Mandelbrot

 

 

I don't need to act like Elaine from the Seinfeld series to get ahead in lines at bakeries (even though life can be like a Seinfeld episode at any moment), because I have a baker in-house who creates delicious treats.  For this week's bake, Rob chose to make mandelbrot. He used Claire Saffitz's recipe, a professional baker and cookbook author who happens to be Jewish and lives in NYC. (https://www.jewishfoodsociety.org/recipes/aunt-roses-mondel-bread)  What, you've never heard of mandelbrot? Well, the following is a bit of history about it.

The Nosher from My Jewish Learning provides the following information:  "Mandel bread, also called mandelbrot in Yiddish, is a type of cookie similar to the Italian biscotti and popular in Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish cuisine. The cookies were popular throughout the 19th century, often consumed by rabbis, merchants and other Jewish community members. They grew in popularity, known to be a dessert that kept well and traveled easily.

According to Gil Marks, author of the “Encyclopedia of Jewish Food,” mandel bread is thought to have originated in Germany and traveled Eastward, like many other Jewish baked goods. In the early Middle Ages, Italians created the original biscotti by partially baking the dough, cutting it into slices and then returning the pieces to a cooler oven to crisp. The second time in the oven extracts the moisture and lengthens the shelf life of the cookie. The exact year these cookies were adopted by Ashkenzai Jews is unknown, though mandel bread’s easy preparation made it ideal for the Sabbath. Once baking powder was added, mandel bread became lighter and fluffier than biscotti. Over time, Jewish cooks began to add dried fruit, nuts and chocolate chips. During Passover, it was common to make mandel bread with matzah meal instead of flour. The Yiddish word “mandlbroyt” translates to “almond bread,” as the baked good often included almonds. Among the Ukrainian Jewish community, mandelbrot is known as kamishbrot. By the 1940s mandel bread had made its mark in plenty of Jewish cookbooks."

On the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan there is a Jewish bakery, Moishe's Kosher Bakery, where Rob and I visited.  Here you can buy many wonderful treats and breads, including mandelbrot.  The handwritten menu is posted on the wall.  Handwritten -  a true time capsule and old school approach for these long time Jewish owners.  If you look carefully at the menu, you will find the mandelbrot (mandel bread) listed.

To make the mandelbrot:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ (300g) cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups (227 grams) slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 cup (238g) neutral oil, such as vegetable or grapeseed
• 1 tablespoon plus 4 cups (528g) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt
• 3 large eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Preparation

• Step 1

  Make the cinnamon sugar: Toss the cinnamon and ½ cup (100g) of the sugar in a small bowl until the mixture is uniform. Set aside.

• Step 2

  Preheat the oven and toast the almonds: Arrange an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place the almonds on a small rimmed baking sheet and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil to coat. Bake until the almonds are deep golden brown and fragrant, shaking half way through, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool, then toss with 1 tablespoon of the flour to coat. (Turn off the oven.)

• Step 3

  Mix the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the baking powder, salt, and remaining 4 cups flour (520g) to combine.

• Step 4

  Mix the cookie dough: In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the eggs, remaining 1 cup sugar (200g) and remaining 1 cup oil on a medium high speed until smooth and homogenous, about 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla and cooled toasted almonds, followed by the flour mixture. Continue to mix on low speed just until you have a smooth dough, about 45 seconds.

• Step 5

  Chill the dough: Use a flexible spatula to scrape any dough from the paddle back into the bowl, then fold the dough several times to ensure it’s well mixed. Refrigerate the bowl uncovered for 4 hours. (My mom says it has to be exactly 4 hours but an hour less or more is fine.)

• Step 6

  Preheat oven: Arrange an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

• Step 7

  Form the dough into loaves: Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 3 equal portions (if you have a scale, each portion should be about 1 lb / 454g). Space out the 3 mounds of dough in an unlined, ungreased baking sheet. Pat each portion of dough into a smooth loaf measuring about 8x3 inches and 1 ½ inches tall. The exact dimensions aren’t important, but the loaves should all be about the same size. The dough will spread in the oven, so make sure you space them several inches apart.

• Step 8

  Scor and sugar the loaves: USe a serrated knife to make ½-inch-deep score marks crosswise along each loaf at ¾-inch intervals. (These marks completely disappear when you bake the loaves but, according to Aunt Rose and my mom, they help you slice the cookies more easily after baking.) Using one-third of the cinnamon sugar, sprinkle it over the tops of all the loaves. 

• Step 9

  Bake the loaves: Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the loaves are set  and the tops are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and, using a fish spatula, very carefully turn each loaf over so the sugared side is down. The loaves are only partially baked and fragile at this point - try to be gentle so they don’t break. Sprinkle half of the remaining cinnamon sugar over the loaves and return to the oven. Bake for another 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and turn the loaves again. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar and bake for a final 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Let the loaves cool slightly on the baking sheet, 10 to 15 minutes.

• Step 10

  Slice the cookies: When the loaves are cool enough to handle but still very warm, slide the metal spatula beneath the loaves and transfer them, one at a time, to a cutting board. Use a serrated knife in a sawing motion to slice the loaves into ¾ inch thick cookies. The score marks will have disappeared during baking, so you are making fresh cuts. Let the cookies cool completely.

  Below are photos of Rob's mandelbrot.  I can confirm that it is very good and I like to dunk it in coffee.