Quinoa Bread with Oatmeal

This moist, chewy bread tastes of nutty quinoa and sweeter oats. Rich, dark honey adds a deep note.

Quinoa & Oatmeal Bread

yield: 3  loaves or approximately 10 rolls

NOTE: Israeli Kitchen has moved. You’ll find the recipe for Quinoa Bread with Oatmeal on my delicious new blog:

http://www.israelikitchen.com

All the old posts and recipes are there – and new ones, too. Hope to see you there!

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Herbed Cheese Swirl Bread

The desire to create and eat a certain kind of bread overcame me suddenly. It had to be herby and it had to have cheese. So I made it, with two kinds of filling. It’s not hard. The yeast does most of the work, while you’re sleeping or doing something else around the house.

yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients

1/2 cube fresh yeast or 1/2 Tblsp. dried yeast granules

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 Tblsp. salt

1 Tblsp. sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/8 cup olive oil

1 shallot

1 Tsp. dried thyme

4 cups flour, plus more for sprinkling

1 cup of grated Cheddar cheese

1 cup mixed feta and blue-veined cheese plus 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts. OR use one kind of cheese, separated so as to have 1 cup per loaf.

Black pepper, either several gratings of fresh or 1/2 tsp. packaged

1  beaten egg yolk, for painting the loaves

Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast in all the warm water.

2. Add salt, sugar, oil, and the beaten egg. Mix well. I use an egg whip for this.

3. Chop the shallot finely. Add to the liquid mix. Add the thyme. Mix again.

4. Stir in, 1/2 cup at a time, 3 1/2 cups of flour. You will have a loose dough. Leave it in the bowl and cover all with plastic wrap.

Now let the yeast do its work all by itself – leave the dough alone for 4 hours at room temp (less in summer), or overnight in the fridge. At the end of that time, the dough should have risen and become very light and bubbly.

5. Pour 1/2 cup of flour over the surface of the dough and beat it in. Turn the dough around and around in the bowl. Stretch it out between your hands and gather it into a ball again; do this 5 times. Cover it with generous sprinklings of flour and let it rest in the bowl for 15 minutes.

6. Cut the dough in half. Put one half on a well-floured surface – I prefer to put it directly on the sheet of baking paper that it will bake on. This saves some cleaning up.

7. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch height, forming a rectangle. Spritz the rectangle lightly with water, or brush water over the surface with a pastry brush. Spread the grated cheese over the surface, leaving a margin of 1 inch bare all around. For plain cheddar filling, grate some black pepper over the whole, or sprinkle the stuff out of the package. The photo below shows the white cheese/walnut filling.

8. Roll the dough from the short side up. Spritz the seam with water, or brush water on the seam with a pastry brush, and pinch the seam shut on all sides.

Sprinkle more flour onto the work surface and roll the seam side onto it, then roll the loaf again so that the seam is underneath. Set aside to rise again for 1 hour.

9. Do the same for the second loaf, spritzing the dough with water and spreading the filling over the surface. Roll up as described above. Set aside to rise.

20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to the highest heat.

When the loaves are risen and light, paint them with the beaten egg yolk. Transfer them, gently and tenderly, to the baking sheet.

Turn the oven temperature down immediately to 350 F, 190 C.

Bake 25 minutes. Turn the them upside down and bake a further 10 minutes. They should be smelling delicious, and a toothpick inserted should come out dry.

Allow them to cool for at least an hour before slicing and devouring.

Notes:

If you don’t have, or don’t feel like using cheese, make the bread without it. The shallots and thyme create a delicate, herby taste that’s delicious all on its own. Cut the dough in two and shape two loaves your favorite way.

If you are using white cheeses but have no walnuts, use another nut, or chopped dried tomatoes.

Lovely bread to serve with soup. It deserves have a good beer or wine accompany it.

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Sourdough Onion Bread

Yesterday I made three breads: one, the Saffron Yeast Cake, two, a sourdough onion loaf, and three…you’ll see tomorrow. Let me show you the sourdough onion bread.

Sourdough Onion Bread

Refresh the starter:

170 grams sourdough starter

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup flour

Mix the above three ingredients together, cover, and allow to develop for 1 hour.

Meantime:

Chop 1 large onion and saute it in 2 Tblsp. olive oil. Let it only start to turn golden.

Then add 1/2 tsp. black pepper or grind several turns of the pepper mill over it.

Add 1 Tblsp. kosher salt. Stir well, and turn the flame off.

To the refreshed starter, add

1/2 cup water and

the sauteed, seasoned onions, with all the oil

Now you need 3 1/2 cups bread flour, and up to 1/2 cup more if necessary.

Start working the flour in, 1 cup at a time. Add the extra 1/2 cup a tablespoon at a time, only till you have a firm, flexible ball of dough that’s only a little sticky. Fold and stretch as soon as the dough has become cohesive.

You’ll see that when you stretch the dough out, the flour is absorbed much more quickly than with traditional kneading. Just pull the dough apart with your two hands, making a rectangle, then fold the sides under to make a ball, then stretch the dough again to shape a new rectangle. Do this 4 or 5 times, and stop with a ball in your hands. Now, if this seems strange or confusing, just knead the dough as usual. Stretch and fold gives the bread a rustic texture with a hole-y crumb, but it’s not crucial.

Cover your ball of dough. Plastic wrap is best; the dough rises to a greater lightness with it. Don’t know why, but so it is. Leave the dough alone for 8 hours. If your kitchen is cold, just leave it out.

Gently deflate the dough. Add flour by tablespoons, kneading or stretching & folding as you go, to get a firm ball of dough. Dribble some olive oil into the mixing bowl. Put the ball of dough in and turn it around a few times so the oil covers its surface.  Cover again, and leave to rise another 8 hours, till doubled.

Break the dough down again gently. It should be quite light. Either cut it in half for 2 medium loaves, or keep it whole for one large loaf. Sprinkle flour as needed to maintain shape. Allow it to rise once more on a sheet of baking paper or on the baking tray which has been well sprinkled with corn flour. Let it rise about 1 hour longer, this time in a warm place. It should have not quite doubled, and show bubbles under the surface. The timing isn’t exact because the temperature in your kitchen will determine how long it takes. Be prepared to allow this last rise 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 F, 180 C.

Paint the dough with a beaten egg. Decorate it with poppy seeds.

Bake for 40 minutes. Check to see if it’s done; if it seems underdone (toothpick test again), set your timer for another 10 minutes and let it bake.

This is a dense, chewy bread with lots of onion flavor. Very good indeed.

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Mama’s Little Babies Love Za’atar on Bread. Cornbread’s Good, Too.

An assortment of breads flavored with za’atar caught my eye as I passed by a bakery this morning. Knowing that Daughter would love me more if I were to bring some home, I bought three kinds. Here they are.

Two kinds of pretzels and a small pita with za'atar

But let’s leave za’atar alone for a while. My favorite quick bread is old-fashioned American cornbread. If you have all your equipment and ingredients assembled, it takes about 3 minutes to mix everything up and pop your pans into the oven. I made a double batch of cornbread this afternoon. One batch I baked as muffins to freeze, and one I served to guests in the evening.

Good Old Cornbread

Ingredients:

1/1/4 cups white flour

3/4 cup corn meal

4 Tblsp. sugar

3 tsp. baking powder (Israelis can just empty out a little package of baking powder into the bowl)

3/4 tsp. salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 Tblsp. melted butter. You can use oil or marg, but it will never be as good.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 F – 190 C.

Have ready a medium-sized bowl and a small bowl.

1. Sift the dry ingredients into the larger bowl.

2. In the smaller bowl, beat the egg. Add the milk and melted butter and mix well.

3. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing well again.

4. Spread the batter in a butter 9-inch pie dish; or line your pan with baking paper.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until it is a golden brown all over.

If you chose to bake muffins out of this batter, 15-20 minutes of baking might be enough.

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Onion Bread

Some boules I made back when the clay saucer was newer.

I’m among those bakers who like a long pre-ferment with little yeast. The long interval allows the flour  to develop its unique, sweet flavors, making a loaf that tastes of bread, not of yeast.  So – start this batch the night before.

Ingredients:

3-5 cups sifted flour *Note to Israelis* The best-tasting flour is the Shtybel brand. Once you’ve baked with it, you won’t go back to ordinary flour.

2 cups warm water

25 grams fresh yeast  – 1/2 cube, at least here in Israel -  or 1 Tblsp. granulated yeast

1 1/2 Tblsp. olive oil

1 Tblsp. sugar

1 beaten egg

1 Tblsp. salt

1 large onion, cut into coarse dice and sauteed till golden in olive oil

another beaten egg for glazing loaves

Method

8-10 hours ahead of time

Dissolve the yeast in all the water.

Add olive oil, sugar, egg, sauteed onion, and salt.

Add 3 cups of flour, mixing well. The whole procedure should take about 3 minutes.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it away in a cool place overnight (in summer, stash it in the fridge).

Next morning or whenever the batter is light and bubbly, start adding flour by handfuls, turning the mass over and over till you achieve a dough that’s soft and floppy but still cohesive. You want a tender mass that will leave the bowl and hold its shape in your hand as you manipulate it. Allow the dough to rest, absorbing all the flour, for 15 minutes.

Separate the dough into four pieces. Gently roll the pieces into balls.

Here’s a moderation on the fold and stretch method that yields a hole-y crumb

Fold each ball of dough over on itself, stretching it out and folding the four edges under to make a new ball. Do this four or five times. Sprinkle more flour if necessary, to let you manipulate the dough. Pinch the bottom of each ball shut with your fingertips and smooth out the seam. Turn the ball around and check for open parts that might expand in baking. This would make the loaf unslightly, and also make it difficult to slice. If you find any, smooth them down or pinch them gently, smoothing the place down.

Place the balls of dough on your prepared baking pan, or on a piece of baking paper.

Cover the dough with a clean towel and allow it rise again, from 1-2 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen. There should be blisters under the surface skin of the dough, indicating a light and spongy mass.

About 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 190 C – or follow the directions below for baking on a clay saucer. Brush beaten egg over the loaves. Slash with a very sharp knife. I keep a retractable razor for slashing my bread. Let the loaves relax for 5 minutes, then place in the oven.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Check for done-ness. If needful, turn the loaves upside down to finish baking (I always need to) – another 5-7 minutes. Check again: the clean toothpick test is good for these compact loaves.

Allow to cool before devouring, if you’re strong-minded and can wait.

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Sourdough Oatmeal Bread

There is more sourdough information on the Net than you can shake a stick at, so I will only post my recipe below. If you want to learn more about sourdough, please visit one of the sites listed here.  Meantime, doesn’t the bread look good? It’s Sourdough Oatmeal Bread, just a little tangy, and substantial and good.

Sourdough Oatmeal Bread

Yield: 2 medium loaves

the Sponge

1/2 cup starter (remember to feed your original starter)

2 cups warm water

3-4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup instant oats

The Rest of It

1 Tblsp. salt

2 Tblsp. sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

2 Tblsp. corn oil, or any other neutral-flavored oil

Approximately 3 more cups of flour

The Night Before:

1. Mix the ingredients for the sponge in the order given. It will look like oatmeal. Cover the bowl – plastic wrap works best – and put the sponge away in a warm place overnight.

2. Next morning, the sponge should be light and bubbly. Beat in the salt, sugar, soda, and oil.

3. Start adding flour, by handfuls or generous sprinkles, turning the mass over and over with your hands or a wooden spoon. Keep adding flour and mixing it in till you obtain a cohesive dough, a little sticky.

4. Stretch and fold, adding smaller sprinklings of flour, till the dough is smooth. That should be about 10 stretches and folds. Smooth a thin layer of flour over the dough ball, cover it again, and put it away another 2 hours, or until the dough is light again.

5. Working gently, cut the dough into two. Stretch and fold each half, shaping the loaf you want.

6. Allow the dough to rise another half-hour to an hour, or until the it’s light and a few blisters are visible under the skin surface of it. Start preheating the oven. I preheat my oven to 250 degrees C, but lower the temp to 190 C right after I’ve put the loaves in the oven.

Decorate the surface of the loaves by giving them an egg-wash, pressing flakes of oats on top.

Bake for 1 hour or until a golden-brown.

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