simit: turkish bagel

These simits are the Turkish version of the bagel. It is a tender but firm bread perfect for mopping up those Turkish Eggs with Yogurt called Çilbir . I made this batch with a cup of whole wheat flour so the simits turned out to be a tad dry. My sister gave me a recipe for Polish Obwarzaneks which I find to be similar in texture to these Simits.

Turkish Simit Breads (adapted from King Arthur Flour)

Yield: 10 breads

Sponge

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

57g water

Dough

All of the sponge

482g all-purpose flour (I substituted 113g all-purpose flour with whole wheat)

1/2-teaspoon salt

25g extra virgin olive oil

255g lukewarm water (105-110˚F)

Water Bath

2 cups/453g water

43g molasses (I used honey)

Topping

71g white sesame seeds

Make the sponge. Combine all the ingredients for the sponge in a small bowl. Cover and let stand 10 minutes.

Make the dough. In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine sponge, flour or flours, salt, olive oil, and water. Mix on low speed until the dough comes together. Knead 6-8 minutes on medium-low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, and it cleans the sides and bottom of the bowl. Pinch and pull the dough into a ball. Place it in an oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with a lint free cloth. Let rest 30 minutes. By then, the dough rose to fill two-thirds of the bowl.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment. Set aside. Combine water and honey in a pie plate. In another plate, mound the sesame seeds. Set aside.

Deflate the dough by pressing down with your fist. Weigh the dough ball. Lightly flour the work surface and roll the dough into a rope about 20-inches long. Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces by weight, about 82g. Roll each piece into a ball. Cover the balls with a lint free cloth while you work with one ball at a time. Roll out a ball into a rope about 12 inches long. Twist the rope in your had in opposite directions then pinch together the ends to seal the ring. Dip the ring in the honey water. Shake off the excess water. Dredge both sides in sesame seeds. Place on the prepared baking tray. Repeat until all the dough balls are used up. Cover with a lint free cloth and let rest to rise for 45 minutes or until puffy. It’s okay if they are touching. While the breads are resting heat the oven to 450˚F/230˚C.

Bake the breads 10 minutes then rotate the baking sheet. Reduce heat to 425˚F/218˚C. Continue baking 12-14 minutes more until the simits are golden. Remove from oven and cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. To store, wrap each simit individually in parchment and foil and store in a plastic zipper lock bag. After 2 days, the breads can be refrigerated or frozen. To serve, split a simit and serve it with meats and cheeses or to mop up the sauces for Turkish Eggs with Yogurt.

çilbir: turkish eggs with yogurt

It’s sour, salty, spicy, garlicky and eggy. It’s a poached egg on a nest of garlic yogurt sprinkled with chili oil and scallions. It’s absolutely delicious. The original recipe for chili oil uses Aleppo pepper but I didn’t have any. I did have homemade Thai chili oil so that’s what I used, even though it is monstrously spicy hot. I regret I was too timid with the chili oil; next time I will spoon it all over. To sop up the oil, the yogurt, and the egg, I tore up a fresh baked simit, a Turkish bread very similar to the Polish obwarzanek and to the bagel.

Çilbir: Turkish Eggs with Yogurt (adapted from Taste of Home)

Servings: 2

1 cup plain Greek yogurt, room temperature

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 tablespoons Canola Oil

2 teaspoons chili oil with sediment

2-4 large eggs

Fresh dill, thyme, or scallion

Sliced baguette, simits, or pita bread

Chili crisp, optional

In a bowl, combine the yogurt and garlic. Evenly portion between two pasta bowls. Set aside.

Make the chili oil. Warm the oil over low heat. Add the chili oil with sediment, heating the mixture for 20-30 seconds. Set aside to cool.

Poach the eggs. Bring a medium saucepan filled two-thirds with water. Bring to a gentle boil. Add a tablespoon of white vinegar to the water. Crack and egg into a ramekin. Stir the water to form a vortex and carefully pour the egg into the center of the vortex. Cook egg 2-3 minutes for very soft egg yolks, 3-5 minutes for jammy egg yolks. Remove the egg from the water with a spider, slotted spoon, or skimmer. Let it drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Continue cooking the remaining eggs.

Serve. Arrange. 1-2 eggs per person on top of the yogurt. Drizzle with cooled chili oil, and if desired, chopped fresh dill, thyme, or scallion. Serve at once with bread.

almond cake 3.0

My third and final almond cake in the series. In other words, this means I’ve used up the last of the marzipan. It’s actually the best cake of the three– David Lebovitz’s take on a Chez Panisse Desserts recipe by Lindsey Remolif Shere. It was smooth in texture, moist and light. Although I scaled down the recipe for a 6-inch cake, it took almost an hour to bake (and could have gone the full hour). I suspect because I had sprinkled almonds on top it had slowed down the bake.

Almond Cake

Yield: 1 6-inch cake

100g sugar (I reduced the sugar by 25%)

112g almond paste, chunks

70g all-purpose flour

2.5g baking powder

3g salt

112g butter, cubed

2g vanilla

2g almond extract

150g large eggs (approximately 3 eggs)

Sliced almonds for sprinkling, optional

Heat oven to 160˚C/325˚F. Generously butter one 6-inch/15.24cm cake or springform cake pan. I used a springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment. Turn it over so the second side is also buttered.

In the bowl of a food processor, add the sugar, almond paste and half of the flour. Process until the almond paste is broken down and the mixture is the texture of coarse sand.

In another bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add butter cubes to the mixture in the food processor, the vanilla and almond extracts, then process until the batter becomes smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, processing the mixture until the eggs are just combined. Scrape down the sides after each addition. If the mixture looks curdled, this is normal.

Now add the flour mixture in two batches, pulsing after each addition, mixing until just combined. What I did was scrape the egg mixture into a large bowl and add the flour mixture to it in two batches, stirring and folding until just combined.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan. Then, I sprinkled the almonds on top. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center springs back when lightly pressed. I baked the cake for 50 minutes but it could have gone 60 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and run a thin blade around the perimeter to release the cake from the pan sides. Let the cake cool completely in the pan, about 1 hour. To unmold the cake, release the springform pan sides and slip the parchment off the bottom. If using a cake pan, gently invert the cake and remove the parchment, then re-invert the cake, sticking back on any almonds that dropped off onto the counter top. Place cooled cake on a serving plate.

everyday 100% whole wheat sandwich bread

I had asked my sister on a visit from Canada, to bring me 2.5kg of President’s Choice Organic Whole Wheat Flour. I discovered it last summer, and found it made a tender, moist whole wheat loaf. At that time I made whole wheat bread using Beth Hensperger’s recipe, a recipe which made an astonishing 2.6kg of dough and resulted in two loaves and a dozen buns. This time, I plan to dole out the flour so that I can try other recipes, such as a whole wheat pizza crust, before the flour expires in December.

Today I made Peter Reinhart’s recipe for whole wheat bread. As it makes two loaves, I made one a standard sandwich loaf; and for the other, I made a bread roll stuffed with Chinese sausage and garlic in chili oil. Because I can, I spread a little Thai chili paste on the dough mainly so that the sausage and garlic would adhere. And of course, also for the flavor.

Everyday 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread (Adapted from Peter Reinhart)

Yield: two 8 1/2-inch loaves

Equipment: one 8.4 inch Pullman loaf pan with lid; KitchenAid Stand Mixer

794g whole wheat flour (plus 4 tablespoons as needed)

14g fine salt

71g brown coconut sugar or brown sugar

1 large egg

56g canola oil

283g lukewarm water (35˚C)

283g lukewarm milk (35˚C)

14g instant yeast

In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, salt, and coconut sugar or brown sugar. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and oil. Set aside. In another medium bowl, combine the water and milk then whisk in the yeast. Let it sit 5-7 minutes to bloom. I noticed the bloom was weak, probably because the yeast package had been opened and refrigerated for over a year.

Add the egg mixture and the water mixture to the flour mixture in the mixing bowl. Using the paddle attachment, mix all ingredients on speed Level 1-2 for 1 minute until combined. At this point I added a quarter teaspoon of instant yeast to the mixture. Let the dough rest, uncovered 5 minutes to hydrate the flour.

Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium low speed (Level 2-3) for 2 minutes. At this point, the dough looked very wet, so I added additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, up to 4 tablespoons. Continue kneading for 4 minutes. I increased the speed to Level 6 for the last 20 seconds that remained, which Reinhart says will “develop and organize the gluten.” At this point, the dough was heavy, a little gnarly, and somewhat sticky. So I oiled my hands and oiled the work surface before turning the dough out. I kneaded it several times then pulled and pinched the dough into a ball, making sure to coat it all around in the oil.

I oiled a dough-rising bucket and put the dough in it. According to the directions, I was to put it in the refrigerator to rise overnight or for up to 4 days. However, after a half an hour in the fridge, I noticed the dough had risen to the top of the bucket. So I took it out to make bread. I turned out the dough and degassed it, poking it all over with my fingertips. Divide the dough in half equally by weight.

Heat the oven to 350˚F/175˚C.

Grease the base and sides of the Pullman loaf pan with a pat of butter. Set aside. Shape one dough ball into a loaf. Flatten it into a rough rectangle, about 8-inches by 5 inches. Then roll it from the opposite long end towards you. Roll it tightly, pressing the roll into the rectangle. Pinch closed the seam. Pick it up and center it over the prepared pan, then drop it in, seam side down. Cover the pan with the lid. Check the progress of the rise after 20-30 minutes. The top of the loaf should be 1-inch below the rim. Close the lid and put the pan in the oven. Bake 40-50 minutes.

With the second dough ball either make another loaf or make a bread roll.

Bread Roll

1/2 recipe of bread dough

283g-340g of Chinese sausage

8-10 large cloves of garlic

1-2 tablespoons doubanjiang or chili-bean sauce

60g canola oil

1/4 cup Thai chili paste

Slit the sausage vertically into two halves. Slice each half vertically three times. Chop each piece crosswise into chunks. Peel and slice each clove of garlic into slices.

In a wok or skillet, combine oil, sausage, garlic. Cook over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. The oil will turn dark red, the sausage will become reddish-brown, the garlic will brown. Strain the oil and reserve it for dipping.

To make the bread roll, flatten the dough ball. Roll it out into a 10×18 inch rectangle. Imagine the rectangle is divided into thirds along its length. Spread half the Thai chili paste down the center third, going all the way to the edges. Sprinkle half the sausage and garlic on top, going all the way to the edges. Fold the right third on top of the sausage and garlic mixture. On top, spread the remaining Thai chili paste. Sprinkle the remaining sausage and garlic on top. Cover with the remaining third of the dough. Pinch the seam closed. Roll it back and forth on the countertop to seal. Place it on a baking tray covered with parchment or silicone baking mat. Cover with a lint free cloth and let it rise, covered, 30-40 minutes until puffy (about 50% in size). Bake uncovered 30 minutes or until browned on top.