Grandma Douglas' Schnecken
Tom Douglas
Makes 12 to 14 schnecken
It's convenient to prepare the schnecken a day ahead up to the point of forming the rolls and setting them into the prepared pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and store them, unbaked, in the refrigerator overnight. When you are ready to bake the schnecken, remove the pan from the refrigerator and set it in a warm place for about an hour. Then bake as directed in the recipe.
Kosher salt is coarser than table salt. If you are substituting table salt, cut the quantity in half.
For the dough:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (4 ounces), plus more to butter the bowl and pan as needed
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
3 to 3½ cups all purpose flour, as needed
For the sugar pecan topping:
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter (6 ounces)
¾ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
¾ cup chopped pecans
For the cinnamon sugar filling:
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter (2 ounces)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
To make the dough, melt the ½ cup butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the milk and granulated sugar and heat just to lukewarm (about 110°F), stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the warm milk mixture into a bowl. Stir in the yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes, then stir in the salt. Beat the whole egg and egg yolk together and add to the yeast mixture. Stir in the flour 1 cup at a time until you have a sticky dough. Scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead, about 5 minutes, until you have a nice, smooth dough. Butter a large bowl. Place the dough in the prepared bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rise for 2 hours until tripled in volume.
Meanwhile, brush the 9X 13-inch baking pan with some melted butter (or spray it with vegetable oil spray.) To prepare the sugar pecan topping, melt the butter with the brown sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat and spread the mixture in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans.
Punch down the dough and turn it out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for a minute, then use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle about 15 X 12 inches and 1/8 inch thick. To make the cinnamon sugar filling, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and allow it to cool. Brush the butter thoroughly over the surface of the dough. In a bowl, mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the melted butter. Roll the rectangle up, like a jelly roll, along one long edge.
Slice the log of rolled dough into 1-inch thick slices and arrange the slices, cut sides up, in the prepared pan. Cover the pan with a piece of plastic wrap (you can spray the plastic wrap first with vegetable oil spray to be sure it doesn't stick to the dough) and allow it to rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the schnecken until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. Check them occasionally during the baking time, and if they seem to be browning too quickly, loosely cover them with a sheet of aluminum foil.
Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes. Then turn the schnecken out of the pan while still warm by inverting the pan over a large platter or baking sheet. Serve the schnecken warm.
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Jackie's Favorite Strata with Wild Mushrooms, Sausage and Chard
From The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook
Makes 8 entrée servings or 12 side-dish servings
Note: After the chard is blanched, be sure you squeeze out all the liquid, or your strata will be too wet.
Before baking, you must refrigerate the strata for at least a few hours to allow the bread cubes to absorb the custard, so plan accordingly. If you prep the strata to this point and chill it overnight, you can pop it into the oven the next day and serve it for breakfast, brunch, or lunch.
Special Equipment: 9X13 baking pan or a shallow 3 quart casserole
One loaf of rustic bread, about 1½ pounds, thick crusts removed with a serrated knife (680 grams)
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
2 tablespoons butter, divided, plus more for buttering the pan
2 tablespoons olive oil (plus 2 teaspoons more if your sausage is lean)
1 medium onion, chopped
¾ pound wild or domestic mushrooms (such as shiitakes, chanterelles, button, or oyster mushrooms), tough ends trimmed, cleaned and sliced
1 pound chard, washed and stems removed
2 teaspoons thinly sliced chives
2 teaspoons chopped thyme
5 large eggs
2½ cups heavy cream
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¾ pound white or yellow cheddar, grated
Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan. Using a serrated knife, cut the bread into ¾ to 1-inch cubes and set aside. You should have 6 loosely packed cups of bread cubes. (Note: it is important to have this amount of bread and not more. If you have too much bread your strata will be too firm and not creamy inside.)
To cook the sausage, place a skillet over medium high heat and add the sausage, breaking it up into clumps with a spatula. (If your sausage doesn't contain much fat, you may need to add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the skillet.) Cook the sausage, turning the clumps over with a spatula as needed, until no pink remains, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the sausage to a large sieve set over a bowl to drain off the fat. Discard the fat and set the cooked sausage aside.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in another skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring as needed, until soft and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove the onion from the skillet and place in a large bowl. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and return it to medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring as needed, until the mushrooms are tender and the juices have evaporated, about 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer the mushrooms to the bowl with the onions.
To blanch the chard, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the chard and cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain the chard through a sieve, then immediately plunge the chard into a bowl of ice water. Drain again. Using your hands, squeeze out as much excess water as possible from the chard. Roughly chop the chard and add it to the bowl with the mushrooms and onions. Add the cooked and drained sausage, bread cubes, chives, and thyme to the bowl. Reserve ¾ cup of the cheese, then add the remaining cheese to the bowl and stir to combine. Transfer the contents of the bowl to the baking pan, spreading the mixture evenly in the pan.
To make the custard, in another bowl, whisk the eggs together lightly then add the cream and whisk to combine. Add the ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and whisk to combine.
Pour the custard over the bread mixture in the baking dish. Use a spatula to press down on the bread and submerge everything in the custard as much as possible. Sprinkle the remaining ¾ cup cheese over the surface. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.
When you are ready to bake the strata, remove the plastic wrap and preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the strata, uncovered, until golden and puffed and the custard is set (use a small knife inserted in the custard to check), about 55 minutes to an hour. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then cut into squares and serve warm.
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Gumbo
Recipe By:dailyrecipedoctor
"I am going to give you my gumbo recipe. I learned to cook from my mother and grandmother who were born and raised in New Orleans and really knew how to cook. Most of the time, you could not get them to write down their recipes because they used a 'pinch' of this and 'just enough of that' and 'two fingers of water,' and so on. This recipe is a combination of both of their recipes which I have added to over the years. Serve over hot cooked rice. The gumbo can be frozen or refrigerated and many people like it better the next day. Bon appetit!"
Ingredients
· 1 cup all-purpose flour
· 3/4 cup bacon drippings
· 1 cup coarsely chopped celery
· 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
· 1 large green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
· 2 cloves garlic, minced
· 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
· 3 quarts water
· 6 cubes beef bouillon
· 1 tablespoon white sugar
· salt to taste
· 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco(R)), or to taste
· 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning blend (such as Tony Chachere's(R)), or to taste
· 4 bay leaves
· 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
· 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
· 1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce
· 2 teaspoons gumbo file powder
· 2 tablespoons bacon drippings
· 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen cut okra, thawed
· 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
· 1 pound lump crabmeat
· 3 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
· 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
· 2 teaspoons gumbo file powder
Directions
- **Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.
- -Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
- -Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.
- -Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo.
- -Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder.
