averygoodun42 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
averygoodun42) wrote2007-03-01 09:08 am
averygoodun42) wrote2007-03-01 09:08 am
updates
So... I updated Traitor to chapter 15 or 2.2. It's the calm before the storm. Or one of the calms before the many storms.
I have a sore throat, only part of which I blame on going to choir practice last night. Babe has been very blah lately, and I think I've caught the blah from him, complete with sniffles, sneezes and soreness. And if he's had the same mild sore throat, it's no wonder he hasn't been wanting anything to eat besides tortillas. (Digression: What a perfect word for a child to learn, btw. Unless you're English and pronounce the L's. It is one of the few words he says perfectly clearly and would be understood by all, with the mild dipthong giving no problems whatsoever. Much easier than "cracker" which Babe pronounces something like "crahhckr" only with his voice way in the back of his throat. It's prety funny, really.)
Other news? Nope. 'M tired, which probably goes along with the blahs. But yesterday was actually productive. Not only did I get the majority of the laundry done, but I also caught up on paperwork (ick) and made a pumpkin pie. Actually, I made two, only the filling for the other one went in the freezer for some rainy day that calls for comfort food. It's good, but I think I should have followed the recipe a little closer and used the called for amount of sugar. I added all the maple syrup called for, but only about half, maybe a third, of the brown sugar, as I didn't pack it down. As a result, it really needs some sweetened whipped cream for topping.
But the banana bread I made the other day is good, and the peanut butter cookies (which, amazingly, are still around) are also quite nice, if a little too sweet. The yeast bread I made was a little too yeasty, unfortunately, although letting it sit for a day has improved it dramatically.
And, because I've been so mortally lazy when it comes to posting recipes, here's a glut of them.
Banana Nut Bread
I like my bananas for this bread to be very ripe. Disgustingly ripe. On the verge of becoming fermented ripe. But not fermented. Haven't tried that, yet. I also like to store the bananas in the freezer. That way, when they defrost (don't nuke them!) they are nice and mushy and ready for the mashing. They are rather disgusting to look at and deal with, though. But trust me, it makes for better bread.
1/2 cup butter (unsalted)
1 cup sugar (I prefer brown, very lightly packed)
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed bananas
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I like walnuts, but it can go without any)
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift dry ingredients together, or just put them in a bowl and stir them up thoroughly. Mix vanilla with bananas. Add the dry ingredients tot he creamed mix in about three parts, alternating with the banana mixture. Beat the batter smooth after each addition. Add nuts and mix well.
Pour into greased loaf pan (9x5x3) and bake until center is firm, which will take anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on altitude, oven and whatnot.
Cool for five minutes in pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to complete cooling. Freezes well, and is perhaps even better after it's been frozen.
Pumpkin Pie
For this recipe, a pie pumpkin is good, but acorn squash is even better. I haven't tried butternut squash, but I can imagine it might be good, although the texture would probably be more grainy than smooth. A food processor makes easy work of pureeing the strings to naught, and, if you have one, just use it to do all the mixing. It might leak a little from the amount of liquid, but it saves messy bowls and beaters.
And, first thing first:
The Pastry.
The trick to pastry is to be gentle. Don't use a food processor. Having a pastry cutter makes life easier, but two table knives work just as well. I find a fork to be the best tool for mixing the liquid in, as it's both fairly gentle and thorough. Do NOT knead the dough. Handle only enough to get it together into a ball for the rolling out. The real trick of getting light and flaky pastry, though, comes with the rolling. Use a gentle hand. Many light - medium strokes are better than a few heavy, forced ones. It's more a matter of coaxing the dough to spread rather than demanding it. To that end, roll from the center out, changing angles as necessary for evenness. Lift up at the end of the stroke, more or less making a small, gentle and light rowing motion. Remember, be gentle. If you need to beat on something, make bread (recipe below).
To prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin, use either a floured rolling pin sleeve, or dust the wood itself with flour. Dust being the kind that develops over a day or two, not several weeks.
* If you live in the US, then crisco (preferably butter flavored) really is just about the best thing you can use. Yes, it contains trans-fats, but it's easy to work with and the result is as good, if not better than butter. If you ive in Canada, Tender Flake lard is the best possible shortening for pastry. Really, truly. I don't know about the availability of good lard elsewhere in the world, but if you know that you can get good lard, it really does produce the best pastry.
** The liquid, whatever you use, really does need to be very, very cold. Adding a tablespoon or so of frozen orange juice concentrate into some cold water helps cool the water, and the change of acidity helps soften the water's properties. Or something. However it works, it does make for better crusts, both in texture and in flavor. For other pies, say cream pies, or anything that isn't a fruit pie, using milk as the liquid produces a lovely crust as well. It's almost buttery.
1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening*
5-7 Tbls. ice cold water**
Mix flour and salt thoroughly, then cut in the shortening until mixture is crumbly. Add water, a little at a time (start off with about 3 Tbls. then add one tablespoon at a time) until the mixture starts to bind together. Be careful not to use too much water. Enough has been used when, after a bit of vigorous mixing, the dough starts glomming together and leaves the sides of the bowl clean. Too much has been added if the dough is sticky.
Roll dough out on a lightly floured, fine-grained cloth until it is two or three inches wider than the top of the pie pan. To transfer into pan, use the cloth to carefully fold the dough into quarters. If enough shortening and liquid have been used, the dough should be quite flexible, and it won't crack, though supporting it well, and making it as quick a transition as possible, will help prevent tears. Carefully and gently unfold the dough into the pan (this is where tearing is a problem).
To prevent the dough from shrinking during baking, don't stretch the dough to fit the pan. Lift and tuck it into place. (remember - coax, don't demand.) Cut the excess dough from around the edges, leaving about an inch to an inch and a half overlap. Fold the edges over and shape however you wish.
Pumpkin pie filling:
For the milk, the kind that might be in your fridge is fine, but you can also use evaported milk for extra protein. I haven't found it necessary to warm the milk much, although taking the chill off of it certainly doesn't hurt.
1.5 cups pumpkin or squash puree
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff!)
2 eggs (beating them optional)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground mace (important!)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C) Prepare pastry and line a 9" pie pan. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Bake on a middle rack for 20 minutes, then turn down the heat to 325 F (160 c) and bake about 30 minutes longer, or until a knife inserted an inch from center comes out clean.
Best served completely cool with whipped cream on top. Obviously, this is not low calorie, but it is very yummy and full of protein.
Relatively healthy white bread:
This is the bread I make on an almost daily basis. This recipe produces one decent sized loaf, but bread recipes can basically be as large as you're willing to mix. The bigger the batch, the harder the work, though.
Also, my mum swears that potato water makes for the best bread ever. Her bread is pretty damn good, so I believe her. I, however, never remember to use the potato water even in the rare case that I have happened to cook potatoes the night before (and remembered to save the water). My bread is pretty darn good as well, so it obviously isn't a necessity.
The nice thing about bread is its infinite flexibility. As long as the basics are met (good yeast, enough flour, and sufficient kneading and rising time), you will probably not be disappointed. Just don't put the bread to rise over the oven vent if the oven happens to be on. ;-)
White bread:
Put the kettle on.
In a big bowl, crumble one or two biscuits of shredded wheat.
Add:
1.5 tsps. salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 or 2 Tblsp. shortening (I use butter flavored crisco)
1/3 - 1/2 cup instant powdered milk
When the water is boiling, add 1 cup of it to the mix and stir a bit to break up the shortening.
In a separate, much smaller bowl, put 1 tsp. sugar into 1/4 cup lukewarm water. Sprinkle 3/4 tsp yeast over the sugar water and let proof until it is getting foamy, or at least showing signs of life.
Add the proofed yeast to the big bowl when that mixture has cooled to just over lukewarm. Stir a bit, make sure there aren't any lumps, then add 3 - 4 flour. Either knead or mix in flour only until the dough is firm, flexible and smooth, with only a hint of stickiness to it. Only practice will yeild the knowledge of what's right. For thorough kneading instructions, I recommend reading the Joy of Cooking.
If using an electric mixer (only a heavy duty stand mixer with a dough hook will be able to handle this), take dough out and knead a few times, enough to shape it into a nice, smooth mound.
Wash the bowl out and grease heavily. Put the dough back in, turning it over to coat with the grease. It'll get dry and crusty without it.
Cover with greased waxed paper and a damp tea towel and put in a warm draft free place to rise. The inside of the oven after it's been turned on low for 30- 60 seconds works very well.
Go read a book. Do chores. Sleep. Do whatever you want for the next two to four hours, until the bread has doubled in bulk. The slower the rising, the less yeasty the taste (until you get above six hours, then you start fermenting, and instead of a yeasty taste, you'll get sourdough). You know it's done rising when you poke it and it doesn't come back. You know it's been rising too long when you poke it and it falls. You know you left it WAY too long if it has already fallen. That hasn't happened to me yet, and I have a very spacey memory.
Punch down the dough. Yes, literally punch the dough. It feels good. Turn the dough out and knead a couple of times.
You have a choice here. You can either let it rise again for a finer grain, or you can shape the dough for the final rise. If you let it rise again, just follow the earlier instructions, stick it back in that warm, draft free place and resume your book, chores or snooze.
If you choose ot shape it, then first grease the pan(s) you want to use. Then, take the dough and throw it onto the clean (preferably counter height) surface of choice. Hard. (Again, it feels good.) There are many, many shaping methods, but the one I usually use is to take that handy rolling pin and roll out an oblong shape a very little bit wider than the pan. Then I roll it up, tightly, pinch it closed and tuck the ends under. The ends should touch the ends of the pan, but the sides probably won't.
Cover with waxed paper and tea towel and let rise again. Second and third risings are usually a little shorter than the first rising, but not always. Expect about half an hour shorter a time than the previous rising.
When the bread has risen to almost double it's bulk (I usually let it rise till its about an inch over the top of the pan, whether that's more than double or not), preheat the oven to 350 F. Um, if the bread was in the oven, do take it out before turning the oven on. When the oven has heated up, remove the towel and waxed paper, stick the bread in and let it bake for about 50 minutes.
To tell if it's done, first, it should be a nice brownish color, shrinking from the sides just slightly and will come out of the pan easily. Holding it with a well protected hand, tap the bottom. If it sounds hollow, then it's done.
Let it cool on a rack. Although delicious when warm, it slices much, much better when cool. And remember to slice with many swift, light strokes than a few heavy ones. You'll crush it otherwise.
So, I think that's enough for the time being. :-) Now to go try and get Babe to eat and perchancs to eat, myself.
Cheers!
I have a sore throat, only part of which I blame on going to choir practice last night. Babe has been very blah lately, and I think I've caught the blah from him, complete with sniffles, sneezes and soreness. And if he's had the same mild sore throat, it's no wonder he hasn't been wanting anything to eat besides tortillas. (Digression: What a perfect word for a child to learn, btw. Unless you're English and pronounce the L's. It is one of the few words he says perfectly clearly and would be understood by all, with the mild dipthong giving no problems whatsoever. Much easier than "cracker" which Babe pronounces something like "crahhckr" only with his voice way in the back of his throat. It's prety funny, really.)
Other news? Nope. 'M tired, which probably goes along with the blahs. But yesterday was actually productive. Not only did I get the majority of the laundry done, but I also caught up on paperwork (ick) and made a pumpkin pie. Actually, I made two, only the filling for the other one went in the freezer for some rainy day that calls for comfort food. It's good, but I think I should have followed the recipe a little closer and used the called for amount of sugar. I added all the maple syrup called for, but only about half, maybe a third, of the brown sugar, as I didn't pack it down. As a result, it really needs some sweetened whipped cream for topping.
But the banana bread I made the other day is good, and the peanut butter cookies (which, amazingly, are still around) are also quite nice, if a little too sweet. The yeast bread I made was a little too yeasty, unfortunately, although letting it sit for a day has improved it dramatically.
And, because I've been so mortally lazy when it comes to posting recipes, here's a glut of them.
Banana Nut Bread
I like my bananas for this bread to be very ripe. Disgustingly ripe. On the verge of becoming fermented ripe. But not fermented. Haven't tried that, yet. I also like to store the bananas in the freezer. That way, when they defrost (don't nuke them!) they are nice and mushy and ready for the mashing. They are rather disgusting to look at and deal with, though. But trust me, it makes for better bread.
1/2 cup butter (unsalted)
1 cup sugar (I prefer brown, very lightly packed)
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed bananas
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I like walnuts, but it can go without any)
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift dry ingredients together, or just put them in a bowl and stir them up thoroughly. Mix vanilla with bananas. Add the dry ingredients tot he creamed mix in about three parts, alternating with the banana mixture. Beat the batter smooth after each addition. Add nuts and mix well.
Pour into greased loaf pan (9x5x3) and bake until center is firm, which will take anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on altitude, oven and whatnot.
Cool for five minutes in pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to complete cooling. Freezes well, and is perhaps even better after it's been frozen.
Pumpkin Pie
For this recipe, a pie pumpkin is good, but acorn squash is even better. I haven't tried butternut squash, but I can imagine it might be good, although the texture would probably be more grainy than smooth. A food processor makes easy work of pureeing the strings to naught, and, if you have one, just use it to do all the mixing. It might leak a little from the amount of liquid, but it saves messy bowls and beaters.
And, first thing first:
The Pastry.
The trick to pastry is to be gentle. Don't use a food processor. Having a pastry cutter makes life easier, but two table knives work just as well. I find a fork to be the best tool for mixing the liquid in, as it's both fairly gentle and thorough. Do NOT knead the dough. Handle only enough to get it together into a ball for the rolling out. The real trick of getting light and flaky pastry, though, comes with the rolling. Use a gentle hand. Many light - medium strokes are better than a few heavy, forced ones. It's more a matter of coaxing the dough to spread rather than demanding it. To that end, roll from the center out, changing angles as necessary for evenness. Lift up at the end of the stroke, more or less making a small, gentle and light rowing motion. Remember, be gentle. If you need to beat on something, make bread (recipe below).
To prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin, use either a floured rolling pin sleeve, or dust the wood itself with flour. Dust being the kind that develops over a day or two, not several weeks.
* If you live in the US, then crisco (preferably butter flavored) really is just about the best thing you can use. Yes, it contains trans-fats, but it's easy to work with and the result is as good, if not better than butter. If you ive in Canada, Tender Flake lard is the best possible shortening for pastry. Really, truly. I don't know about the availability of good lard elsewhere in the world, but if you know that you can get good lard, it really does produce the best pastry.
** The liquid, whatever you use, really does need to be very, very cold. Adding a tablespoon or so of frozen orange juice concentrate into some cold water helps cool the water, and the change of acidity helps soften the water's properties. Or something. However it works, it does make for better crusts, both in texture and in flavor. For other pies, say cream pies, or anything that isn't a fruit pie, using milk as the liquid produces a lovely crust as well. It's almost buttery.
1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening*
5-7 Tbls. ice cold water**
Mix flour and salt thoroughly, then cut in the shortening until mixture is crumbly. Add water, a little at a time (start off with about 3 Tbls. then add one tablespoon at a time) until the mixture starts to bind together. Be careful not to use too much water. Enough has been used when, after a bit of vigorous mixing, the dough starts glomming together and leaves the sides of the bowl clean. Too much has been added if the dough is sticky.
Roll dough out on a lightly floured, fine-grained cloth until it is two or three inches wider than the top of the pie pan. To transfer into pan, use the cloth to carefully fold the dough into quarters. If enough shortening and liquid have been used, the dough should be quite flexible, and it won't crack, though supporting it well, and making it as quick a transition as possible, will help prevent tears. Carefully and gently unfold the dough into the pan (this is where tearing is a problem).
To prevent the dough from shrinking during baking, don't stretch the dough to fit the pan. Lift and tuck it into place. (remember - coax, don't demand.) Cut the excess dough from around the edges, leaving about an inch to an inch and a half overlap. Fold the edges over and shape however you wish.
Pumpkin pie filling:
For the milk, the kind that might be in your fridge is fine, but you can also use evaported milk for extra protein. I haven't found it necessary to warm the milk much, although taking the chill off of it certainly doesn't hurt.
1.5 cups pumpkin or squash puree
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff!)
2 eggs (beating them optional)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground mace (important!)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C) Prepare pastry and line a 9" pie pan. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Bake on a middle rack for 20 minutes, then turn down the heat to 325 F (160 c) and bake about 30 minutes longer, or until a knife inserted an inch from center comes out clean.
Best served completely cool with whipped cream on top. Obviously, this is not low calorie, but it is very yummy and full of protein.
Relatively healthy white bread:
This is the bread I make on an almost daily basis. This recipe produces one decent sized loaf, but bread recipes can basically be as large as you're willing to mix. The bigger the batch, the harder the work, though.
Also, my mum swears that potato water makes for the best bread ever. Her bread is pretty damn good, so I believe her. I, however, never remember to use the potato water even in the rare case that I have happened to cook potatoes the night before (and remembered to save the water). My bread is pretty darn good as well, so it obviously isn't a necessity.
The nice thing about bread is its infinite flexibility. As long as the basics are met (good yeast, enough flour, and sufficient kneading and rising time), you will probably not be disappointed. Just don't put the bread to rise over the oven vent if the oven happens to be on. ;-)
White bread:
Put the kettle on.
In a big bowl, crumble one or two biscuits of shredded wheat.
Add:
1.5 tsps. salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 or 2 Tblsp. shortening (I use butter flavored crisco)
1/3 - 1/2 cup instant powdered milk
When the water is boiling, add 1 cup of it to the mix and stir a bit to break up the shortening.
In a separate, much smaller bowl, put 1 tsp. sugar into 1/4 cup lukewarm water. Sprinkle 3/4 tsp yeast over the sugar water and let proof until it is getting foamy, or at least showing signs of life.
Add the proofed yeast to the big bowl when that mixture has cooled to just over lukewarm. Stir a bit, make sure there aren't any lumps, then add 3 - 4 flour. Either knead or mix in flour only until the dough is firm, flexible and smooth, with only a hint of stickiness to it. Only practice will yeild the knowledge of what's right. For thorough kneading instructions, I recommend reading the Joy of Cooking.
If using an electric mixer (only a heavy duty stand mixer with a dough hook will be able to handle this), take dough out and knead a few times, enough to shape it into a nice, smooth mound.
Wash the bowl out and grease heavily. Put the dough back in, turning it over to coat with the grease. It'll get dry and crusty without it.
Cover with greased waxed paper and a damp tea towel and put in a warm draft free place to rise. The inside of the oven after it's been turned on low for 30- 60 seconds works very well.
Go read a book. Do chores. Sleep. Do whatever you want for the next two to four hours, until the bread has doubled in bulk. The slower the rising, the less yeasty the taste (until you get above six hours, then you start fermenting, and instead of a yeasty taste, you'll get sourdough). You know it's done rising when you poke it and it doesn't come back. You know it's been rising too long when you poke it and it falls. You know you left it WAY too long if it has already fallen. That hasn't happened to me yet, and I have a very spacey memory.
Punch down the dough. Yes, literally punch the dough. It feels good. Turn the dough out and knead a couple of times.
You have a choice here. You can either let it rise again for a finer grain, or you can shape the dough for the final rise. If you let it rise again, just follow the earlier instructions, stick it back in that warm, draft free place and resume your book, chores or snooze.
If you choose ot shape it, then first grease the pan(s) you want to use. Then, take the dough and throw it onto the clean (preferably counter height) surface of choice. Hard. (Again, it feels good.) There are many, many shaping methods, but the one I usually use is to take that handy rolling pin and roll out an oblong shape a very little bit wider than the pan. Then I roll it up, tightly, pinch it closed and tuck the ends under. The ends should touch the ends of the pan, but the sides probably won't.
Cover with waxed paper and tea towel and let rise again. Second and third risings are usually a little shorter than the first rising, but not always. Expect about half an hour shorter a time than the previous rising.
When the bread has risen to almost double it's bulk (I usually let it rise till its about an inch over the top of the pan, whether that's more than double or not), preheat the oven to 350 F. Um, if the bread was in the oven, do take it out before turning the oven on. When the oven has heated up, remove the towel and waxed paper, stick the bread in and let it bake for about 50 minutes.
To tell if it's done, first, it should be a nice brownish color, shrinking from the sides just slightly and will come out of the pan easily. Holding it with a well protected hand, tap the bottom. If it sounds hollow, then it's done.
Let it cool on a rack. Although delicious when warm, it slices much, much better when cool. And remember to slice with many swift, light strokes than a few heavy ones. You'll crush it otherwise.
So, I think that's enough for the time being. :-) Now to go try and get Babe to eat and perchancs to eat, myself.
Cheers!