shain

That's a well executed DIY project.

It's not homemade Making saj bread is an art I haven't mastered. I do have an electric pita oven that makes a fine saj if inverted. But no honorable saj bread baker will be caught using such a thing

Saj bread with labaneh, zaatar and olive oil. Rolled and briefly grilled just to get it warm and a bit crisp.

Lima beans with sage, butter, toasted sesame, caramelized onion, nutmeg. an attempt at a high hydration, slow baked, volkornbrot/pumpernickel. A bit too high hydration I think.

Haven't felt like having straight whiskey for a while now. But I just poured myself some. Happy me. Have been drinking mostly beer as of late. Mostly NEIPAs and similar, as well as weizens and some local and European lagers. I also made some limoncello and orangecello, as well as some experimental infusions and cocoa liquor. We haven't had any of those yet. What are you been drinking? Not enough traffic in those threads...

Pasta al forno - mozzarella, roasted peppers, tomatoes, walnuts, herbs, smoked paprika, herbs, ricotta with nutmeg.

When you previously mentioned the dish I imagined the tofu left intact. Looks delicious this way as well.

Ain't ziti usually smaller? We don't have it in Israel for some reason. I guess I'll stick with my beloved rigatoni

I never saw straight cut penne (also it seems thinner). I think I like the esthetics of your penne much more than the regular one.

Are frozen fries available for you? I know some will argue about their quality or flavor, but they will be surely made from proper starchy potato varieties, and I personally quite like the texture of fried-frozen-refried chips. Kenji did a whole writeup about it in Serious Eats a few years ago. If they are not, you can try boiling the potatoes, dry, and dust with potato starch. Similar process to sweet potatoes which can't yield good fries naturally.

I never made this dish (though it's on my to do list, so I'd love to hear your input once you make it). I think that since the kashk is rehydrated, than you can substitute it with a "fresh" product - you just need to nail the flavor profile. Kashk develops cheese like flavors since it's aged. I would go with a strong flavored labaneh if you can get it. You might also be able to ACH good results by using regular yogurt/labaneh along with a bit of a mildly funky cheese, maybe Pecorino.

I love mapo tofu with pasta/noodles, it's a nice variation which I often make with leftover mapo tofu. Not sure about spaghetti as the pasta shape, IMO a wider noodle or a short pasta works better.

Thanks! The sauce was indeed simple, honestly. The soup itself perhaps wasn't, but mostly because it had many ingredients.

It's not that we don't mind, we're eager for you to do so

Hot pot style soup. Vegetable stock with carrots, celery, onion, ginger, scallions. Bay leaves, chilies, star anise, cinnamon, licorice root, Sichuan peppercorns, coriander seeds. Some soy sauce, broad bean paste, sugar, black vinegar, MSG, nutritional yeast. Frozen tofu, bean curd skin, carrots, cabbage, dried shiitake, shimeji, spinach, wood ear, kombu, pasta cooked in alkaline water and homemade potato starch flat noodles. Served with chili oil with fermented soy beans and with a simple sesame based dipping sauce.

Romanian papanashi. Doughnuts made with farmers cheese, semolina and flavored orange zest. Topped with sour cream and black cherry preserves, which I like to spike with a touch of cocoa liquor which highlight the cherry "darker" notes. The dough is very easy to make, not sticky and no kneading involved. First I fried the entire batch in shallow oil (half height). Some went to the fridge. Then, when ready to eat, I reheated the oil and fried a second time until crisp. The sour cream and preserves must not be cold.

Those are some lovely pastries. I can get really good ones if I go to the city (though probably not as good, Turky is the master of baklavas, IMHO). I think my home made baklavas are pretty good, better than those I bought this time for sure. But time and energy are limited, and I have so much things to cook... There are some of our favorite sweets that I haven't made in years, because I got so many new things to try.

Kubbeh Sellek. Kubbeh are an Iraqi variation of kibbeh (the latter are a wide group of Middle Eastern preparations of semolina/bulgur based dumpling-like objects). This type of Iraqi Kubbeh are to be served in thick soup and are very popular among Iraqi jews. The dough is made of semolina and bulgur, sometimes also ground meat. It is traditionally stuffed with meat flavored with caramelized onions and baharat. I used mushrooms and some chickpeas instead of meat. They are served in a few common types of stews, based on the season. A few common ones are: beets in winter; chard greens in spring; okra with tomatoes in summer; and pumpkin in fall. All are boldly flavored, tart, sweet and often spicy. My favorite is the beetroot one, to which I add chickpeas, lots of celery, onion, paprika, allspice, baharat, bay, silan, lemon, chili.

Flavor it It will also negligibly slow gluten development. You can instead sprinkle the baked pita with finely ground salt while still hot - much like one do with french fries. I'd avoid using the term "over kneading" - but the more you knead, the more gluten is developed (up to a point), resulting in a "stronger" more cohesive dough and a chewier end result. In raised bread, this is important for it to rise high, with you just need it to hold together. Actual over kneading is when you knead so much that the gluten strands already formed start to break. This can only really happen with machine kneading and drier I wouldn't worry about it. A machine will make your work easier. Yes, that's how North African pitas are made. I'd estimate this dough to be 65-70% hydration - much like I suggest you use, or slightly higher. This is my favorite type of pita. You might also notice that the ovens are very hot, and baking timer is short - this important to keep the pita from drying and having a bread-like crust.

Without yeast, you are not going to get something fluffy or tall. I'd suggest you aim to achieve something close to a pita. The higher the hydration the softer it'll be, up to a point where it won't form a dough. If you are going for something pita like, I'd start at 60-65 g of water per 100g flour. The more kneading and the higher the gluten, you'll be able to have more hydration but will also have a chewier result. I'd go with all purpose flour. Without fermentation and salt, flavor is going to be a challenge. Cracker style matzo that you can buy baked at a very high heat so that they char a little and get flavor from browning. I suggest you do the same. However, since you use a wetter dough, you will get a soft result. Generally, hotter oven results in shorter baking, resulting in less drying and more pliability. Also cover it with a moist towel once baked.

Not my making - bought some baklavas. Nothing fancy, but not overly sweet and the nuts used are good. Some better than others. Also a couple of warm, kadaif pastry filled with sweet stretchy cheese. Black Turkish coffee with cardamom. Ramadan kareem!

Yeah, I mean that it doesn't matter for this dish. Since I wrote here sesame paste I assume I indeed used dark tahini, but in the recipe I wrote down for myself I listed tahini without specifying which type.

TL;DR - it doesn't matter, I used a darkly roasted tahini. We don't sesame paste imported from Eastern Asia available here, it won't be comparative with the excellent local Tahini made in Israel and Palestine. I have on hand 3 types at any time: Pale tahini which is used for most middle eastern cooking - hummus, tahini sauce. Dark tahini, which I use for some sweets and recpies that call for Chinese/Japanese style sesame paste. Whole tahini, which we don't eat much of, and is mainly used by us on toast along with carob or date molasses (the local PB&J I guess). IMO, both types of tahini will work well here, if anything, different types of miso and soy sauce will have bigger impact. I think that I used the darker tahini, along with a not-very-light light miso and Japanese style soy sauce.

I'm not experienced with using it, but commercial egg replacement is the safest bet for baking. E.g. (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

Vegetarian mushroom-based mapo dofu / mala dofu. Stir fried cabbage with nice smokey char, sesame sauce (dark tahini, dark toasted sesame, sesame oil, coriander seeds, a bit of soy sauce, vinegar and sugar). Cumber salad with peanuts, vinegar, sugar, MSG, peanuts and chili oil. Rice.