The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Baking for the Jewish Holiday

louie brown's picture
louie brown

Baking for the Jewish Holiday

Greetings. The crazy heat in my kitchen broke for long enough to allow me a few loaves for the holiday, although the heat was so great at times that my dough just died. After a long-awaited vacation coming up next week, I am looking forward to more reasonable conditions for baking when i return.

 

Anyway, Silverton's olive bread, which never disappoints. I've shown this before, but this time, instead of a single two kilo miche, I made half kilo loaves as gifts (and one, the batard, for toasts for the holiday dinner.) I'm showing them this time because I proofed the one in the front right in a floured towel in a fairly straight-sided mixing bowl. This yielded a much rounder loaf than the proofing baskets. The cell structure is exactly as desired and expected. I used twice as many olives as called for, a mixture of oil cured, kalamata and Sicilian green.

Glezer's sourdough challah. A bit tart, due to overproofing. You can see that the lobes of the four strand round braid have "melted" together some. breadsong's recent application of this form for Larry's cheese bread was much nicer. Nevertheless, a delicious, rich bread with an interior that is both soft and has some tooth. Needless to say, it made great french toast.

Comments

varda's picture
varda

holiday baking!    I made my first round challah this year for RH.   The strands didn't stick together but I only was able to do two rotations.   I haven't figured out how to roll it out in thin enough strands.  It's a learning experience.    Your olive bread looks great.  And it looks like half the olives would be way too little.  -Varda

louie brown's picture
louie brown

I get four to five rotations from the braid by letting it rest a little. That's for a one pound loaf. Not infrequently, I'll rush it, and the strand will tear, which is a lesson I should eventually learn.

I'll just be glad for better baking conditions here soon.

Syd's picture
Syd

Can't see your images, again, Louie.  Usually, it is because I am not logged in to imageshack.  First time I couldn't see your images, I went and created a imageshack account.  Then on subsequent occassions, all I had to do was log in (if I wasn't logged in already) to see your pics.  But not so today.  However, based on what I know of your baking, I am sure they looked excellent!

Best,

Syd

louie brown's picture
louie brown

I really should try another method for inserting the photos, not to mention using the white balance to get rid of that ugly green fluorescent tone. I do appreciate your confidence, though.

Stuart Borken's picture
Stuart Borken

The breads look fantastic and the crumb is perfect.  I need to try to do what you have done.  I only make New York Deli Style Carraway Rye breads from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  I do them for the chopped liver and the mock chopped liver.  

louie brown's picture
louie brown

Perfect crumb is a relative concept in this company, a goal that recedes just as you think you're near it. The encouragement and experience you find here is what makes us better bakers. 

You got me hungry for some chopped liver.

holds99's picture
holds99

Syd,

Your olive loaf and challah look delicious.  FWIW - I got my start baking sourdough breads years ago usingNancy Silverton's La Brea Bakery book.  In fact, I'm still using the off-spring of the original starter I made from her grape recipe---never fails. 

Thanks.

Howard

louie brown's picture
louie brown

Syd's a terrific baker, holds99, but we should probably leave to him the choice of being associated with my efforts. Thanks for the compliment, though. I'm a fan of many of Silverton's formulae.

holds99's picture
holds99

I knew it was your post, but had just read a post Syd had made and hadn't completely cleared memory.  Maybe my clutch is slipping.  Clutch or no clutch you did a terrific job on both loaves.

Again, sorry for the recall meltdown,

Howard

louie brown's picture
louie brown

Your recall meltdown matches my proofing meltdown on the challah

ananda's picture
ananda

Good baking louie

Best wishes

Andy

louie brown's picture
louie brown

A slightly bumpy reentry into the baking season, but it's good to be doing it. I appreciate your comment.

Franko's picture
Franko

Hi Louie,

Really good looking loaves you've made here, with excellent crumb on both the Olive bread and the Challa. The slashing on the Olive bread is very good as well and quite attractive. Nice baking Louie!

Franko

louie brown's picture
louie brown

Many thanks for your kindness. It's great to be baking again.

We are spending a couple of weeks in Venice soon, where good bread is hard to find. Even the sweet baked products aren't what they used to be. After that, I'll dig in with both hands.

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hi louie,
It is so nice to see more of your pretty olive breads, and the challah look like flowers to me :^) So beautiful!
Thank you for your compliments on my cheese loaf :^)
I hope you have a wonderful holiday in Venice!
:^) from breadsong