Amish Style White Bread

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cs warm water (110 degrees F/45
degrees C)
2/3 C white sugar
1 1/2 Tbsps. active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsps. salt
1/4 C vegetable oil
6 C bread flour

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until
yeast resembles creamy foam.

2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one C at a time. Knead dough on a lightly
floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a
damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place
into two well-oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1
inch above pans.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

BRAN MUFFINS-guaranteed success

Ingredients

1/2 C boiling water

1/2 C bran cereal (not flakes, preferably a wheat bran)

1/3 C (vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 1/4 Cs Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1/2 C granulated sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 C raisins

1 ¼ C buttermilk

1/4 C brown sugar

1 1/2 C bran cereal (not flakes)

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl, pour the boiling water over the half cup of cereal. When cooled, mix in the vegetable oil and egg.

While the water/bran mixture cools, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the raisins.

In a large measuring cup, combine the buttermilk and brown sugar, and stir into the dry ingredients. Stir in remaining cereal, then the softened bran mixture. Cover the batter and refrigerate it overnight.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F for 15 minutes. Line a muffin tin with papers, and spray the insides of the papers. Or just grease the muffin cups themselves, if you like a crustier muffin edge.

Stir the batter once or twice, then scoop a heaping 1/4-cup of batter into each prepared muffin cup.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before removing the muffins from the pan~~~Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan.

Blue Ribbon Blueberry Pie

•1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

•2 Tbsps.(1 oz. lemon juice

•2 Tbsps.(1 oz. butter, melted

•Sparkling sugar or cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling on the crust

Instructions

•To make the crust: Combine the flour, buttermilk powder, and salt. Work in the fat in two batches, leaving some pieces as large as your thumbnail. Sprinkle in ice water 1 Tbsp. at a time, tossing with a fork and adding water till the dough is completely cohesive. Divide it in half, wrap, and chill for 30 minutes before rolling. Roll the crust about 1/8" thick and about 2" wider than the diameter of your 9" deep-dish (at least 1 ½" deep) pie pan. Place in the pan. Preheat the oven to

•425°F.

•Toss together the berries, thickener, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and melted butter. Pour into the crust. Roll out the top crust, making a lattice if you like; place it over the berries. Trim excess overhang, and crimp the edges together. Cut several slashes to allow steam to escape (if you haven't made a lattice crust). Spritz with water, and sprinkle with sparkling sugar or cinnamon sugar.

•Bake the pie for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven heat to 350°F and bake for another 40 to 50 minutes, covering the edges if they seem to be browning too quickly. When done, the filling will be bubbling, and the crust golden brown. Remove from the oven, and cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.~~Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan.

BACON, EGG & CHEESE QUICHE

Ingredients

Your favorite single pie crust recipe.

FILLING

3/4 lb. bacon

1 large yellow onion, peeled

2 Tbsps. butter

  salt and pepper

3/4 C heavy cream

1/4C milk (whole, low-fat, or skim, your choice)

6 large eggs

1 1/2 Cs grated  Cheddar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Roll the prepared crust into a 12" circle (to fit a 9" pie pan). Prick it all over with a fork. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then remove it from the oven and set it aside to cool.

To make the filling: Cook the bacon in a frying pan until crisp. Let it cool on a paper towel-lined plate. Once cool, roughly chop it up.

Dice the onion into medium-sized pieces (about 1/2"). Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the onion. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook until the onion has softened and is just starting to brown. Remove it from the heat and set it aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, milk, and eggs. Add the bacon, onions, cheese, salt, and pepper. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Don't overfill! If you find you have too much filling, just leave a little out, baking it alongside the pie in a custard cup, if desired.

Bake the quiche for about 40 minutes. The edges should be golden brown and the center should feel just set.

Remove the quiche from the oven and let it cool on a rack. Serve warm, or at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Yield: one 9" quiche.~~Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan.

100% WHOLE WHEAT BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Ingredients

2 1/4 C Whole Wheat Flour

1 C brown sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, optional

1 C blueberries, fresh or frozen(preferably wild)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 C vegetable oil

1 1/2 C buttermilk or plain (not Greek) yogurt; or 1 1/4 cups liquid whey*

cinnamon-sugar or coarse white sparkling sugar for topping, optional

*The liquid drained from plain yogurt when you make thick, Greek-style yogurt.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease the cups of a standard muffin pan; or line with paper baking cups, and grease the paper cups.

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients, including the blueberries.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, vegetable oil, and buttermilk or whey.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring just to combine.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them nearly full. A slightly heaped muffin scoop of batter is the right amount.

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with coarse sparkling sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired.

Bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes (or when they're cool enough to handle) transfer them to a rack to cool. Serve warm, or at room temperature. Store leftovers loosely wrapped at room temperature.

Yield: 12 muffins.~~~Al (Ales-Alexander) D. Girvan.

Classic Apple Pie Recipe

This is the recipe that comes to most people's minds when they think of apple pie
Servings: 8

Crust:

•2 sticks cold unsalted butter, diced

•3 cups all-purpose flour

•1 tsp. salt

•1 Tbsp. sugar

•6 to 8 Tbsp. (about 1/2 C ice water

•Filling:

•4 lbs. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4" thick slices (you can cut them thinner if you like your apples very soft)

•Juice of 1 lemon

•1/2 C sugar, plus 1 tsp. to sprinkle on top

•1/4 C all-purpose flour

•1 tsp. salt

•1 tsp. ground cinnamon

•1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

•1/8 tsp. ground allspice

•1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp. water, for egg wash

Preparation:

•Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix.

•Add butter and pulse until the butter is the size of peas.

•With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball.

•Dump dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into 2 even sized pieces.

•Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten each into a disk.

•Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

•Preheat oven to 400o F.

•Combine apple slices in a bowl with the lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

•Roll out one of the pieces of pie dough so that it is large enough to be draped over a 9-inch pie plate and extend a little over the rim (about 1/2").

•Gently press the dough into the plate letting the excess hang over the rim.

•Fill the dough with the apple mixture.

•Roll out the second piece of pie dough and place it on top of the apples, pressing the top and bottom crusts together.

•Trim the top and bottom dough pieces as needed in order to crimp them together with your fingers and seal them together well.

•Brush the entire top crust with the egg wash and cut a few slits into the crust so steam can escape.

Place the pie on a foil lined sheet pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until the crust is browned and the juices begin to bubble out. If the crust starts to brown too quickly, cover loosely with foil and uncover in the last 20 minutes of baking.~~~Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan.

Want Not Just Good a Truly GREAT Steak?

Here’s how.

Ready to get started? Then roll up your sleeves – things are about to heat up.

Step #1 Choose the Right Meat. This is by far the most important step. Grilling the perfect steak starts with the right Beef. Even the greatest chefs can’t turn dog food into delicacy. When choosing your steak, use Canadian ratings: And remember, you are very unlikely to find top quality beef on any supermarket counter. You want a really “Good Steak”? Then pay the price; purchase your meat from a meat store that specialises in nothing but top quality meats.

Understanding Canadian Beef Grades

Canadian beef is absolutely unrivaled in culinary circles; therefore much of it goes for export; which  now with such emphasis put on FREE TRADE is one reason it is often so extremely difficult to buy good beef in Canada. The care and attention taken by Canadian cattle farmers has raised their status to world leaders in the field. With such high quality, it can be confusing to try and sort out the different qualities of beef. The following is a handy guide to explain the Canadian beef grades and what they mean to you.

More than 85% of beef raised in Canada falls under the high quality classifications ranging from A to Prime. The beef in these grades is youthful and has a firm bright red rib-eye with 2 mm or more of fat. Marbling is the only category that differentiates the four high quality grades and is defined as the quality of fat distribution throughout the cut of beef.

PRIME

Prime-grade beef features abundant marbling, its red meat laced with an even distribution of fat. The presence of this fat means a more tender and juicy cut of beef that should cook well in all conditions. Only 2% of graded beef is given Prime grade.

AAA

Unlike Prime, AAA-grade beef has only small amounts of visible marbling. Yet like Prime, the AAA grade is a very high quality category that will provide a juicy, tender cut of beef that is resilient In a Variety of Cooking Methods. Up To 50% Of Graded Canadian beef reaches AAA quality and status.

AA

With only a slight amount of marbling, AA-grade beef is a slight step down from AAA-graded beef. Still, 45% of graded beef falls under the AA heading and it still can provide an excellent cooking and dining experience.

A

The lowest of the four high quality grades, A-grade beef only consists of 3% of graded beef in Canada. Obviously still considered adequate enough to be listed as high quality, A-grade beef should be cooked a little more carefully for best results due to the less evenly distributed fat.

While beef-grade labels make it clear to the naked eye, the actual differences in quality are usually only discernible by a practiced grader or butcher.

HOW TO COOK YOUR STEAK –Cut is a matter of personal preference…only

Some people like theirs blue while others don’t want to see any pink in their meat. But what are the perfect timings to cook steak the way you like it?

If you are unsure, it's best to speak to your butcher as they will be able to give you the best advice based on the thickness and cut of meat.

The cooking times below are for a 2cm thick sirloin steak. While this thickness is, realistically, far too thin, if you are truly wanting a better than “Good” steak; this is unfortunately the thickness you are most likely to find; even in specialty meat stores –unless you ask for them custom cut. For thin steaks such as these the hotter the cooking temperature the better—many “top “ Steak houses now have broilers that can reach 1,800º F (most consumer grills max out around 500-600° F) and a high-quality dry-aging lockers  for the meat. Season your steak, room temperature steak, well with kosher salt—no pepper. Pepper of course burns when meat is placed on the broiler. Steak also toughens with cooking time. When you turn the steak much of this salt will fall off. You are therefore able to season your steak well on the second side, without having to worry about drawing all the juices out or about the steak becoming too salty.

Medium Rare is generally considered as the ideal Cooking time

Blue: 1 minute each side. The steak should be just warm and fell spongy under your fingertips. Meat should still be dark in colour

Rare: 1.5 minutes per side. Dark red with some juice. There will be some resistance when you press the meat but it should still feel soft and bouncy

Medium rare: 2 minutes per side. Pink meat, with pink juice. Springy, soft and spongy.

Medium: 2.5 minutes per side. Your meat will be mostly cooked with only pink in the middle. The steak will feel firm.

Well-done: 4 to 5 minutes. There will be hardly any pink and the meat should have a bouncy, firm feel. 
Always "Finish" your steak (on, or, under, the Broiler; with butter). ~~Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan.