Lemme Challah At You

No milk? No butter? No problem! That was the state of affairs around here a couple weeks ago during Snowmageddon/Snowpocalypse 2010 (pronounced: twenty-ten). We had just enough oil, plenty of eggs, et voilà! We made some bread!

And not just any bread, but challah, a tradition Jewish bread that is slightly sweet and perfectly chewy. 'Chefski actually braided the one pictured here! Ain't she a beaut'?!

I don't call him 'Chefski for nothin'!

  
We enjoyed munching on it plain, covered in hummus, dunked in hot chocolate, and transformed into French toast later in the week (post on that adventure coming soon). Future experiments may involve a challah-makowiec hybrid :) Given the endless possibilities, what's not to like?

Challah Bread, Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Best Challah Bread

Yield: Two loaves

Ingredients

1 1/2 Tablespoons active dry yeast

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water

1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil 

5 eggs

1 Tablespoon salt

8 cups all purpose flour (add up to 1/2 cup extra if necessary)

Directions

1. Whisk together yeast, lukewarm water, and 1 Tablespoon sugar in a large bowl.

2. Add oil, whisk it in. Then whisk in 4 eggs one at a time. Mix in the 1/2 cup sugar and the salt.

3. Now it's time to slowly add the flour, mixing your dough together with a wooden spoon. When it finally comes together, it's time to knead.

4. Turn out your dough onto a lightly-floured surface and knead it until smooth. This might take a few minutes, but I find this to be one of the most satisfying parts of making bread (and a great way to get your heart rate going... seriously! kneading can feel like exercise!)

5. Rising #1: Using a small amount of oil, lightly grease a bowl (maybe even the one you were just using, cleaned out). Place your dough inside and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise until doubled in size, i.e. 1 hour. (Trick reminder: preheat the oven to 150 degrees, turn it off, then place your bowl inside the oven for dough-rising).

6. Rising #2: Deflate your dough (press it down), then cover with plastic wrap, and let rise again for another 30 minutes.

7. Braiding Time! I used this great youtube video to figure out how to form a six-strand braided challah, and here's my attempt to transcribe the instructions:

-Divide your dough in half -- each one of these can make one challah loaf.

-Now that you have half, divide into six balls. 

-Form each ball into a rope that's approximately 12 inches long and 1.5 inches wide.

-Place the six ropes in a row and parallel to one another (place them vertically so that you can braid).

-Pinch the top of the ropes together.

-Take the right-most strand. Place all the way to the left.

-Take the left-most strand, and place it all the way to the right.

- You see how you have four strands in the middle? Push them apart a little, so you have two and two. This will make it easier to manage the pieces.

-Take the left-most strand, and place it in the middle (i.e. skip over two strands).
-Take the second strand from the right, place all the way to the left.
-Take the right-most strand, and place it in the middle (i.e. skip over two strands... are you seeing a bit of a pattern yet?)
-Take the second strand from the left, place it all the way to the right.
-Take the left-most strand, and place it in the middle.
- Continue the above steps until you've braided the whole loaf.

8. Once you've finished braiding, beat one egg, and brush over each loaf (having no brush, I am proud to say I used my hands here). At this juncture you may elect to do what I did, which is to freeze one (wrap in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil). When you do decide to bake it, defrost at room temp for 5 hours before baking.

9. Rising #3: If you're baking today: Let rise for 1 hour.  

10. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, and brush with egg again. 

11. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden.

12. Eat lots, and save some for French Toast if you can!

The Biscuits of My Dreams: Cream Biscuits

These biscuits are an exercise in discipline for me.

So creamy, so fluffy, so mmm.

You see that lil guy up there? That, my friends, is a biscuit. And not just any biscuit -- I call him the Biscuit of my DREAMS cream biscuit. I call him that because as soon as I take a bite of this fluffy, bready, creamy piece of mmm, all I can do is close my eyes, shake my head, and think "Now this is the life!"

"But he looks so lonely!" you wail. That may be true, but allow me to let you in on a little secret: I really like these biscuits. No. I'm serious. I like these biscuits too much. (They're the biscuits of my dreams, for cryin' out loud!) So the only way I can avoid eating 10 in one sitting is to bake just a few at a time and flash freeze* the rest. No baskets brimming with biscuits around here! Nuh uh. With a little self-control and the knowledge that I can make one of these any time I want, I think I may just make it one whole night without indulging. 

I can't promise the same for you ;)

Biscuits of My Dreams, a.k.a. Cream Biscuits

Adapted from smittenkitchen's Cream Biscuits, which is adapted from James Beard’s American Cookery

Yield: ~10 biscuits

3 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. (It took a while for my oven to get there, hence why, for the first time, I'm actually listing this as step 1).

2. In a large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. 

3. Fold in cream. Smitten Kitchen's recipe called for an extra 1/4 cup of heavy cream which I didn't need, but the goal here is to make your dough soft, not too sticky, and easily to handle.

4. Turn out dough onto a floured surface, roll it into a ball using your hands, then press it down to a thickness of approx. 3/4 inch. 

5. Using a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or (as in my case) a small glass, cut into rounds of around 2.5 inches in diameter. Continue until you've used all the dough/scraps.

6. Melt butter in the microwave. Dip the tops of the biscuits in this butter. At this point, you may decide you don't want to make all these lil dreams today, so you can go ahead and flash freeze the ones you want to save (see below for directions)

7. Place biscuits on a parchment paper- or aluminum foil-covered baking pan, and bake until golden, about 12-15 minutes.

8. Enjoy alone, or with butter (typical), hummus (delicious), baba ganoush (even better), or honey (heavenly).

Honey-covered biscuit. 

::Drool::

*A note on flash freezing: If you decide that you're not going to make all your biscuits right away, you can place them on a cookie sheet, then place the whole sheet in the freezer. Once the biscuits are solid (a few hours or overnight), place them in a ziplock bag. Now, when you want fresh baked biscuits, pop them in the oven straight from the freezer and add 3-ish minutes to your baking time. They're just as good as on the first day.

Homemade Pizza, or, How to Overcome a Stressful Week

Sometimes life gets a little stressful, you know? There's just always so much to do, so much to think about, and it can get to be a bit, well, much. So what can you do about it? Make a pizza, that's what. Just forget about all the reading you have to do, all the "shoulds" and to-do lists, and just make something with your hands, something you can eat, something you can share. That's what I did yesterday, and now my 'Chefski's talkin' 'bout how maybe, just maybe, we can have this twice a month! If that isn't a culinary victory, I don't know what is :)

Pizza you can make yourself!

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Yield: One small thin crust pizza that can serve 2 well (with a salad). Double the recipe for a fluffier, doughier dough. 

Dough

8 Tablespoons warm water (the original recipe calls for 2 Tablespoons white wine, which I didn't have, so I incorporated that here; if you do have wine use 6 Tbs water)

3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon olive oil

3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cups whole wheat flour (the original recipe calls for 1.5 cups flour, so I chose to do half n half)

Toppings and Additional Preparation

homemade sauce (ingredients and directions below)

a sprinkling of cornmeal

torn-up or shredded mozzarella

torn-up basil leaves

fresh, sliced mushrooms

1/2 clove minced garlic

whatever you want!

Dough Directions

1. In a medium bowl combine water and yeast, whisking together until completely dissolved.

2. Add the honey, olive oil and salt and combine thoroughly.

3. Add flour and work together with your hands to form the dough. You may need to add 1-2 tablespoons of water to make it hold together (I did).

4. Turn out the dough onto a lightly-floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes.

5. Like the author of smittenkitchen, I also like having fewer dishes to do, so I washed out the bowl I'd mixed the dough in, dried it, and used a dab of olive oil to coat the inside. Place the dough inside it, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1-2 hours (until doubled in size). A great tip I learned while making challah is that you can preheat the oven to 100 degrees, turn the oven off, THEN place your bowl inside the oven to let it rise faster. I forgot to preheat the oven this time but still chose it as the location for my rising.

At this point you can make your own sauce! (whoa!)

Sauce Ingredients:

4  Roma-ro-ma-ma, Roma Tomatoes (I used 4 Roma Grape Tomatoes + 2 Vine-Ripe Tomatoes instead)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

Hefty pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (I love these so I used lots; adjust to your specific heat level)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

Splash red wine (I may not have had white on hand, but red...)

Sauce Directions

1. Bring a medium pot of water to boil.

2. Plop the tomatoes in the boiling water and leave them in for 1 minutes (you're poaching them!)

3. Drain the pot using a strainer, and splash some cold water on the tomatoes. Now you can easily peel the skins off by cutting a little slit in the skin and pulling the whole thing off. 

4. In a medium sauce pan heat olive oil on medium-low heat. Be careful, because olive oil tends to get hot fast and then quickly start to get smokey... when you have a small kitchen with an inordinately closely-situated smoke detector... you just have to be extra careful. Add minced garlic and toss around with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute -- don't let them get brown.

5. Add pepper flakes, splash of red wine, and tomatoes, sugar, and salt. Use your spoon to break up the tomatoes a bit, then cover and let simmer at low heat for about 30 minutes, checking every now and then to break up tomatoes and toss ingredients together.

6.  Taste adjust spices if necessary (though, seriously, I added nothing to the above and loved it). 

 

Back to the dough!

1. Preheat your oven to it's highest setting. Here it's 500 degrees (so do it now! because it will take a while to heat).

2. I don't yet have a pizza stone (something else to lust after), so if you don't either, just sprinkle a baking sheet with some cornmeal. 

3. Now that the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly-floured surface and press it down with your hands. Roll it into a ball and cover with some plastic or an upended bowl for 15 minutes to rest.

4. Roll out the dough until it's as thin as you want (as thin as possible around here). Now put it on the baking sheet.

5. Now whip out your toppings: add sauce, mozzarella, garlic, mushrooms, and basil (and whatever else you want. I'm too excited about making this again given the endless possibilities!)

6. Bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes. 

7. Succumb to the savory sensation before you :) 

 

Mackenzie's Cinnamon Rolls

Thank you to Miss Married Mack for sharing her recipe for those soft, buttery, and somehow magically light cinnamon rolls she would so graciously bestow upon her oh-so-grateful roomies back in the Casa. Whenever I make these I think of the wondrous times we shared together, from decorating the Casa for Christmas (complete with paper X-mas tree and fireplace) to watching the garbage trucks trundle up from the depths of Whitman at sunrise, letting us know that we'd made it through yet another long night of thesis-writing.

I've adapted the recipe slightly to include whole wheat flour and Splenda, but no matter how you make them, I'm telling you: you will never want to buy another pre-made cinnamon bun again.

Ingredients

Dough:

2 pkgs. yeast (2 T)

2 cups warm water

2 tsps. salt

1/4 cup sugar (or Splenda)

4 T oil (1/4 cup)

5 cups flour (Mackenzie's recipe calls for white flour, but I used 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat)

Filling:

2 Tb unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar (don't sub in Splenda here!)

1 Tb ground cinnamon

~1/4 cup molasses

Pyrex baking pan

Directions: 

1. Dissolve yeast into warm water in a large bowl.

2. Add flour, sugar or Splenda, salt, and oil. Mix by hand until the dough comes together, and knead to form a medium dough (not too soft or too hard).

3. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into the shape of a rectangle, to a thickness of about 1/2 inch.

4. Brush the dough with melted butter. Mix together cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl (using more of less cinnamon depending on your taste) and sprinkle over the buttered dough.

5. Starting with a short edge of the dough, roll lengthwise to form the cinnamon roll log. Once you have formed the log, cut into rolls, about 1 inch wide (or wider, depending on how tall you want the rolls to be).

6. Drizzle the bottom of the baking pan with molasses. Arrange cinnamon rolls on the pan (I prefer to have them not touching if possible), and sprinkle the top with any remaining cinnamon sugar mix. You can also drizzle a little molasses (or pomegranate molasses!) on top.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until rolls have risen and are a light golden brown color.

Makowiec (a.k.a. Poppyseed Cake)

Mmmmmmmakowiec!

When I asked my 'Chefski what Polish delight I should learn to make after I mastered pierogi, he sweetly suggested I consider the traditional pastry his mama makes just for him whenever he's home for the holidays: Makowiec.

More like a cinnamon roll in form than a "cake," makowiec (mah-KO-vietz) almost seems like the Polish equivalent to flan in its ability to garner the "hellz yeah!" reaction from the natives. When I told my dear friend 'Chiñski (can you tell he's Polish, too?) I was going to make it he immediately gave me his seal of approval (as did Papa 'Chefski after tasting a piece!) This is definitely one of those things you've gotta know how to make if you want to make a Pole happy :)

A quick note(-to-self): this is a time-consuming recipe involving three dough risings. Well worth it, but you gotta have a whole day to make it.

Thanks again to Ania and her mum for the recipe and the priceless woman-power (pictured below).

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon dry active yeast

1 tablespoon warm water

1/2 cup of warm milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 egg yolks, beaten

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon

1 can of poppy seed paste

optional: raisons, almonds, nuts, cinnamon, vanilla etc add to poppy seed paste (you can even add brandy or rum)

Find these cans of heaven at your local Polish deli. 
I got these in Greenpoint, a.k.a. Poland-in-BK.

Directions

1. Dissolve yeast in 1 Tb warm water in a small bowl. Set aside while the yeast is activated 2. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer (or your preferred method) cream butter and sugar. 3. Add beaten egg yolks to the creamed butter n sugar mix and mix with a wooden spoon. 4. In a medium bowl, mix flour, cardamom, and any other spices you are using.

5. Add the flour and milk, alternately, to the creamed butter-sugar-egg mix until well incorporated and dough is no longer sticky.

6. Cover bowl and let dough rise for about 2 hours or has doubled in size.

7. Punch down the dough and let rise again for 1 hour.
8. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangular shape with a rolling pin to 1/2-inch thickness.

9. Spread poppy seed pasta (masa makova) onto the dough. Then, starting at a short end, roll the dough length-wise to form a log.

                                                     Ania's rollin' the log.

10. Place on a baking pan/ cookie sheet, cover, and let rise for about an hour.

11. Brush the top with an egg wash (for a glossy finish post-bake), and bake for 45 minutes in 350 degree F oven.

12. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Instant Pancakes, Alton Brown Style

I love pancakes. I especially love making my own pancake mix so that I a) know what's in it and b) can save a buck or two. What follows is the recipe I've been using for a few years now. 

"Instant" Pancake Mix

 (Recipe adapted from Alton Brown's @ Foodtv.com)

Ingredients
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 

3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon  salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a tupperware-style contained with lid. Cover and shake to mix. That's it :)

Use the mix within 3 months. 

Now to make pancakes: 

Ingredients  

2 eggs, separated
2 cups milk (buttermilk or whatever milk)

4 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups "Instant" Pancake Mix, recipe above
 
Directions:

1. Whisk together the egg whites and the milk in a small bowl.  This is your white mix
2. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.  This is your yellow mix
3. Combine the white mix with yellow mix in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk or spatula, mix together until everything is combined, but don't over mix (otherwise you'll end up with too-flat pancakes).
4. Ladle the pancake batter onto your lightly buttered (or oiled) frying pan, and add fruit (I like blueberries and bananas) if you like. Flip them when golden on the pan side... and you know the rest :)

Flantastic

The first time I made flan was senior year in college. You see, my mother wasn't too fond of making sweets while I was growing up, and it was on a whim that when her sister, Marina, was visiting us one afternoon it occurred to me to ask her to make it. She gave me a quick list of ingredients and directions, in one of those "how could you NOT know how to make flan?!" tones (it was lighthearted, I promise), and I quickly took it all down on the back of a used envelope. I carried around that hand-written recipe for about two years, traveling through 3 states, until I decided it was worthy of a trip to cyberspace :)

To this day, my mother has never made this delectable treat, though she still makes a mean torta every time I visit home. Come to think of it, she's got a few other Dominican gems up her sleeve, the recipes to which I've still got to get my hands on.

Smooth, silky and just the right amount of sweet, this quintessential Dominican dessert is one my college roomies (who never asked for anything) requested and helped devour time and time again.

Ingredients:
1 can of condensed milk
1 can of carnation evaporated milk
4 whole eggs
one capful of vanilla (perhaps this amounts to a tsp?)

For the caramel coating:
1 tablespoon of sugar
3-4 tablespoons of water


round cake pan
9X11 rectangular pan (I use the same glass pyrex I make lasagna in. The point here is that the cake pan needs to fit inside the rectangular pan. There are other ways to do this, but the goal is to create a double boiler situation)

Directions:

1. Combine the condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 4 eggs in a large bowl, mixing until completely blended.
2. Pour the 1 tablespoon of sugar in a saucepan, set to high heat. allow the sugar to melt and turn brown, and after it's already brown throw in the 3-4 tablespoons of water. if you do the water+sugar first, it won't turn brown, but will instead be a clear caramel. and as a warning, you'll get a pretty big sizzle when you add the water, so be careful! but it's ok! adding the water will make it a little less viscous, but please do be careful, cuz melted sugar is essentially napalm.
3. Pour the caramel/melted sugar into your round cake pan and coat the bottom and sides (this will be the top of your flan).
4. Pour the eggs n milks mixture right into the cake pan.
5. Now place the cake pan inside the 9X11 pan. Fill the 9X11 pan/dish with water until the water level is half-way up the cake pan.
6. Place this in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F. Let cook for about an hour.
7. When the flan is looking solid, you're ready to pull it out (you can test by inserting a knife into the center -- if it comes out clean, it's done). Remove the cake pan, and using a knife go along the edges of the flan (the circumference of the pan), to separate it from the pan. If you don't do this, removing the whole thing will be extra difficult.
8. After doing the knife trick, find a BIG plate (it can be super messy if the plate is too small), and place it atop the round pan. It's flipping time! Flip the flan over, and the top will be brown and glazed.
9. Ta Da! Enjoy!

Little trick: I've also used tuna cans (well cleaned, etc) to make baby flans. It's exactly the same premise -- coat the cans inside with the sugar, fill with egg n milks mix, and place inside a pan with water. Delicious and cute :)

On Becoming a Polish Housewife

Welcome to The 'Chefski Digest! For my first post, I decided that nothing could be more fitting than writing about the very first Polish thing I ever tasted and then learned to make: Pierogi!

They say every country has its own take on the dumpling (think: Italy=ravioli, China/Japan: poststickers/ gyoza, etc), and this one belongs to Poland. What I like most about it is that you can use different stuffings to make your pierogi either sweet or savory. This recipe is for potato-n-cheese pierogi, but I've also stuffed them with frozen blueberries. Cover the latter with some powdered sugar and mmmm!

Thanks to my dear, tiny (and Polish!) friend Ania for acquiring and sharing her Mum's recipe (thanks Mama!), and for the hands-on help when she and I made my first batch. This one's for you, Ania! (oh, and for my 'chefski :) I, of course, have a heart to win on a daily basis, and since the quickest way to a man's heart is his belly....) Since this is relatively time consuming, I recommend making a huge batch and freezing ready-made pierogi for future consumption. Alternatively, you can freeze the dough and prepare more stuffing when you're ready to assemble more.

Ingredients

Stuffing:

• 3-5 medium potatoes, peeled
  
• 1 large onion (I love red onions, but you can use whatever you like)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Salt & Pepper, to taste
  
  
  

Dough:

• 2 cups white flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons oil

Start with the stuffing:

This is the cheddar cheese, potato & onion stuffing.

And yes, that's a bottle of Creme de Casis over there ;)

1. Set the potatoes in a large pot with cold water, bring to boil and keep it goin' til the potatoes are soft enough to mash (30-40 minutes). You may want to halve or dice these to help them cook faster.

2. While you're waiting for step 1 to come to its conclusion, chop the onion as finely as you like. I love onions, so I do a rough chop/dice. Saute them in a little oil or butter til golden. Set aside.

3. Once the potatoes are ready, mash 'em up in the pot, add the onions, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. You want the stuffing to get a faint, yellow-ish color, so you may want to add a little more cheese. This is cooking after all! Have fun with it!

While the potato-n-cheese stuffing is cooling, make the dough:

One step, really: In a small bowl mix flour, egg, salt and warm water using a large wooden spoon or spatula. Once the ingredients come together and the mix has cooled off a bit, use your hands to kneed the dough until it forms an elastic dough (sprinkle in some more flour if necessary).

Now to assemble the pierogi!

1. Tear off a piece of the ball of dough, cover the rest.

2. On a lightly-floured surface, roll out the dough to thickness of "very thin"... thick enough not to tear, but thin.

3. Using a knife, cut the dough into 2x2-inch squares (if you want them triangle-shaped), or using a glass or cookie-cutter, cut into circle (these will result in crescent-shaped pierogi).

4. Now to fill! Using a small spoon, place stuffing into the center of your dough square or circle. Fold in half, then pinch the outside of the dough together to form a well-sealed pocket of goodness. Make sure these are tightly closed so no water gets in during step 5. Repeat steps 1-4 until you've made as many pierogi as you like.

Pierogi is a plural term, denoting the presence of more than one pierog.

Here they are before going into their hot water bath.

5. Bring a large pot of water to boil. In batches, lower pierogi into the boiling water bath. When they are ready, they float to the top, at which point you scoop them out with a spoon and place on a plate. Repeat with your whole batch.

6. Rinse your hot pierogi in cold water (presumable to "set them"). You can now freeze them for later, or fry them up with a little butter or oil and chopped onions, and serve with a dollop of sour cream!

The final, delicious products.
Now freeze, of fry in a little butter or oil, and you're good to go!