Challah - A New Recipe

Ever since college I had my used my tried and true challah recipe that had served me well - it produced a nicely flavored dough with a medium crumb that I enjoyed very much. It happened this year that I committed to making challah for a Rosh Hashanah dinner, but wasn't sure that I would have time to bake it that day. In anticipating this conundrum, I came across a recipe for Stress-Free Challah, which intrigued me. Like the popular recipes for no-knead dough, this recipe involved mixing together a wet dough, letting it rise for 2 hours, then shaping and baking with no proofing required. It turned out that I would have time to make my usual recipe for the dinner, but the recipe lingered in my bookmarks list, especially since it had the potential for being so much easier. Finally, months later, I decided to make a test batch for some friends coming over for shabbat dinner. As it happened, by this time I had come across a recipe for no-knead challah on the King Arthur flour website that was slightly different, and I was conflicted about which to try. Fortunately, Couldn't Be Parve had already encountered this recipe herself and based on her comments, I decided to go with her recipe. I decided to mix the dough and let it rise on Thursday night and then set it in the refrigerator overnight until I was ready to bake it on Friday. Everything went smoothly, and I found the whole process indeed much less stressful than some of my prior challah baking experiences. The challah came out looking beautiful - with certainly less of a crumb than my usual recipe, but more of the rich egg-y texture that people enjoy. Being that it sat in the refrigerator overnight, it did have a bit of a fermented flavor, but I don't feel that that detracted in any way from its flavor.

The following week I made the challah for a large shabbat dinner, this time going through all of the steps of the recipe on Friday. Again, I ended up with beautiful challot. While I might still stick with my first recipe for some special occasions, I think this will be my new go-to challah recipe.

Daring Cooks April 2011 Challenge: Edible Containers

Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

I did not submit my creations to the contest, but you're still welcome to vote if you so desire.

I was at first a little daunted by the idea of constructing an edible container, but couldn't help but be inspired by all of the creations other Daring Cooks came up with and posted. I ultimately decided to make pierogies, which then led to the making of blintzes, and one could say that both of these may or may not technically count as edible containers, but I understand each of them to be sufficient for the challenge. After all, the pierogies do consist of a potato and cheese filling encased in a pasta-type wrapper and the blintzes a cheese filling in a crepe wrapper. So, that settles that.

The story goes that I had been wanting to make the pierogies for a while after coming across a recipe in the Daring Kitchen archive. I was taking some time off from working for spring break, and I made it a goal for the week to make the pierogies. After setting out on a mission to find farmer's cheese, I readied for the cooking action. As it happened, I ended up having a guest chef keeping me company in the kitchen for the evening (his idea), which is a whole other story.

In short, the pierogies took A LOT of time. Kneading the dough could have been a good first date bonding experience, but rolling the dough to 1/8 inch thick, which I took charge of, was not so much. I was definitely breaking a sweat in my 50 degree kitchen. After we got them cut and stuffed, there was still boiling and then frying to do. While I had the dough ingredients ready to go in a bowl and the filling almost mixed, it still took a solid 3 hours before we made it to the dinner table. By that time I was exhausted and my guest was probably a little worn out too.

In the end, the pierogies looked good, but only tasted OK. I felt like they needed a more flavorful filling, and I didn't really see the benefit of making them from scratch over buying some of the frozen. So I guess you could say it was a disappointing evening in many ways.

At this point, I was left with half a container of farmer's cheese, and I certainly wasn't whipping up another batch of pierogies. After some searching, it seemed like cheese blintzes would be the appropriate use for the cheese, which conveniently also fit with the edible container theme. This time I cooked solo, and it was a much more enjoyable experience. Of course, the blintzes take much less time and are much less labor intensive - I mixed up the batter in the blender and made the crepes (who knew I could do make crepes?!?), wrapped them (my technique could use a little work, but I'll get the hang of it eventually), fried them, and topped them with blueberry sauce, and a satisfying dinner was had by all (me).

Not having been much of a cheese blintz eater over the years, I can't say how these would compare with frozen blintzes or other recipes, but I thought the whole package was pretty fantastic. The flavor of the filling was mild, but it was complemented nicely by the blueberry sauce.

So in conclusion: I don't plan on making pierogies again, I would like to make blintzes again, and I don't plan on cooking with or otherwise seeing the guest chef again. But I guess that's what trying out recipes, and men, for that matter, is for.