Six Word Saturday: 30 Shevat, 5770
Is your couscous Israeli? (Are you sure?)
Last week, I happened to spot this item in our Israeli kids’ magazine. Don’t worry, I’ll translate it down below. Wallah? Amazing fact of the week In all kinds of places all over the world, they sell a food called “Israeli couscous,” which actually has no connection with couscous. It’s actually just פתיתים / petitim, which are indeed an Israeli invention from the 1950s. And we say to the world: Wait ‘till you discover the amazing thing we call Bissli Grill (BBQ flavour)! Of course, it’s not quite true that there’s NO connection with couscous. Both couscous and Israeli couscous (petitim, which just means “flakes”) are made from semolina flour and water. It’s just a matter of what you do with it from that point. The production process for “real” couscous involves adding water to the semolina flour, rolling it around (traditionally with your fingers, but these days, by machine), then run it through a sieve to get pieces of the right size. It ends...
Yum...that bread looks good!
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, it's the temperature. Too cold to get the dough going as written in the recipe.
ReplyDelete1. Don't refrigerate this dough at any stage.
2. Make a proofing chamber out of your microwave as I mentioned on the last post, or:
A. Preheat your oven for about 1 minute at 300 degrees, shut it OFF and proof your dough in there.
B. Heat up a cup of water in the microwave. Place it next to the dough and cover them both with either a cheapo styrofoam cooler placed upside down or a big plastic storage box upside down. Or, warm up a beverage cooler you use in the summer with the cup of water or a heating pad and put your dough in there.
C. Or, put some warm water in the bottom of a deep bowl, place the sheet pan with the braids on top of the bowl and cover the braids with a piece of oiled plastic wrap and a towel to hold in the heat.
In the "old days" nobody bought packets of yeast--almost everything was leavened with starter or old dough, and nobody had central heating, either. But they still had bread. So try again but keep it warm.
I use my microwave as a proofing chamber all the time. As long as it has been in there for a decent portion of the proofing time (at least 1/2 an hour), it's OK if a family member has to take it out to use the microwave. I just warm up the microwave again (with a cup of hot water) for the next stage.
I'll still eat it!!! Thanks for playing 6WS.
ReplyDelete