Challah Bread

Isn't she a beauty?! I can't help it—I am pleased. This is one pretty loaf of bread that came out of my oven.

I've been wanting to try baking challah for ages. I was working my way through overwhelming stacks of food magazines over the holidays and came across this recipe in Saveur that I decided to give a shot. I took it to a holiday party so don't have any photos of the inside, but it definitely held its own and was fantastic for a first go-round. Lots of oohing and ahhing. Cuz it's dang purdy.

The original recipe had you braid four portions, but … what?!? How does that work? Go for three, it makes life easy. And really, challah is not harder than any other bread as long as you can braid. Kneading, rising, shaping, proofing, baking. Try it. You'll like it! And then there's the french toast. Need I say more?

Challah Bread

Adapted from Saveur

Makes 1 loaf
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. milk, heated to 115°
1/4 cup plus 1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. active dry yeast
4 tbsp. unsalted butter,
melted, plus more for
greasing
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 egg yolk
Sesame seeds, to garnish

Stir together milk, 1 tsp. sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Let sit until foamy,  about 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together butter and eggs. Add to yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add flour, remaining sugar, and salt and stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. 

Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, 6–8 minutes. Transfer to a lightly greased large bowl and cover with plastic wrap; let sit until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Uncover, punch dough down, and re-cover; let sit until slightly puffed, 30 minutes.

Uncover dough, divide into 3 equal portions, and roll each into a 18"-long rope. Align dough ropes side by side, and pinch together ends farthest from you to form one end of loaf. Braid ropes and pinch ends together  and fold under slightly to seal.  Transfer braided loaf to a parchment paper—lined baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap; let proof for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°. 

Stir together egg yolk and 1 tbsp. water in a small bowl and brush all over surface of loaf; sprinkle evenly with sesame seeds. Bake until loaf is dark golden brown, 30–35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes before serving.
 

Pitas that poof

I hadn't really ever thought much about making my own pita bread, but somehow ran across this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and the photos of all those poofed up pitas made me want to try it. (Of course, it also led to the homemade hummus I posted about yesterday, too!) Mine are all misshapen and not round, but that's half the fun of them being homemade, isn't it?!

Pita Bread
Makes 8 to 12
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and The Bread Bible

1 package active dry yeast
Pinch of sugar
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (90 to 110ºF)
3 cups plus a scant 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
2 Tb olive oil

8 hours to 3 days before shaping, mix the dough.

Add yeast and pinch of sugar to water and stir thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand five to ten minutes until yeast is foamy.

BY MIXER: In the bowl of a stand mixer, add yeast mixture to rest of ingredients. With the paddle attachment, mix on low speed (#2 if using a KitchenAid) just until all the flour is moistened, about 20 seconds. Change to the dough hook, raise the speed to medium (#4 KitchenAid), and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should clean the bowl and be very soft and smooth and just a little sticky to the touch. Add a little flour or water if necessary.

BY HAND: In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except for a scant 1/4 cup of the flour. With a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until all the flour is moistened. Knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together.

Sprinkle a little of the reserved flour onto the counter and scrape the dough onto it. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, adding as little of the reserved flour as possible. Use a bench scraper to scrape the dough and gather it together as you knead it. At this point it will be very sticky. Cover it with the inverted bowl and allow it to rest for 5 to 20 minutes. (This rest will make the dough less sticky and easier to work with.)

Knead the dough for another 5 to 10 minutes or until it is soft and smooth and just a little sticky to the touch. Add a little flour or water if necessary.

LET DOUGH RISE: Using an oiled spatula or dough scraper, scrape the dough into a 2-quart bowl, lightly greased with cooking spray or oil. Press the dough down and turn it to coat well with oil. Cover the container with a lid or lightly oiled plastic wrap. With a piece of tape, mark the side of the container at approximately where double the height of the dough would be. Refrigerate the dough overnight (or up to 3 days), checking every hour for the first 4 hours and pressing it down if it starts to rise.

Preheat the oven to 475°F one hour before baking. Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking stone, cast-iron skillet, or baking sheet on it before preheating.

SHAPE: Cut the dough into 8 or 12 pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the rest covered with a damp cloth. On a lightly floured counter, with lightly floured hands, shape each piece into a ball and then flatten it into a disk. Cover the dough with oiled plastic and allow it to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.

Roll each disk into a circle a little under 1/4 inch thick. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes before baking.

BAKE: Quickly place 1 piece of dough directly on the stone or in the skillet or on the baking sheet, and bake for 3 minutes. The pita should be completely puffed but not beginning to brown. The dough will not puff well if it is not moist enough. See how the pita puffs, then, if necessary, spritz each rolled-out pita with water two or three minutes before baking.

Proceed with the remaining dough, baking 3 or 4 pieces at a time if using a stone or baking sheet. Using a pancake turner, transfer the pita breads to a clean towel, to stay soft and warm. (They even stay puffed under a towel!) Allow the oven to reheat for 5 minutes between batches. The pitas can be reheated for about 30 seconds in a hot oven before serving.

To cook the pitas on the stove top: Preheat a griddle or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly grease the surface and cook the pitas one at a time. Cook for about 20 seconds, then turn the dough and continue cooking for 1 minute or until big bubbles appear. Turn the dough again and cook until the dough balloons. If the dough begins to brown, lower the heat. The entire cooking process for each pita should be about 3 minutes.

Za'tar and Aleppo

Doesn't that sound like the name of a fable or a fairy tale? They are actually an herb and a spice featured in two recipes I recently tried. Za'tar is a kind of thyme that grows wild in Lebanon, and in more recent years has been cultivated. It is also the name of a spice blend featuring that herb, as well as crushed red sumac, sesame seeds and salt. The one time I had it was at a place in Brooklyn where it is slathered thickly onto flatbread before baking. It was absolutely delicious and the memory of it remained strong in my mind. I got a bag of the spice blend as part of a gift box filled with herbs and spices at Christmas so decided I would try to recreate that bread. This dough is a pleasure to work with — loose yet not sticky. Lots of fun to knead.


Flat Bread Baked with Za'tar
Adapted from Saveur

Makes three 8" breads.

For the dough:
1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup olive oil, plus more
for greasing sheet pan

For the topping:
1/4 cup za'tar blend
5 Tb. olive oil

1. For the dough: Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl and set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add milk, 1/2 cup of the oil, 2 Tb warm water, and yeast mixture and stir until a dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, 10-15 minutes. Shape dough into a ball, dust with flour, then transfer to a large clean bowl. Cover bowl with a clean damp kitchen towel and set aside in a warm spot to rest until dough has doubled in bulk, 1-2 hours.

2. For the topping: Mix za'tar and oil together in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly grease a sheet pan with some olive oil and set aside. Turn dough out onto a clean surface, divide into thirds, and shape each piece of dough into a ball. Roll 1 dough ball out on a lightly floured surface into an 8" round and transfer to prepared sheet pan. Using your fingertips, make indentations all over the surface fo the dough, then brush with generous amount of topping. Bake flat bread until lightly browned and crisp around the edge, about 10 minutes. Repeat rolling out , indenting, topping, baking process with remaining dough balls and topping mixture, greasing baking sheet with more oil as needed. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The gift of herbs and spices also included a bag of Aleppo pepper and I made Muhammara — a spicy roasted red pepper and walnut spread to go with it.

The smell of baking bread: Dill Pickle Rye

I can never get enough of the sweet smell of warm yeasty bread. I used to have a friend on Elizabeth Street in New York and whenever I went to her place I would walk a certain route because one block always smelled strongly of yeast and bread baking. It was incredibly sweet and overpowering and never failed to make me swoon with happiness and warmth. I never found the source, but it didn't matter. I just loved to breath deeply while walking down the street filled with yeasty goodness.

Now, here in Michigan, winter is in full swing and I think about that smell often and try to recreate its yeasty goodness. Of course, this recipe, which my mom used to make for us as kids, smells a bit more dill-y than yeast-y, but it's scrumptious nonetheless.

Dill Pickle Rye
Makes 2 loaves.

4 cups white flour and 2 cups rye flour
OR
3 cups white flour and 3 cups whole wheat flour

2 packages dry yeast
1 1/2 c. liquid from jar of Polish pickles
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 Tb. sugar
2 Tb. oil
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. caraway seed
2 tsp dill seed
1 egg mixed with 2 Tb. water

Stir together flours. Heat pickle juice with caraway and dill to 120º to 130º F. Mix 2 cups of the flour mixture, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl. Add oil and buttermilk. Pour in pickle juice and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and then some, about 3 minutes total. Stir in enough of the remaining flour mixture to form a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, 5-8 minutes. Place in oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover and let rise until double in size, 1 - 1 1 /2 hours. Punch down and divide in half. Shape into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Brush with egg mixture and cover. Let rise until double again. Bake at 350º for 50-55 minutes. Cover for the last 10 minutes to prevent excessive browning.

Locally grown

I was lucky enough to get out onto some of the back roads of Michigan yesterday on what turned into a beautiful warm spring day. I visited Michelle and Danny Lutz of Maple Creek Farms in Yale. They run an organic farm that provides for up to 700 families every year through their CSA program. I'm writing an article about them for edibleWOW, so you can read more about that later.

On my way back I stopped at the Westwind Milling Company in Linden, MI. They grow their own grains organically and process it into flour in a mill built in 1836 — pretty spectacular. The mill holds their bakery and shop that offers other locally produced foods. I had been wanting to get up there for months and am so glad I did. It really is like an old-time general store. I enjoyed a great conversation with Lee Purdy, the owner and Brenda Payne who works there. I couldn't resist the flours and walked away with all sorts to try out: whole wheat, dark rye, barley, multi-grain, as well as some Michigan honey. Check it out if you're in the area. And stay posted for bread-making updates!

Rye humor

When I was in elementary school, I thought the lyrics to the Rolling Stones' Start Me Up were: "And you can call me rye!" (Actual lyrics: Don't make a grown man cry… close, non?) I guess I was destined for the kitchen… Anyway, in honor of my youthful ear, I will tell you about the rye bread I baked this past weekend. The recipe is from Baking with Julia. It had all kinds of weird steps including hanging the dough in slings (why didn't I take pictures of that?!?) and odd shaping techniques involving hospital corners: I should have known to venture no further at that one. (The book is great — I have had great success with recipes, but…) The loaves look pretty lovely and have a great texture, but just don't have a really nice strong rye taste. There's no doubting that it's rye, but it's a bit mild. I just did a search to find another recipe to try and found these lovely beauties over at pete bakes. That recipe will definitely be my next rye attempt.

I Knead Bread

2008 was the year of bread-baking for me. I had always wanted to try it, but it seemed like a huge time commitment and mucho planning. It took me until last spring to get there. It all started with the No-Knead Bread recipe from the NY Times. Mix up the ingredients and then just let it all sit. What could be easier? It came out so great and looked professional, I think it may have been the first food item I felt compelled to be document with a photo (though I wish I had taken a photo of the inside—next time):

With the move to Ann Arbor, I have had some time on my hands while job-searching, and have delved whole-heartedly into the bread-baking world. The boy really wanted to try making bagels (No, not some clever euphemism. Really, making bagels)—so we did. It was a trial of nerves as I am one to follow the recipe to a T on the first go round; he is not.
I had also been reading what we have come to call the Nazi bread book. I complete guide to whole wheat bread making that is uber-strict to say the least. You MUST do this, and heaven-forbid you do NOT do this… etc etc. I took it all a little too much to heart and was whipped into a perfectionist frenzy. That soon passed. What the heck do I care if the coloration of the bread isn't exactly even over the whole loaf — it tastes good? Great. That's enough for me. Regardless, the bagels turned out pretty rockin' in the end — I wish I had taken a few pix. Next time.

Then, on to baguettes. Yum. Much easier than I thought they would be (perhaps it was my overzealous book training) though I don't think my subsequent efforts have been quite as good as that very first one (you know what they say…).




I had been buying King Arthur flour and started noticing the recipes on the back of the bags. I tried their Oatmeal Bread and loved it so much that I've gone on to try a bunch of their recipes. This bread smells so good with the best ting of sweetness and perfect density for toast or a super-hearty sandwich. Yum!!



What shall I try next…