Grandma Schroeder's Crullers

Crullers and Watermelon was a favorite summertime meal at my Mennonite grandmother's home in central Kansas. We anticipated this treat every time we went to Grandma's house. I don't know why we never did it in our home, but when I became a mom, I decided to carry on the tradition. And now my children call me and ask for this recipe to feed to their own children. There is something about the saltiness of the cruller and the juicy sweetness of the watermelon that compliment each other. You can't have one without the other.

A word of warning, they are addicting and you will find yourself stuffing yourself until you are beyond full.

1 beaten egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
about 1 1/2 flour.
add enough flour to make dough so you can roll it. Roll out very thin. Cut into wedges and fry in deep hot oil until golden brown. They puff more when rolled thinner.

Place the freshly fried crullers in a large paper towel-lined bowl and lightly salt. When one layer is complete, add another layer of paper towels and continue until all crullers are fried. A triangle with 3-4 inch sides will make a very puffy cruller which gives plenty of room for a large chunk of watermelon inside.


I looked up "crullers and watermelon" in Google and found several varieties, some with sugar, more like a donut.
here are the links for fun:
This one looks more like what we make
This one makes you wait for the dough to rest
This one has nutmeg and is rolled in powdered sugar
This one is called Roll Coka, which is what Grandma called them in low German
This is my Google search results

burgers and fries

The rolls that I made for this were FANTASTIC!! And really great for hamburger rolls- they really held together nicely while eating.

Here is the recipe- again I got the bread recipe from Peter Reinhart's "Artisan Bread Everyday". Go get it, check it out from the library. It is a MUST HAVE in your house hold. You won't regret it.

5 1/3 cups unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons salt, or
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm milk
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
5 tablespoons gluten (that is my addition instead of bread flour- i use regular flour and add gluten.. then it is the same as bread flour)

Mix for a few minutes and then let the dough rest for five. Mix for another few minutes and let it rest. I pulled the dough once and put it in the fridge to rise over night.

Then next day take it out two hours before it is ready to bake. Shape bread into desired shape (i did rolls). Preheat oven to 425 and then turn it down to 400 when baking. Add one cup of water in a cookie sheet w/lip for a steam bath. Cook for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a cooling rack.

Meat-

1 lb ground meat (i used turkey burger)
1 egg
1/2 (ish) cup oats
seasonings

Defrost the meat and then season with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and then i use "burger seasoning" clever name, right? Sometimes I add a diced red bell pepper (but i was lazy today). Add one egg, and the oats. Mix until it holds it's shape well. If you want to pre-shape these remember to use wax paper in the middle of them to make life easier when it is time to grill. Put them on the grill or stove top at a medium heat and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side... or until cooked through out.

Fries-

4-5 russet potatoes
seasoning
oil

Pre heat stove top pan with about a cup of oil on medium heat. In the mean time cut the potatoes evenly into strips. When the oil is hot (you can test it with ONE drop of water, but be careful because it will spit back at you.) put the potatoes in and blanch them for a few minutes. Then put them aside inside of a paper towel to soak up some of the oil. When you are finished blanching take a piece of tin foil and make sure to spray it with cooking spray. (You don't want potatoes stuck to it). Set the tin foil down and then spread the potatoes evenly and salt with all purpose seasoning salt. Leave for 7-10 minutes. I didn't rotate them and they were a little brown on one side but they really turned out tasty.

Asparagus-

I love that asparagus is in season! It is such a quick and easy veggie to cook. wash thoroughly and then snap the ends off. At a medium heat with about 1/4 cup of water and a tab of butter and let it steam for 4 minutes. The asparagus will be bright green and still crisp... but that is how it should be.

And there you have your meal. mmm it was good!

100% Whole Wheat Bread in 5 minutes a day ala Mother Earth News

Here is a link to an article in  Mother Earth News. It reminds me of Katie's method because you refrigerate it and take out only what you are going to use today.
I haven't tried it yet, but the thought of the aroma that a fresh hot loaf creates is very tempting.
~a

Cinnamon goodness

I sent this recipe to someone on facebook and then decided that it may as well be my blog post and then i won't have to re-do it. So take it or leave it... but if i were you i would take it.

I got this recipe from Peter Reinhart and his book is called, "Artisan Breads Everyday".

Start this the night before.
All- purpose sweet dough

6 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
(I add 6 tablespoons of gluten which then makes it bread flour for less of the cost of actual bread flour)
2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons sugar
5 teaspoons instant yeast
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm whole or low fat milk (and i just realized that I used water... oops)
1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted unsalted butter (i used salted butter)
zest of 1/2 lemon, or 1 tablespoon lemon extract, or 1/2 teaspoon lemon oil

Topping
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
melted butter or vegetable oil for brushing
1 cup raisins, or to taste (i didn't use these)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, or to taste (i didn't use these either)

But the topping that I used was a little bit different I got about 3/4-1cup brown sugar, cinnamon and then mixed a little bit of butter in with that... oh and nutmeg.

So this technique that he uses is genius! And i have been successful every time i make these.

Mix your dry ingredients- and the lemon zest and then make sure that your milk/water isn't too warm and then slowly mix in the wet ingredients. Mix in your mixer or hand knead for at least two minutes. (but i do it for 5 minutes to assure that your gluten is being activated... or whatever you call it.) Next, put the dough in an oiled bowl- cover and let it rest for five minutes. After five minutes pull the dough from right to left and then top to bottom and then one more time (kind of like in a Y shape) and let it rest for another 10 minutes. Repeat this process four more times in the next hour. Then put it in the fridge over night. It will keep up to four days although the dough quality will decrease after that. (that is what Mr. Reinhart says).

The theory behind it is that not only does the gluten need to be mix enough to be activated- but the dough also has to properly ferment for it to turn out. This goes for all bread.

Anyway- they say to get it out of the oven 2.5 hours before you are ready to cook it. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes before you do anything with it. And then on a floured surface roll out the dough. (i cut the dough in half and did it in two batches and it filled two 9x13 pans) butter the dough and put the cinnamon & brown sugar goodness on top. Roll the dough and cut. (i use dental floss). and place them in a greased pan. Paint with butter and let them rise for two hours.

So I made these last night and when i do the dough i set it in the oven and turn on the oven to 400-450 for one minute and then let them be in this nice warm environment... but i totally forgot about them for a few minutes... and i thought for sure i was toast. I had taken them out of the oven and i just started to watch them to see if they would indeed rise. And they totally started to rise. They kind of went crazy. I was thrilled but now the other batch wasn't rising. So I had an amazing idea... i put them in the microwave and put them on "warm hold" and they rose in like 20 minutes. it was amazing.

(sorry for the tangent)

And on to the frosting:

8 oz cream cheese
4 tablespoons butter
1 1/2-to taste powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 vanilla bean (optional but it is worth it)
2 teaspoons lemon juice

mix- and if it isn't enough powdered sugar just add more- if it is too thick add a little bit more lemon juice (like 1/2-1 teaspoon at a time).

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. And then turn the pan around in the oven- and cook for another 5-15 minutes. All in all i think that it was 25-30 minutes of pure baking time. you want the top of one of the rolls to sound hallow when you tap it...

enjoy.

Jenny's Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/2 cups warm water
1 TBSP yeast
(proof with a dash of sugar) *I added 1/2 c sugar
1/2 cup honey or brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 TBSP vital wheat gluten
1 TBSP salt
6-8 cups whole wheat flour (I can't remember how many cups it is because I do mine by feel and texture.  This is my best guess.)

Kneed until gluten is fully formed and flour hydrated.  Rise in oiled bowl for at least one hour or until doubled.  After risen, shape into two loaves and rise again for another 30 minutes or until loaves have doubled in size.  Bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until brown on the bottom and hollow-sounding.

Here goes nothing...

Well- Most of you don't know that this blog is even here. Hopefully I will commit enough to it to send out invites to those of you who want to participate. And then actually keep it up. I don't know why but sometimes I have a hard time committing to things.. but that is a whole different issue that we won't discuss at this time.

I have made a lot of stuff in the past few weeks. And at first few recipes I remembered to take pictures of. And it is all down hill from there. :) But don't worry I have a good menu planned for this week and will remember to take more pictures. But I will try to put all of the recipes up that I have used this past week. Alright, enough with the blabbing- and on to the main event!

I have been doing A LOT of bread lately. My husband got me these bread books for my birthday and I have only done one of the recipes in it but I have been pouring over them and the more I try the better the outcome. (practice makes perfect, right?)

The book (one of them) is called, "Artisan Breads Every Day" by Peter Reinhart. He has such a great technique on how to make bread. I have always dreaded mixing the dough- and kneading the dough enough so that the gluten will form. And even when I would mix the dickens out of it the bread still just wasn't quite right. It didn't have a great crust, and it was still crumbly. Well gluten wasn't the only thing that was going into the picture. I never even took into account that the yeast needed more than two hours to ferment. And so begins my very long journey into that perfect loaf of bread.

*I am not claiming that I know anything about bread- only what I have recently learned so bare with me.

Peter Reinhart's theory of bread making makes so much sense- I don't know why I never knew about it sooner. But the whole thing is that you have to let it rise long enough for the dough and the grain of the bread to reach it's full flavor. Makes sense, right? Well- you should go to the library and check this book out. It is loaded with the "how to" of bread making and not so much a recipe book- which I actually like a lot better.

Anyway- on to the recipe

This is called "Lean Bread" and time does most of the work with this bad boy. (which i think is fantastic) And like I said, all you have to do is a little bit of planning.

(I have used both bleached and unbleached and the unbleached definitely turned out a lot better. I also don't use bread flour because it is so much cheaper to buy gluten and then add that to your flour. So I am going to tweak this recipe the way that I did it.)

5 1/3 cups unbleached flour
5 Tablespoons of gluten
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast (and please do me a favor and make sure your yeast is active before you go to all of this work. :)
2 1/4 cups lukewarm water (about 95 degrees) (if you test it on your wrist you will have an easy time "eyeballing" it instead of actually having to us a thermometer)

So the next part is easy- you mix the dry ingredients for 2-5 minutes. (I mix for closer to 5 minutes) and then you set the dough in a oiled bowl and let it rest for five minutes at room temperature. The dough should be tacky and not sticky. But it shouldn't be dry. (You should be able to stretch it).

After the five-ish minutes are up you pull the dough from right to left, top to bottom and then one more time. (kind of in a Y shape) and then you let it rest for another ten minutes. Repeat this process 4-5 times over the next hour. After that hour is up place it in the fridge (covered with plastic wrap). Make sure you put it in a big enough bowl so that it will have enough room to rise.

The next day

The next morning try to contain yourself as you check on your BEAUTIFUL dough. (well that is how it is for me anyway). Make sure the surface that you are working on is clean and dry. Then add about 2 Tablespoons of oil to the surface and with wet or oiled hands take out your dough. Cut into two pieces and form into loaves.

Next (this is how i let my loaves rise) preheat your oven to 400-450 for one minute and then promptly turn off. Let your bread rise in your oven for two hours before baking. And when it comes time to bake your bread (this is also the way I do it- and not necessarily the correct way) take the dough from the oven... carefully people- it is fragile. Place a cookie sheet with a lip on it or a 9x13 pan and then preheat your oven to 550 (this is from the book so don't think that I'm crazy). When the oven and the cookie sheet is preheated- take one cup of cold water ready to pour into the cookie sheet. (i use a glass measuring cup so that it is easy to pour and so you don't burn yourself). Remember to put your bread back in the oven BEFORE you give the steam bath. Then of course pour the water in the cookie sheet. (I think I made it more complicated than it really is.)

Turn the head down to 450 degrees and bake for 10-15 minutes. I usually check on it then (because it won't be done yet) and set for another 10-15 minutes. Keep a close eye on it because you don't want it to burn.

When you are finished place the bread on a cooling rack and let it rest for one hour (if you can last that long- good luck). and enjoy!