Hamelman's Whole Wheat Bread

It's been a while since I've posted, I know. I think I've just been a bit lazy. Also, it's been Chanuka and things have been going on around here. We had parties and some trips and COLORWAR!! and also some much needed vacation. I also got to spend some quality time with my kids in Alon Shvut. Now that Chanuka is out, the girls and I are on a long stretch of school and learning. Yesterday, I took the opportunity to to make some bread because it has been too long and I truly miss it. I'm even considering bringing my sourdough starter back to life. But that's for another time. Having bought a bag of whole wheat flour (I think it was intended for whole wheat bagels), and not used it, I decided to make a simple whole wheat loaf of some sort. My first thought was to turn to Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, but I didnt really want a bread that would take two to three days to make. So I turned to one of my Bread favorites, Hamelman's Bread and chose to make a whole wheat loaf made with Pate Fermentee. The night before, I made a simple starter of flour, water and yeast. By the next morning, the starter had tripled in volume. Completing the dough was easy- mixing in some more flour, water, yeast, salt and honey. Because I didnt use a mixer, the pate fermentee, didnt completely incorporate, but it didnt take away from the final product at all. The dough fermented for two hours, with a fold in between. After shaping, the loaves proofed for another two hours. I preheated my stone (long time no use!) while they were proofing. I slashed my loaves with a sharp but regular kitchen knife. I learned from this that I like a smooth blade better than a serrated knife because it doesnt drag the dough and deform the bread. My chef's knife made lovely slashes that opened up beautifully in the oven. These loaves also had great oven spring (my roommate was in awe!). As soon as they were a little cool, I sliced them open to expose an even crumb. The loaf was so moist and flavorful, delicious enough to eat on its own. I was nervous that it would turn out too salty but it was really perfect. The crust was divine, as one of my girls later noted. Enjoyed the next day, they were still winners. Stay tuned for more adventures in bread. Armed with two bags of semolina flour and sesame seeds, anything can happen!

Whole Wheat Bread

from Hamelman's Bread

Pate Fermentee:

8 ounces all purpose flour or bread flour

5.2 ounces water

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp instant yeast

Dough:

1 lb whole wheat flour

8 ounces all purpose flour or bread flour

1 lb .6 ounces water

2 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp yeast

1 ounce honey

Pate Fermentee

For the pate fermentee, place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the water and stir to make a rough dough.Knead it until it becomes a uniform mass. Cover and set aside at room temperature overnight.It should look all bubbly and have tripled in volume by the next morning.The next day when you're ready to bake, place all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl,and whisk to combine.Pour the water and stir to make a shaggy dough.

Tear the pate fermentee into pieces and scatter over the top of the flour mixture.

Knead until a smooth, uniform dough is formed. Set aside to rise for two hours, giving the dough a fold once after the first hour.
Portion the dough into two,
round them and dust with flour. Set aside to proof for two hours. Towards the end of proofing, preheat your oven to 450, remembering to place the stone in it.
Slash the loaves as decoratively as you please and bake for about forty minutes or until a thermometer registers 190-200.
Remove from the oven and cool completely. Enjoy!

Crumble Coffee Cake

Life is pretty uneventful. Not much is happening around here. Time is flying, though and winter is finally in full swing. Ohh and Chanuka is coming! That's exciting. That and the discovery of dried sour cherries in the shuk.... Otherwise, not much to write home about. Sadly, that's sort of been reflected in my baking. I need fresh new ideas, a new twist on things. I'm lacking baking inspiration. Maybe with two new bags of Semolina flour, I'll get back to bread baking... Until new inspiration hits... I'll just tell you about this coffeecake I made. When I walked into my room Saturday night, I was hit with a request for baked goods. Since the night was young, I made a pan of Peanut Butter Smoothies and upon special request, coffeecake. The coffeecake recipe was taken from KAF. Easy enough to make, this made a large pan full of crumbly goodness. Yum! The cake was a tiny drop blander than the crumble, I think next time I will up the salt a bit as well as the extract factors. Since this made on special request, after the girls gave some money to charity, they locked my door and armed with forks, dug in to the cake as soon as I set it down in front of them. And boy did they dig to their hearts' content. And then they were nauseous :) Anyway, when I walked into my room the next day after school, the remaining half of the cake had completely disappeared, leaving behind just a parchment lined pan and some crumbs. Success! I made this cake in a 9x13 pan and there was a wonderfully thick layer of crumble on top. Totally the best part! As far as being a blank canvas, this cake is. Feel free to add lemon zest or extract, chocolate chips or anything else you fancy. Enjoy as a breakfast treat on a lazy morning or just as an afternoon snack.

Crumble Coffee Cake

KAF Baking Companion

Crumble:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp almond extract

Batter:

8 tbsp margarine

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a bowl, place the margarine and sugar.
Cream until combined.
Add the egg,
and mix.
Add the sour cream and vanilla. Blend.
Add all of the dry ingredients.
Stir to make a cohesive batter. Pour into the pan. Spread evenly. Set aside while you make the crumble.
For the crumble, place the flour, sugar and vanilla in a bowl.
Add the melted margarine,
and stir with your fingers to make a rough crumble. Dont over mix or your crumble wont have the proper consistency.
Sprinkle evenly over the batter. Loads of crumble!
Bake for 30-35 minutes until it looks like this. Yummo!

Dark Chocolate Tart

This past weekend was spent by my sister and brother-in-law in Neve Daniel, a settlement about fifteen minutes south of Jerusalem. I like to go there every few weeks, to get away, relax, enjoy good food and good sleep, away from noise and chaos, and spend time with my darling niece O. My sister was having two students over for Friday night dinner and she asked me to make dessert for the weekend. Obviously happy to oblige, I set about to do research. Generally, I like to start the research process on Wednesday so that lists are made up and ingredients bought by Thursday. Having bought loads of chocolate to bake with, I knew it would be a chocolate dessert. I settled on this Dark Chocolate Tart from Luscious Chocolate Desserts. Now, I know that I've made a chocolate chocolate tart before, but this recipe is different! For one thing, this filling is baked, not whipped and therefore doesnt soften! The tart is really easy to make, requiring only half hour of baking between the crust and the filling. After cooling the finished tart, I initially thought the filling too soft and chilled it in advance, taking it out only before we started eating. Eating it this way prompted my sister to call this a confection and not a dessert. It was like eating a very rich and decadent truffle, she said. So I left it out overnight and when we had it the next day with the softened filling, she declared it much better. And I agreed- it was a lot better this way. So I'm warning you now-- don't chill this tart! It's at its best and most chocolate-y at room temperature! It also highlights the contrast between the crunchy crust and smooth, soft filling.

Dark Chocolate Tart

adapted from Luscious Chocolate Desserts

Crust:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold margarine, cut into pieces

Filling:

14 ounces bittersweet chocolate

6 tbsp margarine

2 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. Have a ten inch fluted tart pan ready.

Place the dry ingredients in a bowl,
and whisk to combine.
Add the margarine,
and using your fingers, rub the pieces together until all the flour is moistened and you have a crumbly mixture.
Pat the dough into the tart pan. Prick with a fork and place on a baking sheet.
Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
While the crust is cooling, make the filling. Place the chocolate and margarine in a pot. Melt over low heat until completely melted.
Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla.

Blend until smooth.
Pour into the shell and bake for 12 minutes. Cool on rack. It will firm up a bit as it cools. Dust liberally with cocoa powder, if desired.

Light as Air Sugar Cookies

There's a list hanging on my pantry door. Two, actually. One is a running list of things I need (and I always need something!) and the other is a list of things the girls want me to bake for them. The wish list has about thirty items on the list and of those only about a handful of them have been made in some variation or other. So a couple nights ago, I decided to fulfill one of the girl's request for sugar cookies and cross a recipe off the list, just for the sake of progress. (Who doesn't love to make things just to cross items off?!) Sugar cookies. Simple, homey, and depending on how you make them, the ultimate canvas for your decorating whims. Since it was late and I didnt have time or patience to chill a dough, roll out and chill between rollings, I opted for a drop sugar cookie, which I think are severely underrated and extremely delicious. These are made with a combination of powdered sugar and regular sugar, margarine and oil. A snap to put together, these are ready in minutes. Warm from the oven, they'll disappear in less than that. I used a small cookie scoop to deposit the soft dough into a bowl of sugar and then transferred them to the baking sheet. These disappeared in no time at all, leaving behind just the scent of sugary warmth in their wake. For bigger or smaller cookies, just adjust the size of your cookie scoop. Oh. And you might want to double the recipe, just to be safe.

Light as Air Sugar Cookies

Cookie Companion

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a bowl, place the sugars and fats.
Cream until smooth and light colored.
Add the egg, extracts salt and dry ingredients.
Stir until blended.
Add the flour and stir until a soft dough is formed.
Scoop the dough into a bowl of granulated sugar. Transfer to the baking sheets.
Using the bottom of a glass, flatten each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes until theyre just golden around the edges.
Cool on a wire rack. Shabbat Shalom!

Honey Orange Spice Squares

Wow am I exhausted. I'm sitting in class, which is rather on the boring side, and all the wiped-outness I've been feeling is overwhelming me. And I only went to sleep at twelve thirty! Yesterday, SFW went on a trip and departure was set for seven. For two madrichot who needed to get things ready, six fifteen was our wakeup. And this was no school day! Our trip started out with a long enough to manage a nap bus ride to Holon where we visited an organization called Save a Child's Heart which brings children in from countries in Africa and Europe in order to provide them with the cardiac care they can't get at home. We then went to visit some of those children who are awaiting their own surgery. It was quite a meaningful experience. We then went back to Jerusalem to see Mt. Olives and do some archaeological related stuff. We got back a bit earlier than expected, which turned out to be perfect for another nap. So what does this have to do with food? Well, the last trip we took had us eating rolls and chocolate milk for breakfast. As breakfast on this morning was looking the same way, I decided to make some cake for breakfast. Oh how I spoil my girls. I ended up making two cakes, but as I only tasted one, and just barely, by the way, I'm only going to post one. These honey spice squares come from Carole Walter's latest. Scented with orange zest, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg, these bars are a perfect breakfast treat. I omitted any sort of glaze but I think a simple powdered sugar glaze would be quite welcome here. This yields one 9x13 inch pan of bars.

Honey Orange Spice Squares

adapted from Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins and More

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup margarine

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 tsp grated orange zest

2 eggs

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
Place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Whisk and set aside.
Place the honey, margarine and orange zest in a small bowl. Microwave until thoroughly melted. Set aside.
Place the eggs in a bowl. Beat with a mixer until lightened.
Add the brown sugar a few tablespoons at a time, beating in between.
Here is all the sugar incorporated.Slowly pour in the melted margarine mixture. Add the vanilla. Blend.
Add half of the dry ingredients, then the sour cream and then the remaining dry ingredients.
Mix to yield a uniform batter.
Spread into the prepared pan.
Bake for 22-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Glaze if desired. Cut into squares and serve.