For Shantee who wanted to make dough for her kid class: The kind you
want is not
edible. It can be used for ornaments or to form letters or to make
little animals
etc. Use it like clay. I have a little plaque a friend made for me
that says
"Anita's Kitchen" and it is about twenty years old and still looks
good. The
recipe follows.
Salt Dough
4 Cups flour (all purpose)
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups hot water.
Mix well and knead until it is a little elastic.
You can add food coloring to some if you want it colored or paint it
after you
have formed it and dried it in a microwave for 2 to 4 minutes or
until good and
dry. Or it can be baked in the oven at 200 degrees until it is dry.
You can see
more about it at artsncrafts-ideas.com or allfreecrafts.com.
dtt333@aol.com
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Connie asked for it!
EASY CROISSANTS
Serving Size : 24
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 c Warm milk
1 t Sugar
1 tb Yeast
1 c Flour
3/4 c Milk, room temperature
1 1/2 ts Salt
1/4 c Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
1/2 c Butter melted and cooled
4 c Flour
1 c Cold butter
1 Egg, beaten with cold water
Stir warm milk and sugar together. Add yeast. Let stand 10 minutes.
Stir well.
Add flour; beat well. Add milk, sugar and egg. Beat until smooth.
Add butter;
beat and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, place the 4 cups of
flour and the
chilled butter. Cut butter into flour until pieces are the size of
beans (not
too small). Pour the liquid batter into the flour mixture; stir
until moistened.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours
or overnight.
Remove from refrigerator.
Press into a compact ball on a floured board and divide into 4
parts. Roll each
into a circle 12" or 16". Cut each circle into 6 or 8 pie- shaped
wedges. For
each croissant roll a wedge towards the point. Shape into a crescent
and place on
ungreased baking sheet. Let rise at room temperature until doubled.
(May take 2
hours or more). Brush each with egg beaten with cold water. Preheat
oven to 400
F. Place croissants in oven. Lower temperature to 350 F and bake for
15 - 20
minutes until golden. Makes 24 - 32.
Croissant Recipe
Fresh croissants are absolutely delicious--but no two ways about it,
making them
from scratch is Work! Worth it, but make sure you leave enough time
that you
aren't rushed. This recipe has the details for getting the freshest
croissants--
namely, the ones that come right from your own oven.
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup unsifted all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup very warm water (105-115F)
2 pkg. active dry yeast
3 cups unsifted all purpose flour
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp milk
With spoon, beat butter and 1/4 cup flour until smooth. Spread on
waxed paper in
a rectangle 12x6 inches. Refrigerate. Heat milk; stir in sugar, salt
to dissolve.
Cool to lukewarm. With thermometer, check temperature of water.
Sprinkle with
yeast; stir to dissolve. With spoon, beat in milk mixture and 3 cups
flour until
smooth. Turn on lightly floured pastry cloth; knead until smooth.
Let rise,
covered in warm place, 85F, free from draft until double- 1 hour.
Refrigerate 1/2
hour. On lightly floured pastry cloth, with stockinette- covered
rolling pin ( I
think you could use cooking spray in place of the stockinette), roll
into 14x14
inch rectangle.
Place butter mixture on half of dough; remove paper. Fold other half
over butter;
pinch edges to seal. With fold at right, roll from center to 20 x 8
inches. From
short side, fold dough in thirds, making three layers; seal edges;
chill one hour
wrapped in foil. With fold at left, roll to 20x8 inches; fold; chill
1/2 hour.
Repeat. Chill overnight.
Next day, roll; fold twice; chill 1/2 hour between. Then chill one
hour longer.
To shape: Cut dough into 4 parts. On lightly floured pastry cloth,
roll each into
a 12 inch circle. Cut each circle into 6 wedges. Roll up beginning
at wide end.
Form into crescent. Place point side down, 2 inches apart on brown
paper on
cookie sheet. Cover; let rise in warm place, 85F, free from draft
until double-
one hour.
Heat oven to 425F. Brush with yolk beaten with milk. Bake 5 minutes;
reduce oven
to 375F; bake 10 minutes, until croissants are puffed and brown.
Cool on rack 10
minutes. Makes 24.
Jack Poulter On an Island in the Pacific
jpoulter@islandnet.com
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I also have a recipe for croissants from
an old Julia Child cookbook. As with this
recipe, They aren't exactly difficult but they do take time and are
a fair amount
of work. I originally made them because I was buying a croissantwich
for lunch
several times a week for $5.00 (in the early 1980's) which was a
fairly expensive
lunch them. After making them (and they were delicious) I decided
that $5.00 was
not an unreasonable price.
The French Croissant
From Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Small Breads
One of the finest croissants I was ever served was aboard the
transatlantic
passenger liner the SS France. On a round-trip voyage of the ship, I
spent
several memorable days with her boulangers and pātissiers working
and observing.
Unlike today's one-class cruise ships, the France carried
first-class and second
-class passengers. In the ship's bakery, the croissants for the
first-class
dining room were made in the traditional crescent shape, while the
same
croissants destined for the other dining room were not given the
quarter-moon
shape but left straight. "When we are making hundreds, it just takes
less time to
shape and we can get more of them on a baking sheet," explained M.
Gousse, the
pātissier. This is the SS France recipe for its feather-light
(1-ounce)
croissant.
3 Tbsp flour
3 sticks butter (3/4 pound) of butter and margarine, equally divided
and softened
at room temperature
4 cups all-purpose flour, approximately
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 packages dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1-1/2 cups milk, warmed to 80°F to 90°F (27°C to 32°C)
1/2 cup half-and-half, warmed
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
Sprinkle 3 Tbsp flour over butter and blend together on the work
surface. On a
length of foil, fashion a 6" square of soft butter; fold over the
sides of the
foil to enclose. Place in the refrigerator to chill for 2 to 3
hours.
While the butter is chilling, prepare the dough. To mix by hand, in
a large
mixing or mixer bowl, blend 2 cups of the flour with salt and sugar.
Dissolve
yeast in warm water and add it and the warmed milk and half-and-half
to the flour
mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon or the flat blade of an electric
mixer to
thoroughly blend the batterlike dough, about 2 minutes.
Stir in additional flour, 1/4 cup at a time, to make a soft but not
sticky dough
(it will stiffen when chilled.) Knead by hand or under a dough hook
for 5 minutes
to form a solid mass.
If using a food processor, attach the steel blade. Place 2 cups
flour in the work
bowl and add the dry ingredients. Pulse to mix. Pour the 1/4 cup
water, milk, and
half-and-half through the feed tube. Pulse once or twice to be
certain that all
dry ingredients are moistened. Add the balance of the flour, 1/2 cup
at a time,
turning the machine on briefly after each addition. When the mixture
forms a mass
and begins to clean the sides of the bowl, knead for 30 seconds.
Don't overknead!
This begins the process of cooling the dough and at the same time
allowing it to
rise. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator
for at least
1 hour.
Determine that both butter and dough are about the same temperature
65°F (23°C)
is ideal. The block of butter should bend but not break (too cold)
nor be oily
(too warm) when bent slightly. This may mean taking the butter out
of the
refrigerator an hour or so early to reach workable temperature.
Likewise for the
dough. Place the dough on a floured work surface and with the hands
press it into
a 10" square. Unwrap the block of butter and lay the block
diagonally on the
dough. Bring each point of dough into the center, overlapping the
edges at least
1". Press the dough into a neat package. With a heavy rolling pin,
roll the dough
into a rectangle, approximately 8" x 18". This dimension is not
critical.
Caution: If the butter seems to be breaking into small pieces under
the dough
rather than remaining solid, allow the dough/butter to warm a few
minutes. But if
the butter softens, becomes sticky, and oozes while making the
turns, put the
dough back into the refrigerator for several minutes.
Fold the length of dough into thirds, as for a letter. Turn so that
the open ends
are at twelve and six o'clock. Roll again into a rectangle. This
time, fold both
ends into the middle and then close, as one would a book. The dough
will now be
in 4 layers. Wrap the package of dough in a cloth (an old tea towel
is good) that
has been soaked in cold water and wrung dry. Place the wrapped dough
in the
refrigerator to relax and chill for 1 or 2 hours.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on the floured work
surface.
Unwrap, roll out, and fold in thirds, as for a letter. This is the
final turn
before it is rolled out and cut into croissants. Dampen cloth again
and wrap
loosely around the dough. Place the package in a plastic bag so
moisture will be
retained (not pulled out of the cloth). Leave in the refrigerator 4
to 6 hours or
overnight.
Mix together the egg and 1 Tbsp of water. Have ready the egg wash, a
knife or
pastry cutter, and a wooden yardstick if you wish the pieces to be
cut precisely
otherwise, plan to cut them freehand. You may have or can borrow a
French
croissant cutter that cuts the dough into triangles.
Sprinkle work surface with flour. Roll the dough until it is a
generous 10"-x-38"
rectangle, and, most importantly, about 1/4" thick. This is a
crucial dimension,
since it determines the size and texture of the croissants. Trim
irregularities
to make the strip uniform in width. Cut the strip lengthwise to make
two 5"
pieces. Mark the strip into triangles, 5" wide on the bottom. Using
a yardstick
as a guide, cut through the dough with a pastry or pizza cutter or
knife.
Separate the triangles, place them on a baking sheet, and chill for
15 to 20
minutes. Roll the dough into the traditional croissant shape, by
rolling the
triangle from the bottom to the point.
Place the croissants on a baking sheet and allow to rise for 1 to 2
hours, in
which they will double in volume. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
Bake the
croissants for 22 to 25 minutes. Allow them to cool on a rack before
serving.
Yield: 24 to 30 croissants
Mary in Azusa
Tis1947@aol.com
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Here are some recipes for Laurie, who wanted salads that can be
meals. I put a
little history before each recipe.
This is a salad we used to have at a restaurant in western Pa. Of
course, they
did not give me the recipe, but this is pretty much what it was.
They served it
as a meal. It was accompanied by Ranch dressing, but you could
probably serve
whatever you like. It's important to serve the meat and French fries
hot, so that
the cheese melts. I serve it buffet style, and then everyone can
build their own.
We have it several times a year.
Steak Salad
Layer the following ingredients in individual serving bowls:
Lettuce; Carrots,
cut in rounds; Hard Boiled Egg, quartered; Hot Steak (I use a
Steak-um type
meat), sliced in thin strips or chipped; Hot French Fries, salted;
Cheddar
Cheese, shredded, placed on hot ingredients.
I don't usually serve this as a meal, but you probably could. I
often make it for
picnics and potlucks, and it goes quickly. Very tasty. The recipe
came from our
time in Indiana.
24 Hour Salad
1 head lettuce, cut up
1 head cauliflower, bite size
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 lb or less bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
1/3 c parmesan cheese
1 3/4 c Miracle Whip
1/2 c Creamy Italian Dressing
Layer lettuce, cauliflower, onion, bacon and parmesan cheese in
large bowl. Mix
Miracle Whip and creamy Italian dressing. Spread over salad. Do not
stir salad.
Cover bowl with foil. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 8 hours.
Stir just
before serving.
This is another recipe from our western Pa. days. We often had it
when we went to
a summer event. I never had it as a whole meal, but with the
veggies, you
probably could. I've seen it with pepperoni in it also, but don't
make it that
way myself.
Linquini Salad
1 lb linquini, cooked and drained (can use spaghetti)
8 oz Italian salad dressing
4 T McCormick's Salad Supreme
2 T minced or dried onion
Cherry Tomatoes, halved
Broccoli Flowerets
Green Pepper, diced
Cucumbers, sliced and quartered
Mix linquini, Salad Supreme, onion, and about 3/4 of the salad
dressing in a
bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Just before serving, add
remaining salad
dressing, tomatoes, broccoli, and green pepper. Garnish with more
tomatoes.
This recipe is from our time in Seattle. I worked with a girl who
had moved to
the United States from Hong Kong when she was 11. She often brought
wonderful
Asian meals in to work. We have this as a whole meal, and I usually
end it with
oranges cut in wedges for dessert.
Chinese Chicken Salad
Dressing:
6 T sugar
2 1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
3 T wine vinegar
1/4 c salad oil
3 T lemon juice
Combine above ingredients. Pour over salad. I don't always use all
the dressing
at one serving. Use your judgment of what is enough. Salad choices:
Lettuce,
almonds, sesame seeds, chow mein noodles, fried bean threads, cubed
cooked
chicken breast (or shrimp). Other choices I don't use, but they were
suggested by
Diane are: cucumbers, radishes, celery, steamed green beans.
C R
happyma42003@yahoo.com
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