I Holler for Challah

Greetings, friends. If you know me, then you know one of my enduring loves in life is bread. I've hardly ever met a carb I didn't like, so I was really exited when East Wichita got our first Great Harvest Bread Company in the mid- '90s. For those who aren't familiar, it's a chain of locally-managed bread stores who make their wares fresh every day and have a menu board of amazing carbo-licious concoctions. We tried a lot of bread there that we wouldn't ordinarily have run into, and one of my favorite new types was Challah, the traditional Jewish egg bread. It's lightly sweet and pairs great with sweet and salty spreads, and makes amazing French toast.

Fast forward 15ish years. There is a Great Harvest in Northern Virginia, but it's a solid 30-45 minute drive to a part of the 'burbs I rarely get to, so I think we've been there once. In my continued trolling through blogs linked to Pinterest and blogs linked to those blogs, I stumbled upon Food Wanderings. This is a lovely blog by an Israeli woman who now lives in the U.S. She did a guest post over at Indonesia Eats for a Honey Challah Bread. I was so excited when I found this that I made it 24 hours later. This is absolutely a Food Wanderings recipe (which is dairy-free for any Kosher eaters), but my value added is to covert the measurements completely to the US system (I had to do a lot of googling to covert the grams since I don't yet have a food sale) and to provide a few more pictures.

For the basic 2-loaf recipe you'll need:

7.5 cups all-purpose flour (preferably unbleached)
5 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar in the raw
1 Tbl salt
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil (+ more for coating dough)
1.5- 2 cups mineral water (I used seltzer instead)

1 more egg for egg wash

Optional ingredients:
handful of golden raisins, raisins, or other dried fruit
sesame seeds

Follow the Honey Challah link above to find her directions. I won't reproduce them, but I'll post my photos below to illustrate each step, since there really aren't any in-process photos over there to guide you.

ingredients!

busting out the dough hook for the first time- this is the flour & yeast mixture

Mixing to incorporate all the wet ingredients

Finished dough- that is some sticky stuff! 

Here I'll say that when I removed the dough from the mixing bowl the first time to oil it, I lightly floured my work surface and was very glad I did. This dough is so sticky, but mostly sticks to itself until you rub the canola on it and the mixing bowl. My dough was pretty thick so I used the whole 2 cups of water and thought about using more, but I didn't. 

Oiled dough, covered and left for 1+ hours, risen dough

 

Dividing the dough- I cut mine in two and then each one in three.

I rolled my pieces out flat with a rolling pin and then curled them into cylinder shapes, then braided them. 

The braided strands

I curled the braid into a circle and tucked then end under, per her instructions. 

I let my dough rise for around 3 hours instead of 1 because I went to the movies, so I think it may have spread out a little more than standard. Next, I put on the egg wash, which is important for that beautiful color and shine on the loaf. I skipped the sesame seeds from the original. 

Finished loaf, smells amazing! 

Enjoying a slice

New Photo Blog

I have already made some progress on my 30 by 30 list. Public publishing is definitely helping to motivate me! I just wanted to do a quick post on here to tell everyone about my photo blog on Tumblr. You have to start your own Tumblr blog page in order to officially "follow" me, which is kind of a pain, but you can check back every few days on my site: http://hiddengeometry.tumblr.com/ to see what's new. I post several times per week over there. I even made my own logo to use as a watermark so people don't just steal my photos.

I went with the name "Hidden Geometry" for my blog. Some catchier things were already taken, but I believe this describes my artistic philosophy, such as is it. I find that when I take several versions of a photo, I always like the one where I zoomed in the closest the most. I also play a little game with iPhoto on my laptop where I "share" my photos on my desktop as a background and the Mac chooses a point somewhere near the center, does a fairly extreme zoom in and puts it on my desktop. I discover the most interesting parts of my photos this way, and sometimes I like the zoomed version as much or better than the original. I really enjoy discovering the hidden geometry of our world, particularly the geometric shapes hidden in flowers, repeated shapes in architecture, or structure in places where you would expect randomness. Anyway, I'm dusting off shots from many years past and many states and countries, as well as doing some interesting cropping and a little photoshopping here and there. I hope you enjoy seeing some of my work!

Here are a few samples of things I've posted:

a poppy in Ephesus- just part of a larger shot of several flowers

close-up of a rather irritated looking sea turtle in Monterrey, CA- look at those shapes!

a lamp seen from between 2 columns in the Paris Opera House

a white jonquil from someplace around Alexandria last spring

Feeding Friendship: Unusual Grain Edition

This time around it was my turn to pick an ingredient. I went with cook's choice of unusual grains like amaranth, quinoa, chia, and the like. In Bill Bryson's most recent book, At Home, he discusses the history of many of the foods and spices that ended up on our tables and noted that out of the roughly 30,000 types of edible plants in the world, just 11 comprise 93% of the human diet. He also went on to say that the ones we eat the most are skewed towards what was easiest for early peoples to grow, and not what was most nutritious. These grains are among a class of amazingly nutritious foods that are beginning to become trendy with the sort of edgy food circles, the extremely health conscious, and the crunchy hippie set.   For my grain I chose chia, partially because I had read a little about it in magazines, and partially because Wegman's carries it in their bulk section. I also bought some wheat berries, but haven't used them yet.

Chia, of Chia Pet fame, is not only a fast-growing sprout, but also a "super food" that can be added to many types of dishes to make them more nutritious and filling without adding a strong flavor. It comes in white and black. Vegans substitute chia gel for butter in baking (!). To make chia "gel," add 1-2 Tbl chia to 1 cup water or fruit juice and let it sit. Apparently the stuff absorbs like 9 times its own volume. You can also make chia "slurry" by adding it to water and then blending the mixture smooth. You can then add it to smoothies without a weird texture. But I digress.

I chose to make Parmesan Israeli Couscous with Chia because I often make something similar as a side dish and because I sort of invented/adpated the recipe and feel good about blogging it. Also, it's tasty and easy! You can do this with or without the chia, if it weirds you out, but I didn't find that it changed the flavor at all from chia-free versions. You'll need:

1 cup Israeli couscous (or regular, if you prefer)
2 cups chicken stock
1 Tbl chia
salt & pepper to taste
Italian or Tuscan seasoning (I used the Spice & Tea Exchange's Tuscany Blend)
~ 1 Tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 clove (or a little more) minced garlic
~1 Tbl minced onion
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated or shredded Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese (to taste)
2 Tbl pine nuts (optional)

If you are using pine nuts, toast them before you begin the couscous proper. I like them because they add a little texture to the dish, but I realize they are expensive. (Use the leftovers in pesto!) Take out the medium saucepan that you intend to use for the couscous and heat it on medium. Throw the pine nuts in there with nothing else. Heat and jiggle the pan until they start to turn slightly brown and smell nutty. Watch them closely to avoid over-browning!

getting toasty

Once they are toasted to your satisfaction, remove them from your pan and let them hang out in a bowl while you cook. 

Now add about a tablespoon of olive oil to your saucepan and saute your minced onion until it's getting translucent, then add your minced garlic for about a 30-second saute. Don't let the garlic get too brown. 

Next, add the cup of dry couscous to the pan. Stir for at least a minute to coat the couscous in the olive oil and slightly toast it. 

Next, I added my seasoning. I didn't measure mine really, so I'd start with 1/2 tsp of your mixture and add more at the end if it's under seasoned. 

You can add your chia at this point or your chicken stock, I'm not sure it matters which goes first. Do not, I repeat not, add your pine nuts at this point.

cha-cha-cha-chia!

Bring your mixture to a boil and then turn the heat down pretty low (I use about a 2 out of 6, which is just above "Lo").  Cover and simmer 12-15 minutes until the liquid is nearly all absorbed, like so: 

almost there!

Now it's time to add your parmesan, salt, pepper, and pine nuts while it's still piping hot. Give it all a good stir and taste to more sure it's seasoned and cheesy enough for you. 

You're ready to serve. In just 15 minutes you've created a yummy side dish that secretly sports a super food. This is a sort of quasi-pilaf formula that works with a lot of things, with or without parmesan. Just add 1/4 cup less than 2x the amount of dry couscous or quinoa you're using. I kept in that 1/4 cup of liquid here to compensate for the absorption powers of the chia. Enjoy!

Parmesan Israeli Couscous with Pine Nuts and Chia to go with garlic and fennel marinated chicken

extreme couscous closeup!

Life-Changing Cake

Hello, readers. I wasn't going to blog this recipe. I got a recipe from a co-worker who said his wife had the best cake recipe ever. His family kindly gave me a wee recipe book at Christmas featuring this dessert. I hadn't made til about a week ago when same said coworker pestered me into making it for our staff meeting. All I can say is, "Whoa." The source of this recipe was never clear, and I wasn't sure if his wife was an evil genius or a resourceful Internet user. He said I shouldn't give it away to just anyone. However, I found what I think is the original source of this recipe, the well-known and somewhat fancy Momofuku Milk Bar in New York City. I tracked this recipe across the blogosphere in a couple of iterations from Wee Eats and Some Kitchen Stories.  However, I'm going to make a bold claim. These people are giving you bad advice and my version is BETTER. Ha, there, I've said it! Their recipe is for "bars" and you'll notice if you click the above link that the bars are distinctly darker on the bottom. Jake's wife took the recipe firmly into the cake realm, which I respect and appreciate, and I have kicked it up a notch using the easy yellow cake recipe from Mama J at A Little Bit Crunchy a Little Bit Rock 'n Roll (though she's doesn't give the amount of milk you should use) and by using more vanilla. Besides, who wants a 1" square bar unless you're at a party? That's just enough dessert to make this kid angry. 


So, here we go. I give you the recipe for what I'm going to christen Vanilla Gooey Butter Cake. Here's what you'll need to change life as you know it today:


for the cake

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbl vanilla
• 3/4 - 1 cup milk (2% or whole) 

for the gooey topping layer:

     8 oz cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

     2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg beaters) 

     4 cups confectioners sugar 

     1 tsp vanilla extract

Now preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease or Pam the bottom only of a 9x13 or 9.5 x 11 inch pan and set aside. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of your mixer. I used a fine-mesh sieve here instead of my hand-numbing sifter, so suit yourself. Add the sugar and butter and mix on low for about 1-2 minutes, until the mixture looks like relatively fine sand. 

In a large measuring cup, combine the eggs, milk, and vanilla. If you are using egg substitute like egg beaters, use 3/4 cup of milk, but if you're using actual eggs, kick the milk up to 1 cup. Beat lightly with a fork in the cup. 

With the mixer on low, pour about a cup of the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Turn the speed up to medium and beat for about a minute. Add the remaining mixture and beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the sides as needed with a spatula. Pour your cake batter into your greased pan and set aside. 

Now for the gooey topping. Mix your cream cheese, eggs, and vanilla in a mixer or using an electric hand mixer until the lumps mostly subside. Add in your sugar slowly, mixing to incorporate each addition. When all sugar is incorporated and mixture is a consistent texture, pour over your cake batter in the pan. 

Bake for ~40 minutes, depending upon your oven and settings, until the top layer is ever so slightly brown and the sugar has formed a crisp layer. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out without cake batter when it's done, but will have goo on it from the topping. Like this: 

At this point your whole house will smell like vanilla heaven and you'll want to put your face in the cake, but it needs to be allowed to cool. Cool for a minimum of half an hour on your stovetop, or your goo will do this:

I was in a rush here to take some to a friend, so I cut it prematurely. However, these clowns on the Internet are telling you to put this cake in the freezer to make it easier to cut. For the love of all that is holy, do NOT do that! This cake will induce a foodgasm when eaten while still slightly warm, and unless you are foolishly cutting it into tiny pieces, there is no need to freeze! I cut it into roughly brownie-sized portions. This cake is a combination of yellow cake and a topping that has the best attributes of creamy frosting and crunchy creme brûlée topping. It is the kind of cake you think about all day. It is the kind of cake that lets you control others like puppets. Proceed with caution...and you can thank me later. 

This is the part where I normally put up a pretty photo of a piece on a plate, but this cake tends to disappear too fast, so you'll have to be content with another pan shot until I make it again.