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Our daily

Wednesday, December 9, 1992 — North Shore

bread

Recipes for Corn crepes, Chinese-style; caraway rye bread; Portuguese cornbread

THE FRUGAL GOURMET

IN BIBLICAL times bread
was not served as an addi-
tion to the meal as it is in
our time. In those days
bread was the meal!
Everything else to eat cen-
tred around the bread.

So bread in the Bible does not
refer so much to food as it does
to toial and complete daily
sustenance,

Here are some basic rules for
good bread-baking:

@ Use a thermometer for the
water in which you place the
yeast. {t should be at about
}LO°F, no hotter.

@ Use unbleached white flour for
better flavor in your bread.

@ Always beat the batter for a
good 10 minutes. Use your electric
mixer. Mixing the batter this long
assures you of the development of
the gluten so necessary to a good
crust.

@ Use a rapid or quick-rising dry
yeast. It cuts down the tine for
the process.

@ Use a very large stainless-steel
bow! as a cover for the dough,
which can then be left on a plastic
counter, covered, to rise.

@ To get a fine crunchy crust,
spray the loaves with water in the
oven a couple of times during the
baking process. Use a plastic plant
sprayer or clothes sprayer. Avoid
hicting the elements of an electric
stove with water.

@® Quick yeast or not, be patient.
Allow the dough to rise beautiful-
ty and fully each time.

NEWS photo Neil Lucente

TO GET a fine crunchy crust, spray the loaves with water in the oven a couple of times during the baking process.

BASIC BREAD DOUGH

(Makes 3 or 4 loaves)
2 envelopes quick-risiag dry yeast
22 cups tepid water (110°F)
2 pounds 3 ounces hard wheat
flour, mixed with cableached
white flour (mix thom half aad
half), or just unbleached white
fiour
1 teaspoon sali
teaspoon water

Dissolve the yeast in the water
(tepid, not hot, not cool, but
barely warm). Let stand for §
minutes. Stir to dissolve.

Using a small paper bag on
your scale, weigh out a total of 2
pounds 3 ounces flour. (if you
can't get hard wheat flour, use a

dissolved in 1

Traditional holiday

inquisitive

GARDINER WILSON

MINCEMEAT ORIGI-
NATED in the 12th century
as a fruity, spicy means of
preserving meat. The
crusaders brought their ver-
sion to England in the 13th
century and the English, in
due course carried mince-
meat to North America.

While it has endured as a holi-
day treat, its ingredients, and the
way it’s made, have changed over
time. .

Mincemeat began as a means of
keeping meat from spoiling. Prior
to refrigeration, alcohol, sugar
and spices cach played
roles in preventing the growth of
bacteria. And in doing so, they
helped form a preserve with tangy
unusual flavors and an intriguing
variety of textures.

There are numerous versions of

Special -

good unbleached flour.)

Make a batter of the water and
yeast, together with 4 cups of the
weighed-out flour. Beat for 10
minutes with an clectric mixer.
The batter will pull away from the
sides of the mixing bow}.

Add the salted water. Add the
remaining flour and knead for $
minutes in a good mixer, or 15
minutes by hand,

Place on a Formica counter or
on a piece of plastic wrap and
cover with a large stainless-steel
bowl. Let rise until double in
bulk, 1 t0 1% hours.

Punch down again and mould
into three or four loaves. Let the
loaves rise.

Place the loaves on a greased
baking sheet before letting them
rise.

Preheat the oven to 450°F.
When the loaves have risen to
double their original bulk, piace
them in the upper one-third of the
oven. Important: place a pan of
hot water on the bottom shelf.
This will assure you of a great
crust.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the
bread is nicely browned and the
loaves sound hollow when you
thump their bottoms with your
finger.

if you wish your bread to have
an Old World look, simply dust
the loaves with flour before the

treat keeps up with

the meats used in this potted
preserve. But chronicles indicate
beef tongue, calves’ or hogs’ feet
and brisket or rump were com-
monly included.

Cooked meat was finely minc-
ed, then mixed with apples,
citron, lemon and orange peel,
currants, raisins, brown sugar,
spices and distilled liquors.

Brandy or sherry, with a higher
alcohol content than wine, played
an important role in’ keeping
micro-organisms from growing.
Because of the perishable nature
of meat, the amount of alcohol
used was considerable. Old-
fashioned mincemeat was indeed a
potent treat!

Sugar was also a preservative
when used in heavy concentra:
tions, attracting moisture from
other ingredients to form a thick
syrup. Spoilage micro-organisms
in the preserve became dehydrated

through the process of osmosis
and were unabie to grow.

The same principal is still che
basis of making jams, jellies and
Preserves where a sugar solution
of at least 65% provides protec-
tion against food spoilage.

Mace, mustard and pepper have
gradually been replaced by sweeter
spices. But when used in liberal
amounts in old mincemeat recipes,
the chemicals in these potent
spices were irritating to spoilage
micro-organisms. With their
unique aromas, they also offered
the added advantage of over-
powering the odors of foud past
tts best.

The preserve as we know it,
began to evolve in the 17th cen-
tury. And with the advent of re-
frigeration, it became unnecessary
to preserve meat in this manner.
Thus, rump, tonguc and calves’
feet disappeared from most

final rising.
CORN CREP
CHINESE STYLE
(Makes 5 large pancakes)

This is a fine recipe from Sunset
magazine, certainly one of the
best regional magazines in the
country. These corn pancakes are
thin and just perfect for eating
with many Chinese meat dishes.
1% cups water
1 cup yellew cornmeal
V2 cup all-purpose white flour
Y2 teaspoon salt
Peanut oil for pan-frying

In a food blender combine the
water, cornmeal, flour and salt.

See No page 62

the times

mincemeat recipes.

Some of today’s recipes still
contain suet, the solid white fat
surrounding beef kidney. Most
contain no meat at all. Today,
raisins, apples, currants, candied
fruit and citrus peel still blend to
a rich amalgam as they bask
leisurely in alcohol, spices and
sugar.

The use of mincemeat in festive
occasions can be traced through
history. It was considered such a
specia} new food at the time of
Henry {, it was served at his cor-
onation in 1413.

Mincemeat pie is still served at
Christmas, though it’s no Jonger 2
huge dish called “Christmas pye™
as it was in’ England. Today we
also see mincemeat in touffins and
breads, cookies and preserves.
Though tts role has changed, in
many households, mingemeat
remains a special pleasure