Regarding this subject, I am sharing an article that I wrote under the theme, "The New Normal" to the Goa Writers group of which I am a member.
TLJ The New Norm -Tony de Sa In *ilo tempore, *in those days when the Covid-19 did not run its writ, I’d ride in to Mapusa several times a day for the flimsiest reasons. No errand was too small and no excuse was trivial. Mapusa and I were in a relationship. One of the many tasks that I carried out in Mapusa was to buy my *poies. *I have a favourite baker. Yes, Babaji’s – the favourite rendez vous of amorous Mapusa college students - purveyors of cold drinks ice-creams and snacks – also make fabulous poies. Well what’s so special about selling *poies *you might ask? Dozens of shops and bakeries sell *poies. *Well Babaji’s *poies* are special because they are large in size, have more whole wheat in them compared to the others in the market and have a great flavour and taste. With the lock down and now the pandemic scare, my visits to Mapusa are severely curtailed. In fact, you can count on the fingers of one hand, the number of times I’ve been to Mapusa since last March. So that puts the Kibosh on *poies *from Babajis. I’m not so sure that they still do bake them, given that the demand must have plummeted. Whole wheat bread is something I am obsessed with for dietary reasons and the local *poies *that we get are simply refined flour *poies *that are dipped in rice/ wheat bran to give them the *asli *look. With no other alternative, I have been living on the ersatz stuff and that was making me miserable. About a little over a month ago, while surfing Youtube I came across “Atta and Bread Makers.” Well that sounded interesting. So I started digging in more. I discovered that an Atta and Bread maker is capable of making bread for you using a “fill it, shut it, forget it” principle. That is, you dump the ingredients into the machine, flip the switch on and hey, presto, a loaf of bread awaits you at the end of the designated time. Exploring further, I discovered that I could make no less than seventeen different confections using the Atta and Bread Maker, (hereinafter called bread maker). Some interesting stuff like chapatis, brownies, cakes, puddings, pizzas and even jam. So I trundled off to Amazon on my computer and a week later, I was the proud possessor of a Kent Atta and Bread Maker. Yes, Kent – the R.O water filter people. Because of the pandemic and a belief that the virus can survive for up to 3 days on plastic wrapping, true or not, I tend to keep all my Amazon purchases in my balcony for a period of 3 days – I fondly call my balcony my Amazon quarantine. As soon as the machine’s quarantine was over, with great fanfare the machine was unveiled and the booklet hurriedly read. Basically, it was just like a washing machine. Turn the machine on, shove your clothes in, select your programme and wham! Punch the starter. Now for my first venture. After listening to my wife’s advice, I decided to make a loaf using all purpose flour – *maida. *The process was simplicity itself. 3 cups (provided with the bread maker) of flour, One cup water, I spoon instant dry yeast, 1 spoon salt, 2 scoops oil. All I had to do was to arm the bread maker. Which consists of fitting the bread pan in the machine, and fixing the mixing paddle). In go the liquids and the solids, shut the machine, power on, select the programme, decide the colour of the bread – light or dark and mashing the power switch. After three odd hours, there was a lovely loaf of bread. The success was beyond my expectations. Nevertheless, home-made bread is something to look forward to. After my initial successful foray, I decided to be more adventurous and settled for a whole wheat loaf of bread. Now, I was stunned to discover that whole wheat bread isn’t necessarily whole wheat. It contains a good bit of refined flour because a whole wheat bread when baked will fall on itself unless it has gluten from refined flour to support it. My effort at making a whole wheat loaf was successful but not entirely satisfactory because the surface of the loaf was pitted and though it tasted good, it was not aesthetic in appearance. My third attempt was a disaster. The loaf turned into a biscuit. This was, as I later discovered, because I had not proven the yeast which in this case was active dry yeast, whereas previously, I had used instant dry yeast. My next loaf was accidentally the best I had baked. It happened quite by accident. I had decided to use 2 parts of *maida *to one part of* atta. *While preparing the ingredients, instead of my usual 500 g loaf, I measured out ingredients for a 750 g loaf. Unexpectedly, it turned out very successful. It was spongy, had a great golden crust, the top was smooth and the bubbles evenly spread. My quest for the perfect whole wheat loaf goes on. I have bought ‘bread stengthener’ – vital wheat gluten to bring perfection to my fully whole wheat loaf, but success still eludes me. So now I watch countless youtube videos, read tons of material and everyday as I bake a fresh loaf, I alter this, add some more salt, or use butter instead of oil, make subtle variations to the recipe in my search for that elusive perfect loaf. I am obsessed with bread making. My first waking thought is, “what ingredient am I going to vary today?” Hopefully, by a process of trial and error and error and trial I will hit the jackpot with that all elusive perfect loaf of whole wheat bread! (967 words) Tony de Sa Wishing you a very happy new year 2021