Curry leaves, scallions, and preserved lemons in a style of bread that only requires one rise, yet toasts up like a dream! There’s nothing quite like the aroma of curry leaves when they hit hot oil and a slice of this bread toasted and topped with butter will remind you of exactly that.
Curry Leaf and Scallion Bread
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Scallions 6-7 stalks
- 3 stalks Fresh Curry leaves at least 25 leaves
- 1 Serrano chili or 2 thai chilis
- 2 tbsp Preserved lemons, chopped finely Optional, substitute 2 tsp lemon zest if possible
- 3 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 360g
- 1 tbsp Granulated sugar 14g
- 1 1/2 tsp Table salt 9g
- 1/4 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tbsp Active dry yeast
- 1 cup Milk 227g
- 1/4 cup Water 57g
- 3 tbsp Vegetable oil or olive oil 37g
- 1 tsp Yellow cornmeal to sprinkle in loaf pan
- Non stick spray to coat the loaf pan
Equipment
- Stand mixer with dough hook, strongly recommended
- 9”x5” loaf pan, or a 1 lb size pullman pan
Instructions
- Heat the milk and water in a microwave safe measuring jug until it reaches 95F. Heat it for 40 seconds and test the temperature, and then heat in bursts of 10 seconds until the liquid reaches temperature. If you don’t have a kitchen thermometer, test the temperature with your finger. It should feel like body temperature.
- Add the sugar and yeast to the milk mixture and stir to combine.
- Let this mixture sit for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to activate and get frothy.
- While the yeast is activating, proceed to prepping the rest of the ingredients.
- Wash the curry leaves and chop finely.
- Chop the preserved lemons finely, if using. Keep the peels and pulp.
- Wash and chop the scallions finely.
- Chop the chili finely.
- Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan on a low fire, and add the chopped curry leaves.
- Wait for the curry leaves to sputter and turn dark green. Turn the heat off and let the oil cool to room temperature.
- Mix the flour, baking soda, salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir to distribute the baking soda and salt and set aside.
- Wait until the oil has cooled to room temperature, and the yeast mixture is frothy.
- Then add the scallions, lemon, milk and yeast mixture, and the curry leaf oil to the dry ingredients in the stand mixer bowl.
- Mix together with a spatula to form a shaggy dough.
- Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead on medium for 20-25 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every few minutes.
- Since this is a wet dough, it will take a long time for the gluten structures to form and the dough to come together. Be patient and resist the urge to add more flour.
- When the dough starts to slap against the side of the bowl and gathers into a ball at the bottom of the bowl, turn the stand mixer off.
- While the dough is kneading, spray the loaf pan with non-stick spray and sprinkle the corn flour on the bottom and sides of the pan.
- Transfer the dough to the greased loaf pan. The dough will still be a bit sticky and wet, but it will hold together. That is to be expected.
- Smooth the top of the dough gently with wet fingers or a spatula until it is even.
- Cover and let the dough proof in a draught free corner of the kitchen. This will take anywhere between 60 and 90 minutes.
- Use visual cues rather than time to check if the bread is proofed. Temperature and humidity will affect the rise time.
- If you are using a pullman pan, the dough is ready to bake when it is a half inch below the top of the pan. Make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the lid of the pan. If you are using a regular loaf pan, the dough should just begin to crest above the rim of the pan.
- When the bread is close to being proofed, preheat the oven to 375F.
- Uncover the loaf pan and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 190F and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
- To check doneness, remove the loaf from the pan at the end of 25 minutes, and tap the bottom of the loaf. If it still feels a little soft, put the loaf back in the oven without the pan and bake for another 4-5 minutes and test again.
- Cool the bread on a rack until it is completely cool.
- Resist the urge to slice the bread until it is cooled. Bread continues to cook and build structure as it cools. Just walk away for an hour or two.
Notes
This bread makes great toast! Enjoy with some good salted butter and a cup of coffee.
If you don’t have curry leaves, you could try using another strong herb like rosemary, or sage. This recipe only requires one rise, making it a faster bake. However, since this is a pretty wet dough, it requires quite a bit of kneading in a stand mixer similar to other enriched breads like brioche and milk bread.
If you don’t have curry leaves, you could try using another strong herb like rosemary, or sage. This recipe only requires one rise, making it a faster bake. However, since this is a pretty wet dough, it requires quite a bit of kneading in a stand mixer similar to other enriched breads like brioche and milk bread.