Recipe: "Ugat Shmarim"

Ugat Shmarim is Hebrew for...get this...."Yeast cake".
That sounds awful.

In reality, it's a moist, sweet, cinnamon roll type pastry. Instead of cinnamon it is filled with ooey gooey chocolate, and it's braided in a loaf pan instead of in small rolls. It's usually topped with a syrup that soaks all the way in.

I didn't take pictures of measurements, etc, but only when I started rolling out the dough.



















Before we get to the final pictures, here is the recipe. I modified this from a different recipe, halved it, converted metric etc etc, so it's weird measurements, sorry!

Israeli Chocolate "yeast cake" Pastry
Makes two loaves

Ingredients:
Dough:
4 and 2/3 cup of all purpose flour
3/8 cup white sugar (I used a 1/2 cup, and then filled a 1/4 cup halfway)
1 tbs and 1 tsp of dry active yeast
1/2 cup vegetable oil (any neutral oil is fine)
1.5 cups water at 100 degrees
1 egg and 1 tablespoon of milk

Filling: (I didn't make enough filling, so for the purpose of this recipe, I am doubling what I used - trust me)
1 cup vegetable oil (any neutral oil is fine)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1.5 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
juice from 1/4 of a lemon

Directions:
-In a medium bowl, combine all the dry ingredients of the dough. Stir in the oil. Stir in the water (the water cannot be hot, it must not be more than 110 degrees - WARM is key, or use a meat thermometer). Mix everything together, cover with a paper towel, and let sit for 45 minutes.
-Mix all ingredients of the filling while the dough rises in a separate bowl, and mix all the ingredients of the syrup in a very small sauce pan
-Split your dough into 4 "balls". Roll each one out into a rectangular sheet on a floured surface. I prefer a french rolling pin. Add 1/4 of the chocolate filling, and spread out. Roll the dough into a log. Do this to all four balls of dough. Dust with flour as you work to ensure it does not stick to any surface.
-Take two of the logs of dough, and braid them, as pictured above. Do this to the other two logs. Place in two separate loaves.
-Mix the egg and milk, and use a pastry brush to brush onto the dough.
-Put in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
-While the cakes are baking, heat up your syrup and stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved, and the mixture bubbles. Make sure not to overheat, so it does not caramelize into candy! The key is to have the syrup ready by the time the cakes come out!
-As soon as the cakes are ready, take them out of the oven, and pour half of the syrup onto each cake. It may seem like a lot but it should absorb into the cake!
-Let cool (enough time so you don't burn yourself).

My mom sent me this picture this morning:



Here is a picture of me - I was literally jumping up and down in my friend Jaren's kitchen after I had braided these. I grew up eating these and never knew they were so simple. Now I had made them!! Unfortunately, the picture Jaren snapped was NOT good - my eyes look quite interesting, so I covered them with fake sunglasses. I do think my pure joy is evoked, and hope you will feel it when you try this recipe!

Now YOU go make it!

Avigail's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Here is the recipe I made up for the crust:

Ingredients: 1.5 cups of warm water (110 degrees)

1 tsp white sugar

1 tbs dry active yeast (refrigerate after opening, you can buy it anywhere, and can use it for LOTS)

1 tbs olive oil, plus more for coating

2 tsp kosher salt **I used 1 in my recipe and decided I should have added another**

1 tbs honey **I did not put this in my recipe but decided it would make it better**

1 cup of bread flour

2 cups of whole wheat flour

1. Pour 1.5 cups of warm water (110 degrees) into a large bowl. Add 1 tsp white sugar (this is essential, the yeast feeds on the sugar), and then 1 tbs of dry active yeast.

Let sit for 10 minutes until foamy.

2. After the yeast mixture has "foamed", stir in 1 tbs of olive oil, 2 tsp of kosher salt, 1 tbs honey.

3. In a large food processor, put 1 cup of bread flour and 2 cups of whole wheat flour. While the processor is on, slowly pour in the yeast mixture. Once it is all combined (this will happen quickly and it will be sticky), take it out and knead it for 2 minutes on a floured surface. Coat a large bowl with olive oil, and put the ball of dough in it, rotate it to make sure the whole surface area is greased. Put a paper towl on top, and leave it for one hour.

Above is the pre-risen dough.

4. Once the dough has risen, you can roll it into one or two pies depending on how big your cooking ware is. (I made two small-medium pies). Put your desired toppings, coat the sides with olive oil, and bake at 425 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, or until crust is golden.

Enjoy!

Topped with caramelized onions with balsamic and za'atar, sliced tomatoes, and topped with avocados for the last 2 minutes of cooking.

Perfect Saturday

We woke up early compared to our schedule lately, at around 715 and went to hike at Red Rock. We met one of the spouses Nikki and her pit/lab mix. We did a bit over an hour hike. I HATE going downhill especially when it's climbing. Im such a baby. I also had a runny nose because of the weather and didn't bring tissues. I felt so high maintenance, but then Charlie did point out that I sounded like I have a cold (I don't, just wind/allergies etc). I was so proud of myself hiking w/no breaks. I know it's not nearly as intense as Masada but that was a wake up call to start stair climbing and it helped!

We went over to my parent's house to hang out for a bit and decided to go to brunch. My dad goes to sweet tomatoes every weekend and really wanted to go but I was starving from the hike and wanted breakfast as did Charlie so we convinced him. We told him we'd go tomorrow. We went to the griddle in the vons shopping center and it was eh. Not totally impressed w/the menu. I would have rather gone to babycakes!

We noticed a new boba shop so my mom and I went in and when we came out this is how we found our men:

Twins! So cute.

Mom and I went to my house while the boys did boy stuff (probably broke something on the computer) and we discussed some details for the summer (she'll be visiting etc etc) and spoke about some other mommy/daughter stuff and then made a menu for tonight. The Sals are moving so we invited them for dinner along with Adina and Rick and my parents' 80 year old Japanese neighbor whose husband passed at NINETY-EIGHT! Amazing. What amazing people that my parents think to invite her. My mom said she was so pleased and asked what she could bring, and my mom said anything she wants, she doesn't have to, so she's bringing sushi! Note: invite her to my house too, it's a mitzvah.

I baked my famous Ilana Shapiro cookies (well my cookies now since I only make that recipe!) and took a batch over to Sheila at the front gate. Mom is giving one to someone and I am bringing the others to Jaren's tonight - she and Jessi and I are making posters for Roger and Joe's return. Roger comes home on Wednesday and I think Joe has about 3 weeks (hopefully!). Here are some of the cookies:


If you haven't made these before, please reference this recipe. They are perfection. Big and chewy and just yum. The secret is a, you have to have bread flour, and b, you have to refrigerate them for at least an hour before you pop them in the oven!

Dad dropped Charlie off and took the dogs to their house (he missed them) and then sent me this picture of Odgie cuddling with "squirrel". Squirrel is actually a stuffed dog (that is totally disgusting) that Odge has had since I was in college or something like that. The picture was really unclear and dark so I didn't instagram it, I DOUBLE instagrammed it. That's right!


Okay Jessi is here and I'm being totally rude and finishing this. Plus I need to wake up Charlie and make my pizza from the pizza dough I made. Reports on that later, and the recipe I made up if it's a success.

Pre-risen