Challah

The one and only Mizfit inspires me with her fitness thoughts and ideas, and especially the example she sets with her family - she's all about being real and caring about the things that really matter to me as well. She happens to be Jewish, and was talking about making challah bread with her daughter in a recent post...and it got me thinking that I hadn't had challah in years and years...mostly as it takes a lot of kneading to get it right. I read up a bit on the tradition of challah, and I really like the idea and the attitude that goes into making challah weekly for your family to enjoy together on shabbat. My friend Eleanor used to make it and it was yummy. I don't like kneading bread so I've never tried.
If you've never had challah, it's a slightly sweet, rich, eggy bread, often made with poppy seeds. Depending on the time of year it's formed into various shapes.

Now that I have a bread maker -Bwaha! No kneading for me :)
So I thought, hey, why not try it out?

I found a simple challah recipe that would work in a breadmaker and I tossed the following ingredients into the bread robot on the dough cycle and let it go for 1 and a half hours:

1 cup warm water
21⁄2 teaspoons yeast
2 eggs (whisked together)
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/4 cups bread flour

Once it was done the dough cycle (manually it would be kneading ~10 minutes, and first rise of about an hour) I divided the recipe in half (it's for 2 smaller loaves) and froze half for another time. The machine was struggling towards the end as it's a thick heavy dough. Glad it was him and not me!
I divided the dough into 3 pieces and rolled them out into log shapes and rolled them in poppy seeds. I wet the ends with water and then made a nice braided bread and let it rise for about 40 minutes. Then it was baked for 25 minutes at 350 degrees...and voila!

It was delicious. I will definitely make it again. J and I loved it just the way it was. It was delicious...we went through a whole loaf by the next afternoon...!

I put it on the baking stone to rise and bake, but I think next time I'll just put it on a cookie sheet, as the bottom could have used a bit more browning. Apparently you can add nuts or sun dried tomatoesto this recipe and it works great. I look forward to more bread experiments.

Yum.

Mmmm Meatbuns

Back in college my roommate's mom would send her meatbuns in care packages...yummy little mennonite buns with meat baked into them. I spent time once I had a kitchen of my own working out my own perfect version of meat buns...there was (of course) cheese involved, and some spice added to the meat.
I like milk bread as the bun dough. I make a TRIPLE BATCH of the following recipe for 1 loaf of milk bread (It's a bit of work so I make a whole bunch (~5 dozen) as these freeze well):
Dissolve 2 1/4 t yeast in 3 T warm water for 5 minutes. Add:
-1 c skim milk, warmed in the microwave.
-5T melted butter
-3T sugar
-1 large egg
-1t salt

Mix well with mixer. Mix in 1 c whole wheat flour and 1 c white flour. Then add another 1 1/2-2 c flour until the dough is soft and sticky, using the dough hook on your mixer. Then knead the dough by hand for 8 minutes until it is soft and elastic. Place it in a BIG covered oiled bowl and let it double in size (~1.5 hours)

While the dough rises the first time, make the filling so it can cool.
Gouda cheese works well in these - it's not a greasy cheese. I cut a regular brick of cheese into ~0.7 cm cubes, and fry up 1 Lb of ground beef together with a few T of finely minced onion, seasoning it with garlic pepper sauce and taco seasoning...the low salt taco seasoning work well for this. Then this must cool to room temperature or the buns will have weird air pockets in them from rising strangely.


Once it's risen once, pound the dough down and divide it into 4 quarters. Each of these quarters can be flattened and cut into 16 pieces, 1 piece for every bun. Now you must make the buns by flattening the dough piece, and placing 1t of meat and 1 cube of cheese in the centre of it. Use your fingers to pull the dough around the filling and pinch it shut.

Place the buns finched side down into a greased cake pan. Continue until they are all done and cover them and let them rise about 1 hour. If you run out of meat or cheese, just improvise...

Then bake the pans of buns at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown.
Yum...
Like all baked goods, these are best frozen if they aren't to be eaten within a few days. They warm up quickly in the oven or microwave for a great quick lunch or snack.