“Life is great. Cheese makes it better.”
Avery Aames
Cheese Garlic Rosemary Eggless Brioche is everything you might want in bread, then some more. Yes, with the weather changing, or rather showing some sign of cooling down, I’m back to bread baking quite a bit. For those who know me, I love a good stuffed bread. Give me a French Fougasse that is bursting with the goodness of cheese, walnuts and garlic and I promise I will not complain. Actually, for the baker in me, the process of making the bread from scratch is seriously therapeutic. The end result always worth waiting for. After all, how much wrong can you go with bread?If you’ve been baking bread for a few years like me, you’ll know that simple is best. Yeast that works, good quality ingredients, flavours that pair well, a handsome dose of some delicious cheese, some nuts. What else? Oh yes, fresh herbs too. Always a winning combination and such a crowd pleaser. And if you know me, you’ll know of my love for dairy and that any eggy flavours don’t work with me, especially with breads.
So I thought I’d do a brioche style enriched dough, but chose to skip the eggs. Because eggs give volume to baking and bread, so the absence means that this dough does’t rise much. Yet stuffing it with all things good makes it better than a normal brioche. I used an absolutely delicious Red Cheddar from Godrej Nature‘s Basket for the brioche. The gourmet cheese store offers you the option of having the cheese grated, sliced or cubed if required. I had it grated, and that I found very handy, a tiny yet welcome luxury!The bread was gone before I knew it. With so many fabulous things within, eating the Cheese Garlic Rosemary Eggless Brioche was literally like nibbling a cheeseboard! Serve pears, apples, grapes, olives, cold cuts on the side, maybe a nice smoked cheese too. The bread takes care of the rest. The rolling up is quite simple, the slicing through and twirling a tad more complex. If you aren’t up to playing with your dough, plaiting it etc like I enjoy doing, you can always just cut the roll into 1″ circles, bake them flat in a square pan.
The bread is on the indulgent side, a little healthier since I added some wholewheat flour as well. Also better than most breads as it is a virtual mini meal in itself. Since it’s rolled thin and well stuffed,the carbs come down, and with it a little guilt too. It’s a good bread for friends, to gift, to nibble. It’s also entirely customisable to your palette. Use any variety of cheese you like. My next one is going to be a smoked cheese, sundried tomato and olive brioche.
Use stuffing that you enjoy, let your imagination lead you. I’m thinking pizza sauce, salami, olives, mozzarella … and roll! Also a herbed garlic chili oil, feta, walnuts, olive, smoked cheese … and roll! I’m thinking many good things, combinations that work for a bread like this. The Cheese Garlic Rosemary Eggless Brioche makes a great make ahead snack for the evening, sliced thin like biscotti, also a very welcome tiffin filler.
Just make sure the cheese is good, the ingredients are fresh. The rest will fall into place!
With so many fabulous things within, eating the Cheese Garlic Rosemary Eggless Brioche is literally like nibbling a cheeseboard! Serve pears, apples, grapes, olives, cold cuts on the side, maybe a nice smoked cheese too. The bread takes care of the rest.
Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Total Time 2 hourshours50 minutesminutes
Servings 4people
Ingredients
Yeast starter
1/4cupplain flour
1/2tspbrown sugar
1tbspyeast
1/4cupwater
Enriched eggless dough
1cupplain flour
1/2cupwholewheat flour
1/2tspsalt
65gclarified butterroom temperature
2tbspmilk {as required}
Filling
1tsproasted red chili flakes
2tspdried Italian herbs
2clovesgarlic, grated fine
1cupgrated mature cheddar150g
1/2cuptoasted walnutschopped
Few sprigs rosemarychopped
Instructions
Yeast starter
Place ingredients in a small bowl, stir. Leave to rest for 5 minutes to activate the yeast
Enriched eggless dough
Place yeast starter and all ingredients except milk in bowl of food processor. Knead to a soft smooth dough, adding a tbsp or two of milk as required.
Place in a bowl covered with cling wrap in a warm place to rise, approximately 2 hours OR leave to slow rise in the fridge overnight. I prefer an overnight rise since the chilled dough is easier to roll out.
Cheese Garlic Rosemary Eggless Brioche
In a small bowl, stir together extra virgin olive oil, chili, herbs and garlic.
Roll out dough to a rectangle, 12" X 8". Spread the seasoned oil all over with a pastry brush.
Sprinkle over with chopped walnuts,then grated cheese and rosemary.
Roll up the longer edge to form a tight Swiss roll. Gently seal the open end and transfer to parchment lined baking sheet.
With a sharp knife, cut right through the centre, lengthwise, leaving one end attached. Gently plait the two, and tuck in the ends. Leave to rise 30 mins while you preheat the oven.
“Fussing over food was important. It gave a shape to the day: breakfast, lunch, dinner; beginning, middle, end.”
Robert Hellenga
Summer Mango Smoothie Bowl, another thing off my bucket list, the most beautiful way to begin the morning. Colourful beginnings!! They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I say bring it on! This one was fun to make, thinking ingredients, plating {or rather bowling} it, adding bits and bobs to the top. So much went into it, near raw other than the yogurt, very in season, a mélange of flavours and textures.For me, an edible pot potpourri, inspired and exciting. With the first one down, my call was, “This was fun, now can someone set me a bowl everyone morning please!!“The inspiration came from Ruchiras smoothie bowls each more delightful and colourful that the other. Inspiration really gets me going, food shared the best thing ever. Talk about breakfast and it’s amazing to see how different cultures wake up to the most important meal of the day. Granola, crepes, vadas, puris, kachoris, omelette, fruit bowls, smoothies, waffles, pancakes, overnight oats, avocado and egg on toast are some of the simpler everyday options.My recent overnight oats were a great experiment and now find a spot in the fridge every night. It’s a really convenient way to wake up to healthy ready made breakfast. Grab a spoon, dig in. I change the flavours with fruit in season and experiment as I go on. The main characters in the story remain the same – oats, milk/yogurt/coconut milk, honey, basil seeds, watermelon seeds. Fruit in season breaks the monotony. Mango, peaches, apple, banana, strawberries rotate. Pie spice, cinnamon, thandai mix, pepper, nutmeg, saffron. You get the drift! It’s always fun to explore something new and different apart from the regular old breakfast choices we usually have.Step out of home, travel a bit, within the city, country or overseas and new frontiers open up. Food and flavours begin to get magical, new and interesting. For someone who constantly cooks at home, hands that cook in other kitchens are fascinating. They offer exciting experiences, food adventures! Here are some breakfast stories, delicious bites mainly in pictures and in no particular order. Actually just as they tumbled out of my head when I read about #Foodventures by Axis Bank Dining Delights!
We sleepily got off the train in Benaras early one winter morning, a hungry foursome, and hit breakfast street quite soon. The city has a reputation and we knew where to head. Can there be anything better than fresh garam kachoris, sabzi and jalebis straight out of the pan? Perhaps not.
Perhaps yes if you add some famous Pehelwaan ki lassi to wash down breakfast. Nirvana. Life accomplished.
Ticked off list, but ‘will be back soon‘ recorded.
Fly across the globe. Switzerland, where I was last year at this time, a European breakfast will spoil you for choice. Every city we traveled to had a different layout, a regional offering, local produce shining through, breakfast an elaborate ceremony, fit for a king, something to sit and enjoy.Tuck in. Cheese, yogurt, fresh baked breads, fruit, coffee, tea, eggs galore, cold cuts, fresh milk, best way to breakfast. Did you hear me say “Serve me breakfast and I shall be happy!” ? Swing back to India, a trip into the heart of the South, Karakudi held us mesmerised earlier this year. It was a trip of a lifetime. Same feeling – breakfast is a celebration. Simple, flavourful, delicious and so much variety. Almost always ‘from the frying pan onto the plate‘, whether it was the elaborate ‘eat till you drop luxury at Chidambaram Vilas‘ or the street food at the temple at Pillaiyarpatti with the most refreshing filter coffee and finger licking good vadas. Memorable, satisfying and an absolute joy.
And then there was the absolutely amazing breakfast with peacocks and neelgai as company at Lakshman Sagar in Rajasthan? Breakfast was an eye opener there. Elaborate, each morsel served with love, truely regional and so much variety. Breakfast day 1 was something like this – fresh orange juice, maize dalia, googri {overnight soaked and cooked wheat kernels and horsegram}, sapota/cheeku jam, gum berry jam, fresh fruit, gur/jaggery, boora, honey, achaar, masala omelet, fire roasted tomato. Nothing refined or processed. Experiencing it was pure joy.If that wasn’t enough, one morning we trudged across the countryside for a breakfast in the fields! Get closer home, one trip into Old Delhi and you’ll be cured of any breakfast woes. Nagori halwa puri, nimbu ka paraatha, sweet lassi, hot jalebis, garam chai, then begin again! If you are stuck with the same old routine of toast and cheese, wake up and smell the coffee! Rustle up something fun and interesting {or bribe some willing soul to do it}. Better still, get out and explore. Make the mornings matter!
Colourful beginnings!! They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I say bring it on! This Mango Smoothie Bowl was fun to make, very in season, a mélange of flavours and textures. For me, an edible pot potpourri, inspired and exciting.
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Total Time 10 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
1mangopureed
200gGreek Yogurt {or regular full fat yogurthung for 30 minutes}
Honey if required
2tspsabja seedssoaked in water for 10 minutes
1/2cuppomegranate pearls
1kiwichopped
1peach chopped
2tbspmelon seeds
2tbspchopped walnuts
Fresh mint for garnish
Instructions
Stir the mango puree through the yogurt until uniformly mixed. Adjust sweetness if required.
Ladle the mango yogurt into 2 breakfast bowls.
Top with the remaining ingredients.
You could always just mix everything through too, yet it makes the first meal of the day attractive this way, garnished with love!
“As while other passions in your life may, at some point, begin to bank their fires, the shared happiness of good homemade food can last as long as we do.”
Jenni Ferrari-Adler
Persian Roasted Eggplant Walnut Dip is perhaps the yummiest dip I have made in a while. From an out and out eggplant hater, to one who got sold over a smokey roasted eggplant {or brinjal or ‘baingan’ as referred to here locally} one fine day, the journey was uneventful. There are some things I just will not touch with a barge-pole. Eggplant was one of those. For a long time. Until 3 years ago.
Then one day I tasted a Baingan ka Bharta made by a lady who used to cook at my mothers. The flavours had me captivated, and her style of cooking this quintessential Indian vegetarian dish had me smitten. Garlicky, smokey, earthy, firey was what she presented on the table that memorable day. One bite down, and I chased her for the recipe. Simple as ever, it was a game changer for me. Then came a dip I tasted at Ruchira’s place more recently. Sold again!This Persian Roasted Eggplant Walnut Dip is inspired by both the recipes. The twice used garlic from the bharta, and the creaminess from the dip. Can there ever be too much garlic? For me, no. I love it with a vengeance, and here the roasted garlic pods with eggplant bit gives the dip subtle undertones. The caramelised sweet onions and garlic add more depth to the flavour. I love adding walnuts to dip so in they went, while the Greek yogurt adds the right creaminess that the dip demands. All in all it has a lot to offer. Go ahead and add some roasted paprika to it if you like, maybe some pomegranate pearls to give it a juicy pop of flavour and colour. In the blender and smooth, this barely takes time and is a great make ahead party option. It also doubles up as a useful ‘sauce‘ for wraps, or a sandwich spread if you like. I served the Persian Roasted Eggplant Walnut Dip with these equally earthy Rosemary Garlic Sesame Millet Crackers I made recently. The more garlicky, the better! And of course, since the dip was ready and sitting there, I decided to experiment with it for a few pictures.Just different backgrounds, angles, light, what have you! Some work, some don’t, but the important thing is to keep experimenting. Darter & yours truly have announced our next Food Styling & Photography Workshop in Delhi this September, our 5th one here, so it’s always fun to experiment and share ideas. I tell the participants to try and shoot everyday, to constantly experiment with different backgrounds, angles, light and moods. I do just the same.
Everyday. With whatever I have on hand. If I haven’t baked or cooked something ‘image worthy’, then I just grab raw produce, knick-knacks or props from an earlier shoot, things lying on my desk, stuff I like, then shoot them in frame. It’s a huge learning process, and therapeutic too. The important thing is to experiment, to keep your mind open. I can never say that enough!
And that’s how I got to this delicious Persian Roasted Eggplant Walnut Dip too, with an open mind!
Persian Roasted Eggplant Walnut Dip ... earthy, smokey, moorish, delicious!
This Persian Roasted Eggplant Walnut Dip has a lot to offer. The twice used garlic, the walnuts, then the creaminess from Greek yogurt make it endearing. The caramelised sweet onions and garlic add more depth to the flavour. Play around with ingredients to suit your palette. That's the beauty of dips.
Course Appetiser
Cuisine Mediterranean
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 25 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
Roasted eggplant walnut dip
1mediumeggplant, whole
4cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/4cupwalnuts halves
2tbspGreek yogurt
1/2tspsalt {to taste}
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1smallsmall onion, chopped
2clovesgarlic, chopped
1tspghee to caramelise garlic and onions
Juice of 1/2 limeas per taste
2tbspchopped chives {or garlic greens}
Topping
Walnuts, chives & extra virgin olive oil to drizzle over
Instructions
Cut 1/2" slits into sides of eggplant and push in 4 cloves of unpeeled garlic. Roast over low flame {or under broiler} until charred {like for baingan ka bharta.} Leave covered in a bowl to cool.
Remove garlic and press out roasted pods. Discard skin. peel off charred skin of eggplant. Chop roughly. {Can be done a day or so in advance}
While the eggplant is cooling, heat ghee in heavy bottom pan and caramelise onions and garlic.
Place in cooled eggplant with with caramelised onions & garlic and remaining ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Stir in chopped chives. Taste and adjust seasoning. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and keep for a couple of hours/overnight for flavours to mature. Top with chopped walnuts and chives.
“The only way cheese is dessert is when it’s followed by the word cake.” Michele Gorman
Eggless Cheesecake with Mango Lime Sauce must be the easiest dessert to make. Minimum fuss, barely four ingredients, one bowl dump and quick hand whisk, can’t ask for much more in a dessert for summer. I make this often, and am constantly amazed at how versatile I can get with it. Even if summer has slipped by, please make the basic cheesecake and dress it up with anything you like – a salted butter caramel sauce, a berry reduction, a dark chocolate ganache, a homemade preserve, maybe grated chocolate and toasted nuts.
I made a series of mango based desserts this summer. Have been busy with work, some travel, loads of house work etc. Did I mention the guinea pig? Now there are TWO just because they are social animals so a pair seemed right. Then there is Coco who now eats ALL vegetables with renewed interest trying to beat the guinea pigs at their game!
In any case, that I procrastinate is quite obvious else this would have been on the blog a while ago. I made this a short while ago, and recently shared the image on Facebook and Instagram. With so many requests for the recipe, I thought I had better share it before summer sneaks by us, while a few of you can still make it.
So here you are. A quick, eggless delicious cheesecake that is a western take on an old Indian classic, ‘bhapa doi’. Make the Eggless Cheesecake with Mango Lime Sauce a day ahead, chill well, and then enjoy the compliments that come your way. Looks like a lot of work, but all this actually needs is half an hour in total. The mango sauce compliments it beautifully, and makes it look pretty too if you ‘dress it up’ a little. I had fun cutting out shapes with a sharp cookie cutter! I’ve baked this several times before. With summer stone fruit, a Mishti Doi Cheesecake for a festive feel, a Salted Butter Caramel Cheesecake, and a Dark Chocolate Orange Cheesecake too.
Quick, eggless delicious, the Eggless Cheesecake with Mango Lime Sauce is the Western take on an old Indian classic, ‘bhapa doi’. Make it a day ahead, chill well, and then enjoy the compliments that come your way. Looks like a lot of work, but all this actually needs is half an hour in total. The Mango sauce compliments it beautifully, and makes it look pretty too.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 2 hourshours30 minutesminutes
Servings 6people
Ingredients
Eggless Lime Cheesecake
1tin sweet condensed milk {approx 400g}
400gyogurt
2tspmilk powder
Zest of 1 lime
Mango Lime Sauce
150mlmango juicefresh/tinned
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
1tspcornflour dissolved in 1tbsp of cold juice
1/2tspsugar
Instructions
Eggless Lime Cheesecake
Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 6″ dessert ring with a double layer of foil to come up around the edges so the mixture doesn’t leak. You can also use a loose bottomed tin but make sure you wrap it with foil too.
In a large bowl whisk together all ingredients for cheesecake until smooth.
Turn into prepared tin and bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool in tin, then cover and place to chill in fridge overnight.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce for topping.
Mango Lime Sauce
Place the mango juice a in a heavy bottom pan with lime zest and sugar, and cook over medium high heat until halved in quantity. {If you like a slight hint of chili, you can add half a slit deseeded green chili for 2-3 minutes, and then discard it}
Once the juice has reduced, add the lime juice and corn flour stirring until it thickens to desired consistency. The sauce will thicken a bit more on cooling.
Cool sauce, and then chill overnight with the cheesecake. {The sauce can be made in advance}
Top with cutouts from mango slices, fresh basil leaves, flowers if in bloom. Chill until ready to serve!
"There is a lot of food culture that goes on in the home and in the community in non-traditional ways. Food is a lot more than restaurants." Eddie Huang
Rosemary Garlic Sesame Millet Crackers with Lovilovi and Bird's Eye Sweet Chili Pickle. These turned out to be crackers with a bite. Paired with the sweet chili pickle, they got just the right kick as well, some smoked Gouda on the side to balance the heat from the pickle. Both the crackers and the the pickle have much in common, other than the long name of course! Both earthy and rustic, both from local produce, they have a combination of flavours that compliment each other. The taste undertones are complex but subtle, individual ingredients in each that compliment the preparation. The good thing is that they pair together beautifully too!
Say millets to me and a part of me shudders with fear, while the other part of thinks happily this might be the time for me to 'step out' and be millet confident. I've had a LONG unsteady relationship with millets, more hate than love. In the past I have found them uninspiring, sandy, gritty and rather unrewarding to work with. Yet a recent contest on Commeat which focused on millets made me sit up and take notice. Couldn't figure out why it had everyone so excited.Thus began a small journey. Though only a few weeks old, I am fast covering ground. Picked Madhuli's brains as she does a load of creative food with millet. I pestered her SO MUCH that she just mailed me many bags of different varieties.Then I shifted gears and pestered Ruchira, my other millet inspiration. She put me onto making the yummiest millet khichadi ever. So I bravely ventured further on my own, and here is my first experiment, millet crackers. Flavoured with my fave ingredients, garlic and rosemary, I threw in some sesame seeds too!Much reading online tells me that roasting the flour before using it reduces a characteristic mustiness the flour has. Did just that. Looked and felt like sand, or rather EARTH! Which gave me an idea. I decided to pair these earthy rustic millet crackers with this Lovilovi and Bird's Eye Sweet Chili Pickle from Place of Origin.On the onset, might I warn you that the flavours just explode in your mouth. Not for the faint-hearted, this intriguing pickle tempts you to dig in. The heart wants more yet the mouth is on fire! Smoked or herb cheese on the side balances it off!Made from the Lovolovi plums and the bird’s eye chilies that grow wild in the coffee estates of Coorg, The Earth Reserve's Sweet pickle is a must-have for all who love combination between sweet and spicy. One of the most piquant chilies and tartness of the berries combine to bring you a flavor that has a spicy kick but not mouth burning and you can still taste all the individual flavours. This pickle looks good, tastes good and provides you a versatile usage. Liven up a burger, serve with a cheese board or cold meats, spice up sausages, mix in to mayo…
Based in Scotland of India - Coorg, The Earth Reserve brings to you homemade products with a passion for bringing wholesome food to the table without any added colours, flavours, synthetic preservatives, taste enhancers or pectin. Free from harmful pesticides or any other chemical sprays, the ingredients are instead sprayed with the nourishing rains and mists that the hills of Coorg are blessed with. With its natural heritage and colourful history, India is the birthplace and home of a number of cuisines. The environment, soil, climate and history contribute to unique recipes made with locally sourced produce. Accordingly, every town in India is famous for select foods or food producers. As human beings, it is natural for us to have a strong emotional connect with the food we eat. There will always be some food products which trigger fond memories of familiar hometown flavours and gastronomical experiences – it could be the sweetshop from across the street from where you grew up or a confectionery in that hill station that you went to one summer. This pickle hits 'thta' spot and more! So if you make crackers like these, to set your world on fire with this fabulous pickle, PlaceofOrigin.inis the answer!!
Crisp, earthy, flavourful and gentle, these Rosemary Garlic Sesame Millet Crackers are a great wholegrain savoury bake. They are good on their own, and really good when paired with a dip , maybe cheese as well. Paired with Lovilovi and Bird’s Eye Sweet Chili Pickle, they got just the right kick, with some smoked Gouda on the side.
Course Snack
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 25 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
1/2cupmillet flour {ragi}
1/2cupwholewheat flour {aata}
3tspwhite sesame seeds
2tspblack sesame seeds
2tbspclarified butter {ghee}
1/2tsprock salt
3clovesgarlicminced
2-3sprigs rosemaryfinely chopped
50-60mlwater
Instructions
Gently roast the ragi with sesame seeds over low heat until lightly coloured. Cool.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Place all ingredients except water in bowl of stand mixer.
Mix on low speed, then add 50 ml water to make a soft firm dough. Add a little more water as required. Knead the dough until smooth for 2 minutes.
Roll out as thin as possible between two sheets of baking parchment, cut into desired shapes, then transfer to baking sheet.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until they turn brown on the edges and feel firm.
Cool completely, then transfer t an airtight container.
“I want to live in a world where the need for pizza belittles that of war.”
Jason Barnett
100% Wholewheat Pizza … nothing else. Simple, clean, quick, delicious and versatile. As I mentioned recently, I have a few good to go recipes that I hold in my head. Most involve eye balling, throwing into the KitchenAid stand mixer rather rapidly, mixing in all at once, and then leaving the yeast to rise to the occasion. Life gets tiring at times with so much going on. For times like those, simple is best. If it can go wholegrain, even better.
There’s nothing to this recipe. In line with my recent experiments, I use cultured buttermilk {available as plain chaach in the local market} to knead the dough as a substitute to water. Chemistry falls flat with me, schooling largely forgotten, but possibly yeast with the added culture does work in there to allow for a quick rise. You could add a spice blend, minced garlic or herbs to the dough as well. I added a dash of Genoa to perk up the grilled vegetables for the topping, the topping inspired from Epicurious. I’m giving away a set of spice blends away here, so you can try and enter if you like. The spice blend paired well with the vegetables and herbs. Worked a charm. Bland vegetables like eggplant and mushrooms take really well to added flavours. Just herbs, garlic and lime also work really well.
Simple, quick, fuss free, this 'loaded with goodness' 100% Wholewheat Pizza will keep the young and old all happy. Base done, fix the toppings as you like, else there is a recipe below. Recipe can be easily doubled.
Course Appetiser, Main Course, Snack
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Total Time 45 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
100% Wholewheat Pizza
1cupwholewheat flour
1/2tspsalt
1tspyeast
pinchsugar
125-150mlcultured buttermilktepid
2tbspextra virgin olive oil
1/2tspHimalayan pink rock salt
Topping
3-4long eggplantssliced
10-15button mushroomsquartered
3-4clovesgarlicsliced
2tspfresh herbs
Juice of 1/2 lime
1tbspSprig Genoa spice blend
1tbspextra virgin olive oil
1tomatochopped into 1/2" bits
1/2cupsweet corn
4tbspjalapeno cream cheese
4tbsppizza sauce
200gmozzarella
Instructions
100% Wholewheat Pizza
Place everything except buttermilk in bowl of stand mixer. Stir on low speed for 3 seconds, with knead hook attached. Begin pouring in the buttermilk, a little at a time, till you get a soft dough that begins to comes together.
Increase the speed and knead for 7-8 minutes on speed 5 until you get a smooth elastic dough. Add a little more buttermilk f the dough is dry, or some more flour if the dough is too wet. {Every brand of four has a different absorption capacity. I usually eyeball the amount.}
Transfer to an oiled bowl {or leave in in the KA bowl like I do}, cover with cling-wrap and leave in a draft free place to rise for an hour, until doubled. {You can also leave it in the fridge overnight for a slow rise}
Topping
Toss the eggplant slices with 1/2 tsp salt, and leave in colander for 30 minutes. Squeeze out excess water, then toss with mushrooms, spice blend, garlic, lime, olive oil and fresh herbs.
Grill in hot oven for 10 minutes then leave to cool.
Toss tomatoes with freshly chopped mint and basil and some salt, Place over a colander to allow excess water to drain out. Mix into the grilled vegetables.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Divide the dough into 2 or 4 as desired.
Roll out quite thin {we like thin crust pizzas}, or as thick as you like. Brush with extra virgin olive oil, and lightly sprinkle with Himalayan rock salt.
Place of a parchment lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Cool a little.
Assemble
Give the base a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, then a smear of cheese spread, followed by one of pizza sauce.
Top with the grilled mixed vegetables and sweet corn, grate over mozzarella.
Bake for 10 minutes in a hot oven just until the cheese melts and the vegetables get warmed through.
Garnish with chili flakes, fresh herbs. Serve immediately.
