“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things”

Those are Maria’s (Sound of Music) favourite things, not exactly mine.

These are mine, same tune as Maria’s song please!

“Sip-ups on small shops and white gas mittais (candies)
Bright orange candies and warm pazham pories
Brown paper packages of bakery bread
These are a few of my favourite things ”

Those are the type of candies I grew up eating. There was a small round bright orange 10 paise mittai, which is not available any more. White translucent ‘gas mittai’ was another favourite. There was a 5paise ‘cigarette mittai’ which kind of looks like a chalk piece. I can’t even spot a picture these on-line.  You cannot even count the number of sip-ups (frozen juice in small plastic tube like packs) we have had from a shop near our school. Even those are not available now.

When we grew up, there was no camera, no mobile, no internet, no facebook/instagram. That’s why all these things, that brightened up our childhoods were not captured and recorded.

But there are things have stood the test of time and are still available in the market. Like the naranga mittai and jeera mittai. And the fruit bread. 

It’s nice to see some things being a part of my son’s childhood as much as it was a part of mine.

The tutti frutti bread available in the markets is my son’s favourite and mine. This is my trial to make it at home.

The bread came out fine, despite my mixing cold milk for making the dough. A slow rise in a warm oven helped the dough rise.

This bread was baked as part of Aparna’s We Knead to Bake bread baking group. For the month of February, the choice of bread was left to the members and this was mine :-). This is a basic fruit bread recipe changed to make my favourite tutti frutti bread.

Recipe adapted from : Couscous & Consciousness

Ingredients:

Method:  

1. I did the kneading in the food processor. This can be done by hand as well.
2. If you are using saffron, I didn’t, add it to the warm milk and keep aside.
3. Mix the flour, instant yeast, sugar, salt in the food processor bowl and pulse a couple of times for it to mix thoroughly. Start with 3 cups flour and then if required (the dough is too soft to handle, you can add the rest half cup in 2-3 batches).
4. Add the soft butter, milk with saffron, eggs and process until its combined and you have a soft dough.
5. Take it out and knead it for a bit, adding in the additional flour, if the dough is too sticky. Tip in the tutti frutti and knead again to distribute it evenly.
6. Cover and leave the dough for an hour or so, until it is doubled in size, in a well oiled bowl.
7. Once its doubled, knead again for a minute or two and shape it into a loaf and place inside a greased loaf pan. I used a pullman’s loaf pan. Let the dough raise till it reaches the rim, about 40 minutes under normal conditions (It took 2 hours in a warm oven for me, since I used cold milk for kneading the dough).
8. Bake in a heated oven at 180C for about 40-50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped at the bottom. Brush it with butter.
9. Let it cool down completely before slicing it. Eat it plain or with jam, if feeling really indulgent.

Notes:

1. Check out this video from Vah Chef for tutti frutti bread.
2. The milk should be warm, not hot and definitely not cold.
3. If you are using active dry yeast, then ‘proof’ it separately with sugar and milk before adding it to the flour.
4. Once cool, cover the bread, don’t leave it open. Store it in an airtight container.