Three seed monkey bread

When it comes to bread, you can use the same basic dough to make plain dinner rolls, seeded loaf or shape it into intricate bread that makes a fantastic impression on your family and guests. One such variation is the monkey bread which lets you present it on the centre of the table for a dinner gathering without having to go through the tediousness of neatly slicing bread slices. This is a simple pull-apart bread in few easy steps - knead the dough, let it proof, shape into balls and keep for a second proofing, bake and they are ready to be served.

Ingredients:

• 2.5-3 cups plain flour

• 0.5 teaspoon salt

• 1 heaped spoon dry yeast

• 1 cup lukewarm water

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 0.5-1 teaspoon garlic powder optional

• A knob of butter

• seeds of your choice - white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, poppy seeds, mixed herbs

Method:

1. Mix sugar in luke-warm water

2. Gently add yeast to the water and wait for 10 mins for the yeast to bloom

3. In a mixing bowl, mix flour, garlic powder and salt. Pour yeast mix and knead into a soft sticky dough using more water as required

4. Knead for at least 10 minutes, adding olive oil towards the end.

5. Once the dough comes together, keep in a bowl, dab with more olive oil, cover with a damp towel and keep aside for first proofing for up to 1.5 hours.

6. When the dough has doubled in size, knock down the dough and shape into 14-16 balls.

7. Roll each ball in one of the seeds or mixed herbs

8. Arrange the dough balls in a baking pan (I used a flan pan) such that contrasting textures are adjacent to each other

9. In case the pan is deep and you will be have 2 or more layers of balls in the bread, put a small steel bowl in the centre so that heat distributes evenly even to the centre of the bread

10. After you have arranged all dough balls, cover with damp cloth and keep aside for about 30 mins for a final proofing

11. Melt butter, mix few herbs and minced garlic if desired and brush generously over the bread.

12. Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees for 20-30 mins depending on over standards.