The Hebrew Buckaroo

On Saturday morning, I got the call. It was the culinary equivalent of the bat signal from the old Batman show. Our friends and neighbors Allison and Adam had just brought their newborn daughter home from the hospital the day before. I told Adam I was planning to cook on Sunday and asked if they'd like me to bring them some sustenance. The answer was an emphatic YES! "Any special requests?", I asked. Adam replied, "Well, if you're feeling ambitious, Allison proclaims "Challah".  This looked like a job for The Hebrew Buckaroo!

Yes, I know its ridiculous, but in that moment, I kind of felt like a super hero and my challah was a secret weapon used to fight the effects of physical and psychological hunger. But why stop there, I thought, if I'm buying into this whole super hero thing, I might as well go for broke. Nothing is more nourishing, comforting or welcomed than a pot of homemade chicken soup and it just so happens that my chicken soup has super, or should I say "souper" powers. When I asked Adam if he preferred noodles or matzoh balls, you can guess what the answer was. With a plan in hand, I set off to the grocery store. The only thing missing was my cape and mask.

I've posted both of these recipes before and made hundreds of pots of chicken soup and dozens of challahs, You'll find recipes, step by step instructions and some interesting writing here:

HOMEMADE CHICKEN SOUP

HOMEMADE CHALLAH

When I got up Sunday morning, I was feeling especially powerful. About half way through my first cup of coffee, the super powers kicked in and I headed to my laboratory, eh, I mean kitchen, to begin making the soup of justice.

Since it proofs twice before being shaped, I started with the challah. I emptied a package of rapid rise yeast into a large mixing bowl, squeezed in about a tablespoon of honey and poured in half a cup of warm water to activate the yeast. While the yeast's super powers sprang to life, I moved on to the next step and put a stick of butter, half a cup of sugar and a cup of whole milk in a small saucepan over medium low heat, just to allow the butter to melt. It only takes about 5 minutes for the yeast to activate and once it was frothy, I cracked the eggs in and whisked them up a bit before stirring in the warm milk mixture. Its important that the milk is no warmer than about 100 degrees or it will kill the yeast. With all the wet ingredients combined, I added 3 cups of bread flour and started mixing. The recipe calls for 6 1/2 cups of flour, but I find 6 cups to be enough for a soft, fluffy and delightful dough. I like to mix the flour in one cup at a time until it comes together into a ball, at which point I turn it out onto my surface and start kneading. If the dough is too sticky, I just knead in more flour a handful at a time until the dough is pliable and easy to knead. After about 10 minutes of vigorous kneading, the dough was perfect and I dropped it into a greased container for its first rise of 90 minutes.

With the challah on the rise, I turned my attention to the soup. I keep a large ziplock bag in the freezer that I use to store a variety of soup fixins. When I roast a whole chicken or turkey, the bones go into the soup bag. Celery tops, old carrots and even yellow onion skins go into the soup bag. It usually contains chicken backs, necks and wingtips, veggie trimmings and even parsley or dill stems. There are a ton of nutrients and lots of flavor in what most people would toss in the garbage. In my house, it becomes soup. My soup bag was full and I added everything to my largest stock pot along with a whole 4 lb chicken, a smoked turkey wing, a couple bay leaves, a handful of parsley and dill from my garden and several garlic cloves. I added one can of chicken broth and filled the pot with cold water until the chicken was just submerged. I put the lid on the pot and turned the heat to medium low for a whole day of simmering.

The rest of my Sunday was spent finishing this good deed, deflating the challah dough and setting it in a warm place for its second rise, removing the whole chicken from the pot once it was cooked through and letting it cool so I could remove the meat and return the bones to the soup pot and getting the matzoh ball mixture ready and in the fridge to set up. It was a day of cooking filled with care, heart and spirit. My broth was rich and golden, the matzoh balls fluffy and tender and the challah was picture perfect. It was all still piping hot when we arrived at Allison and Adam's house with our special delivery. We met the newborn Sasha Alexandra and visited with our friends for a while before leaving them to their matzoh ball soup and warm challah, which turns out is Allison's favorite meal. The Hebrew Buckaroo saved the day.

So, when the evil grip of illness sneaks in or when dastardly hunger strikes, when the devastating creep of winter threatens to cast its evil shadow over all the world or when the low rumble of empty bellies cry out for nourishment, The Hebrew Buckaroo will be there with the soup of justice.

Holla for Challah

I kind of love how inspiration travels and spreads like a weed. One of my very favorite food writers Kathy Gunst published a book in 2016 called Soup Swap and my husband gave it to me as a holiday gift that year. It inspired me to do my own soup swap with my neighbors just a few months later. Kathy's soup swap was born during a harsh winter in Maine as a way for her and her friends to stay sane in the darkest, most frigid days of a long season. They found comfort, creativity and togetherness in bowls of soup. In the midst of a very grey, snowy and dark winter in Pittsburgh, Kathy inspired me yet again! I posed an idea to some friends over drinks recently that we get together once a month and make something, whatever it is that we enjoy making. Marie makes really delicious pickles, Suzanne is an expert cookie baker, Lynn makes amazing ravioli and my bread-making skills are pretty sharp. The more we talked about the varied and interesting culinary skills we all have, the more this idea started to take shape. We are also a bunch of bawdy women who can't resist a glass of wine, a dirty joke and rousing game of Cards Against Humanity. This is how "Bitchin in the Kitchen" got started.

We decided to start small with a group of 6 women, so I invited them all over to my house to teach everyone how to make challah - my absolute favorite go-to homemade bread. For novice bread bakers, this is a perfect recipe for teaching. Its relatively simple and only takes about four hours from beginning to end. Its a really soft dough that can be made without a stand mixer. Its a braided loaf, so there is an opportunity to learn some good technique and its also visually stunning, which leaves people with a sense of accomplishment when they're done. Since I've posted this recipe before, I'll just ask you to CLICK HERE if you're interested in making your own challah.

Lynn, Suzanne and I making dough

One person was unable to attend, so there were 5 of us baking challah in my kitchen. Normally, one recipe makes two large or three small loaves of bread, so I figured if we doubled the recipe we'd end up with six loaves - one to eat right away and one for each person to take home. Instead of combining them into a single batch of dough, we made two separate batches so everyone would have a turn to get their hands in the dough and knead. We all gathered in the kitchen, put on our aprons and assumed our roles. I started the yeast with warm water and honey in two separate mixing bowls while Marie read the proportions of ingredients out loud from my Baking with Julia cookbook. I put two pots on the stove and gently heated the milk, butter, sugar and salt until everything was melted and dissolved. Lynn and Suzanne each took a bowl and broke the eggs into the yeast, stirring to combine, then I poured the warm milk & butter mixture in and added three cups of King Arthur bread flour to each bowl while Suzanne and Lynn stirred. As the dough came together, we added flour gradually until the dough could be turned out onto the work surface and kneaded. Once Nancy arrived, we all got our hands dirty and took turns kneading the dough and as we made this beautiful dough, I talked about texture and feel and how to know when the dough is ready for its first rise. And of course, we drank wine, which lead to silliness and lots of laughter.

The kneading

When the dough was smooth and soft, we put it into two separate containers to rise and spent the next hour and a half playing games and howling with laughter. We took a break to deflate the dough and give it its second rise, then went back for more games , wine and hilarity. Finally, it was time to shape the dough. We turned it out onto the work surface and I cut it into three pieces each, then into smaller pieces for braiding. I showed everyone how to shape the dough and they all did a really terrific job. We ended up with four braided loaves and two twisted, round loaves. We set them aside for their final rise of about 30 minutes and turned the oven on to 375 degrees.

And there was much laughter

Just before baking, we brushed each loaf with an egg wash and sprinkled them with salt and seeds. During the 35 minute baking time, we hung out in the kitchen, cleaned up a little bit and talked about our day and what we learned. I rotated the pans a couple times and reglazed as the loaves as they expanded in the oven. When the challah was done, we stood in the kitchen and admired our work, but I can never wait until the bread is completely cool to cut into it. I chose a loaf and sliced it while it was still quite warm. The best part of the day for me was watching everyone's faces as they took that first bite of buttery, fluffy warm challah. It really is a moment of pure delight and half that challah was gone before we knew it. Everyone brought a challah home and they took my advice and made french toast out of it. So, we all had a ridiculous amount of fun, learned how to make bread and bonded over a shared experience. I ask you, what better way is there to spend a cold, winter day? We will be Bitchin in the Kitchen again next month, this time at Suzanne's house to learn how to make pierogies. I can't wait!!

Homemade Challah

My first few attempts at baking bread were based on simple recipes that didn’t require a starter or sponge. I started with bread that has a tight and fluffy crumb, a thin and soft crust and can be made in about three hours. These early experiments gave me a feel for the science and rhythm of bread-making. In time I took on more advanced recipes and baked my own baguettes, bagels and sourdough breads. But my favorite soft bread recipe is the one I turn to first when I want fresh bread. It’s eggy, buttery and light and as my father-in-law likes to say “it looks like bread but eats like cake”. It’s challah and this recipe actually comes from "Baking With Julia", the companion book to the PBS series written by Dorie Greenspan. 

I also consider this braided beauty a touch point to my heritage as a third generation American Jew; it is closely associated with Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah. The Sabbath and other holiday meals start with two loaves of bread, a gesture that commemorates the manna from heaven sent by God to sustain the Jewish people in the dessert after their exodus from Egypt.  According to scripture, manna didn't fall on holy days.  But the day before Sabbath or a holiday, a double ration would fall, thus the tradition of the "double loaf" at the holiday table. After my father retired, he took up bread baking as a hobby and became expert at challah. His perfect braided loaves were always the star at the Thanksgiving table and I feel honored to be carrying on that tradition.   

CHALLAH:

1 ½ tbsp. active dry yeast

½ cup warm water (90-110 degrees)

1 cup whole milk

1 stick unsalted butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp. honey

2 ½ tsp salt

4 large eggs

6 cups bread flour

Before you begin, take the eggs out of the fridge so they come up to room temperature. This bread starts like any other bread recipe by proofing the yeast in the warm water with a pinch of sugar or dollop of honey. I do this directly in the bowl of my stand mixer. Yeast is a live culture, a living organism that needs to be treated with a little care.  You don’t want to get it too hot or too cool and it needs a little sugar to eat as it comes to life. I use my meat thermometer to make sure the water is just the right temperature, between 90 and 110 degrees. It won’t take more than about five minutes for the yeast to bloom. You’ll see it get foamy and rise to the surface of the water. While the yeast is proofing, get your wet ingredients ready. Put the milk and butter into a small saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Then stir in the sugar, honey and salt and mix until they dissolve. Let the milk mixture cool to about 90 degrees so you don’t kill the yeast, then add it to the yeast along with four large eggs and start mixing. Once the milk and eggs have come together, you can start adding the flour a cup at a time until it is all incorporated.  Usually I will stop the mixer and get my hands in there to make sure all the flour is getting absorbed properly.  When the dough comes together, it’s ready for some vigorous kneading.

Sure, you can knead the dough in your stand mixer.  However, if your mixer doesn’t have enough power, it can overheat if your dough is too stiff.  This dough is relatively soft, but I still enjoy kneading by hand and it’s a great workout! This dough needs about 15 minutes of kneading.  A good kneading technique is to fold the dough onto itself, turn it slightly and using the heel of your hand press down and stretch the dough out in front of you.  If it starts to stick to your work surface, sprinkle a little flour on it and keep going. As you knead the dough, you’ll feel the texture change from somewhat stiff and lumpy to soft and smooth. It will be done when it has a perfectly smooth and light texture and when you stick your finger into the dough and the hole doesn’t close up right away.

This recipe makes enough dough for two large loaves and will need a large container for the nest step – the rise. I suggest a kitchen tub or a huge glass bowl.  Oil the inside of your container lightly, just to make sure your dough doesn’t stick, drop the dough in and roll it around a little to get it covered with a thin sheen of oil. You may want to put a little extra oil over the surface of the dough. Now cover the container with plastic wrap, drape a towel over the top and find a warm spot for your dough to rise.  Give it about ninety minutes to rise, allowing it to double in volume, then reach into the container and just move the dough around a bit to deflate it. Cover it again and let is rise for another 45 minutes and it will double in size again. The multiple rise technique allows the yeast to create lots of air bubbles in the dough, resulting in the classic fluffy, airy texture that is the hallmark of great challah. After the second rise, turn the dough out onto your floured work surface and shape the dough.  

Cut the dough in half with a bench scraper.  Each piece will be divided into thirds and each of those thirds will be stretched into long strands and braided together. Braiding dough is a lot of fun, but is a little challenging to master.  Each piece of dough needs to be as close to the same size as possible so you get an even braid. You can to use a ruler to measure the dough and cut equal pieces. You can use a scale to get each piece the same. I just eyeball it and it do my best. Pat the dough out into an even rectangle and cut each rectangle into thirds. Using your hands, roll each piece of dough against the work surface, stretching from the middle outward toward the ends as you roll. Each strand should be about 16 inches long. Line the three strands on the board in a W shaped pattern and press them all together at one end.  A braid is made by laying each side of the W over the middle. Take the right strand of dough and lay it over the middle strand. Now take the strand on the left and lay it over the middle.  Keep moving in this fashion until you get to the end. Press the ends together and tuck them under.  Move your braided loaves to a baking sheet and set them fairly far apart so they won’t touch while baking. Cover them with a towel and give them their final rise of about 30 minutes and set your oven to 375.

After the final rise, the loaves are puffy and full and ready to be baked. Make an egg wash with one beaten egg and a little bit of water and generously paint the surface of the loaves with the egg wash. This will give the challah its characteristic golden, shiny exterior. At this point, I like to sprinkle the loaves with seeds or coarse salt. Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, even fennel or caraway seeds are lovely or you can just sprinkle some plain kosher salt on there and it’ll be delicious.  After 20 minutes in the oven you’ll see that exposed surfaces of the dough that don’t have egg wash on them.  Give the challah another coat of egg wash and let them bake for another 15 minutes.  To check for doneness, tap the loaf on the bottom with the back of a spoon. If the bread is done, you’ll hear a hollow thump. The crust should be dark brown and shiny. I dare you to let it cool completely before you cut into it, I guarantee you won’t be able to wait that long. I usually let it cool for about 20 minutes and slice a couple pieces off while it’s still warm.  I’ll tell you, a slice of warm challah with a smear of butter is like heaven on earth.  This bread disappears quickly. It’s very difficult to keep it around more than a couple days, so you have to make French toast out of it the following morning before it gets devoured.  Not a fan of French toast? I strongly suggest you change your mind because French toast is one of the best things you can do with challah…..but that’s a recipe for another post.