The Homestyle Amish Kitchen Cookbook (8 page)
Read The Homestyle Amish Kitchen Cookbook Online
Authors: Georgia Varozza
2¼ tsp. (1 package) active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1 T. sugar
6 cups flour, approximately
1½ tsp. salt
2 T. softened butter
In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast, water, and sugar; let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes.
Combine 2 cups flour and the salt, add the yeast mixture, and beat at low speed. Add the butter. Turn to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add ½ cup flour and beat another 4 minutes.
Stir in another 2-3 cups flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes, adding just enough flour to make it workable, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough in a large buttered or oiled bowl, turning dough so all sides are greased. Cover with a clean towel and let rise until double, about an hour.
Punch down and knead again, then tear dough in half to make two balls of dough. Cover both with a clean towel and let stand for 20 minutes. Place dough into 2 loaf pans and cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about 45 minutes.
Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until bread is done. Remove from oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Immediately brush tops with melted butter if desired.
Chocolate Baking Powder Doughnuts
2 cups flour
½ cup baking cocoa (unsweetened)
2½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1½ T. butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
½ cup milk
Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
In a separate large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar; beat in the egg and mix well. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, mixing well after each addition.
Turn out onto floured surface. Roll ¼-inch thick and cut into small doughnuts (2 inches or so in diameter).
Fry in oil, turning once, being careful not to crowd doughnuts while cooking. Drain on paper towels. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar or frost.
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup oil
1¾ cups sugar
1 T. vanilla
2 cups zucchini, grated
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Add the zucchini and stir.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa. Add dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture and blend well. Add nuts if using and stir again.
Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. Pour in batter. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Cool in pans for 10-15 minutes before removing zucchini bread to wire rack to finish cooling.
The Amish are fond of tending large flower gardens but they do not cut flowers to enjoy indoors. They feel that God made flowers to be enjoyed where they grow, and cutting them shortens their life. However, they make use of potted plants inside their homes for decoration.
¾ cup sugar
⅓ cup butter, warmed
1 can evaporated milk, warmed
3 T. active dry yeast
3 eggs
4 cups flour (plus more as needed)
1 T. salt
¾ cup butter, softened
2-3 cups sugar
cinnamon
raisins and nuts, if desired
Put the ¾ cup sugar,
⅓
cup butter, evaporated milk, and yeast in a large stand mixer and let stand for 5 minutes. Then turn on mixer and mix these ingredients together. Add the eggs and, while mixing, slowly add the 4 cups flour and the salt. Continue adding flour until dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading for 10 minutes and then place in a large, oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise until doubled.
On a floured surface, roll out dough and spread with ¾ cup butter, 2-3 cups sugar, and lots of cinnamon. You can also spread on nuts or raisins, if desired.
Roll dough into a log and cut into 2 dozen rolls. Place cut side up on 2 greased jelly roll pans, cover with a towel, and let rise again.
Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 25 minutes or until done.
For this recipe, I place the butter and evaporated milk in a small saucepan and gently warm them on the stove. Just be careful that the mixture doesn’t get too hot.
1½ cups flour
2 T. sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ cup butter
½ cup milk
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the
butter using a pastry blender or two knives until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk and mix until a stiff dough forms.
Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out very thin and uniform, about 17 × 13 inches. With a pizza cutter, even up the edges. Transfer the dough to a greased cookie sheet and cut into 1-inch-wide strips with the pizza cutter. Prick pieces with a fork about every inch.
Bake on a lower rack in the oven at 425° for 6 to 7 minutes. The outside strips may brown more quickly than the inside ones, so you can remove the outside strips and continue to bake the inner strips for a few minutes longer.
Break into 1-inch pieces to serve for communion, but if using for a meal, you can break off larger pieces.
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
¼ cup instant dry milk
2 T. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 egg
1 cup water
¼ cup oil
Grease a 9 × 9 × 2-inch pan.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, instant milk, sugar, baking powder, and salt and stir to mix well.
In a medium sized bowl, beat egg and then add water and oil, beating until well blended. Stir into the cornmeal mixture. Beat by hand just until well blended and smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake at 425° for 20 minutes.
2 T. sugar
2 T. shortening, melted and cooled
1½ tsp. salt
2¼ tsp. (1 package) active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
3¼ cups flour
Add the sugar, shortening, salt, and yeast to the lukewarm water and let sit until bubbly, about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup of the flour and beat until smooth. Then by hand, mix in the remaining flour. Place the dough on a floured board and let it rest for about 5 minutes.
Knead the dough, adding small amounts of flour as needed, until smooth and elastic. Round into a ball and place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease all surfaces. Cover it and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour.
Pat out dough into a rectangle and roll up jelly roll style. (You can spread some softened butter on the dough before rolling it up if you want butter rolls.) Cut the log into 1-inch slices and place the rolls, cut side up, on a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 450° for 12-15 minutes.
The Amish use natural gas and propane to cook with, but wood-burning cookstoves are still common. Many of these old-fashioned cookstoves have a water reservoir that supplies hot water when needed. The Amish are known for their delicious sugar cookies, and when baked in a wood-burning cookstove, they come out light in color and softer than can be accomplished in a modern stove.
¾ cup milk
¾ cup water
½ cup shortening
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt
4½ tsp. (2 packages) active dry yeast, dissolved in ½ cup lukewarm water
7 cups flour, approximately
½ cup melted butter
cinnamon and sugar mixture
Sugar Glaze (recipe follows)
Heat milk and water together until scalded. Cool slightly.
Mix together shortening, sugar, eggs, and salt. Add milk and stir well. Add dissolved yeast and stir well. Add about half the flour and mix well. Turn out on a floured surface and add the remainder of the flour as needed while kneading until smooth, about 5 minutes.
Place dough in a large bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise till double in bulk, about 1 hour. Roll dough out to ¼-inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Roll each piece out so it’s long and thin. Dip in melted butter and dredge in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Roll each piece up and place in a baking pan, with their sides not quite touching. Let rise about 30-45 minutes, then place in a preheated 350° oven and bake until done, about 15 minutes. Can glaze with Sugar Glaze if desired.
Sugar Glaze
1½ cups powdered sugar
2-3 T. water
Mix together until well blended and to desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled cinnamon rolls.
1½ cups scalded milk
½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
4½ tsp. (2 packages) active dry yeast
½ cup warm water
½ tsp. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
9 cups flour, more or less
2 tsp. salt
In a large mixing bowl, pour scalded milk over butter and sugar; cool.
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water with ½ tsp. sugar and let stand for 5 minutes.
Add the yeast mixture to the milk mixture and stir. Alternately add the eggs and three cups flour; then add the salt and beat for 3 minutes. By hand, continue adding the rest of the flour, and knead until the dough is light and elastic. Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn so all sides are covered. Cover and let rise until double.
Shape into 3 loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Let rise again for about 15 minutes.
Bake at 425° for 10 minutes and then turn down oven to 350° and continue baking for 30-40 minutes longer.
Adding a little sugar to the water used to dissolve the yeast will make the yeast more active. Your bread will turn out better
.
3 cups regular flour
4½ tsp. (2 packages) active dry yeast