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August 8, 2008

Friday night is pizza night

I switched over to a new whole wheat pizza dough. I was using a recipe from Eating Well, but recently, I wasn't happy with how the fast-rising yeast was working. The yeast wasn't incorporating well into the dough and the dough wasn't rising well. A new jar of fast-rising yeast didn't solve the problem so I went looking for a new recipe.

I found this whole wheat dough recipe on AllRecipes and so far I've been very happy with the new dough. It uses regular yeast and takes about 45 minutes to rise, but the dough is lighter and rises more reliably. Even though the recipe says to mix it by hand, I mix it in the food processor. Tonight I added about 2 tablespoons of Penzeys' Tuscan Sunset blend to the flour.

These days I'm adding a splash of balsamic vinegar to the Pastene ground peeled tomatoes that I use for the sauce.

Posted August 8, 2008 8:51 PM | Comments (1)

December 26, 2007

Twister - Our Christmas Morning Breakfast Tradition

Twister is Tom's nickname for French Twist, the breakfast bread that my family has had for Christmas morning breakfast since I was a kid. I don't remember any other Christmas morning breakfast. This recipe came from Mrs. Ruth Schiff, a woman who summered on Priscilla Beach, where I grew up. My mother befriended Mrs. Schiff when I was a child. Mrs. Schiff's recipe became our Christmas morning breakfast. It's an interesting recipe, I'd love to know the origins of it. My mom and I were talking about it on our Christmas afternoon walk around her neighborhood and she doesn't know anything about the recipe's origins other than it came from Mrs. Schiff. I think fondly of Mrs. Schiff every Christmas Eve when I make it. It is baked on Christmas Eve and served at room temperature on Christmas morning (and for as long as it lasts, which isn't very long because we love it.)

What is French Twist? It's a slightly sweet, moist yeast bread that is filled with meringue, cinnamon, and raisins and baked in a bundt or tube (angel food cake) pan. Mrs. Schiff's recipe baked in a tube pan, but the first time I made it, I didn't have a tube pan, so I used a bundt pan. I've been using a bundt pan ever since. My mom thinks that she added the raisins for my dad, who loves raisins and asks for raisins in everything.

French Twist

I probably wouldn't figure out this recipe if I hadn't made it with my mother for years before attempting it on my own.

First you cream the butter and sugar. This is my favorite step because I use vanilla that my dad and grandfather made in the 1950s using grain alcohol and vanilla beans. This vanilla is older than me and it smells so wonderful. The supply is dwindling, so every drop is precious. My mom gave me about 6 ounces of dad's vanilla in my stocking. Yay!

french twist step1

After mixing in all of the dough ingredients, you knead the dough for a few minutes. I do this in my KitchenAid mixer, but you can do it by hand. Here's the dough after kneading.

french twist after kneading

The dough rises in the refrigerator for a few hours, then you roll it out into a rectangle, spread the meringue over the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon and raisins. Some of the folks who eat my mom's French Twist with don't like raisins, so my mom puts raisins on only half of the dough for the raisin lovers. Tom and I love raisins, so I use lots of raisins. I prefer golden raisins, so that is what I use.

french twist rolled out

Now comes the tricky part. Rolling up the dough, cutting it into six pieces, and putting them in the pan to rise again. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of this because I was too busy (and sticky) with the rolling and cutting. You roll the dough like a jelly roll, rolling from one long edge to the other. Just try to keep as much of the meringue filling in the roll, but don't worry if it oozes out a bit. French Twist is baked in a bundt pan. Make sure that your pan is well-greased or it will stick. I use a silicone bundt pan that I spray with oil spray. After you roll it up, you have a long tube that you need to cut into six pieces. I cut it in half, then cut each half in thirds. Place each section upright in the prepared bundt pan. You'll have six towers in your pan. Cover the pan with a clean towel and let it rise for 2 hours. Here's what it looks like after rising.

french twist after rising

After rising, it bakes at 325F for 50 minutes. Let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack. While it is hot, it is fragile, so be careful. I put a small, square cooling rack face down on top of the bundt pan and flip over the cooling rack and the pan. With the silicone pan, I tap it in a few places and the French Twist releases. I always had a heck of a time getting it to release from a metal bundt pan, but since switching to the silicone pan, it always releases beautifully. Cool it completely, the cover it or wrap it in plastic wrap. My French Twist is always coming out of the oven around 9:30 or 10 pm on Christmas Eve, so I cool it on our 3-season porch. On Monday, it was 40 degrees in the porch, so it cooled quickly.

This recipe sounds more complicated than it really is. It takes time to make, but each step is easy. I can't imagine Christmas without French Twist.

On Christmas afternoon, we were talking about French Toast and I wondered what French Twist French Toast would be like. If there is any left in a few days, Tom will be happy to be a French Twist French Toast tester.

Continue reading "Twister - Our Christmas Morning Breakfast Tradition" »

Posted December 26, 2007 4:12 PM | Comments (3)

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