Around The World In 80 Breads Ep.1
By Brinda Dhingra
Unless you are a Bollywood celeb jetting off to the Maldives, you’ve probably not travelled for a long time. It’s certainly been a long time since I did.
Pre-pandemic, one of my favourite things to do while travelling was exploring the local cuisine of a place. From the warm and spicy fish curry in Kerala to the crispy and chewy macarons under the Eiffel Tower, my fondest memories reside in my taste buds.
Since things don’t seem to be returning to normal any time soon, I have decided to take matters into my own hands.Through this blog, I’ll be travelling around the world in my kitchen by baking the exotic breads that are popular in various destinations.
Bread? Why bread?
In the past year, I have fallen in love with the process of making bread. The fragrance of blooming yeast, the meditative experience of kneading the dough, and of course the heavenly experience of savouring the flavour and texture of freshly baked bread keeps me motivated to bake loaf after loaf. Combining what I want to do with what I can, I came up with the idea of travelling the world through my bread baking expeditions.
Since travelling alone is no fun, consider this an invitation to join me in my journey around the world in 80 breads.
Like we do when we take any trip, we must prepare and pack. Luckily, making bread is one of the most basic culinary experiences so there’s not much you will need.
My travel kit’s going to include:
- Yeast: This is going to be my most used and essential item on this trip. For those of you who are new to this, yeast is the ingredient that gives bread its fluffy and bubbly texture.
Yeast is actually alive when we pick it up to use for baking. We give it water (a favourable environment), and sugar (food) so that it grows and helps the bread rise and become fluffy.
2. Maida or flour: While yeast is important, at the end of the day, bread is mainly maida or flour, so we’re going to be needing lots of it.
Before we actually take off, we must familiarise ourselves with yeast. To do so, add sugar and yeast to a cup of lukewarm water and leave it in a dark corner for ten minutes. As it sits there, the yeast starts to breathe and release gasses and in the process becomes nice and foamy.
Doing this will get you all packed and ready for next week when we take our first flight together! We will probably be visiting the land of pasta and pizza. I can’t wait to get started!
To keep up with my food adventure you can follow me on Instagram, @bringe.eating
