Time to Relax: Cinnamon Babka Dessert Loaf

The thing about weekends is how we view and experience time. It's different. Very different. I don't know about you, but during the week I run from pillar to post, first to work, then to errands and shopping. For food, or just to restock the fridge with beer (oops, I meant OJ for the hot summer weather). Either way, I am always looking forward to the weekend. To slow down. To shut off computers, and news broadcasts, and to just RELAX. 

On weekends, I can enjoy breakfast, something I can't do during the week, when I am rushing around. And for that I always prepare my sweet yeast dough and add an appropriate filling. Every serious baker should have a sweet yeast dough in his/her repertoire. It is so versatile since it can be used for cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, krantz and even babka. In this version, I fill it with cinnamon and walnuts. If you want, you can make a variation filled with chocolate spread, even good quality strawberry (or other fruit) preserves. Any way you look at it, this breakfast bread, with good strong coffee, and no newspaper, is a great way to spend a weekend morning.

Here's What You'll Need: (for 2 loaves)

1/4 C warm water

4 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast

1/2 warm soy milk (or regular milk if you want it to be dairy)

1/2 C sugar

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1/2 C margarine (or butter if you want dairy)/ or 1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 1/2 to 5 C AP flour

For the filling:*

1/2 C margarine (or butter softened)

1 Tbs cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 C coarsely chopped walnuts 

*Mix it all together to form a smooth paste

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the warm water and the yeast. Set it aside for a few minutes so the yeast is activated.

2. In another bowl, add the soy milk (or regular), the sugar, oil, salt and the eggs and mix to make a uniform mixture.

3.Melt the margarine (or butter) and mix it in thoroughly.

4. Add in the yeast mixture and mix it in completely.

5. Add about half of the flour, mixing with a spoon, then the other half. By this time you will have to knead the dough with your hands. Keep adding just enough flour to make a soft just slightly sticky dough. Knead this on a surface with only the slightest amount of flour on it to prevent sticking. Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is shiny and smooth. When done, place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover and let it rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

6. When completely risen, divide the dough into 2 equal pieces then shape the dough into a rough rectangle. Roll it out using a rolling pin until it is roughly 1/4 in. (2-3 mm) thick.

7. Spread the filling over the surface of the dough using your fingers if need be. 

Then roll it up, starting on the long edge, jellyroll style. Make a long snake of the roll, cut it into two equal 'snakes' then twist them together. 

Place the twisted roll into a prepared loaf pan. (23X10 cm or 9X5 in). Repeat with the second piece of dough.

8. Cover and let this loaf rise for another 30 minutes or so until it just comes to the level of the pan.

9. Bake for about 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 F (180 C).

10. Cool on a rack. Remove the loaf from the pan after about 5 minutes after you remove it from the oven so it doesn't get soggy. Enjoy!!

Closer to Home - 'White' Cheese Bread

I know, I know. The latest trends in bread are taking us AWAY from white bread. Lately it seems, everywhere you look, there is another article explaining patiently (or sometimes less than) why it's no good for you. Or at least not that good for you. Nowadays it's all about whole grains and bread made without wheat altogether. As if, after maybe 10K years of making bread from wheat, it all of a sudden is not good for you. Now, I'll grant you, the flour we get today, especially the industrialized bleached all-purpose flour, is mostly starch. That, of course, is the reason bread is what it is. The gluten in the white flour traps the air given off by the yeast and makes it light and airy and sweet and, well, just delicious. Which is why I always, but always, when baking with white flour use UN-bleached and fortified flour. And I add things. Like dried fruit. Or nuts and seeds. Or some dairy product and/or and egg.

In Israel we have great dairy products. Cottage cheese to die for. Lots of excellent hard cheeses and a great tasting selection of soft white cheeses. We spread them on toast, or bake them into pies, or pastries, or just spoon them over salads. It is just this kind of cheese that I used in this bread replacing some of the liquid. You can use any soft white spreadable cheese for this although you may have to slightly adjust the water/flour ratio. This bread will keep for several days, and makes great toast. Oh, and it fills your whole house with the most heavenly aroma while it bakes!

Here's What You'll Need: (for 2 loaves)
2 cups (about 500 g) soft white cheese
3 Tbs. sugar
1 egg, beaten*
3/4 cup warm water
1 Tbs. dry yeast
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 cups (about 4 1/4 cups) AP flour
1 1/4 Tbs salt

* I only use large eggs.

Here's What You'll Need to Do:
1. Place the cheese, sugar, egg and water in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. (You can use your mixer on low speed for a minute or so.

2. In another bowl, mix the baking soda with the yeast and 2 cups of the flour. Then add this to the liquid mixture slowly while it continues to mix on slow speed. At this point you can add the salt. Slowly add the rest of the flour while continuing to mix until the dough 'cleans the bowl'.

3. Leave the ball of dough in the bowl. Sprinkle a little flour over the top, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to rise until doubled, about 3-4 hours.

until it looks like this...

4. Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface, knead for about 1 minute. You will notice that after a slow rise in the refrigerator the dough is less sticky, and more flexible and easier to knead!

5. Divide the dough into 2 equal-ish pieces. At this point you can shape them as loaves and place the dough in lightly oiled loaf pans. Or, you can shape them as 'batards' (like thick torpedoes) and let them rise free-form on parchment paper or a peel covered with corn meal. (What I did.) Either way, let the dough rest and rise. In loaf pans until it rises above the sides of the pan. On a peel, until almost doubled. Either way, about 45 minutes.

I slashed the dough just before baking. If you do this, slash using a serrated knife (or razor blade) about 1/4 in (3 mm) deep, just before placing in the oven. 

6. About 20 minutes before baking time, pre-heat the oven to 400 F (200 C). Bake (with steam for a hard crust, without steam for a soft crust) for about 30 minutes or until they are a beautiful deep brown and smell incredible.

and toasted with butter...

7. Cool on a rack. Bitayavon (Hebrew for Bon Appetit).

Warm & Fuzzy Feeling - True Comfort Bread (Raisin Walnut)

I admit I'm a sucker for this bread and always have been. I remember eating it as a kid back in Canada. I mean eating the store bought kind. Of course, back then (too many years) the bread was at least closer to being real bread, even if it was baked in an industrial oven by the hundreds. No, not thousands, I do come from a very small town, but still. Also, back then it wasn't laced with all the emulsifiers, and stabilizers and freshness enhancers like today. Oh, and the color was real, brought on by the cinnamon and the wheat. Maybe that's why raisin walnut bread has such a warm spot in my heart, I don't know. But for me it means breakfast, lightly toasted and covered with butter. Or, better yet, peanut butter that starts to 'melt' and gets sloppy all over everything from the still warm bread. Whatever it is, I admit it. I love raisin bread and this version, a recipe I kind of made up on the fly, is perfect. The evidence is that I made it yesterday, and the loaf is almost gone. What can I say?

Here's What You'll Need:

about 3 cups (420 g) AP flour
1/2 Tbs instant dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
1/4 cup dry milk powder (or use baby formula as a substitute)
1 tsp. cinnamon
about 1 cup (250 ml) warm water
about 1/2 cup re-hydrated raisins*
about 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

* To re-hydrate the raisins, place then in a glass dish and cover with very warm water for about an hour. They will plump up beautifully. Drain and squeeze the water out, then add to the dough. Because they have added water, you will need to adjust the amount of flour.

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

1. Mix everything together  (except the raisins and walnuts) and mix to form a rough dough. Add flour or water to keep the dough just barely sticky and very soft. Knead the dough until smooth, then place in a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover and let it rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

2. Punch down the dough. Spread it out, gently, into a rough rectangle, spread the raisins and walnuts on the dough, then 'wrap' them up like folding a letter. Knead the dough until they are evenly distributed. You will probably need to add flour as the raisins are moist and will make the dough quite sticky. Add just enough to keep the dough just slightly sticky.

3. Form into a loaf, them place the dough into a prepared loaf pan, and cover to let it rise again, until just peering over the edge of the pan, about 45 minutes.

4. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for about 30 minutes until it is a nut brown and fills the house with the most wonderful aroma. Oh, and it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

5. Cool completely (if you can) on a rack. Then smother with butter, cream cheese or whatever is on hand and gobble it up!

Time for Breakfast - Cornmeal Muffins

This recipe is a bit of a continuation of the post for banana bread from last week as it, too, uses baking powder to rise the dough instead of yeast. It is a simple recipe that is very quick to put together. It uses the 'muffin method' for quick breads. By that I mean, the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients are mixed separately then mixed together. The muffins are placed immediately in a pre-heated oven to 'pop' and crown. The use of cornmeal is very typically American and makes for a very crumbly (and very tasty) muffin. To avoid the graininess you sometimes get with cornmeal, it is mixed first with hot water and oil, and only afterwards is it added to the other wet ingredients. The addition of dried fruit only adds to the sweetness and makes this a wonderful breakfast bread. You can find a great collection of muffin recipes in The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes, a cookbook that should be in everyone's collection. Not a typical muffin but well worth trying. Believe me, you'll love it!

Here's What You'll Need:
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
1/3 cup very hot water
3/4 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder

about 1 cup assorted dried fruit chopped coarsely ( I used cranberries and apricots)

Here's What You'll Need to Do:
Pre-heat the oven to 425 F (220 C).

1. Place the cornmeal in a large bowl then add the hot water and the oil and set it aside to soak. It should stand for at least 15 or 20 minutes.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs with the sugar, salt and vanilla extract.

3. In yet a third bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder.

4. Mix the egg and sugar mixture to the cornmeal mixture, mixing to incorporate. Finally, mix this mixture into the flour mixture. Mix only to combine. It is OK if there are a few lumps.
5. Sprinkle the chopped dried fruit over the batter and mix only very slightly to incorporate.
6. Spoon the batter,, getting some fruit in each scoop, into a prepared muffin pan filling almost to the top. By filling to the top, and keeping the sugar content lower, the muffins will 'peak' and not spread too much in the oven.

7. Bake for 5 minutes then lower the temperature to 350 F (170 C) and bake for another 20 minutes or until just brown.

8. Let the muffins sit in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing them from the pan to a rack to cool.

9. Bon appetit!