I was watching a newsgroup that I belong to on facebook recently and someone asked where they could buy challah bread from. Being the inquisitive soul that I am, I googled challah bread and found a link that gave you the instructions to make it from scratch. Really it was so easy. I just had to share! Being in the depths of winter in New Zealand, I felt like a meat free meal - I do that occasionally. One of my sisters gave me a recipe book many moons ago, maybe 30 years ago - , and the first recipe that I wrote in it, was for her pumpkin soup recipe. So last nights dinner was pumpkin soup and challah bread.
The pumpkin soup recipe is delicious - and not time consuming.
Don't look too carefully - but my knife skills are still being developed and my knife is not that sharp! But I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
3 cups of pumpkin sauteed in 50 grams of butter
1 1/2 cups of chicken stock of course I always use Jacob Burton's white chicken stock - and get nervous when the freezer is low
1 1/2 cups of milk
Salt
Cook until pumpkin is tender and mash.
In another pan - sauteed 2 onions
about 30 grams of butter until onion is soft
1 heaped teaspoon of nutmeg
ground pepper (and I like more rather than less) but to taste
cook spices
Then add to the pumpkin pot - and add
1 cup of cheese
Cook for ten minutes -
Soup is ready.
For the bread - very easy - you will need:
1 ziplock bag - and believe me I used a sandwich size
3 cups of white flour
1 tablespoon of yeast
1 cup of cold water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup of oil
give it a little massage and then place in the ziplock bag into a bowl of warm water for 30 minutes
Then add 1/4 cup of flour
Another little massage -
Place on kitchen bench and let rise for 1 hour.
At the expiration of one 1 hour, you divide the dough into three equal balls and roll out like sausages. Then you plait the strands.
Then you give the dough mixture an egg wash and add sesame seeds on top - if that is to your liking.
Bake at 150 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes
Serve up fresh bread. You do not need butter! It really is probably one of the best cleanest recipes I have found which is not time consuming, messy and requires a day to make.
Really bread made in a bag, no expensive equipment and endless hours of kneading.
The video is here:
https://www.facebook.com/sojewlish/videos/642087279282104/UzpfSTEwMDAwMjA5NTAzNjAwOToxODI5MjUzMzEwNDg3ODE5/
