Daring Baker Challenge | Challah Y'all!

In a "celebration" of past Daring Baker and Daring Cook challenges, Lisa challenged all of us to search through the Daring Kitchen archives and pick any one we'd like! The REAL challenge was picking which delicious recipe(s) to try!

And guess what  I tried making...

This beauty called Challah!

Challah is a bread of celebration in Jewish tradition. At a time when white flour was considered a luxury, its use was reserved for either the wealthy or for festive events. In Judaism, the Sabbath is a weekly holiday and therefore is a festive occasion. It was around the 15th century when Jews in parts of Austria and Germany adopted an oval braided loaf from their neighbors to make the Sabbath special. These fancy shaped loaves made with white flour were seen as a fitting way to honor the Shabbat (Sabbath), symbolized in Jewish culture as a queen, therefore deserving of the finest one can achieve. In honoring the Sabbath as a day of rest, two loaves are traditionally put on the table. This is generally seen as a representation of the double portion of manna provided to the Children of Israel on Fridays during their wandering in the desert after fleeing from Egypt. This double portion allowed them to maintain the commandment to not do “work” on the Sabbath.

Ok, enough history and general knowledge. When the daring baker challenge was revealed I was so excited with the choice available for this month. I then quickly picked this bread challenge because I was planning to bake bread for a long time and somehow wasn't finding time to do that. I decided to take half the measurements in the recipe given. Didn't want to churn out huge loaves of Challah that no one wanted to eat you know! So decided to play safe and started the process just to find out that the yeast had expired. After 3 iterations, I just chucked it (almost half kg :-( ) and bought new yeast from the nearest supermarket and got cracking.

Before Proofing

After Proofing

Yummy crusty Challah

Easy Challah Recipe

(from templedavid.org)

Ingredients

4 cups (360 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour

1 cup (240 ml) warm water

1 package (2¼ teaspoons) package rapid rise yeast

½ (115 gm) cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. (6 gm) salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water

Directions:

1. Measure flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl.

2. In a separate bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer) combine water and yeast, allow to sit 5 minutes until foamy.

3. Add 1 ½ cups of the flour mixture to the water and yeast mixture, beat until well combined. Cover with a dishtowel, let stand 30 min.

4. Add two eggs to the dough, beat again.

5. By hand or with your dough hook knead in the remaining flour mixture. Knead approximately 10 minutes.

6. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover, let rise one hour.

7. Punch down dough, knead approximately 3 minutes.

8. Divide dough in two. Shape each half as desired (3, 4, or 6 strand braid).

9. Place loaves on parchment covered or greased cookie sheets, cover with a towel, allow to rise one hour.

10. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

11. Brush loaves with egg wash.

12. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees, bake until golden crust forms (about 25-30 minutes).

13. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Daring Baker Challenge | Savarin

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are

- Brillat-Savarin

Every last day of the month, I eagerly wait for one thing. No, not for my salary, silly! For the first of the month to begin so I can find out the month's Daring Baker challenge. This time it was Savarin. Wow, one more new thing to learn and savour.. I was excited.

Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina challenges us to make a traditional Savarin, complete with soaking syrup and cream filling! We were to follow the Savarin recipe but were allowed to be creative with the soaking syrup and filling, allowing us to come up with some very delicious cakes!

 

Savarin is a French cake named after Brillat-Savarin, the famous 18th century gastronome and writer. It is a light ring-shaped cake made with yeast and soaked in liqueur-flavored syrup. The syrup usually includes some type of alcohol, often rum. I soaked my savarin with vanilla caramel flavoured syrup and left it in fridge for a couple of days. I thought it might turn out a bit eggy, but it was delicious! I could have added some more syrup though..

Oh! and I was itching to bake my new fluted 12-cup silicon bundt pan. The savarin didn't stick to the silicon pan. Cleaning up was a breeze. After labouring for hours on the savarin, this was a welcome change.

Savarin Recipe

Ingredients
2½ cups (350 gm) bread flour
2 tablespoons (30 ml) water, lukewarm
6 (320 gm) large eggs at room temperature, separated
1½ teaspoons (4 gm) instant yeast or 15gm fresh yeast
4 teaspoons (20 ml) (20 gm) sugar
1/3 cup (75 gm) butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (15 gm) orange and lemon zest (optional)
1 teaspoon (6 gm) salt
¼ cup (55 gm) butter for greasing the work surface, hands, dough scraper & baking pan

Directions:
Sponge
In a small bowl mix 2 tablespoons (30 ml) lukewarm water, 3 tablespoons (25 gm) flour and yeast , cover with cling film and let rise 60 minutes.

Dough
1. After 30 minutes put the egg whites in the mixer bowl and start working with the paddle at low speed adding flour until you have a soft dough that sticks to the bowl (about 2 cups or 270gm) and work until it comes together , cover with cling film and let rest 30 min
2. Add the sponge to the mixer bowl along with a tablespoon of flour and start mixing at lowspeed (if you wish to add the zests do it now)
3. When it starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl add one yolk and as soon as the yolk is absorbed add one tablespoon of flour
4. Add the second yolk , the sugar and as soon as the yolk is absorbed add one tablespoon of flour
5. Raise the speed a little
6. Add the third yolk and the salt and as soon as the yolk is absorbed add one tablespoon of flour
7. Keep on adding one yolk at the time and the flour saving a tablespoon of flour for later
8. Mix the dough until is elastic and makes “threads”
9. Add the butter at room temperature and as soon as the butter is adsorbed add the last tablespoon of flour
10. Keep on mixing till the dough passes the “window pane test”
11. Cover the dough with cling film and let it proof until it has tripled in volume (2 to 3 hours)
12. You can prepare the Pastry cream now if you chose to use it, and refrigerate it
13. While you wait prepare your baking pan buttering it very carefully not leaving too much butter on it
14. Grease your dough scraper, your hands and your work surface and put the dough on it and fold with the Dough Package Fold two or three times around (5 folds twice or three times). Cover with cling foil and let it rest 15 minutes on the counter
15.Turn the dough upside down and with the help of your buttered dough scraper shape your dough in a rounded bun
16. Make a hole in the center with your thumb and put it in the prepared pan
17. Cover with cling film and let rise in a warm spot until the dough reaches the top of the pan(about 1 hour)
18. Pre-heat oven to moderate 340°F/170°C.
19. Bake the Savarin for about 40 minutes until the top is golden brown
20. Meanwhile prepare the Syrup
21. When the Savarin is done take it out of the oven and let it cool.
22. You have two choices now : you can immerse it in syrup right now or you can let it dry out (so
it will lose some of his moisture that will be replaced by the syrup) and soak it later on.
23. To immerse it in syrup it is a good idea to place it in the mold you baked it in (I’m afraid a spring- form one wouldn’t work for this) and keep adding ladles of syrup until you see it along the rim of the pan. Or you can just soak it in a big bowl keeping your ladle on top of it so it doesn’t float.

Caramel Vanilla Flavored Syrup:
Servings: 1 savarin
Ingredients

1½ cups (350 ml) water
½ cup caramel flavour
1 cup (240 ml) (125 gm) sugar
one cinnamon stick
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Combine water, sugar and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil.
2. Let boil 5 minutes and remove from the stove. Add vanilla extract, add caramel flavour.
3. When cooled a bit, pour it over the savarin.

Garlic Pull Apart Rolls

Garlic pull apart rolls have become a staple at my house. When I first started making them, it would start out as an occasion. I would keep aside an entire evening so that I could prepare the dough, wait until it rose and then bake it until the heavenly smells of home made garlic rolls would waft through the house and make all of us REALLY hungry! Now that I have made them countless times, I know the consistency and I have made several variations too which have come out with flying colours, the whole process has become a breeze...

The most exciting thing about this recipe is that you can make the most mouth watering, delicious smelling, savoury rolls or if the mood suits you, you can use sweet fillings to make it sweet rolls and make say, cinnamon rolls. For example, you can use the same recipe to make Nutella rolls by switching garlic filling with nutella filling. Tadaaaa, how easy is that? For the savoury fillings, you can use cheese and mint, paneer and mint, butter and pizza seasoning, basil and cheese fillings.... Oh, the list is endless. Every time, like clock work, the rolls come out amazing and taste out of this world! Another variation can be found in Monika's blog. 

The only change I would do is to double the salt in the dough, since  I find that it could do with some more salt. Rest, I wouldn't change a thing!

Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls Recipe

Ingredients: 

Plain Flour - 3 cups

Warm Water - 1 Cup

Dry active yeast - 1tbsp

Salt - 1tsp (I recommend making this 2tsp)

Sugar - 2tbsp

Olive Oil - 2-3 tbsp

1 egg+1tsp milk - For basting before baking

For the filling:

Salted butter - 50 gms (1/3 cup approx)

Garlic - 6-7 finely chopped

Coriander leaves - 3tbsp chopped

1/2 tsp Chilli flakes

1/2tsp white/black pepper

Method:

1) Mix warm water, sugar and yeast together and leave aside for 10 minutes till it looks frothy. That's when the yeast has been activated. Note: If the water is too hot, you will kill the yeast, if too cold, it won't activate.

2) Mix the above starter with flour and salt mixture and knead lightly till everything comes together as dough. No need to over knead it.

3) Add oil to it and knead for 20-30 min until the dough starts springing back. (You can add neutral vegetable oil as well. olive oil is not a must. Hand kneading takes 30-35 min based on the pressure you apply. With dough hook, I kneaded for 20min and finished with 2-3 minutes of hand kneading). Use the window pane test here or here to see if the dough is ready.

4) Keep the dough for resting covered by cling film for about 30-45 minutes till it doubles. Depends on the weather, you may have to wait for an hour.

5) While the dough is proofing, u can make the garlic spread ready by mixing all the ingredients together at room temperature.

6) After it has doubled in size, knock down to remove the air and roll in to a half an inch thickness sheet. Use dry flour to prevent sticking.

7) Apply the garlic filling. Spread evenly and roll the dough from one end to another.

8) Use a knife or a thread to cut it into 8-10 rolls of equal size.

9) Line them in a loaf pan, spread the left over garlic spread on top and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. 

10) Leave it for proofing for around 30min - 1hr. (you know its done when you poke it and it doesn't bounce back).

11) Apply egg wash and bake it at 180C for 20-25min.

12) Pull them apart. Pop in your mouth fresh and warm.

Nutella and Orange Rolls

Nutella and Orange Rolls are easy to make and yummy in taste. It is a yeast roll which are made with simple ingredients and the end result is spectacular. And the best part is that it is no-knead recipe. Yes, you heard it right!

I have got a couple of bread and rolls recipes in my kitty and have started making them one by one. Last week was my trial with Nutella and orange rolls. It is a simple recipe. Water, milk, sugar, yeast, orange zest and oil are combined with flour and the resulting dough mixture is left to rise. After the first rise, you roll it out  smear one side with Nutella, roll it and cut into pieces. The rolls are then left for second proofing and once the rolls have risen, they are baked and voila! your rolls are ready.

 

Here are some snaps for you to go though the process followed by the recipe:

Sugar and milk

Active Dry Yeast

Initial Dough Mixture

Rolls ready for the second rise

Rolls after second rise, ready to go into oven

Nutella and Orange Rolls

Nutella and Orange Rolls Recipe:

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup / 240 ml
Sugar - 1/4 cup / 50 grams
Vegetable Oil (or any flavorless oil) - 1/4 cup
Active dried yeast) - 1 1/4 teaspoon
All Purpose Flour - 260g (2 cups)  plus 33g (1/4 cup) Divided use
Baking powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Baking soda (scant, i.e, a little less than, just below the rim of the spoon) - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
Grated Orange zest - 3/4 teaspoon

For the filling: 

Nutella or any chocolate hazelnut spread - 3 tablespoons (alter to suit your taste)
Lightly toasted and chopped walnuts/ hazelnuts - 3 tablespoons ( optional but recommended)
  

Procedure: First things first -  Measure out all your ingredients and keep them ready.

• Mix milk, sugar and vegetable oil in a pan, preferably one big enough to mix the dough in too, less cleanup later. Scald (heat until just before boiling) the mixture. Leave to cool for 45mins to an hour. The milk mixture must be lukewarm at the end of this period. In case you leave it for longer, just warm it till it's lukewarm.
• When the mixture is lukewarm, add the active dry yeast, leave it for about 5-10 minutes till frothy. Whisk in the orange zest, make sure there are no clumps of it.
• Then add 260 grams of flour to the mixture. Stir to mix with a spatula, you will get a batter that's quite sticky. Cover and let the batter sit for 1 hour or till double. Mine took an hour. It may take lesser time if its warmer.
• Mix the 33 grams (1/4 cup) flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this to the flour mixture in the pan. Mix till everything comes together. It will still be very sticky. You could make the rolls straightway or refrigerate the dough. I would not attempt handling the sticky mass at this point of time. Chilling makes it easier to handle. So transfer it to a large box, close the lid loosely. The box must be large enough to allow the dough to more than double and still have some space left over.
• When ready to make the rolls, before you even take the dough out of the fridge, get these things ready. Line your baking tin with parchment and grease the sides. Have your silicon brush, soft butter, rolling pin, sharp knife or dough scraper, extra flour ready. Flour your work surface with enough flour. This being a sticky dough, it would otherwise be impossible to roll out. If you take the dough out first and then spend time on this, your dough will lose the firmness and will not be as easy to handle.
• Roll out the dough into a rectangular shape of 17'' x 11''rectangle aprox. This will be quite thin. Dust the dough and work surface with flour when necessary.
• Spread Nutella evenly and sprinkle the toasted nuts.
• Start from the opposite end of the dough, roll the dough neatly in a line towards you. Roll as tightly as possible. Dust fingers with flour if the dough feels sticky. Pinch the seams to seal.
• Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into1 inch thick slices and arrange in your pan(s). Place them spaced apart.
• Let the the rolls double in size. It might take 45-60min. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degree F towards the end of the rise time.
• Bake for 20 -25 minutes until golden brown. 
• Brush the rolls with melted butter for a softer crust. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then completely on the rack.