We Have a New Year's Resolution For You!

Hello, holidays. Farewell, free time.

My sister Rose is going to make this short-ish and sweet in honor of what little time we have to spare, and what love we have for the treats that bring back decades of wonderful holiday memories. 

Today she's going to talk about vodka: Clear, odorless, and essential...to baking!

Really! Christopher Kimball of Cooks Illustrated has paid his staff plenty to work on the 'foolproof pie crust.' They have published many recipes over the years, all of which say 'perfect pie crust' in some way, shape or form. But only one contains the secret, discovered by one of his bakers, to a flaky crust no-matter how little attention you pay or how much you overwork your dough--namely, using vodka instead of water.

Why vodka?

Well, they explain, vodka is mostly alcohol, and that inhibits the development of gluten in the dough (a process by which the crust becomes less and less flaky, more and more rock-biscuit, by the moment). Use vodka, and the crust comes out flaky no matter the temperature of your room, the extent of your overworking the dough, your lack of lard. If you visit their free web site, the Cooks Illustrated team will explain all this to you for free.

The alcohol cooks off anyway, and it is completely flavorless. Enough said. Use vodka.

"But that only uses a couple tablespoons per recipe!"  "Why would I buy a big bottle of vodka to keep around for pie crust? I hate vodka. Can't stomach the stuff."  

Well, shall we say, you can't stomach it straight. I am willing to bet you do stomach it happily whenever you use vanilla! That's right, when you buy that fabulous Penzeys vanilla, 35% alcohol, you are essentially buying low-grade vodka infused with vanilla beans. And at what cost? In an earlier post, we learned how to get the best yogurt at half the price by using a crock-pot to make our yogurt for us. Turns out, Vodka makes vanilla for you! 

Rose's Vanilla Recipe

Ingredients

1 750 ml bottle of vodka, any brand

6 vanilla beans, 3 cut in half the long way (the other 3 left whole)

Directions

Buy a bottle of vodka. Put vanilla beans into the bottle. Shake it periodically for 6 months. 

Voila, you have gourmet vanilla, for a quarter of the price. You can double the beans and get double-strength. (That's the secret.) 

Keep adding new vodka to the existing bottle as you use the stuff you have, and you can keep a full bottle of double-strength vanilla going for 2 years or more.

Do not adjust your screens. That is all there is to real Madagascar vanilla!  For 15 vanilla beans you pay around $37. That's also about what you pay for one 8 oz double-strength bottle of vanilla--in essence, one-quarter of the amount you will be making. You can also buy vanilla beans at Whole Foods, or Stop n Shop, or wherever else you usually shop.

Then pick your vodka. I got a 750ml bottle of Rain Organic Vodka for $15.99. So, for the 12 vanilla beans I used for this recipe (I made mine double-strength), plus the vodka, I spent less than half what I would spend on double-strength Penzeys vanilla, and it's self renewing -- with the periodic addition of another $15 bottle of vodka, I wind up paying even less per ounce!

It won't be ready for THIS holiday season, but now you have an easy New Year's Resolution so you don't look like a jerk when people ask you if you have one and then you have to tell them that you don't do that kind of thing, you don't make resolutions when you just do what you need to do, whether it's New Year's or any other time of the year!!!&#$%!

Yes, simply make a resolution and buy those beans today, and you will have your own stash for holiday seasons to come.

[If you plan to make some home-made fruit sorbet in the meantime, use a tablespoon or two of vodka to help keep it from freezing into a solid block as it sits in the freezer.]

While you are waiting around for your vanilla to hatch, Use Myers's Rum instead and you will be surprised how much you love that Banana Bread, Pumpkin Bread, Carrot cake -- you name it. Especially, if you use Sucanat (SUgar CAne NATural) instead of refined sugar, you will find your baked goods taking on a most delicious caramelized flavor. It is equally great in cookies. 

And, add 3 or 4 tablespoons of said rum to a carton of Organic Valley Egg Nog, shake it and pour the carton into your ice cream maker. Let it run till it stops turning (30+ minutes). Then write to tell me how you much you LOVE your Egg Nog ice cream!

Don’t Hate Me Because I’m…Using a Bread Maker

I’m embarrassed to be putting this in a blog. So many people think bread makers are a cop-out; they have romantic ideas of fresh bread, kneaded by hand. Except most sandwich bread is actually made using machines, kneaded in massive bowls and then transferred to ovens.

Not to mention that no-knead bread is fantastic. That’s another bread where you just combine the ingredients and forget it, no machines required. (This is with white flour only though -- I’ve made a whole-grain no-knead bread and was not impressed with the result.)

So, while I’ll go to the trouble of baking focaccia or French bread when I have company, bread for sandwiches and toast is perfect in a bread machine.

I mean, who has time these days to let the bread rise and come back on time to put it in the oven or punch it down and shape it again? Then stick around so you remove it from the oven on time? You’d have to stick around the house for hours. Forget it! Bread machines shut themselves off at the right time so your bread is waiting for you.

Used and barely used bread machines can be found everywhere, costing practically nothing. At thrift stores and on Craigslist, they are priced anywhere from $10 to $60 and you can compare the prices of the brands against new ones online before you choose. The used ones were usually only used once and then put back into the box (this is because people who use their bread machines more than once don’t want to get rid of them).

I don’t get it, bread machines are so easy to use and save so much money over time. If you have flour and the rest of the ingredients on hand, you can always have a loaf of bread without running to the grocery store every time you need a slice. Our bread machine is over 20 years old and still works great. It isn’t the Zojirushi, which is the great new machine that gives you loaves that look like they came out of the oven and not a bread machine. The Zo also makes a great fruit cobbler (unlike slow cookers, bread machines, by design, give you a crispy top). If you buy it from King Arthur Flour, they give you a recipe book with it called Beyond Bread that gives a lot of other recipes that work great in it besides bread. I know, because we bought it for my MIL last Christmas, when her 25-year old bread machine finally crapped out.

For gluten-free bread, bread machines at home will always beat the stuff in the grocery store freezer.

Pre-slicing is easy too. When it’s ready to put away, I use a Victorinox Precise Slice Bread Knife which has a guide so you get uniform slices, and put the slices into the freezer. Done.

Here are two basic recipes, one gluten-free and one with whole-grain spelt. Spelt has less gluten than wheat so helps on that front if you don’t have to eliminate gluten, but is whole grain so is full of nutrients and protein.

Finally, if you know someone who likes to bake bread I have a great Christmas gift idea for you – buy them the yeast container set at King Arthur Flour which includes a yeast measuring spoon -- 2¼ teaspoons, exactly the amount of a packet of yeast which is what most recipes call for. If they are gluten-free, buy them a second yeast spoon, because they’ll need one for the xanthan gum that is required for every recipe, which is also 2¼ teaspoons. (It is important to avoid cross-contamination of ingredients with either yeast or xanthan gum so they should always be measured with a clean dry spoon.)

If they bake a lot get them a package of not-instant (active dry) yeast too, because some recipes (like the one below) call for active dry but not instant yeast.

Gluten-Free White Bread for Bread Machines

From Annalise G. Roberts’s Gluten-Free Baking Classics for the Bread Machine

Whisk together wet ingredients in a bowl and let sit while you mix the dry ingredients:

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons water mixed with 5 tablespoons buttermilk powder

   OR 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons fresh organic Buttermilk

¼ cup canola oil

2 large eggs (room temperature)

In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients:

1 cup millet flour

½ cup sorghum flour

½ cup cornstarch

½ cup potato starch flour

½ cup tapioca flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2¼ teaspoons xanthan gum

¾ teaspoon salt

2¼ teaspoons or one packet of active dry yeast granules (not quick-rise)

To add during Knead cycle: 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)

On most old bread machines just press the button for Medium or select whatever setting means "Medium crust". But, if you have a Zojirushi, program the HOME MADE - Memory 1 setting to Preheat -10 minutes, Knead - 20 minutes, Rise 1 - off, Rise 2 - off, Rise 3 - 45 minutes, Bake - 70 minutes, and Keep Warm - off.

First, pour the mixed wet ingredients into the bread pan. Then gently sprinkle the mixed dry ingredients over the wet ingredients til they cover the top. Keep adding the rest of the dry mix, gently over the top so that it doesn’t sink into the liquid. Press Start.

If desired, during the Knead cycle, add 2 tablespoons sesame seeds. Most old machines will beep and/or have an ADD indicator when it’s the right time to add things to the bread.

When done, remove baked bread from the machine and let cool on a rack.

Variation: During knead cycle, instead of sesame seeds, add ¾ - 1 cup raisins and 1½ tablespoons caraway seeds when machine beeps and/or ADD indicator flashes. Annalise calls this an Irish Soda Yeast Sandwich Bread. It’s delicious!

Scarlet’s Spelt bread for Bread Machines

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

1 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
MIX TOGETHER IN A BOWL BEFORE ADDING:

¼ cup corn meal (or other GF flour)

¼ cup millet flour

2½ cups whole spelt flour

½ cup white flour (or additional ½ cup spelt flour)
Next, add seeds (optional): 1/4 cup sunflower, sesame or flax seeds, or a combination
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

Put all of the ingredients into the bread machine bread pan in the order listed. Program for basic white bread if a Zojirushi or press the button for Medium if you’re using an older bread machine, and press Start.

Let cool on a rack before slicing.

Butternut Squash Tart

I have a butternut squash sitting here because it looked good in the store, a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm afraid it's going to go bad. Butternut squash is good with so many things, I keep looking at it and saying to myself, I'll save it for tomorrow.

Tomorrow has arrived. I have the perfect recipe for a Butternut Squash, Leek and Goat Cheese tart with a sage crust, to enjoy with a glass of chardonnay and salad as I look out on a gray day and the cats slink around the house, crazy on catnip (I gave it to them out of pity since I wouldn't let them outside).

I got this recipe from the Venus Restaurant in Berkeley, California via a letter in Bon Appetit, making a couple of minor adjustments.

They call their version a Butternut Squash Galette because in America, if you fold a crust over the pie instead of putting it into a tart pan, it’s a galette. Never mind that in France, galette is a word usually used to describe cookies or very thin cakes. I wonder how we started using it for free-form tarts in America. Like how we use the word “fond”-- in cooking school they told us it meant the stuff at the bottom of the pan that you scrape up when making gravy. But in French, the word for that stuff is “sucre” and “fond” means stock, as in chicken stock. Go figure.

I have to call this variation a tart because I’m not folding the crust over the filling. A free-form tart with a crust that folds over the pie is pretty to look at and gives you a nice big chunk of pie crust, which is yummy and filling when it's made with gluten flours. But gluten free, to get it to work it will be full of starch with little nutrition, so I save that for desserts.

Instead, I make a sage butter crust with Pamela's Baking& Pancake Mix which is an awesome gluten-free mix to have in the kitchen, for things like gravies (it gives a better flavor and texture than just using corn starch), carrot cake and dutch pancakes.

For the most part, I don’t use pre-made gluten-free mixes.  But in a few cases, it works brilliantly, like this crust. Pamela’s mix has almonds and brown rice flour in it, and makes a crust with just the right crumbly texture to go with the filling. Plus, no rolling – just press the crust into the pan.

The original recipe doesn’t specify an exact measurement for the leeks (it says “2 leeks”) and says “about 2 lbs.” for the squash; however, I have made this pie numerous times since it appeared in Bon Appetit, and have used various amounts depending on the size of the squash and leeks. My conclusion is that too many leeks will ruin this pie! (My husband thinks it’s always good no matter how it’s made, though.)

Sometimes I think restaurant chefs are vague in just the places that they know are going to cause you to run into trouble. Then again, they could be trying to make it simple for home cooks. 

And, maybe other people like a lot of leeks in this pie. But I'm betting they use more precision in the restaurant. In the limited time I spent working in kitchens, we pre-chopped large amounts, then measured the ingredients before putting them into the tarts to make sure each serving was uniform.

So, I would love to be able to tell you that you can just chop it all up and cook as-is, with a devil-may-care attitude. But trust me, in this case it is worth your while to stick to the proportions below. When the proportions are right, I do not think there is a better tart to be found, and we can hardly keep it around after it is removed from the oven!

Butternut Squash Tart

Adapted from the Venus Restaurant in Berkeley, California

For best results, after slicing the squash put it into a large 4-cup measuring cup to make sure you don’t go over 5 cups, and weigh the leeks after they’re chopped. The scale I use is an Escali digital one.

For the crust:

1-1/2 cups Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix

1 tablespoon chopped sage

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 16 or so squares, plus more for the pie pan

2 tablespoons no-taste oil  

1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:

1 2+ lb. butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2 inch x ¼ inch slices (4-5 cups)

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus a pinch

8 oz. cleaned and chopped leeks (about 1 1/2 - 2 leeks, white and light green parts only)

6 oz. goat cheese

¼ teaspoon ground pepper

First, make the crust: Combine Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix and sage in a bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture with two knives (or better yet, get yourself a pastry blender) until butter is in very small pieces. Add oil, then ice water, slowly until dough comes together, but not sticky. Press dough into a buttered 9-inch pie pan with fingers, the thinner the better. Place the crust in refrigerator while making the filling.

Roast the butternut squash: Preheat the oven to 500F. Toss the squash with 1 tablespoon olive oil and ½ teaspoon fine sea salt. Arrange in one layer into 17 x 12 inch shallow baking pan, and roast for 10 minutes, then flip pieces over and roast for another 10 minutes until slightly browned on the bottom and softened. Let cool and put into a mixing bowl and turn down the oven temperature to 375F.

Meanwhile, sauté the leeks in 2 tablespoons olive oil with a pinch of salt in a heavy cast iron skillet over medium heat, slightly covered (this is important), until they are soft and somewhat transparent. (If you don’t slightly cover the pan, they won’t steam and soften properly, but be careful not to overcook.)

Put the cooked leeks into the mixing bowl with the squash, add the goat cheese and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper and toss well.

Place the filling into the refrigerated crust and bake at 375F for 25 minutes, then cover with aluminum foil and bake for 10-15 more minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

What Is Up With All the Misinformation About Cinnamon?

I am so upset about the situation with cinnamon that it took me two weeks to publish this post.

Yes, I had to re-read and edit out the disappointed tone, to be fair and balanced and not storming around making big businesses "wrong" for no longer carrying the type of cinnamon we are used to, and instead carrying an inferior variety that makes my desserts taste like cheap candles.

Yep, you thought you had grown out of liking cinnamon, right? But it isn't you, they changed the cinnamon on you, and you didn't read the fine print!

The same thing happened with Heinz ketchup. In recent years I decided I had grown out of liking ketchup. I used to dip my fries and burgers into it back in Junior High School. I used to LOVE it. But lately I've felt it had a harshness to the flavor and decided I just didn't like it anymore. Until my husband came home with "Simply Heinz" -- which is made with the old recipe using sugar instead of the high fructose corn syrup they use in their recipe today.

Well, one taste of that ketchup and I was transported back to MacDonald's with my girlfriends after school, when we used to go to the library and do our homework, once we were fortified with those 99-cent burgers and fries. I realized, I still liked ketchup, just, they changed it under our noses and we didn't read the label! Go, buy some "Simply Heinz" and see if you don't agree!

But back to the cinnamon. It all started one night when I couldn't sleep. So I sat in the semi-dark, listening to Christmas With The Rat Pack "...maybe just a cigarette more..." and digging in to the holiday issue of Saveur which has cookies on the cover, when I spied an ad for McCormick spices.

Specifically, Saigon cinnamon and roasted Saigon cinnamon.

I couldn't keep reading the magazine. I was so upset, I had to put it down. I was thinking, if this doesn't convince Somervillians that they need to have a grocery store to balance out Stop-n-Shop and Whole Foods, I don't know what could.

Did you know that the Vietnamese cinnamon being sold at these stores (called "Saigon" cinnamon even though it isn't grown near Saigon) is not the cinnamon that was used to create all those traditional recipes you love? Did you know that it is not even "true" or "real" cinnamon?

For people who only bake banana bread when they have time for such things, Vietnamese cinnamon is fine. It tastes great with bananas. But to my taste buds, paired with anything else such as fruit crisps and carrot cake, it just tastes like cheap candles.

Remember, in the 1970s, those dark red, apple-shaped scented candles? Like that smell. That's what it makes things taste like.

I found out when I got hooked by King Arthur Flour's catalog, which sells not one, but eight different forms of vanilla, yet sells only one form of cinnamon -- Vietnamese -- which they say is a "Baker's Secret."

I was intrigued. After all, I studied pastry at The French Culinary Institute and was never told of this secret. Also, my mother's family was in the pastry business for at least a couple hundred years, and she never said anything.

So I bought some. And ruined my mother-in-law's birthday cake, which came out tasting like the cheap 70s candles mentioned above, instead of the most delectable layered carrot cake you've ever tasted (I'll publish the recipe later if you promise not to bake it using Vietnamese cinnamon, okay?).

A baker's secret, KAF? Really? I think not!

Maybe, a baker who wants to cut costs because you have to use less of it (so it doesn't ruin everything), but not a baker who really wants that flavor that we all remember when we were children. No, Vietnamese or Saigon cinnamon is not even real cinnamon, it is considered a 2nd-tier cinnamon by spice merchants.

But today, it's the only cinnamon you can buy at Costco, Stop n Shop and King Arthur Flour. Even Fairway, my favorite grocery store, now sells Vietnamese cinnamon for its store-brand cinnamon. FYI, the most common store-brand cinnamon you could buy used to be Korintje cinnamon from Indonesia. For this reason, it is an excellent cinnamon to bake with because all those recipes you have from the 1970s through the 1990s were created using it.

What gives, Fairway? Which used to be all about quality products?

Apparently Ceylon cinnamon, which is also called "true" cinnamon, has curative properties, like thinning blood and helping the liver flush fat. It's good to put into tea when you're coming down with a cold. Is that why they won't sell it? It helps people have healthy blood and bodies?

By the way, when you buy "Mexican" cinnamon, you're buying Ceylon cinnamon. So, when you bake a chocolate dessert with cinnamon, Ceylon would be the one to use, for authentic Mexican flavor.

Do not you think, this is why we need to have co-operative grocery stores? After all, it stands to reason, if we let big business decide what cinnamon we can bake with, our carrot cake and apple crisp will remain inedible.

I, for one, am not going to take it any more! Who's with me? Is this the future you want to live in? I'm sure you're saying no, right now!

So do the right thing, stop buying it! Instead, go to Penzey's and get Ceylon Cinnamon for apple, peach and pear dishes, and Korintje cinnamon (what used to be store-bought cinnamon) for everything else. Except banana bread and muffins -- go ahead and use up the Vietnamese cinnamon you have in your kitchen for anything with bananas, it will taste fine.

[UPDATE December 19: Frontier, a brand of organic spices sold at Whole Foods, Fairway and other gourmet stores, now puts on their label that their normal cinnamon is Korintje. So, you don't have to have a Penzey's in your town to have good cinnamon!]

Aren't you glad I got this out before Thanksgiving?

Happy Holidays!