Spelt Challah

My first experiment with spelt challah turned out to be quite a successful one. I was inspired to experiment with it by my good friend A who recently decided to remove wheat from her diet. I like to think that it's possible to make adjustments to your diet but not to the standards of eating that one is accustomed to. After eating by her for lunch, I decided I would take the bag of 70% whole spelt flour sitting at home in the fridge and try to coax it into light textured, fluffy challot. And so, after reading and researching the nature of spelt a good bit, I took the opportunity this Friday to test out the recipe on the back of the flour bag (because after all, who knows better?!) that sat in the refrigerator. I put together the dough the exact same way I usually do. I noticed that the dough did feel slightly different than its white wheat counterpart but so far so good. I gave it its usual long rest before proceeding to knead and after a few minutes of gentle kneading, I had a perfectly smooth, round ball of dough. I set it aside in a greased bowl to rise and do its thing. Fingers crossed, I checked on the dough periodically to see it rising just as it should. (I don't know why a different grain would effect yeast activity but I was nervous!) Rolling out and braiding the challot were quite interesting steps. The dough behaved totally differently than with white flour. Rolling was not frustrating at all! The strands rolled and stretched beautifully, no springing back whatsoever. I let them to rise again and baked them. The final product surprised me a bit as well. The coloring of the bread was a creamy beige, notably different than whole wheat. What's more, the braids didn't split open and spread at all. The way they went in was the way they came out, save for the rise. Definitely something I wasn't expecting but aesthetically pleasing, nonetheless. These challot were really fantastic. Texturally, they were spot on, light and fluffy. The flavor was lightly sweet from the honey and almost whole wheat like. While it was apparent that this was something other than wheat, it most certainly didn't feel like health food, of the brick variety or any other. It was wonderful with all of the traditional Israeli salatim. Put on the hot plate before dinner toasted the bottoms into perfection. A home run all around.

Reinhart's Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread

When the whole grain grain bug started acting up again, I knew immediately that a cinnamon raisin bread was in my future. I made a white flour version of this bread eons ago and I figured it was time to give this classic a healthier twist. It took me a while to get my act together and plan ahead but once I did, this recipe, also from Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, was fairly simple to make. My bread wasn't a really high riser but I think I gave it less kneading time than I should have. This bread is yummy. I LOVE cinnamon with a passion so this was a no-brainer. Paired with homemade pumpkin butter, it is simply divine. 

Reinhart's Thin Wheat Crackers

I can never resist a cracker recipe when I stumble on one both for their ease of preparation and for the high marks they get in the munch-ability category. They are just so darned good, with everything and at anytime! That is why immediately after the graham cracker episode I continued on to make these Thin Wheat Crackers from Whole Grain Breads. These were not only delicious and ridiculously foolproof but of all the crackers I've made (and there have been a bunch) these most successfully brought me back to my childhood Shabbatot where we would have my father's famous eggs and onions, almost always with a side of crackers. Indeed, when I wasn't stealing a few from the little baggie I stored them in, I ate them along with some egg salad that I quickly made for the occasion. Yum.

Reinhart's Graham Crackers

Every now and then, I find myself in a whole grain baking kick. I have no idea where this inspiration hits from, but when it strikes, it strikes hard. This week, the book of choice was Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. Flipping through the pages in the cracker chapter, I contemplated the Graham crackers. Years ago, almost at the start of this blog, I made Graham crackers and about a year and a half ago I made chocolate Graham crackers. Both of those were more cookie like crackers than cracker-crackers (know what I mean?!) so I thought that license enough to repeat myself. These Graham's are made entirely of whole wheat flour and without fat. The original calls for honey but I ran out in the middle and made up the difference in date syrup. A bit of cinnamon adds that comforting, homey, redolent of childhood flavor. So how'd they pan out? These crackers were definitely crackers. Because of the lack of fat here, they are very, very crunchy. I think I would add a tablespoon of oil or margarine next time to ensure that I don't break any teeth. That said, the flavor was definitely there and I enjoyed them spread with peanut butter. Add some fresh apple slices and you have the perfect afternoon snack. They didn't last that long though because between my munching and using them as a pie crust for a wonderful pie I made, they disappeared super fast. Try them, you'll see why.

Yogurt Tahini Cake

This cake was a runaway hit. Who would have thought that the humble blend of yogurt, tahini and silan (date honey) would turn into something so magical? I myself was a bit skeptical about this cake, but one bite of it changed my mind. My Israeli taste testers also really liked this. Truth be told, there's nothing not to like about this moist, whole grain cake. Baked in my favorite type of pan to form a tea cake, this cake would be perfect  as a breakfast or served with tea or coffee. If you want to bring a bit more glory to this cake, serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you've elevated it to a first rate, exotic, dessert. I used half whole wheat flour and half regular, but you can just as easily substitute self-rising flour and eliminate the baking powder.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bars

I am on a serious condensed milk kick! I can not get enough of baking with this stuff so naturally I picked up a few more containers of it on my last supermarket run and baked something with it again. I turned to BHG's Biggest Book of Cookies and found alongside the previous recipe, this recipe for Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bars. The head note of this recipe sites this as healthful what with the oats and a bit of whole wheat flour, but who are they kidding? This recipe is rich and delicious and I'mt not ashamed! This is another really easy recipe to make- an oat mixture is made, some of it is set aside, but an egg is added to the rest of it to form the crust. I did make one mistake here and that is that I neglected to refrigerate the topping while I worked on the rest of the cookie. Due to the INSANE heat here in Jerusalem, it kind of melted altogether by the time it got into the oven instead of being a nice bar with a crumble topping. Oh well. I left these in the office on base and then left base to run some errands. When I got back these were demolished. Literally, to the last crumb. Success!

Whole Wheat Bran Rolls

Last weekend, I got in the mood to bake some bread. It's been a long time since I've made bread that wasn't challah but I figured I'd need some bread for Shabbat and why not. I had a bag of wheat bran laying around and a bit of whole wheat flour chilling out in the fridge so all was ago for some whole grain bready goodness. Flipping through Micky Shemo's first (Israeli) book, I was reminded of this Whole Wheat and Bran Rolls, a recipe that has long been bookmarked in my to-make files. Not needing a full batch, I halved the recipe and taking the lazy way out, made it in my mixer. (After all, what are mixers for if not for the luxury to be lazy sometimes?!) I used instant yeast, soy milk, left out the dough enhancer and used a drop more white flour than whole wheat because I was a tad bit short. A note about the salt, he uses a half tbsp for a small amount of flour and the rolls were borderline salty, so adjust to your liking. My rolls came out to be very sturdy and dense and if you notice, each of them burst, clearly because I didn't let them rise enough. They were hardy and substantial and had a great wheaty taste, but trust me on this one, let them rise undisturbed! Your patience will be rewarded!

Marcy Goldman's Honey Whole Wheat Challah

My challah trials continue! And with the purchase of Marcy Goldman's Jewish holiday baking book, there are many new recipes to try. The last two weeks I made her whole wheat recipe. It is sweeter than the one from ITJB and in my opinion has better texture. The dough kneads and braids beautifully. My sweet tooth would definitely choose this over the ITJB and as long as I have whole wheat flour around don't see why it wouldn't enter my rotation. If you're serving challot shabbat day don't forget to underbake them slightly so they don't dry out by the next day!

Many Seed Bread

Moadim lisimcha! Sukkot is upon us! I spent the first day by my sister and because it was just going to be us, I decided to forgo making challah and try a new bread recipe. Of course you can imagine how long it took to settle on the recipe.... After flipping through many cookbooks, I landed on the Many Seed Bread from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day and it seemed to be the perfect choice as I had everything on hand. The name of the bread comes from the addition of flax, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds. Easy to make, this dough came together in my mixer in ten minutes before settling in for its overnight chill.I opted to make two pans of pull away loaves, topping one of them with garlic powder and any dried herbs I had around. The texture was soft and chewy, a good all around sandwich loaf. The garlic-herbed topping turned out to be quite successful-- I'm going to have to try it again on my next batch of white bread. To keep the breads parve, I used soy milk, but any milk can be used. Feel free to switch up the combination of seeds. Reinhart mentions that because the seeds absorb moisture during the overnight rise, it's important that the dough be soft and a bit sticky. These rolls are off to Yeastspotting!

Adventures with Rye Part 10: Rye Pumpkinseed Breadsticks

As a little gift to myself for successfully completing basic training (I only cried four times!), I bought myself a few of the latest Israeli baking books (they were all on sale!). One of them is the second book by Micky Shemo, devoted to the baked goods of Shabbat and the holidays of the year. I was psyched to come across it (being a big fan of his first book, and all) and picked it up right away. I've been thumbing through it at least once a day and decided to break it in this erev Shabbat by making some breadsticks from the Tu Bishvat (the new year for the trees) chapter. I made some changes, making these decidedly un-Tu Bishvat like, but totally delicious. These breadsticks are made with rye flour and were supposed to contain raisins, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. I omitted the raisins and idiotically bought two packages of pumpkin seeds instead of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. I sprinkled sesame seeds on the shaped sticks. Even with these changes, they came out delicious, with a delicate sweetness from the rye and seeds. I was expecting these to be crunchier instead of bready, but still I liked them and happily munched them until they were gone. Reheat them as necessary to get rid of any staleness and freeze for longer storage. These are heading off to Yeastspotting!

Adventures with Rye Part 9: Date-Rye-Cinnamon Cookies

These cookies may be the homeliest cookies you'll ever see, but their looks are deceiving. (Don't be put off by the name either!) In fact, these cookies to me are the homiest cookies (in the best way possible) in the sense that they remind of the cinnamon cookies that my mother used to make when I was growing up. When I first made them about a month ago, the dough (made entirely of rye flour) looked gnarly and the cookies themselves weren't too attractive. But one bite of them took me way back and totally won me over. I photographed them then but having no faith in how they'd taste, got rid of the photos. (Guess you can never judge anything by the way it looks!) Home for Shabbat this week, I decided to try these again, this time adding some white flour to give the cookies a bit better texture, and omitted all the spices except for the cinnamon to give them that childhood feel. I would even up the cinnamon next time. These cookies are made with silan, date honey that is found everywhere, and that's what makes these special. If you can't find it, well.... come to Israel and buy a jar. These are also made with oil, so require just a bowl and a wooden spoon, even your hand if desired. Be aware, the cookies come out crunchier with all rye flour and softer with white flour. They are both delicious either way. Choose your texture. Use leftover cookie crumbs as a pie crust. Assuming there are any leftovers...

Adventures with Rye Part 8: Rye Rolls

Before I say anything about these freshly baked rye rolls, I must first wish myself a Happy Blogoversary! Three years ago, on a blazing hot summer day in Bar Ilan, this blog was born. It's been so much fun baking and keeping it up. I hope to even with the army ahead of me. Here's to three more! Once more in Jerusalem for Shabbat, I knew for certain that I wanted a caraway flavored bread. At once a total stranger to the flavor of caraway, I now love its hard-to-pinpoint flavor. I searched all of my books for a simple caraway bread but didn't come up with much. It looked to me like if I wanted caraway, I was going to have to take rye with it. Which was fine by me. Having bought a kilo of rye flour, it was time to start putting it to use, anyway. Greenstein's Secrets of a Jewish Baker had the perfect recipe for Rye Rolls. Simple, easy and full of caraway. Bingo! I made the dough last night, allowed it to ferment overnight in the fridge and baked them this morning. I couldn't resist having a couple for lunch today and my were they divine. Perfect sandwich bread texture, soft but with a good chew and great flavor. I made 9 large rolls instead of 18 small ones because I like to be able to use them in a sandwich. These rolls are off to Yeastspotting. Check it out!

Maryetta's Oat Bread

As I'm generally do when I'm home for Shabbat, this weekend I made bread for Friday night dinner in addition to the challot for Shabbat day. (Those came out beautifully but unfortunately, way too dry.) Browsing through some of my books, I came upon Maryetta's Oat Bread in Beard on Bread and did some research on it. The blogs that I found featuring this recipe raved about it. Having everything on hand, I decided to make a half batch. I am so glad I did, because all those blogs turned out to be sooooo on the mark. This bread was one of the best loaves of bread I have ever made. The crumb was soft but still sturdy, with slight but present creaminess from the flecks of oats, and a subtle sweetness from the oats and date honey. This bread never made it past Friday night, at all, in fact I think I had most of it, but I imagine it would be awesome toasted. I did adapt it slightly. To supplement my lack of whole oats I used some quick cooking as well, and I used date honey instead of molasses. I made a half batch, yielding one 9 inch loaf and two rolls. You could scale the dough differently, making an 8 inch loaf and more rolls. As soon as I get my hands on some more oats, I'm making this again. Until then, this loaf is off to Yeastspotting!

KAF 100% Whole Wheat Bread

Happy July everyone and more importantly, happy summer! (I can't believe it's summer already. I keep asking people what they're doing for summer before realizing, oh wait, it is summer!) This loaf of bread was the last thing I baked in SFW before moving to the new apartment, which really does end a two year "era" of baking there. It seems fitting that the last thing I baked was a loaf of bread, my favorite thing to make. Normally, I don't eat bread during the week, so I have to hold myself back from baking it, but because the move was coming up and there really was no food in the fridge, I made an exception. Especially since it was going to have to be whole wheat, as I had a bag of it still in the fridge. The recipe I used was the 100% Whole Wheat Bread Baker's Companion. I made this bread once before when I was in Bar Ilan and my notes accompanying it say, "Really great bread-nice subtle flavor. Not squishy but not at all dense. Perfect w.w. loaf- go to recipe, keeper! Omitted walnuts and seeds. Made by hand, used scale." This bread really is a great whole wheat loaf but this time I made it in the mixer and the rise and texture were even better than I remembered. I did leave out the nuts and seeds again and of course as I always do these days, use the scale. I can't really remember a time when I didn't pull out the scale to bake... This recipe remains a quick, easy and most importantly, great whole wheat bread recipe. Give it a try. This bread is off to Yeastspotting!

Double Fudge Mint Brownies

I'm not sure how I neglected to take a final photograph of these brownies, but it seems I did. Oh well. This past weekend I went to my friends (crazy!) in Alon Shvut and I baked dessert. L told me that she likes chocolate and mint while her husband likes fruit and pies. So for her, I made these Double Fudge Mint Brownies and for him, a nectarine pie (more on that later). For the brownies I used the brownies from KAF Whole Grain Baking and added in chopped Mint Thins to give them a mint profile. The mint thins melted nicely into the final brownie so you would never know they were there just by looking. They turned out nice and fudgy and delicious, with no indication that they are whole grain. Be sure to let them set overnight for the bran in the whole wheat to sufficiently soften. Following is a half recipe, as I made it. Double for a full 9x13 inch pan.

Carrot Bread

The final Shabbat that we had with the girls was spent in the dorms and as I was baking for it minimally, I decided to bake some rolls for myself. I'd long been wanting to make carrot bread and on one of my trips to the shuk, I remembered to pick up a couple to make the recipe from Secrets of a Jewish Baker, fast becoming one of my favorite bread books. (Yes, there is a bit of competition for that spot. I have more bread books than anything else!!) The bread calls for a sponge and some grated or ground carrots. The carrots lent a lovely orange color to the bread, but I wonder if the ground carrots would have made the color more intense and lent more of a sweetness to the bread itself. I opted to make half a recipe, which resulted in six large, perfect sandwich rolls. They turned out crusty on the outside but nice and soft in the middle. The flavor is much like a water roll and the texture is quite sturdy, so these would be perfect for burgers or sandwiches. I enjoyed mine with lots of eggplant salads on Shabbat. I omitted the milk powder from the recipe to keep them parve, but I imagine the addition of milk would make the texture a bit softer. I also made a note to increase the salt for next time, something I seem to be doing in all of Greenstein's breads. These rolls are being Yeastspotted! Check out Susan's weekly round up on Friday.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

The recipe for this coffecake-like cake comes from Baked Explorations, the second book to be put out by the guys behind Baked, the bakery. This book was waiting for me when I got to America and I was excited to bring it home and start baking from it, as I've had nothing but success with the recipes from the first book. The very first recipe to jump out at me was the Monkey Bread, as I've been looking for a recipe for it for ages. Alas, it wasn't the first cake I made. Instead, I turned my attentions to the humble Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake. The recipe is accompanied by a cream cheese frosting, but I decided that if I was starting simple, it would be simple all the way. What I love about this recipe is that it requires no mixer and is super easy to make. This cake is perfect for breakfast (it earns its place in that chapter) or with a cup of tea or coffee. My girls couldn't really tell what this cake was except that it was moist and delicious and studded with chocolate chips. Mine sadly sunk to the bottom, but I think they appreciated the layer of chocolate. I used quick cooking oats, as that's what I had on hand, so they disappeared into the batter. But if you want your oats to make more of an appearance, go with the rolled oats.

Struan

I'm well aware that I haven't blogged in ages, and as usual, it's not for lack of things to post about. It's just that I surprised my family for the holidays (they were quite surprised!) and flew to New York. (I leave tomorrow night- ahh!!) Wanting to soak up every second with my parents and family, I sort of neglected the blog. And then it was Passover itself and I sort of felt strange posting about leavened baked goods on the holiday about not consuming leavened baked goods. Anyway, I made this recipe the weekend before I flew on the occasion of hosting my friend S for the weekend. (Stay tuned for the rest of the baked goods from that weekend!) This recipe was also the inaugural recipe for Josie, my new apple green mixer. :) This Struan recipe is Reinhart's latest incarnation from his book Artisan Breads Every Day. I adapted it to what I had in the fridge. I used it as an opportunity to finally finish the whole wheat flour and make a dent in the rye flakes I bought on a whim. I made one loaf and a bunch of rolls and let me say, I was in love with this bread. This was really delicious and deserves to be baked again as the recipe is written and in a million other adaptations. For now, this loaf will have to do. I'm sending it off to Yeastspotting!

A Week of Whole Grain Baking, Day 8: Soft Barley Sugar Cookies

Yes, I am fully aware that there are only seven days in a week, but I just couldn't leave out these sugar cookies from the roundup, seeing as how they are whole grain and were a part of the baking marathon. (Rest assured, this is the last post in my series on whole grain baking! Sadly, even with all this baking, I didn't finish all the flour. On a side note, I have now made more than enough [winning] recipes from this book to give it a glowing review! Buy it!) Aside from the necessary overnight chill, these cookies, made with sour cream, were easy to make. The first line in the header for this recipe says, "These taste just like my Grandma's!" Now, these barley cookies definitely aren't my grandmother's, (now that I think of it I can't recall my grandmothers baking cookies..) but they do give off a comforting, homey scent. The cookies stay soft for a while, which is a major bonus. I'm guessing that's due to the sour cream in it. The recipe calls for making ten HUGE cookies but I made regular sized cookies. I made these the night the girls were set to head off to Poland and I think they were very much appreciated. What's amazing about this whole week of baking is that no one could tell these baked goods were whole grain, just delicious. This recipe included. I hope I've encouraged you enough to seek out some whole grain flours (if I can find them in Israel, you can!) and try some of these recipes.

A Week of Whole Grain Baking, Day 7: Chocolate Graham Crackers

This week long, whole grain bake fest involved a lot of cracker making. While I was at it, I decided to try my hand at the sweet kind, namely the Graham Cracker. Having made regular graham crackers ages ago, pretty much at the beginning of my blogging days, I decided to go with the chocolate graham. Besides, who doesnt love chocolate? Right. Aaaand, it would make a bigger dent in the barley flour-- let's not forget the reason for this week of wholesome baking. Anyway, the dough comes along pretty easily by hand and then takes a time out in the fridge. It then gets rolled out, docked and baked. The smell of them baking pervaded the entire hallway with a luxurious chocolate scent. Yum! And they taste as good as they smell, a deep chocolate flavor with a nice crackery crunch. I cut some of the cracker dough in half and so the smaller pieces got burned and threw them away; with such a deep colored dough, it's kind of hard to tell when theyre done. My next batch, I took them out earlier, which made for a softer, hbendier cracker, which my girls actually loved. The last batch, I made normally. I plunked a jar of peanut butter down next to the crackers, encouraging the girls to eat them together. Most girls did. Classic combination. Feel free to eat them plain or crush them up in a food processor to use as a crust in your favorite pie. Or make a chocolate smore. Whip out your cookie cutters and make animal crackers. Let your imagination run wild!