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Klauskerl (German St. Nicholas Doughman)
For the Feast of St. Nicholas
1 package active dry, or cake, yeast ONE TWO THREE FOUR From The Catholic Cook Book: Traditional Feast and Fast Day Recipes by William I. Kaufman. The Citadel Press, 1965.
This sweet fruit quick bread is a Christmas favorite. You will need: ¼ pound butter Mix together butter, half of the sugar and yolks. Beat up a snow from the egg whites, add the other half of the sugar and finish the snow. Fold together into the egg yolk mixture half of dry ingredients together with the half of the snow and finish adding rest of the dry ingredients together with the other half of the snow. Bake in a bread loaf pan. Butter and flour your baking pan before putting the mixture in. Fill the pan about ¾ full as the mixture will rise. Bake at 350º F. for 45 min. to one hour. To make sure the Biskupsky Chlebicek is baked to perfection insert a toothpick in the middle of the bread. It should come out clean and your bread is done. Cool it before slicing. It can be sprinkled with confectioners sugar for festive effect. From Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Vol. 3, No. 4, Winter 1995, used with permission.
These golden-baked bread bundles, filled with a cream cheese surprise, can remind us of the coin purses with dowry money St. Nicholas tossed through a window. Made with either a savory or sweet filling and tied with festive ribbons, these rolls make a very special breakfast or brunch treat. If you make half savory and half sweet, remember to divide the egg. As the dough needs to chill, it may be best to make them the day before serving, or even longer, as they freeze well. 1 package active dry yeast In large bowl of an electric mixer, stir yeast with water and let stand 5 minutes. Melt butter and mix with half-and-half and sugar; add to yeast mixture with eggs, 2 cups flour, nutmeg, and salt. Stir to blend. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. If using dough hook, gradually mix in 2 cups flour; beat at medium speed until dough pulls from bowl sides. Add 2 to 4 tablespoons more flour if needed. Remove hook and scrape down bowl; cover with plastic wrap. Or by hand, use a heavy spoon to mix in 1¾ cups flour. Scrape onto a board coated with about ¼ cup flour. Knead, adding flour as required, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Put into a greased bowl; turn to grease top; cover bowl. Let dough rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1½ hours. Punch down and knead several times. Wrap airtight and refrigerate least 2 hours or as long as overnight. Knead dough several turns to remove air, then divide into 16 equal portions. Shape one portion at a time into a 6- to 6½-inch circle. Place equal portions (2 to 2½ tablespoons) of filling in center. Draw dough up around filling, and pleat pinch firmly just above filling, letting dough top flare loosely. As you finish each bundle, place 2 inches apart on greased 10- by 15-inch baking sheets; cover loosely with plastic wrap and keep cold until all the dough is shaped. Place baking sheets with covered bundles in a warm spot and let rise until puffy, about 30 minutes, then uncover. To seal firmly, lightly pinch pleats together again. Brush surfaces with egg- water mixture. Bake in a 350º oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Tie with ribbons and serve warm or at room temperature (cloth ribbins may be reheated, but not platic ribbons that will melt). To store, cool completely; freeze up to 6 months. Makes 16 buns. Sweet cheese filling Savory cheese filling: From Sunset Magazine, December 1982, pp. 88,89. St. Nicholas Breads (German)
The St. Nicholas figures from the Rhineland are somewhat more complicated; often the St. Nicholas is riding on a horse. For 2–4 figures:
Sift the flour into a bowl. Make a depression in the center and sprinkle in the yeast. Warm the milk, pour it in, and dissolve the yeast. Sprinkle a little flour over the yeast-milk mixture and let stand, covered, until small fissures are clearly visible on the surface. Meanwhile, melt the butter, add the sugar, salt, lemon rind, and whole eggs, and stir to combine. Add this mixture to the yeast-milk solution and beat to form a light, smooth dough. It must be neither too soft nor too firm and must be easy to shape. Let rise for 15–20 minutes. The figures are each shaped from a smoothly rounded ball of dough which is first rolled out into a slightly elongated shape. Next the head is shaped. The arms, legs, and hat are attached with egg yolk beaten with a little water. The remaining decorations, such as the beard, nose, eyes, and so forth are shaped or cut out separately and likewise attached with egg yolk. Preheat the oven to 375º F. Lay the figures on a baking sheet lined with silicone paper and let rise completely (at least 20–25 minutes). Bake on the center shelf of the preheated oven for 20–35 minutes, depending on size. From Christmas Baking: Traditional Recipes Made Easy by Christian Teubner Copyright © 1983 Barron's, New York. Permission pending. Nikolaussteifel (German Boots of St. Nicholas)
DOUGH 1 teaspoon dry yeast EGG WASH 1 egg yolk DECORATION Sesame and poppy seed, almonds, sunflower seeds, or nuts; powdered sugar, licorice, sweets, etc. Mix yeast, sugar and milk in a bowl until yeast is dissolved and let it stand for 15 minutes. Add the flour to the bowl, melt the butter. Add sugar, vanilla, egg, salt, and melted butter to the flour. Work to a smooth dough first by stirring, then kneading. Put in a warm place until doubled in bulk. In the meantime take some cardboard and cut a template for a boot about 14 inches (40 cm) high. Roll out the dough about ½-inch (1 cm) thick in the shape of an L. Put the template on top and cut the dough into the shape of the boot. Transfer the boot to a greased baking sheet. Make the egg wash by mixing the egg yolk and milk. Brush the boot with the egg wash. Shape the rest of the dough into the rim and heel of a boot and put on top. Brush again with egg wash and put on the seeds, almonds or nuts. Preheat oven to 400º F. (200º C) and bake the boot about 25 minutes until golden brown. After it is cool, you may want to decorate the boot further by mixing some powdered sugar with water and sticking on extra sweets.
St. Nicholas Buns (New England)
—Geraldine Duncann Recipe may be halved to make 12 buns. The editor has supplied a recipe for sweet roll dough
½ cup warm water (not hot—110 to 115º) In mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add milk, sugar, salt, egg, shortening and 5 cups of flour. With dough hook, blend for 3 minutes on speed 2, until thoroughly mixed. On speed 2, add flour ½ cup at a time until flour cleans bowl, for 5 minutes. Be careful not to add too much flour. Place dough in a greased bowl in a warm place until doubled in size (about 90 minutes). When ready to form, divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Flaten each into a circle about 1/4-inch thick. Put a scant teaspoon of cranberry sauce in the center of each round. Gather up the edges and pinch together well to seal the cranberry sauce inside. Set sealed side down on a baking sheet lined with bakers' parchment. Put the buns about 2 inches apart. Paint all exposed survaces with an egg wash: 1 egg beaten lightly with 1 tablespoon of cold water. Sprinkle the tops with a bit of raw, not brown, sugar. Place in a warm place to rise until almost double in bulk (about 30 minutes), then bake in a 350º oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes. As soon as they come out of the oven paint generously with bakers syrup. Allow to cool a bit, then stick a small candy cane and a small sprig of greenery into the top of each bun. Happy St. Nicholas Day!
*BAKERS' SYRUP Adapted from Geraldine Duncann, The Questing Feast (nice pictures and instructions). Used by permission. Slavski Kolach (Serbian Family Slava Bread)
8 cups flour Mix yeast with a teaspoon of sugar and ½ cup of the lukewarm milk. Set aside (this activates the yeast). In a medium mixing bowl, beat the 3 egg yolks, add the rest of the lukewarm milk. Mix well, set aside. Mix sugar & salt with 8 cups of sifted flour. Add lemon zest with an equal amount of juice (to taste). Add butter, mix with hands or pastry blender, as for pie crust, until butter is blended and has a fine texture. Combine yeast mixture with the egg and milk, add to the flour. Beat until it comes clean from the bowl. Form into a ball, place in large clean bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise about 2 hours. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead about 5 miniutes. Form into a ball again, place in the bowl, cover with the damp cloth and let rise again, about 1 hour. Form loaf and place on large greased baking sheet (using parchment paper is optional). BRAID:
Bake in preheated oven at 350º for one hour and 10 minutes. From St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, Kansas City, Kansas. Used by permission. Italian Garlic Bread(Bruschetta)
1 loaf Italian bread, ckut in thick slices 1. Toast the Bread slices on both sides until brown.
A delightful collection of Italian recipes for many saints days and other Italian festivals. Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.ca, or amazon.co.uk. Saint Nicholas Bread This is a sourdough bread which requires preparing the starter 5 to 7 days before use— Late in the evening (about 9 pm) make a sponge of the following: 2 cups warm water Beat together thoroughly, cover tightly in a large mixing bowl and let stand in comfortably warm place overnight. Early in the morning (about 7 am) make a dough with the following ingredients: 2 cups warm water Stir the dried milk and ginger into the warm water. Add to the sponge with the other ingredients, reserving 2 cups of the flour to spread on the pastry board. Stir until the dough clears the bowl. Turn out onto the floured board and knead thoroughly for several minutes, using a little more flour if necessary to make a smooth, nonsticky dough. Return to bowl, brush top with lard, cover with a light towel and let rise until light (about 1 ¼ hours). Turn out dough, knead well without using any more flour than necessary, divide and shape into loaves or rolls as desired. Place in greased pans, brush tops with soft lard, cover and let rise until the pans feel quite light when lifted (about 2 ¼ hours). Bake in oven preheated to 350º F. about 30 minutes for rolls and 50 to 60 minutes for loaves, according to size. About 5 minutes before the end of the baking period brush top of bread with soft lard or butter and again as soon as removed from oven. Turn loaves on side to cool. This recipe makes 6 medium-size loaves. For a coffee loaf which is delicious toasted, roll a loaf-size portion of dough into a long rectangle as wide as the length of the pan. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar mixed with ½ teaspoon instant coffee. Roll as for cinnamon rolls, but instead of cutting, roll into long rectangle again. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar mixed with ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Roll, seal ends and place seam-side down in pan. Proceed as with plain loaf for baking. Note: Vanilla sugar can be purchased in sealed packets or can easily be prepared at home by simply keeping four or five vanilla beans buried in two cups sugar in a tightly closed glass jar. Replace the amount of sugar used each time until the beans become dry and begin to lose their aroma. They can be split and the seeds scraped out to mix with the sugar or boiled in milk to get the last bit of flavor when making custard, rice pudding, ice cream, etc. COOKED POTATO STARTER First prepare the following ferment: 4 tablespoons corn meal (white or yellow) Mix the corn meal, sugar and salt with the cold milk until smooth and free from lumps (use fresh or homogenized milk). Heat to the scalding point, stirring constantly. While still hot pour into an enameled or stoneware container which can be covered tightly. Keep in a comfortably warm place (about 80º F.) until the mush ferments and becomes quite light. This will take about four days in winter, but perhaps only two in warm, humid weather. Stir the mush at least once a day. At first the liquid will separate and rise to the top. Then, as the fermentation proceeds, the settlings will rise up through the liquid until the whole mixture is uniformly spongy and the bubbles can be seen working to the top. When the ferment has reached this stage prepare the following: 3 medium-size potatoesCook the potatoes in the water until tender. Drain off the water. If too much has boiled away add more water to make 3 cups of liquid. Put potatoes through food mill or sieve, then combine with the 3 cups of liquid, sugar and salt. When this mixture has cooled to comfortably warm, stir in the ferment. This should be done early in the day as the mixture should now stand in a warm place for several hours. Stir it down each time it becomes foamy. Then store in a covered 2-quart glass jar in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days to ripen before using. Stir or shake until thoroughly mixed each time before removing a portion of the starter. When the amount has been reduced to about 1 to 1 ½ cups add this to a newly prepared mixture of potatoes, potato water, sugar and salt and proceed as before. From Breads and Coffee Cakes with Homemade Starters from Rose Lane Farm by Ada Lou Roberts, Hearthside Press Inc., 1967, which has eight other recipes using this starter back to recipesprint version |
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