STIR THE POTS

Simit au levain

Simit is a bread that is  found usually sold in red carts on the streets of towns and cities throughout Turkey. It's simply delicious and the choice of most Turks who seem to enjoy it with some cheese and çay. 

While I had seen the simit carts  on my first trip to Istanbul, I didn't manage a taste. This trip, I made sure to try it. My first initiation was on a ferry ride to a market near Istanbul. Dilara, my host, had our driver purchase some as we waited for the boat. Finally boarding, Dilara inspected the simit, bit into it with a piece of cheese, and her face dropped. According to her it was stale. Later, we had a chance to try it again. Much better. How to describe it?  Well, it's a cross between several different well known and similarly crafted breads; bagels, pretzels, taralli. In otherwords, a hybrid of all these cousins.But with simit, they are plated, dipped in a solution of molasses (pekmez) and water, then coated with sesame seeds and baked.

I can't seem to find a baker back home in New York City who makes a decent simit. So I took a formula adapted from the book, Classic Turkish Cooking by Ghillie Başan. It's a great reference book, which everyone online seems to have interpreted or just copied. Anyway, I felt souring or fermenting this dough with levain would kick it up a bit! Depending on how fresh it is, simit can be airy, chewy, or stale, in which case it really sucks! The best I had was when my friend Gökhan Sökmen, Abracadabra's baker extraordinaire, made g me breakfast, preparing a simit with tomato and melted cheese - a delicious meal.

Anyway I feel it's time to start introducing some of these terrific breads so you can try and enjoy or even close your eyes while chewing on the sesame seed crusted simit and think of Turkey, like I often do.

Simit au levain 

237 g    Levain

781g       flour

164 g    water

10g       salt

Dip:

225 g molasses (I used carob pekmez)

225 water

680 sesame seeds

Mix flour, levain, salt and water. Knead  hand, or  mixer, until the dough is very smooth and resilient. Put the dough in a oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise 2 hours.

Lightly degas the dough place on a lightly floured work surface,  divide into equal pieces,(mine were 50 grams each.) Roll each piece into a loose ball and let rest under a slightly damp towel about 30 minutes.

Roll each ball into a 14 inch/ 35 centimeter long rope. Hold down one end of the rope with one hand while twisting it with the other. Then form this twisted rope into ring, pressing and rolling the overlapping ends together on the work surface with one hand to seal. Place on a greased baking sheet and let rest 1 hour or check with the finger and poke your simit. If your indentation doesn't spring back your about there!

Dissolve the molasses in 225g water in a bowl. Put the sesame seeds on a flat plate or sheet pan and set it next to the molasses water dip. Dip each simit in molasses water solution first, then in the sesame seeds, making sure the ˇ˝simitˇ˝ is completely and thickly coated with the seeds on all sides. Put it back on the baking sheet and let rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 550 degrees Fahrenheit or 287 Celsius  30 minutes before baking. Put a few cups of water in an ovenproof pan and place it in the oven, or spray with a mister.

Take each ring and rotate it gently through your hands, enlarging it into a 7 inch/ 17 centimeter circle. Place the rings back on the baking sheet and let rest for 15 minutes or until well puffed.

Bake about 15-20 minutes until rich golden brown in color.

They are their best eaten fresh out of the oven.

Oh yeah baguettes! SFBI workshop

I have already described my classes at the San Francisco Bread Institute. You can also find my friends Susan, MC and Shiao-Ping talking about their own classes in great length on each of their blogs. I got a lot of practice in all aspects of baguettery, as well as  some quality human contact with people all interested in the same thing, baking bread.

Baguettes are the most commonly-known French bread. It's familiar but isn't easy to bake. Even with the basic ingredients of flour, water, yeast and salt, it's just not simple! Variables such as water temperature, friction factor, percentages, and any principles of baking contribute to make baguettes a challenge.

Getting it right has got to be like the law of averages, no? Not really. It's more like paying close attention to detail; fermentation, pre-shaping, shaping, cuts, slashing, practice and repetition. But once achieved, (the mantra according to SFBI master baker Michel Suas), you can bake anything!

With great thanks to MIchel, Safa Hamzé and all the staff, I present you with the baguette!

Updates: Bread baking, sourdough kind!

Sure, I said posts would be far and few between. But I got some stuff I have to share!

Here are just a few loaves I was able to conjure from my levain, working on some new ideas in the meanwhile, plantain and quinoa bread?

In this batch there are my most recent test on simit, a Turkish bread, soured of course!

Then a cranberry levain I gave to my barber, Frank.Sicilian, from Aetna, he loves bread. In fact, when I used to bring him bread from my classes at FCI he wouldn't accept tips. He still doesn't. For Frank, loaf of bread is enough. According to Frank, the best thing is a nice bread with olives. I concur. 

Here's my ever favorite Miche. Its' the same recipe from MC's blog. It came out just as nice, but....it stuck to the pan. Didn't have any parchment paper and stupidly, I forgot to put some semolina on the bottom of the creuset pot. Safe to say, read notes, follow directions and well, it's a nice loaf, none the less.

Out of the frying pan (and into the fire). Literally

It's not as if my vacation was long enough. It wasn't. At least it doesn't seem so to me, even between wonderful visits to San Francisco and Istanbul. Most people I know considered me nuts for cooking throughout both trips taken within that vacation. Like my mom, who constantly urges me to relax. Get out of the kitchen. I tell her cooking for me "does it."

When I cook or bake, it's my "zone.  Back again, manning my stoves at work, it's harder for me to do that dreamy vacation style cooking - care free and what not. No, instead it's the steam engine principle style cooking, humping pots and pans, calling out orders.

Still I don't go into work on weekends. That's a luxury for most chefs. So I can still do my baking and some nice dinners for the home. Just like a circle, then it's back to whacking out food for the masses, Monday through Friday! So my post maybe fewer and less frequent, but no worries, I am still here! So to keep you busy I have some food photo's to share in between my rather full schedule! Below are photos, like duck pate with pistachios, my dinner the other day at work!

Baguette with whatever was left in my fridge, coming back from my SFBI class.

Simit, a Turkish staple, my latest attempt at converting these breads to sourdough.

Chicken with forty cloves of garlic, whew! Served with farro,Tuscan kale and white beans.

Yeast, is a friend or foe, mortal enemy or just a quickie?

Just finishing up some uploads of my latest loaves, my leaven being a bit unresponsive. In fact, maybe it's the one responsible for this funk that started on returning from my extended vacation? Even after getting reacquainted with yeast at SFBI, it still feels awkward, since I barely ever use it! And perhaps my levain is getting  back at me for leaving it for almost three weeks in the cold chill in the back of my empty fridge. It isn't feeling good, this levain of mine.

Since my recent post, I endeavored to make another loaf with the re-fed and sickly looking sourdough. There is one currently proofing for a retard overnight. Got my fingers crossed. Tomorrow it moves from the chill of the fridge towards it sacrifice within the heat of my  oven. In-between, I'm waiting amid head scratching and desperation, fears of havoc that will wreak apart my  nurtured yeasty bacteria.

My latest loaf is fully leavened with commercial yeast. "Eeeegad!" you might exclaim, "the lazy baker is even lazier than we thought." The truth? This baker is no purist, nor do I judge others who indulge in baking with the stuff. There are so many ways to bake and things to bake. Flat breads? Crackers?  But honestly, I am still looking for that perfect loaf. Not an airy one, or a store bought baggy thing. No, I aim for a handmade bread, which will always be better then the alternatives. Even with yeast, just that  bit of leverage from those dried up granules, or maybe you will say it's even cheating, if you want to call it that, ok, but a loaf made by hand is an honest loaf, levain or no levain!

And for that matter this loaf looked okay. Potato bread, t's good enough for brekkie tomorrow with some eggs, jam or cheese. No telling where this leads me, pre-ferments, poolish, nah, not likely, I got sourdough in my genes, and really it tastes better!

Bread funk...

Since returning home from vacation, my bread has been less then good. After making a vain attempt to make decent bread in Turkey with strangely un-absorbing flour and the dreaded commercial yeast anyone experienced sourdough baker avoids,(usually?), the results of baking bad bread has fermented into an irritating brew in my head. Try as I might, all of my attempts have failed. The loaves have sucked! I am in a funk, my ying and yang are off, my chakras are not in tune, as this baker has repeatedly failed to simply bake a nice loaf.

After a week of prepping for a tasting for my club's board members, I tried again. And again, I found myself in a rush. When would I be able to bake and enjoy a decent homemade loaf? I wasn't about to buy one, or let my wife purchase a store packaged bread. I found myself eating crackers this morning, waiting impatiently as my loaf took its sweet time to rise. Time was short. I had to get to work. I was impatient and found myself repeatedly touching the loaf for signs of life!

Even with the convenience of retarding a loaf, overnight, I felt at the mercy of the sourdough. Sometimes the change of weather can screw things up. Cooler air, global warming, blame it on someone else. In truth, I was just being lazy, hoping for miracles. That's what I think it is, preparation, feeding my friend, my levain, taking time... and what's my point? Take a deep breath, follow the rules and sometimes instinct. Most of all,  listen to your dough. It will tell you everything. What else?  Take notes. Maybe even take the temperature. Just don't get lazy, as it makes for a crappy loaf and some hungry family and friends!

This was my breakout loaf, inspired and based on MC's Valentine miche. I didn't have any high extraction flour, so I subbed 20 percent white whole wheat flour, and for the rest all purpose  and bread flour in the final mix. Tastes good, but I know the next try will be better. I'm getting my groove back. Thanks MC!

What makes this Alsatian?(tarte aux quetsche)

"What makes this tart Alsatian?"

That's a question posed to me after they sampled my dessert for a dinner party. Hmmm? Quetsche or plums, it reminds me of late summer early fall; almonds, pate sucree a hint of sugar and cinnamon. More specifically, it brings back memories of my childhood in Alsace. We lived in a  town called Wissembourg until my family emigrated to America. Years later serving in the U.S. Army, I traveled to the the border regions of Germany and Switzerland, where similar confections appear in bakeries and in homes. The difference is sometimes they add custard to the plums, or the dough is called murbteig rather then pate sucree. But these are close cousins of quetsches and zwetschge, depending on what part of the Rhine you're standing. Regardless, I love their simplicity, a crust filled with the sweet, sour, and pleasing taste of plums and the delight it gives me when I eat a slice, or two, hmmm or three!

 

 

 

 

Pide,Tunçilik=dinner

The weather got warm again in New York. Feels like summer and time to enjoy the last bits of it. I found some nice peppers and eggplant shopping at Fairway market in Redhook, all to say that I was ready to act on a porterhouse steak dinner. But I wasn't in the mood for a grand production. I quickly changed gears and  instead went for something easy; vegetarian in fact!  Tunçilik, a Thracian dish I often ate for meals at Abracadabra. The smokey flavors and unctuous oil rich dish is comforting, especially topped with some yogurt and some fiery Aleppo pepper flakes.  As with any Turkish meal, a bread was needed, and I was out of a loaf, so I whipped up some pide, a recipe sent by Dilara, modified it into a sourdough pide.This is a non-recipe recipe for tunçilik - basically you roast or grill an eggplant, a tomato, a couple of banana peppers,(aka "Carliston pepper") and chop some garlic, make a simple vinaigrette of vinegar and oil, a dash of salt and pepper, chopped parsley, voila!

Pide you asked?, well ok here it is:

Straight dough

Flour                250g 

 salt                      5g

 sugar                 15g

 yeast                   5g

 water               160g

Sourdough version:

levain                 82 gr

flour                   210gr

water                 110gr

 salt                     5gr

yeast                    2gr (optional if your in need of hybrid dough?)

make   a smooth dough soft as your ears lobes,(Dilara's directions), cut 50gr balls and let them rest a half an hour, than "flatten" them, brush with some yogurt on top and and dot them with your finger tips towards the edges,top with sesame, hashhash,(Turkish spice) zatar, almost anything you like on top.. oven 270 C or 520 F (if your oven gets that hot!)

Down in the cave, check'n out the salami!

Today I went out to Sorriso's to restock my pantry, picking up mozz, farro, and some salcicce! Frank came from around the counter and said hello, then thanked me for our post on his great store.  He said some people came out just from hearing about his Salumeria from our blog, word of mouth. That rocks!

As I was readying to pay, Frank asked if I had a second. He wanted to show me something. We walked passed the end of the counter, and then Frank ushered me to a very dicey staircase. "Watch your step," he said as he warily navigated himself, like a Sherpa going up Mt. Everest, or down, only we were in Astoria rather than Nepal. "In case you fall, I am in front," he said with a laugh. Then he opened a door and switched on a light and... wow! Huge salamis were hanging everywhere.

Frank pointed out how they were already getting the white fuzzies as they were drying. Very cool. Frank proudly told me how making these products were his passion. His statement meant a whole lot to me. It's not often you find these sort of artisans who want to make things with their hands and heart with such passion. Especially in a city like ours, where time doesn't stand still and there's nothing slow about our life or our food. But Frank still makes 50 lbs of cured meat, a process which takes an entire day, from six in the morning till six at night. It's worth it! The taste is... bellissimo. So I asked him to invite me back when he makes another batch. I have to learn this charcuterie thing. My next lessons are coming up in two weeks!!

In the summertime...what's left of it!

Seems so odd that I was sunning in Aegean just weeks ago. Now returning home, it's fall! Global warming perhaps, or just the sad fact the vacation is over and I am behind the stove again.

So last week I spent a couple days at my mom's house in Stamford, Connecticut. With it's haphazard looking skyline, it's downtown with no feeling of unity, it's not my favorite town. But I come here to see my dear mother and we usually end up eating a lot, with me usually at the helm, or stove! Then to digest, we go to the nearby beach, walking out on the jetty looking over the Long Island Sound or just along the beach. Below are some shots of the waning summer season.

   

I took a bike ride around the surrounding towns, through the hilly neighborhoods, some working class places I knew well from my years in high school. I passed road signs reminding me of the years I spent here till I shoved off for the Army and finally into various kitchens to learn my trade.

When I arrived refreshed from my ride, we ate my old time favorite, Aioli; not the sauce only but the fixins, steamed vegetables and fish accompanied by the aioli.

 

My mom hasn't made it for a while, and I think she missed a step but we corrected it. She churned garlic and egg yolks in her mortar and whisked in oil. "More garlic mom," I said! She concurred. The chef knows!

The next day was Labor Day. The air was cooler as I stepped out to inspect my mom's garden, the basil making its final push to be turned into pesto for later in the fall and winter.

Her neighbor Randy, the hunter, BBQ man from the Carolina's was already lighting his barbecue. "Hey, how you doin chef," he asked in his familiar Carolinian drawl! He was getting some ribs and chicken ready to smoke. We always exchange notes on gas grill versus charcoal.  I much prefer his charcoal to my mom's gas grill, but you make do!

Now I am back to my own stoves at work, stoking the fires, dealing with menus, orders, parties, summer will be missed, but if seasons come and go I know it will be back again...hopefully soon!