Loaf Bread with minced meat filling

Hope you enjoyed Mothers Day weekend , this is the first time that I was pampered as a mother.
In India we never even knew Mother day / Fathers day and many other days - dates existed....but I think recently there are all such changes happening , as there is a good increase in the usage of social networking sites like Facebook and even our media's have changed their priorities.

NA gave me a card with her finger prints and some wordings written on it  , something her teachers helped her with and I think this made Soccer man think about it this time...
My return gift was that "satisfied smile" and also this pic being put up in Facebook timeline

But my usual visitors haven't visited me after I placed this feeder....not sure the reason :( :( 

and I am now researching on how to attract birds to the feeder....

The Chicken cutlets I made got over and it was time to make the next batch , so made beef cutlets with the minced beef , saved a little of it to fill'em in this bread , a similar recipe I had bookmarked a few days ago from Sandra's Easy Cooking  - in which she's filled the bread with a little sweet filling. 

Make your own favorite filling for the same , may make it sweet or spicy , choose the ingredients to be filled  any root vegetable's like potatoes or else any jelly filling & cream cheese or else spice'em up with any minced meat filling , may even fill'em up with Cheese / Paneer. 

Here is how I made the filling. 

Minced beef - 1 cup (Approx) or else use minced chicken

Vinegar - 2 Tb sp or else use Lime juice 

Onion - 1 small 

Ginger and Garlic paste - 1 Tb sp

Pepper Powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp (Optional) 

Green chili's / Jalapeno Peppers - 2 no's finely chopped.

Oil - 3 Tb sp 

Salt to taste.

Potatoes - 1 medium sized boiled and mashed.

Garam Masala Powder or  All spice powder - 1 tsp (Optional) 

Method 

* Mix the minced meat with salt , pepper powder and vinegar , cook'em till done (Water in the meat should be dried hence cook keeping it open , stirring in between)  

* Heat Oil in a thick bottom pan , add finely chopped green chili's , ginger and garlic paste (or crushed) and the finely chopped onion , saute till they turn golden brown in color. 

* Add the cooked minced meat and stir well to combine , then add All spice or Garam Masala or any spice which you prefer in meat , may also add cilantro which gives a distinctive flavor to the filling. 

* Add the mashed potatoes to this meat mixture , add enough salt and stir to combine everything well and switch off the heat and the filling is ready. 

For the Bread - 

As usual mixed some wheat flour , but its optional if not using wheat flour make with 2 cups All purpose flour 

Wheat Flour - 1/2 cup (Optional)

All Purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cup ( and more used for dusting and folding) 

Active Dry Yeast - 1 and 1/2 Tb sp 

Sugar - 3 Tb sp (If you want it sweet , may add more) 

Egg  - 1 

Milk - 1 cup (Approx , may use just Lukewarm water otherwise ) 

Salt - 1/4 tsp 

Butter or Olive oil - 2 Tb sp (and more to coat the dough when kept to rise) 

For Milk Wash - Milk and some sesame seeds (Optional)

Method 

* Mix 1 sugar to 1 cup lukewarm milk or water , then add yeast (touch to check the temperature of milk/water , it shouldn't be too hot to kill the Yeast)  Keep for 5 to 7 minutes , wait till the yeast wakes up and says Hi - you can smell it :) and also the milk/water slowly rises. 

* In the mean time sift together All purpose flour , wheat flour (if using) , salt and sugar. (May make it with only All purpose flour ) add the activated yeast mixture (yeast and milk Mixture) to the sifted flour mixture and mix , then add in 1 beaten egg.

* May use a stand mixture to mix this dough to make it smooth and pliable ( Add flour or extra milk/water as needed  to make it pliable if necessary) mine was little on the wet side but that's alright , may add flour later. Coat the dough with butter or olive oil . Cover the bowl with a wet kitchen towel/Paper and keep in a warmer place for'em ti rise. 

* After 1 hour the dough rises and becomes double in size , punch'em down and work with it (punch , stretch the dough and fold for sometime 5 to 7 minutes) Roll out the dough to about 1 inch thickness (or more , make it thick that's the bottom line).

* Brush some melted butter over the rolled dough and then place the filling on top.

* Fold one side of the dough , tuck in the 2 sides and then roll it to a loaf shape (oval shape). Place this dough in a loaf shaped baking pan and cover it with a wet towel again and keep it to rise again in a warm place. 

* After an hour or so the dough in the pan would have risen , brush the outside with milk to give it a milk wash  (or else use egg white and little water) may sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

 * Bake in 375 degree preheated oven for about 35 to 40 minutes until the outside looks nice and brown. 

Think I over baked this bread a bit , as I was not sure if the inside would have been done nicely , 

should check the outside color , don't need them dark brown. 

* Cut and serve !! 

Notes :

          : Ensure that the yeast is active , that's when you mix it with lukewarm milk/water , after 5 minutes it should slowly start to rise / should show some changes, I think this is the key step during the making of bread. 

        :  Also give the dough enough time to rise , it usually happens if the yeast is active , keep it in the warm place, only if it rises can we be sure  that the bread is going to be soft and good in texture. 

         : While rolling out the dough , keep it thick while rolling'em back to make a log shape , keep it tight as possible because of the holes that may form in the inside (around the filling) while Rising/Baking.

        : I don't have a stand mixer so use my hands to make bread , its comes out well 

          Its kind of exercise for hands while making fresh soft bread at home :) hence please don't hesitate to try making bread at home even if you don't have a stand mixer. 

Cheers

TN