And the festive mood should be set on. To welcome the most awaited month of the whole year and before we land up with every thing sweet, here is to the celebration with some lip-smacking dinner. As delicious as it can turn, it just blew me off and I so wish it will – to each of you

Wreath seems very festive and how cool would it be if its filled with lots and lots of chicken . As exactly I would like my food. Just kept things simple and wanted to make one quick version except that I was pondering on how to get the wreath while most wreaths used ready crescent rolls which were basically triangle pieces of ready puff pastry.

There is some more time until I put my hands on puff pastry and yes there is no availability of ready puff pastry around. So what is the best bet? Our very own pizza base comes handy here. This time lots of moisture, sticky dough and yes Oh! so soft, melt in your mouth base and that filling – I shouldn’t keep boasting it all myself here. Over to the preps

1. Heat up your kadai and add oil. Fry onions until soft.

2. Add finely chopped bell peppers and cabbage. Saute until its soft.

3. Add washed and chopped chicken pieces and mix well. Saute until chicken changes its texture, 2 minutes.

4. Add salt, spices and chilly powder. Mix well and fry until the raw smell of chilly powder goes off, 2 minutes.

5. Add in tomato puree and mix well. Let cook for a minute on medium flame.

6. Add the ketchup and mix well. Let cook on low flame for 5 minutes until the whole thing comes together and let the chicken cook thoroughly.

7. Add pepper powder and mix well. Check for seasoning and add more salt or pepper powder as per taste. Cook in low flame for about a minute.

8. Yum! its ready. You could garnish with coriander leaves. My bad I was in hurry just forgot about it :/ . Let cool ( Actually not necessary)

1. In a large bowl, add together flour, sugar, salt, yeast and oil.

2. Use a whisk and mix them together.

3. Heat up your water. Now here is a repeat to old readers. To those who are new here, this is how you test if the water is hot enough for your yeast. Put your index finger into the warm water ( actually between warm to hot ). Count to 5, and if the 5th count is the highest count for you to be able to bear the heat, then its just right. If its very easy to bear on count 5, you have to heat it up more. If its unbearable say on count 2, then it needs to cool down a bit. ( How cool is that )
Pour water into the flour mixture.

4. Use your whisk or your wooden spatula to mix them together. It will be a sticky mixture. Knead for about 5 minutes. It is a flat bread so you don’t have to stress out much on kneading, but knead for atleast 5 minutes to get your gluten form.

5. Leave the dough in the bowl and cover it with a damp cloth and set aside in a naturally warm place for about one and a half hours. During this time of the season as its hard to get natural warmth, I heated up my oven at 50 degree C for 3 minutes. Switched off my oven and placed the bowl with the damp cloth inside the oven and closed its door. Would you like to see what happened after an hour ?

6. Seems very Artisan Isn’t it ? Remove the towel carefully.6. Seems very Artisan Isn’t it ? Remove the towel carefully.

7. Punch your dough with your fist and bring the dough together

8. Transfer the dough on your counter top/work surface. Mine is always my silicon mat. If your dough is very sticky, add some more flour and knead until it is just not sticky. Don’t add too much flour. Divide your dough into 2 portions using a dough cutter.

9. Roll one portion of the dough into a circle about quarter of an inch thickness. Use a pizza cutter and cut into 8 wedges equally. Repeat the same to the other portion also.

10. Line up your baking tray with butter paper or like me use a silicon mat on your baking tray. Start placing your wedges overlapping on the broader end and the narrow end facing outwards.

11. Spread out equally and finish up a circle using the 8 wedges

12. Using the second set of the wedges, place them in exactly opposite directions, overlapping.

13. Finish up with all the 8 wedges spread out equally. It would cover up the center. Don’t ask me ‘Where is the hole?’

14. I scooped out the filling evenly around on the overlapping part of both side wedges. You could use your spoon to spread it out.

15. Now fold the narrow end of the wedge facing outwards over the filling and turn it inside. Pull it as it would stretch for you to cover up the filling.

16. Continue doing it to the 8 wedges that is facing outwards.

17. Now for the wedges that had its narrow end facing inwards. Pull them from inside and go over the filling and fold it outside. Do it to all the 8 wedges, trying to cover up the gaps as much possible. Cover with damp cloth again and let it aside for about 15 minutes to increase in volume. This is second proving.

18. Brush the top with egg, very carefully without deflating the volume.

19. Finish up egg wash and its all set to go inside your oven. Bake in pre-heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes at 200 degree C. The top should be golden brown.

20. As soon as it is out of the oven, place it on a cooling rack and brush the top with oil. Be liberal with oil. This will soften up the crust considerably.

Voila and your wreath is done!! Don’t wait, bring your knife on and and take out your share. If this time of your day is somewhere in between your meal time, do not hesitate to have a hot cuppa tea along . True I did that
And yes I have a share for you here !!

This has been baked for Fondbites, Bake Along, a group of enthusiastic bakers, bake one recipe every week along with me. To join the group, send a join request in the facebook group and I will add you to the group.