Chicken Bread

One of my personal favourite recipes and a definite keeper of a recipe!

Recipe originally by Shirin Anwar, courtesy of Fati Naz.

I have included step by step instructions with pictures here.

Dough Recipe

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose/plain flour
1 tbsp. instant yeast
2 tbsp. powdered milk
1 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. oil
egg 1 (plus 1 for glazing)
1 tsp. castor sugar

Instructions

In a bowl mix together 4 cups flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. castor sugar, 2 tbsp. milk powder, 1 tbsp. yeast, 4 tbsp. oil and 1 egg, knead to a medium soft dough with slightly warm water, leave to rise for 1 hour. Divide the dough into two or three depending on how big you want the loaves. Proceed with viewing the subsequent steps to see how the bread is shaped.

Chicken Filling Recipe

Ingredients

1 ½ to 2 cups chicken boiled and shredded
1 medium or 2 small onion chopped finely
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. coriander leaves
4 chopped green chilies
1 tsp. garam masala powder
2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. butter
1 cup milk
Sesame seeds as required

Instructions

Heat 2 tbsp. butter fry onion till soft then add 2 tbsp. flour with 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. garam masala.

Add the milk, cook till thick, mix in the shredded chicken add chopped green chilies and coriander leaves, remove and cool completely.

The filling will look like this

Now divide the dough into two or three parts depending on what size loaves of chicken bread you want. Roll the dough to a rectangular shape, snip the sides with scissors or a knife, put filling in the center and fold each side so they overlap each other (like a braid) the filling will show slightly but that's ok, brush top with beaten egg, sprinkle sesame seeds and bake on 200 degree C for 25 minutes or so.

Right after taking out of the oven apply butter well on whole bread and let it rest covered with a cloth for 2-3 min to soften the bread completely.

TIP: I always make big batches of chicken bread at a go and then wrap them well in cling film or foil, then put them in some sort of a cellophane bag and tie it up tight and freeze. They can keep up to 4 weeks! When you need one, you just thaw it out overnight in the fridge or keep it out on the counter until it's thawed out, then unwrap and zap it in the micro for a minute or so until it warms up, and then splash a little bit of water using your fingertips on it and put it in the oven for about 5 minutes to freshen it back up. Becomes as good as new! :)