French baguettes

This year one of my Christmas gifts was a baguette pan from my daughter Nikole.  Today I made a couple of loaves with the directions and recipe that came with the pan.  It was a little time consuming as the dough raises twice, rests once and then raises again after shaping.  It was a pretty easy recipe, kneaded in the stand mixer with the dough hook. The pan has small, closely spaced holes and a pan of water is placed in the oven to create steam during cooking. 

Williams Sonoma's Crusty French Bread

2 cups warm water (100°)

1 tsp sugar

3 1/4 tsp dry yeast (I used quick rise)

5-5 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp salt

1 egg white slightly beaten with a pinch of salt

Combine the warm water and sugar in a small bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Add the yeast and stir gently to mix then wait 5 minutes for it to get foamy.  Place 4 cups of flour and the salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and run the mixer on low to combine.  Slowly add the yeast mixture and combine on low for one minute.  Raise the mixer to low-medium and mix with the dough hook for 10 minutes adding the remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time.  (I used an additional one cup for 5 cups total.).  The dough should be elastic and pull away from the side of the bowl. 

Remove the dough from the mixer, knead for one minute and form into a ball.  The directions say to knead on a lightly floured surface but I did not flour my counter top and  my dough did not stick  Place the dough into a bowl in which a dusting of flour has been added.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap.  I covered the plastic wrap with a kitchen towel and placed it in a warm spot in the kitchen to raise until double (45-60 minutes)  When done with the first raise the dough is removed from the bowl, punched down and kneaded a couple of times, reshaped into a single ball and placed back in the bowl for the second raise.  The bowl is again covered with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel.  Allow to raise until double, about 20-30 minutes.

When the second raising is complete, turn the dough out and punch down again.  Divide the dough into two equal portions and form into two balls.  Allow to rest for five minutes.  I covered my dough with a kitchen towel.  Line the baguette pan with a kitchen towel that has been dusted with a small amount of flour.  Shape each dough ball into a long loaf with tapered ends.  The loaf should be about as long as the pan.  Repeat with the second dough ball.  Fold the extra toweling back over the dough and let it raise 20 minutes in a warm place. 

Once raised, remove the towel with the formed baguettes from the pan.  The directions said to spray the pan with cooking spray.  I brushed on a thin layer of  my homemade pan coat.  Then use the towel to roll the dough back into the pan.  Use a knife to make 3-5 shallow (1/4 inch deep) slashes on the tops of the loaves at a diagonal.  brush the surface of the loaves with the egg white/salt mixture. 

Place the pan in a oven that has been preheated to 425°.  The rack should be at the bottom 1/3 of the oven and a pan of boiling water should be placed on the oven floor or the lowest rack.  I used a cookie sheet on the bottom rack and the bread one level higher.  I placed the empty cookie sheet  in the oven, added the hot water and then place the baguettes in the oven.  The recipe calls for them to bake for 30-35 minutes or until they sound hollow when tapped.  I baked mine for 30 minutes. 

foamy water, sugar and yeast

dough ball ready for first raise

covered with plastic wrap and my new kitchen towels from Caitlin

shaped baguette on towel on pan

towel edges folded over

ready for the oven

all finished

the inside of the loaf

       
I thought the bread turned out great.  The outside was chewy, the inside was softer with great flavor.

baguette pan

What a great gift.  Thanks Nikole!

denny's and jan's donuts

This was originally my Grandma Alma's recipe but my parents have made it their own.  Several times a year they do 5, 6 or even 8 batches of these donuts.  Dad has a restaurant fryer with a donut dispenser mounted on it and the batter goes into the dispenser and then the donuts drop out of the dispenser into the hot fat.  Dad is the fryer and mom mixes up the batter.  No matter how many batches they do each one is mixed up individually as they are ready for it.  Grandma's recipe is one that she perfected years ago and mom never wavers from it.  All of the ingredients are added in the order listed and mixed with a mixer until the final 2 cups of flour which are stirred in by hand.  The fat is always lard.  The cream is always whipping cream but not heavy cream.  Mom has a stand mixer but she always uses her small electric hand mixer with the two beaters.   

Denny's and Jan's Donuts

4 eggs

1 3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp nutmeg

scant 1/2 cup whipping cream

1 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup buttermilk with 1 tsp soda

2 cups flour

1/2 cup flour with 2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt

2 cups flour

In a large mixing bowl start by beating the eggs until they are slightly beaten.  Add the sugar and then the nutmeg.  When those are combined add the scant 1/2 cup whipping cream.  Add the 1 cup buttermilk and mix.  Combine the 3/4 cup buttermilk with the 1 tsp soda and then add to the mixing bowl and mix.  Using the mixer add the first 2 cups of flour.  Mix the baking powder and the salt with the 1/2 cup flour and add to the mix, mixing well.  Remove the mixer and mix in the final 2 cups of flour with a spoon.  My mom uses a large slotted spoon.  Use the dispenser to drop the donuts into the lard which has heated to 375-400° .  Turn the donuts to cook both sides and then drain on paper towels.  We dip the warm donuts in sugar. After they cool mom and dad bag them up in zipper bags and freeze them. 

Mom does not double the recipe or mix it up ahead of time.  She waits to make each succeeding batch until dad is just about ready for it.  I don't know if it is the leavening working for too long or some other issue but the donuts are just not as successful when mixed up differently.  She also is usually on a hunt for whipping cream when she knows they will be making donuts.  For some reason the heavy cream has resulted in less successful donuts when used. Our local grocery stores do not always offer plain whipping cream.  It is worth it though, even if she has to go out of town to get it because the donuts are that good. 

stan's and caroline's lefse

When our family started making lefse this was the first recipe that we used.  It was shared with my mom and dad by friends of theirs.  It was an easy recipe as it used instant potatoes so there was no peeling and cooking of the potatoes.  It made a dough that was easy to work with and had good flavor. 

stan's and caroline's lefse

1 pound package of Hungry Jack instant potatoes (8 cups)

6 1/2 cups boiling water

1 stick blue bonnet margarine

1 stick butter

1/2 cup cream

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp salt

Mix together and then chill overnight. 

4-6 cups flour

The next day, when cold knead in the flour.  Make into balls using approximately 1/4 cup of the dough for each ball and return balls to the refrigerator.  Remove the balls from the refrigerator a couple at a time so that the remainder stay cold.  Roll the ball into a thin round and then cook on a lefse grill.  When cooked fold in quarters and stack in a dish towel to keep them from drying out.  After they have cooled we place ours in a zipper top bag.   

Lisa's favorite kringla

Our Grandma Alma made kringla every year at Christmastime.  It is part of our Norwegian heritage.  We have been unable to locate the recipe used by her and so we have searched out and tried several different variations.  This recipe is one that my sister, Lisa, discovered and uses. 

Lisa's favorite kringla

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup buttermilk

16 ounces cultured sour cream

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

3-4 cups flour

Combine sugar and butter.  Mix in the buttermilk.  Mix the baking soda in the sour cream and then add to the sugar/buttermilk mixture.  Combine the salt and the baking powder with part of the flour and stir into the mixture.  Add the remaining flour.  The dough will be sticky.  Refrigerate at least one hour.  Roll one ounce portions of dough into an 8 inch rope.  A dough scoop works great for portioning the dough into equal size kringlas.  Form the rope into a figure eight.  Bake 350 for 16 minutes (Lisa's original recipe called for baking at 350-400 for 12 minutes) they should be just turning very light brown on the bottoms when done.

Store in a covered container with waxed paper between layers. Lisa places a dish towel over the top layer as well.  This recipe can be doubled. 

grandma alma's peppernuts

I don't remember Grandma making these every year but they I do recall her making them.  Lisa says that this is Grandma's recipe, I think she said it was the first recipe that Grandma gave her.  It makes quite a large batch and is quite labor intensive.  Maybe that is why I don't remember it being there every year.  These are tiny molasses cookies with all the spices that predominate in the fall/harvest/Thanksgiving/Christmas sweets: ginger, allspice, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. 

 

Grandma Alma's Peppernuts

2 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

3/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup dark karo syrup

1 egg

1/2 cup coffee

1 Tbsp vinegar

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

6 cups flour

Mix together, chill at least 8 hours or overnight. Shape by rolling into a rope the size of a pencil and then cutting crosswise into small coins. Works well to cut directly onto the cookie sheet.  Bake 350 for 10-12 minutes.