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[ITJB Challenge] Week 1 - Mohn Bars

loydb's picture
loydb

[ITJB Challenge] Week 1 - Mohn Bars

It's kickoff week for the Inside the Jewish Bakery Challenge - Semester 1. We're starting off with Mohn bars.

The bars are made up of three sub-recipes: 1-2-3 dough, a poppyseed filling, and streusel on the top. I used KA bread flour instead of home milled this time.

Baking notes:

  • The food processor did nothing for my poppy seeds -- I ended up using my blender, which did a great job.
  • I ended up adding almost a half cup extra of water while boiling the poppyseed mix.
  • Also, through bad reading, I boiled the honey rather than adding it at the end.
  • I cooked the shortbread an extra 10 minutes to get some color into it (and it's still pretty pale)
  • I cooked the final bars an extra 15 minutes, with the broiler on for the last 2 mins, to get the streusel browned

These bars are illustrative of why I'm in the challenge -- they have a (wonderful) flavor that I've never encountered, and would have never thought to try. I'm hoping there's still half a pan left for my wife to take to the office tomorrow, I really don't need to eat all of these :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Loyd,

You are a very versitile baker!  I am amazed at the variety you keep coming up with and wonder where you get all the time to bake, clean up and then the wonderful write ups that include great step by step photos...makes me want to bake and bake and bake.....

Take Care,

janet

loydb's picture
loydb

I telecommute most of the time (I'm in Texas, office is in California), so I can spread it out throughout the day. I like to make sure I stand up and move every 45 minutes or so, which works pretty well for stretch-and-fold schedules. I don't think I could keep it up if I was in the office 5 days/week. I've automated all the photoshop tweaks, and know exactly what camera settings work best at this point. A typical blog entry takes maybe 15 minutes (at least half of which is usually me arguing about HTML with the editor). :)

 

HeidiH's picture
HeidiH

Me, too.  Me, too!  That every 45 minutes beep of the timer is great for getting me away from the keyboard while I'm doing "piecework."  Keeps the circulation going.

I told hubby my contribution to the baking challenge would be to make just 1/2 a batch but he will have none of that.  So, time to thaw two sticks of butter for the mohn bars.

 

HeidiH's picture
HeidiH

loydb's picture
loydb

... that I don't have any left to eat. Those look good!

My wife has a bunch of meetings on Tuesday, I'm going to try and time my Florentine bake so the cookies are out of the house within 24 hours of being cooked :)