Room for Dessert - Food Blog

Of all the things I bake, bread is the one thing that amazes me the most. Although it’s one of the simplest things to make, and maybe even because of that, the process of putting such a small amount of ingredients together, kneading them, letting them rise and with almost no effort at all, getting such a wonderful smelling loaf that bakes slowly in the oven, rises some more, and fills the house with a great scent - you must understand the pleasure I’m talking about. Actually, the person that made me admire this whole bread baking process is Michael, a friend of mine from work, who worked as a cook for a couple of years for some famous restaurants in Tel Aviv, in between 2 high-tech jobs.

I don’t get to make bread as much as I want. I’d like to make bread every weekend. Bread means home to me, and on weekends, when you’re home with your loved ones, what can be a better companion, food-wise, than bread? Anyway, I get to make it just maybe once a month.

Lately, after tasting some seriously amazing loaves from the Arcaffe bakery here in our town, I’ve really wanted to make something similar. I browsed through their web-site and read that they developed their bread recipes with Eric Kayser’s help, and that the recipes are secret. I’ve tried to find some of Kayser’s bread recipe, but no luck there as well… What I do know is that their bread is made using sourdough and that it’s really crusty. I’m planning to start raising my own sourdough soon, but this time I made the bread using regular yeast.

I found this recipe on Recipezaar, it had so many good reviews that I decided to try it. The dough is great and really easy to work with. I’ve sprinkled water on top of the loaf while baking in the oven (did it 2 times) so the crust would become crunchier, and it did. Next time, though, I’ll sprinkle some more water, for an even crunchier crust. I’ve also rolled the bread in flour after shaping it and before the second rise, and also scattered some cornmeal on top of it. The loaf tasted great, and was airy and fluff. The cornmeal added more crunchiness to the bread. The great taste lasted only one day, though, the next day it was a bit dry.
All in all it was a good bread, nothing sophisticated about its taste or anything - just good and easy to make white bread.

Crusty French Bread / Recipezaar
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
5-5 1/2 cups bread flour

Directions:
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water and sugar in large bowl; allow yeast to proof or foam (about 10 minutes).
2. Add salt, oil, and 3 cups flour; beat for 2 minutes.
3. Stir in 2 cups flour to make a stiff dough.
4. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
5. Place in oiled bowl, turn dough to coat all sides, cover and let rise until doubled.
6. Punch down and divide in half.
7. Shape dough into two long slender loaves.
8. Grease and sprinkle with cornmeal either a french bread pan or large cookie sheet.
9. Place loaves in pan and cut diagonal gashes on top of each loaf (I use scissors).
10. Cover and let rise until doubled.
11. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for about 30 minutes.
12. Note: You can sprinkle or spray water on the loaves during baking if you want a really crunchy crust.

לחם צרפתי / מתכון מהאתר Recipezaar
עבור 2 כיכרות

רכיבים:
2 כוסות מים חמימים
1 כף שמרים יבשים
1 כף שמן
1 כף סוכר
2 כפיות מלח
5-5 1/2 כוסות קמח לחם (שטיבל 2)

הכנה:
1. ממיסים את השמרים במים החמימים יחד עם הסוכר בקערה גדולה. משאירים כ-10 דקות, עד שנוצר קצף.
2. מוסיפים מלח, שמן, ו-3 כוסות מהקמח. לשים כ-2 דקות.
3. מוסיפים 2 כוסות נוספות מהקמח, עד ליצירת בצק עמיד.
4. לשים כ-10 דקות, עד לקבלת בצק חלק וגמיש.
5. מניחים את הבצק בקערה משומנת, משמנים גם את פני הבצק עצמו. מכסים ומתפיחים במקום חמים עד להכפלת הנפח.
6. מוציאים את האויר מהבצק התפוח ומחלקים לשני חצאים.
7. מעצבים את הלחמים שלנו - אפשר כשני כיכרות ארוכים.
8. מגלגלים בקמח ומפזרים קמח תירס מעל. מניחים את הכיכרות על תבנית מרופדת בנייר אפיה או בתוך תבנית לחם מתאימה.
9. חותכים בעזרת סכין חתכים אלכסוניים לאורך הכיכרות.
10. מכסים ומתפיחים עד להכפלת הנפח.
11. אופים ב - 190 מעלות, כ-30 דקות, עד להזהבה.
12. הערה: ניתן להתיז מים על הכיכרות בעודן נאפות בתנור, להשגת קרום קשה יותר.

Peace in the Middle East… What a dream.. Unfortunately peace is quite far away from us right now, so until it’s reached, I’m going to settle for a piece (of cake, of course)  in the middle yeast

Wednesday evening (that’s when I finished baking the cakes in this post) I was the happiest in quite some time. In a minute I’ll tell you exactly what made me so joyful, but first I want to share with you a new theme on my blog that was born out of this happiness. Those of you who visit here often know that my grandmother was a great cook. Unfortunately all her recipes were lost when she passed away, and nowadays I try to recreate some of the great recipes she was using to make her fabulous dishes. So from time to time, whenever I try to make one of the dishes she once made, I’ll post about it using this sweet logo that Avi designed for me (many thanks, baby!)

and all these posts will be tagged under ”Grandma’s Kitchen” tag.

So about Wednesday evening - the cakes came out of the oven, I waited “patiently” for like 10 minutes (that’s the longest I could bare waiting), and then took a knife and sliced me a piece. I couldn’t believe my mouth! It tasted exactly (or if not, then very very close to that) like me Grandma’s heavenly “Cozonac” - a Romanian yeast cake they make on Holidays. The funny thing is that I didn’t even try to make one! I used an Israeli recipe for yeast cakes, that was recommended by a very talented foodie friend of mine - Sivan, whom I’ve “met” in the various Israeli food networks. I think the secret to the divine taste is simply (and please don’t laugh) the lemon zest. So simple and yet it gives the dough such a great aroma!

Every time I make a recipe that I don’t make that often, I try to experiment with it as much as I can. This time I tried a shape that I’ve never tried before, and various fillings. I tried to shape all of the 4 yeast cakes that the recipe yielded into a Krantz shape (this word origins from the German word for “crown”). You do it by simply rolling the dough to a log after filling it, cutting it vertically in the middle into two halves, leaving them attached in one end, in order to keep it all together. Then you take the two halves and wrap them around each other to form the shape of  a screw. After the shaping, the dough should look like this:

The fillings I used were Nutella spread, which is always my favorite filling for just about any pastry… I used also Halva spread on top of which I scattered chocolate chips - I really loved it, Avi took it to work and even people that don’t like Halva really loved it. It didn’t do the trick on Avi, though, who really dislikes Halva in desserts.

The third filling I used was the traditional filling for the Romanian Cozonac - walnuts, which was a really goood one.

The last filling was dulce de leche. The latter was too liquid for the Krantz shape, and so all the filling drained down to the bottom of the pan… The looks of it were quite unpleasant, but it tasted great!

Yeast cake / Adapted from my friend’s (Sivan) recipe
Makes 4 english cake molds (30 X 10 cm each)

For the dough:
1 kg all-purpose flour
50 gr fresh yeast (or 20 gr dry yeast)
150 gr sugar (if you don’t prepare the sugar syrup use 170 gr)
200 gr butter, softened but not melted
10 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one medium sized lemon
150 ml lukewarm water
150 ml lukewarm milk (30 secs in the microwave will do it)

For the glaze:
1 egg, beaten

For the sugar syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Put all the flour in the mixer bowl. Make a starter dough out of the yeast, 1 tsp of the sugar and 1/4 cup of the water. Leave to ferment for a few mins. Place the starter in the mixer’s bowl along with the flour and cover it with flour.
2. In a separate bowl mix sugar and eggs and add them to the flour. Add to the flour the rest of the ingredients, except for the water and milk. Start kneading the dough and add the water and milk through the kneading process. Continue kneading until a soft and non-sticky dough forms (I do it for 10 mins total). Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
3. Divide the dough into 4 parts, roll out each one of them and fill with the chosen filling (Nutella, Halva spread, Dulce de leche, the suggested walnuts filling or any other filling you can come up with). Roll the dough to a log after filling it, cutting it vertically in the middle into two halves, leaving them attached in one end, in order to keep it all together. Take the two halves and wrap them around each other to form the shape of a screw (as demonstrated in the picture above). Let rise until doubled in size.
4. Brush with the beaten egg, and bake in an oven preheated to 356°F (180° Celsius) for 35 mins, until golden-brown.
5. In the mean time prepare the sugar syrup: cook the sugar and milk on a medium flame until boiling point is reached. Cook for 5 more mins and take off the flame. After taking the cakes out of the oven, cool them for 5 mins, and brush them with the sugar syrup.

For the walnuts filling (sufficient for 2 cakes):
300 gr walnuts, coarsely chopped
3 egg whites
200 ml (yes, ml) powdered sugar

Directions:
Beat the egg whites, gradually adding them the sugar, for 3-4 mins, until soft peaks form. Fold in the walnuts and spread the mixtures onto the cakes.

עוגת שמרים / עיבוד קל למתכון של סיוי מפורום מתכונים של תפוז
חומרים ל-4 עוגות בתבנית אינגליש קייק (בגודל 30X10 כל אחת)

לבצק:
קילו קמח
50 גר’ שמרים טריים (או 20 גרם שמרים יבשים)
150 גרם סוכר (אם לא מורחים בסוף סירופ סוכר צריך קצת יותר, הבצק עצמו לא היה מתוק מספיק, בפעם הבאה אנסה עם 170 גרם)
200 גרם חמאה או מרגרינה רכה - לא מומסת
10 כפות שמן
1/2 כפית מלח
4 ביצים בטמפרטורת החדר
2 כפיות תמצית וניל
גרידה מלימון בינוני אחד
150 מ”ל מים חמימים
150 מ”ל חלב חמים (30 שניות במיקרו יעשו את העבודה)

לציפוי:
1 ביצה, טרופה

לסירופ סוכר:
1/2 כוס סוכר
1/2 כוס חלב
1 כפית תמצית וניל

הכנה:
1. בקערת המיקסר שמים את כל הקמח, מכינים ראש עיסה מהשמרים כפית מהסוכר ורבע כוס מהמים מניחים לתסיסה של כמה דקות. עושים גומה בקמח ומוסיפים את ראש העיסה, מכסים בקמח.
2. מערבבים בקערה נפרדת סוכר וביצים, ומוסיפים לקמח ובנוסף גם את החמאה, המלח, השמן תמצית הוניל והגרידה. מתחילים ללוש תוך כדי הוספת המים והחלב לפי ספיגה עד ליצירת בצק רק ולא דביק, מכסים ומתפיחים עד שהבצק מכפיל את נפחו.
3.מחלקים ל-4 כדורים ומרדדים כל כדור - מורחים בנוטלה, שוקולד השחר, ממרח חלבה, ריבת חלב וכיד הדימיון, מגלגלים לרולדת וחורצים לכל האורך ומבריגים את שני החלקים שנוצרו למעין צורת בורג. מניחים בתבניות ומתפיחים עד כמעט הכפלת הנפח.
4. מורחים בביצה ואופים ב-180 מעלות כ-35 דקות או עד שמשחים.
5. בנתיים מכינים סירופ סוכר - מרתיחים על האש וכשהעוגות יוצאות מהתנורף מצננים למשך 5 דקות ולאחר מכן מורחים אותן בסירופ בנדיבות בעזרת מברשת.

למילוי אגוזים (מספיק ל - 2 רולדות):
300 גרם אגוזי מלך קצוצים גס
3 חלבונים
כוס של 200 מ”ל אבקת סוכר

הכנה:
מקציפים את חלבון הביצה לקצף יציב אך לא נוקשה, מוסיפים בהדרגה את אבקת הסוכר תוך כדי הקצפה. מקפלים פנימה את האגוזים ומורחים את התערובת מעל העוגות.

Mmmm… Doughnuts… Mad about them since forever, their smell while frying can make me go wild! So how could I say “No” to this great blogging event hosted by Peabody and Tartelette? Make sure you don’t miss this one as well, there isn’t much time left, only until tomorrow night!

Frosted with chocolate

It’s only the second time I’ve made doughnuts, ever. The first one was last Hanukkah. We invited Avi’s family over to dinner, and I was daring enough to make not one but two different yeast doughs simultaneously - one for a Focaccia and one for the donuts. And I also had two trays of antipasti in the oven, some salads to make and some cheeses to slice. You can easily understand that the mess was huge… Nevertheless, everything turned out pretty well and all the dishes prepared were tasty. The doughnuts recipe, though, was good but certainly not a keeper.

Vanilla frosted

So when I was looking for a recipe to use this time, it was hard for me to decide even the kind of doughnuts I would like to present. The Israeli doughnuts (called “Sufganiot”) came almost instinctively to my mind, along with the Romanian ones (which are called “Gogoshi”). But then I remembered that a while ago, Avi’s brother was toying with the idea of opening a sweets shop, that would sell doughnuts, among other things. When he told me about it I immediately said that I’d join him and make the doughnuts. Problem was that at the time, I’ve never made a single doughnut… Ever since I added trying a Dunkin Doughnuts recipe to my to do list, so this blog event was the perfect opportunity for this. So Sharon, this one is for you

The result tasted delicious! I wanted to experiment as much as possible this time, so half of the batch I fried, and the other half I baked. I shaped them in 2 different shapes - one is the regular doughnut, and one is little spheres. Some of the spheres (which I fried) I filled with a piece of milk chocolate filled with cream, this came out really good. The rest I left plain, and glazed them after the frying/baking. I made 2 glazes - vanilla (Avi’s favorite) and chocolate. And there were also several doughnuts that I simply dusted with confectioners’ sugar.

Dusted with confectioners’ sugar

To sum it all up, this doughnut recipe is definitely a keeper! The glazings, if tasted straight from the mixture, are not that hot, but don’t let that scare you - after they get firm on top of your doughnut - they’re great! Especially loved the chocolate glaze!
Thanks Peabody and Tartelette for a great event! I really enjoyed making those cute little things!

All together now…

Dunkin Doughnuts
Makes 12 big doughnuts or 24 small ones

Ingredients:
1 package regular or quick-acting yeast
1/8 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
3/4 cup lukewarm milk (30 secs in the microwave)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/6 cup shortening
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in a mixing bowl.
2. Add milk, sugar, salt, egg, shortening and 1 cup of flour. Beat on low speed while scraping bowl for 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 2 minutes.
3. Stir in remaining flour until smooth.
4. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about 50-60 minutes.
5. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Roll dough 1/2- inch thick. Cut with round cookie cutter. Cover and let rise on floured baking sheets until double, 30-40 minutes.
6. Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 350. Slide doughnuts into hot oil. Turn doughnuts as they turn golden brown, about one minute on each side. Remove carefully from oil (do not prick surfaces) and drain.
7. When cool, glaze with the desired glaze and/or dust with powdered sugar.

Vanilla Glaze:
Mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 1 1/2 tablespoons milk and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

Chocolate Glaze:
Mix 1 cup of powdered sugar with 1 1/2 tablespoons milk and 1 tablespoon chocolate drink mix (Nestle’s Qwik). If it’s not chocolatey enough, add a little cocoa powder.

Note: If the glaze is too thick, add more milk to the mixture, 1/2 tsp at a time, until it gets the texture you prefer.

סופגניות / דנקין דונאטס
עבור כ- 24 סופגניות קטנות וחמודות

רכיבים:
7 גרם שמרים יבשים (או 21 גרם שמרים טריים)
2-1/2 כוסות קמח
1/8 כוס מים חמימים
3/4 כוס חלב חמים (30 שניות במיקרו יעשו את העבודה)
1/4 כוס סוכר
1/2 כפית מלח
1 ביצה
1/6 כוס שמן

הוראות הכנה:
1. לערבב כוס אחת מכמות הקמח עם השמרים.
2. להוסיף את כל שאר הרכיבים (מלבד הקמח הנותר) וללוש 2-3 דקות.
3. להוסיף את שארית הקמח וללוש עד לקבלת בצק חלק ומבריק.
4. לכסות את הקערה עם הבצק בניילון נצמד ולהניח במקום חמים לתפיחה, עד להכפלת הנפח.
5. ליצירת דונאטס: לרדד את הבצק על משטק מקומח לעובי 1-1.5 ס”מ. לחתוך עיגולים בעזרת כוס, את החורים במרכז אפשר ליצור בעזרת מגלען תפוחים.
ליצירת סופגניות פשוט מגלגלים כדורים בגודל הרצוי.
6. מניחים להתפחה נוספת עד להכפלת הנפח. כאן כדאי להשקיע קצת לפני ולחתוך ריבועים מנייר אפיה ולהניח את הסופגניות לתפוח על גביהם, זה יקל מאוד על העברת הבצק הדביק לשמן לאחר מכן.
7. לחמם מחבת עם שמן בגובה 3 ס”מ לפחות לחום של 180 מעלות. לטגן את הסופגניות בכמויות של 4 בערך בכל פעם על מנת שהשמן יישאר בטמפ’ המתאימה.
8. להניח להן להתקרר מעט על נייר סופג, ולפדר אבקת סוכר או להכין את אחד הציפויים הבאים.

ציפוי וניל:
לערבב 1 כוס אבקת סוכר עם 1.5 כפות חלב וחצי כפית תמצית וניל.

ציפוי שוקולד:
לערבב 1 כוס אבקת סוכר עם 1.5 כפות חלב וכף אבקת שוקו ממותקת. ניתן להוסיף מעט אבקת קקאו לא ממותקת להעמקת הטעם השוקולדי.

הערה: אם הציפוי קשה מדי לטעמכם, הוסיפו חלב, 1/2 כפית בכל פעם, עד שמגיעים למרקם הרצוי.