Sunday in the Kitchen

We usually have a semi-fancy Friday dinner, our version of a Sabbath dinner. This week, because #2 Son was coming home from camp on Saturday, I postponed it. Then I remembered that #1 Son was going to a concert on Saturday, so I postponed it again. Which brings us to Sunday.

I often bake something for Sunday breakfast, and the presence of some Nova lox in the fridge reminded me that it’s been a while since I made bagels. I keep trying various recipes, seeking the überbagel — the mythical perfection that probably exists nowhere but in my mind. Today’s was pretty good, though; I got it here. I modified it a bit (thanks to the comments on the site), mixing a sponge the night before and adding brown sugar to the boiling water. The bagels were good, chewy and dense and almost right. I would make this recipe again, but next time I’ll make the dough and shape the bagels and let them sit in the fridge overnight like that — I think that might provide the last bit of awesome to the crust.

So then came the challah, for which I’ve also tried many recipes. This time I went for my reliable standard, from George Greenstein’s Secrets of a Jewish Baker (the original edition). I don’t know what the copyright issues are with posting recipes from a book; can anyone out there enlighten me? If it’s legal, I’d be glad to share. I must have been having a good day, because the loaves came out absolutely beautiful. (And the bread tasted pretty darn good, too!)

And then there was dessert, which was this week’s TWD. More on that on Tuesday!