Simple Life

I went to the Aldi yesterdy (in case you are not familiar with Aldi, it is the German store chain that OWNS Trader Joe's and is basically a really, really cheap and democratic version of T.J.'s) to pick up some frozen berries for the miraculous smoothies we've been making of late.  As I made my way down the first aisle I found myself behind a woman in full Amish garb.  I studied her a bit in between my assessment of granolas being offered at bargain basement prices.  Her build was solid yet feminine, she was wearing layer upon layer of carefully pinned pleated dark brown fabric, clunky solid black shoes, and a large black bonnet to cover her hair.  I could not see her face from where I was, behind her, but due to her build and the amount of food in her cart (she appeared to be shopping for a family of 40) I guessed her to be of middle age.  As she stopped to pick up abot 6 jars of smooth peanut butter I passed her without looking at her face and continued shopping.  When it came time to check out I ended up in line behind her where again I studied the simple arrangement of straight pins holding her bodice to her skirt.  She turned around and I got a glimpse of her face; it was the face of a girl, a child bride.  She couldn't have been more than 23.  In her strange little voice with its almost German accent she offered her place in line to me as I had 4 items and she had about 400.  She was very gracious and sweet.  As you can surmise from this paragraph I found her fascinating.  I wonder what her life is like on the Amish farms nearby-how many children she has, if she is happy with her husband, how she feels about her responsibilities in her own community and her thoughts on our "English" society.

That afternoon I made bread.  It's something I've been doing on Friday's the last few weeks as it feels like a nice connection to my own ancestors.  Most likely the young Amish woman does not make bread (as I noticed about 8 loaves of sliced white bread in her cart) but in my own imaginary scenario of her daily life she does.  She bakes a lot of bread.  In my fantasy life the Amish existence is much like life on LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.  I am most certainly wrong.

Here is a great recipe for Whole Wheat Challah bread.  I warn you, this bread will go very, very quickly.  It's that delectable.

WHOLE WHEAT CHALLAH

from a recipe by Ms. Kern at notderbypie

makes one challah directions for a kitchenaid are in italics

1/2 cup warm water tsp. sugar (I use demerara) 1 packet (2-1/2 tsp.) yeast

2.5 cups white WHOLE WHEAT flour

.5 cup white all purpose flour

tsp. salt

1/4 cup plus a 4 tsp sugar 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup water (if needed for dough consistency) 2 eggs

1. Put 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl. Add the tsp. of sugar, sprinkle the yeast overtop, and leave it to proof for five minutes (just to make sure the yeast is alive).

2. Mix flours, salt, and 1/4 cup plus few Tbsp. sugar in a large bowl (or in a kitchenaid bowl fitted with the dough hook.) Stir to incorporate or blend on low speed.

4. Add yeast mixture to the flour; add wet ingredients to the bowl, and mix or blend on low-medium.

5. Knead the dough for about ten minutes, until everything is well incorporated. Add flour by the Tbsp, with a light hand, until dough is stretchy but not sticky. Blend on low-medium until dough comes together. Make sure flour at the very bottom of the bowl gets incorporated as well; this usually entails some incorporation by hand.)

6. Cover the dough, in its original bowl, with a moist towel. If you have to, use plastic wrap and cover loosely.

7. You have two choices for the rise: either leave the dough to rise for one hour, or (as I do) let it rise twice, for 45 minutes each, with a punch-down between rises.

8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

9. After the rise(s), the dough should be soft and more flexible than before. Separate dough into three. Roll each ball into a log almost 1-foot long. Braid the logs together to create your loaf. Trick: I start in the middle and do not pinch the top ends together before starting. After I've braided from halfway down to the bottom of the loaf, I turn the loaf over and upside down, and braid the other half. This way, both ends look identical. Tuck the ends beneath the loaf when braiding is finished.

10. Put loaf on its own baking sheet; brush with egg wash, if desired.

11. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until challah is golden brown and baked through.

Serve warm or at room temperature.