You're the cooker

I feel stabbed deep in my gut (almost robbed). but first for those who bake go to the dessert page(click on left content for desserts) I found a great site Pastry Chef and added it to the site. why you ask did I find this site because I am going to make a peach rasberry pie for thanksgiving using an austrian pie crust recipe that I have used from time to time over the years. This pie crust is unusual as it uses cream cheese as the base. Tomorrow I will put up the recipe on the desserts page. But I digress, I was stabbed and by the NYTimes no less. There was an article in the dining section of the times about the search for the best pie crust recipe. Now I know we have all experienced this hunt. However few of us have had the same exact experience. Mine was almost 20 years ago. It is a story I have told several people. It is a story about the ultimate pie crust which uses butter AND LARD not any lard BUT LEAF LARD. you can't get that very easily now adays. my story, way to long for this blog, entailed the white pages, the yellow pages, phone calls to many delis, especially italian delies. I finally found one in Queens, NY (my bourough). I trekked with my husband to the deli and had to purchase almost a half an animal's worth of Leaf Lard, I had to bring it home, render it (whew what an aroma), place it in many tupperware jars, and store it. Way too much Leaf Lard. I even had to borrow someones empty refrigerator to store this stuff over the coming years. All this for the quest of a pie crust. Why I mention this story is because someone at that NY times lived my experience almsost word for word. Quite baffling, quite eerie. But the article which aims at bringing to you a great pie crust fails to mention a favorite pie crust used by Austrians (great bakers)- the cream cheese pie crust. Rose Levy Beranbaum, a great american pastry maker, calls this her favorite pastry. I found this recipe all those 20 years ago in the same old book that referenced leaf lard for the old fashioned pie crust taste. speak to you soon. pi

Cinnamon buns

who knows why but I remembered an old recipe I had once made, during New Years, for cinnamon buns that utilized Kahlua. that evening my husband and I pigged out and ate the whole batch, warm and scrumptious, fresh from the oven. I think I'm going to make it during thanksgiving. recipe on desserts page. click title for link. speak to you soon. pi

bread the easy way - No-Knead Bread

have you seen this recipe in the nytimes dining section? too easy to be true. i am not a baker but I will definetly give this a try. there is almost no work involved. here is the recipe and the title above is the link to the article (just click). Recipe: No-Knead Bread Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting ¼ teaspoon instant yeast 1¼ teaspoons salt Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed. 1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. 2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes. 3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger. 4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. Yield: One 1½-pound loaf. speak to you soon. pi