Rgaïf – A Flatbread for Bread Baking Babes

STRETCHED TO THE LIMIT

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. 

– Cecil Beaton 

Curiosity often goes hand in hand with fear. Curiosity, inquisitiveness has driven me my whole life, yet fear has more often than not held me back, kept me from exploring, discovering, trying. I would love to be daring, jumping into things with both feet, hair flying, eyes wide open (or eyes shut tight, throwing my fate to the gods, having complete faith that I will land squarely on both feet), yet fear gets the better of me once too often. Some people, brave souls, grab fear by the horns, turning it into some kind of adventure or a personal challenge. Others, such as I, avoid it, sidestep around it, keep it at bay no matter how strong its twin, curiousity, gnaws and titillates.


Curiosity and fear stand hand in hand in my own kitchen. We are adventurous eaters and normally pretty adventurous cooks. My husband, as you know, stomps forward fearlessly, tossing things into a pot, simmering, stewing, tasting, never really worrying about how it will turn out. He believes that you just have to try or you will never know.

I, on the other hand, not so much. Not as daring. I fear that a recipe or experiment won’t work, that it will not please my family, that everything will just end up being dumped in the trash. Or disappointing. And so I put off projects. For years. Panna Cotta. Pastry Cream, Mayonnaise. Yeast bread.

Yet, when I finally gather together the courage, it all usually comes out. Sometimes fine, sometimes spectacularly. And even if hit or miss, well, it is never really that bad, is it now? Sometimes I need to be pushed… by husband, by circumstances or by friends. And who doesn’t love a good cooking or baking challenge? The lovely Bread Baking Babes have made me stretch my courage, my daring and my talents to the limits. And stretched almost to the breaking point, once or twice. Like this month’s recipe. I am simply not very good at pan-cooked flatbreads but Lien, our Kitchen of the Month, chose Rgaïf… and I put it off until… today. The posting day for February’s challenge. But as this is the Babes’ 6th Anniversary, I knew that it was doubly worth putting out the effort.

I believe the most important single thing, 

beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare. 

– Maya Angelou 

Making the dough is quite simple and fun, even the very long kneading process is fun. Stretching the dough is tricky and fiddly and most definitely needs practice, but really worth the effort. No rising time and no oven baking, all done in a pan on the stove, make this a great last-minute treat for either savory (to accompany a curry or a tagine) or sweet (a wonderful snack slathered with honey, maple syrup, jelly or jam or chocolate-hazlenut spread).

Go on… dare!

Thank you Lien of Notitie van Lien for choosing Rgaïf as Bread Baking Babes recipe for February.

Check out Lien’s Rgaïf and then visit all of the Babe’s and see how theirs turned out – I even think some of the Babes filled theirs before cooking! And if you want to be a Bread Baking Buddy this month, find out how on Lien’s BBB post.

Bake My Day – Karen
Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire – Katie
blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
Feeding my enthusiasms – Elle
girlichef – Heather
Lucullian Delights - Ilva
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies – Natashya
My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
Notitie Van Lien – Lien
My Diverse Kitchen – Aparna (new Babe!)
Bread Experience – Cathy (new Babe!)

RGAÏF
Recipe adapted from Vrijdag couscousdag by R. Ahali

Makes about 10 flatbreads.

500 g flour
5,5 g dry yeast
½ tsp salt
± 250 ml water
50 ml olive oil

Mix flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl.

Kneading by machine: Add water and start kneading with the dough hook, adding more water as necessary. Knead until the dough is very elastic and doesn’t stick to the sides anymore.

Kneading by hand: Make a well in the centre and add some water, start mixing in the flour where it touches the water. Little by little add more water and keep mixing in the flour. Start kneading, grease your hands with a little oil to prevent sticking. Knead about 20 minutes. Add water if it feels too dry. The dough needs to be very elastic and no dough should stick to your hands.

To shape: Make 10 dough balls. Coat every ball with a little olive oil. Let them rest for about 5 minutes. Flatten the ball with your hand as much as you can. Stretch the dough. Take care to get no (or a little as possible) holes in the dough. You need to stretch the dough until it gets as thin as you can, thinner than paper if possible. It’s best done on a counter top, stretching the dough and sticking it to the surface, so it doesn’t spring back. This is not easy. Now fold the dough in squares by folding the round sides inwards.

Cook the squares in a hot large pan on both sides until browned. Only use more oil if the Rgaïf stick to the pan. You can also deep fry them (as the do in southern Morocco).

To serve: The Rgaïf can be served with a savory meal ; they are perfect eaten with curries or tagines, or eaten with sliced méats, cheese, etc. They are also wonderful eaten as a snack with jelly or jam, chocolate spread, maple syrup or honey. The Rgaïf can also be filled much like naan before folding and cooking.

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Chocolate Prune Bread Redux

BREAD BAKING BUDDIES ROUNDUP

Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; 

and good bread with (chocolate*), greatest of feasts. 

- James Beard (1903 – 1985) (*change is mine) 

The only thing better than a good loaf of bread is sharing that loaf with friends. Now throw chocolate into the mix and just imagine how phenomenal! The greatest feast, indeed. Who hasn’t smeared a slice of white bread with Nutella or split open a hunk of baguette and tucked a few squares of chocolate deep into the soft, dense center? Who wouldn’t choose a pain au chocolat over a simple croissant? And isn’t chocolate bread pudding so much more… comforting than the regular stuff? Go on… admit it.


As soon as I received the new edition of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, I jumped at the chance to be Kitchen of the month for the Bread Baking Babes. I adore all of the Artisan Bread in 5 books, not to mention the blog, and wanted more than anything to share the love, to vaunt the greatness of their baking books and the perfect of their no-knead formula and recipes. For the Bread Baking Babes challenge, I needed one single recipe, something that was unusual enough to make it an intriguing challenge while delicious enough to make everyone want to bake it… and to draw non-Babes, fellow bloggers and bread bakers to want to join in and bake for their Buddy badge.

I combed through the index, flipped through the pages and made a list of several recipes I wanted to try. Too many. I had to choose just one. I decided on the Chocolate Prune Bread. As sweet, as chocolaty as one wanted, prunes could be replaced with dried cherries, blueberries or cranberries. As versatile as any great bread recipe. But I knew that it couldn’t but please everyone. Many were expecting something bordering on cake, but it was most definitely a bread: soft, light and fluffy, tender with barely a hint of sweet except for the bits of chocolate, as much or as little as one desired. The chopped prunes or dried cherries added a burst of flavor, fruity and tart.

Visit my original blog post in which I posted the challenge as well as the recipe and don’t miss out on visiting every single one of the Babe’s blogs to see how they can take one recipe and spin it a dozen different ways. 

The Bread Baking Babes:

Bake My Day – Karen
Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire – Katie
blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
Feeding my enthusiasms – Elle
girlichef – Heather
Lucullian Delights - Ilva
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies – Natashya
My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
Notitie Van Lien – Lien

And now, without further ado, here are all great bakers who earned their Buddy badge!

Paola at Le mie ricette con (e senza)

Carola at Sweet and That’s It 

Sandie at Crumbs of Love

Clare at Claire’s Baking Journey

Karen at Karen’s Kitchen Stories 

Renee at Kudo’s Kitchen by Renee 

Ralph at Hungry in San Francisco

Laura at Tiramisu

Barbara at Barbara Bakes

Cathy at Bread Experience

Judy at Judy's Gross Eats














Passionate bakers without blogs or not posted on a their blog:

Lorna Steeves

Louisse Persson

Igusti Ayu Dewi (Elra’s Baking)

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Chocolate Prune Bread for Bread Baking Babes

ARTISAN BREAD IN FIVE FOR THE BABES

The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, 

is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight...

- M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

It has never been a secret that I am a huge fan of Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François’ Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day books. I now own three of them. I adore my cookbooks and have hundreds, but there are very few that I actually cook and bake from regularly, over and over again. And the Artisan Bread in 5 books are definitely among that cherished minority.


My first attempt at yeast bread was a Thanksgiving long ago when I lived one floor up from my brother in that ratty apartment building in Brooklyn. What I thought would be an exciting, glamorous job in the world of art brought me to New York City just after college and happy I was when the apartment above Michael opened up just as I began my own search for living quarters. I moved my meager belongings and my wide-eyed, rather naïve young woman’s dreams into that one bedroom flat. As we both loved to cook and bake, we spent quite a bit of time together preparing meals, cakes and holidays. Our first November as neighbors, that first November of my new life, we decided to prepare a full-fledged traditional Thanksgiving dinner, yet another first for me.

I had absolutely no understanding of yeast and yeast baking. I had no concept of allowing yeast to activate, being patient while dough rose. Needless to say, my breads, no matter how beautiful the braid, no matter how glossy the crust of that Challah, the bread itself was hard and dry. My brother and I laughed heartily together as we sliced and ate the Challah, which we did, of course. Memories are hazy, but I imagine that the following morning, Michael turned that stale Challah into tender, luscious French toast. Or whizzed it in his mixer where it became breadcrumbs or stuffing. Embarrassed and disappointed by my endeavor at making yeast bread, it was years before I attempted it again. Yet my lesson had not been learned, for I once again found myself with rock-hard rolls. Oy. Not a proud moment in my culinary history. Only years later when my sons and I decided to prepare a wonderful, formal Friday night Shabbat meal every week and I began making a Challah each Friday morning, did I slow down and figure it all out.

My very first Challahs and very first yeast breads.

If only I had had a copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Seriously. Jeff and Zoë offer a slew of incredible recipes for no-knead bread. Yes, that’s right, no knead. Simply put all of the ingredients in a bowl, mix and allow to rest and rise. Or place the bowl of dough for a slow rise in the refrigerator and pull off balls of dough as needed, shape, allow to rest and rise and pop in the oven. No-knead….no-fail. I have had perfect bread every time. And as you can see, their perfect recipe is now my go-to recipe for Challah and Focaccia.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Maple Challah

Classic Challah

Focaccia Farcita

When Jeff and Zoë sent me a review copy of The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, I immediately volunteered to be Kitchen of the Month for the Bread Baking Babes. I wanted to share and talk about their new book. And I wanted to select a recipe that was different from what I usually bake in my own kitchen, a new challenge. There are so many new recipes that I want to try – the Pletzel, the Blueberry-Lemon Curd Ring, the Pumpernickel Date and Walnut Bread – but I ended up choosing this wonderful Chocolate Prune Bread.

I loved the bread. The dough itself was stickier, almost cake like, than most bread doughs and, once baked, it is difficult to decide (as I pull off and eat chunk after chunk) whether it is a bread or a dessert, but it is so delicious. Light and fluffy like a bread, the addition of chocolate chips (I made one loaf with and one without and I highly recommend that you do add them) and prunes making this loaf the ideal snack.

January’s Bread Baking Babes recipe is Chocolate Prune Bread from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (revised & updated edition) by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoë François. You too can bake along with us and be a Bread Baking Buddy. Simply bake this Chocolate Prune Bread, blog it – don’t forget to mention being a Bread Baking Buddy and link back to this blog post! Then send me the link (please include your name and your blog’s name) by January 29th to jamieannschler AT gmail DOT com with January Bread Baking Buddy in the subject line and I will add you to the roundup at the end of the month.

For now…. definitely check out if and how the other Babes managed their own Chocolate Prune Bread:

Bake My Day – Karen
Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire – Katie
blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
Feeding my enthusiasms – Elle
girlichef – Heather
Lucullian Delights - Ilva
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies – Natashya
My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
Notitie Van Lien – Lien

I want to share this wonderful Chocolate Prune Bread with Susan of Wild Yeast for her weekly Yeastspotting!

To get to know Jeff and Zoë and for more great recipes, visit the Artisan Bread in 5 website.

According to Zoë and Jeff, this bread goes really well with either a glass of milk or… a glass of Armagnac (of course… prunes and Armagnac!). And just think of all the possibilities for this wonderful dough with its tender, fluffy, just chewy crumb and delicate chocolate flavor… use your imagination!

CHOCOLATE BREAD RECIPE (Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bread)
Makes two 2-pound loaves. This recipe is easily doubled or halved.

2 ½ cups (565 ml) lukewarm water (100°F or below)
¾ cup (170 ml) vegetable oil
1 Tbs (0.35 oz / 10 g) granulated yeast
1 to 1 ½ Tbs (17 to 25 g) kosher salt – * use less if using fine table salt, more if using coarse salt
1 cup (7 ounces / 200 g) sugar
5 ½ cups (1 pound, 11 ½ ounces / 780 g) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (3 ounces / 85 g) dark, unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ cups (6 ounces / 170 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips - * can omit for the chocolate prune bread

Mixing and storing the dough:

Mix the oil, yeast, salt and sugar with the water in a 6-quart bowl or a lidded (not airtight) food container.

Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and the chocolate chips without kneading, using a spoon or heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle). If you are not using the machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.

Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle with cold. Refrigerate the container of dough and use over the next 5 days. Beyond the 5 days, freeze the dough in 1-pound (about 450 g) portions in airtight containers for up to 4 weeks. When using frozen dough, thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours before using, then allow the usual rest and rise time.

Chocolate Prune Bread:
Makes one 1 ½ pound loaf

1 ½ pounds (about 680 g – the size of a small cantaloupe) of the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bread dough
Softened unsalted butter for greasing the pan
2 ounces (55 g) high-quality bittersweet chocolate - * use 6 ounces (170 g) if you did not add chocolate chips to the original Chocolate Bread Dough
¾ cup chopped pitted prunes
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbs water)
¼ cup (50 g) sugar for sprinkling over the top of the bread and preparing the pan

On baking day, generously grease an 8 ½ x 4 ½ - inch (22 x 11 ½ cm approx) nonstick loaf pan with butter, sprinkle some sugar evenly over the butter and shake the pan to distribute.

Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 ½ pound piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a ½ - inch-thick (scant 1 ½ cm) rectangle. As you roll out the dough, use enough flour to prevent it from sticking to the work surface but not so much as to make the dough dry.

Sprinkle the chocolate and chopped prunes over the dough and roll up the dough jelly-roll style to enclose them. Fold the dough over itself several times, turning and pressing it down with the heel of your hand after each turn. This will work the chocolate and prunes into the dough; some may poke through.

With very wet hands (I floured my hands instead), form the dough into a loaf shape and place it into the prepared pan. Allow to rest and rise for 90 minutes, loosely covered with plastic wrap.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). A baking stone is not required and omitting it shortens the preheat.

Using a pastry brush, paint the top of the loaf with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake the loaf in the center of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes until firm. Smaller or larger loaves with require adjustments to baking time.

Remove the bread from the pan and allow to cool on a rack before slicing and eating.

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Modern Lardy Cake

HOLIDAY BAKING

Here he produced a decanter of curiously light wine, and a block of curiously heavy cake, 

and administered instalments of those dainties to the young people. 

– Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol 

Once again, we arrive in that limbo between Hanukkah and Christmas. I wait for hints, curious to know what his decision will be. Sons wiggle around us looking for clues that something is afoot, bringing up (once again) the topic of gifts. Hanukkah has come and gone in its own very quiet way amid subtle displays of joy, bringing us together as a family, and now we watch as the city dresses itself in its Christmas finest bringing a bit of cheer to the drab seasonal weather. But whether or not we will be celebrating Christmas this year has yet to be decided.



Although Hanukkah is our holiday and we do not celebrate Christmas, there is definitely something about this season conducive to baking. It could be the misty skies the color of tarnished pewter, the occasional spatter of rain against the windows, keeping us inside, cozy and comfortable with little to do except write and bake. It could be the glittering of the Christmas lights in the streets below, brilliant and gay against the dark night sky that makes us feel all romantic and warm inside, desiring nothing more than being able to offer something freshly baked, redolent of cinnamon, heady with chocolate and rum, or spiced and studded with fruit and nuts, to those we love.

Winter rolls in on a wave of misty white, the fog hanging heavy and cruel over the city. No joy, no snow. Sunshine playing hide and seek with the rain. The icy chill penetrates every pore of one’s body and no matter what one does, no matter how many blankets or pairs of socks the cold simply seeps in. But the gloom and gray of a midwinter day doesn’t dampen my excitement for the onset of this, my favorite season and all of the festivities. The holiday spirit seems to have arrived and settled in, as the bustling marketplace is alive with shoppers pushing their way towards stalls overflowing with seasonal treats. Garlands of gold and silver sneak their way in, Santas pop up on velvet hills of snow and visions of sugarplums, smoked salmon and oysters dance in my head. The first strains of Winter Wonderland and Rudolph signal the beginning of the Christmas season.

But chez nous, one never knows if it will be Scrooge, the Grinch or one of Santa’s merry elves that will arrive at our house, be blown in over the threshold on a blast of cold air. When the boys were little, Hanukkah flowed into Christmas easily when and if their grandparents would be visiting. Once or twice, a tree had indeed been lugged home, set up and decorated by three sets of hands. Once, when the boys were in high school, the Christmas spirit whipped Clem into a merry frenzy and he dragged a lumbering evergreen (or so we thought) back to our apartment, forcing our hand, demanding we not be the only ones of his acquaintance not to participate in the seasonal festivities. We decorated that tree, shared special Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve meals around it, merry and bright, and then waited post-holidays for Clem to drag it away. Until we were sliding around in puddles of sharp pine needles weeks later. And arguing over whose responsibility it was to remove the thing.

And once in a while, husband dons his proverbial Santa hat and his jolly disposition and announces that this year he would like Christmas. For someone with Scrooge-like tendencies when it comes to most holidays, it must mean that he is feeling somewhat wistful and nostalgic. It must mean that he needs the warmth of gathering us, wife and sons, closely around him, shutting out all worries and cares for the time of a long, slow, peaceful meal. It means that he desires nothing more than spending a long afternoon and evening in joy and conversation, laughter and indulgence, hilarity and delight.

Yet, no matter his choice, the season encourages baking. Something about the cold and inclement weather has me craving cinnamon-rich treats, neither too rich nor too sweet, that go perfectly, merrily, with a cup of coffee either for breakfast or snack. Homey, warming, comforting. Yet with a touch of the festive.

And so this month’s Bread Baking Babe’s challenge was perfect! Our hostess for December is the lovely Lien of Notitie Van Lien and she chose a Modern Lardy Cake, which I found to be utterly perfect for the season. Traditionally, the Lardy Cake is (obviously) made with lard, but this version is made with butter. Layers of dough reveal swirls of dried fruit-studded cinnamon-nutmeg sugar, creating a laminated bread traditionally English and eaten for special occasions, holidays and harvest festivals. So as simple as it may seem for those of us who are used to really rich holiday treats, it is a bread… or teacake reserved for a celebration. I loved this Lardy Cake just eaten as is, or dipped in café au lait while husband spread his with lots of jam.

Take the folding and rolling slowly and carefully, trying to keep the dough from tearing and too much filling oozing out. Several Babes found as I did that a total of 3 rather than 4 folds and rolls was enough. I decided to bake mine in a small rectangular pan instead of a round one. This was quite a fun bread to make and so delicious to eat that I know I will be making it over and over again. A winner!

If you would like to bake the Modern Lardy Cake with the Babes, you can earn your Bread Baking Buddy badge and be included in the round up at the end of the month. Just head over to Lien’s blog for details.

Meanwhile, check out all of the Babes’ Modern Lardy Cakes! And be inspired! This is the perfect treat to serve the family while decorating the tree and house, wrapping or unwrapping gifts and to serve friends and family when they drop by. Perfect with coffee, tea, milk or hot cocoa. And a few good old holiday movies.

Bake My Day – Karen
blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
Feeding my enthusiasms – Elle
girlichef – Heather
Lucullian Delights - Ilva
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies – Natashya
My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
Notitie Van Lien – Lien
Paulchens Foodblog – Astrid
Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire – Katie

I want to share this Modern Lardy Cake with Susan of Wild Yeast for her weekly Yeastspotting roundup!

MODERN LARDY CAKE
From “Warm Bread and Honey Cake” by Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra

Lardy cake is not a cake, but a bread that is laminated with lard with some raisins or currants. We have replaced the lard with butter, giving a fresher, more modern twist on the Lardy Cake. This is not a rich bread like a coffee cake, but a lightly flavored, gently sweetened bread almost, but not quite, like a challah or brioche type bread. We loved it precisely because it wasn’t overly sweet and rich, just the perfect bread for breakfast smeared with jelly. Or eaten as a snack. It stays fresh for a couple of days. Definitely make this during the holidays to have on hand when family or friends visit.

Dough:
375 g strong white flour
1 ½ tsp active dry yeast
1 Tbs sugar
¼ tsp salt
35 g butter, melted and cooled to warm/tepid
± 200 ml milk, warmed

Filling:
100 g butter, softened
75 g soft dark brown sugar (make sure it is soft and lump free; if not use granulated brown sugar as I did)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp freshly grated or ground nutmeg
50-75 g currants, raisins or other dried fruit (I used dried blueberries)

Beaten egg, to glaze

1 – 2 Tbs granulated brown sugar (my own addition for dusting on the bread)

24 cm (9 in) round cake tin (pref. a springform) – or a rectangular pan of similar volume

Make the dough:

Put all of the dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl. If using a heavy-duty stand mixer with a dough hook, knead until smooth and supple. If working by hand (as I did), stir the flour and salt together in a mixing bowl; make a well in the center and add the sugar and the yeast to the well and then add the warm milk and allow the yeast to activate for about 10 minutes. Add the warm melted butter and stir everything together until all the dry ingredients are moistened and it pulls together into a scraggly ball. Bring the dough together in a ball, scrape onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly until smooth and supple. Return the dough to the bowl (or place in a lightly oiled clean bowl). Cover with clingfilm/plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Make the filling:

Blend the butter, sugar and spices together until creamy. I used a hand mixer for this to keep my hands clean and it comes together creamy and smooth easily.

Knock the risen dough back and re-knead it briefly. Roll it out to a rectangle about 50 x 25 cm (20 x 10 in), the long side perpendicular to your body, the shorter side right to left. Spread the filling evenly over the top two-thirds of the dough sheet, leaving one outer third empty and about 4 cm (1 ½ inch) on all sides. If using, sprinkle the dried fruit over this and press down to embed. Fold the empty third over the middle third and the remaining third back down over this – you will have three layers of dough in a small rectangle “package”. Pinch all the edges well to seal the filling in. Cover with a sheet of clingfilm and leave to rest for about 5 minutes to relax.

Give the parcel a quarter turn – the new rectangle will once again have the long side straight up away from you, perpendicular to your body. Gently press the rolling pin down to seal and flatten slightly, then gently roll it into a rectangle about 30 x 15 cm (12 x 6 in) or a bit bigger. Fold into thirds again and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Repeat this procedure three more times for a total of four folds, turning the dough by a quarter turn and rolling and folding. If you find you are losing too much filling, omit the final turn. (I folded the dough in thirds for a total of 3 times)

This is a delicate, difficult and sometimes messy work as the filling oozes out in weak spots, so press and roll out lightly and gently, taking your time. Patch them up as well as you can and continue to work. All the oozing bits will caramelize nicely as the cake bakes. But you don’t want to loose too much filling as the laminating effect.

Grease the tin and put the dough packet in it, then flatten it with your hand to fit it in as well as possible. Cover with clingfilm/plastic wrap and leave it to rise until almost doubled.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).

Brush the dough with beaten egg, and dust generously with the granulated brown sugar. Bake until brown; the bread may spread a bit and will not rise during the baking. The total baking time will vary: the author instructs to bake for 25 – 30 minutes but I baked mine for 1 hour as did several of the Babes.

Remove from the oven, but leave in the tin for about 5 minutes. Carefully release the clip and turn the cake upside down on a wire rack. Remove the bottom of the tin, which will probably still be attached to it, and leave to cool further. (I lifted my Lardy cake out of the pan with a spatula)

Eat warm or room temperature, cut into wedges or slices.

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Aloo Paratha for Bread Baking Babes

BUSY WORK

An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him 

and he's usually too busy to wonder why. 

– William Faulkner 

The busy week was actually kicked off last Friday with my now weekly Skype meet up with my writing partner, the illustrious and super talented Molly Watson; at the end of each hour’s session, we are given an assignment and mine was to buy an agenda. A paper calendar on which I can write down my projects in black on white, give myself deadlines – impose deadlines upon myself – and have it constantly in front of my eyes. Said purchase made, I discovered that the agenda begins mid-December and I jokingly boast that this leaves me off the hook for another month.

But I have too many projects hanging mid-air to allow that to happen. Several articles unfinished, not to mention my promise to write one single chapter of a future memoir by the end of November and have it sent off to an agent. Have I even begun? Ilva and I scurried around to put together the information for our Plated Stories workshop for the good folks at Tuscan Muse so it could be announced. So, yes, busy and productive I have been, even if I still spend too much playing, too much socializing. But you know how the old saying goes: All work and no play….

Meanwhile, I spent a glorious Tuesday afternoon at the newly opened Radisson Blu Hotel in Nantes at a goûter presse, a special presentation and tasting for the local press, of pastry and chocolate chef Vincent Guerlais’ holiday creations – chocolates, individual pastries and his very special bûches de noël. This was an interesting, convivial afternoon and Vincent, as huge a star of chocolate and pastry as he is in Nantes as well as all over France, is a delightful, funny, personable man and his creations are beyond incredible. This Saturday, Vincent Guerlais is hosting Nantes’ Amateur Macaron Competition and I am so thrilled and proud to be a member of the jury alongside an impressive, illustrious array of Michelin-starred chefs, journalists, former macaron competition winners and a former Miss France! So I will definitely be writing and telling you all about it next week!

Vincent Guerlais

Guerlais' own chocolate and caramel take on the traditional LU Petit Beurre Nantais cookie

And Sunday morning, husband, Marty and I are off for a three-day trip to Brest to visit our friends and take a short break. (* Since writing this post, my dear mother-in-law passed away; our trip to Brest cancelled as JP leaves and heads south for the funeral.)

I did find time to make this month’s Bread Baking Babe's assignment! And I am thrilled that I did because it was not only great fun to make but so delicious as well! Our wonderful hostess Karen of Bake My Day chose Aloo Paratha (or Parantha), a potato-filled Indian flatbread. As the bread contains no yeast, it is a flash to put together. The filling is so versatile one can go classic in a million different ways or go completely off the books and create a new and unexpected filling. I made the classic as given in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything from whence the recipe came.

If you want to make this bread with us and be a Bread Baking Buddy, click over to Karen at Bake My Day to get the details. But before you do that, check out if and how the other Babes baked their Aloo Paratha:

Bake My Day – Karen
blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
Feeding my enthusiasms – Elle
girlichef – Heather
Lucullian Delights - Ilva
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies – Natashya
My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
Notitie Van Lien – Lien
Paulchens Foodblog – Astrid
Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire – Katie

Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings. 

– Jane Austen 

So as I get back to work like the busy bee that I am this week, I leave you with the wonderful recipe for Aloo Paratha and I wholeheartedly urge you to bake along with the Babes this month because the Paratha are so easy and fun to make and just crazy good to eat!

Feel free to play with the fillings; visit the other Bread Baking Babes to see what they have done! We love this potato filling, but I will be adding a handful of chopped fresh cilantro next time. Go ahead and try adding garam masala or thinly sliced spring onions, peas or cauliflower in place of some of the potatoes. These were so easy and fun to make – the only thing that took time was the cooking of them one by one – but easy, fun and so delicious we will be making these often!

ALOO PARATHA (or PARANTHA)
From Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything; his recipe modified from one he learned from Indian cook and cookbook writer Julie Sahni

 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups flour + more for rolling out the dough
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ajwain* dried thyme, or ground cumin
2 Tbs neutral vegetable oil, such as grapeseed or corn, plus more for brushing the breads
1 ½ lbs (680 g) starchy potatoes, peeled and cut in half
1 jalapeño or other fresh hot chili, seeded and finely minced or more to taste
2 tsps ground coriander
Freshly ground pepper
Juice of ½ lemon
Melted butter to serve

* aiwain comes from carom seeds which look like celery but taste like very strong, slightly coarse thyme

Combine the flours with the teaspoon salt and the thyme or cumin in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add the oil and ¾ cup water. Stir or mix (I use a wooden spoon) until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky to the touch. If it is dry, add another tablespoon or two of water; in the unlikely event that the mixture is too sticky, add more flour a tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough out onto a work surface and, using flour as necessary, shape into a ball; wrap in plastic and let rest at room temperature while you make the potato mixture. (At this point, you may wrap the dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate for up to a day or freeze for up to a week; bring back to room temperature before proceeding.)

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and add water to cover and a large pinch of salt. Turn the heat to high, bring to a boil, and adjust the heat so the mixture simmers steadily; cook until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes, then drain. Mash the potatoes along with half the chili, the coriander, a large pinch of salt, some pepper, and the lemon juice; taste and adjust the seasoning (you may prefer more chili; sometimes aloo paratha are quite hot; I added a bit more lemon juice and next time I will add a pinch of salt as well as a handful of chopped fresh coriander).

When the dough has rested and the potatoes mashed, set out a bowl of all-purpose flour and a small bowl of oil, with a spoon or brush, on your work surface. Lightly flour your work surface and your rolling pin. Break off a piece of dough about the size of a golf ball. Toss it in the bowl of flour and then roll it in your hands to make a smooth ball. Flatten it into a 2-inch disk, then use a floured rolling pin to roll it into a thin round, about 5 inches in diameter, dusting the work surface with flour as necessary.

Mound about 2 tablespoons of the filling into the center of one of the rounds of dough. Bring the edges of the round up over the top of the filling and press them together to make a pouch, pressing the gathered dough together to seal. Press down on the “neck” of the pouch with the palm of one hand to make a slightly rounded disk. Roll it out again into a round disk 6 to 7 inches in diameter, turning the disk a quarter turn with each roll so the disk is a nice even circle. Pat it between your hands to brush off the excess flour. Put the paratha on a piece of plastic wrap on a plate and cover with another sheet of plastic wrap. Continue to roll all of the remaining dough into parathas and stack them on the plate with a sheet of plastic wrap between them. You can keep the paratha stacked like this for an hour or two in the refrigerator before cooking them if necessary.

Heat a griddle or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat for a minute or two, then put on a paratha (or two, if they’ll fit) and cook until it darkens slightly, usually less than a minute. Flip the paratha with a spatula and cook for another 30 seconds on the second side. Use the back of a spoon or a brush to coat the top of the paratha lightly with oil. Flip and coat the other side with oil. Continue cooking the paratha until the bottom of the bread has browned, flip, and repeat. Do this a few times until both sides of the paratha are golden brown and very crisp, 2 to 3 minutes total for each paratha. As the paratha finish, remove them from the pan and brush with melted butter if you’re going to serve hot; otherwise wait until you’ve reheated them.

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