Teiglach / Teyglach / Taglach / Taiglach

[Pam R]

Less than a month to go. Anybody know how to make some good teiglach? I haven't had much success.

[Lior]

I think I have my granny's recipe- I will look for it.

[cakewalk]

Every year I intend to make this. (I have about ten different recipes.) And every year I never get to it because I'm having guests and doing too much other stuff. But this year ...

[Pam R]

I think you should make some early this year and share with us. My grandmother used to make it, but her recipes were never written down (shame on us) and my mother never made it. I need help.

[cakewalk]

If it rains this weekend, that just might happen.

[hsm]

I've got a call out to a friend whose 88 year-old Mom still makes it. I'd like to try this year, too.

[bripastryguy]

Guys this thread was started out of a PM to Pam from yours truly. I explained to her that my wife has been beating me up about not having enough Jewish representation in our products. We are a mostly modern European influenced Pastry Shop but I do my own twist on Rugelach, honey cake, challah, etc... One item I have yet to ever make is Teglach and she is very excited that I have given in and looked to egullet members for the best recipe.

Thanks in advance for saving me from another beating.

[JeanneCake]

Brian, are you making Hamentaschen? I could go for those any time of year, and I'm not Jewish!! I love the recipe from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts, minus the orange rind in the dough. Her rugelach are good but RLB's are better (cream cheese dough)

So now I'm intrigued. What are teglach? Is there a history behind them (sort of like the tricornered Haman's hat for the aforementioned Hamentaschen)? I love recipes with history!

[cakewalk]

Well, I just made Claudia Roden's teiglach recipe. I took some photos, too, and if I can figure out how to post them, you'll get to see them.

Roden's recipe is a bit different from most of the others I've seen. She recommends kneading the dough for at least ten minutes and then letting it rest in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. No other recipe I've seen mentions this; they just say to add the flour to the egg & oil mixture until the dough can be handled, and then start rolling the dough into long ropes. Roden then boils the dough in honey with lemon zest and ginger. Every other recipe I've seen combines the honey with equal (if not greater) amounts of sugar and sometimes water as well. The honey does foam up a lot, and the addition of sugar and/or water might minimize that.

Some recipes suggest baking the dough before cooking it in the honey. Roden mentions this method, but she says that it tends to make the dough very hard. (I told a friend of mine I was making teiglach and she said, "Isn't that rocks covered with honey?" She has a point.)

Anyway, I like this recipe. The dough pieces are not too hard -- they're chewy, in fact they're rather a nice texture. (They might turn into rocks by tomorrow, though -- I'll keep you posted.) I can't make comparisons to other recipes, though. (I probably won't try them today.)

I'll post the photos later.

[Lior]

Here they are:

Teiglach

2 c. flour

7 eggs less 2 whites

1 -2 t. ginger

2 T salad oil

2 c. honey

1 c. sugar

11/2 c. cold water

3/4 c. boiling water or coffee

Knead together the flour, eggs, ginger and oil. Make into various shapes.

Bring honey sugar and 11/2 c water to a boil

Drop in the taiglach and boil on high about 10/12 minutes keeping the pot airtight

Bring temp. to medium and boil another 10-15 mins.

Open lid and stir occasionally for another 35 mins.

Remove from stove and pour boiling water/coffee over taiglach and stir to loosen them

Place taiglach on a wet board and sprinkle with sugar

Imberlach

12 c. grated carrots

7 c. sugar

Juice and grated rinds of 1 lemon

Juice and grated rinds of 2 oranges

3 t ginger

crushed walnuts (optional)

water to cover in a large pot

Boil carrots and sugar rapidly, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally

Add juice of lemon and oranges, all grated rinds, and ginger

To test if ready, take a spoonful and place on saucer and allow to cool. If mixture holds firmly it is ready to come off the stove.

Wet a pastry board slightly with cold water and pour mixture on it. Smooth down with a knife into a slab about 2cm. thick.

Allow to set over night. Cut diagonally into strips to form diamond shapes

If mixture is too soft it can be reboiled

[Lior]

a few more if anyone is interested....

MANDALACH

soup almonds - like crouton use

3 eggs

2 T. oil

1 t. salt

2 c. flour

Make dough from the above

Roll out fairly thinly and cut in diamond shapes

Fry in deep oil 'til light brown

Lift out of oil and drain

Can keep for a long time - especially in fridge.

I know this should be in food traditions so I will post it there as well. I put it here since it kinda flowed with the others.

[UnConundrum]

My grandmother used to make Teiglach, but I was too young to ever watch her. I have her recipe somewhere, but when I tried it, they came out like rocks. Of course, that was many many years ago. I was hoping more people would post to this thread so I could compare recipes and procedures... Many fond memories. I'll have to search for that recipe again.

[tmriga]

I have never tasted teiglach. Would someone please describe the texture to me? Is it supposed to be like a gnocchi or a donut, or does it have a texture all it's own.

I found a flicker thread using Claudia Roden's recipe, and I am wondering what type of flour would work better than AP - would a high-gluten flour, like bread flour, or a low-gluten flour, like cake or pastry flour, be better for the recipe and technique? The pastry pieces in he flicker thread looked rather chewy to me, but I could be wrong.

Thanks -

Theresa

[BeeZee]

Texturally, the ones I've had were very dry and cookie-like, not dense like biscotti because of the eggs. Haven't had them for many years, since as a young'un I decided they weren't of much interest.

[cakewalk]

I still can't get my photos to download, and don't really have the time to play with it. But the teiglach I made recently, while very good right after it was made, turned into quite the horror by the next day. Hard as a rock, extremely unpleasant and unappetizing. It also seemed to strike a chord of deja vu. I think maybe teiglach is one of those things that is better in theory than in reality. In the meantime, my honey cakes are in the oven, I'll stick to those. (No pun intended.)

Shana Tova!

(Edited for spelling.)

Edited September 28, 2008 by cakewalk (log)

[UnConundrum]

Had lunch with my 87 year old mother today She remembers watching her mother make them, and said she used to roll the dough out into a finger thick rope, press down along the length of the rope to make a valley. She'd then put chopped walnuts into the valley, and continue rolling the dough to seal over the valley. Then, as in most recipes she'd just cut off pieces and boil in the honey.