Current Events + Sourdough Bread

June 16, 2020 By Korena in the Kitchen 11 Comments

I’ve had this sourdough bread post drafted for months now, but there’s a lot going on in the world and it has felt kind of futile to post baking recipes in the midst of it all. The cookies I made or the cake I baked seem to pale in importance against the current major civil unrest due to systemic racism and police brutality. As a Canadian, it’s tempting to sit back and smugly think that the rampant anti-Black racism we see in the US is not a problem here, but as a WHITE Canadian, I have to seriously check that impulse because we have our own terrible history and ongoing legacy of institutional racism and police violence against Indigenous, Black, and people of colour in this country.

Add all this to the fact that I am a little bit distracted at the moment because – SURPRISE! – I’m currently very pregnant and expecting a baby fairly imminently, and you might understand why I haven’t posted anything in a while

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Rum Raisin Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

April 23, 2019 By Korena in the Kitchen 1 Comment

I first got into sourdough baking back in 2011 after making my own starter as part of a Daring Bakers Challenge. I loved baking with it and maintained it faithfully for almost four years, but then my schedule started getting busier and my poor little sourdough starter eventually died from neglect in the back of my fridge I was pretty sad about it (and kind of embarrassed too – you’ll notice that I never mentioned it here until now!), but I didn’t have the time or energy to put into cultivating or acquiring and maintaining a new starter. Recently though, I’d been wanting to get back into the sourdough game (have you SEEN all the gorgeous sourdough bread on Instagram?!), so last week when a friend offered me some of her 100 year old rye starter, I jumped at the chance. I have been nursing a little glass jar of bubbling flour and water on my kitchen counter ever since and I couldn’t be happier about it! I’ve noticed that this well-established starter is more reliable and predictable than the one I made myself, which probably never quite achieved its full strength as a starter, and I’m very excited to experiment with it.

See all those happy little bubbles?

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Focaccia with Grapes & Rosemary {Schiacciata con L’uva}

October 9, 2017 By Korena in the Kitchen Leave a Comment

Before we get caught up in the pumpkin spice madness that seems to take hold in the fall, let’s take a moment to appreciate the humble grape. Grapes are one of those fruits that I could usually take or leave, except for during the small window from the end of September to early October when Concord grapes are in season. So ten days ago when I saw some Coronation grapes – similar to Concords with with their dark blue-ish purple skin and tangy juice – at the grocery store, I snapped them up because 1) YUM and 2) I’ve been wanting to make schiacciata con l’uva, a Tuscan grape focaccia only made in September to coincide with the wine grape harvest, commonly made with Concord or similar grapes elsewhere in the world. And WOW – this stuff is amazing, the purple grape-iness mingled with rosemary, all sprinkled with coarse sugar and a little salt, not to mention the olive-oil infused focaccia bread base.

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Turkish Simit Bread

July 31, 2017 By Korena in the Kitchen 9 Comments

With our Around the World in 12 Plates leader, Gabby, spending the month of July in Turkey on an archaeological dig (#lifegoals), it only made sense that this month’s destination was Turkey! Seeing her post delicious-looking photos of her meals on Facebook, I was intrigued by her mention of a bread called “simit” that is commonly eaten at breakfast (although it is also popular as a snack any time of day). Simit is sometimes called a “Turkish bagel” because of its round shape, hole in the middle, and sesame seed-covered exterior. Made with a very simple lean dough (just flour, water, yeast, and salt), the dough is rolled out into long ropes and twisted together before being shaped into rings, giving simit its characteristic coiled look. Before baking, each ring is dipped in a mixture of pekmez (a fruit-based, molasses-like syrup – I improvised with half regular molasses, half pomegranate molasses) and water, then coated in sesame seeds and baked until crisp. Once cooled, the crust softens slightly and yields to a deliciously stretchy, soft yet chewy inside.

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Uri Scheft’s Challah

May 31, 2017 By Korena in the Kitchen 12 Comments

I’m a sucker for beautiful bread, and Israeli-Danish baker Uri Scheft makes some of the most beautiful bread I have ever seen. I found a Google Books preview of his recent book, Breaking Breads, and his challah – OH THE CHALLAH – is so lovely I could weep. It reminds me of some rare and mysterious sea creature. Seriously, go look at it right now. Page 41. I’ll wait.

[…whistles, twiddles thumbs…]

Anyway, when Israel was announced as the Around the World in 12 Plates destination for May, I knew immediately that I would be making Uri’s challah. So I did! I’ve made challah before and gotten fancy with the braiding, but this time I got extra fancy with both the braiding AND the garnishing, because challah is a special occasion bread, after all.

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Crescia al Formaggio {Italian Easter Cheese Bread}

April 14, 2017 By Korena in the Kitchen 2 Comments

Every Easter for the past six years, I’ve posted a recipe for hot cross buns, so rather than post version number seven this year, I decided to branch out and explore another kind of Easter bread: the Italian Crescia al Formaggio, an egg-rich bread loaded with parmigiano reggiano and spiced with cracked black pepper.

I’ve been on a bit of a bread baking kick lately (by which I mean I’ve made bread twice this month, but that’s twice more than I have any other month in the past year) and I’m reminded of why I love it so much. Homemade bread rocks. Taking flour, yeast, and water (and in the case of Crescia al Formaggio, some butter, eggs, and about $10-worth of imported Italian parmesan cheese – it’s a special occasion bread for sure) and turning it from raw ingredients into a gorgeous loaf of delicious bread is like having a super power. And no, I’m not hyperbolizing (much).

Crescia al Formaggio in particular is pretty spectacular: instead of kneading the high hydration dough with a dough hook, you beat it with the paddle attachment of an electric mixer until it is shiny and stretchy, giving it an amazing light and fluffy yet chewy and shreddable texture. Combined with the savoury, umami-rich parmesan, the end result is a loaf of bread that slices like a dream and makes the best toast imaginable. And though I’m still going to make a batch of hot cross buns this year (I have my eye on Aimee’s maple version), if you were to present this bread at your Easter breakfast table instead, I am quite sure that no one would be complaining….

Hong Kong Style Pineapple Buns

January 31, 2017 By Korena in the Kitchen 7 Comments

I’ve been feeling a little bereft after the disbanding of the Daring Kitchen last month – those challenges have been a constant in my life and on this blog for the past six (!!) years, and they always provided me with that nudge to get in the kitchen, make something, and post about it, no matter how busy or unmotivated I might otherwise be. So, I’m pleased to have found a new monthly challenge to take part in, hosted by Gabby, aka The Food Girl in Town. Myself and eight other bloggers will be cooking, baking, and eating our way “Around the World in 12 Plates” (or ATW12P), expanding our horizons and learning about other cultures through my favourite medium: food! Each month will feature the cuisine of a different country and our task is to do some research, choose a recipe (or several), and make something we haven’t made before. I am all about baking, so that’s how I’ll (most likely) be participating.

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Cranberry White Chocolate Lemon Tea Braid

December 13, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

Along with the perfect Christmas dessert and the best Christmas cookies, every year I’m on the look out for a delicious holiday breakfast or brunch pastry – and this year, I think I may have stumbled on it kind of by accident. I had half a batch of challah dough in my freezer, a container of cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving, and I’d just seen a photo of the beautiful poppy seed tea “braid” from Luisa Weiss‘ Classic German Baking – and it all came together in a swirly braid filled with cranberry sauce, white chocolate chunks, and lemon zest, glazed with a lemony icing. It was a huge loaf, so I gave some to friends and planned to take the rest to work to share with my colleagues… but plans changed when Nate and I discovered how good it was, and we ate it all ourselves! (Sorry, colleagues!)

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Olive, Rosemary & Parmesan Twist Bread

May 27, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 1 Comment

The May Daring Kitchen challenge was brought to us by Tandy of Lavender and Lime, who provided us with a beautiful bread recipe and a fun twisting technique to shape it. I used to bake bread almost weekly, and this was a nice reminder of how much I like doing it. Homemade bread really is magical, especially when it looks this pretty.

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Hot Cross Buns V6.0

April 10, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 10 Comments

On the Saturday of Easter weekend, we painted our living room. Painting a room doesn’t seem like a big job until you start, and then it becomes apparent just exactly how huge of an undertaking it really is – or rather, just how much prep work there is, what with all the buying of tools and prep and sanding and taping and cutting-in of edges before you even get to the actual painting. All this to say that by Saturday night, I was so exhausted I could barely see straight – yet somehow I still managed to be shaping spicy, citrusy, dried fruit-laden dough into hot cross buns at 11:30 at night, as one does when one doesn’t think Easter is Easter without hot cross buns. So yes, like last year, we are talking about hot cross buns two weeks after the fact.

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