Tuesday 4 August 2009

Leek and Potato Soup with Bread Knots….getting friendly with the ‘Yeast’ ghost

These days I am in a mood of eating light at night and the easiest and healthiest option remains the soup. The name leek and potato soup, I  heard it for the first time from my SIL G. G used to have soups and salads for her lunch in her office in UK, she had in particular mentioned about this soup that it tastes really good. Till then I had always seen a Leek in a vegetable shop but was never tempted to buy it. After her mentioning about it, in my next shopping round of the veggies the Leek was introduced to the family.
 
 
      I surfed the net in search of the recipe and found a few which I twisted and modified. I do not know how G’s soup was made but true to G’s word the soup turned out really tasty. I must confess here I was really skeptical about how it will turn as I had never tasted a Leek earlier, and in my first experiment I jumped on to a soup! Ever since I made it the first time, the family has loved having it. This recipe calls for minimum ingredients but yields maximum satisfaction of sipping a delectable soup. Just have it piping hot.
 
 
 
      I have loved reading in the  English books where the lady of the house serves hot bread and cookies straight from the oven along with hot tea or soup. I used to dream some day even I will do that…This time when I made the soup I wanted to serve fresh home made bread. Like I mentioned, I always fancied making a bread at home but always feared  how it will turn out, how well I could handle the yeast (the yeast ghost).
 
 
    I googled through various websites trying to understand the intricacy and planning involved in baking a bread. Whatever I read gave me a little confidence that I might be able to handle the yeast. So this daring baker(which I am not yet) dared with some simple bread knots to start with. I was really inspired by a swiss bread posted by Chef in you. The knots came out perfect, though a little dense as I had replaced a part of the recipe with whole wheat flour. I must try it again with a little extra yeast next time, or you all can suggest what else I could do. I could not take a click of a cut slice as the bread got finished very fast, that makes me believe it was good and worth all the effort.
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Ingredients for the Leek & Potato soup
Serves 6
 
1 Leek chopped
2 medium Potatoes finely chopped
1-2 tsp white pepper powder
1 1/2 cups double toned milk
2 tbsp butter
4 cups water
salt to taste
1-2 vegetable stock cubes/ fresh vegetable stock
 
Method
 
Heat butter in a pan and throw in the chopped leek and potatoes, mix and add salt(add less if veg stock cubes are used), this releases water and helps in cooking. Saute for a few minutes.
 
Add pepper, veg stock cubes. Mix and add milk and water and bring it to a boil.
Once the potatoes are soft, run a hand blender in the soup.This thickens & brings in a consistency to the soup .
Serve hot with some cream on top (I did not put) and bread.
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Ingredients for Bread Knots
 
3 3/4 cups bread flour ( I replaced 1 cup with wheat flour)
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbsp active yeast
1 tsp honey
1 cup luke warm milk
4 tbsp melted butter
 
 
Method
 
In the luke warm milk add honey, butter and instant yeast and let it stand for 15 mins.
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Mix the flours and salt. Make a well in the centre and pour the egg and the milk mixture. Mix well and knead a dough.
Cover with a cling film and let it rise to a double volume(first rise). It took 1 hour for me as the temperature is soaring here.
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Punch the dough and deflate. Make lemon sized balls and make 9 inch ropes and make the knots.
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Let them rise for 30-40 mins ( second rise) and then apply egg white on the top surface for glazing. Bake in a pre heated oven for 30-40 mins at 375 F.
 
Serve with some butter.

The bread knots are my entry to Sunday snacks- Snacks with bread at Priya’s easyntastyrecipes and is the brain child of  Hima of SnackORama .
The soup is my entry to an event Soup N Juice Soup hosted by Sireesha  of  MomsRecipies
 
 





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13 comments:

Kelly-Jane said...

A lovely soup, and your bread knots look gorgeous!

Unknown said...

Lovely soup, delicious knots. They indeed have come out perfect.

kittymatti said...

the recipes r very interesting! the pics looks great!

Rahin said...

hot soup with fresh baked bread , yum!

Anonymous said...

yummmmm.... Soupelecious

Nalini.

Poornima Nair said...

The knots look perfect. Love the soup, that's such a great combination, would make an awesome meal.

Padma said...

Bread knot looks so good Pari... nice healthy meal with the yummy soup :)

Raaga said...

Both look great. I haven't made plain dinner rolls in ages... I end up making savoury buns :)

Which part of Gurgaon are you in?

Jayashree said...

The bread knots have come out really well.

lubnakarim06 said...

Oh wow...bread knots look soft and yum...love that comfort bowl of soup......

Ria Mathew said...

Gorgeous knots! And the soup looks mighty yum!!!

Preeti Kashyap said...

Hey this is so cool Pari..the knots look superb! I am gonna try out this recipe as soon as I get time...All the best!Thanks for visiting my blog..I am glad you liked it!

Unknown said...

Lovely :-)

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