Category: Bread

Homemade Pretzels

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Mikki and I were flipping channels when we saw homemade pretzels on Diners and Dives. It sounded perfect for a sleepy winter weekend. So I made some pretzels, bought some bratwurst, relish and sauerkraut to enjoy some German tradition. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Dough

  • 1/2 tablespoon dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon melted then cooled unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
  • 1 cup lukewarm water around 100F
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 1 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

Dip

  • 1/4 cup baking soda
  • 1 quart of water

Directions:

  1. Combine sugar, butter, yeast, water and half the flour. Wait 5 minutes and then add kosher salt and remaining flour and mix. I used the dough hook on stand mixer for 8 minutes at a low speed until smooth and supple. Let the dough rest for 5 min, covered by kitchen towel. Then cut the dough into the number of pieces desired, I divided mine into 16 for smaller pretzels knots.
  2. To make the pretzel knots, roll each piece into a rope. Lift the ends, twist them around each other once and again then pressing the ends at 4 and 8 o’clock. Stretch the pretzels out as much as desired.
  3. Place the pretzel knots onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, give them some room to grow. Let them rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, covered with a kitchen towel, then in the fridge for 1 hour.
  4. After 1 hour, bring 1 quart of water to a boil and add the baking soda, stir slowly and turn off the heat. Poach pretzels for 30 seconds on each side in solution. Use slotted spoon to transfer pretzels back to baking sheet.
  5. Sprinkle pretzels with kosher or finishing salt and bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating tray once to get an even, dark color. Transfer to rack. Brush with some melted butter. Serve warm with some seeded mustard.

Kashmiri Televor (Sesame Bagel)

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Obviously we are all practicing social distancing, so I’ve decided to make use of my time at home in between telemedicine appointments. Today’s project was to make a classic Kashmiri bread, televor, enjoyed with pink salt tea (sheer chai). It’s similar to a sesame bagel. I used a french flour used for baguettes but you can using any all purpose flour, so your dough might need more or less water. Enjoy and stay safe.

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon of quick rise dry yeast

1/2 tablespoon of sugar

1/2 tablespoon of salt

2 cups of water (80F) important to get the yeast to grow

Sesame seeds

Butter

Directions:

  1. Mix the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, salt, yeast.
  2. Add the warm water slowly while mixing. ( I used the dough hook on my Kitchen aid). Continue to mix the dough for 7-8 minutes using the mixer to get a soft dough.
  3. Place dough in a bowl, cover with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and let it rest for an hour in a warm place with a kitchen towel over the bowl.
  4. The dough should rise nicely after an hour.
  5. Shape the dough into a log, and cut into 6-8 pieces (depending on how big you want them, they will get bigger)
  6. Take each round piece and create a hole in the middle.
  7. Place on a floured counter and cover with a towel for 30 minutes so they rise again.
  8. Preheat your oven to 430 degrees F.
  9. Meanwhile take each piece and add to boiling water in a large pan on the stove, 1 minute on each side. (I did 2-3 at a time in a wok).
  10. Once finished place on paper towel for 5 minutes.
  11. Either butter the sheet pan or use parchment paper to line it.
  12. Brush each piece with melted butter and then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  13. Place all the pieces on the sheet pan and bake at 430F for 35-40 minutes.
  14. Make sure they are nice and crispy, golden brown on top.
  15. Let them cool and enjoy with a warm beverage. Kashmiris usually have televor with a pink salt tea (sheer chai).

 

Sourdough Boule

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I have always enjoyed the writings of Michael Pollan. I was reading his book, Cooked and also watched the Netflix docu-series based on the book. In the “Air” section he described the primal tradition of making and enjoying bread. Since then I decided to try to make my own sourdough at home. I purchased a dry sourdough starter from San Francisco and over 10 days fed and divided it, not an easy task in the cold Syracuse March weather. Once I had a vigorous, active starter it was time to try making some bread! I also purchased a digital scale, proofing basket and a bowel scraper from Amazon. The bread recipe I have used is a high humidity boule from Hobbs House Bakery on Youtube. Below are the pictures and the recipe. Homemade bread is now one of my favorite hobbies.

Boule means ball in French, the traditional shape of French bread. It is a rustic loaf made from a variety of flour. I used wild yeast sourdough but it can also be made from commercial yeast or chemical leavening. The French bread baker is a boulanger making a French bread bakery a boulangerie.

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Recipe:

Ingredients:

460g of Bread flour

300ml of Sourdough starter

230ml of water

10g of salt

  1. The day before feed the starter 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water, keep in a warm place till the next day. I keep it in the oven, temperature around 75 F.
  2. Preheat oven to 450F with cast iron skillet or dutch oven.
  3. Mix the above ingredients and smack it on the counter a few times before placing in a mixer with the dough blade.
  4. In the mixer for 7 min at medium speed.
  5. Remove from the bowl and do the first fold, the folding technique can be seen in the video below.
  6. Let the dough rest for 30 min- first rise
  7. Then do another fold- wait 10 min- fold again- wait 10 min- fold again.
  8. Let the dough rest in a well floured proofing basket for 4-6 hours- second rise
  9. Flip dough into cast iron skillet or dutch oven.
  10. Score the dough with a razor blade.
  11. Spray the bottom of the hot oven with water to create steam.
  12. Bake the bread for 20 min with aluminum foil or cover, then cook uncovered for 20 min.
  13. Cool on a wire rack for at least an hour.
  14. Cut and enjoy!
  15. I stored the bread in a zip-lock bag to keep fresh for at least 4-5 days.
  16. The starter can be stored in a sealed plastic container till the next use.

Digital Scale and Mixing bowl

IMG_0772.JPGSourdough Starter

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Second Rise- 4 hours in a proofing basket

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Cool on wire rack

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Video