Leek and Potato Soup with Bread Knots….getting friendly with the ‘Yeast’ ghost

These days I am in a mood of eating light at night and the easiest and healthiest option remains the soup. The name leek and potato soup, I  heard it for the first time from my SIL G. G used to have soups and salads for her lunch in her office in UK, she had in particular mentioned about this soup that it tastes really good. Till then I had always seen a Leek in a vegetable shop but was never tempted to buy it. After her mentioning about it, in my next shopping round of the veggies the Leek was introduced to the family.

 

 

      I surfed the net in search of the recipe and found a few which I twisted and modified. I do not know how G’s soup was made but true to G’s word the soup turned out really tasty. I must confess here I was really skeptical about how it will turn as I had never tasted a Leek earlier, and in my first experiment I jumped on to a soup! Ever since I made it the first time, the family has loved having it. This recipe calls for minimum ingredients but yields maximum satisfaction of sipping a delectable soup. Just have it piping hot.

 

 

 

      I have loved reading in the  English books where the lady of the house serves hot bread and cookies straight from the oven along with hot tea or soup. I used to dream some day even I will do that…This time when I made the soup I wanted to serve fresh home made bread. Like I mentioned, I always fancied making a bread at home but always feared  how it will turn out, how well I could handle the yeast (the yeast ghost).

 

 

    I googled through various websites trying to understand the intricacy and planning involved in baking a bread. Whatever I read gave me a little confidence that I might be able to handle the yeast. So this daring baker(which I am not yet) dared with some simple bread knots to start with. I was really inspired by a swiss bread posted by Chef in you. The knots came out perfect, though a little dense as I had replaced a part of the recipe with whole wheat flour. I must try it again with a little extra yeast next time, or you all can suggest what else I could do. I could not take a click of a cut slice as the bread got finished very fast, that makes me believe it was good and worth all the effort.

 

 

Ingredients for the Leek & Potato soup

Serves 6

 

1 Leek chopped

2 medium Potatoes finely chopped

1-2 tsp white pepper powder

1 1/2 cups double toned milk

2 tbsp butter

4 cups water

salt to taste

1-2 vegetable stock cubes/ fresh vegetable stock

 

Method

 

Heat butter in a pan and throw in the chopped leek and potatoes, mix and add salt(add less if veg stock cubes are used), this releases water and helps in cooking. Saute for a few minutes.

 

Add pepper, veg stock cubes. Mix and add milk and water and bring it to a boil.

Once the potatoes are soft, run a hand blender in the soup.This thickens & brings in a consistency to the soup .

Serve hot with some cream on top (I did not put) and bread.

Ingredients for Bread Knots

 

3 3/4 cups bread flour ( I replaced 1 cup with wheat flour)

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tbsp active yeast

1 tsp honey

1 cup luke warm milk

4 tbsp melted butter

 

 

Method

 

In the luke warm milk add honey, butter and instant yeast and let it stand for 15 mins.

Mix the flours and salt. Make a well in the centre and pour the egg and the milk mixture. Mix well and knead a dough.
Cover with a cling film and let it rise to a double volume(first rise). It took 1 hour for me as the temperature is soaring here.

Punch the dough and deflate. Make lemon sized balls and make 9 inch ropes and make the knots.

Let them rise for 30-40 mins ( second rise) and then apply egg white on the top surface for glazing. Bake in a pre heated oven for 30-40 mins at 375 F.

 

Serve with some butter.

The bread knots are my entry to Sunday snacks- Snacks with bread at Priya’s easyntastyrecipes and is the brain child of  Hima of SnackORama .

The soup is my entry to an event Soup N Juice Soup hosted by Sireesha  of  MomsRecipies