Rosh Hashannah Round Challah

For Rosh Hashannah I made my usual challah recipe but this time I put rum soaked raisins in it.  I made a whole batch of the dough and used half of it for a large round one, and then I made 8 mini rolls that we gave out to the family.  We soaked the raisins for over a day in the rum, so they tasted pretty alcoholic when we first ate the large one.  The smaller ones didn't have as much of the flavor, probably because they cooked a little longer.

Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 large eggs
5 cups bread flour
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
approximately 1 tablespoon salt

Directions:
Soak 3/4 cup dark raisins and 1/4 cup yellow raisins in 6 tablespoons dark rum for 1 hour or more. 

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the sugar and the oil and mix well with a whisk or a wooden spoon. Beat in 4 of the eggs, 1 at a time; then gradually stir in the bread flour, 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, and the salt. When you have a dough that holds together, it is ready for kneading.

2. To knead by hand, place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead well, using the heels of your hands to press the dough away and your fingers to bring it back. Continue, turning the dough, for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding the remaining 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour or as needed.  Add the rum-soaked raisins with any leftover rum to the dough after 5 minutes of kneading, adding a few tablespoons more flour to absorb the liquid. 

3. After kneading, place all the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rest in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size.

4. When the dough is almost doubled in size, remove it from the bowl and punch it down -- the rougher you are, the more the dough likes it. Return it to the bowl, cover it again and let it rise in a warm place for 30 minutes more. Or, if you have to go out, let the dough rise slowly in the refrigerator several hours or overnight and bring it to room temperature when ready to continue.

5. Braid the challah. Then, let the challah loaves rise another hour, uncovered. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Fifteen minutes before putting the loaves in the oven, beat the remaining egg and brush it gently over them. Five minutes later, lightly brush them again.

6. Bake the loaves on the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more. Turn off the oven and leave the loaves in 5 minutes longer to get a dark-golden crust. Tent with foil if browning too quickly. Remove and cool on a rack.


Round Braid Instructions:  


Roll out 4 strands of challah and place in a grid.  Each strand should be placed in opposite directions; one side is over/under, the next row is then under/over. There should now be 2 sets of 2 strands each coming out from the four sides of the woven middle, one under and one over in each set.  rom each set, pick up the one that was "under" and pull it over its partner, thereby placing each of these "unders" over their corresponding partner, in a clockwise rotation. Practically speaking, this means that the left piece of each set will be placed over the right piece of each set.  When this rotation is done, work in the opposite direction, clockwise. What was formerly the right piece, will now go over the left piece in the counter clockwise direction; the pieces are not yet next to each other as they are still apart from the first rotation; pull them close to each other and bring the right piece, i.e. the one you did not touch in the first rotation, over the left piece of the neighboring strand.  After this second rotation is done, do a third one, now going back in the other direction.  Do one more opposite rotation if you have enough dough left.

Vegetable Soup and Challah

For Shabbat this week I made a vegetable soup with leftovers we had on hand.  I made a gorgeous challah and Blake grilled steaks.  For sides we just had some leftover spaghetti and some steamed broccoli.

Challah:

1 package active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 large eggs
5 cups bread flour
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
approximately 1 tablespoon salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the sugar and the oil and mix well with a whisk or a wooden spoon. Beat in 4 of the eggs, 1 at a time; then gradually stir in the bread flour, 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, and the salt. When you have a dough that holds together, it is ready for kneading.

2. To knead by hand, place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead well, using the heels of your hands to press the dough away and your fingers to bring it back. Continue, turning the dough, for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding the remaining 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour or as needed.

3. After kneading, place all the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rest in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size.

4. When the dough is almost doubled in size, remove it from the bowl and punch it down -- the rougher you are, the more the dough likes it. Return it to the bowl, cover it again and let it rise in a warm place for 30 minutes more. Or, if you have to go out, let the dough rise slowly in the refrigerator several hours or overnight and bring it to room temperature when ready to continue.

5. Braid the challah. Then, let the challah loaves rise another hour, uncovered. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Fifteen minutes before putting the loaves in the oven, beat the remaining egg and brush it gently over them. Five minutes later, lightly brush them again.

6. Bake the loaves on the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more. Turn off the oven and leave the loaves in 5 minutes longer to get a dark-golden crust. Tent with foil if browning too quickly. Remove and cool on a rack.
4 Strand Braid Instructions:
How To Make A Four-Strand Braid:Lay the strands side by side, and pinch them together at one end. For instruction purposes, think of the far left strand as #1, next is #2, then #3, and the far right is #4. Take the left-hand strand (#1) and move it to the right over strands #2 and #3, then tuck it back under strand #3. Take the right-hand strand (#4) and move it to the left over strands #3 and #1, then tuck it back under strand #1. Repeat this process until finished. 

Soup:  1/2 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 can chopped tomatoes

bell peppers (from Ron's garden)

vegetable broth

salt, pepper, seasonings

Grilled Pizza

My mom recently discovered Kuhl Linscomb and just had to make a purchase there.  She didn't need anything, so we were given a lovely new pizza stone.  We bought some dough at Whole Foods and made our first attempt at grilling pizza.  Since this try, we have gotten 2 pizza peels and Blake has learned how to get the pizzas on the grill without messing up their shapes.  Yay for fresh pizza.  

Blake made an uncooked sauce with San Marzano tomatoes, and we used a fresh and dried mozzarella as well as parmesan and basil.  

Chicken Marbella and Toasted Couscous

I saw a recipe for this chicken dish on foodgawker, but it had left out the prunes.  I looked up the real recipe which comes from the Silver Palate Cookbook, and followed it exactly, except for that I used boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Marinating the chicken overnight gave it a ton of flavor.  I made a toasted cous couse to serve as a side and I also made a fresh challah.

Ingredients:

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 head of garlic, peeled and finely pureed
1/4 cup dried oregano
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
6 bay leaves
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

In a large bowl combine chicken, garlic, oregano, pepper and salt to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers and juice, and bay leaves. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, overnight.

Preheat oven to 350.  Arrange chicken in a single layer in one or two large, shallow baking pans and spoon marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle chicken pieces with brown sugar and pour white wine around them.Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, basting frequently with pan juices.  Serve with pan juices over cous cous with a sprinkle of parsley.

Couscous ingredients:
1 cup of israeli couscous
1 1/4 cups water
1 onion, chopped
butter, olive oil
pine nuts, toasted

Directions:
Melt the butter with some olive oil over medium heat.  Sautee onion until softened.  Add cous cous to pan and cook, stirring, until toasted and slightly brown.  Add water and bring to a boil.  Cover, remove from heat, and lit sit for 10 minutes.  Stir in pine nuts and serve immediately.

Mushroom Asparagus Soup

Blake asked for broth based soups, rather than pureed ones.  I had mushrooms and asparagus on hand so that's what ended up in there this time.  I attempted to thicken the soup a tiny bit by making a slurry with corn starch and water, but I don't think I would need to do that again in the future.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut into inch long pieces
1 bag of baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 large box of chicken broth
1 vegetable bullion cube
3 cups of water
1 onion, chopped
butter
parsley, chopped
salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika, ginger

Directions:

Melt the butter over medium heat and sautee the onions until softened.  Add the mushrooms and cook for about 5-10 minutes.  Add the broth, bullion and water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, add asparagus and season to taste.  Add parsley before serving.

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry

This was super easy since all I had to do was cut things up and throw them in the slow cooker.  It took about 3 hours on high to cook the vegetables through though and then I stirred in some corn starch to thicken the sauce.  I made white rice to serve with it.

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
about 5 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 onion, sliced into wedges
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 jar red curry sauce
basmati rice
chopped cilantro

Directions:

Chop up veggies and place in slow cooker.  Top with chicken.  Pour curry sauce and a little water over.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 5-6.  Meanwhile, cook rice.  Serve with rice and cilantro.