Baking in Marikina
26 February 2013
One of the things
we’ve missed most here is good bread. We normally bake quite a lot back in the
U.S. but very few people here have ovens. They tend to really heat up peoples’
homes and take up space. We were lucky, though, to make friends with some
Americans leading a study abroad program in our neighborhood who have access to
a big oven. We made a date to bake bread there last night.
We made two types
of bread, a potato/garlic/onion bread, and challah. We didn’t use very good
flour and were missing a few ingredients (rosemary is very hard to find here)
but we were pleased with the results. One interesting thing is that the
heat and humidity here made our dough rise a ton. The challah loaves were
probably about twice as big as they would be in the U.S.
We ended up
making two loaves of potato/garlic/onion bread that we ate at dinner, two
loaves of raisin challah, and two loaves of potato challah. We ate one of the
raisin challah loaves at our friends’ house and then gave the other one to a
woman near our apartment who has been giving us lots of fruit lately.
Below are the
recipes we used (*UPDATE: And the recipe for the delicious dinner we had). Note that I probably added at least another 3/4 C of flour to
each as I was kneading it, especially after mixing in ingredients that had a
bit of moisture.
1. Potato/Garlic/Onion Bread
We used the King
Arthur Flour’s “Crusty Cheese Bread” recipe but, instead of cheese, folded in
chunks of boiled potatoes, sautéed garlic and onion, and a bit of pepper.
Ideally we would have roasted the garlic first and added rosemary but we did
what we could.
Day 1
Make starter:
1.25 C bread flour (whole wheat or regular)
1 t salt
1/2 t yeast
½ C lukewarm water
Mix ingredients, knead, and let rise overnight
Day 2
Mix together
1/2 t yeast
1-1 1/4 C lukewarm water
3.5 bread flour
Knead mixture together with starter
Let rise 1.5-2 hours
Meanwhile, boil 2 medium-sized potatoes and sauté onions and
garlic (or better yet, roast the garlic).
 |
| potato bread rising |
Stretch dough into rectangle and fold in potatoes, onions, garlic,
and cracked pepper (also rosemary if you have it).
Let sit for 5-10 minutes
Cut into two pieces and shape into loaves. Let rise 1-1.5 hours
(Note: the dough was probably a bit too sticky and ended up blobbing
out a bit on the pan instead of holding its shape. Maybe I’ll add more flour
next time).
 |
| after baking and before eating |
Score loaves and bake at 425 for 35 minutes.
2. Challah
This is the
recipe I normally use to make Grace her favorite Apple-Honey Challah (instead
of a birthday cake) but this time I added raisins instead of apples. If you
want to make the apple version, just chop up 2 medium-sized apples and drizzle
them a little bit in lemon juice. Mix them in where I added raisins. We made
the potato loaves because we had left over boiled potatoes and lots of extra
flour and yeast. I probably would mix in some cheddar cheese along with the
potatoes next time.
Makes 1 loaf (unless you’re in a hot, humid climate, in which case
it makes two big loaves).
Mix:
2.25 t yeast
1 C water
1/3 C + 1 T honey
1/3 C oil
2 large eggs + 1 yolk (use left over egg white as a wash for the
top of bread later)
1.5 t salt
4.25 C flour
 |
| rising after folding in raisins and potatoes |
Knead and let rise 1 hour
Fold in raisins, apples, or potatoes (we plumped up the raisins
first by letting them soak in boiling water)
Let rise 30 minutes
Cut dough into 3 pieces
Roll into strands of even length
Braid together
Let rise 1 hour
Brush with egg whites and sprinkle on sesame seeds
Bake at 375 for 40 minutes
 |
| making three even strands for challah |
 |
| half-braided loaf |
 |
| rising challah |
 |
| dinner interrupted by a giant beetle |
 |
| delicious dinner of calabasa, pork, green beans in coconut milk (*RECIPE BELOW) |
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| finished potato challah |
 |
| finished raisin challah |
 |
| all the finished challah |
Here is the recipe for the delicious meal we ate. The version we had did not have shrimp, just the pork. Our friends learned this from one of the Filipinos they work with and she was kind enough to write up the recipe.
Ginataang Calabasa
ingredients:
½ calabasa (squash)
sitaw (string beans)
¼ kilo fresh shrimp
¼ kilo pork
cooking oil
garlic
1 onion, diced
1 cup gata (fresh coconut milk)
1 Knorr shrimp-flavored cube
salt
· Peel the calabasa and slice into cubes. Cut sitaw into bite-sized strips.
· Remove the heads of the fresh shrimp. Using a mortar and pestle, smash the heads of the shrimp to remove the juice and strain out liquid with a mesh strainer. Reserve the juice and add 1-3 Tbs. water depending on how much liquid you were able to extract.
· Slice the pork into small strips or cubes.
· Heat the casserole pan with a little cooking oil and sauté the garlic, onion, and pork, adding in the juice from the shrimp heads. Simmer about 10 minutes until pork is tender. Add in the peeled shrimp, calabasa, and sitaw. Simmer 10 minutes. Then, add coconut milk and boil, uncovered, for 10 more minutes. Add shrimp-flavored cubes and salt to taste. Serve hot.
