Face -to-Face with HFT

Hi Friends!

HFT Breads & Spreads Hamper

They say word of mouth news is lapped up faster that anything else. No wonder idle gossip good or bad is a wag away! But this time its is the superior version of a wag-technologically speaking-through a blog.

So it came to my mind, why not use the all time tested mode of communication with you to popularize the need to look differently at breads that is innovative and will perk up our daily food fare. So here is the FB link of Home for Food Traditions: https://www.facebook.com/hft.co.in

Browse the many options you have and try out the adventurous offerings in bread and other baked products of HFT, that has become a part and parcel of my life just like a cuppa of steaming, aromatic coffee.

Bite the tantalizing HFT bakes for all the right reasons.

More when we meet again... 

Diwali Cheers by Breads

Hi Friends!

A Very Happy Diwali to all of you.

The past week has been hectic with preparation for Diwali, the celebration itself and post festival niceties and that was a lot of people visiting, exchange of greetings...   khana peena going on... Bing a hardcore vegetarian, I stuck to greens and dairy products. Sweets were of course much to my liking. I blame it on my incorrigible sweet tooth. No guilt then and am not in the race for the next Ms Universe!

Diwali lifts ones sagging spirit to work for welcoming the Goddess of plenty, and who doesn't want her around! I do for sure. How was the day for you? How many of you tried the HFT bread hamper or gifted it to your close family and friends? My dining table looks slightly desolate without the attractive bread hamper and so have ordered for replenishing my stock.

Well, any success with collating the different kinds of desi or indigenous breads in our country. Share the ingredients and also the recipe of the accompanying dish with us. Those wanting to get more adventurous can also send the kinds of breads available worldwide.

Come friends be a sport and lets play bread - bread...

Ring in Diwali with exotic breads

Hi Friends!

Weekend is here and so is the festive season of Diwali. Catching up with  family and friends, incessant gup-shup over dinners, tea and just snacking in between meals has kick started.

Plans are afoot on gifts, return gifts, delicacies to be served to guests dropping in to greet diwali has pepped activity as well as imagination. Each coming up with his or her own ideas. Diyas, chocolates, cookie boxes, traditional sweets, dry fruits, an assortment of bakery stuff, crockery set and weird suggestion came up in the run up for the celebrations.

The exchange of gifts is a part and parcel of the entire festival preparation. As I munched a few cashew nuts, I dropped the bombshell.-Breads! There was silence and then what followed was loud chatter in varying decibels. I reasoned that a healthy, tasty and useful gift was the best choice. I pressed my argument saying that the latest fad of the health conscious tribe did not go for sweet and salty munchy stuff. Our hard earned money would go down the drain if it is kept aside, neglected and later thrown away. This swung the decision in my favour. I was the centre of power in the family for a while!

I updated them of my latest find -HFT Breads and Spreads. Made with best of original ingredients, and innovative in taste, their hamper is worth a try. Kya sirf double roti hai hamper mein? was a poser from an aunt.  I did not miss out on her frown. I plodded on and informed that cup cakes, bread sticks, stuffed breads, multi-grain breads, whole wheat breads, vitamin bites, rusk, tea breads, cookies, pav, chocolate and almond rocks made for a wide range of taste and variety in the hamper. The faces around brightened up. I scored.

So HFT bread hamper is what will be the surprise gift to our close associates, friends and relatives....I believe in 'healthy celebrations.'

Manna from the Fields

Hi Friends!

A bright and cool morning...yes, cool because the early winter nip is in the air!

My heart beat picked up as I set into the pace of yoga. A brief break and my health drink of honey and lime in warm water gave me temporary relief. Life, thereafter, was back to routine. However, today was organic dalia for breakfast and not cornflakes. Change if good is always welcomed.

Healthy Crops

Aaahhh... organic dalia- this remind me of the rows of wheat and wholegrain stuff stacked on racks of food bazars and malls. It seems we are back to the good healthy eating days  of our forefathers. The emphasis was on a lot of bran, course cereals, millets etc., that held on to the nutritive content or only a negligible amount was lost in its processing. The suave city dwellers end up eating what our grandmothers wanted us but call it by fancy names to placate their so called belief in belonging to an era that is more civilized!

Everyday, for breakfast or evening snacks, or after a tiring day from work the stuffed breads, natural flavoured breads and even cakes and muffins are a great comfort. Snacking becomes merrier with family and friends.The breads from Home for Food Traditions (HFT) have all the ingredients that would have made our grand moms and moms happy. So HFT bread basket has a permanent perch on the dining table at my place.

So friends it has been the tradition to eat coarse or whole grains of different varieties and HFT breads are a safe bet. Integrity in whatever they do is their baseline- bread bakes included.

Wh(e)at a lovely thought...

Hi Friends!

A very good morning and may the 'saundhi' aroma of warm and fresh bread reach you.

My day began with the natural health drink-'Nariyal pani' coconut offered by my friend and yoga partner. And as I cooled my heels waiting for the yoga acharya, time dragged and the gnawing of my stomach for breakfast sharpened. Caution was thrown to the winds and I could not resist the temptation to go for a hot cup of coffee and methi bread toast from HFT. Believe me friends the smell could send you into a trance! and each bite also replenished my energy that had hit rock bottom. Yoga is to be done on an empty stomach but then it is done early and we can blame the wait to be the reason for indulging in the bready temptation!!!

Oh yes, that reminds me, yesterday I had sought some enlightenment -When was the first bread baked? Am still waiting for a bread freak to update me on that. My inquisitiveness does not rest here...Weren't all the plants of all the food grains part of the vegetation in the vast wild landscape once upon a time, growing profusely like any other grass? How and who discovered the edible worthiness of these plants and their produce what we have been calling 'anaaj' or food grains?

While chilli flavoured breads are baking at the HFT bakery...Am still in between bread bites  searching and also waiting for an answer from any of you out there.....

 

When was the first loaf of bread baked?

Hi Friends!

Am back with some more 'Saundhi' aspects of the earthy breads...I have wonder many a times who was the first smart person to have come up with the concept of breads, rotis or chappatis that has literally revolutionized the food habits of millions of people across the world for centuries?.

Life's Bread & Butter

LiIsn't it surprising that the so called people referred to as 'ancient' and 'uncivilized' were the first to recognize the value of grains such as wheat and rice and of course several other grains and cereals that are regionally available and later converted then into edible stuff. I am sure even the cultivation of the crops and processing them must have been interesting. Today, we are literally reaping the benefits of our ancestors....The nutritive qualities of these grains and cereals have withstood the test of time and satiated the hunger of people for ages.

In other continents breads of different, sizes, shapes, textures do the same function as our indigenous naan, kulchas, jau ki roti, missi roti, sattu roti, paranthas,etc., best described as desi breads which form the base and accompaniment to vegetables, curries, soups, etc.

Over the period innovations have introduced stuffed breads and rotis, chappatis etc....They are all season friendly, handy and quite a fill to quell hunger pangs..

Can any of you come up with an exhaustive list of breads and indigenous breads and their native origin etc....

You never know a new find or variant of bread could just be a bite away! 

Single-Bite Buns are quite a Mouthful !

Hi Friends!

My morning started with a glass of water followed by one with honey and lime juice. As the sun rose higher into the sky and the day picked up with morning chores, the feel of a fresh new day was exhilarating. The mind, the restless vagabond, fired up a million thoughts all at the same time. My day had begun full throttle.

Single-Bite Buns

To perk up my energy level and mood before plunging head on into the day, I took a break for a quiet breakfast. A large coffee mug with the steaming heady brew was complimented with a fresh multigrain bread slice with a liberal layer of butter. Oooh! It was heavenly! The aroma still fresh, the HFT breadbasket (which I carried back with me yesterday) beckoned me. The lure was irresistible and I looked at the goodies in the basket lovingly. Cakes, muffins, single bite buns, stuffed breads, bread sticks....wow it is indeed a basketful of bakes and spreads delights. I indulged a little more without any guilt.

The start of the day could not be better and as I left home for work I eyed the exquisite basket perched centre place on the dining table with a promise to get back soon in the evening for cozy company...

In a Bread Bind

This time of the year is a transition phase not only for the season when the monsoon tail-end peters out and autumn knocks but also stokes the appetite to reach out for something that has all the goodies of the earthy nutrients and mild flavours. Being a foodie to the core, the desire for the best starts right from the kitchen at home and the fastidiousness stretches out to any eating place. In more informal gatherings pampering is indulged unabashedly.

In one such trip to an old associate's office, I was welcomed and as conversation picked up, the topic of food sat squarely in our discussion. My ears pricked up on mention of traditional values of food which are reminders of wise adages of grandmothers' and their fetish for nutritious and wholesome food! I am one for such food and love to have a traditional thaali of lentil curries, vegetables, pickles, salads, etc. very much like my paternal uncle, who insisted on having a thaali EVERYDAY that befitted a royal spread. Anxious about my fast paced lifestyle and even more unpredictable working hours, he insisted that come hail or storm, stop all work and eat properly in a relaxed environment. I have been an obedient niece.

Our conversation grew warmer when a steaming cup of coffee was served to me and along with it was a plate of interesting mix of tea breads, peppercorn and pumpkin bread. I was pleasantly surprised. One bite, and I knew it has been ages since I had tasted something as exotic and authentic as this. The best bakers in my neighbourhood seemed like novice. The talk veered to bakes, spreads and dips and then the secret spilled out, bakes and spreads was a new venture launched by Home for Food Traditions by my friend. I was taken to the glossy slick kitchen where assorted breads were attractively arranged in rows of baskets for dispatched to the new and growing clientele. I silently made up my mind to add my name in the list before I bid adieu. Am an ardent fan of the innovative breads and spreads of HFT and advise you to try out some. You certainly are bound to come back for more.

Checkout: www.hft.co.in