MERRY CHRISTMAS

It’s 8A.M. Christmas morning.  Everyone wakes up in a happy mood, gathers around the kitchen table for a leisurely breakfast, then, while carols play softly in he background, gifts are exchanged, opened slowly and admired by one and all.  HA!

Unless you’re Martha Stewart, you are probably explaining to a heartbroken three year old why Santa forgot to leave a present for her kitty, trying to find an emergency vet for your dog, Bubba, who thought the Christmas ornaments looked delicious (we still refer to that Christmas as the year of the festive poop), or frantically trying to thaw a twenty pound frozen turkey in the bathtub.  Kids, big and small, are shouting and tearing into presents, the tree has an ominous tilt and no one can find Aunt Tilley’s gift (or Aunt Tilley for that matter).

Now, our kids are grown, their kids are grown and getting everyone together at the same time on Christmas is impossible.  A quiet, civilized Christmas breakfast ain’t gonna happen.  So here’s how we keep the troops fed and keep our sanity (everything is relative!).

We don’t have a staff, ala Martha, so we do one main breakfast dish that keeps O.K. on a warming tray.  The rest of the food is buffet style and can be left out for a couple of hours without killing anyone.  We do a huge fruit salad, slice up some ham and put out Mike’s famous cinnamon buns.  We feed our bulldog, Roxanne, and give her a chew toy to keep her from mooching (No, this does not actually work).

We don’t do a huge Polish Christmas Eve dinner anymore, so we try to include a couple of things to reflect the family’s heritage, - perogi for Mike, and anything boiled or overcooked for me.  And, most important of all, we enjoy our kids and grandkids whenever they arrive for as long as they stay and when they leave, we take a nap.

So my best advice is – relax!  Do whatever makes for a calm and stress free Christmas for your family, even if that means instant cocoa and donut holes.  You can always cook up a spectacular feast for New Year’s Eve.

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SAUSAGE & EGG CASSEROLE

One of the real pleasures of visiting Blue Hill, Maine was staying with Flossie and Kendall when they ran a B&B.  At one extended family gathering Flossie served up what has become our favorite large gathering breakfast dish.

Serves 8

2 cups herbed croutons or stuffing mix OR 6 slices fresh bread (crust removed) and 2 tsp Italian seasoning

2 TBSP butter, softened

1 lb bulk sausage (or more)

1 cup chopped mushrooms (optional) OR 2 cups diced onion & pepper mixture OR some of everything

2 TBSP butter

3 TBSP flour

2 1/2 cups half-and-half

1 tsp dry mustard

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese or a mix of cheeses

8 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup grated cheese

Salt & pepper to taste

Grease a 10x14-inch baking dish with 1 TBSP butter.  Sprinkle crouton/bread over the bottom of the buttered baking dish.

Cook sausage, drain and sprinkle over the croutons/bread.

Sauté mushrooms (or onion/pepper mixture) using 1 TBSP butter and set aside.

Melt 2 TBSP butter, stir in flour until smooth.  Cook 10 minutes over low to medium-low heat; roux should be very pale.  Add half-and-half slowly; stir constantly until a smooth sauce is formed.  If sauce appears to have lumps, pour through a strainer.  Remove from heat and add dry mustard, salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in mushrooms (or onion/pepper mixture) and 1 1/2 cups of cheese.  Set aside to cool.

Beat eggs.  Mix into cooled sauce.  Pour over sausage and croutons/bread, sprinkle with 1/2 cup grated cheese.  Cover and refrigerate overnight if using dried croutons/stuffing mix or at least 1 hour if using fresh bread.

Pre-heat oven to 350º F.  If casserole was refrigerated overnight, bring casserole to room temperature for 1 hour before baking.

Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until eggs are set.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

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VIENNESE WALNUT COOKIES

Sandy has been making these cookies for as long as we’ve had kids and one year Christmas was almost a disaster – we couldn’t find the recipe.  Finally, the day before Christmas it appeared and in the midst of wrapping presents we HAD to make these.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/4 cups sifted unbleached, all-purpose flour

1-1/3 cups ground walnuts (as fine as possible)

Butter Cream Frosting

Cream butter, sugar, salt and vanilla together.  Blend in flour and ground walnuts.  Form into a ball and refrigerate for about a half hour. 

Pre-heat oven to 350° F.

Divide dough in half and roll out to about 1/4-inch and cut with a small cookie or biscuit cutter - we use a small oval cutter (1 X 1-1/2-inches), think bite-size.

Bake on ungreased baking sheets at 350° F for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned.  Cool on racks.

Put together impairs with butter cream frosting and decorate top with a swirl of frosting.

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

A printer friendly version of these recipes can be found on our web site at http://www.stoneturtlebaking.com/webdocs/recipes.htm.

WHAT A TURKEY

Ah, Thanksgiving is upon us.  It brings back so many memories of the holiday celebration when I was a kid…… Autumn leaves, pumpkins, football games and EEEK…….  Mom’s turkey!  I don’t want to disparage my mother’s culinary skills, but when I hear the term, “Mom’s home cooking,” a little shiver goes up my spine.  My mom, bless her, had many good qualities, not least of which was her wicked sense of humor, but pumpkin pie, turkey or anything that took place at or near a stove, had disaster written all over it.  Here’s the sad thing……. she had no clue that cooking wasn’t her biggest talent and went about making Thanksgiving dinner with a gusto and zeal that you just had to admire.  The results, however, not so much.

A turkey, according to Mom, needed to be cooked in a covered roasting pan for a very loooong time.  She would start the bird the evening before, cook it all night, then all morning, then……… well, you get the idea.

At dinner she would proudly exclaim over the fact that the turkey was so tender, “it’s falling off the bone”, while the family mournfully stared at a bare turkey carcass with bits of stringy meat piled around it.  The gravy went perfectly with the turkey.  One year, my sister Aggie got into big trouble when, in answer to Mom’s question, “Would you like some gravy?” answered, “Sure, I’ll have a lump!”

Now, many years later, the turkey is perfect, the gravy lump free and my memories of Thanksgiving are viewed through the soft lens of time.  Somehow, magically, they seem as sweet as Mom’s apple pie.

So, here’s wishing all five of you that follow my blog a bountiful and blessed Thanksgiving day.  For a special treat, I’m leaving you with my mom’s secret technique for roasting turkey.  Just Kidding!

Instead, I’m sharing a new family tradition, … my son John’s recipe for his justifiably famous Thee Mushroom Cream Soup.  It’s awesome.  Enjoy.

P.S.  The package of ladyfingers that I bought in early August and left on my microwave oven are doing beautifully!  No mold, no signs of age, and still as soft as a baby’s bottom.  I don’t know about you, but that scares the living bejeebers out of me.

THREE MUSHROOM CREAM SOUP

Our son, John, has been making this soup for us since his days cooking at the Mystic Hilton in Mystic, CT


1 or 2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, white and light green only, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, sliced thin
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch scallions - white and 1 or 2 inches of green, sliced
1 Tablespoon ginger, minced
8 ounces shitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps sliced
8 ounces crimini (baby bella) or button mushrooms, sliced
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Pepper, to taste
Soy sauce, to taste

Soak porcini mushrooms in hot tap water (enough to cover mushrooms) for 10 to 15 minutes, strain through cheesecloth or paper towels and chop mushrooms.  Set aside mushroom liquid.

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat.  Add leek, carrots and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, scallions and ginger and cook an additional minute.  Add shitake and crimini mushrooms and cook until mushrooms give up their liquid and start to take on color, about 5 or 6 minutes.  Add porcini mushrooms and reserved mushroom liquid.

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.  Add heavy cream and heat, but do not boil the soup.  Add soy sauce and pepper to taste.

NOT JULIA’S BEEF STEW

Speaking of Julia, (see previous blog, where I humbly confess my sins to the Patron Saint of home cooking), Mike and I went to see “Julie & Julia”, and I have to say that the poor actress, Amy Something, that played Julie had a tough slog.  The character of Julie came across as a whiney whiner and every time she was in a scene, I wanted to shout, “PLEASE GET OUT OF THIS MOVIE!”  But, Meryl Streep was a revelation.  It was such fun watching her channel Julia Child that I thought she was actually a better “Julia” than Julia.

Mike and I met Julia Child, (the real one, not Meryl) in the early nineties at a King Arthur Flour function and I have to admit that she scared me.  For one thing, she was huge!  I’m five feet nothin’ and she towered over me.  I felt like I was in kindergarten and she was the Principal.  She was eighty years old and still very much in command of any room she was in.  She also said whatever popped into her head.  Mike and I drove her to…well, I don’t actually remember to what…and she explained that anyone under eight or over eighty could say whatever they pleased!  So she did.  When Mike asked her why some points were so difficult to get across at a cooking demonstration, she stated that it was because “some people are abysmally stupid”.  Okey dokey then!

We are also the proud owners of a signed copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”, a real gen-u-wine photo of Julia and Mike and a mug that I had made up with Mike and Julia’s picture and signed “Michael, thank you for all your help, love Julia” that is soooo fake.  [Michael – It was a lot of fun to flaunt and it used to drive some of my uptight, former co-workers crazy.  It was so worth it.]

When we got home from the movie, I immediately got out Julia’s cookbook to decide what to cook first and discovered I didn’t use her cookbook very often because ….I can hardly say this out loud….I don’t like it!  OMG, I feel like a French gendarme is going to arrest me for, oh, I don’t know, blasphemy or something, but I felt exhausted just reading the recipes.

So, in order to exhibit my vast inferiority to Julia and forever ruin my reputation as a great cook, - O.K., I don’t actually have a reputation as a great cook – I now present my pathetic version of Boeuf Bourguignon.  I call it, um, beef stew.


Michael says:
After seeing the movie and looking at “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” I feel the urge to make Julia's version of Boeuf Bourguignon.  I know that it's silly but it fits into my compulsive nature.  On one of these (too soon to come) Maine winter days I'm doing it - especially if we have some fresh bread to go along with it,

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Not Julia's Beef Stew

I use Chuck for the stewing meat.  Chuck is perfect – he’s tasty – just a little tough.  But, with patience and a little heat, he goes all soft and tender.

2 lb. Chuck, cubed

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt (or 2 teaspoons Kosher salt)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup carrot, chopped

1/2 cup leeks, chopped

1/2 cup fennel, chopped – optional but yummy

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 bay leaf

4 or 5 cups beef or chicken stock

1 teaspoon dried herbs, whatever you like (or 1 Tablespoon fresh)

1 cup wine, beer –whatever you’re having

3 o 4 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 or 4 small potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 parsnip or turnip, optional

1 Tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

Mix flour, salt and pepper together and put on a plate or in a shaker.  Dredge Chuck in flour mix – don’t worry, he likes it.  Brown Chuck on all sides in olive oil – don’t crowd or Chuck gets all gray and wet.  Remove meat and add a leetle more oil if needed and cook chopped onion, carrots, leeks, celery and fennel, if using, until somewhat softened, about 5 minutes.  Add liquids and herbs and bring to a simmer.  Cover and simmer for 1 to 1-1/2 hours.  Add sliced carrots, potato, etc., re-cover and simmer an additional 30 minutes until veggies are tender.  Top with chopped parsley and serve.

Note:  I have huge burners on my stove and it’s hard to maintain a simmer, so I usually bring my stew to a simmer, cover it and put it in the oven at 350º F for the same cooking time.

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For a printer friendly copy of our Beef Stew go to our web site at http://www.stoneturtlebaking.com/webdocs/recipes.htm .

ADIEU TO LA PÊCHE

                                                  

Wow, Autumn is upon us, and it’s almost time to bid farewell to my outside shower and local peaches.  I’m sad L.  To me, peaches exemplify summer.  They look like summer.  They taste like sunshine and they feel like……ick, ick, oh yikes, they feel like tennis balls!  Only you have to eat them!  Put that fuzzy stuff in your mouth and I CAN’T DO IT!  I can’t even watch someone else do it.  It gives me the willies.

But I do love them.  I just need a designated peach picker, holder, carrier, peeler guy to defuzz them.  That would be Mike.

Peaches, which are believed to have originated in Persia, actually migrated to that area of the world from China.  Thank you China… you rock.  Alas, like all beauty queens, the peach was only valued for its looks, - its beautiful blossoms, - rather than its small, sour, ornamental fruit.  But, when it made its way to the Middle East, it thrived in the warmer, sunnier climate.  Sort of like Mike in the summer, but without the tan.

Although most commercial peaches are grown in California, Georgia and New Joisey, really good, sweet, juicy peachy peaches, like everything else grown locally are best.  Unfortunately, they are also fuzzier.  How fair is that?

Peaches, yellow or white, come in either cling – that pit ain’t coming out no matter how much you swear at it – and freestone which has, well, a free stone that is easy to remove.  I can’t tell them apart, so I always ask my farmer which type they are.  You are buying your peaches from a local farmer, right?

P.S.  I have a confession to make – so here goes.  Bless me, Julia, for I have sinned… I wanted ladyfingers for a quickie Tiramisu and I BOUGHT SOME!

At a local supermarket!  I’m so ashamed.  But, I didn’t use them.  I couldn’t bring myself to open the package, so I put it on top of my microwave oven and forgot about them until today, five weeks later.  THEY ARE FINE.  Soft.  No mold.  Pristine.  Holy Crap!  The ingredient list goes on, and on and ooooonnnnn, and they only things I recognize are eggs, flour and sugar.  So, as an ongoing experiment, I put them back and will report the date of their demise. 

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PEACH SALSA

2 ripe peaches

1/4 cup diced red or sweet onion

1/4 cup diced bell pepper, any color

1 small chili, - jalapeno or whatever

Juice of 1 lime

1 Tablespoon finely chopped mint, cilantro or parsley

Peel (Mike’s job), pit and cube peaches.  Add peppers, lime juice and chopped herb.  Mix thoroughly and refrigerate until chilled.  Great over grilled fish, chicken or pork.  You’re welcome!

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For a printer friendly copy of our Peach Salsa go to our web site at http://www.stoneturtlebaking.com/webdocs/recipes.htm .

HOW I FOUND OUT I WAS OLD

A few months ago, my Grandson, R.J., excitedly told me that he was starting Kindergarten……no, wait,…he said college, but that’s not possible, he’s only five!

 

But, then, why is he driving, and why am I looking up at him?  I smiled and said, YES!  Good for you!  But, I gotta tell you, my chest tightened and I felt a lump in my throat.  My little Grandson is gone, and there is a tall, hairy college man in his place, off to Johnson & Wales this weekend to become a chef.

My son, John, R.J.’s Dad, has been a cook and kitchen manager at Captain’s Galley in Old Orchard Beach for over twelve years.  I guess watching his Dad work fourteen hour days, ruin his back and fill in as dishwasher when the “help” doesn’t show up proved irresistible!

But, cooking is a calling, like the ministry, except with more bad words, and if you are supposed to be a cook, sooner or later, the Muse will whisper in your ear and a kitchen will find you.

Last summer, when Mike and I were baking for a local Farmers’ Market, R.J. biked over from his house to lend us a hand with our set-up.  He looked around at our wares and asked, “what isn’t here,…what don’t you sell?”  The answer was cookies.  Our table was cookie free and an entrepreneur was born.  The following week R.J. came over to our school and baked twelve dozen cookies, and on Saturday, he put a nice lump of cookie dough in his pocket.  He was a big draw every week and usually sold out in three hours, but I’m still wondering if his success was due to his cookies or his pink mohawk!

We’re proud of you R.J.  Godspeed.

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R.J.’s AWESOME EVERYTHING COOKIES

1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

11/4 cups rolled oats, not quick cooking

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup craisins

1/2 cup golden raisins

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon grated fresh orange zest (shhh…this is the secret ingredient!)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.  Beat together butter and brown sugar until creamy.  Add the egg, orange zest and vanilla.  Gradually mix in flour mixture.  Stir in rolled oats, walnuts, craisins, raisins and the chocolate chips or chunks and mix until evenly incorporated.  Drop by rounded tablespoons, about 2 to 3 inches apart, onto parchment covered cookie sheets. 

Bake 10 to 13 minutes, depending on how chewy or crisp you like your cookies.

(R.J. kept his chewy).  Cool completely on racks before wrapping.

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For a printer friendly copy of R.J.’s AWESOME EVERYTHING COOKIES please visit our web site at http://www.stoneturtlebaking.com/webdocs/recipes.htm .

Pastry Dough

 Sandy says:

Just spotted the first new apples of the season at the Farmers’ Market.  I haven’t even picked a tomato and what passes for Summer in Maine is almost over.  Sigh.  As my Dad used to say “Summer is gone, - Winter drawers on!”

Anyway, the apples reminded me of pie, which reminded me of pie dough and a great story I can tell you only because Mike is not in the room, so shhhh!

HUMBLE PIE

Once upon a time, a long, looong time ago in 1966, Mike and I married and moved to a magical kingdom called Washington, D. C. where Mike made the unhappy discovery that I couldn’t cook ANYTHING.  Nothing.  Nada!

Mike’s Mom and his “Babchi” were great cooks, so Mike, - undeterred by the fact that he had never actually made pie crust, - decided that he would “teach me” the fine art of pastry.  Since we owned neither pastry blender nor rolling pin, he improvised with two butter knives and a quart soda bottle.  He cut the shortening into the flour, added water, and Voila!  –pancake batter.

I won’t go into the rest of the gory details, but the “lesson” ended, after much flour flinging, dough sticking and bad words, with the ball of dough on the floor and me sneaking out of the kitchen.  But, to my credit, I was nice enough to close the bathroom door before I fell down laug….. uh oh, I hear Mike behind me,..he has duct tape, I’m … HELP!!!  m…..mmmfffph….

I’m O.K. ….. just a flesh wound…. where was I?  Oh yeah, pastry dough.  Before I turn this over to Mike for his tutorial, however, I feel it’s only fair to let you know that after our disastrous first baking lesson, one of us went on to become a professional pastry chef.  If you’re trying to guess who, here is a little hint.  It wasn’t Mike.

Michael says:  It’s All About The Dough

One of the reasons that I had a problem with that infamous first crust (besides the obvious idiot thing) was my ignorance about the properties of gluten.  Gluten, those stretchy proteins in flour that when activated by kneading, helps bread rise, is also toughened by overworking in pie dough.

So the first lesson in making pie dough is “fast is best.”  Quickly incorporating water, a little at a time, helps keep the crust tender and flaky.  It’s also important to use ice water, rather than just cold water straight from the faucet.  Using really cold liquid, then chilling the dough for a while (at least 30 minutes to 1 hour) helps relax the dough (gluten) and insures that the dough will roll out quickly and smoothly.

Even the fat that you choose affects the character of the dough.  Butter gives the dough the best flavor but because of the water contained in the butter the crust can come out a bit tough.  Solid shortening doesn’t add any flavor to the crust but does make a tender and flaky crust.  Shortening gets it’s name from the effect that it has on gluten.  It actually shortens the strands of gluten and makes the dough tender.  Also shortening has no water and doesn’t contribute to toughening the crust.  My grandmother used to use lard as the fat in her pie dough and it was a great crust.  The lard that she used was leaf lard and what’s available today in the market is fatback lard.  This lard can have a very assertive flavor that isn’t pleasant.  I’m fortunate to live in a rural area and my neighbor keeps me supplied with rendered leaf lard – Babchi’s pie dough still lives in my kitchen!  For most pies though, I use a 50/50 mixture of butter and shortening.

How you handle the shortening, butter or lard in cutting it into the flour can also affect the dough.  Cutting all the fat into the mixture until it looks like cornmeal will give you a “sturdy” crust, or “short flake” dough.  While this is fine for the bottom crust for a custard pie, you won’t win any praise for a sturdy crust on an apple pie.  Leaving the fat pieces considerably bigger, marble size and larger, will give you a “long flake” crust that, unfortunately, will shatter when you first cut into it.

What’s happening is the pieces of fat get coated with flour as you mix the dough.  When you roll out the dough the fat pieces form layers separated by flour layers.  When the dough gets baked the fat melts leaving an air gap separation between the flour layers.  With really large pieces of fat, long layers form.  The result is dough that’s a bit like puff pastry but way too fragile for pie crust.

I like a “medium flake” crust.  This involves cutting the fat into the flour in two steps.  Since I usually use butter and shortening, I cut the butter into the flour until it resembles cornmeal.  I then cut the shortening in until there are pieces that go from the size of large peas to a half piece of walnut.  This will give you a tender and flaky crust that will not shatter.

My grandmother would also add a bit of cider vinegar or lemon juice (I prefer lemon) to the ice water before making the dough.  The acid also helps tenderize the gluten.

Overall, you need to try to keep the dough cold through the mixing process.  If your kitchen is hot and humid, the shortening can be chilled in the refrigerator and the flour put into the freezer.  Keeping everything cold will ensure that the fats will not start to melt while your making the dough.  Also, chilling the dough for at least 30 minutes before rolling out helps the gluten to relax and insures that the dough will roll out quickly and smoothly.  We usually make up a large batch of dough and wrap individual pieces and freeze them for an almost instant dessert when we have fresh fruit.

Always handle the dough gently.  Roll from the center to the edges with short, firm, sharp strokes.  Don’t roll back and forth across the dough.  Overworking the dough will activate the gluten and toughen the dough.

When you place the dough into the pie plate, don’t stretch the dough to fit.  Stretching will also activate the gluten and toughen the dough.  Roll out the dough a couple of inches larger than the pie plate, place it over the pie plate, lift up the outer edge of the dough and let it gently fall into the pie plate.

If you’re baking the crust before filling it, - blind baking -, be sure to prick it all over, called docking.  You can line the docked pie dough with aluminum foil and then fill with pie weights or dried beans to keep the crust from bubbling up.  Bake the shell for about 10 minutes, remove the foil and beans, and bake another 5 minutes or until the crust is a light golden color.

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Perfect Pie Crust

This the perfect title for this pie dough.  It’s a medium flake pastry dough that holds together when you cut it and is light and flaky.  This is our pastry work horse and we’ll make a double batch (or more) and keep it in the freezer for those late night dessert emergencies.

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 cup solid shortening (Crisco) - (see note 1 below)

Pinch of salt (optional)

9 - 12 Tablespoons ice water (about)

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Fill a 2-cup measure with ice cubes.  Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and fill the cup with cold water.  Stir and set aside.

Place the flour and salt, if using, in a large bowl.  Add the 1/2 cup of butter and cut into the flour, with a pastry blender or two knives, until the mixture resembles corn meal.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup of shortening and cut in until the mixture resembles small and large peas.

Sprinkle ice water, one tablespoon at a time, over a small portion of the flour mixture, toss lightly with a fork and push aside.  Move on to another section of the flour mixture and repeat.  Add only enough water so that the dough holds together without any signs of being dry or crumbly. 

Divide dough in half for pie and thirds for tarts.  Form into a ball, flatten and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to allow the dough to relax.  (Dough can be frozen 4 - 6 weeks.)

Roll out on a lightly floured board or pastry cloth.  Work quickly and use only enough flour to prevent sticking.

Fit into pie pan or tart shell and proceed with recipe.

Notes:

1. As a flashback to my grandmother’s kitchen, I think the best pie crust is made with lard or part lard.  Baba would cut a 1/2 cup of lard in first, until the mixture resembles corn meal and then a 1/2 cup of shortening as noted above.
2. We usually divide this recipe into thirds (about 8 ounces each).  Each piece is perfect for a one-crust rustic fruit tart.
3. Early in the spring, just before rhubarb season, we make a double batch of this recipe, divide it into 8 ounce pieces, double wrap in plastic wrap and freeze them.  Take out a piece the night before you want to use the dough and let thaw overnight in the refrigerator and you're set for a quick dessert.

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For a printer friendly copy of our No Fail Pie Dough go to our web site at http://www.stoneturtlebaking.com/webdocs/recipes.htm .

IN PRAISE OF WHITE FLOUR

Sandy says:

Did you ever triumphantly snag a great, front row seat at a seminar, then spend the next half hour trying to figure out how to leave without actually looking like you’re leaving? Yeah, it didn’t work for me either. It’s not that my seminar wasn’t OK, but it was about croissants made with 100% whole grains, while RIGHT NEXT DOOR there was another booth where a miracle, in the form of challah, was in progress. Rabbi Jonathan Rubenstein was demonstrating the craft, and art, of braiding his “Slice of Heaven” challah. I sidled over and pretended that I had been there all along, and I had a taste. It was, well, heavenly – soft, moist, sweet and tender, and made with, - gasp! - WHITE FLOUR! Demon flour! Bankrupt and devoid of any nutritional anything flour, refined to a pale imitation of its former self. Bad, bad flour.. get thee behind me Satan flour, … but still! I like it. There I said it. I. LIKE. IT.

Challah, croissants, sweet holiday breads (the progeny of many ethnic gene pools), bagels, hamburger buns, birthday cake (butter cake, lemon filling and coconut frosting please) and any bread worthy of being spread with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, needs to be baked with white, and only white, flour, so help me God. Amen.

I’ve tried whole-wheat brownies and corn meal pastry crust and they just don’t work for me. I’m old! I’m set in my crotchety ways and I want my whoopee pie to taste whoopee pie-ish. But, I do have standards. Low, yes, but important to me in a fervent, evangelic way.

One, if I’m going to eat something made with white flour,…. from now on I’ll just refer to it as Lucifer, ….. it has to be of good quality, - unbleached and unbromated. And, two, I have to make it from scratch. This accomplishes my personal goal of feeling morally superior and it burns off at least 10 or 15 calories as my arm jiggles while I’m holding the electric beater.

I could digress and give a fascinating and erudite explanation of the bleaching and bromating process that most white flour, … oops, Lucifer,… undergoes before landing in your local Piggly Wiggly, but I won’t. I’ll just say that bleaching, as in BLEACH, is good for laundering clothes, and, arguably, brightening your smile, but not for the food I put into my chubby little temple, thank you very much. And, bromates are known carcinogens. YIKES!

As for the “from Scratch” part, I direct your attention to the list of ingredients on a box of, say, yellow cake mix. Seriously? What IS that? Even I, a professionally ranked couch potato, can see the benefit of taking a little extra (5 minutes, really) time to put some flour, leavening and sweetener in a bowl instead of emptying out a box of chemical, um, stuff.

So, here’s to good ole Lucifer. It doesn’t have the cache’ (or the nutrition,- I’m not a dummy!) of whole grains, but an occasional treat made with, well, … you know, is fine and there is certainly room in this personal tummy for both.

Michael says:
When I first started teaching baking classes for Adult Education in Norwich, Connecticut, the students in one of my first classes wanted to know how to do a traditional Challah. Since all I knew about Challah was that it was an egg rich bread, I sought out an expert, the local Rabbi’s wife. Mrs. Chana Geller was gracious enough to share a recipe that she was given from an old-time baker, Mr. Morris Strick.

Mrs. Geller invited me over to her house one Friday to make Challah and my introduction was to 10 loaves that day. The six-stranded braid is a beautiful shape and isn’t seen often enough. One of my students was a young woman who was working for a pharmaceutical company.  A few weeks after the Challah class she called me and said that her mother had come up from New York for a visit.  Before she arrived my student made the Challah recipe and used it all in one huge six-stranded braid.  When her mother arrived she gasped at the Challah an asked where she had found such a beautiful bread in Connecticut. The daughter said that, even with several advanced degrees, the proudest moment in her life was when she told he mother: “I made it."

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Challah

1/2 cup warm water (75° F)

Pinch of sugar

1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

2 packets active dry yeast

1-1/2 cups warm water (75° F)

1-1/2 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs, lightly beaten

6 – 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)

Vegetable oil, as needed

1 egg beaten with a pinch of salt

In a 2-cup measuring cup or bowl combine the 1/2 cup warm water (75° F), pinch of sugar, 1/2 cup flour and the yeast.  Mix to combine, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and set aside until foamy.

In a large bowl add the 1-1/2 cups warm water, sugar, salt and vegetable oil.  Lightly beat the 3 eggs and add to the water mixture.  Add the proofed yeast mixture and mix to combine.

Add 5 cups of flour, one cup at a time (if using raisins, add after 4th cup).  Mix after each addition.  When 5 cups have been added add enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that comes away from the sides of the bowl.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Scrape all the moist particles from the bowl and add to the dough.  Discard any particles that appear dry.  Lightly oil the bowl and set aside.

Knead the dough, adding only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and the work surface.  Take care not to add too much flour.  The dough should be moderately soft dough.  Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic and does not stick to your hands or the work surface, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Place dough, smooth side down, into the oiled bowl.  Press down lightly and turn dough over to oil all surfaces.  Cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press down to deflate the dough.  Lightly knead back into a ball and return to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel and let rise again until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press down to deflate the dough and divide in half.  Divide each piece into six pieces and lightly form each into a short tube. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel and let rest 10 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 350 – 375° F.

Take 6 pieces and form into a strand, about 12 to 14-inches long, slightly ticker in the middle and tapering to blunt ends.  Braid into a six-stranded braid and place on a lightly greased or parchment covered baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Repeat with the remaining six pieces.  Let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Brush with beaten egg.  Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds if desired.

Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the loaves are a golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom (internal temperature should be between 195 – 200° F).

Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.

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NOTE:

For a printer friendly copy of our Challah recipe visit our web site at http://www.stoneturtlebaking.com/webdocs/recipes.htm  

Instructions on making the six-stranded Challah braid can be found on the Tova Industries, LLC web at: http://www.tovaindustries.com/challah/6strand.htm