IN PRAISE OF WHITE FLOUR

Sandy says:

Did you ever triumphantly snag a great, front row seat at a seminar, then spend the next half hour trying to figure out how to leave without actually looking like you’re leaving? Yeah, it didn’t work for me either. It’s not that my seminar wasn’t OK, but it was about croissants made with 100% whole grains, while RIGHT NEXT DOOR there was another booth where a miracle, in the form of challah, was in progress. Rabbi Jonathan Rubenstein was demonstrating the craft, and art, of braiding his “Slice of Heaven” challah. I sidled over and pretended that I had been there all along, and I had a taste. It was, well, heavenly – soft, moist, sweet and tender, and made with, - gasp! - WHITE FLOUR! Demon flour! Bankrupt and devoid of any nutritional anything flour, refined to a pale imitation of its former self. Bad, bad flour.. get thee behind me Satan flour, … but still! I like it. There I said it. I. LIKE. IT.

Challah, croissants, sweet holiday breads (the progeny of many ethnic gene pools), bagels, hamburger buns, birthday cake (butter cake, lemon filling and coconut frosting please) and any bread worthy of being spread with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, needs to be baked with white, and only white, flour, so help me God. Amen.

I’ve tried whole-wheat brownies and corn meal pastry crust and they just don’t work for me. I’m old! I’m set in my crotchety ways and I want my whoopee pie to taste whoopee pie-ish. But, I do have standards. Low, yes, but important to me in a fervent, evangelic way.

One, if I’m going to eat something made with white flour,…. from now on I’ll just refer to it as Lucifer, ….. it has to be of good quality, - unbleached and unbromated. And, two, I have to make it from scratch. This accomplishes my personal goal of feeling morally superior and it burns off at least 10 or 15 calories as my arm jiggles while I’m holding the electric beater.

I could digress and give a fascinating and erudite explanation of the bleaching and bromating process that most white flour, … oops, Lucifer,… undergoes before landing in your local Piggly Wiggly, but I won’t. I’ll just say that bleaching, as in BLEACH, is good for laundering clothes, and, arguably, brightening your smile, but not for the food I put into my chubby little temple, thank you very much. And, bromates are known carcinogens. YIKES!

As for the “from Scratch” part, I direct your attention to the list of ingredients on a box of, say, yellow cake mix. Seriously? What IS that? Even I, a professionally ranked couch potato, can see the benefit of taking a little extra (5 minutes, really) time to put some flour, leavening and sweetener in a bowl instead of emptying out a box of chemical, um, stuff.

So, here’s to good ole Lucifer. It doesn’t have the cache’ (or the nutrition,- I’m not a dummy!) of whole grains, but an occasional treat made with, well, … you know, is fine and there is certainly room in this personal tummy for both.

Michael says:
When I first started teaching baking classes for Adult Education in Norwich, Connecticut, the students in one of my first classes wanted to know how to do a traditional Challah. Since all I knew about Challah was that it was an egg rich bread, I sought out an expert, the local Rabbi’s wife. Mrs. Chana Geller was gracious enough to share a recipe that she was given from an old-time baker, Mr. Morris Strick.

Mrs. Geller invited me over to her house one Friday to make Challah and my introduction was to 10 loaves that day. The six-stranded braid is a beautiful shape and isn’t seen often enough. One of my students was a young woman who was working for a pharmaceutical company.  A few weeks after the Challah class she called me and said that her mother had come up from New York for a visit.  Before she arrived my student made the Challah recipe and used it all in one huge six-stranded braid.  When her mother arrived she gasped at the Challah an asked where she had found such a beautiful bread in Connecticut. The daughter said that, even with several advanced degrees, the proudest moment in her life was when she told he mother: “I made it."

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Challah

1/2 cup warm water (75° F)

Pinch of sugar

1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

2 packets active dry yeast

1-1/2 cups warm water (75° F)

1-1/2 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs, lightly beaten

6 – 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)

Vegetable oil, as needed

1 egg beaten with a pinch of salt

In a 2-cup measuring cup or bowl combine the 1/2 cup warm water (75° F), pinch of sugar, 1/2 cup flour and the yeast.  Mix to combine, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and set aside until foamy.

In a large bowl add the 1-1/2 cups warm water, sugar, salt and vegetable oil.  Lightly beat the 3 eggs and add to the water mixture.  Add the proofed yeast mixture and mix to combine.

Add 5 cups of flour, one cup at a time (if using raisins, add after 4th cup).  Mix after each addition.  When 5 cups have been added add enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that comes away from the sides of the bowl.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Scrape all the moist particles from the bowl and add to the dough.  Discard any particles that appear dry.  Lightly oil the bowl and set aside.

Knead the dough, adding only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and the work surface.  Take care not to add too much flour.  The dough should be moderately soft dough.  Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic and does not stick to your hands or the work surface, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Place dough, smooth side down, into the oiled bowl.  Press down lightly and turn dough over to oil all surfaces.  Cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press down to deflate the dough.  Lightly knead back into a ball and return to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel and let rise again until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press down to deflate the dough and divide in half.  Divide each piece into six pieces and lightly form each into a short tube. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel and let rest 10 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 350 – 375° F.

Take 6 pieces and form into a strand, about 12 to 14-inches long, slightly ticker in the middle and tapering to blunt ends.  Braid into a six-stranded braid and place on a lightly greased or parchment covered baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Repeat with the remaining six pieces.  Let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Brush with beaten egg.  Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds if desired.

Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the loaves are a golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom (internal temperature should be between 195 – 200° F).

Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.

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NOTE:

For a printer friendly copy of our Challah recipe visit our web site at http://www.stoneturtlebaking.com/webdocs/recipes.htm  

Instructions on making the six-stranded Challah braid can be found on the Tova Industries, LLC web at: http://www.tovaindustries.com/challah/6strand.htm