Last night began The festival of Rosh Hashana - observed for two days beginning on Tishrei 1, the first day of the Jewish year.Rosh Hashanah thus emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and humanity: our dependence upon G-d as our creator and sustainer, and G-d’s dependence upon us as the ones who make His presence known and felt in His world. All around the world there are millions of individuals who only eat kosher food. Despite the large number of people who do eat it, there are even more who have no idea what kosher food is.Kosher food is often termed a Jewish food. Jewish followers are the most common kosher food consumers, but they are not the only ones. There are individuals who eat kosher food simply because the food is often considered better than traditional food. Jewish law is used to determine exactly what food is kosher and what is not. When I first ventured into more of a vegetarian lifestyle one of my friends (incidently a non-jew) asked how it was different from a kosher diet as it seems to be based on similar principles of respect from where the food comes from. Having grown up more of a “holiday jew” from New York, I was embarrassed by my inability to answer this in a fully informed way, so when I read about the recent rise of the eco-kosher movement on Grist, Evidently an entire movement is gathering steam According to Grist: Its followers seek nourishment that not only adheres to traditional Jewish dietary laws, but is also local, organic, sustainable, and humane. Eager to make eco-kosher eating as easy as possible, a group of Conservative Jews is drawing up a label for packaged kosher foods to let consumers know when they are supporting a processor with a transparent business model, respect for animals and the earth, and fair treatment for employees. While only about 15 percent of the 5.2 million Jews in the U.S. keep strict kosher, surveys show that less than a quarter of shoppers who choose kosher items are observant Jews. The $225 billion segment encompasses about 100,000 items, so the new label could have a big impact. Whether driven by ethics, or religion it’s good to see the two movements and philosophies coming together . And at the end of the day it is about the basic core values of understanding the relationship of the food we eat to enhance our connection to personal, environmental, and spiritual health. In a word.. yeehaa hmm.. how ’bout an amen?! But I’ve gotta keep it kosher :) This recipe over exactly from the website I found it at. This is the exact directions I followed when making my bagels. A little history if you dont know from bagels. The bagel, moved from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the delis of the United States, survived the onslaught of many a foreign formulation and flavoring, and also has managed to remain relatively dignified in the face of mass-production, freezing etc. (Can you say “Lenders”?) Most people’s idea of a bagel seems to be of a vaguely squishy unsweetened doughnut, possibly with some sort of godawful flavoring mixed into it (with the “blueberry bagel” being perhaps the most offensive), generally purchased in lots of six in some supermarket… possibly even frozen. Aint nothing like the real thing. These bagels are the genuine article. These are the bagels that have sustained generations of Eastern European Jewish peasants, the bagels that babies can teethe upon (folk wisdom has it that the hard, chewy crust encourages strong teeth), the bagels about which writer and humorist Alice Kahn has so aptly written that bagels are “Jewish courage.” This recipe makes approximately fifteen large bagels, The bagels are made without eggs, milk or any type of shortening or oil, which makes them pareve according to Kosher law. These bagels are plain, but I will provide suggestions as to how you may customize them to your tastes while retaining their Pristine and Ineffable Nature. May you bake them and eat them in good health. INGREDIENTS: * 6-8 cups bread (high-gluten) flour * 4 tablespoons dry baking yeast * 6 tablespoons granulated white sugar or light honey (clover honey is good) * 2 teaspoons salt * 3 cups hot water * a bit of vegetable oil * 1 gallon water * 3-5 tablespoons malt syrup or sugar * a few handfuls of cornmeal HOW TO: First, pour three cups of hot water into the mixing bowl. The water should be hot, but not so hot that you can’t bear to put your fingers in it for several seconds at a time. Add the sugar or honey and stir it with your fingers (a good way to make sure the water is not too hot) or with a wire whisk to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the water, and stir to dissolve. Wait about ten minutes for the yeast to begin to revive and grow. This is known as “proofing” the yeast, which simply means that you’re checking to make sure your yeast is viable. Skipping this step could result in your trying to make bagels with dead yeast, which results in bagels so hard and potentially dangerous that they are banned under the terms of the Geneva Convention. You will know that the yeast is okay if it begins to foam and exude a sweetish, slightly beery smell. At this point, add about three cups of flour as well as the 2 tsp of salt to the water and yeast and begin mixing it in. Some people subscribe to the theory that it is easier to tell what’s going on with the dough if you use your hands rather than a spoon to mix things into the dough, but others prefer the less physically direct spoon. As an advocate of the bare-knuckles school of baking, I proffer the following advice: clip your fingernails, take off your rings and wristwatch, and wash your hands thoroughly to the elbows, like a surgeon. Then you may dive into the dough with impunity. I generally use my right hand to mix, so that my left is free to add flour and other ingredients and to hold the bowl steady. Left-handed people might find that the reverse works better for them. Having one hand clean and free to perform various tasks works best. When you have incorporated the first three cups of lfour, the dough should begin to become thick-ish. Add more flour, a half-cup or so at a time, and mix each addition thoroughly before adding more flour. As the dough gets thicker, add less and less flour at a time. Soon you will begin to knead it by hand (if you’re using your hands to mix the dough in the first place, this segue is hardly noticeable). If you have a big enough and shallow enough bowl, use it as the kneading bowl, otherwise use that clean, dry, flat countertop or tabletop mentioned in the “Equipment” list above. Sprinkle your work surface or bowl with a handful of flour, put your dough on top, and start kneading. Add bits of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking (to your hands, to the bowl , etc….). Soon you should have a nice stiff dough. It will be quite elastic, but heavy and stiffer than a normal bread dough. Do not make it too dry, however… it should still give easily and stretch easily without tearing. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with one of your clean kitchen towels, dampened somewhat by getting it wet and then wringing it out thoroughly. If you swish the dough around in the bowl, you can get the whole ball of dough covered with a very thin film of oil, which will keep it from drying out. Place the bowl with the dough in it in a dry, warm (but not hot) place, free from drafts. Allow it to rise until doubled in volume. Some people try to accelerate rising by putting the dough in the oven, where the pilot lights keep the temperature slightly elevated. If it’s cold in your kitchen, you can try this, but remember to leave the oven door open or it may become too hot and begin to kill the yeast and cook the dough. An ambient temperature of about 80 degrees Farenheit (25 C) is ideal for rising dough. While the dough is rising, fill your stockpot with about a gallon of water and set it on the fire to boil. When it reaches a boil, add the malt syrup or sugar and reduce the heat so that the water just barely simmers; the surface of the water should hardly move. Once the dough has risen, turn it onto your work surface, punch it down, and divide immediately into as many hunks as you want to make bagels. For this recipe, you will probably end up with about 15 bagels, so you will divide the dough into 15 roughly even-sized hunks. Begin forming the bagels. There are two schools of thought on this. One method of bagel formation involves shaping the dough into a rough sphere, then poking a hole through the middle with a finger and then pulling at the dough around the hole to make the bagel. This is the hole-centric method. The dough-centric method involves making a long cylindrical “snake” of dough and wrapping it around your hand into a loop and mashing the ends together. Whatever you like to do is fine. DO NOT, however, give in to the temptation of using a doughnut or cookie cutter to shape your bagels. This will pusht them out of the realm of Jewish Bagel Authenticity and give them a distinctly Protestant air. The bagels will not be perfectly shaped. They will not be symmetrical. This is normal. This is okay. Enjoy the diversity. Just like snowflakes, no two genuine bagels are exactly alike. Begin to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Once the bagels are formed, let them sit for about 10 minutes. They will begin to rise slightly. Ideally, they will rise by about one-fourth volume… a technique called “half-proofing” the dough. At the end of the half-proofing, drop the bagels into the simmering water one by one. You don’t want to crowd them, and so there should only be two or three bagels simmering at any given time. The bagels should sink first, then gracefully float to the top of the simmering water. If they float, it’s not a big deal, but it does mean that you’ll have a somewhat more bready (and less bagely) texture. Let the bagel simmer for about three minutes, then turn them over with a skimmer or a slotted spoon. Simmer another three minutes, and then lift the bagels out of the water and set them on a clean kitchen towel that has been spread on the countertop for this purpose. The bagels should be pretty and shiny, thanks to the malt syrup or sugar in the boiling water. Once all the bagels have been boiled, prepare your baking sheets by sprinkling them with cornmeal. Then arrange the bagels on the prepared baking sheets and put them in the oven. Let them bake for about 25 mintues, then remove from the oven, turn them over and put them back in the oven to finish baking for about ten minutes more. This will help to prevent flat-bottomed bagels. May the new year bring peace, prosperity and a world filled with laughter and love. Leshana Tova Tekatev v’etachetem - May you be inscribed for a sweet and good year!
Articles on Judaism: http://www.whatsjew.com/articles/
By: GP
GP Stone has been an executive in the Hospitality Industry for 15 years. Also a graduate of the NY Restaurant school,and co owner of a catering company. A competitive long distance trail runner and dressage fider, they can be tracked down at their bed and breakfast Fish Creek House in Southwest Montana or at Home on the Range
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