June 28, 2013 - 12:41am
Spanish baking/Indian breads
Does anyone know of a standalone book (in the English language!) for the above?
Or good chapters contained in other cookery/baking books?
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Does anyone know of a standalone book (in the English language!) for the above?
Or good chapters contained in other cookery/baking books?
I have several large,colorful books on Inidan Cooking that have great chapters on the various flatbreads. For Indian breads-that is where I would start.
What's Copoking Indian byShehzad Husain ISBN 1-57145-152-8
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=+ISBN+1-57145-152-8
Best-Ever Curry Cookbook by Mridula Baljekar ISBN 0-681-88899-7 (do NOT search Amazon for this ISBN, you end up with a totally different and awful looking book-the Curry book may be out of print and only available used )
Here:
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?tn=curry+cookbook&bi=s&ph=2&xpod=on
Thanks! I'm going to check out the first since it's at Amazon here. Can you give me an idea of the range of flatbreads in that book?
:)
Paratas Stuffed with vegetables, Gram Flour Flatbread,Nan bread,Chapati,Lightly Fried Bread,Poori
Most are made with atta flour (whole wheat) but the Nan is made with all purpose flour.
I've never had the paratas but upon reading the recipe, it almost looks like a flat samosa-an enriched dough stuffed with a spicy potato mixture and fried.
Alford and Duguid. It's a terrific book.
Calazar123, thanks! I have atta and gram flour so it's not a problem.
As for parathas, I've tried them (plain ones) and they are very rich but worth the 'trouble' (very easy actually). Not as good as the restaurants ones, one never knows why. Experience I guess.
PaddyL, which one do you mean? I searched Amazon here, I assume you mean the Flatbreads and Flavors?
Whilst I've seen lots and lots of books over the years about spanish desserts, cakes cookies and patisserie I realised that I'd never seen much written on bread.
This list (compiled on a Spanish equivalent to the Fresh Loaf) confirms that there hasn't been much written in Spanish on this topic let alone translated into English.
http://www.elforodelpan.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2765
Most interesting book of the bunch "La Tradición del Pan Artesanal en España - Jose Carlos Capel" looks glorious but doesn't actually include any recipes.
For actual recipes, http://www.elforodelpan.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=574 there's
Pan en casa, del horno al corazón - Anna Bellsolà (Bread at home, from the oven to the heart) but this doesn't necessarily concentrate solely on Spanish breads. You might like to look at the fifth post down which includes links to videos for Spanish breads Anna Bellsolà made in Catalan for TV3 (the main Catalan TV station).
Ingredients for coca de pa are: 1kg strong bread flour, 600gms water, 18gms salt, 20gms fresh yeast, 100gms olive oil
This is the last video shown here http://www.tv3.cat/videos/281899/Coca-de-pa (press "ves al video" to skip the advert)
All ingredients are added to mixer except the oil and kneaded for 8 to 10 minutes, then the oil is added and the dough kneaded for another 4 minutes. Take out the dough and place on a floured surface, leave to rest for an hour/one hour 15 mins. once rested stretch out and cut into equal sized pieces and form into balls as shown. Leave to rest 15 minutes. Pull and roll into shape and place on a dusted pallet. Slice and shape and open up as shown. Dust with flour and bake in a 200C oven for between 20 and 30 minutes.
You're right, there is nothing in the English language and that's too frustrating. I appreciate your links, and will definitely find time to read them. It's so surprising, as if the only European worth baking is singularly French, Italian or German.
I'm reading C.Roden's recent Food of Spain, though I've not reached that far in to it yet to ascertain whether any bread features. For a nations whose main diet is bread (maize and wheat), potatoes, beans and grains, it makes one wonder what's wrong with their bread? Surely, it must be crummy? Highly doubt that.....
There's an underlying problem in Spain that, to me, seems even more entrenched and serious than somewhere like the UK. People have been forgetting what good bread tastes like and the bread is just getting worse and worse. The alarming part is that you'll find more and more shops and boutiques that will sell you 'artisan' bread even wood fire baked breads that taste of nothing more than crust encased fluff. In general, people in Spain are under the impression that their bread is marvellous and that, with more choices and more exotic grains, nuts and flavours than ever being available, nothing is wrong, only a small percentage of the population seek out the pitifully small number of decent bakers still left in Spain.
There's been an echo of the kind of revolution that has happened elsewhere (mostly in Barcelona) but it still needs to grow momentum.Considering what a significant role bread plays in the identity of a Spaniard and how they view themselves this is a terrible tragedy, I feel very lucky to still remember what real Spanish bread means, how different it can be from region to region, and what a vital part of our heritage it is, many younger Spaniards are not so fortunate.I had wondered if it was just me, but seeing this relatively recent article made me realise I am not alone in feeling this way (nor alone in feeling disappointed with the quality of the majority of the new 'artisan' bread sellers' offerings)http://blogs.elpais.com/el-comidista/2012/03/el-gran-timo-de-las-boutiques-del-pan.html (in Spanish)I believe that new books and publications that record and celebrate Spain's glorious bread heritage are on the horizon, it just may take a while before they finally emerge.In my own dream book on Spanish breads there would be a whole chapter on the different styles of cocas. I tried out the recipe from the video I linked to (divided the recipe by a third) and made two bread cocas using the Ankarsrum Assistent as a mixer. Very simple, very quick and a real taste of Spain (use the best and strongest tasting olive oil and a decent sea salt!).Laplap, interesting comments, C.Roden concurs: the food revolution has been a recent one but makes no mention if the 'new cuisine' includes traditonal bread baking. It's focal point is Catalonia and indeed, Barcelona. Now that I've read further in, there's no chapter on breads, only yeasted doughs for cocas and pies). It frustrates me that comprehensive, summative, historical and instructive modern cookbooks rarely include baking chapters due to its speciality, or maybe not, maybe it's due to the decline of homebaking? I'm not sure. Anyway, the recipes are usually sparse and appear to be token gestures. Sure, they make great mention of famous, iconic things, like the ensaimada of Majorca, but rarely take it any further as if they're teasing you: having had a search on the internet, it's not that difficult. Finding good lard is another matter.
Most fascinating, as you touched upon, was how poor their tastes were, when it concerned their own olive oil, wine, etc. I'm most interested to learn from you they think their 'good' bread is marvellous. But as she said, it's changing, and education is teaching Spaniards from north to south what quality goods they can produce, and have at their disposal. I never knew Spain was the greatest producer of olive oils in the world, and now am determined to get my hands on some good ones/blends. I always knew my daily staple of black, brined olives simply labelled Hojiblanca (with Greek packaging) were excellent, now I know where they come from, and why.
It's a fascinating country with one the richest histories in Europe. Sadly, most publications focus on tapas. And reusing stale breads.
I like to search local country websites for bread recipes. It's interesting to see what people post.
To search websites in Spain, go to "Google Advanced Search", http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en, and enter ".es" under the "site or domain" field (that's the internet country code for Spain). I then search for "Traditional Bread Recipes" in Spanish, "receta de pan tradicional", in the "all these words" field. Other search terms might be, "family bread recipe", "Grandmother's bread recipe", "Old bread recipe", etc.
I don't speak Spanish, but with the help of Bing Translator, http://www.bing.com/translator, to translate search terms and Google Chrome webpage automatic translation, I can search pretty much any country for local bread recipes, and see the results in English.