As soon as Jenni announced the theme for this month’s Bread Baker’s I knew I wanted to make an Indian bread and that I wanted to make a Kulcha. The theme for this month is “Stuffed Bread”! Bread by itself is temptations galore, and stuffed bread is temptations with some golden butter on top. I make some kind of stuffed bread every once a while and most of the time it is the Aalu Paratha – Potato stuffed flatbread that is fried in ghee on a skillet. But this time I wanted to make a Kulcha and that too an Amritsari Paneer Kulcha.
The only problem was that though I knew what I wanted to make, I did not know how. A detailed search over the internet left me completely unsatisfied about the authenticity of the numerous Amritsari Kulcha’s splattered all over the web. My quest for an authentic recipe for Amritsari Kulcha led me straight to my friend Dr. Aman Kahlon who is the go to guy for all things Punjab and Amritsar related. A few minutes later, I walked away with a recipe, instructions and a lot of confidence. This is as authentic as it gets! I am so thrilled to be sharing this recipe because not only is it easy, it is absolutely delicious.
The Amrtisari kulcha is served with chole that are made sans ghee or oil and I made those to serve with the Paneer Kulcha.
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.
Thank you, Jenni for a wonderful theme this month. And now, here are the breads that we baked for May.
Sweet Breads
- Chocolate Caramel Stuffed Monkey Bread from Robin at A Shaggy Dough Story
- Cinnamon Roll Quickbread from Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
- Cream Pan – Japanese Custard Filled Buns from Shireen at Ruchik Randhap
- Figgy Olive Oil and Sesame Challah from Sarah at What Smells So Good?
- Jam filled Danish Pastries from Holly at A Baker’s House
- No-Knead Apricot Sweet Rolls from Renee at Magnolia Days
Savory Breads
- Baked Peas Kachori from Shilpi at SimplyVeggies
- Cauliflower, Paneer & Peas Stromboli from Priya at I Camp in my Kitchen
- Cheesy Bacon Stuffed Pretzel Buns from Allison at The PinterTest Kitchen
- Cheesy Pizza Wheels from Tara at Noshing with the Nolands
- Chicken Stuffed Casserole Bread from Vimala at Cooking Club
- Cuban Sandwich-Stuffed Cuban Bread from Jenni at Jenni Field’s Pastry Chef Online
- Gruyère Stuffed Crusty Loaves from Adam at Bakers and Best
- Jalapeño Cheddar Stuffed Pretzel Rolls from Heather at Hezzi D’s Books and Cooks
- Jamaican Meat Loaf from Kelly of Passion Kneaded
- Paneer Kulcha from Anshie at Spice Roots
- Prosciutto, Salami and Mozzarella Stromboli from Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Russian Pirozhki from Mireille at Chef Mireille’s East West Realm
- Sri Lankan Seeni Sambol Buns from Pavani at Cook’s Hideout
- Stuffed Bazlama – Turkish Bread from Sneha at Sneha’s Recipe
- Stuffed Black Garlic Monkey Bread from Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Stuffed Pretzel Bites from Karen at Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Tiganopsomo – Feta-Stuffed Fried Bread from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
- Zucchini and Goat Cheese Stuffed Bread from Aisha at La cocina de Aisha
Paneer Kulcha #BreadBakers
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 C All purpose flour
- 1/4 C + 2 Tbs water
- 1/4 tsp salt
Filling
- 1/2 C paneer
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp Mango powder
- 1 green chilli chopped
- 1 tsp chopped cilantro
Extras
- Ghee for topping
- Cilantro for topping
- Butter/ghee for laminating
Instructions
Make the dough
Mix the salt into the flour and then gradually add water and knead the dough. The final dough is soft but not wet. Once the dough comes together cover and let rest for about an hour.
Filling
- Mix all the ingredients of the filling and keep aside.
Laminate the dough
Punch the entire dough on a "very" lightly floured surface and with your finger tips spread it as much as you can into a round.
Apply ghee or softened butter on top of the now rolled out dough and then fold circle in half. Apply the butter/ghee again on the top of this semi circle and fold again. Repeat folding and applying ghee/butter until you can no longer fold the dough.
Keep this laminated dough covered for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 550*F with the baking stone in it . If you don't have a baking stone, a baking sheet or a cast iron griddle will also work.
Once the dough has rested for 30 minutes, make equal size dough balls – about 6- 7 .
Spread out each dough ball with your hand into a 2.5 in to 3 in diameter circle and then put some of the filling in the center. Make sure you don't overfill the dough.
Close the ends of the circle together to encase the filling and then pat down to shape into a flat bread. You could alternately roll it out to shape it into a flatbread.
Using a pastry brush, brush a little water on top and then pat on some cilantro. Just like you would do an egg wash. Not too wet. Put the bread onto the baking stone and cook until golden brown in color. The timing of bread cooking will vary as per your over and the actual heat .. Usually 4 – 5 minutes. Apply ghee as soon as the bread comes out of the oven.
Serve Hot.