Ever heard of a Harvey Wallbanger? I hadn’t either until I was introduced to a recipe by way of my brother’s mother-in-law (Thanks Jane!). But apparently it was a very popular drink in the 70s which would explain why I’ve never actually imbibed one myself seeing as how I wasn’t born until 1978. Though I won’t be ordering one at the bar anytime soon (I prefer a good Cosmo), I am here to tell you that it lends itself to the most amazing bundt cake you have ever had. Continue reading
Last year I introduced you to my go-to challah recipe. Well, I still like that one just fine but truth be told I have a new favorite. If you own any Jewish cookbooks, chances are at least one of them was written by the amazing Joan Nathan. (Pretend you are watching me bow down here because there really are no words for me to describe how amazing Joan Nathan is when it comes to the Jewish kitchen). Not only are her cookbooks full of delicious recipes and beautifully written but they are chock full of history as well. My favorite book, probably because it speaks to the American Studies major in me, is Jewish Cooking in America. But the book that is home to my new favorite challah recipe is The Foods of Israel Today which makes my mouth water thinking of all the yummy foods my husband and I tried on our Birthright trip in 2005. The “Beigel Family Challah” really showcases the farm fresh eggs we get each week from my friend Andie’s Farm. After all, the recipe uses a total of 5 eggs – just look at that gorgeous yellow hue! Mmmm…eggy goodness!
Thanks to the folks at Knopf for allowing me to share the recipe with you in full! My one suggestion is to brush on a little bit of honey after the final egg wash – personally, I prefer this little added sweetness to seeds. And, if you are like me and need visual directions, turn to the The Challah Blog for easy to follow braiding tutorials– the challahs pictured above were six strand loaves for a baby naming this past weekend. Enjoy!
Yield: 2 CHALLAHS
1 ½ packages dry yeast ( 1½ scant tablespoons)
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon plus ½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 ¾ cups lukewarm water
8-8½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup vegetable oil
Poppy or sesame seeds for sprinkling
8/8/13 Update: If you copied the recipe when originally posted, please note that a line regarding the proper rise time for the first rise was cut off. The recipe has now been updated with the complete directions. I apologize for any confusion. Mamaleh
What a fun week it’s been! It’s finally here, day 5 and we have a post from BisStyle, all the way from Israel. It’s a lovely recipe of Ceviche and Champagne. If, like me, you can’t read Hebrew, you’ll need a little help from Google translate but it sure does look refreshing and summery! If only it weren’t raining in Seattle!
It’s been a super fun week full of fantastic summer inspiration. Many many thanks to Dena at Chai & Home for putting together such a great week of emerging Jewish bloggers! Here’s a recap of the week in case you missed anything:
Monday: Evoking Childhood Shabbat Memories on YentaMamas
Tuesday: Shabbat Style: Alfresco Orange Tablescape on Chai&Home
Wednesday: Summer Camp Care Packages on MadeByMamaleh Thursday: Portobello Burgers by Busy in Brooklyn
Hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as all of us did! Shabbat Shalom!
Some of you saw my honey cake on Facebook and asked about the pan and the recipe…So, truth be told, I have never been a huge fan of honey cake. The ones I’ve had have always seemed a bit dry or too sweet. Well, the recipe I tried yesterday from my Bundt Cake Bliss cookbook has made me a convert! In general, I love a good Bundt cake – it comes out perfectly formed and gorgeous (assuming proper pan prep). I couldn’t resist the opportunity to add a Jewish Star of David Bundt Pan to my collection, especially since it’s made by Nordic Ware, the best in the biz. Just FYI, this particular pan holds 10 cups and the recipe calls for a 12 cup, it means that the bottom of the cake will be a bit rounded but that was a non-issue really.
Other than giving it my own Jewish twist thanks to the pan, I highly recommend using really good honey – I used my favorite Pacific Northwest Blackberry. Mmmmm! I also opted for golden raisins for the look. Oh and the author’s recommendation to pair it with some Humboldt fog cheese is simply the best thing ever. I highly recommend trying it, especially for a brunch. The combo is simply divine. So, whether you tuck it away for next Rosh Hashanah, make it for your Yom Kippur break-the-fast or just give it a go whenever, thanks to the lovely folks at the Minnesota Historical Society Press (aka the publisher), I get to share this delicious recipe with all of you! Enjoy!
Reprinted from Bundt Cake Bliss by Susanna Short with permission of the MHS Press
SERVES 10 to 12
CAKE
3 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg or mace
2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup honey
½ cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons brandy
2/3 cup cold water
¾ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup raisins
GLAZE
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan using butter and flour or Baker’s Joy and set aside.
Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Beat sugar, honey, oil, eggs, lemon peel, lemon juice and brandy in large bowl on medium for 2 minutes. Alternately add the flour mixture and the water to the honey mixture, mixing thoroughly between additions. Beat for 2 minutes at high speed. Fold in the nuts and raisins. Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the cake clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then turn onto a serving plate.
To prepare the Lemon Sugar glaze, mix ¾ cup of sugar with 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice. Place in saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture is slightly thickened. Prick top of cake gently with a fork and drizzle with glaze, allowing it to soak in before adding more.
I like to serve this with nuts scattered on the platter. It also looks elegant as a composed dessert with thinly sliced fresh figs and pears fanned around the cake. Or try this with a soft cheese like Humboldt Fog, drunken goat, or sharp brie. The blending of the savory and sweet with a cup of espresso is a very graceful ending to a formal dinner party.
Until this year, I’d never made challah before. Of course I love to eat it but the thought of making it totally intimidated me (probably because I remember one attempt by my mom when I was a kid did not resemble challah at all, sorry, mom). In an attempt to cook more and put my cookbook library to good use, I challenged myself at the beginning of the year to try one new recipe a week. For the most part I’ve kept up with the challenge, some weeks cooking less and some more. But, what I’ve found is that trying different challah recipes has played a big role in the challenge and I’ve figured out that making challah really isn’t so scary and actually the process is rather therapeutic after a hectic week.
As I mentioned the other week, I love The Challah Blog as it has lots of fun innovative challah ideas and fantastic tutorials for braiding. But, so far my go-to challah recipe has been derived from Tante B’s “Famous Challah.” I’ve made my own addition to the glaze and also simplified her process since I am lazy efficient and like to rely heavily on my trusty Kitchen-Aid. In fact my Kitchen-Aid has gotten such a workout since the beginning of the year that my husband had to replace the grease inside (that has made it work even better and at some point, I’d be happy to share how he did it).
This recipe has worked really well every time I’ve made it at home (Seattle). But, I even tried it in the desert (Las Vegas) where I was told bread just doesn’t rise right and it turned out great. It’s not very eggy as far as challah goes but it is quite delicious, especially with the hint of honey on top. So, if the idea of making your own challah scares you, I promise, it’s a lot easier than it looks so give it a try one of these days. Happy baking!
Ingredients for 2 large challot:
Directions:
1. In bowl of stand-mixer combine 1 Tablespoon sugar (removed from the ½ cup), 2 cups warm water and yeast.Let sit for roughly 10 minutes until the yeast has dissolved and is foamy. It should go from the top picture to the bottom in about 10 minutes.
2. Once yeast is nice and foamy, add the remaining sugar, salt and 3 ½ cups of flour. Mix using the bread hook.
3. Add egg and oil. Mix.
4. Add remaining 3 ½ cups of flour slowly and mix using bread hook.You may need to scrape the dough off the hook several times and put it back in the bowl. Keep mixing until the dough has formed a nice ball and springs back when pressed with your finger. If for some reason, it’s still too sticky, add a little flour.
5. Spray a bowl with PAM (you can also swirl veggie oil on the sides but I find PAM oh so easy) and put the dough in the bowl. Cover with Saran wrap and a dish towel and put somewhere warm to rise. If it’s cold out you can turn your oven on to 150 and then turn it off and put the bowl in there to rise. The dough will look like the picture on the top. After an hour (or more), it should look like the photo on the bottom.
6. When the dough has risen, give it a good punch down with your fists and then put it back to rise some more. Depending on how rough a week I’ve had, I may give it a second punch down but I haven’t found this critical in making this recipe work.
7. After 2 hours, turn dough onto silicone mat to roll out.
8. I use my hands to split the dough into two even sized balls – one ball for each loaf. If you want to make three smaller loaves, as I did last week, just split it into three.
9. Then with each of those balls, portion out the dough according to the number of braids you need. Here, I did 3-strand loaves but there are tons of options out there.
10. Roll out each little ball on the silicone mat being sure to work out any air pockets and then braid directly on baking sheet covered in either parchment or silicone baking mat using whatever braiding style you prefer. (I recently upgraded to an extra-large baking sheet that takes up my whole oven that can hold 2 large or 3 small loaves. Now I just need to find the right size silicone baking mat for it!)
11. Once the loaves are braided, cover them with a dish towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
12. Preheat oven to 375°F.
13. After allowing loaves to rise, beat remaining egg in bowl. Using silicone pastry brush, lightly brush over each challah. Then drizzle honey on top, to taste and also brush on using same silicone brush.
14. Bake for 25 minutes. Then, turn off oven allow the challah to sit in the oven for another 10 minutes.
15. Remove and allow to cool on rack. Enjoy!
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