Croissants!

Dear Megs,

I made croissants this weekend! I've never tried one of these fancy pastry doughs before, and though it's kind of an all day endeavor, it's really not complicated or even hard. You just need to be around and deal with it every 45 minutes or so. However, for the amount of work it requires, it does seem like kind of a small return, so next time I make these, I will probably make several batches at once. More work, yes, but apparently the dough freezes well, and, these were DELICIOUS.

The recipe I used is from the Williams and Sonoma baking bible, The Essentials of Baking, which I love because it has lots of scientific explanations of baking stuff, about why things work the way they do and such. Mine didn't double in size when rising, which W & S attributes to the butter in the dough being too warm and making the layers stick together, but I don't think that was the case because they also say that the way to recognize the butter being to warm is that it oozes out the sides, which it didn't. But in the end it didn't matter because the result was light and flaky and so, soooooo good.


CROISSANTS

2 t active dry yeast
2 T sugar
3 T warm water
1 t salt
2 T cooled melted butter
1 c cold whole milk
2 1/2 c flour

1 c butter
2 T flour

1 egg
1 T whole milk

DOUGH
1 - Mix yeast, water, and a pinch of sugar until dissolved, let stand until foamy.
2 - Mix yeast mixture, the remaining sugar, salt, butter, milk, and 1/2c of flour with a wooden spoon (or your new Kitchenaid!) until blended.
3 - Add remaining flour 1/2c at a time, until just blended each time. Dough will be very sticky. Do not overblend, or it will lose some of that final lightness.
4 - Roll into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 45 minutes or so.

BUTTER PACKAGE
1 - Use a rolling pin or the heel of your hand to warm butter and shape it into a 6x8 inch rectangle. This means you can't use room temperature butter, though that would be easier to shape; you need to be able to pick it up. As you shape, press the flour into the surface of the butter. If it gets too warm (oozy), stick it in the fridge for a few minutes until it has firmed.

LAMINATING
1 - The process by which you work butter into the dough for this type of pastry or for puff pastry is called laminating. The butter should be firm but pliable, the dough should not be allowed to warm enough to get sticky again.
2 - Place the chilled dough rectangle on your work surface with the short end toward you. Put the chilled butter package at the base of the dough rectangle, leaving 1/2 inch border of dough, and fold the top over, pressing dough together to seal.
3 - Roll into a 10x24 in rectangle, and then fold the bottom third up and the top third down as if folding a letter. Cover in plastic and return to fridge for 45 minutes. This is the first turn.
4 - Repeat last step 3 times for a total of 4 turns, and then return dough to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

CROISSANTING
1 - Roll the dough into a 9x18 in rectangle. Cut in half lengthwise, then cut each half crosswise into 4 squares, for a total of 8 squares. Cut each square in half diagonally.
2 - Butter your baking pans (no Pam this time - not after all that work!). Stretch each triangle to about twice its original length, and stretch the wide end of the triangle even further. Place the dough on the work surface with the point facing you and, grasping the wide end, roll dough toward point, turn the ends in slightly.
3 - Place on baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Cover with a dishtowel and allow to rise until doubled in size, about an hour and a half.
4 - Preheat oven to 425.
5 - Brush dough with egg/mild mixture and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Simple, perfect cornbread

Hi Megs,

I thought today you could use a dose of comfort food. Wish you were here to share this with me! Sorry the picture sucks. I still haven't bothered to read the manual to my camera and figure out the low light settings, so I really shouldn't take pictures for the blog at night. Maybe when I finish my PhD I'll get around to figuring it out...

So, Alex and I bought half a pig from a local farm this winter, and I'm telling you, I'm never going back to store-bought. No guilt, no weird processing, no horrifying conditions. Just piggy. Delicious, delicious piggy. So anyway, we've been eating more pork than usual. The other night I decided to make chili, but instead of ground beef I used ground PORK, and instead of kidney beans I used local cattle beans, which seem to be exactly like kidney beans in every way except they're spotted red and white. Also, since it's a small company there's always a rock in there somewhere, which adds some excitement to dinner.

Anyhoo, I was wishing for bread and decided to whip up a batch of cornbread. Now, I feel like lots of people (and restaurants) mess cornbread up because they won't get out of its way. The whole point of cornbread is that it's got simple ingredients and it's easy to make. Cornbread is - and should be - country. This is a recipe I got from my mom, who got it from her mom, and so on. I'm not sure they would even call it a recipe - it's just how you make cornbread, and once upon a time, everybody just knew how to do it.

CORNBREAD
1 c cornmeal (I REALLY prefer coarse, which gives cornbread its great texture, but to each his own)
1 c flour
1 c milk (or buttermilk, or yogurt, or whatever dairy product you have lying around)
1 egg
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c oil (any one will do, but I usually use some kind of veg oil)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
extra oil for skillet

Put some oil in a cast iron skillet, and place the skillet in the oven while it preheats, to 350 or 400. Doesn't really matter which. Mix ingredients in a big bowl (no need for a beater, a wooden spoon or spatula will easily do the trick), and pour the batter into the hot oil in the skillet. Bake until done. Eat too much of, preferably with butter.