Ka'yek

There's more to middle eastern bread than pita.

Ingredients

1 pkg yeast

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup warm milk

1 T sugar

1/2 T salt + 1 T olive oil

3 1/4 cup flour

egg

Instructions

Dissolve yeast in warm large bowl. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto generously floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 50 minutes. Punch dough down to release the gas, gather again and let it rest for the second time till doubled. Let the dough rest for a couple of hours or even more... divide to 8 equal parts.

You have several options for shaping the dough. You can either shape the dough into large rings or smaller loaves (resembling hamburger buns). To form a ring roll each piece of dough into a long snake several inches wide and press the ends together firmly to create a circle or oval loaf with a whole in the center.

Beat egg and 2 teaspoons water with fork. Brush each ring with egg mixture and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds. Place loaves, sesame seed side up, on parchment paper. Cover loosely; let rise until double, about 30 - 1 hour. Cover with plastic to keep them moist.

Heat oven to 450F . When the oven is ready, lower the heat to 400F . Bake the Ka'yek for 20 to 25 mimutes or until golden brown and puffed.

Crisp Rosemary Flatbread

Easy. Really bad for you. Delicious. We saw this on the Blue Ridge Baker.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup unbleached white flour

2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup olive oil

coarse sea salt

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit and place baking stone on middle rack.

Combine flour, rosemary, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Incorporate the water and olive oil. When the dough comes together, knead it 4 or 5 times. Divide dough into 3 equal pieces and roll them out one at a time. Roll out no more than 1/8". Place a piece of parchment on top of each round and gently lift up the parchment with the round attached. Fold the parchment back on itself with the dough. This step is necessary because the dough will be too thin to move to the parchment with your hands. Lightly brush top of each round with additional olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Slip the dough with the parchment onto the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Pita Bread

Haifa's dad makes the best pita. We left Thanksgiving vowing never to buy them again (except from Pita Inn). This recipe is adapted from thefreshloaf.com.

Ingredients (makes 8 pita)

3 cups white flour

0.5 cup wheat flour

1.5 - 2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 packet active dry yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 teaspoons yeast)

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, about 115 degrees fahrenheit

2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Mix the water, sugar and dry yeast. Stir and let sit for about 10 minutes, until it starts to foam a bubble. Mix the yeast mixture with the flour, salt, and olive oil. Work the dough for about 10 minutes in a mixer or with your hands. Lightly coat a bowl with olive oil, place the dough ball inside coating it with some oil, and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rise until doubled in size, roughly 90-120 minutes.

Near the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 500 degrees fahrenheit. This recipe works best with a baking stone. You could also use an inverted cookie sheet. Either way, make sure your baking surface preheats with the oven.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for about 30-60 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it'll be easier to shape.

After the dough has relaxed, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Repeat with the other pieces and let rest for another 30 minutes.

Place a few pita on the stone and bake. They should puff up in a couple of minutes. Let them bake 30 - 60 seconds after they have puffed. The steam inside will continue to cook them after you take them out.

Pita can be stored wrapped in a towel inside a plastic bag for several days.

Soft Pretzels with Sea Salt & Poppy Seeds

These pretzels are so yummy that we made them twice in one week. We'll be making them again for the whole family in Ohio this Christmas. Can't get enough.


Ingredients
2 c warm water
3 T sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
5-6 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 T salt
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 c baking soda
1 large egg
coarse sea salt
poppy seeds

Instructions
Pour warm water and 1 tablespoon sugar into bowl of electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and stir to combine. Sprinkle with yeast, and let it sit for 10 minutes until it becomes foamy.

Add 5 cups of flour and salt to the yeast mixture, and mix on low speed (still using the dough hook) until it forms a nice dough (usually takes about 10 minutes). If you find that the dough looks wet and too sticky, slowly add in more flour until the dough doesn’t stick to the mixing bowl.


Pour oil into a large bowl and use a paper towel to spread it evenly. Transfer dough to bowl, turning dough to completely cover all sides with oil. Cover with saran wrap or a towel, and let it rise until doubled in size.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. Set aside.

Once dough has doubled in size, punch dough down (gently). Divide into 12 even portions, and let this rest for 5 minutes – this makes it easier to roll out and shape the pretzels.

Roll each piece of dough into a foot long strip. Allow each strip to rest again and then twist this into the shape of a pretzel and transfer to the baking sheet.

Once all the pretzels are formed, leave to rise on baking sheets for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, fill a large pot with 2 inches of water, and bring it to the boil. Add baking soda and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Reduce to a simmer. NOTE: Do not use a Calphalon non-stick pan to do this!! The baking soda will have a chemical reaction and cause the non-stick to boil away leaving you with poisonous pretzels. Yes, we made this mistake once and probably shaved 10 years off our life.

Transfer two pretzels to the water and poach for 1 minute on each side, and then remove with a slotted spoon. Put pretzels back on baking sheet. Continue until all pretzels are poached.

Beat egg and brush pretzels with egg glaze. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt & poppy seeds.

Bake pretzels until golden brown, 12-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Rosemary Focaccia Recipe

This recipe is adapted from a book we recently got as a gift, and are LOVING, called The Art Of Simple Food. The focaccia is easy to make and filled the house with a delicious smell of fresh rosemary.




Ingredients
2 tsp dry yeast
1/2 c lukewarm water
pinch of sugar
3 1/2 c unbleached white flour
1/4 c rye flour
2 T chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp salt
3/4 c cold water
olive oil
coarse sea salt

Instructions
Stir together yeast & warm water. Add a pinch of sugar. Add 1/4 c white flour & 1/4 c rye flour. Let mixture sit until bubbly for about 30 minutes.

In a seperate bowl, mix 3 1/4 c white flour, rosemary, and salt. Add to bubbly yeast mixture. Add cold water and 1/4 c olive oil. Mix thouroughly by hand or in an electric stand mixer. If mixing by hand, do so on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes until dough is soft and elastic. If it is sticky add a small amount of flour (not too much, it should remain very soft). If using a mixture, use the dough hook and knead for 5 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Put the dough in a large bowl and cover with a damp cloth to let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours. It should double in size. We let it rise in a warm oven that we had warmed on the lowest setting and then turned off before putting in the dough.

Once the dough has risen, gently remove it from the bowl and flatten it on a well oiled sheet pan (10" x 15") by gently pressing down from the center out towards the edges. If the dough resists or springs back, let it rest for 10 minutes and then continue shaping. Do not deflate or smash the dough. If you have a pizza peel you can simply flaten the dough on a floured surface instead of a sheet pan and use it to move to the oven.

This is a pizza peel for those who don't already have one:

Next, put dimples in the dough with your fingers. Like this:

Drizzle the dough with olive oil (about 2 T). Cover dough with damp cloth and allow it to rise again for 2 hours, until it is double in size.

While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 450 (just make sure the dough is not in there!) If you have one, place a pizza stone on the lower rack and let it heat for 30 minutes.

Before baking the bread, sprinkle the dough with 1 tsp coarse sea salt. Put the baking pan or just the dough directly on the pizza stone. Bake focaccia 20-25 minutes until golden and crisp. Remove bread from pan and cool on a wire cooling rack. Best if eaten warm from the oven.

Popovers

Tim just introduced me to the joys of popovers this year. Can't believe I've lived this long without eating them! The only catch is that you have to buy a special popover pan for this recipe. Buy one, you will not regret it.


Ingredients
2 eggs
1 c milk
1 T melted butter
1 c flour
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees, spray popover pan with pam (spray generously).

This is what a popover pan looks like. . . although these popovers look like they were over mixed!

Beat 2 eggs until light. Add remaining ingredients. Beat until blended for 30 seconds with an electric beater. Batter should look like heavy cream - do not over beat it or the popovers won't "pop" properly. Similar to the ones in the pan above!

Pour batter into pan so that each cup is 1/3 full. Bake 20 minutes at 450. Reduce heat to 350 and bake 20 more minutes. They will be brown and crusty when done.

Best eaten straight from the oven with butter and honey.

Other recipes you may like:
buttermilk biscuits
cinnamon coffee cake

Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe

Another breakfast recipe from King Arthur Flour. I swear we don't work for them...
This cake has a crunchy cinnamon topping that you'll want to lick off your plate. But I think my favorite part was the filling. I want to try making it with double the filling and half the topping next time.


Ingredients
Streusel topping
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (if you use unsalted butter)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 T ground cinnamon
6 T melted butter

Filling
1 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Cake
3/4 cup salted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 c plain yogurt
1 1/4 c milk
3 3/4 c flour

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan

Make the struesel topping first by mixing together the sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stir until combined - it will look crumbly. Save for later.

In a seperate bowl, make the cake filling by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder.

In a third larger bowl, make the cake. Beat together the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after you add each one.

In a separate bowl (you'll be doing a lot of dishes later), whisk together the yogurt and milk till well combined. Add the flour to the large bowl with butter mixture, and alternate with the milk/yogurt mixture, beating gently to combine.

Spread half the batter into the greased pan, spreading evenly and to the edge. Sprinkle the filling on top of this layer of batter. Then spread the remaining batter on top of the filling. Use a butter knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter. Don't combine filling and batter completely - just swirl the filling through the batter. Sprinkle the bowl of struesel topping over the batter in the pan. Bake the cake 50-60 minutes until golden brown around the edges and a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool about 20 minutes before serving from the pan.