Bread has been my bane for some years. It was the last baked item I tried my hands on. I could happily jump into creating recipes using all kind of alternative flours for cakes, cookies, crackers. But when it came to bread I would be worried to even try out a refined flour one. What was stopping me?
Fear. I guess, all the healthy bakes I had created recipes for and tried out were working well. I was worried about failing with this particular baked item. So for quite a while after shifting to healthy baking, I remained wary and kept off from baking breads.
Then I decided to jump right in and not make a ‘gradual’ shift – I baked immediately with wholewheat flour. Predictably it was a disaster. Not because I was using wholewheat. But because I had not learnt enough before I decided to bake the bread. Learning sets us free, from fear. So my quest to observe, read and learn continued.
But then baking is all about practice – so unless I use the learning, it won’t truly help me overcome the fear of failure. So again I put my thoughts together. Tried a recipe that I had seen online and well, it was moderately successful. The family ate it, as it does all my baking experiments. But I wasn’t too happy.
This process that you are reading about above – has been over years. Not a matter of months or weeks.
Finally, I know how to bake bread. Got better at it a couple of years ago. Or rather, getting better at understanding dough and how its going to ‘behave’ , every day.
One of my recent experiments has been with baking a Wholewheat Focaccia. So that’s the recipe I am sharing today.

Recipe –
2 cups Wholewheat Flour ( I used Flour X from TWF Flours)
1 tsp organic jaggery powder
1 tsp Zaa’tar spice , 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 paprika powder
1 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp warm milk
Chopped cherry tomatoes and coriander
{If you decide to order the wheat flours from TWF Flours, you can use the code Ovenderful to get a Rs 500 cashback}
Method-
- Take half the quantity of warm water in a glass bowl and add the entire quantity of milk . A
- Then add the jaggery powder and stir well.
- Add the yeast, mix lightly and allow the mixture to rest for 10-12 minutes until it starts bubbling and the yeast is activated.
- Meanwhile take the flour and add the spice, salt and paprika. Whisk nicely.
- Add the yeast mixture slowly into the flour and start kneading. Add the remaining quantity of warm water to make the dough.
- Add the butter and continue to knead for about 12-15 minutes, to form a soft dough.
- Place this in a greased container and cover the container with wet cloth. Keep it aside for proofing for 1 1/2 hours. If the weather is cold it might take longer to prove.
- Once the dough has become double in size, punch the dough and knead for a couple of minutes more.
- Flatten it with your hands and place it into a greased baking tin.
- Brush the top slightly and press the chopped tomatoes and coriander onto it gently but firmly.
- Leave to rest for another 20 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C, for 10 minutes.
- Place the focaccia bread into the oven and allow it to bake for 30 minutes.

