Cinnamon Babka

Today was a dark, rainy, and dreary fall day.  The first really cold rainy fall day of the season, which put me in the mood to do some baking.   I could not decide whether to make bread, cinnamon rolls, an epiphany cake, of babka.  I did settle on the babka, after some thought, as the smell of bread and cinnamon baking is one of my favorite fall treats.

Babka, loosely translated as "old woman," is an eastern european desert bread, from the Jewish tradition.  It is made from a basic brioche dough, and usually made with either chocolate, or cinnamon filling.

Babka recipes tend to be closely guarded family secrets, so finding a good babka recipe can be a challenge.  This recipe has an authentic flavor, and is one of my favorite babka recipes.  I found this recipe at: http://www.justapinch.com/print/bread/sweet-bread/cinnamon-babka.html and broke it down into more steps, as the directions are not easy to follow in their original format.

I have given this an advanced rating, as the dough is very fragile, and requires some care when rolling and filling.  In addition, it is a yeast bread, requiring three rising cycles.  It has about a six hour prep to serve time, so a lot of time is needed, although three hours of the time is just waiting for dough to rise, and two hours are just for cooling.

Cinnamon Babka

Skill level:
Serves: 8

Ingredients

FILLING:

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter, unsalted, melted & cooled

1 large egg white, reserve yolk

2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground

1/8 teaspoon salt

DOUGH:

1/2 cup whole milk, heated to 110 degrees (2% will work fine)

2 large egg yolks

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons butter, unsalted, cut into 8 pieces & softened

TOPPING:

3 Tbsp cinnamon

4 Tbsp sugar

Preparation

FOR THE FILLING:

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl; mix well. Set aside 1 Tbsp filling. (I usually use a small food processor). Set aside.

FOR THE TOPPING:

Mix cinnamon & sugar together; mix well. Set aside.

FOR THE DOUGH:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position & heat oven to 200 degrees F. When oven reaches 200 degrees, turn it off. Grease large bowl. 
2. Whisk milk, egg yolks & vanilla together in 1 cup liquid measuring cup.
3. Using stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix flour, sugar, yeast & salt on low speed until combined. 

4. Slowly add milk mixture & mix until dough comes together, about 3 minutes. 
5. Increase speed to medium low & add butter, 1 piece at a time, until incorporated, about 1 minute.
6. Continue to mix until dough is smooth & comes away from sides of bowl, 10 - 12 minutes. NOTE: Once you've added the butter in this step, if the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl after 5 minutes of mixing, add 2 - 4 Tbsp of extra flour.
7. Transfer dough to prepared bowl, cover with plastic wrap & place in turned off oven until dough has risen slightly, about 1 hour. 

8. Place in refrigerator until dough is firm & has doubled in size, at least 1 hour.
9. Line 8 1/2 x 4 1/2" loaf pan with parchment paper, allowing excess to hang over edges. 
10. Punch down dough on lightly floured counter. Roll out dough to 20 x 14" rectangle. 
11. Spread all but 1 Tbsp reserved filling over dough, leaving 1/2" border around edges. (I find it easier to spread the filling if I warm it for 15 to 20 seconds in the microwave.)
    
    

12. Working from short side, roll dough into cylinder & pinch along seam to seal. Position cylinder seam side up & roll back & forth until stretched to 18" length. 

13. Spread reserved filling over top of cylinder. 
14. Fold cylinder on top of itself & pinch ends to seal. Gently twist double cylinder twice to form double figure eight. Place shaped dough seam side down in prepared pan, cover loosely with plastic & let rise in turned off oven until doubled in size, about 1 hour. 



15. Lightly beat whole egg in bowl. Remove loaf pan from oven & discard plastic. 
16. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. 
17. Brush loaf with beaten egg & sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture. 

18. Bake until deep golden brown & loaf registers 190 degrees, about 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove loaf from pan & cool completely, about 2 hours. Serve. NOTE: If you use a standard 9 x 5" loaf pan, start checking the babka for doneness after 40 minutes.

Easy Rustic Parmesan Biscuits

This summer, I seem to have been making a lot of dishes containing tomatoes; soups, sauces, salads, etc.

To accompany all of these tomato based dishes, I  created this simple cheese biscuit recipe which has a nice hint of cheese, without being overpowering.  The flavor and texture is reminiscent of home made  shortening biscuits, like my grandmother used to make.  These biscuits are great with soups.

This takes about 40 minutes to make; 10 to 15 minutes of preparation, and about a half hour  to bake.

Parmesan Biscuits

(makes 6)
Skill level:

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling)

1 tablespoons sugar 

1 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 tablespoon kosher salt 

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled butter

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Special equipment:  2 1/2" diameter biscuit cutter

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. 
2. Whisk 1 cup of flour and next 3 ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. 

3. Cut butter into 4 pieces.

4. Put remaining cup of flour in a food processor, and add butter; pulse until pea-size pieces form. 

5. Add milk, cheese, and flour & butter mixture to the dry ingredients; carefully stir until dough forms, adding more milk by tablespoonfuls if dry. 

6. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and roll to 3/4 inch thickness. Using biscuit cutter, cut into rounds. Repeat until all dough is used. 

7. Transfer biscuits to a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and put in the oven. 

8. Bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes.

Home Made Crostini Crackers

One of my favorite snack items are Crostini crackers. They are simple, flavorful, and accompany everything from dips to spreads very well. (I love these with hummus). In addition, there are many varieties available featuring herbs, cheeses, seeds, olives, etc. They are truly a versatile little item, and I usually have a bag on hand.

With grocery prices soaring, especially on "specialty items." The last bag I bought was nearly five dollars, for a 7.5 ounce bag! This seemed outrageous, as the ingredients are simple, and relatively inexpensive. I decided it was time to figure out how to make my own. After a couple of attempts to replicate the store bought Crostini crackers, I created this recipe. The flavor resemblance is extremely close, and, in fact, I almost think mine are better, as they are fresh, and have not sat in packaging, on a shelf, or had to endure long warehousing and transportation to the grocery store.

Best of all, this recipe makes a tub full. As my time is my own, and ingredients are cheap, it costs far less than the grocery store, for significantly more crackers.   

Home Made Crostini Crackers

Skill level:

(I gave this and "advanced" rating, because the dough can be fragile when rolled, otherwise this is an extremely easy recipe)

Ingredients

2 teaspoons yeast

3/4 cup warm water

2 cups flour

1/3 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Additional Flour

Dried herbs (optional)

Preparation

1. In a bowl, combine yeast, water, and 1/4 cup of the flour. Using a whisk, stir together until combined.

2. Allow the yeast mixture to sit for 20 minutes. It will expand and become "fluffy" looking.

3. Using a stand mixer, fitted with the standard stirring attachment, add remaining flour, olive oil, and salt. Blend on medium slow setting for 4 to 5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. When done, the dough will be ribbony, stretchy, and quite sticky.
   
4. Put a small mound of flour onto a clean surface, and speed it out until you have a 6 to 8 inch circle of flour.

5. Scrape dough from bowl, on top of the flour pile.
   
6. Gently kneed the dough in the flour, 10 to 15 times, until dough is no longer incredibly sticky. Kneading time is minimal, as you do want the dough to remain soft and stretchy.

7. Divide dough into 2 parts,
8. Optional: Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of dried herbs onto one of the dough mounds, and gently kneed another 20 to 25 times, until herbs are combined into the dough. (In the pictures, I used a mixture rosemary and oregano leaves). 


9. Round both dough clumps into nice rounds.

10. Loosely wrap dough balls in plastic wrap. 

11. Allow to sit for 1 hour. Dough will rise slightly, and wrap will tighten around the dough.

12. Take 2 cookie sheets, and cut 2 pieces of baking parchment to the size of the baking sheet.
13. Take one ball of the dough, and roll out very thin, on a lightly floured surface. Make sure to roll the dough nearly to the size of your baking sheets.  (I try to leave 1 1/2 to 2 inch borders).

14. Place one piece of parchment on top of the dough.

15. As the dough is very thin and fragile, carefully roll dough and parchment around a rolling pin, and transfer (parchment side down) onto one of the baking sheets.
    
16. Repeat steps 13 through 15 with the remaining dough ball.
17. Use a fork, and poke random holes all over the rolled dough.  The crackers will puff while baking, the random holes keep the crackers from becoming completely hollow.

18. Using a pizza cutter, cut the rolled dough into 1 1/4 wide strips.  (I found that using a knife does not work well, as the dough is thin and sticky).

19. Again, using a pizza cutter, cut the strips into 2 1/2 wide pieces.

20. Place the first baking sheet with the cut strips into a 425 degree oven. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, until the crostini begin to brown and puff up a bit. 

21. Remove from oven, and turn all of the crostinis over, braking apart any that may have stuck together.

22. Bake again for another 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly browned.

23. Remove from the oven.
24. Repeat steps 20 through 23, with the remaining cut dough.
25. When both batches are complete, reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees.
26. Pile all of the crostini onto one baking sheet, and allow to dry and crisp in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

27. Remove "dried" crostini from the oven, and transfer to a cooling rack.
28. Allow to cool completely, as part of the crispness is achieved while the crackers cool.
29. Store in an air tight container, until ready to serve.