BBA Challenge: Artos

Artos, or Greek celebration bread, is the second in the BBA Challenge series. It takes 1 or 2 days to make depending on the starter; wild yeast starter takes one day and poolish 2 days. I used poolish for this bread. The dough looked a bit large and so I halved it leaving one half plain and the other half I made into Christopsomos adding golden raisins, a combination of dried cranberries, Rainier cherries, and calimyrna figs, and almonds (I couldn't find my large bag of walnuts). I didn't bother to make the decorative strips on top of the bread, perhaps come Christmastime I will. As usual I mixed and kneaded the dough in the Kitchen Aid mixer which always does a better job of mixing in the fruits and nuts. It's a very easy dough to handle and of course shape. I don't know about those thingies on top, they might be difficult to do.

Both grew nice and tall in the oven, the plain one slightly taller (but a tad lopsided) and with the glaze and sesame seeds it looks like a giant burger roll. Both have tight soft crumb although the plain one has small holes in them which I don't mind really. The flavor of the slightly more moist Christopsomos reminds me of German stollen, a favorite in my house during the Christmas season for the last 20 years or so. I will make Christopsomos again with wild yeast starter and will definitely add it to our Christmas goodies later this year.

You can view the recipe here.

christopsomos

teensy bit lopsided plain Greek celebration bread (or maybe giant burger roll)

soft crumb, very good toasted

My Rating:
flavor 5
texture 5
visual appeal 4
ease of preparation 5
performance 5
worth 5
Total: 29
Average: 4.83

Chicken Arroz Caldo

rice porridge with chicken, AKA chicken arroz caldo

Arroz Caldo, translation is rice broth, is the Filipino version of Chinese congee. Arroz caldo is not soupy and the consistency is more like porridge. Er, it IS rice porridge flavored with chicken, garlic, ginger, and Spanish saffron and simmered in broth. It's one of the dishes that best represents the mixture of Filipino heritage combining Spanish, Chinese, and Filipino flavors.

When I make this dish I add the coloring agent called kasubha which is dried safflower. It is sometimes called fake saffron because it resembles saffron although it doesn't taste at all like saffron. In fact, it doesn't taste of anything, but it is great in adding color to food without imparting a distinct or strong flavor.

kasubha (dried safflower) and Spanish saffron

Chicken Arroz Caldo
1½ pounds chicken pieces
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tablespoon sliced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons fish extract
1 cup glutinous or medium grain rice
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, or more as needed
a big pinch of Spanish saffron
1 teaspoon kasubha, or more for a deeper yellow color
salt and ground white pepper to taste
chopped scallions for garnish
calamansi or lemon juice

• In a large pot, heat oil and saute chicken pieces until light brown. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and stir fry until onion is soft and translucent. Add fish extract and rice and stir fry for 2 minutes.
• Add the broth, saffron, and kasubha. Bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, check if there is enough liquid and add accordingly. Taste and adjust seasoning.
• Serve with chopped scallions (I have not used scallions recently because they all come from Mexico and I'm avoiding uncooked or difficult to clean stuff from that country; I topped the porridge with fried shallots and garlic) and calamansi or lemon juice.

LaPiS: Slice It Up!

A favorite holiday or fiesta food in the Philippines is Chicken Relleno (stuffed whole boneless chicken). It is good either warm or at room temperature.

More photos of our Christmas 2008 lunch, all sliced up.

baked ham, queso de bola (aged Edam cheese)

challah with cranberries, fruit cake

Lasang Pinoy Sundays, a weekly gallery of food photography is hosted by SpiCes.

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge: Anadama Bread

crunchy and chewy, excellent with just butter or Meyer lemon curd

I joined a baking group, The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge created by Pinch My Salt. The group will attempt to bake all the recipes in Peter Reinhart's cookbook, from the first one to the last, arranged alphabetically. I have been a fan of Peter Reinhart after reading and baking several recipes from THE BREAD BAKER'S APPRENTICE and learned a ton from it. I recommend this book to anyone who is just starting to bake breads or has been baking and wants to learn some more. The recipes are easy to follow and there are a lot of pictures to guide the home baker. I love all the breads I made from this book and as a result I volunteered as a recipe tester for his new book Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Everyday to be published in the fall of 2009. I had a lot of fun baking and eating all the different breads I baked (and still baking) as a recipe tester specially the croissants and I'm eagerly anticipating the issue of his book. While waiting for it to come out, the BBA Challenge will keep me occupied and happily baking for the next 40+ weeks. Thanks to Pinch My Salt for this brilliant idea.

The challenge starts off this week with Anadama Bread which is in almost all of my baking books but somehow I have never tried making it, I'm not sure why. It's a shame because this bread turns out flavorful, chewy, and has a crunchy bite that I like. The bread is good by itself, toasted or untoasted, or with butter. I do believe soaking the cornmeal makes a big difference in its taste and texture. I'm surprised that I like this bread because I am not a big fan of molasses. The taste of the molasses, I used a light colored one, is subtle and does not overpower the overall flavor of this pleasantly sweetish bread. And the aroma in my kitchen while the bread was baking was just wonderful.

I followed the recipe as written although I halved it because I thought no one in my house will like it. The dough performed exactly as the book says. When I saw that the bread was rising taller than expected I got worried it will have large air pockets but thankfully the bread came out fine. My only regret is I did not bake the full recipe. I wouldn't mind baking Anadama bread again.

the bread had an oven spring of almost 1½ inches

I love its rich golden brown crust, very crisp and crunchy when toasted

Now, let's have some fun and rate the recipe/bread from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest:

flavor 4
texture 5
visual appeal 5
ease of preparation 5
performance 5
worth 4
Total: 28
Average: 4.66