With their fetching wares and irresistible aromas, bakeries beckon like few other places.
Yet certain ethnic sweet shops, with their seemingly exotic fare, still can intimidate the average shopper.
Sure, most people have mastered bagels, baguettes and bismarcks, but, for many, items like burfi, bao and baklava remain sweet mysteries–ones that don’t get any easier to solve when you add a language barrier.
A little persistence, pointing, and trial-and-error can earn you some tasty rewards at local ethnic bake shops. We set out on several bakery expeditions, buying up one of just about everything in the store and asking the staff about history, ingredients and preparations as much as their patience and our limited Spanish, Korean, Arabic and Hindi would allow.
The results were often fascinating and delicious. We don’t have the space to cover all of Chicago’s ethnic bakery categories, so we stuck to one bakery each from Mexican, Korean, South Asian and Middle Eastern choices.
If you have a favorite ethnic bakery, please write to tell us at Ethnic Bakery, Good Eating, Room 500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611 or e-mail suggestions to ctc-goodeating@ tribune.com.
MEXICAN
French history, bargain prices
Although wheat came to Mexico with the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th Century, it wasn’t until the French occupation of the 1800s that baking really caught on. Mexicans developed an affection for flaky pastry and crisp rolls (bolillos). Since then, Mexican panaderias (bread shops) have developed uniquely Mexican sweets that blend the fat and flour of French pastry with whimsical touches and indigenous ingredients including pineapple and camote, a kind of sweet potato.
But the delicacy and richness of French pastry has disappeared from standard Mexican bakery fare, which is more about offering sweet, filling, crumbly and colorful treats at a great price.
“We use a lot of pure lard for our breads and shortening for our cookies,” said El Nopal manager Gus Lozano. “Someone can come in and buy one of our pan dulce or bolillos for 40 cents and go make a nice sandwich for not a lot of money.”
That said, a newer wave of Mexican bakeries in Chicago such as BomBon in Pilsen and Pierre’s in various locations has helped raise the quality, and the price, of Mexican pastries.
Here are some typical things to try at El Nopal (1844 S. Blue Island Ave., 312-226-9861), a 50-year-old Pilsen institution with old-fashioned wood-framed doors on the cooler and shelves behind the counter, making it one of the few non-self-service Mexican bakeries in the city.
Pan dulce: These chunky, yeasty, not-too-sweet rolls are great for dunking in hot chocolate or a sugary cafe con leche as a mid-morning snack. The most common is the soft, spongy concha, a sweet bun striped with a sugary topping to make it look like a shell. Beware, pan dulce dry out quickly.
Cookies: Look for ginger cookies shaped like plump pigs called cochinitos or maranitos.
Orejas: Those who like palmiers, or elephant ears, will like this replica, though it’s usually made with shortening.
Empanadas: Although you can find apple and cherry turnovers at most Mexican bakeries, the more traditional hand-held pies are rustic empanadas de pina or camote, filled with pineapple or sweet potato.
Pastel de tres leches: This rich cake is soaked in condensed, evaporated and whole milk and then frosted with whipped cream. BomBon offers several variations that incorporate the Mexican eggnog, rompope, Kahlua, berries or pina colada flavors.
Prices: Most sweets cost 40 cents each.
How most people enjoy them: With hot chocolate or coffee in mid-morning or late afternoon.
Bakery etiquette: Most Mexican bakeries allow patrons to serve themselves.
“That’s tasty” in Spanish: Que rico!
MIDDLE EASTERN
A taste for honey, nuts and pastry
When it comes pastries of the Middle East, the undisputed star of the show is baklava in its many variations.
According to the The Kitchen Project’s Web site on “The History of Baklava,” it originated with Assyrians in the 8th Century B.C. as a thin dough topped with nuts and honey. The Greeks introduced the paper-thin sheets of phyllo dough, and the Ottoman Turks added spices (cinnamon, cloves and cardamom) that were said to enhance the aphrodisiac qualities of the honey and walnuts.
“Baklava is a common word, but for the rest [of the commonly eaten pastries] everybody has a different word or spelling,” said Jaafer co-owner Art Yanni. Options include shredded wheat or shredded phyllo spread over cheese custard or wrapped around nuts; buttery semolina-based cookies, often filled with dates and nuts; cracked wheat and nut squares; sesame-seed or nut squares, and fried doughnuts.
Variations include using sugar syrup instead of honey, vegetable oil instead of butter (during Lent) and even substituting aspartame for sugar to make sugar-free sweets.
Jaafer Sweets (4825 N. Kedzie Ave., 773-463-3933) is a clean, bright, buttery-smelling Albany Park bakery where the proprietors are happy to describe their various wares and even offer samples of some of the following.
Baklava: This category also includes almond baklava, rolled lady fingers, pistachio-filled birds nests, cigar-shape cashew rolls and fanned-out half moons called mini roses. And don’t forget the cheese baklava filled with cream cheese.
Kanafa: Shredded wheat or shredded phyllo spread over sweet cheese and sugar syrup and cut into squares.
Bourma: Pistachios rolled in shredded wheat, deep-fried, then sliced into rounds.
Date fingers: Chewy semolina butter cookies filled with dates and rolled in sesame seeds.
Halwa: Creamy ground sesame seeds mixed with sugar and pistachios and pressed into a block before slicing.
Prices: $6.50 per pound or $7.50 per pound for sugar-free versions.
How they are eaten: Middle Eastern sweets are normally eaten after dinner or in the afternoon with a strong, thick cup of coffee. Boxes of these sweets are given to mark birthdays, celebrations and Muslim and Christian holidays.
Bakery etiquette: These sweets are sold by the pound, not the piece. Many Middle Eastern bakeries serve coffee or tea at little tables in the shop and are happy to offer samples. If you have an aversion to perfume flavors in your pastries, ask which ones contain rose water or orange-flower water and avoid them.
“Tasty” in Arabic: Zaky.
SOUTH ASIAN
Dairy, not flour, is the starting point for meal finishers
Unlike the dough-based treats of many Western bakeries, South Asian sweets are all about dairy. Inside each sweet shop are colorful displays of round, square and diamond-shape sweets, called mithai, that deliver dense bites of intense flavor.
“They are traditional gifts for the Hindu new year, called Diwali, and Muslim holidays of Eid,” Tahoora Sweets owner Mohammed Shelia said. Many sweets start with a mild white cheese called paneer, milk solids called khoya, or clarified butter, ghee. Coloring and flavoring agents include nuts, fruits and spices such as saffron, vanilla and cumin.
Tahoora Sweets (2326 W. Devon Ave., 773-743-7272) has a bright look, with stacks of colorful wares behind glass cases and about a dozen tables. Here are a few of the shop’s popular sweets.
Burfi: Also called barfi, these milk-solids squares have a fudgy texture and are flavored with mango, saffron, pistachios and almonds. We like the almond burfi best, but a variation called kalaakand, made with a fluffy ricotta-like cheese, is lighter.
Halwa: Our favorite is carrot halwa, in which shredded carrots are cooked with sugar, clarified butter, nuts and spices and sold in blocks. Dudhi halwa is made the same way, but with zucchini. Karachi halwa, made with cornstarch and nuts, is much different, like a tangy, chewy taffy.
Ladoo: Sweet, chickpea flour balls cooked in ghee and often given at weddings and funerals.
Kaju or pista katli: These diamonds blend ground cashews and pistachios with sugar to create a marzipan-like sweet that is one of the shop’s most popular items among non-South Asian patrons.
Prices: Most items cost about $5.50 per pound or 75 cents apiece.
How they are eaten: Mithai are eaten at celebrations or “in small quantities of a piece or two after a meal to provide balance,” says Sachin Mody, manager of Rajbhog Foods in Flushing, N.Y. (There is a Chicago location on Devon Avenue.)
Sweet-shop etiquette: Most items are ordered by the pound. Long lines are not unusual on weekend mornings.
“That’s tasty” in Hindi: Acha hey.
In Urdu: Bohat laziz hey.
KOREAN
Country’s sweet tooth adapted to foreign flour
Although bread was introduced to Korea as early as the 1800s when French missionaries secretly visited the country, wheat-based baked goods didn’t really take off there until the mid ’50s. In this post-war period, South Korea started to produce its own sugar and butter, and things associated with the U.S. rose in popularity.
A further bakery boost came from American food aid in the early 1960s that consisted mostly of wheat flour, disregarding local preferences for rice and barley. That American influence is still very strong in all Korean bakeries, which offer several variations of soft, moist white buns filled with pastes made from beans, chestnuts and sweet potatoes. Rice flour shows up in heavy, chewy sugar-frosted doughnuts; other doughnuts have savory fillings of vegetables and potatoes.
Dok Il Bakery owner Dong Yeol Lee said that Korean celebration cakes “use less sugar than European or American bakers. We start with a spongecake and frost it with pure whipped cream.”
Dok Il Bakery (3844 W. Lawrence Ave., 773-539-3551) is a clean, sunny spot where items are labeled in Korean and English. Its name, from a famous bakery in Seoul, means “German bakery.”
Korean nut balls: If you’re lucky, you’ll arrive at Dok Il when these scrumptious walnut-size cakes called ho doh ball are rolling off a contraption that fills each tiny ball with a squirt of custard and a half walnut. They are terrific at room temperature, but even better while they are still warm.
Layer cakes: Moist spongecakes, frosted with whipped cream and decorated with fresh fruit, take the sweetness level of the usual birthday (celebration) cake down several notches.
Rice-flour doughnuts: Although heavy and oily, the rice flour adds a satisfying chew to the doughnut experience.
Vegetable salad sandwich: This raisin-studded potato salad in a hot dog bun makes for a surprisingly tasty sandwich on the go.
Bean-paste buns: Anyone who likes bean-paste pastries from Chinese or Japanese bakeries should enjoy these.
How they are eaten: In the same way as most Western pastries, at celebrations, with breakfast, for lunch or as a snack with “ginseng tea or coffee,” Lee said.
Bakery etiquette: Most of the snacks at Dok Il are individually wrapped in resealable baggies.
Prices: Most sweets are 90 cents apiece.
“That’s tasty” in Korean: Mad itsayo.
Kalakand (Indian nut squares)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Cooling time: 3 hours
Yield: 16 pieces
Authentic recipes for this tasty, fudgelike sweet call for paneer, popular in many sweet and savory dishes in India. This unripened cheese made from milk from a cow or buffalo is available in Indian markets. This recipe was developed in the test kitchen using ingredients available in most supermarkets.
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups powdered milk
1/2 cup powdered ground almonds, made from about 3 ounces of almonds, see note
1/4 teaspoon each: turmeric, ground cardamom
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
1. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat; add the ricotta cheese. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook until it thickens slightly, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add sugar; cook, stirring, 10 minutes. Stir in powdered milk, almonds, turmeric and cardamom. Cook, stirring, until mixture pulls away from sides of pan, about 2 minutes.
2. Pour into a greased 8-inch-square baking pan; press chopped pistachios into batter. Let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Chill until firm, about 2 hours. Remove from refrigerator; let come to room temperature. Cut into squares.
Note: To grind small amounts of almonds to a powder, place almonds in a food processor and pulse to reach the desired consistency. Or, place almonds in a large plastic bag and roll and pound with a rolling pin until they resemble a powder.
Nutrition informatin per piece:
220 calories, 42% calories from fat, 11 g fat, 4.9 g saturated fat, 23 mg cholesterol, 70 mg sodium, 26 g carbohydrate, 7 g protein, 0.8 g fiber
Conchas (Seashell pastries)
Preparation time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Rising time: 5 hours total
Chilling time: 8 hours
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Yield: 20 pastries
These delicious sweet rolls are adapted from a recipe in “Feasts of Life,” by Patricia Quintana. A Mexican standard, they should be eaten the same day they are baked. The dough needs an overnight chilling to develop flavor. Serve with hot chocolate or coffee. Marmalade may be served on the side.
Yeast starter:
3 envelopes (1/4 ounce each) active dried yeast
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon lukewarm water
3/4 cup flour
Dough:
4 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) butter
1/2 cup lard or vegetable shortening
7 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
Topping:
1 1/2 cups lard or vegetable shortening
1 cup each: flour, sugar
4 egg yolks
1. For yeast starter, dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Add 3/4 cup flour; stir until the mixture forms a ball. Cover with a cloth; let rise in a draft-free spot until doubled in volume, 15-30 minutes.
2. For the dough, sift the 4 cups of flour and salt into a large bowl. Stir in sugar. Work in butter and lard with your fingers; knead on floured surface until dough comes together, about 10 minutes. Make a well in the center of the dough; add eggs to well. Work eggs into dough until smooth. Work in yeast starter until smooth. Knead until the dough is smooth, slightly elastic and no longer sticky, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle in extra flour if necessary. Shape into a ball; place in a greased bowl. Turn ball to coat. Cover dough; let rise in a draft-free spot until doubled in volume, 2 1/2 hours. Punch down; cover. Chill in refrigerator at least 8 hours.
3. Remove dough from refrigerator. Knead dough 5-8 minutes. Divide into 20 equal balls. Place on greased baking sheets.
4. For topping, combine lard, flour, sugar and egg yolks in medium bowl. Mix with your hands until smooth. Divide the mixture into 20 equal portions; shape into little pancakes. Place the sugar pancake on top of each ball; score pancake with a knife tip or special concha scorer to resemble scallop shells. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
5. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake until rolls are light brown, about 40 minutes. Do not overbake or rolls will harden. Remove from oven; cool.
Nutrition information per pastry:
535 calories, 56% calories from fat, 33 g fat, 15 g saturated fat, 180 mg cholesterol, 265 mg sodium, 51 g carbohydrate, 7 g protein, 1.2 g fiber
