NY-made Bagels and Mission for Malt.

Our struggle began in our effort to find malt. I tried Zabars, Westside Market, Citarella's, Fairway, Gourmet Garage, Food Emporium, Whole Foods. No malt. I even emailed Steven Shaw, founder of egullet and one of my favorite food writers. He emailed me back 6 times with suggestions...The ultimate choice that worked...I went in to my old bagel shop (who asks to remain nameless!) and begged for malt. They were very kind and offered me some...If I promised to bring them one of the bagels. I said yes, as long as they promised to eat one. They declined!

We made them, I even helped. DELICIOUS. Tasted like real bagels. Unbelievable when they first came out, so light and doughy-fluffy. We loved them. The only battle in the kitchen was one I opted for the less traditional style of bagel forming and Jonathan insisted on the traditional style of making a long stick and then forming a circle. (I just made a ball, then poked a finger in the middle to form a hole). In the end it tastes the same.

Awesome creation!

With Your Leftover Poolish...

If any of you are like me, you ended up with too much poolish. Well, worry not, because you can make a delicious sandwich bread with this that will tide you over until bagel time.

First, put 1/2 tsp of yeast, 1 Tb salt and 3 C warm water into the bowl of your standing mixer.
Dump your leftover poolish into the bowl, and add 3 C flour (I like to mix white and white whole wheat). Mix well.
Start to knead (by hand or in the mixer), incorporating 1-2 more cups of flour. The poolish makes the dough pretty wet, so you'll want to add flour bit by bit until the dough is smooth and tacky.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and set aside until it doubles, roughly 2 hours.
Divide the dough into two pieces, and shape each piece into a loaf (stretch into an oval and then roll up, pinching the seam). Place each loaf in a lightly oiled or buttered loaf pan and let rise for another 2 hours or so--until they double.
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. When the oven is hot, give each loaf a nice slash down the middle, turn the oven down to 400 degrees and bake for about 45 minutes. The loaves should crest the pan and be golden.
After 45 minutes, slip the loaves out of the pans and put them back in the oven for five minutes.
Take out and cool 1-2 hours before slicing.

This bread is delicious and flexible (I put the dough in the fridge before the first rise; let it come to room temperature and rise when I had time to shape it; and then left the shaped loaves to proof overnight in our chilly apartment, baking them in the morning). I just gobbled a huge piece as a mid-morning snack, and am already leering at it, thinking of lunch.

-Rhi

Time to Celebrate!

So it was the first snowstorm of the week and what better way to celebrate than to bake Greek Celebration Bread! I had opted to go with orange zest and think it compliments the almond quite nicely. This week I was delighted that I actually developed a kneeding strategy and was able to get my dough supple enough to pass the windowpane test! Then of course I promptly dropped my well oiled ball of dough on the floor (which luckily I had just mopped in my presnow giddiness!). Little did I know that I was going to be out of work for a week, but I was anticipating some good cooking over the next few days (orecchiette and roast cauliflower, roast chicken, stock, white chili, cornbread, lemon risotto, and chocolate chip cookies). The bread was an amazing start to my cooking adventure throughout Snowmaggedon and Snoverkill. Of course, I let it rise for the double the time because Phil and I went out exploring in the snow and it was just too pretty to come in! And speaking of Phil- I have to give my husband a little pat on the back via this blog because he is an enormous help in the process by doing the bread dishes! And of course, loving the bread. ;)

blubbling poolish!

orange zest in all it's glory
whoops - stayed away a little too long...try tripled in size




Ta-da!

Greek Celebration Bread at the Lee Household

Jonathan did it again. He's two inches taller whenever he bakes, because it makes him so happy! This week was a lot easier and tastier (Jonathan says) than the Anadama bread (which was delicious, but at the end of the whole process, at 10:3o pm, J had said "the thing about making bread, is that, after all that hard work, it still tastes like bread.") But today we were satisfied! Here are some photos! (By the way, as you can see, the bread deflated during the final resting period which showed that it was undercooked - still delicious though!) I'm loving this project because, even though it was my idea, J does all the hard work (I do buy the ingredients though!).

Opa! Greek Celebration Bread

You'll notice right away that I didn't follow Reinhart's instructions on shaping, so I'm going to cut to the chase and confess: I failed to measure the length of my ropes (I was going to make the 3-strand braid), and the braid ended up longer than the cookie sheet. Not wanting to undo the braid (well, it was pretty), I wrapped it around itself into a boule-like mound. I was nervous about not supplying the loaf with enough surface tension to allow it to rise appropriately, but it did rise: gloriously brown and braided, like a woven basket. This flexibility is a testament to Reinhart's recipe, which produces a silky dough with a generosity of movement and tackiness that allows for all kinds of baker manipulations.

I had fun making this bread and it's debut at dinner last night was a success. The house still smells wonderfully of lemons, almonds and cinnamon--three of my favorite tastes in the world--and my stomach is already growling for a clove-crumbed breakfast treat. The Greek bread reminds me a lot of the sugar-laced cardamom bread that my parents love, and I imagine that if you did the glaze, the mouthful of slightly crunchy sugar spice crumb would be virtually identical.

Being me, this bread was not without its gaffs, above and beyond the shaping. Above is the poolish, after a few days in the fridge. I misread the instructions and thought it had to ferment for 3-4 days rather than 3-4 hours, but it seemed happy enough sitting, sponge-like, in the fridge, nestled between the cheeses and the radishes (the things Tom lives with). I found that the recipe made a lot of extra poolish, and froze it for later uses. In the future I might make two loaves, or plan on making a ciabatta as well. I have to admit that I get an odd, sci-fi pleasure from things like poolishes and bigas and other starters. They take on odd lives of their own, growing, burping and requiring regular feedings. I can't wait for the section on natural starters.

The best part of all (other than the taste)? This passed the windowpane test!

While I tired of the anadama bread pretty quickly, I will make this bread again and again. This is a winner! --Rhianna