

Preparation:

• Heat milk till it is warm
• Cut butter into pieces into a mixing bowl large enough for the dough to double.
• Pour the warm milk over the butter and stir to let it melt. Mix in yeast (If using Active dry yeast, allow 5 minutes to froth, if using instant yeast, continue)
• Put saffron and a bit of the sugar into a mortar and use the pestle to grind the saffron finely.
• To the milk mixture, add the rest of the sugar, saffron, ½ an egg. Stir. Then mix in almost all of the flour and salt until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
• Sprinkle a little of the leftover flour onto a board. Turn the dough out onto the board.
• Knead the dough until smooth and shiny (about 10 minutes). Add a little more flour if the dough seems sticky (but try not to add too much - the dough should be soft).
• Put the dough into the bowl; cover and let rise in a warm part of the kitchen to double (approx 40 minutes to an hour).
• After the dough has doubled, scatter a little flour onto the board. Turn the dough out onto the board. Fold it in half, pat it down and fold in half again and pat it down (or knead it a couple of times).
• Divide into 16 equal pieces and form into ropes. Make an S shape with the ends curled inside (Lucia cats).
• Place the shaped buns well apart on parchment covered baking sheet. Decorate each bun with raisins. Cover with a clean tea towel and allow to rise in a warm part of the kitchen to double (20-40 minutes).
• Preheat oven to 180C. Just before putting them in the oven, brush the tops of the shaped buns with cream (or milk or use the other half of the egg).
• Place buns on upper shelf and bake for 10 - 15 minutes til hollow sounding on bottom. Mine were done in about 12 minutes.

Notes:

• Make the cats with a bit longer ropes. Once they rise again, the shapes would be better. Mine looks better before rising, but after rising, they got filled up losing some of the shape. Nevertheless, I hope they do look good! 
  
  
  
  

  This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 

  Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar, Preeti Deo and Jayasri Ravi.

Apple Pie!!!

After I fell in love with the Baked Apple-Cinnamon combination with my Apple Streusel cake, it was time to experiment the ‘King of Apple-recipes’ - the Apple Pie! To be honest, I had not tried an apple pie, being from a South Indian city - Bangalore. Even though we get all sorts of international cuisine in the IT hub Bangalore from a few years now, somehow apple pie had not made to my list. May be I was apprehensive of my taste towards apple-cinnamon in a baked goodie.

After starting to blog, the apple pie featured in many blogs and caught my eye, but never made it to my kitchen for the huge amount of butter that goes in! But now, with a new pie plate and a bag full of farm-fresh apples, I had to make it. And a small get together during the week, was a great excuse to make it - and feel less guilty about the butter - the sin will be shared by many more people, you see!! :)

I have, however, been myself of being stingy with the butter - I did reduce it a bit - but the crust was still flaky and nice, in spite of it.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Here’s the recipe…

Apple Pie

Preparation time: 40-50 min

Cooking time: 50-55 minutes

Makes: A 9” pie; enough for 8 generous servings

Adapted from: Joy of Baking; making lattice crust from other sources on net

Ingredients:

For the Pie Crust:

All-purpose flour - 2 1/2 cups (350 grams)

Salt - 1 tsp

Granulated white sugar - 2 tablespoon (30 grams)

Unsalted butter - 1 cup (226 grams), chilled, and cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) pieces [i used about 3/4 cup]

Ice water - 1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 - 120 ml)

For apple filling:

Apples  - 1.1 kg (about 6 large or 10 small), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 8 cups (2 l))

Granulated white sugar - 1/4 cup (50 grams)

Light brown sugar - 1/4 cup (55 grams)

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Unsalted butter - 2 tbsp (28 grams) [I used salted butter and so skipped salt]

Cornstarch (corn flour) - 1 1/2 tbsp (15 grams)

Method:

Making the Pie Crust:

• In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, and sugar. Add chopped, cold butter and mix with a fork till the mixture resembles coarse meal (Or process in a food processor for about 15 seconds).
• Add about 1/4 cup water and continue mixing till the dough just holds together when pinched. If necessary, add more water. Do not over mix.
• Turn the dough onto your work surface and gather into a ball. Divide the dough in half, flattening each half into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about one hour before using. This will chill the butter and relax the gluten in the flour. 
• After the dough has chilled sufficiently, remove one portion of the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface.
• Roll the pastry into a 12 inch (30 cm) circle. (To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards).) 
• Fold the dough in half and gently transfer to a 9 inch (23 cm) pie pan. Brush off any excess flour and trim the edges of the pastry to fit the pie pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. 
• Then remove the second round of pastry and roll it into a 12 inch (30 cm) circle. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator. 

Making the Filling:

•  In a large bowl combine the sliced apples with the sugars, lemon juice, ground cinnamon, and salt. Let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to three hours. 
• Then, place the apples and their juices in a strainer that is placed over a large bowl (to capture the juices). 
• Let the apples drain for about 15-30 minutes or until you have about 1/2 cup (120 ml) of juice.
• Spray a 4 cup (960 ml) heatproof measuring cup with a nonstick vegetable spray, and then pour in the collected juices and the 2 tablespoons (28 grams) of unsalted butter. 
• Place in the microwave and boil the liquid, on high, about 5 to 7 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to about 1/3 cup (80 ml) and is syrupy and lightly caramelized.  (Alternatively, you could place the juices and butter in a small saucepan and boil over medium high heat on the stove.) 
• Transfer the drained apples slices to a large bowl and mix them with the cornstarch (corn flour). Then pour the reduced syrup over the apples and toss to combine.
• Pour the apples and their syrup into the chilled pie crust.

Making the lattice crust for the top:

• Remove the top pastry crust from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes so it has time to soften.
• Moisten the edges of the pie shell with a little water. 
• Using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife, cut the top pastry into long strips of about 3/4 - 1 inch width depending on how thick you want your lattice strips.
• Lift the middle two strips and place it on the pie in the middle, one each horizontally and vertically, forming a plus mark at the middle.
• Start lifting the strips next to the middle ones, one from each side and place them next to the first plus mark you made. While doing so, if placing the horizontal one, lift the already placed vertical one up and insert it below, so that the strips are interwoven.
• Repeat the same, vertically and horizontally making sure you lift up the alternating strips in the opposite orientation, leading to a complete inter-woven crust, till you reach the edges.
• Tuck any excess pastry of each strip under the bottom crust and then crimp the edges using your fingers or a fork.
• Cover the pie with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill the pastry while you preheat the oven.

Baking:

• Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C. Place the oven rack at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on the rack before preheating the oven.
• Place a piece of aluminum foil on the stone (or pan) to catch any apple juices.
• Set the pie on the stone or pan and bake for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the juices start to bubble through the slits and the apples feel tender (not mushy) when a toothpick or sharp knife is inserted through one of the slits.
• Cover the edges of the pie with a foil ring to prevent over browning after about 30 minutes.
• Remove the pie from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 3-4 hours before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or softly whipped cream.
• Store at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.

Notes:

• Use slightly toasted nuts. To toast walnuts, place them in microwave for a few seconds and crush them into pieces
• Fresh juicy and crisp apples work the best. If sour, it also adds a nice tang to the cake.
• Making the lattice top is quite easy - much easier than it appears to be - takes about 10 minutes, that’s it! So don’t deter from trying it, thinking it is too complex. You’ll be more than satisfied, once you try it :)

This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 
Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar Preeti Deo and Jayasri.

Veggie Calzone

We have started loving Italian and other Continental dishes for dinner. Mostly baked ones, they take time only for the preparation but the cooking does not ones active time as the oven takes care of it! You'll see a few dishes coming up on those lines. 

A calzone, meaning  "stocking" or "trouser" in Italian, is a turnover or folded pizza. It is shaped like a half-moon and made of bread dough. The calzone is folded over and filled with ingredients common to pizza. The typical calzone is stuffed with tomato and mozzarella, and may include other ingredients that are normally associated with pizza toppings. [Wikipedia]

We had had Calzone in Dominos in Bangalore and had liked it. The recipe being very flexible, one can come up with numerous varieties, based on likings of ingredients, spices/herbs, cheese, etc. I used a recipe with Whole wheat flour for the dough and the filling was my my choice of veggies – moslty what I had on hand; so was the cheese. When preparing for it, I felt it was almost like making chapathi + a subzi! The only difference is I had to roll out less than half of them, and instead of cooking them on tava, one by one and then serving hot, alongside the subzi, it was like stuffing the rolled dough and baking them all at once, so that we both could sit down and eat together, when they were still piping hot! Taste wise – well, there is no comparison! They tasted heavenly.

So do try out these to have variety in your dinner menu. All it takes is an hour or so of resting time, as compared to your chapathi-subzi dinner, that's it! And did I tell you they tasted very nice the next day as well – I just had to heat it in the microwave a few seconds to have piping hot, almost fresh Calzone!

Here's I made them...

Veggie Calzone

Preparation time: ~20 min + ~10 min + resting time

Baking Time: ~25 min

Source: Dough from US Masala

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour – 1 ½ Cups

All Purpose Flour – ½ Cup

Lukewarm Milk – ¾ Cup 

Instant yeast - 1 1/4 tsp  

Olive oil – 1 Tbsp

Sugar – ½ tsp

Salt – ¾ tsp

For the filling: 

Chopped Bellpeppers/Capsicums – 2 cups (I used 3 colored, 1 medium each)

Onion – 1, sliced

Garlic – 2-3 pods, minced

Sweet corn kernels – ½ cup

Tomato – 1 small, ripe but firm

Olive oil – 2 Tbsp

Feta cheese – 3 Tbsp, crumbled (Optional – I used it as I had to finish off some) You may use paneer also

Green chilies – 1-2 chopped fine (Only if you want it spicy)

Pepper powder / Red chili powder – ½ tsp

Tomato ketchup / Marinara sauce – 1 Tbsp

Dried Italian herbs – Oregano/Thyme – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Mozzarella cheese – ¼ cup, grated

Method:

• Dissolve salt, sugar and yeast in milk.
• Add oil and the flours and mix well
• Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes till soft and elastic
• Smear the dough with some oil, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise till double – for an hr to hr and a half

Filling:

• Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, add garlic, chilies and onions and saute
• Mix in the other veggies and saute till almost cooked – don't overcook as they will get baked again
• Add salt, sauce and sprinkle with pepper /chili powder, herbs and mix well
• Keep aside to cool slightly.

To make the calzone:

• Divide the doubled dough into 4 portions
• One by one, roll each part into a big circle – bigger and thicker than chapathi
• Spread the filling mixture on one half of the circles, leaving a gap of about an inch on the circumference
• Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the filling
• Fold the empty part over the filling, to form a semi circle and press the edges
• To make sure they are sealed well, using a fork, press all over the circumference of the semi circle
• Transfer them carefully to a large baking tray
• Brush the top with a little milk, if you want a good color
• Make a couple of slits on each of them to allow the steam to escape while baking
• Let them rest for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven at 200 deg C
• Once preheated, bake the prepared calzone for 12-14 minutes, till the top starts slightly browning
• Allow to cool for 10 minutes, as they will be really hot!
• Cut into half and serve with marinara sauce

Notes:

• Experiment with your favourite veggies and cheese combinations. 

This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 
Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar, Preeti Deo and Jayasri.

Apple Cinnamon Buns/Rolls

With the recipe for perfect rolls from Pioneer woman, that I had earlier used for Rosemary rolls, there are an endless options that can be tried out. Since I wanted to use my left over dough that I had frozen, and the apples lying in the fridge, I made these apple- cinnamon rolls. May be walnuts would have added a nice nutty dimension to the rolls – next time!

The pictures are bad as the lighting was very bad – blame it on the lazy lazy Sun, who hardly shows up these days. The rolls tasted very nice, soft and full of flavors. Have started loving apples and cinnamon!

Here's how you make them...

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Preparation time: ~30 min + ~15 min + resting time

Baking Time: ~25 min

Source: Dough from Pioneer woman

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup 

Sugar - 1/4 cup

Olive oil - 1/4 cup

Instant yeast - 1 tsp (or 1 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast) 

All Purpose Flour - 2 cups plus 1/4 cup – I added a Tbsp more

Baking powder - 1/4 tsp

Baking soda - scant 1/4 tsp

Salt - 3/4 teaspoon

For the filling: 

Butter - 2 Tbsp

Apples – 2 small or 1 big, peeled, chopped

Brown sugar - 2 Tbsp

Cinnamon – ½ tsp

Method:

• Mix milk, sugar and oil in a pan and scald (heat until just before boiling) the mixture.
• Leave to cool for 45mins to an hour. The milk mixture must be lukewarm at the end of this period. In case you leave it for longer, just warm it till its lukewarm.
• When the mixture is lukewarm, add the instant yeast. (if using active dried yeast, leave it for about 5-10 minutes till frothy and then carry on)
• Then add 2 cups of flour to the mixture. Stir with a spatula, the batter will be quite sticky. Cover and let the batter sit for 1 hour or till double.
• After it doubles, mix the 1/4 cup flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this to the flour mixture in the pan.
• Mix till everything comes together. It was still very sticky, so i added a little more flour to make it easy to handle
• I divided the dough into two parts and froze one part for alter use and refrigerated the other in a large bowl/box allowing space for rising, overnight to make the rolls early in the morning.

Filling:

• Mix the ingredients for filling and keep aside till needed – Do this just before the dough is ready for rolling.

To bake the rolls:

• If using frozen dough, transfer them to the refrigerator the previous night.
• On the day of baking, take the dough out of the fridge, let it sit out for a few minutes till it is easy to handle.
• Meanwhile, line your baking tin with parchment and grease the sides. I used a 9'' round tin to make rolls - with half the dough.
• Roll the dough into a big rectangle of about ¼ inch thickness, the longer side horizontal to you
• Brush butter over the rolled dough and spread the apple-brown sugar mixture
• Start rolling the dough into a log, starting from your farthest end, towards you
• Seam the edges tightly
• Now with a sharp knife, cut the log into 1 ½ inch thick pieces
• Carefully transfer the pieces one by one into the prepared pan, spacing them slightly apart
• Cover loosely and let rise for another 45 minutes to an hour.
• Towards the end of the rising period, preheat the oven at 180 deg C or 350 F.
• Bake for 20 -25 minutes until golden brown.
• Brush the rolls with some more melted butter for a softer crust. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then completely on the rack.

Notes:

• Alter the quantities of sugar to suit your taste.

This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 
Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar, Preeti Deo and Jayasri Ravi.

Garlic Bread Exotica - Pizza hut style

I love garlic bread. And especially the ones from Pizza hut. And specifically the Garlic Bread exotica they have, loaded with veggies and topped generously with cheese… A generous sprinkle of mixed herbs on top… and may be some chili flakes to add to the heat… and it’s one perfect starter…. Especially to an Italian course.

When I bought the baguette bread last time - well, I wanted to make it myself, but was tempted to buy it when the store smelled of freshly baked bread - a piece of heaven. So when I bought it, I knew I had to make the Garlic Bread Exotica with it. Had all the lovely colored bell peppers/capsicums; and we both love loads of garlic… So the weekend brunch featured this.

It is quite an easy thing to fix - just chop the veggies, make the garlic spread… top with toppings and bake - that’s it! Of course, if you’re a food blogger, u have the additional task of arranging them beautifully and clicking them - in my case, I outsourced it to D, while I prepared the salad :D

So here goes the recipe…

Garlic Bread Exotica

Preparation Time: 10-15 min

Baking Time: ~15 min

Serves: 2 as a meal; 4 as a starter

Ingredients:

Colored bell peppers/Capsicum - 3/4 cup, chopped (I used a mix of green, red and yellow)
Onions - One small, chopped
fresh/frozen corn kernels - 1/4 cup

Cheese - 1/4 -1/3 cup, grated (mozzarella or cheddar)
1 tsp red chili flakes

Salt to taste
A Baguette or French/Italian bread

For Garlic Spread:
Olive oil or Melted Butter - 3 Tbsp, at room temperature
Garlic - 6-8 pods, very finely chopped
Mixed Italian herbs - 1 tsp -  I use thyme and oregano
Coarsely ground pepper - 1/2 tsp (vary acc to taste)
Green chilies - 2, finely chopped (only for an added extra-spice)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 170 deg C
• Line a large baking tray with foil or parchment and set aside
• Heat butter /olive oil on a low flame and add the finely chopped garlic, Italian herbs and green chilies, ground pepper and let it warm and keep aside.
• Cut the baguette into 1" thick slices diagonally
• Mix all the chopped vegetables peppers, corn, onions in a bowl, add salt
• Take each slice of the bread and apply garlic spread with a silicon brush and put a Tbsp of mixed vegetables over it
• Sprinkle red chili flakes and top it with cheese (the more, the merrier ;) )
• Arrange on the prepared baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes and then broil it for 2-3 min until the edges of bread are slightly crisp and the cheese starts melting.
• Have warm as a side with a pasta dish or a pasta salad or a starter for a pizza meal
• Or best, have it as a snack, all by itself :)

Notes:

• Can use tomatoes as well, but I am averse to them :)

This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 
Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar and Preeti Deo.