Indian Spiced Potato Loaf

There’s nothing quite like the smell of bread baking fresh in the oven, the aroma wafting through the kitchen and overtaking the whole house. I found this recipe in the book Bread: Breads of the world and how to bake them at home and i’ve made it countless times and it has never failed to deliver a deliciously spicy loaf. Making bread from scratch requires a generous dose of patience, with all that kneading and waiting for the dough to rise, but the end result is all the more rewarding for it.

I used a mixture of plain white flour and ’00′ italian bread flour but feel free to use just the plain white flour.

As the bread is loaded with potatoes and spices I find it’s best served on its own – lightly toasted , with just a smear of butter.

Spinach and Potato Paratha

I promised in my first ever blog post that I would put up Indian recipes and I have failed to deliver on that promise.  I’m sorry. The only excuse I can offer is that my mum is an excellent Indian cook, and instead of trying to cook something that will inevitably pale in comparison I generally tend to stick to other cuisines that aren’t directly comparable. I’ve realised however that my most favourite, comforting and heartwarming foods are invariably home-cooked Indian dishes, and I’m going to eventually have to learn to cook these meals for myself.

Parathas are a flat-bread that are generally stuffed with potatoes, cauliflower or radish. I made these based on a recipe from Tava Cooking (tava = flat griddle), a cookbook by Tarla Dalal who is India’s answer to Martha Stewart. My mum swears by all of Tarla Dalal’s recipes and I have to say I completely agree with her.