It’s a cut throat world out there, be it any industry. I don’t say I have come up the hard way, I have had it nice and easy because I don’t fret, push, shove my way around. With an air of unruffled disposition I take things as they come and embrace (not grab) opportunities when they skip my way. I have had many a mentor to look up to, a good number of interesting people and a willing hand at every step.
I can also truly say that I have my hands (and mouth) full over the few months with work related to food coming in leaps and bounds. From working on a feel-good project concerning small farmers from around India to my undying love for writing and my passion for imparting knowledge to what one would professionally call ‘consultancy’ but I prefer to call it ‘sharing knowledge’. A learning and motivation in every step of what I do, keeps me tethered to all things food and the fact that I get to meet some amazing people; it truly is a blessed life. One has rightly said ‘food’ is a universal language!
I have had my share of hiccoughs and man-made barricades complete with spokes in the wheel in the climb up my quiet life. I consider it my little world and I see no reason why people feel threatened by this drop-in-the-ocean presence. As my hands reach out to grasp the next jagged edge on the rocky precipice of the food world I can feel an invisible hand tugging at my boots, lightly at first, but harsher as the hold on the edge gets sharper. I am sure all my readers would agree about this feeling at one time or another in their professional (and probably personal) life.
I would get quite disturbed with instances like this which would creep up at the most unexpected of times. Things which would keep me going were motivation in the form of my well-wishers and a steady trickle of messages from appreciators. I would get disheartened and shrink into a morose shell in the hope of being invisible for a short while till I was snapped out of this absurd manner of mine by a recently made friend. He simply told me “snap out of it”. Those four words were a sudden realization that everything, mind you ‘everything’ was being blown out of proportion for pointless reasons. There was no need for me to be affected, no need for me to worry and no need for me to do anything. Oddly enough, I realized that over time (the most important factor and lesson I have learnt but fail to imbibe) everything works out in your favor.
Lesson learnt and a little difficult to implement, but I do intend to consciously follow my instincts and lean wholeheartedly towards the good side and be nonchalant about the negative side. I brought this up because those four words could not have come at a better time when I was looking back at all that invisible tugging to drag me down by various no-gooders had resulted in them only managing to grab my pair of expensive boots and free falling themselves from grace with only a boot (my boots) in hand while I continued to climb my way up without shoes. So it’s a hard life and there will be nicks and cuts (without those boots it is bound to hurt), but well at the end there are always more ways of comfort which come in to balm and smooth out those painful edges.
As a personality I don’t waste time over trying to counter attack with vengeance and as I see them free falling over with my boots in hand I have a momentary flash that sweet revenge is one form or another is inevitable, so why do it yourself when its bound to happen by the actions forcibly brought on by another force?
A laughable connote is when on my constant drive to eat and stay healthy, with an affinity to bread, got me kneading up a classic recipe for a healthy sandwich loaf. I took sweet revenge on all those fat cells by switching over to health packed ingredients who would still give me the satisfaction of a wholesome sandwich. This whole wheat, honey slathered and earthy oats coated loaf will send your senses and palate in a tizzy. Have it for breakfast with eggs, lunch with roasted vegetables and hung curd spread or dinner with spicy tomato soup, you just cannot get enough of this easy to bake wonder. Needless to mention, I have completely substituted white flour, sugar and butter and yet retained the freshness of home baked bread.
Whole Wheat Honey Oats Sandwich Loaf
Ingredients
- 3½ cups Whole Wheat Flour
- ½ cup Plain Flour
- 7gms (1 packet or 3 tsps) Active Dry Yeast
- 2 tablsp Olive Oil
- 2 tsps Salt
- ½ cup Honey (floral or wild forest)
- 2 cups Hot Water
- 1 cup Cooking Oats
- ½ cup lukewarm water for activating yeast
To Coat
- Honey
- Oats
Activate the yeast by mixing it lightly with ½ cup lukewarm water and a sprinkle of sugar in a bowl. It should be foamy within 10-15 minutes, ready to be used
Place cooking oats in a large bowl, drizzle half cup honey and the olive oil with salt and pour hot 2 cups of hot water onto the oats mix. Do not mix and let stand for at least an hour. You will get a nice mushy mix at the end of the hour.
To proceed, pour the activated yeast mixture over the oat mix, slowly add half the flour and mix well. Keep stirring while adding flour little by little (you will need a strong hand or a spatula and work those muscles). Once well mixed, turn it out on a floured wooden surface and get kneading. Knead for a good twenty minutes till elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the ball of dough, rub some oil all over the dough and leave to rise in a warm place (I pop it in my oven with only the light on, do not start the oven). Leave it for an hour covered with a damp cloth to rise.
Once the first rise has taken places, punch the dough and turn it again onto a floured surface, divide into two and form a square piece which will fit into a loaf mould (I use a silicon one of size 9” x 5”). Grease the mould and place the square of dough, spread lightly with fingers till it’s evenly layered into the mould. Cover once again with a damp cloth and let it rise to double its size, this should take about 45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the loaves in the mould in the middle rack turning on the oven and bake for about 30 minutes until the top is a slight golden brown color. You will know the loaf is ready when you tap the bottom and it sounds hollow.
Transfer the hot loaves onto a grill stand and brush immediately with some honey and sprinkling of oats.
Slice when cold (or barely warm) and use as required. This is particularly important as hot bread is still cooking inside and would remain a bit chewy if cut too soon.
