Baking in Marikina

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)

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.