Rich Boy Syndrome

Our Holy Ambassador to the Mainstream Media, Peggy Noonan, penned a great column today. Here's a tidbit.

Another reason for budget denialism is that everyone now in Congress lived through the greatest expansion of wealth in the history of man on earth. It happened here, in America, in the past 30 years. And we were rich even before that. But when you grow up in a time of constant expansion, when you grow up immersed in the assumption that we are rich and will always be rich, that we're powerful and will always be powerful, you start to think that America can take any amount of damage and still continue. This is called optimism, but it is not optimism, it is Rich Boy Syndrome. A boy is lucky enough to be born to rich parents who are themselves the product of generations of wealth going back as far as the eye can see. But he never got into the habit of making money, never learned to respect it, and never felt protective of the system that allowed it to exist. So the money went away. Rich Boy Syndrome is thinking wealth will just continue no matter what you do. A lot of members of Congress have Rich Boy Syndrome. They think they can do anything and America will always be rich.

It's worth reading the whole thing as this was not her main point, just one of many things in the column that struck me as particularly good.

Little Fingers

I haven't had the time to blog lately, because we have family in town and naturally we would rather be spending time with them. However, today I was looking through my video library and ran across this short clip of my Niece Olivia showing me how she plays the ipod. She just turned three here. I miss this little voice and face!

Challah Bread

I thought these loaves looked so picturesque in my new bread book.  Challah bread is something I see in Whole Foods but have never actually picked up a loaf.  In my Artisan Breads Every Day cookbook, Peter Reinhart uses this bread as his cover photo.

Making this bread was fun and very gratifying.  I haven't tried "braiding" bread before and I was surprised that it wasn't that difficult.  What did surprise me was how HUGE the loaves became while "proofing" and how big they were once baked.  The recipe makes 2 loaves and lasted us more than a week.

I would definitely recommend this bread for people like me who are learning how to bake breads.  The process is easy, braiding is fun, and the final loaves are so wonderfully pretty!

Here is the "how to":

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c (18oz/510g) lukewarm water (about 95F or 35C)

1 1/2 Tbsp. (.5 oz/14g) instant yeast

8 to 10 egg yolks (6 oz/170 g), depending on weight

5 Tbsp. (2.5 oz/71 g) vegetable oil

6 Tbsp (3 oz/85 g) sugar, or 4 1/2 Tbsp. honey

1 Tbsp (.75 oz/21 g) vanilla extract (optional)

7 1/2 c (34 oz/ 964g) unbleached bread flour

2 1/2 tsp (.66 oz/19 g) salt, or 4 tsp coarse kosher salt

1 egg white or whole egg, for egg wash

2 Tbsp water, for egg wash

2 Tbsp poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or a combination, for garnish (optional)

Combine the water and yeast in a mixing bowl and stir with a whisk to dissolve.  Add the egg yolks, oil sugar, and vanilla and whisk lightly to break up the egg yolks, then add the flour and salt.  If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.  If mixing by hand, use a large spoon and stir for about 2 minutes.  The dough should be coarse and shaggy.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed, or continue to mix by hand using a large, wet spoon, for 4 minutes.  Use a bowl scraper to transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, then dust the top of the dough with flour.  Lightly kneed for 1 to 2 minutes, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking (I definitely had to do this).  The dough should be soft, supple, and tacky but not sticky. Form the dough into a ball, place it in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Immediately refrigerate the dough overnight or for up to 4 days (I didn't have time to refrigerate overnight.  I took the dough out after 5 hours and it baked just fine).

When ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 hours and 10 minutes before you plan to bake.  Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and cut it into desired number of pieces.  (I used the 3-braid option).  Make sure all of the pieces are the same weight (I eye-balled it.)  Flatten each piece with your hand, then roll the pieces into a cigar or torpedo shape.  After doing this with each piece, return to the first one and roll it out into a rope 10 to 14 inches long.  Line up the 3 long pieces of dough next to each other (put some space inbetween them).  Take the outer right braid and cross it over the middle strand.  Then, take the outer left braid and cross it over the middle strand.  It take doing and re-doing the first overlaps a few times but it isn't hard to get the hang of it.  Pinch the braids at the tops and bottoms and fold them under so they look pretty and tucked underneath.

Make an egg wash by combining the egg white (or a whole egg) and the 2 tablespoons of water and whisking briskly until thoroughly combined.  Brush the entire visible surface of the loaves (don't get it in the creases because it doesn't show off the braiding as well once baked if it is too browned)  and then refrigerate any remaining egg wash.  Let the loaves rise, uncovered, at room temperature for about 1 hour;  they won't rise very much during this time.  Brush with the egg wash again, then sprinkle on the optional seeds.  Let the loaves rise at room temperature for about 1 hour more, or until increased to about 1 1/2 times their original size (Note!  They were huge.  I had them side by side.  I had to get a separate baking tray for the second loaf because they were rising into each other and onto the counter top.)

About 15 min. before baking, preheat the oven to 350F (177C), or 300F (149C) for a convection oven.

Bake for about 20 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 15 to 30 min. until the loaves sound hollow when thumped on the bottom and the internal temperature is about 190 F (88C).  The crust of the loaf will seem hard when it first comes out of the oven, but it will soften as it cools.

Multiculturalism Explained

... as only Andrew Klavan can explain it.

Two More Celeriac Recipes

I hope you are in the mood for celeriac/kereviz because that's on the menu today!

I was going through my old 2010 diary the other day looking for a number when my glance fell upon a recipe for Spiced Celeriac with Lemon that I must have jotted down in extremis judging by the state of the scribble. I looked at it more closely and rather alarmingly had no recollection whatsoever of who had given it to me or when let alone where so if you recognize it as YOURS, do let me know because I’ve made it and am passing it on! That lemon tang and spicy flavour combine beautifully to make an unusual delicious meze.

Spiced Celeriac with Lemon

Ingredients

1 large celeriac/kereviz

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 ½ lemons

Paprika, pepper, and cinnamon

Olive oil for frying

100 ml/ half a cup water

Method

·         Peel and cut the celeriac into long, thin sticks (julienne).

·         Heat 3 tbsps olive oil in a pan and gently fry for about 15 minutes till slightly browned.

·         Sprinkle with paprika, pepper, and cinnamon. Stir in zest of 1 lemon, the juice of 1 ½ lemons and the water and simmer for about 10 minutes.

·         Arrange decoratively in a shallow dish and serve at room temperature.

 Lovely warming Celeriac Soup is my second recipe: I made it this morning.

This time I had been riffling through Refika’s book again when I saw a Celeriac Soup recipe. Ah, I thought but when I looked closer I saw that it was a ringer for My Colourful Winter Vegetable Soup with the addition of 2 kereviz.

The other ingredients are the usual winter ones ie 1 potato, 1 onion, 1 carrot, plus those 2 celeriacs which I simply  peeled and chopped up, put in a saucepan, covered with cold water and gently boiled for about 15 minutes. I added 1 chicken stock cube.  No oil or butter in this one.  In order to make it  a bit different, I thought I would change the consistency. Out came my trusty stick blender and I blitzed all the cooked vegetables in the saucepan. Without any additions of flour or other thickening agents, it is the perfect velvety consistency with an appealing creamy colour.

 I have just had it for lunch with a wedge of lemon on the side and a sprinkle of flaked red pepper. If this was a cookery book, it would say 'serve with crusty bread'. I didn't have any but I can show you a picture of great crusty bread:

warm and fragrant

I took these photos when I recently visited Şirince (pron: shi/rin/jay), an old village originally inhabited by Greeks very near to Selçuk.  Of course I couldn't resist buying one of these loaves! Note their unusual shape. The bread was actually much better toasted than fresh and survived the flight back to Istanbul, vying for space with my washbag in my case!



irresistible



If you like celeriac, you can also check  two of my previous posts: Celeriac Carpaccio  and  the more traditional Zeytinyağlı Kereviz/ Celeriac in Olive Oil .

Afiyet Olsun!