Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Khushknanaj

Recipe Source: al-Baghdādī, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Karīm al-Kātib. Kitāb al-Tabīkh, also known as A Baghdad Cookery Book. A. J. Arberry, trans. 1939 edition, re-published in Medieval Arab Cookery. Prospect Books, Devon, 2001 p. 86.

I've tried to make a treat called khushknānaj before, but I didn't post it. I was obviously missing something in that recipe, because the "confection" I got could have been used to replace cobblestones down by Faneuil Hall. When I was planning the menu for the big feast up in Maine I needed desserts, and I tend to prefer medieval Middle Eastern desserts to medieval European desserts. I decided to give it another try, this time using a different recipe. For those of you keeping track, this one dates to the thirteenth century AD. I was kind of nervous about it – I really didn't have enough of the other two desserts to get by. Something in this one caught my eye, though, and suggested a way to avoid making something that could be used to pave downtown streets. The recipe for the dough, not unlike the other one, called for flour and oil. However, there was another instruction: "Leave to rise."

Wait a minute. Rise? There's got to be something missing here. I'm not sure how, but maybe it's one of those things where part of the recipe was understood. You know, the way some chefs write "muffin method" instead of listing instructions. If the dough was supposed to rise, there needed to be something else besides flour and oil. Now, I don't personally know enough about bread chemistry to develop my own risen bread recipe, so I turned to my usual source: King Arthur Flour. What I did was probably akin to bibliomancy: I opened the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion to a random page. My intent was to then flip through the book until I found something suitable. However, the page I opened to was page 232, which presented a recipe called "Beautiful Burger Buns." Interesting, I thought to myself. Furthermore, the introductory notes to the recipe were, "Soft, vaguely sweet and golden yellow…" I decided that this was the recipe I would use as a dough for my khushknānaj. I had to make some small changes here to make the recipe work. I quadrupled the recipe, and I used the sesame oil called for by al-Baghdādī instead of the butter called for in the burger buns. I used active dry yeast instead of instant, which I proofed before using. I omitted the optional onion and onion powder for reasons that are probably quite obvious to you.

This may seem a little strange to you, and the true historical purist may be a little put off by my little leap based on three words. However, the recipe worked. It was the most popular dessert that night. The little almond-filled rolls transported well, kept well at room temperature and delighted most of the people who ate them.

Khushknānaj (makes 32; approx. $0.38/ea.)

4 cups water

4 ounces sesame oil

4 eggs

55 ounces flour

40 ounces sugar, divided

4 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 pound almonds

2 ounces rosewater (you can probably get away with more, but not everyone loves rosewater as much as I do so I toned it down for polite company.)

Equipment:

• Stand mixer
• At least 2 large bowls, one of which can certainly be the one from your stand mixer
• Food processor
• Baking sheets

1. Combine the yeast with 1 cup sugar and the water. Set aside until very frothy.
2. Divide the flour between 2 large bowls, one of which can be your food processor bowl.
3. Add 2 ounces sesame oil to each bowl along with 2 eggs each and 2 teaspoons salt each. Mix well.
4. Add ½ the yeasted water mixture to each bowl (i.e., 2 cups per bowl.) Mix well and knead until the dough is soft and smooth. Cover and set aside in a warmish place (my kitchen in July certainly counted) for at least an hour, or until visibly risen.
5. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 32 ounces sugar with the almonds and rosewater in the food processor. Process until finely ground and well combined.
6. Divide the dough into 32 pieces, roughly equal.
7. Stuff some of the almond mixture into the middle of a piece of the dough, then cover the hole with the dough. Repeat with all of the dough and set aside another 30 minutes or so.
8. Preheat your oven to 375 ̊.
9. Bake your little cookies 12- 15 minutes, or until golden and delicious. Cool completely before serving.

Recipe: Azerbaijani Tandir Bread (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source: Inspired by the recipe found on AZ Cookbook, at http://www.azcookbook.com/tandir-bread-tendir-choreyi/

We were recently asked to teach a class on use of ceramic cookers in the middle ages after Jess found documentation for 'an Egg-shaped ceramic cooker' in a 10^th century Arabic cookbook. While we recreated some of the recipes from that cookbook, I knew that one of the primary uses for such cookers was to bake bread (think nann in a tandoor), and I started looking around for some traditional bread recipes that could showcase this aspect of the versatility of a ceramic cooker. I found this recipe on AZ Cookbook, a blog dedicated to food from Azerbaijan, and loved the look and color of the bread, which was designed to be cooked in a Tandir, the Azerbaijani version of a ceramic cooker. Although I didn't have documentation for this particular recipe dating back to the middle ages, I decided to use it for our class anyway, as all the ingredients would have been available (substituting whole wheat for white flour anyway), and the techniques used would have been as well.

I made some pretty significant changes to the recipe and technique, the biggest of which was actually cooking the bread in a ceramic cooker (my large Big Green Egg), rather than in the oven as suggested by the author. To accommodate the shape of my Big Green Egg and the stone that I use to bake breads on, I made the bread round rather than the rectangular shape described in the original recipe. I used a teaspoon of active dry yeast from a jar, rather than a package of dry yeast. After doing a test run before my class I found that the proportions called for in the recipe made the dough much too sticky, and I added an additional 1/2 cup of flour to correct this. We also felt that the test bread was lacking a bit in flavor, and so we decided to sprinkle the top with some coarse grained salt in addition to the poppy seeds. This really helped to draw out the flavors. I cheated and made the dough in my stand mixer rather than kneading by hand as the original described, both for convenience and because the kitchen was a mess and I couldn't find the counter to knead the bread on it. Finally, I made the dough the night before the class, refrigerated it immediately, and then let it finish rising the next day, once we got to the site where our class was being taught. It's not necessary to let it rest overnight, but I did detect a bit of fermentation flavor in the bread, which I liked.

This bread was a big hit with the people who took our class, and we had no trouble finding takers for the two loaves we made. One nice thing about the bread was that the cross-hatched cuts in the dough, in addition to looking great, made it really easy for people to break off a small chunk of bread. This would make it a great choice to serve at a party. I tried cooking this without any added smoke (the loaf on the left in the picture), and also with one small chunk of apple wood added to the fire (the loaf on the right in the picture). The one with the smoke picked up a great color and just a hint of additional smoke flavor. I'd certainly recommend that method, unless you have an aversion to smoky flavors. One other finding was that the bread, while still good cold, was much better warm. If you plan to serve this at a party, put it out as soon as you cook it.

Tandir Bread (makes one loaf)

Equipment Required

• Big Green Egg or wood fired bread oven (preferred). You can make this in your home oven too.
• Rolling pin
• Pizza peel or sideless cookie sheet
• Food-safe brush

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 teaspoon table salt

3 1/2 cups bread flour

1 egg yolk, for brushing

Poppy seeds and kosher salt, for topping

1. Add the yeast and water to the bowl of your stand mixer. Allow the yeast to proof for about 10 minutes
2. Add half the flour and the salt to the bowl, and using your dough hook at slow speed, mix in the remaining flour until a ball is formed on the hook. Add flour if too wet, or a little water if too dry
3. Turn up the speed to medium-low, and knead for 6 minutes, or until the dough forms a smooth ball on the hook
4. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
5. Set up your ceramic cooker to cook indirect at 400 degrees. Put in a baking stone to heat up with the cooker. If desired, add a small chunk of smoking wood to the fire (I used apple) to add color and flavor to the bread.
6. Punch down the dough and form it into a ball. Use your hands to flatten it and stretch it. Place on a floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it out, till you have a piece of dough about ½ inch thick that fits your baking stone.
7. Coat a pizza peel or sideless cookie sheet with coarse cornmeal. Transfer the dough to the sheet, and allow to rise for another 15 minutes.
8. Use a knife to make shallow crosshatches across the bread. Brush with the egg yolk and sprinkle with the seeds and kosher salt.
9. Slide the bread onto your baking stone, and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until golden on top, and it sounds hollow when tapped.

Recipe: Georgian Cheese-Filled Quick Breads (Emeruli Khachapuri)

Recipe Source: Alford, Jeffrey and Naomi Duguid.  Flatbreads & Flavors.  HarperCollins Pubilshers, New York, 1995 pp. 292-3.

Are you afraid to make your own bread?  Has it always seemed like a daunting task to you, the kind of alchemy that should be better left to people with extensive training and possibly better insurance?  I used to feel that way.  I used to be terrified to bake bread.  I've never been a very good baker in the first place, and bread just seemed so much more complicated.  I've gotten over it, although my husband's breads still always turn out better.  This recipe will help you get over it too.  It is a very quick bread to make, and it is delicious. 

The filling seemed oddly familiar to me as I was making it.  I sat there and I thought about it, and it occurred to me that the filling was almost the exact same filling as tiropita, a cheesy Greek dish that I usually serve as an appetizer.  As soon as my husband tasted the bread, he said, "Hey, this tastes kind of like a tiropita!"  He was very into the breads.  I thought they were good, but filling.  I served them up with the Vietnamese beef stew for New Year's Day.

Emeruli Khachapuri (makes 8 breads; approx. $0.84/serving)

4 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons plain, fat-free Greek yogurt

1 egg

3 - 4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups plain, fat-free Greek yogurt

Equipment:

• Medium mixing bowl
• Large mixing bowl
• Rolling pin

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
2. Combine the cheeses in the medium bowl with the egg and 2 tablespoons yogurt.  Mix well and set aside.
3. In the large bowl, combine one cup flour, the baking powder and salt. 
4. Add the yogurt and stir well. 
5. Start adding flour until you can work the dough with your hands easily. 
6. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 3 - 4 minutes. 
7. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. 
8. Roll each piece out into a (rough) circle. 
9. Spoon 1/8 of the filling into the middle of the circle, then fold up the sides of the circle to overlap in the center.
10. Repeat with the remaining circles.
11. Bake on the bottom rack of the oven 5 - 6 minutes, or until golden. 

Recipe: Calzone

Recipe Source (dough): Shapter, Jennie.  Bread Machine.  Anness Publishing, London, 2002 p. 112

When we did the planning for our family tree decorating party this past Christmas, the plan was for all of the food to be dishes you could eat while standing and mingling.  You know, finger food.  That way there would be no problem decorating the tree and eating at the same time.  That's not how it worked out, but that was the intention.  I thought and thought about something that I could serve that would fit that ideal, and the thought of the calzones popped into my head.  When I was a kid I remember learning that calzones are "kind of like a pizza, except folded in half."  That's kind of oversimplifying it, but it worked well enough for me at the time. 

I used a dough recipe from one of our default bread-baking books, but the filling was original.  I wanted to include sausage.  Ordinarily I'd use pork sausage, but pork is really on my no list right now so I used hot Italian chicken sausage instead.  Otherwise, I used just some cheese and some sauce.  The calzones were a pretty big hit with our guests, and the leftovers kept quite well in the refrigerator for several days.  (They might have lasted longer, but we ate them.)  Minette the Cat showed some curiosity about the calzones, but did not actually eat any. 

Calzones (makes 13; approx. $0.74/ea.)

Generous 1/2 cup warm water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

3/4 can (14 oz can) prepared pizza sauce (I prefer Muir Glen brand, but it's up to you)

1 2/3 hot Italian chicken sausage, casings removed

5 ounces shredded mozzarella

2 ounces grated peccorino

Equipment:

• Stand mixer
• Skillet
• Baking sheets
• Rolling pin

1. Combine the yeast, sugar and water.  Set aside until frothy.
2. Mix the flour and salt in the bowl of the stand mixer.
3. Add the yeast mixture and the olive oil.  Knead on very low speed 3 - 4 minutes, then on very slightly higher speed 3 minutes.
4. Cover and set aside until doubled in bulk, at least 1 hour. 
5. When the dough is risen, preheat your oven to 425. 
6. Break up the sausage and brown it in the skillet.  Set aside.
7. Break off pieces of dough and roll them into thin, flat discs.  I got 13 discs out of mine. 
8. Create an assembly line.  Take a disc.  Spoon about a spoonful of sauce into the middle, then add a small amount of sausage, some mozzarella, and the scantest pinch of peccorino.  Fold the edges of the disc shut and crimp to seal.  Place seam-side down on the baking sheet and proceed to the next one.
9. When you've used all of your dough, bake the calzones for 15 - 20 minutes. 
10. Serve warm or at room temperature, although they're good cold too. 

Recipe: Sage and Cheddar Biscuits

Recipe Source: Everyday Food staff.  "In Season."  Everyday Food, no. 68, p. 20, December 2009. 

I made these as a side dish for an impromptu dinner party we threw.  I decided on them because having some sort of starch on offer seemed to make sense and sage is one of my favorite flavors.  They were very easy to make and tasted great.  There were leftovers - the occasion for the impromptu dinner party was the acquisition of some beef ribs, and that's a lot of food! - and they didn't keep all that well.  Of course, I kept them in the microwave at room temperature, without any kind of airtight container.  Maybe a better storage solution would have improved that outcome...  Don't worry, no biscuits were touched by cat paws during the photographing of this food item. 

Sage and Cheddar Biscuits (makes 12; approx. $0.55/ea.)

4 cups flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons kosher salt

5 1/2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

3/4 cup butter, cut into pieces

1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk

Equipment:

• Baking sheets
• Food processor
• Rolling pin
• Biscuit cutter

1. Preheat your oven to 450.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the food processor. 
3. Add the cheddar and sage.  Pulse just to combine.
4. Add the butter.  Pulse until the texture is that of "coarse meal". 
5. Add the buttermilk.  Pulse 2 or 3 times, just to combine. 
6. Remove the mixture from the food processor and knead it together on your work surface.  Knead just until it comes together. 
7. Roll out the dough in batches and cut out 12 biscuits.  It is okay to re-roll scraps. 
8. Bake 12 - 15 minutes.
9. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Recipe: Olive Cigar Pies

Recipe Source: Barron, Rosemary.  Meze.  Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2002 pp. 98-9

This is another dish that I made for our family's tree decorating party this past Christmas.  I chose it because it could be easily consumed as finger food (not that it was) and because it contained olives.  I love olives.  I always have and, barring some sort of majorly scarring experience, I probably always will.  The dish went over reasonably well, although not quite as well as the more Italian dishes I served.  I suspect that's because the bread-to-filling ratio was a little skewed in favor of the bread, which is funny because I actually increased the amount of olives and therefore the amount of filling! 

I would also like to point out that these can be made well ahead of time.  This makes them great for parties, picnics and snacks for unexpected guests.

Olive Cigar Pies (makes 8; approx. $1.00/ea.)

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/4 cup warm water, plus 1 tablespoon

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup (approx.) pitted Kalamata olives

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup feta cheese

Equipment:

• Small bowl
• Stand mixer
• Saute pan
• Baking sheets
• Rolling pin
• Mini-prep food processor

1. Combine the honey, 1/4 cup warm water and the yeast in the small bowl in a warm room.  Set this mixture aside until frothy.  Believe me, you'll know.
2. In the bowl of the stand mixer, combine the bread flour and salt. 
3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon water, egg and olive oil.  Mix to distribute.
4. Add the yeast mixture.  Mix on very low speed 3 - 4 minutes, then increase the speed very slightly and knead another 3 - 4 minutes.  The dough should be smooth and elastic.
5. Set the bowl aside and cover.  Let rise in a warm room until doubled in size, at least 1 hour.  For the record, I never make a yeast-leavened bread unless I'm already heating up the kitchen for some other purpose.  For me, in my kitchen, it's the only way to get an area that is warm enough for yeast to be active.  Your kitchen may be warmer, but this is what works for me.
6. In the meantime, heat the olive oil over low heat.
7. Add the onion and sweat until just beginning to color. 
8. Put the olives in the mini-prep and process to a paste. 
9. Add the ground coriander to the saute pan with the onions.  Heat until fragrant. 
10. Add the olive paste, cilantro and oregano.  Cook 1 minute.
11. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and the feta.  Mix to combine.
12. Preheat your oven to 375.
13. When the dough has finished rising, divide it into 8 separate portions.  Roll each portion into a ball, then roll that ball into a circle about 4" in diameter. 
14. Put 1/8 of the filling into the center, then spread it out a bit. 
15. Fold down the top and bottom ends of the circle. 
16. Fold the left side of the circle over, then roll the right side to make a vaguely cylindrical object. 
17. Bake 5 minutes at 375, then reduce heat to 350 and bake another 15 minutes.
18. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe: Chestnut Bread

Recipe Source: Shapter, Jennie.  Bread Machine.  Anness Publishing, London, 2002 p. 51

I'm pretty sure that this has come up before, but I have all of the artistic ability of a drunken vole.  It is nigh impossible for me to make something that actually looks good.  I made this bread to bring to the family Thanksgiving celebration, and I actually didn't want to bring it I was so ashamed of how it looked.  Our hostess, Aunt Angie, kindly described it as looking like a "giant walnut."  That is not how I described it, but Angie is much nicer and more tactful than I am.  Anyway, the giant walnut (or whatever) was actually very tasty, and it matched well with the chestnuts in the stuffing. 

Chestnut Bread (serves 16; approx. $0.47/ea)

1/2 cup unsweetened chestnut puree

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

4 cups bread flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk

1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt

Equipment:

• 2 loaf pans
• Stand mixer with dough hook attachment

1. Combine the water, sugar and yeast.  Set aside until frothy.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in the bowl of the stand mixer. 
3. When the yeast mixture is proofed, add it to the dry ingredients.  Mix 2 minutes on very slow and then 3 minutes on slow. 
4. Cover and let stand until approximately doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
5. Shape the bread into loaves.  Put them in the loaf pans and let them sit until they have risen over the edge of your loaf pan.  Slice vertically down the middle about 5/8". 
6. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
7. Bake at 400 20 minutes.  Cool in pans. 

Recipe: Cinnamon Buns

Recipe Source: The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion.  Countryman Press, Woodstock, 2003 pp. 217-8.

I'm not sure why I like cinnamon buns so much.  They certainly weren't a normal part of my childhood.  I remember a cinnamon bun store in the mall, but it's not as if I went there often.  Somehow, somewhere in between moving away from home and now I decided that cinnamon buns were a very good thing indeed.  They had become comforting and delicious.  I had been craving them for a while, and decided to finally give in and make them.  (This decision was aided by my husband, who upon hearing of my intention to eventually make cinnamon buns asked me, "Are the cinnamon buns ready yet?" every five minutes for several days.) 

It's a pity that they were not worth the wait.  At least, I didn't think so.  To my tastes the pastries were much drier than they ought to have been, much harder.  Furthermore, despite my having doubled the amount of cinnamon in the filling, most of the flavor was sugar.  To me, these were a grave disappointment.  My husband, on the other hand, really liked them.  He actually preferred the hard texture to the softer, chewier cinnamon buns I like.  As you can tell from the second photo, Minette seconded his opinion.  So take what I've said about them with a grain of salt - everyone has their own tastes. 

Cinnamon Buns (makes 12; approx. $0.30/serving)

14 3/4 ounces flour

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/4 ounces sugar

2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 egg, plus enough lukewarm water to make 1 cup

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons soft butter

1/4 cup softened butter

5 1/4 ounces sugar mixed with 2 tablespoons cinnamon

3 tablespoons heavy cream

4 ounces confectioner's sugar

Equipment:

• Stand mixer
• Bowl
• Rolling pin
• Baking sheets

1. Combine the first 1 1/4 ounce sugar with the egg and water mixture and the yeast.  Let stand until frothy, at least 5 minutes.
2. Combine the proofed yeast with the flour, nonfat milk, salt, vanilla and 1 ounce softened butter.  Knead until a soft, smooth dough is formed in the stand mixer.  Cover and let rise 1 1/2 hours; it should just about double in size. 
3. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and roll into a rectangle. 
4. Spread the next 2 ounces of softened butter over the dough, leaving about 1" uncovered on the side closest to you. 
5. Combine the sugar and the cinnamon, then sprinkle over the butter. 
6. Roll the dough into a log. 
7. Cut the log in half, then cut each half into six equal pieces. 
8. Arrange the pieces on the baking sheets.  Cover and let rise 45 minutes or so, until very puffy.
9. Preheat your oven to 350.
10. Bake 20 - 25 minutes, until golden. 
11. Let cool.
12. Combine the confectioner's sugar and cream.  Frost the cinnamon buns. 
13. Devour. 

Recipe: Meat Pies (laham ageen)

Recipe Source: Patent, Greg.  A Baker's Odyssey.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2007 pp. 184 - 6

I made these for a recent Sunday open house.  I liked them.  I think my guests enjoyed them.  My husband really, really liked them!  What he liked was their versatility.  They were great as part of a normal sit-down dinner, but they'd be great as a quick snack, or even brought along on a picnic.  It was a little more challenging than a lot of the recipes that I prefer to post here, but it's definitely worth the effort. 

I did make a few changes to the original recipe.  The main change was exchanging turmeric for sumac.  The original called for sumac, and I love sumac.  I love sumac so much that I seem to have run out of sumac and am now sad.  I decided to use turmeric because it has a distinctly sour flavor that while not really authentic still worked with the rest of the dish. 

Meat Pies (makes 24 pies; approx. $0.42/ea.)

4 cups flour

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 pinch sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nigella seeds

1 teaspoon ground mahlab

1 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground if possible

8 tablespoons butter

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water

1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt

2 pounds boneless leg of lamb

3 onions, finely chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Equipment:

• Large saute pan
• Baking sheets
• Colander
• Plate
• Heavy thing
• Rolling pin
• Stand mixer with the dough hook attachment
• Small saucepan
• Cookie cutter (I used a pint glass because I didn't have round plain cookie cutters at the time.  I have since rectified the situation - yay!) 

1. Melt the butter in the small saucepan.
2. Add the water.  The mixture should now be lukewarm.
3. Add a pinch of sugar and the yeast.  Set aside five minutes or so, or until frothy.
4. Combine the yeast mixture with the flour, salt, nigella, mahlab and fennel in the stand mixer bowl.  Mix on very low speed for about 2 minutes, then increase the speed very slightly (level 2 to level 3 on my mixer, which has 11 levels) and knead 5 minutes. 
5. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, then set aside in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 hours.)
6. Meanwhile, make the filling.  Put the chopped onions into a colander, then top with a plate. 
7. Put something heavy (I used a 5-lb sack of sugar) on top of the plate and set aside in the sink for about 15 minutes.  This will rid the onions of some of their excess moisture.  It may seem like a silly and unnecessary step now, but believe me, it will be very important when you go to fill the pies. 
8. Dice the meat into 1/2" dice.
9. Heat the oil in the large saute pan over medium heat.
10. Add the meat to the saute pan.  Cook uncovered, stirring when you feel like it, until the meat is tender and the juices have evaporated.  The original says this should take 30 minutes; it took less time for me.
11. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat.  Cook until very tender and cover the pan for the last 15 minutes.
12. Add the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, pepper, allspice, turmeric and parsley.  Cook another 5 minutes or so, then allow to cool.
13. When the dough has risen, work in batches to roll out the dough to a thin consistency. 
14. Cut out circles of dough with the cookie cutter - the original called for a 3" cutter.  As I mentioned, I had a pint glass so that's what I used.
15. Set the dough circles aside and let rest 15 minutes before proceeding. 
16. Preheat your oven to 425.
17. Roll out each circle to a circle about 5" in diameter.  I had less success with this than suggested by the original, as you can see by the variable sizes in the photo. 
18. Fill each circle with a "scant 1/4 cup" of the filling.  Fold in half and pinch the edges closed to seal. 
19. Brush with the egg. 
20. Bake 25 minutes, rotating once. 
21. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Recipe: English Muffins

Recipe Source: Ingram, Christine and Jennie Shapter.  Bread.  Anness Publishing, London, 2007 p. 144

And so we return to breakfasts.  For a very long time I had eliminated breakfast from my diet, not being particularly hungry in the morning and wanting to shave calories anyway.  Well, the decreased appetite was part of a specific medical issue that was taken care of recently, and now I'm finding that I am absolutely ravenous when I get up in the morning.  Toward that end, I've been trying to come up with tasty morning treats that won't require me to use any equipment before I've had my coffee.  This has largely involved toast, as you've seen with the Vermont Oatmeal Honey-Maple Bread and the Cheese Bread.  I was trying to think of something to make for the coming week when I found this recipe for English muffins. 

I made no changes at all, and I was quite pleased with how they came out.  They lacked the "nooks and crannies" popularized by a certain Mr. Thomas, but they tasted better than store-bought.  They kept decently from Sunday until Thursday, getting a little stale but what did I care I was toasting them anyway.  If I had refrigerated them I have every confidence that they would have lasted the week. 

English Muffins (made 12; approx. $0.48/serving)

4 cups white bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 2/3 cups lukewarm milk

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 ounce active dry yeast

1 tablespoon olive oil

Equipment:

• Baking sheets
• Small bowl
• Stand mixer with bread dough attachment
• Rolling pin
• 3" plain cutter or pint glass (guess which I used)
• Griddle or large, dry frying pan

1. Combine 1/3 cup of the lukewarm milk, the sugar and the yeast in the small bowl.  Let sit 5 - 10 minutes or until frothy.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in the bowl of the stand mixer. 
3. Add the yeast mixture and mix on low speed for 2 minutes, until combined.
4. Increase speed very slightly and knead 4 - 5 minutes, until the dough holds its shape.
5. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 45 - 60 minutes
6. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and roll to about 1/2" thick. 
7. Using the cutter or pint glass, cut rounds out of the dough.  I re-rolled the scraps and got 12 out of what was supposed to provide 9 muffins with no noticeable difference in quality. 
8. Cover and let rise 30 minutes.
9. Warm the griddle (or frying pan, which is what I used since I don't have a griddle) over medium heat. 
10. When hot, transfer the muffins in batches to the griddle.  Cook 5 - 7 minutes per side, until each side is brown.  Watch carefully so you don't burn them!
11. Serve, or store and serve toasted.