A Very Uncommon Cook

I probably shouldn’t admit how quickly this apartment goes through loaves of bread — we eat the stuff as fast as I or B. can bake it. (Our record is three loaves of pretzel bread, which is B.’s specialty, demolished in less than twelve hours. Almost no loaf makes it more than 24 hours, or 36 at the outside, around here.) So when I was on vacation a while ago, and had some spare time, I made some extra batches of a basic white loaf and stuck most of the dough in the freezer. It’s all gone now, and I’m going to settle down to some serious kneading and shaping again so I can stick to the habit of thawing the dough in the fridge overnight and baking it while I’m drinking my morning tea and catching up on RSS feeds. (You do know you can get A Very Uncommon Cook delivered to your virtual doorstep in a feed, right? I am just looking out for your welfare, folks!)

(This recipe, I should note, is adapted from King Arthur Flour.)

Ingredients

1 ½ cups warm milk
1 heaping tablespoon honey
2 ¼ teaspoons yeast
1 ¾ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons soft butter
around 4 cups all-purpose flour

Equipment

2 mixing bowls
1 nine-inch loaf pan
baking rack

Recipe

Pour the warm (not scalded! just warm) milk into a large mixing bowl. Add the honey and yeast, and stir to dissolve. Let rest two to five minutes. Add salt and butter, and stir to distribute. Add three cups of flour and mix. Add the last cup-or-so of flour gradually, kneading in between additions, until you have a smooth, elastic ball of dough.

Oil or butter another large mixing bowl and put the ball of dough in. Roll the dough around so the exterior is a little greasy. Cover with a hand towel or plastic wrap (loosely, in the latter case; don’t make it entirely airtight). Leave in a warm still place (I like the top of the refrigerator) for up to an hour and a half.

Grease a nine-inch loaf pan. When the dough is puffy, deflate it gently. There’s no need to slam your fist into it like it’s done you personal injury; if you want that, I suggest a boxing gym. Shape it into a log that will fit in the pan. Cover the pan with the towel or plastic wrap, and leave it in the warm still place for another hour or so. After an hour, turn the oven to 350°; when it’s preheated, remove the towel or plastic wrap and put the bread in.

Bake for twenty minutes, and then drape some aluminium foil over the top. Bake another ten to fifteen minutes, or until golden brown, and cool on a rack.

Families are odd. In other news, the sky is up.

I spent part of my weekend taking part in a family tradition that is not my own, and it was disconcerting; a friend came over to use my counterspace and oven, because hers sucks, and she was homesick for her family recipe of Easter bread. S informs me that “Easter bread” is “an old family recipe from my great-grandmother that’s been around for ages. It’s Lebanese in origin, but I’m pretty sure it’s unique to my family. I’ve searched for the recipe in old Lebanese and Middle Eastern cookbooks and haven’t been able to find it anywhere.” The Internet informs us that her family got a mixing of two traditions: Ka’ak was traditionally made by Palestinean Christians in honor of Easter, and Muslims of the Levant made Ka’ak al-Asfar to honor the dead, which recipe is more like the one we used, although we lacked a bread stamp.

I wish I could say that this will become my tradition as well, but I doubt it — while I had a great deal of fun, most of the enjoyment came from the company and the simple process of baking, not the end product, which does not have the Proustian power for me that it does for S. (Of course, my next post will likely be on one of my family traditions, which no one else will find as interesting as I do. But that is why I have a blog.) For five hours of rising time, this stuff should be spectacular, and I just didn’t find it so. I am, however, grateful for the introduction to mahlab, one of the spices involved; ground cherry seed is not a seasoning I had ever heard of before.

photograph by cesarastudillo

Easter bread

Oven: 375° Fahrenheit

Cream ½ cup of granulated sugar with 1 stick butter. Dissolve 2½ teaspoons yeast in 2 cups of milk. Combine milk with creamed sugar and butter. Add 2 heaping teaspoons of anise and 1 heaping teaspoon of mahlab. Mix in five cups of all-purpose flour; turn out of bowl and onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth, adding up to 1 more cup of flour while kneading.

Let rise, covered, five hours in a warm space. Form fist-sized balls of dough and let rise 30 minutes, covered.

Flatten each ball of dough and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom and pale golden brown on top. Optional: Brush with milk and sprinkle with granulated sugar when warm.