Sephardic Challah

The recipe is adapted from my old friend Jessamyn Waldman who is the executive director and chef of Hot Bread Kitchen, an AMAZING triple bottom line business in good ol' NYC. You can find the original recipe here as this one has my modifications.



Sephardic Challa:
Ingredients:
2 tbl. sesame seeds
1 tbl. flax seeds
1 1/2 tbl. anise seeds
1 1/2 tbl. caraway seeds

1 package yeast
2 c. warm water
5 c. breadflour (today I did AP flour with 3 tbl. wheat germ for good health, but it makes a denser loaf)
3 tbl. olive oil
2 tbl. honey
1 tbl. salt
cornmeal for dusting or parchment paper
2 egg yolks for glazing

Toast seeds two minutes until fragrant over med. low heat
In the Kitchen Aid, combine flour, oil, honey, and water and mix on low until dough forms.

Dissolve yeast in a bit of the warm water.

Add yeast mixture, salt and seeds and mix at medium low about 10 minutes

Then transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover, and let it rise for a while, one hour at minimum. Now cut the dough into thirds (that's a "Y" shape out of the circular loaf) and roll it out to 18 inches.

Lightly oil and dust with cornmeal a cookie sheet. Then braid the loaf and let it double in size, on the cookie sheet, covered with a damp towel for about an hour. Jessamyn actually makes two long ropes of dough and then makes two coiled loaves out of them, but I am romantically attached to the idea of braided challa and it it's elegance.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and whisk the egg yolks with a dash of water and let it stand 30 minutes. Repeat the egg wash and then sprinkle with the reserved seeds.

Bake for 30 minutes and enjoy!

Semla

One day I was looking for something unique and special with which to celebrate Mardi Gras and I came across an awesome blog that featured a recipe for Swedish semla, the traditional pre-Lenten treat. It was so beautiful that I just HAD to try it and I am glad that I did because it is truly a sublime not too rich just perfect kind of confection. I did modify the original recipe quite a bit, and will post soon, but here is a photo, enjoy!

Oh, this is them before the final touches were made; they are truly divine just plain with a little butter, actually. Next time I have overnight guests, I may make them for breakfast.



Semla: SOOOOOO worth it! This was adapted from a recipe from Nordstjernen located via the *fantastic* occupation: housewife blog
Ingredients for the dough:

5 tbl. unsalted butter
3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. water
1 1/2 tbl. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbl. sugar
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. freshly ground cardamom
2 eggs, beaten

Filling:

10 oz. almond paste
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. creme anglais
1/2 c. marscapone
powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, cardamom).

Melt the butter on the stove and add the milk to warm, but not so warm that you can't comfortably stick your finger in it.

Dissolve the yeast in warm enough for your finger to take a dip and let sit about 5 minutes while the butter mixture is cooling.

Add liquids (yeast + butter mix)to the flour and when difficult to stir, turn the dough out on a floured surface to knead until it is soft and supple.

Let the dough rise for an hour, covered with a damp cloth. While the dough rises, you can make the creme anglais, which is simply freshly whipped cream with vanilla extract to taste.

Then, hand roll the dough into an oversized tootsie-roll shape and with a sharp knife, cut the log into 16 sections.

Place each bun on a parchment lined cookie sheet and pre-heat your oven to 440 degrees for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, let the buns proof.

Brush the buns with the beaten egg and bake for 10 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.

Let the buns cool until you can handle them and then slice off the tops, if you can stand "wrecking" such a glorious bun and then scoop out the soft inside dough of the bottom half and place into a small mixing bowl.

To the scooped out dough, add the almond paste, milk, creme anglais and marscapone. Then re-fill each bun-with a pastry pipe if you have one (I used a regular teaspoon)and replace the tops.

Finally, dust with powedered sugar by knocking a confectioner sugar filled seive with a fork to your heart's content and fasten your seat belt for an outrageous treat!

Miracle Grains

Making Rosemary Gladstar's miracle grains has been on my list for quite some time and now that I have finally made them, the results are stupendous and I want to share them here.

Miracle Cleansing Grains. That's quite a statement. But if you use them, you will know why-they are truly miraculous! I made up a batch, put them in a plastic container in my bathroom, found a scallop shell from Pensacola to use as a scooper and designated a small marble mortar that didn't get much use in the kitchen to mix it up fresh every time I wash my face.

It feels so nice and I feel so pampered to be able to make for myself a truly wonderful beauty product. Here is the recipe:

2 cups white clay
1 cup finely ground oats
1/4 cup finely ground almonds
2 tbl. ground lavender
2 tbl. ground roses
2 tbl. poppy seeds
and rose essential oil for scent

That's it! To use, take a small amount and wet with water and/or honey (for extra moisterizer if you need it)and use like a regular cleanser.

I like to finish with witch hazel and then jojoba oil and my skin feels soooo soft and nice. I think it's a fraction of the price of regular products, too! Whoopeee!

Pain au Levain

What does any sane woman do shortly after embarking on a two week long fast?

Bake bread, of course!

The fact is that after taking nearly a week to make my sourdough starter in the first place, I have major objections to NOT baking bread once a week on principle. What's more, if I don't make a new loaf, I have to discard half my starter and that makes me feel like well, there is no point to maintaining one in the first place.

SO, although I won't actually be consuming this loaf, I hope that my family appreciates it!

The story of this particular bread is as such: at my father's last Christmas I was introduced to baking with a poolish and thus began a bit of a baking bread frenzy. After a ton of internet research, I decided to seek out Daniel Leader's Bread Alone from my local library and see what all the fuss was about.

Well, two renewals and countless loaves later, I decided that infintley renewing the book at the library was a little ridonculous. Taking advantage of being in Union Square over the weekend, I stopped by Strand and lo and behold they had one copy left. Ten bucks, now it's mine!

Anyway, I couldn't possibly give better directions than Leader himself, so I won't. The only thing I do differently is that not having installed a make shift baking stone in my oven and lacking brotforms, I cook my bread in a cast iron dutch oven. Other than that, I try to stay true to the recipe!

If you are so inspired to delve deeper into the world of bread, go find the book in your library and give the recipe a shot!

Master Cleanse, Modified

So my girlfriend at work mentioned Stanley Burrough's Master Cleanse and being as I am in need of serious detox after two years of non-stop eating, drinking and smoking whatever and whenever, I decided to committ to a 10 day cleanse. The basic recipe is as follows:

fresh lemon juice and maple syrup (grade B) in equal parts
cayenne pepper to taste
clean water

This is to be imbibed all the day long, whenever one feels hungry. I have been having four quarts of the stuff at work (8-4pm). For the day, I bring a mixture of one cup juice pre-mixed with one cup of syrup and mix the concoctions on breaks.

Now, according to the official literature, one is supposed to take a cup of smooth move tea (an herbal laxative) in the AM and then proceed to imbibe ONE LITER of water mixed with two teaspoons of sea salt so as to give oneself an internal enema(the salt water has the same density as the blood and therefore is not absorbed, so basically it's a shower for your digestive system).

Well, anyway, being that I don't want to sabotage myself with too much suffering in the beginning and seeing as I am not much of a rule abider anyhow, I'm actually not following the cleanse as prescribed. Big surprise! SO, no salt water for now. Maybe on day 3 or 4 when I feel super confident about my ability to stick it out.

I have decided that so long as I drink four quarts of the lemonade, my caloric and vitamin needs are met for the day. SO, in the evening, I am having cold herbal infusions as per my liking.

On day one, I had red clover/peppermint and on day two I am having red clover/mullein. This is to use up all the wildcrafted herbs I collected and dried last year before the new season comes and also because I really think that with no food in my system, the tonics might actually be quite beneficial.

What has been really amazing about the fast so far is how much easier it is to NOT EAT when you're fasting as opposed to not eating the WRONG THINGS when you ARE eating. This has sort of reawakened my taste for truly yummy things. I have been fantasizing not about rich and luxurious foods, but about avocados, sprouts, and raw food in general.

This could be, of course, because I am planning to break the fast on fresh grapefruit juice during the day and some kind of seriously herbal asian style brothy soup at night for the first three days and then start incorporating foods suitable for a raw food diet.

It's not that I want to go back to a raw food diet forever, but I do feel like I have to center myself and get back to those basics because I feel I have become rather addicted to those warming and yummy foods of winter. I am planning on joining a CSA this year and with the warm weather coming, I think it's a great time to make a change.

Interestingly, my fast is coinciding with lent, which is also a traditional time of fasting and in harmony with the coming of the spring and the bounty of the seasons to come.

Well, I suppose I will end here by saying, that I am truly and pleasantly surprised by the relative ease with which the fast has begun. As someone who receives an inordinate amount of pleasure from food, I thought this would be somehow more painful. I am really looking forward to the end of the fast, but not in a fiendish sense of "I can't wait to eat food again" more like, wow, I will have really accomplished something good for myself two weeks from today.