Delicious and More Delicious

The extraordinary Crown Medjool from Breads Bakery

The amazing cake pictured above was the purchase mentioned in my Monday post. It was pricy and fragile, but also delicious and memorable. It was also so complex that there is no way I would have even thought to undertake making it. 

One of the few series I have binged from season one to season eight (and the holiday episodes) is The Great British Bakeoff. I'm not sure why I found it so fascinating as I do very little baking, but I watched it pretty much from beginning to end in the space of a few weeks. This was done during the time I didn't have an oven, so I definitely lived vicariously. One of the techniques that was usually a challenge in each season was laminating dough. I wasn't familiar with the term before the show, but I marveled at the masterpieces created. 

Laminated dough is made by forming layers of butter and dough, of which puff pastry is an example. If yeast and milk are added to the dough the creation might be a croissant, a palmier, Danish pastry or a Crown Medjool. This was light as a cloud croissant-like pastry with a sweet date filling and absolutely delicious. I've brought treats from Breads Bakery to many other holiday celebrations and this may be our new favorite. I haven't seen it at other times, so we'll just have to wait for 5783.

The holiday isn't only about food, but food plays a big part in the celebration. There were three courses before we got to dessert and they were equally delicious. I am blessed to spend the holidays with dear friends who are talented cooks and bakers. One of the treats was my friend, Nancy's, apple challah. Challah is the traditional bread eaten on the Sabbath and holidays. Generally, challah is braided, but for Rosh Hashanah round challahs are the choice to symbolize the cycle of the year. 

 

This challah was amazingly delicious and yes, it would be perfect French toast. 

But no surprise,  there were no leftovers. 

The Crown Medjool wasn't alone on the dessert table. There was also honey cake, a Rosh Hashanah tradition, plum tart and almond slices. The bounty of cake led to a discussion of coffee and my next post will be about one of my favorite topics, coffee. 

Our question for this post: What's your favorite cake/pastry to go with coffee? Since I've got laminated dough on my mind, I'm voting for an almond croissant. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care.