Natural Rainbow Challah #BreadBakers

This natural rainbow challah is colored with spices, fruit and vegetables for a bright and festive look without artificial dyes. It would make a beautiful addition to any party table or weekend brunch. 

Here’s where I suggest, right up at the top, that if you plan to make this bread on the day you want to eat it, you will want to make your natural dyes a day ahead of time. None of this is hard to do but it is time consuming. 

Also, this would be a great project for Easter because you end up with way more dye than you need for this bread and it could be used up dying eggs the old fashioned way. I felt really bad tipping it all out when I was done, without another use for it. 

Natural Rainbow Challah

The inspiration for this challah was a post on the blog What Jew Wanna Eat and the recipe itself is a combo of that post and Joan Nathan’s favorite challah on New York Times Cooking. 

 

Ingredients

For the food coloring:

Pink - 1 small beet (about 3 oz or 85g)

Orange – 1- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground annatto aka achiote

Yellow – 1- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric

Green – 1 cup, packed, or 85g spinach leaves

Purple – 1 cup or 140g fresh or frozen blueberries 

Blue – unused cooked blueberry juice from purple + 1 teaspoon baking soda

For challah dough:

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 packet

3/4 cups or 80ml warm water 

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus more for dough bowls

1/4 cup or 60ml honey 

2 large eggs +1 egg white  (Save that 1 egg yolk for glazing)

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

5 cups or 625g bread flour, plus more as needed for kneading

Method

First, we’ll make the dye colors.

For the pink, boil your beet in just enough water to cover until tender. When it’s cool enough to handle, use a paper towel to push the peels off. Blend it in small food processor until smooth. Set aside to cool completely. 

For the green dye, simmer the spinach leaves or greens with a little bit of water in a covered skillet until they completely wilted. Blend in small food processor until smooth. Set aside to cool completely.

For the purple, simmer the fresh or frozen blueberries in 2 tablespoons water in a covered pot until they fall apart. Cool, drain, and reserve the liquid.

We'll make the blue out of the purple once we've used it to color one ball of dough by adding the baking soda to the balance. 

Now, make your challah dough. Prepare the yeast in a large mixing bowl for a stand mixer by whisking it with warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar. Leave it for a few minutes to activate the yeast. It should bubble up and get foamy. This means your yeast is live. 

Beat the oil and honey into the foamy yeast mixture. 

Add in the two eggs, one at a time, beating with each addition, then add the egg white. 

Beat in the remaining sugar and salt. 

Gradually add flour beating with each addition. As the dough gets thicker, you might need to change to the bread hook. 

When dough holds together and isn't too sticky, you are ready to start adding your natural dyes.

Divide your dough into six even pieces. I used a food scale to weigh them out. The dough weighed 1162g so each ball was approximately 94g.

Flatten out each piece one at a time (keep the others covered) and put some of each of the homemade food coloring in the middle of each one.  Fold the dough over the dye and pop it back in your stand mixer with the bread hook. Knead until the dye is thoroughly mixed in. 

I started with the easy ones that didn't add liquid, the annatto and turmeric! 

Add a little more flour or dye as needed. I had to hand knead some of mine as well to get the colors well mixed. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl and cover lightly with cling film. 

Repeat with the four more dough balls, making a yellow one with the turmeric and adding a little flour as needed for the pink, green and purple dyes. 

Once you've colored the purple ball, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the blueberry juice. This will turn it a dark indigo blue. Color the final ball of dough with some of this and knead to incorporate it as you did with the others. 

Put the six dough balls in lightly oiled bowls and cover them with cling film. Leave them to rise in a warm place until they have at least doubled in size, about 1 hour. 

To form the rainbow challah, roll the colored balls into long tubes. 

Now braid and tuck by following these instructions here on the King Arthur Flour YouTube channel: How to braid a six-strand challah. They make the process much clearer than I ever could with words so I'm not even going to try to confuse you! 

Leave your challah to rise again on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet, lightly covered, until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. 

My latest wintertime trick is to heat a couple of inches of water to boiling in a bowl in the microwave. I open it quickly and set my baking pan on top, closing the door again swiftly. This creates a moist, warm environment for the dough to rise in.  Works like a charm as long as no one else needs the microwave for an hour or so.

When the challah is almost finished rising, preheat your oven to 350° F or 180°C. 

Whisk the egg yolk with 1/2 tablespoon water and generously brush the mixture over the challah.

Bake for 40-45 minutes in your preheated oven, rotating the pan halfway through. If it starts to brown too fast, make a foil tent to cover it. It’s done when the internal temperature reaches 190°F or 88°C.

Leave to cool then slice and enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means my Bread Bakers are out in force! Today we are sharing naturally colored breads. One over-achiever (looking at Kelly from A Messy Kitchen!) even baked two different breads. Check out all the links below. Many thanks to our host, Radha of Magical Ingredients for this fun and challenging theme!

• Beet Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Beetroot Pinwheel Paratha from Sneha's Recipe
• Callaloo Bread from Passion Kneaded
• Cranberry Cherry Raisin Bread from Palatable Pastime
• Matcha and Strawberry Cream Melonpan from Magical Ingredients
• Natural Rainbow Challah from Food Lust People Love
• Panini al Pomodoro from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Purple Sweet Potato Pepita Swirl Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Spinach Monterey Jack Sourdough Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Turmeric Milk Bread from Ambrosia
• Turmeric Sourdough from A Messy Kitchen

 

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Spicy Sweet Soy Eggplant Tofu Quail Egg Stir-fry

This recipe is a mouthful in more ways than one! Spicy Sweet Soy Eggplant Tofu Quail Egg Stir-fry will fill your belly and please all your taste buds.

Once upon a time (back in the late ’80s) we lived on the island of Borneo in the small oilfield town of Balikpapan. Borneo is owned by three countries. The tiniest bit in the northwest corner belongs to the Sultanate of Brunei and the rest falls under the jurisdiction of either Indonesia or Malaysia. Balikpapan is in the Indonesia section called Kalimantan. I had tried sweet soy sauce aka kecap manis before but that is where I fell in love.

Kecap manis, pronounced kuh-CHOP MAH-nees, is a must-have in so many Indonesian dishes. It’s soy sauce sweetened with palm sugar so it makes sense that the name translates to “sweet sauce” in English. 

In most Indonesian restaurants, a small bowl of kecap manis and chopped bird’s eye chili peppers will be on every table, just in case what you ordered didn’t have kecap manis in it but you want to add some. I usually did. 

I have hauled bottles of the ABC brand sauce in my luggage all over the world! I love it that much. It’s the key ingredient in my spicy sticky wings and my Bali spicy grilled fish.  

I came across this recipe online while searching for something to make with eggplant and tofu. As soon as I saw kecap manis in the ingredients list, I knew I had to make it. It reminded me a bit of my braised pork and egg dish and I adore that! 

Spicy Sweet Soy Eggplant Tofu Quail Egg Stir-fry

This recipe is adapted from one I found on Cookpad. The author is from Bandung, Indonesia, which is on Java, the same island as the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.  You can find kecap manis, fresh quail eggs, and fried tofu at most Asian markets. Check the refrigerated section for the latter two. 

Ingredients - serves 4

2 eggplant (approximately 1 2/3 lbs or 740g total) 

fine sea salt 

1 small onion – about 3 1/2 oz or 100g

4 cloves garlic

4 fresh red chili peppers

7 oz or 200g fried tofu - cut into cubes (I used already seasoned with lemon grass and chili) 

2 tablespoons canola or another light oil

1/3 cup or 80ml kecap manis aka sweet soy sauce

12 hard-boiled quail eggs

chopped cilantro – some for pan and some to garnish

To serve: cooked white or brown rice 

Method

Cut the eggplant into cubes (no need to peel) and put them in a colander, lightly sprinkling on sea salt as you add the cubes in layers. Set the colander in a sink (or over a large bowl) to drain. 

Meanwhile, make the onion, garlic and red chili peppers into a paste in a small food processor or mortar and pestle. Set aside.

Dry the eggplant with paper towels then fry it in batches in large nonstick skillet until the pieces are golden on all sides. Sometimes a little drizzle of oil helps this process. It depends on your non-stick skillet. 

Set the browned eggplant aside on a large plate. 

Cut the fried tofu into bite-sized pieces and repeat the pan-frying process in the same non-stick skillet. When the tofu is golden on all sides, pop it on top of the eggplant. 

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan. Add in the onion/garlic/chili paste. 

Fry over a medium heat for a few minutes, until fragrant. That is to say, until it no longer smells sharply of onion and garlic. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and let it simmer for a few minutes more. 

Add in the sweet soy sauce and cook over a low heat till it’s a bit sticky looking. Stir often so it doesn’t burn. 

Add the tofu and eggplant back into the pan, along with the boiled quail eggs. 

Fold gently to coat them with the sauce and cook for a few minutes more until everything is heated through again.  Sprinkle with some chopped cilantro and stir it in gently. 

Top with more cilantro to serve. I serve this over cooked white or brown rice and put my habanero sauce on the table in case anyone would like it spicier than it already is!

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay again and our featured ingredient is the incredible edible egg! Check out the recipe links below. Many thanks to our host, Rebekah of Making Miracles!

• Ajitsuke Tamago (Ramen Eggs) from Palatable Pastime
• Baked Eggs with Parmesan and Chives Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Beet-Marbled Eggs with Feta from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Dosa Egg Sandwich Sneha's Recipe
• Egg, Ham and Cheese Crepe Pockets from Making Miracles
• Huevos Rancheros from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Huevos Rancheros Verde from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Ramen Bowls with Spinach & Poached Eggs from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Spicy Sweet Soy Eggplant Tofu Quail Egg Stir-fry from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Tofu Quail Egg Stir-fry!

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Cheesy Creamed Leeks

Cheesy Creamed Leeks with their mellow oniony flavor and rich cheddar cream sauce are wonderful as a main dish or side. 

If you are serving this as a main dish, all you need to complete the meal is a lightly dressed green salad with perhaps some crusty bread for sopping up the last creamy, cheesy drops. As a side, cheesy creamed leeks go well with fish or pan-fried chicken breasts. They would even make a great filling for a baked potato or topping for pasta. 

Truly versatile and so delicious, I believe that the leek is underrated as a vegetable, at least on the US side of the pond. It’s much appreciated in Great Britain though and it’s even a national emblem in Wales. If you ever watch Welsh rugby on television, you can’t miss all the fans sporting leek hats, which I find ever so amusing. The ones dressed as daffodils are equally as funny but that’s a story for another day. 

Cheesy Creamed Leeks

This recipe is adapted from one in the Waitrose & Partners Food magazine from March 2019. I used less wine but more cream and four times the cheese. I stand by all of those decisions. It will serve three as a main dish with other sides as suggested above or six as a side dish. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs or 700g whole leeks

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 cup or 80ml dry white wine

1/2 cup or 120ml whipping cream

3 1/2 oz or 100g mature cheddar, grated

2 teaspoons whole grain mustard

Method

Wash the leeks thoroughly, making sure to get any dirt out from between the layers. 

Cut off the root end and the hard part of the green bits and discard (or freeze them to use when you are making vegetable stock.) Thinly slice the tender green and white parts. 

Sauté the leeks in the butter in a large pan over a low heat, covered, for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Once the leeks have softened, add the wine and turn up the heat. 

Cook until the wine has almost completely evaporated then pour in the whipping cream and add the mustard. Stir well. 

Cook for a couple minutes then add in 3/4 of the cheese and stir well to combine. 

Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top of the dish. 

Put it under the broiler/grill on high for a few minutes, keeping a close eye on it, until it’s bubbling and golden brown in spots. 

Enjoy!

It’s the first Wednesday of the month so that means it’s time for our Foodie Extravaganza party. Today it’s National Whipping Cream Day so we are celebrating by sharing recipes with whipping cream. Check them out below. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. 

• Cheesy Creamed Leeks from Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Truffle Cakes with Cappuccino Whipped Cream from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Havarti, Egg & Dill Breakfast Quiche from Palatable Pastime
• Oven-Baked Au Gratin Potatoes in a Pie Dish from Faith, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Pull Me Up Cake from Sneha’s Recipe
• Raspberry Parfait from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Vintage Icebox Cake from Pandemonium Noshery

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

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