Poppy Seed Challah

April 4, 2013 ~ bakingwithsibella.com ~ 36 Comments

The month of March was just not very productive for me in any segment of my life… After shredding a part of my finger early in the month, I didn’t have much desire to cook, bake or type. Lack of sunshine and warmth took its toll… I was so hoping for spring to come and all we got was snow and bitter cold. As I write this it’s still cold out, but the sun is shining, the trees and flowers are budding and it makes such a difference. I also took a few days off from work to spend with my family and to do the things I love – bake and paint.

I really missed getting my hands sticky with dough and having the aroma of fresh baked goods around the house. All I could think of was to bake something good, warm and familiar and nothing sounded better than this challah bread topped with poppy seeds. Every bakery in Bosnia sells this bread. Their sizes range anywhere from a small knot, to an individual size challah to a large family challah. For me, it is an essential part of a good breakfast! It can be eaten just plain or spread with butter, jam, honey, paté or anything you may like. It can be used for a sandwich or for the bread pudding. It looks great on a holiday table!

I painted this while taking a break from baking

Poppy Seed Challah

{print recipe}

Ingredients:

500 g (4 cups) all-purpose flour (+ flour for kneading)
21 g (0.7 oz) fresh yeast
1 TBSP sugar
200 ml (3/4 cup + 2 TBSP) warm water
1 egg
50 ml (about 1/4 cup) sunflower or vegetable oil
½ TBSP salt
Milk for brushing
2 TSBP poppy seeds

Preparation:

Place the flour in a mixing bowl. Make a deep indent in flour, add 1 TBSP of sugar and crumble up the yeast. Lightly mixing by hand, add ¼ of the quantity of water. Mix only inside the indent, just to get a small ball of starter. Cover and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
Combine the rest of the water with oil, egg and salt and stir well. Put the flour bowl back on the mixer and mixing at a slow speed start adding the liquid. Switch to medium speed setting and mix for about 3-, rest for about 3- and then mix for 3 more minutes.
Dough will look nice and smooth. Cover it and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Lightly dust your working surface with flour and knead the dough by hand for a few minutes. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, depending on what you want to make, a three- or four-strand challah.
Shape each piece into a foot long strand. Transfer all the pieces onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Braid the strands to form a challah. Cover the bread and let it rest and rise for about 30 minutes.
Brush the bread with milk and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
Bake at 200 C or 395 F for about 35-40 minutes or until challah gets a nice, golden-brown color.

***More about shaping a four-strand challah here.

Update: Blog merge, New header, New Categories – please come and see

May 1, 2012 ~ bakingwithsibella.com ~ 14 Comments

I decided to merge two of my blogs into one. At first I thought it was a good idea to keep them separate, but in reality it is time consuming, so Little Kitchen of Mine has moved in at Baking with Sibella.

In addition to baking, I am a lover of art, cooking, travel, people, books, photography, architecture, all things creative, spiritual and humane. My posts will reflect, but will not be limited to, all of these…

Since the blog has some new content, I wanted to update the header and add new categories. Welcome to the updated and hopefully improved version of Baking with Sibella.

Thanks for visiting!

Sibella

Apple Dumplings with a twist

October 16, 2011October 16, 2011 ~ bakingwithsibella.com ~ 8 Comments

One beautiful, sunny fall weekend in September, we made a trip to the Amish country in Northern Indiana. Driving through the rolling fields of corn, beans and soy, with patches of autumn colored trees was just amazing and so peaceful. We spent the afternoon at the local Apple Festival and enjoyed the sights of the homemade baked goods, Amish made items, apples, mums and Amish children in their simple, pretty attires.

My daughter and I ate some wonderful apple dumplings with vanilla ice cream and since that weekend I wanted to make them myself. Today was a perfect day, since I bought some small Jonathon apples at the Farmer’s Market.

For this recipe, in addition to Amish apple dumplings I was also inspired by stuffed baked apples (a desert from Bosnia). The end result was super delicious! Take a look!

Dough:

2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
9 tbsp (130 g) cold butter
1/3 cup (75 g) sugar
pinch of salt
grated peel of 1/2 lemon (+ juice)
1 egg

Filling:

6-8 small apples
1/4 (50 g) raisins
1/2 (50 g) chopped walnuts
1/3 cup (65 g) brown sugar
2 tbsp dark rum ( or 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
Egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp of milk

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt and lemon peel and mix well. Add butter and work it into flour until small crumbles form. At the end add the egg, knead it well. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

2. For filling combine raisins and walnuts, add brown sugar and rum (or cinnamon, or both) and set aside.

3. Wash, pat dry and peel and core apples. Brush with lemon juice and set aside.

4. Roll out the dough on lightly floured surface. Using rim of a small bowl, cut out circles for the dumplings. Cut out decorative hearts, flowers, leaves or similar with a cookie cutter.

5. Place an apple in the center of the dough circle, fill the core with the raisin-nut mixture. Enclose the dough. Brush some water over the top and place the decoration.

6. Place the apple dumplings into a buttered (or parchment paper covered) pan. Brush with egg wash and bake for 30 minutes at 375 F or 190C.

Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream or apple dumpling sauce.

Note: I didn’t find necessary to make the sauce since the dumplings are already sweet and vanilla ice cream was just perfect addition.