It was worth the work...

I just have to say this: the 6 hours it took to make this bread was SO TOTALLY worth it in order to get a taste of it fresh out of the oven! Yum!! Yes, it's pretty rich - but it's very flaky and tender. Very much like a cinnamon roll texture - but not sweet and no frosting :) Just breaddy goodness. The house smells so good now :)

whoa! Holy Buckets! My kitchen smells good! (the bread edition)

This would be classified as one of the multi-step,  complicated baking projects that interests me! :)

It all started with a mailing list email from a recipe site... talking about an anise-flavored egg bread.  That caught my interest.  Sounds similar to the Challah bread I've made before, but with anise extract added.   "done!" I thought... until I clicked on another link: Choereg (Armenian Easter Bread). 

Choereg uses a unique spice called "mahleb" which is popular in the Middle East/Mediterranean  (think: Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Syria, Libya and, of course, Armenia).    It is an aromatic spice made from the seeds of the St Lucie Cherry. The cherry stones are cracked to extract the seed kernel, which is about 5 mm diameter, soft and chewy on extraction, but ground to a powder before use. The flavor is similar to a combination of bitter almond and cherry.  I was able to find it at the Lebanese grocery store.  It really smells quite good!




<sup>I will say, however, that upon looking at the recipe for this Armenian bread,  I about threw it out.  Looking at the amount of butter used (2 cups!!) did not make this seem appealing to me.  Additionally 5 eggs are called for just for the dough.  Another beaten egg is called for to make the glaze.  But looking more closely at the recipe, I also noticed it makes 5 loaves and calls for 6+ cups of flour, so that put me at ease a little bit.  I wouldn't exactly classify this as diet food, but one of those "fine in small amounts" foods. :)


Bread 1: Italian Easter Bread</sup>

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour, divided 1/4 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 (.25 ounce) package rapid rise yeast 2/3 cup milk 1 teaspoon anise extract

2 tablespoons butter at room temperature 2 eggs   1 egg, beaten 1/2 tablespoon colored candy decorating dragees, or as desired

Directions:

1.	Mix 1 cup of flour with sugar, salt, and yeast in a bowl, stir well. Place milk and anise extract into a small saucepan over low heat, and warm to about 110 degrees F (43 degrees C). Make a well in the center of the flour mixture with your hand, and pour in the milk mixture; swirl with your hand in a circular motion to combine the flour mixture with the milk mixture. Mix in butter and eggs, one at a time, then mix in remaining flour until dough begins to pull together.
2.	Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, and knead until soft but elastic, about 8 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth, and let dough rest for 10 minutes; cut dough into halves.
3.	On floured work surface, roll each half into a ball, then shape the balls into 2 long pieces, about 1 1/2 inches thick and 18 to 20 inches long. Pinch the 2 top ends together, and loosely twist the pieces to form a twisted loaf; pinch the bottom ends together, and tuck the two ends underneath the loaf. (Alternately, form the twist into a ring, and pinch the ends together.)
4.	Grease a baking sheet, lay the loaf onto the prepared sheet, and cover with a damp towel; let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Brush loaf with beaten egg, and sprinkle with colored decorating dragees.
5.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake the decorated loaf in the preheated oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Watch closely towards the end of the baking time that the bread does not begin to burn. Transfer to wire rack immediately after baking to cool.

<sup>Bread 2: Choereg-- this is the more difficult of the 2 breads.  I did not use quick-rise yeast.  This bread really does take about 6 hours to make.  About 30min for the preparation of the ingredients, 2 hours for the first rise, 1 hour for the 2nd rise and I suppose about 30 minutes for the final rise (after braiding the dough).  Don't try this one if you're in a hurry :)


Also, regarding the flour: I used about 5 cups at first, bit-by-bit and then made a consistent paste/dough out of that, then I added the 6th cup.  I probably added at least 1 more cup during the kneading process, but this should be done a little bit at a time so as not to get too much flour.  You're looking for a consistency that "pulls apart" with a very elastic feel, but is not soggy or sticking to your hands.  The kneading will also increase the hardness of the dough, so keep this in mind while adding flour.</sup> 

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
• 5 eggs
• 6 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground mahleb
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, butter and margarine. Heat until butter and margarine are melted, but do not let it boil. Stir in 1 cup of sugar until dissolved, then set aside to cool to lukewarm.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, dissolve 2 teaspoons of sugar in warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface, and let stand until frothy, about 10 minutes.
3. Crack the eggs into a large bowl, and stir a little to break up the yolks. Slowly pour in the heated milk mixture while whisking constantly, so as to temper the eggs and not cook them. Add the yeast mixture, and stir just until blended.
4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, mahleb, and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the wet mixture. Stir until it forms a sticky dough. Pour onto a floured surface, and knead in additional flour as needed to make a more substantial dough. Knead for about 10 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl, and set in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
5. When the dough has doubled, punch down again, and let rise until doubled. It will only take about half as long this time.
6. Separate the dough into 5 even portions, then separate each of those into thirds. Roll each of those into ropes about 12 inches long. Braid sets of three ropes together, pinching the ends to seal, and tucking them under for a better presentation. Place the loaves onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Loaves should be spaced 4 inches apart. Set in a warm place to rise until your finger leaves an impression behind when you poke the loaf gently.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Brush the loaves with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
8. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until nicely golden brown all over.

Anise Bread

Here's a picture of the Anise bread I made. More to come -- the Armenian bread is still rising, but it's another egg loaf - so it should look similar. I'm curious as to how the difference in recipes will taste...

Black Beans

As you've probably noticed: in my opinion, beans are a great way to create a filling meal from very few ingredients and they are very inexpensive... AND they are very healthy.  The trick is to mix it up so you're not always eating the same kinds of food.  Since I've made a lot of food this weekend, I portioned it into storage containers and froze a good share of each recipe.

This recipe sounded interesting to me.  I realized that Worcestershire sauce is basically just molasses and vinegar (no wonder I love it!) so if you don't have any sauce you can improvise.  Or if you want more sweet than tangy you can add some molasses extra.


The pinch of baking soda used while soaking will help to reduce the "effects" of beans :)
Got this recipe from another guy's blog about South American Cooking.  I didn't use meat or do the blending step.  I also didn't have any coriander - though that sounded really good!

Ingredients:
To serve 5-6 people you will need:
200 grams dried black beans
Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
Pancetta or bacon rashers 
1 onion
1 green pepper
2 cloves of garlic
Fresh coriander
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Oregano
Cumin
Worcestershire sauce (Salsa Inglesa)

1. Place the beans in a large saucepan or bowl. Cover with tap water leaving at least an inch of water above the beans as they will swell. Add a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. Leave overnight.

2. Before cooking, drain and rinse beans under the tap. Place in saucepan or pressure cooker and cover with fresh water. Bring to boil and boil vigorously for 10-15 minutes. Add no salt.

3. Reduce heat and simmer until soft - 60 minutes (minimum) in saucepan, 45 minutes in pressure cooker.

4. To make the sofrito used to flavour the beans finely chop onions and peppers.

5. Dice pork into small cubes.

6. Crush garlic cloves in mortar or garlic crusher.

7. Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Add onions and when they start to brown add pork and peppers and garlic.

6. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, a small pinch of cumin and Worcestershire sauce and when all ingredients are cooked remove from heat.

7. When beans are cooked place some of the water and beans in a blender, add the cooked sofrito and blend until creamy. Pour back into beans and simmer to reduce and allow flavours to combine.

8. Finely chop coriandor and add to beans just before serving, stir through.

Sweet potato!

As a side dish I made a sweet potato/fennel bulb dish - pretty good.
Cut sweet potato and fennel bulb into little chunks
melt some butter in a cast iron skillet (or other oven-proof skillet)
pan-fry potatoes, fennel in butter.  Add a few of the fennel fronds, some parsley and black pepper.  I also added some seasoned salt (yum!).

Place in oven at 350F for an hour..

Today I will try and make a black bean with Worcestershire sauce and/or Molasses.  I know that's a lot of beans, but I will freeze them in small portions.  I can eat them next month, then :)  If it tastes good, I will post it!

Pinto Beans

A good pinto bean experiment, I do believe.

1 bag of pinto beans (about $1.20 at the grocery store - serves 10)
1 can of tomato paste
some frozen jalapeño peppers from last summer
some indian chili peppers frozen from last summer :)
some "cowboy candy" sweet pickled Jalapeño paste
"7spice" powder I found in the cupboard
cumin seeds
a shallot
1 can of veggie broth

soak and cook the beans as per the instructions on the bag
I added a can of veggie broth to the cooking liquid.
When beans are done, drain and reserve cooking liquid

fry shallot with peppers, cumin seed, spices and add a little cooking liquid and tomato paste.  Make a little paste out of it, then add beans. Cook until flavors are blended and beans are a bit softer (30-40minutes)

Beer Bread

Do you love beer? (Yes!)
Do you love bread? (YES!)
Do you have flour? Do you have an hour? (and a loaf pan?)
Well, my friend!  You've come to the right post :)

Beer Bread - easy, quick and a non-rising bread (no kneeding, yeast or waiting to rise)  Its also vegan, yet carnivores love it - great for all :)

Serves 12  - if you can tell me how much 3 cups of flour, 1 bottle of beer and a little baking powder cost, then I'll tell you the per-serving cost.  We'll call it a dime :)

1 Cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (the brand I have is Clabber Girl)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 (12 fluid oz.) can or bottle of beer (it won't hurt the bread any if you take a few sips... just to test for poison... you know...)

Directions!
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C) lightly grease 9x5 loaf pan
2. In large mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients
3. pour in beer - not all at once, but slowly while stirring to allow proper mixing
4. bake in a preheated oven for 50-60min (until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean)

Lentils and Barley

The mysterious paper bag held sugar-snap peas.  The parsley is barely usable.

(Huh... I just realized that barely and barley are quite easily mixed up by me.)

Lentils:
*mustard (dijon from trader joes)
*Shallots
*olive oil
*cumin seed
*veggie broth
*Maggi hot sauce (yes, its a brand)
*1 bag of lentils (serves 19)
*water (good rule for lentils is 4/1 or 3/1 depending on how thick you like them-- if you add too much, just keep cooking them and the water will cook off)
Cook it all up :)  (fry shallots and cumin seed first in olive oil, add sauce/mustard, add lentils, broth and water... cook for about 30-ish minutes)

Why I love lentils:
*they are cheap! (roughly a dollar a bag) - I suppose that this pot of lentils would even out to something like 10 cents a serving (counting in the cost of the broth, shallot, mustard and spices)
*they are filling (12g protein per serving - almost no fat)
*I cook them vegan so they're great for bagged lunch - nothing to spoil
*You can make them spicy, savory, buttery, vegetable-y. Very versatile

I will try to cook barley after I'm done teaching for the day.  I know nothing about barley.  It was just next to the lentils at the store, so I thought I would try it.
***

I *love* barley!  Yum-o!

Baked barley
Pour 2 1/2 cups water or veggie broth in a covered saucepan. Add 1 Tablespoon of fat (such as butter or oil).
Meanwhile, place 1 cup pre-soaked barley (or pearled barley - no need to soak) into a one-and-a-half quart glass baking dish.  When water (or broth) comes to a boil, add to the dish, stirring to combine. Cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. (Instead of a glass baking dish, I used a cast-iron skillet with its lid) Bake on the middle oven rack at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
When the barley is tender to your liking, remove the cover and fluff the barley with a fork.
(If you prefer to use pearled barley instead of hulled, reduce cooking time by at least half.)

This is the first method I used - I used about 1/2pound of Barley (4 servings) and I just put the other half in the oven right now.  To this batch, I added carrots, dried basil and black pepper.
Cost of Barley bag: $1.50 - serves 8
Cost of carrots: about $1.00-1.50 (1 pound normal carrots) - but I used half-pound so we'll call it 75-cents
Cost of veggie broth: $1
Total: $3.25
about 40-cents a serving :)


SO!  Lentils & Barley dinner for about 50cents.  Serve with steamed veggie of your choice and/or maybe a salad!  And of course, there's chocolate for dessert :)

Healthy & cheap!

Random act of April

Welcome!  What better to do on a horrible and rainy Friday morning than create this page!  The weather has yet to permit me to jog consistently outside and in this kind of weather, baking and cooking always feels great!  I will admit to being a lazy cook: I dislike recipes that have more than 5 or so steps, though for baking I will make an exception.  My goal is to learn how to make and decorate a wedding cake this summer...  it could either prove to be a lucrative hobby or huge cost-saver in the future. Or both.

But most of all, I enjoy looking in the fridge and seeing nothing but somehow managing to create a meal.  Today will be easy as the fridge is not yet starving. 
Things it contains:
Asparagus
Lettuce
something in a paper bag that I forgot what it is
Parsley that may/may not be good
mustard
hummus
and in the pantry there are always lentils and rice


Let's see what transpires...
Recipes are merely skeletons.  Cooking is always an experiment.