Goldy's Kitchen Cookbook (20 page)

One used to be able to buy Lora Brody's wonderful bread dough enhancer at Williams-Sonoma. But when I could no longer find it there, I worked with different recipes until I came up with one that worked. The general rule is to use 1 tablespoon of enhancer per cup of flour in yeast bread recipes.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients. Place the mixture in a heavy-duty zippered plastic bag and keep in the refrigerator. The mixture will last 6 months.

This recipe did indeed come down from my father—he'd cut it out of a newspaper, taped it to a card, and placed it as a marker inside a gift I'd given him: Beard on Bread, by the incomparable James Beard. But by the time we were cleaning out my parents' house, the tape holding the recipe to the card was brown and curling. For years thereafter, the recipe on the card bedeviled me; I never could get it to work. The dough was too sticky. It wouldn't come together in kneading. It neither looked nor tasted like my father's feathery loaves. Agh! Finally I realized the disintegrating tape had taken off some crucial words in the middle of the recipe. Just as Goldy does in
The Whole Enchilada,
I finally pressed down hard on that accursed tape, and saw that I needed to add more flour. Dad's Bread finally came out right.

1.
In the large bowl of a stand mixer, combine ½ cup of the brown sugar, the oats, salt, and butter. In a small saucepan, heat 1½ cups of the spring water just until it is hot (125˚F) and pour over the oat mixture. Stir to mix and allow to cool to about 110˚F. (A thermometer is handy for this. You do not want the mixture so hot that it destroys the yeast or cooks the eggs.)

2.
In a glass bowl, stir the remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar into the remaining ¼ cup spring water. Stir the yeast into this mixture and set in a warm spot (no hotter than 150˚F) for 10 minutes to proof. It should be foamy.

3.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs well. Measure out 2 tablespoons of the beaten egg and set aside. Add
the remaining beaten eggs and the yeast mixture to the oat mixture. Attach the dough hook to the mixer and stir to combine.

4.
In a large bowl, stir the dough enhancer into the first cup of the flour.

5.
Turn the mixer to “stir” and add the flour, 1 cup at a time, until you have used 5 cups of flour. The dough should come together. If the dough does not come together, add the additional cup of flour, ¼ cup at a time, until it does. Increase the speed slightly and knead on low speed for at least 5 minutes, until the dough comes together into a ball and cleans the bowl.

6.
Butter a large, hard plastic container with a lid and butter the lid. Place the dough in the container and, using a measuring tape and a marker, measure on the
outside
of the container the volume of the dough. Mark the container (still on the outside) where double that amount would be. Place the lid on the container.

7.
Allow the dough to rise at room temperature until it is doubled in bulk, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the lid and gently punch the dough down and knead it to roughly its original size. Replace the lid. Allow the dough to rise again until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes. Punch down again.

8.
Butter three 8½ x 4½-inch glass loaf pans. Divide the dough evenly into thirds. (You can use a kitchen scale to make sure the loaves all weigh the same.) Shape the dough pieces into loaves and place them in the pans. Butter a large piece of plastic and place it loosely over the pans. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature until it is again doubled in bulk, 40 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the plastic.

9.
Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

10.
Whisk the reserved 2 tablespoons beaten egg and brush it over the tops of the risen loaves. Place the pans in the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature reads 180˚F and the loaves sound hollow when thumped.

11.
Place the pans on racks, allow to cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto the racks to cool completely, covered with a clean kitchen towel.

Makes 3 loaves

These doughnuts are baked, not fried. And they are not in a traditional doughnut shape. But whenever I have had to serve a breakfast that has some protein in the baked offering, this recipe and the one for Chicky Bread (
here
) are what I use.

1.
In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast on top of the warm water. Allow the yeast to soften for 5 minutes, then mix the yeast into the water and stir in ½ teaspoon of the sugar. Set the mixture aside in a warm, draft-free place, to proof for 10 minutes. It should be foamy.

2.
Mix the melted shortening into the warm milk, then add the liquid to the yeast mixture along with ¼ cup of the sugar, the salt, vanilla, eggs, wheat germ, soy flour, oat bran, and 1½ cups of the flour. Beat vigorously until very well blended. Stir in the remaining flour and beat until smooth. (You can do this by hand or in a stand mixer with a dough hook.)

3.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm, draft-free place until the dough is doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

4.
Punch the dough down, turn it onto a well-floured board, and pat it out so that the dough is about ½ inch thick. Using a 3-inch star cookie cutter, cut out the dough and place the
doughnuts 2 inches apart on buttered baking sheets. Allow the doughnuts to rise uncovered for another 20 to 30 minutes or until they are doubled.

5.
Preheat the oven to 400˚F.

6.
Bake the doughnuts for 10 to 15 minutes, or just until they are golden brown.

7.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix the remaining 2 cups sugar with the cinnamon. Melt the butter and place it in a second bowl.

8.
When the doughnuts come out of the oven, dip them quickly into the melted butter and roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Serve immediately.

Makes about 3 dozen

We love these. Do not frost until just before serving.

For the dough:

1.
In a small saucepan, heat the butter with the milk, ¾ cup of the sugar, and the salt until the butter is melted. Set aside to cool.

2.
In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, add the remaining 1 teaspoon sugar, stir, and set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes to proof, until the mixture is foamy. Add the lukewarm milk mixture and the eggs and beat until well combined. Add the dough enhancer and then the flour 1 cup at a time, stirring and using enough flour to form a stiff dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead until smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes. (Or place in the bowl of a stand mixer and knead with a dough hook until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes.) Place the dough in a very large buttered bowl, turn to butter the top, and allow to rise, covered loosely with a kitchen towel, in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, for the filling:

1.
In a bowl, beat together the brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon until well combined.

2.
Punch the dough down and roll out to a large rectangle, 24 x 36 inches. Butter two 9 x 13-inch glass baking dishes.

3.
Spread the filling evenly over the surface of the dough. Starting on a short side, roll the dough up into a log, then cut the log crosswise at 2-inch intervals to make 12 rolls. Place 6 rolls, evenly spaced, in each buttered dish. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

4.
Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

5.
Bake the rolls for 20 to 30 minutes, or until puffed and browned. Cool to room temperature in the pans on racks.

For the frosting:

In a bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, cream, and vanilla until well combined. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. You want a soft, not stiff frosting, so add either more cream or sugar to obtain the right consistency. Frost the rolls in the pans and serve immediately.

Makes 12 large rolls

Back when low-fat cooking was all the rage and people were throwing away egg yolks with abandon, the waste upset me. So I developed this recipe. It is very similar to brioche.

1.
Butter a 10-inch tube pan and set aside.

2.
In a large bowl, combine the yeast, 1 teaspoon of the sugar, and the warm water. Set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes to proof, until the mixture is foamy. Add the milk, butter, oil, orange zest, salt, and remaining sugar and stir into the yeast mixture. Add the egg yolks, stirring well. Add the flour ½ cup at a time, stirring well after each addition to incorporate the flour thoroughly. Knead 5 to 10 minutes (or use the dough hook and a stand mixer to do this), until the dough is smooth, elastic, and satiny. Knead in the cranberries and pecans.

3.
Butter a large bowl. Put the dough into the bowl, cover it, and let the dough rise at room temperature until it is doubled in bulk. Using a wooden spoon, beat down the risen dough for about a minute.

4.
Place the dough into the buttered tube pan and allow it to rise at room temperature until it is doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

5.
Preheat the oven to 375˚F.

6.
Bake the bread for 45 to 50 minutes, or until it is dark golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Ease the bread out of the pan and place on a rack to cool. The bread is wonderful as is and is also excellent sliced and toasted.

Makes 1 large loaf

Whole wheat flour tends to produce heavy, dense loaves. With the help of the dough enhancer, you can make a healthful bread that does not have the texture of
opus caementicum
(ancient Roman concrete).

1.
Butter two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.

2.
Place the cereal in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the water, butter, molasses, and salt to a boil. Pour this mixture over the cereal and set aside to cool to 100˚F. (It is helpful to have a digital-probe thermometer for this.)

3.
In another small saucepan, heat the milk and brown sugar to 100˚F. Pour into a large bowl and stir in the yeast. Allow to proof for 10 to 15 minutes, at which point the mixture should be foamy.

4.
Mix the cooled grain mixture into the yeast mixture. Combine the dough enhancer with 1 cup of bread flour and stir that into the yeast mixture. Beat the remaining 3 cups bread flour and all the whole wheat flour into the mixture, beating well to combine. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turn the dough to oil the top, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rise in a draft-free spot, at room temperature, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

5.
Stir as much of the additional bread flour into the dough as needed to make a dough that is not too sticky to knead. Knead on a floured surface until the dough is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes (or use a stand mixer with a dough hook to do this).

6.
Divide the dough into 2 pieces and place them in the pans. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until almost doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

7.
Preheat the oven to 375˚F.

8.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the loaves are deep brown and sound hollow when thumped. Remove the loaves from the pans and allow them to cool completely on racks.

Makes 2 loaves