About The Saturday Chef

Midwest, United States
I am NOT a professional chef. I am what I affectionately dub a Saturday Chef—a weekend warrior of the culinary variety, fortified by the education I have gleaned from two high school cooking classes, the Food Network and my own gastronomical experiments. While I’m not ashamed to spend all day making bagels by hand, and proudly call myself a foodie, I’m not a food snob. I enjoy an Extra Value Meal as much as the next girl. My culinary escapades are still relegated to the weekends, but my love for cooking is stronger than ever, galvanized by more successes than failures, and the beautiful fact that the more I cook, the more people there are to feed. So please stay tuned for fun recipes, inevitable disasters and hopefully, a lot of good food.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Simple Wonders: Homemade Challah Bread

In the world of awesome electronics—have you seen the iPad?!—and 24-hour supermarkets, simple wonders have been lost to the ever-expanding reach of modernity and convenience. And I think that is a little sad. Yes, Amazon's Kindle is cool and playing with the iPad might make you feel like the Jean Luc Picard, but can it replace the feeling of curling up with a real book or magazine on a rainy day, feeling the grain of the pages with your fingers? For this writer, it doesn't. 


I don’t consider myself a baker. My cakes are usually messy, yet tasty disasters. And I have an allergy to too much heavy cream.  To my own credit, I have made pretty good soft pretzels, bagels and cinnamon rolls. So I’m not a complete novice and I'm baking more than ever. Whenever I use yeast, I am always quietly awed and exubertantly giddy when the dough rises. It is a little majesty, like the sparkle of fresh snow, that is worth the work and the patience baking requires. It seems impossible that a little packet of dry powder are actually microorganisms doing incredible things to flour and eggs and water.  Tell me that's not cooler than sea monkeys?!

Challah is one of those fantastic chance buys that changed my expectations of bread. I was looking for brioche—a fancy bread that the celebrity chefs covet for french toasts and bread puddings. My local grocery store didn’t have brioche, but they had challah. I was taken by the glossy finish, festive braid and the slightly sweet taste. I buy it almost exclusively now.

So it was only a matter of time before I started looking at recipes. I spent a day blending, kneading and braiding, and I fell in love with breadmaking in the process. There is something cathartic about working the dough and seeing it take shape. It’s also great cardio. I may have jumped for joy when the loaves came out of the oven and were actually bread-like, hearty but fluffy and totally Challah-esque.

If you’re at home on a rainy day and happen to have a bucket of flour and a packet of dry yeast, let those little buggers free and behold a little culinary magic.

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Challah I

By Joan Calloway
Makes 2 Large Loaves

2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1/2 cup honey

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 tablespoon salt

8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions
In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water. I used a meat thermometer to test the temperature of the water. Beat in honey, oil, 2 eggs, and salt in a strong mixer with a large bowl. Add the flour one cup at a time, beating after each addition. By the eighth cup, the mixer—my Kitchen-Aid—could barely incorporate the last cup of flour. Remove it from the bowl and place on immaculate, floured countertop and knead to incorporate.

Knead until smooth and elastic and no longer sticky, adding flour as needed, about 5 to 8 minutes. If the dough tears or seems dry, dribble a bit of warm water over it with your fingers and continue to knead. Cover with a damp clean cloth and let rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until dough has doubled in bulk.

Punch down the risen dough and turn out onto floured board. Divide in half (my halves were about 1 lbs, 12 oz. Yes, I measured). Knead each half for five minutes or so, adding flour as needed to keep from getting sticky. Divide each half into thirds and roll into long snake about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Pinch the ends of the three snakes together firmly and braid from middle.

Either leave as braid or form into a round braided loaf by bringing ends together, curving braid into a circle, pinch ends together. Grease two baking trays with shortening and place finished braid or round on each. Cover with towel and let rise about one hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Beat the remaining egg and brush a generous amount over each braid.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for about 40 minutes. (NOTE: I convect baked bread, and my loaves were done in 25 minutes). Bread should have a nice hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.

Cool on a rack for at least one hour before slicing.

Chef’s Note: This bread has no preservatives and will spoil faster than regular bread. It also produces two gigantic loaves. I suggest halving the recipe or giving the extra loaf to co-workers or your boss. You might get those days off you wanted.

 
Challah in Pictures:


Before its first rise.
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Braiding is easy.
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Proofed and polished.
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Ready for its close-up.
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Saturday, April 3, 2010

Lemon-Scented Cake with Blueberry Compote

I have started many an entry professing my love for the ingredient of the week. This post is the antithesis of such musings. I hate blueberries. I love the color, and I don't even mind the flavor. I just hate the texture. It's squishy and gross and they literally make me gag.

I was at the store on Saturday, shopping with inspired glee as I normally do, and I found pints of organic blueberries ON SALE. Before I could chastize myself for not making a list and sticking to it, they were in my cart. I thought I'd make blueberry muffins or something. My mother loves blueberries and my dad will eat anything.

Then I was struck with the idea to make a cake or quickbread and a fruit compote to go with it. Spring is arriving faster than it ever has, and it seemed like a lighter, spring-y dessert. So I made it. The recipe is pretty much as is, except I nixed the lemon zest in both dishes.

I thought about halving the recipe, only making one cake, but trust me, you'll need that second cake. I promise you. And surprisingly, I loved the compote, but I still hate blueberries.


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Lemon-Scented Cake

by Ina Garten


Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided

4 extra-large eggs

3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup lemon juice

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 (8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch) loaf pans. You may also line the bottom with parchment paper, if desired.

Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine lemon juice, the buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let cake cool.



Blueberry Compote
Lillian Chou

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar
2 cups blueberries (10 oz)

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Boil water and sugar in a 1-quart heavy saucepan, uncovered, 5 minutes. Stir in blueberries and simmer, stirring occasionally, until blueberries begin to burst, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Serve warm or at room temperature.

NOTE: Compote will be pretty thin, but still insanely flavorful!