Speaking of Chometz: I figured it out!

Last year, Ted gave me a gift, a special pillow for stretching out naan and other flatbreads.  I posted about it at the time, wondering if anybody knew what it was called.

And tonight, I found out at last!

In India, it’s called a GADHI, but it’s also known as a “tanoor  pillow,” “sticking pillow” or, so obviously I don’t know why I never googled it before, “naan pillow.”

Here is a rather large one changing hands somewhere in the middle east – Lebanon?

You can watch a small one in action here:

And then, for a sophisticated, modern, burn-proof take, there’s the “Naandle” – a portmanteau word of “naan” and “handle”.  Cool!

I am guessing that the diameter of the pillow is correlated to the size of the bread and/or the oven opening.  A large oven opening can make larger flatbreads and take a larger pillow.  The oven in the video above is fairly small.

Also, like a couche or any other fabric used to handle bread, I suspect that they are ideally made from a tightly-woven cotton fabric so as to ensure that the dough doesn’t stick to the pillow.  Of course, with frequent use, the thing would get so floury that nothing would stick to it, ever.

I  have also completely MORE than satisfied my hunch that the Indian word “tandoor” and the Hebrew / Middle-Eastern word “tanoor” are pretty much one and the same thing.

And now all I need is to have one of my very own!

Why am I doing all this thinking about tanoors and giant, savoury flatbreads?  Because of Ted’s parsha cartoon this week!

Day Off!

Well, not a day off, but kind of a “working vacation” at the Shoresh First (hopefully annual!) Food Conference yesterday.

I was covering it for the Canadian Jewish News, but I let someone snap this delightful shot of me kneading some authentic flour-and-water-only half-whole-wheat matzah.  There was a timer present, and indeed, the whole process was complete in under 18 minutes.

Tons of fun!

I attended two other sessions:  “Kosher Curds” and “Is Kosher Meat Fit to Eat?”  Tons of food for thought – it was kind of obvious that this was a pilot run, as some aspects weren’t as well-thought-out as others (I don’t think anybody thought to invite the mainstream kosher organizations here in town), but what a great concept!  I really hope they do it again next year.

Pass the Pita, Please!

Not pita exactly, since this is basically the same way I make any flatbread.  Roll it, pat it, and toast it in my wonderful cast-iron skillet.   Dry – no grease or anything on the pan beyond the olive oil we apply to store the pan.

I used the basic “50% spelt” recipe from Artisan Pizza & Flatbreads in Five Minutes a Day.  Not sure I love the cookbook, since there seem to be many many sauces and dips and not so many actual bread formulas, but I have it out from the library for a while longer, so I will keep exploring.

The reason I wanted spelt – other than the fact that my mother and sister picked me up a big bag of nice, fresh spelt a couple of weeks ago – is that I was preparing these “pita” for an “Egyptian feast” to tie in with our ancient history studies. 

Spelt may not be Emmer and Einkorn, but it’s a bit more authentic, and it adds whole grain without weighing down the taste and texture of the bread.  As far as I’m concerned, the words “delicious” and “whole grain” don’t usually belong in the same sentence… but spelt is where I (sometimes) make an exception.

If there’s one thing my current challah technique has gotten me REALLY good at, it’s rolling out millions of little circles.

 

Here, I stretched one out on my special suede flatbread pillow (anyone know what this thing is called???):  

Only to realize that the skillet was smaller than the pillow diameter.  Doh!
 

Puff!  So beautiful…

 

Ted suggested, because we always run out, that I should make 16, instead of 12 like I usually do.  Here they are!

(For the first time ever, we had leftovers…)

Mmmm…. the falafel themselves were from a mix, by the way.  Delicious, easy; I have made them from scratch, but the mix is just as good, and foolproof.

For more about the feast, including the special “ancient” Egyptian dessert that Naomi helped me make,  click here.

A Large-ish Quantity of Dough

 

Besides a bunch of Auntie Sally’s challah which I whipped up before Rosh Hashanah and still had in the freezer, this is the main “overnight sponge challah” I’ve been playing around with this yom tov season.

Because the base recipe doesn’t make very much, I thought I’d quadruple it for the first days of Sukkos, when we were expecting lots of guests.  With the help of my trusty sourdough spreadsheet (which works even with NO sourdough, just by filling in “0g” of starter), here’s what I came up with for the sponge:

1620 g flour (mix of ap and bread)

1960 g water

200 g sugar

220 g oil

4 tbsp salt

4 tsp yeast

Here’s the wet stuff going into the bucket first.  With its happy new batteries, my scale held it all,  even though officially it only holds up to 2kg.  I was so happy I’d finally gotten around to marking the bucket weight on the side, just in case.  That way, if the scale goes out (or goes to sleep) while I’m measuring, I can weigh the thing, then subtract the bucket weight with a calculator. 

(on previous occasions, prior to labelling the bucket, the process had involved screaming, then estimating based on the last number I’d glimpsed on the screen)

Now, in goes all the dry stuff.  I mix the flours together carefully, so I don’t have patches of one or the other – even if they’re similar, like all-purpose and bread.

Not too many kneads later, the sponge:

And now it sits and rises overnight:

In the morning – easy!  No math!  Just mix in flour until you have a workable, soft dough.  Ted took this picture of me doing it a couple of weeks ago.  YES, I do it by hand.  It’s gloppy at first, but you know you’re nearly done when your hand comes out cleaner and cleaner and cleaner…

Finally, the whole blob comes out onto the table for some real kneading, about 10 minutes’ worth, depending on the size.

And then it rests in the bucket again – or buckets, as the case may be… this one used the bucket and a big bowl, and both opened themselves up after a couple of hours.

Take the thing out and fold it gently once or twice while it’s rising, if you’re so inclined.  (I was.)

 

Here’s the finished dough.  Waah!  Too much!  But actually, it would turn out to be not enough; I was grateful for those “extra” two challahs in the freezer, because we used both of them up with all our guests over yom tov.

Divided it up into my standard 675-gram portions.  I had enough to make 8 p0rtions and a very generous 9th which I left in the bucket.  Fried in a cast-iron pan, the leftovers became 12 nice-sized “naan” flatbreads for our second day’s lunch. 

Oh, also I made a bracha and separated a piece of challah.  I usually do it without a bracha, but for this quantity of flour, there was no doubt it needed one.

As usual, I rolled the blobs flat first, then rolled them up into these fat “grub” shapes.  (kind of like an open-ended bâtard, in classic French baking)  This is a Maggie Glezer technique that I think is supposed to make the dough “stronger.”  Dunno… but I like to do it before I roll them out, so I do.

Roll each grub out to the length of the table.  I’m sure this is the REAL reason we have the custom of eating round challahs at this time of year – can you imagine braiding challahs for so many days of yom tov???  Round is easy!

(and for some reason, people are JUST as impressed by a super- easy snail challah as they are with a fancy braid – go figure)

(like how everything on the table, mayonnaise, colouring supplies, spray oil, tinfoil pans, lapbook, etc., has been shoved to the other side to make room for the snake…?)

This year, I have learned that the secret to good round challahs is:  hold the loose end and wrap it around!!!  If you hold the centre and twist it around, though it may be easier, the challah will get too “high” and bunchy, like a turban, instead of a nice flat snail-shape.  Hard to describe, but if yours are coming out too high, try holding the other end as you wrap.

And here they are – if not perfect, very, very yummy indeed.  And true to form, not a single picture of a finished challah.  They were finished literally the minute before yom tov started.  And now they’re gone… so no pictures!

Vegan Focaccia / Pletzl Night…

The only difference between these two flatbreads is that I used lots of olive oil on the “focaccia” one, along with tomatoes and lightly-fried zucchini; the pletzl was made with milder canola oil, along with caramelized onions and poppy.

Baked 10 minutes at 500 degrees, they were both amazingly good!

Homeschool Matzah Bakery – Lessons Learned

Today’s homeschool matzah baking was slightly less successful than next year’s.  More chaotic and fun, though, because friends came over!

It’s always cool to do matzah ahead of time, because Pesach is basically the one festival that I don’t do any challah-baking for.  So it feels nice to be able to do something bready, albeit not specifically for the holiday.

Our “matzahs” aren’t kosher for Pesach, of course, but I strive for realism by setting an 18-minute timer just before the water is added to the flour.  Last year, I think I got three batches finished and out of the oven by the time the timer went off – though not all of it.  This year, there was one batch, and even that was not really properly baked.

Still – they were delicious (if a little hard on the teeth!) for lunch with cream cheese – or mine with just butter and salt.  And a few lessons learned for next time / next year:

Use the food processor.  I did it that way last year; VERY fast to mix!

Make thinner matzahs.  Last year, I did it to the “6” position on the pasta maker… this year, I only did 5.  That was partly because the dough was too wet; therefore…

Drier dough.  I let the kiddies knead it by hand, which I thought would be more educational than the food processor.  The drawback is that to get it kneadable by  hand, it had to be wetter.  That’s great for bread, not so great for the pasta roller.  Today’s dough would not have rolled out thinner than a “5” without getting hopelessly sticky (ask me how I know!).  And thin matzah is important because it leads to…

Crispy matzah!  Some of this year’s were too thick and therefore, still floppy when we had to pull them out – they were on the verge of being burnt.  Thinner matzah = crispier matzah, possibly also with the addition of…

More heat!  This year, as it was last year, the oven was at 500 degrees; I may try 550 in future to try for that superfast superhot bake that “real” matzahs receive.

Meanwhile, it’s time again to check out this cool, puppet- and Torah-filled documentary about how matzah is made.  2000 degrees:  amazing!  Oh, and here’s another post from last year’s homeschool matzah bake!

Didja ever see one of…

…these?

It’s a flatbread-stretching cushion!  I have no idea what it’s called, though I saw a reference to something similar on the caption of a photo of a person making Druze flatbreads.

 

Ted bought it from Pita Pita, the Israeli hole-in-the-wall where he buys laffa and other Israeli-ish delicacies.

My only concern about this cushion is that it’s suede, and if I don’t flour the surface enough, and the dough is a bit sticky, black flecks of dyed suede slough off onto the flatbread.

I kind of sniffed when Ted gave it to me because I wasn’t sure how useful it would be.  But with the right traction, it actually is a great thing for spreading dough rounds out gently.

I used it last week to make naan and was experimenting with the professional technique of using the cushion to “slap” the dough onto a hot cast-iron frying pan. 

The authentic thing to slap the dough onto is the rounded inside wall of a scorching-hot oven, or the inverted-wok arrangement that traditional Middle-Eastern flatbreads are made on (set over a fire). 

I suspect those would have been easier to “slap” onto , because inverting it all the way over the frying pan mostly caused the dough to fold over and “slouch” into a blob that I had to quickly unfold before it baked that way.

Still – it’s a weird tool that NOBODY else has… so naturally, I’m determined to use it often!

Six Word Bread Saturday: 7 Kislev, 5771

 Why the weird dates? Click here to find out! 

Breads I forgot to blog about!

…Like Wednesday night’s excellent rye-licious loaf!  Exactly the same ryelicious formula as the first time, and it worked out beautifully.  I even used corn starch – properly, this time! – to create a lovely crusty sheen on top of the loaf.  Yes, it’s peanut-shaped, the result of a mis-handled transfer from peel to stone… but I’m getting the hang of it, really I am.  And yes, there was a bit of a blowout on the side.  I don’t know why my slashing is so unsuccessful lately.  But inside, the bread was perfectly baked and absolutely luscious with Alton Brown’s beef stew.

 

Mmm…

And then there were Thursday’s (vegan night) Scallion Pancakes.  Super, super easy, this is a boiled-water-and-bread-flour dough that mixes up quickly and it’s ready to roll after only about half an hour.  Yes, I truly am obsessed with flatbreads these days – I can’t wait for the next Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book, which is all about flat!  (hey, I just noticed they have a new British release – using weight measurements and British cooking terms, presumably, along with the WAY more palatable, “Artisan”-free title, “Five Minute Bread.”)

I got into a nice rhythm with these little cakes (I’d probably make them double the size next time!):  roll flat, brush with oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and onions; roll up into a cigar, coil the cigar; roll flattish again with a rolling pin, then fry on the cast-iron skillet.  As you can see, though, we were BAD VEGANS, eating pareve but not animal-free Tomato Egg Drop Soup from Kosher by Design:  Teens & 20-Somethings.  It was yummy soup, but there’s nothing quite like egg drops in an egg-drop soup.

 

So that’s it – our week in bread!

Easy Quick Tortillas

As you know, I’m a sucker for flatbreads of all kinds.  This was my first venture into tortillas, but they’re basically the same as many other “ethnic” flatbreads I’ve made in past.  Yum, flatbreads!

Here’s the recipe I used to create these easy, quick tortillas for tonight’s ground-chicken burrito supper (shh… don’t tell Elisheva, who requested burritos, but they were basically soft tacos).

  

Too small to hold in all that fillingy goodness!  Next time, I double the recipe and make them twice as big!!!

p.s.  Soft tacos is something I’ve avoided since keeping kosher (yes, that does mean almost 20 years), but I’m happy I did this at last… they don’t really, REALLY need cheese and sour cream, and the lettuce adds a nice touch).

Delicious pizza!

I used the basic dough recipe from my new bread book, which, as far as I can tell, is exactly the same as the basic dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes, which is probably exactly the same as Jim Lahey’s basic dough. 

Stirred it up last night in about five minutes in the bucket that had held the yummy rye dough.

Then, before we left for the farmers’ market today, I divided it into three – it was pretty thick – and spread it out labouriously into three tinfoil pizza pans.  Ted is much better at this than I am; he has a ton more patience.

I sprayed and covered the dough with plastic wrap simply because there are a few fruit flies around (not many, since the door is shut due to air conditioning), and as my baker sister will attest, there is nothing fruit flies love more than sourdough – or, in this case, bucket-raised hint-o-rye-sour Basic Artisan Dough.

(ugh – this book really makes me hate the word “artisan”)

When we got home 2-3 hours later,  I pulled the plastic wrap off the well-risen, soft, bubbly rounds and brushed on a generous quantity of olive oil.  Yup, those are puddles of olive oil on the left dough round.  Then, sauce and cheese:  nothing else.

Ten minutes later at 500 degrees:  pizza PERFECTION!

 

And yes, this IS fresh, Ontario corn on the cob!!!  First of the season…

…amazing.

Two pizza / bread lessons learned: 

1)  Let it RISE!  So often, with pizza, since it’s supposed to be “flat,” we stretch it in a hurry, top it and bake without waiting at all.  Let it RISE.  What a difference!

2)  Hot, hot, hot!  Today, I baked them for 10 minutes at 500 degrees.  Usually, we only do 450, which is a nice bready temp, but seems to give a soggy bottom crust.  500 is super FAST (great for hungry kids) and seems to produce a nice brown crust on both top AND bottom.  Mmm…

Sprouty buns!

On Monday at The Big Carrot, I bought some soft wheat kernels to sprout.  I started them right away, along with a batch of basic no-knead Artisan Bread in Five Minutes bread.  (you can buy them at almost any natural-food store, in the bulk-bin section)

To sprout the kernels (also called wheat berries), I soak them overnight in a plain unbleached cotton bag, then drain well and rinse twice a day (hanging to dry well in between rinses) until they grow a tail.  These tails are a bit short; I usually leave them a bit longer.  Not bad, though, for a day and a half of growth.  (They’re a bit floury because I forgot to take the picture while they were still in the bag.  I don’t use any flour in the sprouting process.)

So today I dumped out the Artisan Bread – which has a nice, ripe smell after two days’ fermentation in the fridge – along with the pre-soaked wheat.  (I had about a cup of kernels to begin with; didn’t weigh or measure after soaking.)

I separated three pounds of dough (enough for two 1.5lb loaves) and folded about half the wheat berries into it, then dropped that back into the bucket.

As for the rest of the dough, I rolled it in the other half of the wheat berries.  They mostly clung to the outside, which is okay.  This is about 1000g of dough-plus-wheat-berries.

 

I divided it into ten 100g “buns,” rounded them off and then – with the help of plenty of flour – I deliberately formed the buns on the flat side; most hamburger buns are altogether too bready for my taste!  I plopped the top in extra wheat berries for texture and visual appeal.

Here they are resting on cornmeal.

  

450 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes, and they’re done!

 

Beautiful inside – that nutty taste and texture is just gorgeous!

Of course, these were homemade hamburgers to go with, featuring fresh Ontario garlic and farmers’ market green onions chopped up right into the burger.  Oh, and panko, if you please, because I’m out of regular bread crumbs.

 

Mmm, delicious!

The easy-bread wagon! No-knead Focaccia!

 

Hmm… the spell checker is telling me it should be “boccaccio” but I really don’t think that’s right.  What do spell checkers know about bread, anyway???

This rosemary-olive-oil focaccia is apparently swiped directly from “No Need to Knead” by Suzanne Dunaway, courtesy of this site. (phew!  now I can close the window that’s been sitting open all day)

It looked  slightly more impressive before I drenched it with too much olive oil and decided (dumb!!!) to gently “pour off” some of the oil.  The dough LOOKED like it was seated firmly in the pan, but of course, being a soft, wet dough on a well-oiled cornmealed pan, it basically sloshed off the pan, folded itself in half and chucked itself right back into the bowl.

Fortunately, I was able to unfold it all very quickly so all the cornmeal stayed on the bottom.  It was still drenched in olive oil, but most of it soaked in as it rested on the table after baking.

Will report back later with The Flavour of the Bread!!!