Sweet Chocolate Braided Bread

While challah is a traditional bread baked for the Jewish Sabbath, it has become popular with everyone, everywhere. It's attractive and has a firm, egg-rich texture that works for dinner, sandwiches, or French toast. It is typically braided with three, four, or six strands of dough. (The braided strands are symbolic of love.)

Challah is really very easy to make. There is a sense of satisfaction in working the dough by hand and crafting such an attractive bread and it will certainly impress your guests.

In this version, we added chocolate for the dough and a chocolate cream cheese filling and then we drizzled the bread with a chocolate cream cheese glaze. It may not be real challah but it is absolutely scrumptious—maybe our best chocolate bread ever.

If you ordered Sweet Cinnamon Burst Bread, read this . . .

We apologize. We thought we were pretty good, especially at developing formulas for bread machine mixes. But we goofed.

When we developed the formula for the Sweet Cinnamon Burst Bread, we were all excited. Perfect bread. Then one of the folks that does some testing for us, reported that she had trouble. What happened? Other tests had been perfect.

We intended for the cinnamon chips to go into the mix at the fruit and nut cycle, at the end of the kneading. We found that if the chips go into the mix too early, they melt and dissipate in the kneading. What’s more, the fat in the chips acts as shortening in the dough and the loaf comes out soft and fragile. In our development, we didn't do a test where we put the chips in too early. So we stopped the presses and recalled the product. We didn’t want to put out a product where the timing had to be so precise.

We have been calling and emailing those customers who ordered the bread offering to substitute any of our breads plus a free jam for the cinnamon burst bread. If you ordered a Sweet Cinnamon Burst Bread and we have not been able to reach you, please contact us so that we can make the substitution or give you a refund.

Timing is not an issue when you make the bread by hand or with a stand-type mixer, only when it is made in a machine. We should have this great bread ready in traditional mixes, not bread machine mixes, in the next week or so.

This Year, Try a Sweet Potato Pie

We often substitute sweet potato or yam puree for pureed pumpkin. In many recipes, we can’t tell the difference. And frankly, it’s easier to stick a couple yams in the microwave and puree those than it is to cook a pumpkin.

Sweet potatoes tend to be lighter and less dense than pumpkin. The flavor differs slightly.

Another holiday pie that is unusual but tastes much like pumpkin pie is carrot pie. It looks like pumpkin and almost tastes like pumpkin. Check out this Carrot Pie recipe.

How to Make Thanksgiving Easier

The more that you can do before the “big day”, the better things will go. Consider the following:

• One week ahead, plan the menu.
• Buy nonperishable items well in advance, anytime after planning the menu. Save your later shopping for perishables only.
• Purchase perishables, such as salad greens and fruit, two days in advance.
• One to three days ahead, make the salads. Frozen salads can be made even earlier. Most gelatin salads can be made two or three days in advance. For the tossed salad, wash and dry salad greens a day in advance and store in plastic bags.

Now What Do I Do with that Turkey?

How do you store your leftovers? Don’t throw the whole carcass in the refrigerator. Remove the breast meat, legs, and wings. Pull the legs back and away to remove them from the carcass. Cut through the wing joints and save the first two sections. The tips can be used for broth.

Store your turkey, tightly covered in the refrigerator and use within four days. Cooked turkey meat can be frozen for several months.

Baking Times are Relevant

Never trust the baking time listed in a recipe. It may be right. Chances are, it’s not. A whole litany of factors may affect baking time. The obvious factor is the temperature of your particular oven. Other factors play a role: how cold your batter may be or where you place the item to be baked in the oven.

Parmesan and Bacon Cornbread

It’s fun to experiment with cornbread. Add your favorites to a cornbread recipe—and you can really be creative. Try sun-dried tomatoes, salami, green peppers, cheddar, or mushrooms. Think of your favorite pizza and add some of the same ingredients to cornbread.

In this savory version, we added crisply cooked bacon, onions, basil, and parmesan cheese. We loved it. Incidentally, this bread with the aromas of bacon, onions, parmesan, and basil smells absolutely wonderful while baking.

Ask the Baker

We try to answer questions of general interest in this column for everyone’s view. This week we tackle questions about freshly milled flour, nutritional value in stored foods, garlic, and more. We think you’ll find them interesting.