Baking, July.

 

Dear July,

I am trying to pace myself in your heat wave- this is day 4; there are 6 to 10 more!  There is no ice cream; we ate it in the pre-heat heat wave of a week ago.  We had cake instead.  Cake is brought to me today through the great and glorious technology of Modern Conveniences.  A little after the last big record shattering (and mentally scarring) heat wave of  the First Covid Year of 2020, we got a spiffing heat exchange air conditioner.  And last year, I was given a hand me down very Fancy Toaster Oven.  

This toaster oven is not at all like Old Bess, our beloved stove which runs on great gobs of propane; the emissions of which fill our well sealed straw bale house, especially when you don't want to open the door or window to let in the triple digit heat.  This Little Bess, a Bessie, really, is electric and using it does not make the red light flash on the Units of Death* meter we have in the kitchen.  It heats up in an absurdly short time, and can cook some fairly large things, like this cake!

It's adapted from a recipe from the wonderful people at Hayden Flour Mills.  Here is the original, and this is what I made today, with just a bowl and a spoon; no mixer required.

1/2 cup light olive oil (one that doesn't taste of olives)

1 cup sour cream 

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla paste

1 egg

      Mix all the above in a bowl, until it isn't lumpy.  Add:

1/2 cup tortilla flour (masa harina, for instance, or use more A. P. flour, or go crazy, and add cornmeal or buckwheat flour)

1 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt.

     Mix all this until it isn't lumpy and pour it into a 8 inch, greased, round pan.  Bake it in Little Bessie, or Old Bess, or whatever you have for an oven, for about 30 minutes at 325 degrees.

Now, you can eat it as it is, or you can make a simple glaze:  In this instance, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, and heavy cream until it is the right viscosity (trust yourself!).  But, this cake would be great with ice cream or whipped cream, or even whipped up ricotta!  It's what Marion Cunningham would call a "plain cake" and plain here means it is like a tee shirt, it goes with everything!

* AKA carbon dioxide monitor.

PS I almost forgot your song, July!  I know, I know; the drinking, the driving, the objectification of women, but, oh!  The euphemisms, the longing, the story; and anyway, I have not been known as the saint of San Joaquin!

Pie, Mr. Tweety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear A. M.,

 

Today I offer you a Breakfast Pie.  The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, by the charming Marion Cunningham, says that Breakfast Pie used to be very common among the early rising agriculturalists of our nation.  Around here, much more recently, a prominent Dodo-ist remarked:  "Breakfast Pie!  What a great country this once was!"

 

Make it and bake it and decide for yourself what you think about our country and breakfast pie.

 

 

 

 

 

Creamed Oatmeal-Walnut Pie

      (Adapted from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, by Marion Cunningham, 1984, Alfred A. Knopf, NY.)

 

Oatmeal pie crust:

 

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable shortening or butter

2 - 3 tablespoons water

 

Mix the dry ingredients and cut in the shortening,  or toss everything but the water into the food processor.  Add the water slowly.  Roll it out, and patch it, because the oats make it very fragile, so it will break frequently as you fit it into a 9 or 8 inch pie pan.  Prick it with a fork.

 

Blind bake the crust partially- use pie weights, or another pie tin, or beans on parchment to prevent the crust from rising in the oven.  Bake it for 6 minutes at 425 degrees, then take out the weights and bake it for another 4 or 5 minutes. 

 

Filling:

 

1 1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup raisins

3 tablespoons butter

 

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

 

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it begins to bubble and thicken.  Remove pan from heat and temper the beaten eggs a bit before adding them, by mixing half a cup of the hot porridge into the eggs, then stir the eggs into the pan of porridge.  Add the walnuts, fill the pie shell, and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  The center will be shiny, while the edges will look dry.  Let your breakfast pie set for 30 minutes and then eat it warm, with heavy cream, if you have a cow, or even if you just have a pint of it from the store!