This week seemed to follow the pattern of my 20 time bread baking experience. The pattern: failure then success, failure then success. After flying high from my challah bread of last week I quickly came crashing down when I attempted to make injera, an Ethiopian flat bread. If you have been following my 20 time blog religiously you know that I had originally planned Himbasha, an Ethiopian round yeast bread, my third week of learning. However, I was not happy with any of the recipe I found during week three so I rearranged my baking schedule. As time grew nearer for this bread to be made I was still unable to find a recipe that I liked. Additionally, each time I told someone I was going to make an Ethiopian bread they replied with, "Oooh are you going to make that delicious flat bread?!", to which I would always respond, "No". After hearing this multiple times and my inability to find a receipt I decided to change to injera. As I began my research I glanced at the ingredients I needed:
After going to two stores and calling four others I called off the search for teff flour. The only place I would find it was of course Amazon. Unfortunately I had not planned far enough ahead to order teff flour from Amazon so I was in search for an alternative solution. I found a different recipe that allowed the substation for all regular flour. This recipe was a bit different with the ratio of flour to water which yielded a cloudy water that I was supposed to let sit ad ferment for three days. So I did... My cloudy mixture turned into a separated bowl of water and somewhat mixed flour and water. I remixed it and allowed it to sit for two more days. When the time can I opened the sealed bowl was greeted by a very unpleasant order. I am extremely terrified of food poisoning and really any other stomach malady. it was because of this that I decided I would cook the injera but not eat it. To be fair injera is intended to be a fermented bread similar to sourdough bread starter. To add to my already failing bread the alternative recipe I used because of the lack of teff flour was extremely thin. Once it hit the pan it quickly turned into something that resembled the thin burnt part of a pancake that breaks because of its brittleness. All and all this was a very interesting learning experience. I saw the lack of diversity in markets and stores, leaning almost completely to eurocentric ingredients. I learned about the need for flexibility and alternative paths to completion. And once again I had to familiarize myself with failure in the learning process. This week in my worldly bread journey I made challah. After spending Easter with my Protestant and Catholic family I learned that not everyone knows as much about challah as I did even before my research. So, I though I would take a little time to inform the uninformed masses about challah, its significance, and history. Challah is a slightly sweet braided bread comprised of multiple eggs, white flour, sugar, yeast, water, and salt. It is used in Jewish ceremonies and blessings but can also be found around Eastern Europe in countries and cultural that are not Jewish. In the Jewish religion this bread is blessed and consumed, along with wine, during Sabbath, which is the Jewish time of rest lasting from Friday evening to Saturday evening. If you are preparing challah for Sabbath it is traditional to prepare two loaves of challot (plural of challah) each with braids of six pieces to represent the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Challah is often eaten in the Jewish culture and faith with salt. Salt was essential to the ancient Israelites. Geographically located close to the Dead Sea, salt was ever present in the life of the ancient Israelites. From a religious perspective salt is significant because salt represents the eternal convenient that God made with the Israelites. Salt never spoils or decays just as the convenient between God and the Israelites is everlasting. In addition salt adds flavor to food just as the convenient with God adds meaning and flavor to life. I think thats enough of the basics of challah to get us started...
Update: This week was Easter and my stepdad, aka my toughest critic, requested I make the Japanese milk bread for Easter dinner. Apparently he had already told my aunt, uncle, cousin, and Grammy about the bread and once he got to my Grammy's house proceeded to tell all of my other relatives about how delicious it was and that they had to try it. There was only one problem...I only made one loaf which would probably equal to eight portions...there were twelve people. Oh well in my family if you don't grab your plate and get started you miss out.
On to my challah adventure... I was extremely excited to make challah. I have always been fascinated with the Jewish religion and culture, plus challah is delicious and beautiful. To add to my excitement I only needed to buy eggs and honey. No problem compared to my biscuit market trip fiasco of $25. I found a great cite that had a receipt I liked and pictures of step by step instructions to help me. I have learned from doing this little bread experiment that I learned best when I am given photos. Although not surprising to most of you this did surprise me. I have always been "word smart" and I can pick up a song in no time flat. This left me pondering...have I been a secret visual learner all along...or is this spike in visual learning because of the task at hand? The jury is still out on this question I will keep you updated. Everything was going great. The preparation was simple and the mixing only required ten minutes of kneading, which was nothing compared to the focaccia and the Japanese milk bread. I had to let the bread proof for a little longer because it was chilly but that okay, it just showcased my expert bread makers intuition. The dough smelled amazing. I portioned out twelve somewhat equal dough balls and rolled them into similarly "equal" strands of dough. Everything was going great. Then it was time to braid the challah... As the six legged octopus of dough lay in front of me I was confident. I had watch the video once. I had a lifetime of hair braiding experience on my side. How hard could this be? Fast forward five minutes to the sixth time I watched the video, the forth time of unraveling my mess of a braid, and the single time I snapped at my mom when she tried to assist me in my time of need. It was not going well. I contemplated baking twelve tiny strands of braid very seriously for a moment but ultimately decided that would be ugly (and as I learned from the failed focaccia of last week, even if it tastes terrible at least it can look delicious). I took a deep breathe and coaxed them into something that somewhat resembled the loaf in the video. I like to think of my first loaf following the "first pancake rule"; the first pancake to hit the griddle never goes well, and neither did my first challah loaf. Luckily I had a second attempted because challah is baked in paired loaves, and this one went much better. It actually looked above average if I do say so myself. I let the loaves proof again. Bushed them with egg washed and sprinkled the ugly first loaf with sesame seeds because it needed all the help it could get. I threw them in the oven and waited impatiently. The kitchen started to smell amazing and I was already beginning to beam with pride. As I pulled the dual loaves out of the oven I was ecstatic. They were gorgeous! Ironically, the ugly first loaf was much prettier than the second. It was straight and shiny and had lovely accents of sesame. As I waited for them to cool I cooked some chicken to add the the salad I had made for dinner for my family. Just as it was about time to eat I went to move my loaves. One problem...they were stuck. I had misread the "greased cookie sheet" as an "ungreased cookies sheet". Que breakdown number two. After a little pep-talk from my stepdad and some tricky maneuvering with a spatula they broke free. And let me tell you they were delicious. I could not have asked for a better first attempt at challah. Update: For those of you overcome with curiosity about my Japanese Milk Bread from last week I have an update for you....it was AMAZING! This bread tastes like King Hawaiian sweet bread but not as sweet and a little bit denser. The bread uses a roux called the Tangzhong which is a mixture of bread flour and water; it is heated to a paste. This is what makes the bread soft and delicious. It also helps the bread to last longer. I was immensely proud of this bread. I enjoyed it, my judgmental stepdad liked it, and my cooperative teacher Julia ate so much of it she had to skip dinner. Overall a great baking experience and then the focaccia happened. . . It looked so great in pictures
Focaccia bread is the leavened cousin of pizza dough (aka it has yeast in it). If you are following closing along with my bread baking journey you know I was supposed to bake Ethiopian bread this week, but alas I still have not found a recipe that I like so I changed up the batting order and focaccia was the pinch hitter for this week. Focaccia bread has very few ingredients but takes a long times to prepare....like 3 1/2 hours long. I was flying high off my success from last week. However, the feeling was short lived. I followed the instructions and the outcome looked beautiful but the taste left much to be desired. It didn't taste bad but it didn't taste good either. It was taste neutral. And let me tell you after spending 3 1/2 hours waiting for something to be done taste neutral does not cut it. After moving past my disappoint I thought about where I went wrong and I decided it was the rosemary. The most important part. I bought the wrong kind and that was where all the flavor and excitement comes from. I also am officially in the market for a standing mixer and kneading attachment. So if anyone has an extra $200 let me know. Although I was not happy with the outcome of my project it did not deter me from trying again. This feeling is very unfamiliar to me. I am a perfectionist so often times if I felt I did poorly on a test I wouldn't ever look at the score and the last thing I would was to do is revisit something I already did poorly on...like baking focaccia. But not this time, my interest has been peaked and I want to fix my errors. I think this is pretty great and interesting. My working theory is that because I experienced success with the Japanese Milk Bread I now feel an increase confidence and interest in the bread baking topic. This showed me that students need to experience success in order to overtake the failures. Well I've done it...I mastered Japanese Milk Bread (or Hakkaido Milk Bread). Technically I haven't tasted it yet but it looks amazing and lets face it looks are all that matter now when it comes to food thanks to Instagram. Today when I faced the realization that I was behind on a project, an occurrence that is very unlike myself, I was not looking forward to the idea of flour, measuring, and stressing. I was tired, its finals and the mountain of papers calling out "Miss Conroy" is on the verge of catastrophe but bake I did. My baking experience was completely different than the failure that occurred with my Southern biscuits. As clique as it may sound it made me reflect on learning. Unlike my last baking experience I was too tired to be nervous. I just wanted to get it done which proved to be a plus. The instructions were vague and the receipe I chose was based on the fact it measured in cups not ounces. These simplified instructions required me to take chances and commit to them. This made me invested and excited at each proofing process and the lovely moment when my timer told me it was time to move on. I have never had Japanese Milk Bread so I have no idea how it should turn out besides the brief instructions and sparse pictures. This allowed me to be lost in the process and not the outcome. DING DING DING teaching connection is coming! Because I was moving towards a giant bread question mark I was forced to be present in the steps I was taking and what I was doing. It was truly lovely. Students needs to be presented with processes and activities that will allow for them to be present in the learning and not the grade they receive based on the outcome. Boom truth bomb. You're welcome :)
I have to apologize world...I am a bit behind of my bread based learning. But fear not a new bread adventure will take place on Wednesday! I know the anticipation is killing me too.
The first stop on my international bread adventure is the other coast, the South to be exact. For my first week of self guided learning I explored, experienced, and made Southern buttermilk biscuits. It would be simple to write about the stress I felt trying to follow receipt and make a biscuit my stepdad would not scoff at but that is not what I want to explore in this project. Instead I want to reflect on what surrounds the bread. Southern biscuits make me what want to say "y'all" and "ain't". I think of gravy and Paula Dean. Southern foods are tied to comfort and warmth in my mind. But are these ideas in my head founded on any "real" information about biscuits? I embarked on a baking and research journey to find out. The first place I turned was the Google search bar...of course. I found out that southern biscuits fall into the category of "quick breads".( I found nothing "quick" about the process). Its cousins include: scones, cornbread, and soda bread. Breads like these have a chemical leavening agent like baking soda or baking powder. American Southern biscuits popped up prior to the Civil War as a cheap bread because it did not use yeast, which was expensive at the time. These biscuits utilized the soft winter wheat of the South which is turned into Bleached all-purpose flour. This flour created a softer product that the hard spring wheat of the North. A fact, I am sure, the South enjoyed. When I embarked on my market excursion to get all the ingredients I was struct by two things. The first was that I go to this market several times a week and I struggled to find the unprepared ingredients (flour, baking soda, etc.) I needed. This brought to light the lack of "cooking" a majority of us do and how little food preparation I do. The market was filled with rows and rows of breads, crackers, cheese, and frozen meals. I had never pondered this idea because normally I enter the market tired and hungry. The second thing was that my first baking endeavor was expensive! I had the preconceived notion that it would be cheap because well..it was just a biscuit. It wasn't like I was buying a nice steak or caviar. I spent $21 on the items of needed for this "quick bread". I then realized it was because I had to buy every ingredient on my receipe because I never bake...so I guess I am to blame for that. While I was baking I kept thinking about ideas of family and family meals. The lifestyle of the 50's and expectations of women was prevalent in my mind. I even snapchatted a photo with the caption "getting domestic". These ideas of the perfect housewife is closely tied in my mind to the South. Huge meals with multiple components must be exhausted! I was overwhelmed with just the simple component of the bread! If I were to make these again I am confident the time and cost would decrease. I would not be stressed about following the receipt exactly and would most likely be able to throw these together to add to a breakfast of dinner. The biscuit to me was exactly what I had expected; comfortingly salty and dense like Southern Conservative Republican. I was left satisfied with my self and the brick of bread sitting in my stomach for the rest of the day.
This is not a "real" post but I just wanted to tell the 20time universe that I have tweaked my discovery learning a bit. I have decided to focus each week on a different bread from a different region, country, or culture. Here are my intended culinary destinations:
Let them eat bread!
Oh yes, thank you, I will. For the next five weeks I will be learning about, testing, and most importantly eating bread. Twist my arm, gluten is the devil after all. Bread is the final decision for my 20time project because baking accommodates trial and error practice very well and I learn best through this learning style. I hope to start with simple receipts to work out the basics and then move my way towards artisan bread that is seen in those hipster bakeries in North Park. So wish me luck, because Lord knows I need it. I see some oven burns and bread induced crying sessions in my near future. The idea of the 20% project was used at Google to allow employs to spend 20% of their week exploring new ideas and perusing their interest. Pretty great idea right?! I know. It gets even better...I get to do a 20% project! Learning that is specifically tailored to my interests, mind blowing! With this excited dropped on my brain I am having difficulty deciding what I should become an expert in.
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Morgan Conroyfuture artisan bread baker thanks 20time. Archives
April 2016
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