Pastry Dough

Pastry

June 21, 2017

This recipe is for a single method for making both short and puff pastry, using approximately equal weights of flour and butter. If you prefer to use less butter for short pastry, it can be reduced to as little as half the weight of the flour with good results; to be transformed into puff pastry, best results can be had only with the maximum measure of butter.

Pastry For 9-Inch Tart

May 27, 2015

Chilling a tart crust before baking helps it retain its shape.

Sunday Morning Cake Doughnuts

November 11, 2012

Sunday Morning Cake Donuts

Cake doughnuts don’t take nearly as much time as raised doughnuts.  If you want a two bite treat just remove the doughnut holes from the cutter and fry them up for tasty little snacks. 

INGREDIENTS

4 Cups Unbleached Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

2 Eggs

1 1/4 Cups Sugar

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

2/3 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup Melted Butter

Vegetable Oil For Frying

Powdered Sugar, Granulated Sugar, Chocolate Glaze Or Powdered Sugar Icing

In a medium size bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In a large size bowl combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla.  Beat for 4 minutes until thick.  In a small size bowl combine the milk and melted butter.  Add the flour mixture and the milk mixture alternately to the egg mixture.  Beat after each addition just until combined so make sure not to overbeat.  Cover and put in the fridge for 2 to 4 hours.  On a floured surface roll the dough to a 1/2 inch thickness.  Make sure not to stir in the additional flour.  Cut the dough with a floured 2 1/2 inch doughnut cutter.  Reroll the dough as needed.  Fry 2 or 3 doughnuts at a time in a deep hot oil for 3 minutes or until the doughnuts are golden born.  Turn once.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain the doughnuts on paper towels.  Repeat until you have fried all of the doughnuts.  Cool the doughnuts slightly and coat with powdered sugar, granulated sugar, chocolate glaze or powdered sugar icing.  Or you can leave them plain if you want to.  Do the same with the doughnut holes.  Makes about 16 doughnuts and holes. 

Cream Biscuits

March 25, 2012

Cream Biscuits

INGREDIENTS

3 Cups Unbleached Flour

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

¾ Teaspoon Kosher Salt

2 ¼ Cups Heavy Cream

Move your oven rack to the upper middle position and preheat your oven to 450° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the cream for 30 seconds until combined. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and gather into a ball. Knead briefly for 30 seconds until smooth. Shape the dough into a ¾ inch circle. Dip a 2 ½ biscuit cutter in flour and cut the biscuits into rounds. Recombine the scraps as needed to make 12 biscuits. Place the rounds on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes – rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking. You want the biscuits to be golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Makes 12 biscuits.

Amish Pie Crust

December 4, 2011

Amish Pie Crust

INGREDIENTS

4 Cups Unbleached Flour

1 ¾ Cups Shortening

1 Tablespoon Sugar

2 Teaspoons Salt

1 Large Slightly Beaten Egg

1 Teaspoon Red Wine Vinegar

½ Cup Water

Mix the flour, shortening, sugar, salt, egg, red wine vinegar and the water together. Place in a ziplock bag. Let the mixture sit in the fridge for 1 hour. Separate into 4 balls of dough. Roll out on a floured surface and place in 9 inch pie pans. Bake in a preheated 425° F oven for 12 minutes for the unfilled crust or use the recipe for a filled pie crust. Makes for crusts or 2 crusts with tops. The unbaked dough may be kept for 1 week in a ziplock bag in the fridge.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

November 5, 2011

Sweet Potato Biscuits

INGREDIENTS

2 Medium Sweet Potatoes

2 Cups Unbleached Flour

½ Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar

5 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Salt

10 Tablespoons Butter

½ Cup Milk

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into 2 inch chunks. In a medium saucepan, heat the sweet potato chunks and enough water to cover to a boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Drain. Place cooked potatoes into a medium bowl and mash well. Set aside to cool. Preheat the oven to 425° F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, light brown sugar, baking powder and salt. With a pastry blender cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk and cooled mashed sweet potatoes. Mix just until combined. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat into an 8 inch square. Cut the dough in half. Cut each half into 10 equal pieces. Gently place the biscuits 1 inch apart on two large cookie sheets that are lined with parchment paper. Place the cookie sheet on 2 separate oven racks and bake the biscuits for 14 minutes until golden brown. Make sure not to over bake. Serve warm. Makes 20 biscuits.

Cranberry Apple Pie

October 29, 2011

Cranberry Apple Pie

This pie is such a nice holiday pie. Cooking the berries, sugar and orange peel with the flour before pouring it over the apples gives the pie a better texture and flavor. The chopped pecans add a nice crunch as well.

INGREDIENTS

Pie Filling

1 ½ Cups Chopped Cranberries

1 Cup Sugar

½ Teaspoon Grated Orange Peel

1 Tablespoon Unbleached Flour

1/3 Cup Cranberry Juice

6 Tablespoons Chopped Pecans

3 Peeled & Sliced Tart Apples

½ Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Tablespoon Butter

Pie Crust

3 Cups Unbleached Flour

1 Teaspoon Salt

2 Teaspoons Sugar

½ Cup Shortening

½ Cup Cold Butter

9 Tablespoons Ice Water

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and sugar. With a pastry blender (or two knives or fingers) cut the shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles cornmeal. Dice the butter into cubes and cut in until the largest pieces are the size of a dime. Sprinkle the ice water over the flour & fat mixture. Toss with a fork and continue until the dough is moist enough to hold together. Roll into a ball and cut in half. Flatten with halves into two disks. Wrap the pieces of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate to give them a rest for 30 minutes or more before rolling out.

Preheat your oven to 425° F. Grease a 9 inch pie plate and line with half of the rolled out dough. Put the dough lined pie plate back in the refrigerator while making the filing. In a large saucepan, cook the cranberries with the sugar, orange peel, flour and cranberry juice for 20 minutes until the mixture is slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and cool. Remove pie plate from the fridge and sprinkle half of the pecans in the bottom of the prepared pie plate. Make 2 layers of apples on the top of the nuts. Sprinkle these with cinnamon and dot with butter. Pour the cooled cranberry mixture over the apples and sprinkle on the remaining pecans. Over with the remaining (rolled out) dough and crimp the edges. Bake for 30 minutes until the crust is golden and the berries are bubbly. Remove from the oven and cool before slicing. Serves 6

Puff Pastry

October 26, 2011

Puff Pastry

A relative of Middle Eastern phyllo dough as it is used in a similar manner to create layered pastries. It is thought that French painter, Claude Gelée, who lived in the 17th century. Apparently, Gelée was making a type of very buttery bread for his sick father. The process of rolling the butter into the bread dough created a croissant like finished product. Other Puff Pastry references before the 17th century which indicates that the history was originally from Muslim Spain and was converted from thin sheets of dough spread with olive oil to laminate the dough with layers of butter. Puff Pastry is commonly used for turnovers, Steak & Kidney Pie, other types of pie, sausage rolls, Beef Wellington, strudel and Miguelitos (a cake made in Spain). Here is a basic and quick Puff Pastry recipe.

INGREDIENTS

4 Cups Unbleached Flour

1 Teaspoon Salt

2 Cups Cold Butter

1 ¼ Cups Ice Water

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour and salt. Cut the cold butter into ½ inch thick sliced. Do not cut the butter into cubes. Add the butter slices to the flour mixture and toss until the butter slices are coated with the flour mixture and are separated. Pour the ice water over the flour mixture. Using a spoon, quickly mix. The butter will remain in large pieces and the flour will not be completely moistened. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough 10 times by pressing and pushing the dough together to form a rough looking ball. Shape the dough into a rectangle. Don’t be concerned that the dough will still have some dry looking areas. Make the corners as square as possible and slightly flatten the dough. Working on a well floured surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle. Fold crosswise into thirds to for a slightly smaller rectangle. Give the dough a quarter turn and then fold crosswise into thirds to form an even smaller rectangle. This should create 9 layers. Repeat the rolling, folding, turning and folding process one more time. You should have a rectangle that is approximately 5×4 inches. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. To use the dough in your recipe cut the dough in half crosswise with a very sharp knife. Makes two 1 1/3 pound portions.

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