Erez Komarovsky Workshop

Roasted Eggplant Salad

Last weekend I was able to attend a cooking workshop led by Erez Komarovsky. Erez is the same Erez behind the successful chain of Lechem Erez (Erez Bread) stores throughout Israel. Erez leads a variety of different workshops at his beautiful home in Matat, located in the Upper Galilee near the Lebanese border. He has incredible views of the Galilee and has an impressive organic garden full of broccoli, swiss chard, no less than five kinds of sage, beets, kohlrabi, and much more. I never though kohlrabi had much flavor, but eating it picked straight out of the ground made me realize how incredibly sweet the vegetable can be if grown right and eaten freshly.

Swiss Chard

Upon arriving at his home you are greeted by the smells of several different fresh baked breads that have just come out of his stone oven. There were delicious roasted eggplant, roasted tomato and roasted pepper salads along with a massive bowl of homemade hummus to eat. Before the workshop even starts Erez makes sure you’re pretty full.

After the tour of his garden, where I had the best kohlrabi of my life, we were led into his downstairs kitchen where we gathered around a long table and eagerly anticipated Erez’s cooking demonstrations. The specific workshop that day was breads and soups. He preceded to make a garlic confit bread, a jerusalem artichoke bread, a pumpkin seed and leek challah, a spicy asian soup with a pumpkin and leek stock, a beef and bean stew, and finally a leek, artichoke and garbanzo bean soup. All of the breads and soups were really tasty and the workshop was very inspiring. I posted the garlic confit bread recipe, which was the highlight for me.

Hummus and leek soup, variety of breads

Erez is extremely knowledgeable not only about bread recipes, techniques, and all things bread, but about Israeli and Galilean cuisine in general.  Seasonality is a strong theme in his cooking, hence the heavy use of leeks throughout the day. This focus on local and seasonal ingredients is something I try to model my style of cooking after as well. The workshops last 4 to 5 hours, and I highly recommend trying it out.

 
Galil Olive Orchards
 
Homemade hummus

Savor Israel
www.savorisrael.com

Erez Komarovsky Workshop

Garlic Confit Bread

The latest post on the blog is about a memorable cooking workshop I participated in last weekend, led by Erez Komarovsky. The theme was breads and soups, and one recipe in particular stood out. I’m posting the recipe according to what I observed from Erez. Have fun baking and I hope it tastes great for all those that try.

Garlic Confit Bread

Ingredients:
½ kilo organic whole wheat flour
½ kilo bread flour – high gluten
25 grams wet yeast or ½ spoon of dry yeast
3 spoons brown sugar
*¾ cup garlic confit
1 ½ spoon salt
1 ½ spoon rosemary
3-3 ¾ cups water

Instructions:
1. In a big bowl mix the flour and yeast.
2. Add water and start mixing and kneading for several minutes.
3. Add brown sugar and continue mixing and kneading until all together you’ve been kneading the dough for approximately 8 minutes. It is important not to knead for too long.
4. Add chopped rosemary and mix into dough. Add garlic and mix gently into dough as to not break the cloves. Add the salt and mix in as well. Continue kneading the bread very gently another 3-4 minutes.
5. Add 2 spoonfuls of the garlic confit oil. Mix into the bread.
6. Cover bowl with a nylon covering/trash bag and let sit for 2 hours. Keep outside of a fridge only if cold, otherwise in fridge.
7. Without touching the bread more than needed, lay out it as one long mass of dough on a floured surface.
8. With a cutter, make two inch wide strips.
9. Place baking paper on an oven tray and flour if dough is still sticky.
10. Take 4 strips of the dough and line next to each other. Press ends together and lay over a rosemary sprig on the oven tray.
11. If the tray is big enough add another set of 4 strips pressed together.
12. Place a nylon/trash bag back on the bread and let rest another 1 ½ hours.
13. Preheat oven to 230 C.
14. Flip dough so that the rosemary is on top of the bread now.
15. Before putting the bread in the oven place 8-10 ice cubes in the bottom of the oven to create steam. The steam will keep the bread moist and soft as it bakes.
16. Place the tray with bread in the bottom third of the oven.
17. After 20 minutes lower temperature to 180 C. Cook for another 20 minutes.
18. After the 20 minutes open the oven door to let out any remaining steam. Continue baking for another 10 minutes. This will create a crispy crust.
19. Serve and enjoy!

*Garlic Confit Recipe
Ingredients:
20 (can do any amount you want) heads of garlic
Olive Oil

Instructions:
1. Peel the garlic cloves and put in a stove pan
2. Pour olive oil into the pan until the garlic cloves are completely covered and add a small additional amount
3. Cook for 30 minutes at the lowest heat possible. It is important the oil doesn’t boil because it will burn the garlic.
4. You can store the garlic and oil together or separately in the fridge for several months.

Savor Israel
www.savorisrael.com

Garlic Confit Bread