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.