baking with babicka

over christmas break i got the chance to bake with my babicka. as you may recall, i made mazanec last easter, which went fairly well, but as you can imagine, there's so much you can learn by baking along side someone, particularly if they've been doing it a good half century or so. after getting over a couple rough starts (i started the session by adding salt instead of sugar to our first batch of dough, and then babicka left out the butter the second time around) we made a few batches of dough out of which we made kolacky (the little ones), kolach (like kolacky, but a big sheet, sort of like a pizza), and poppy strudel.

some highlights and observations from my crash course:

-this lady is old-school: she uses actual spoons for measuring. like, the one you stir tea with is the teaspoon.

-babicka kneads one-handed, with her left (non-dominant) hand! this is because she has pretty bad arthritis in her right hand from squeezing a pastry bag for 30 years (she was a cake decorator). however, not only can she knead bread much more quickly and efficiently than i can, she also does it without her hands getting sticky. clearly i am a novice bread kneader, but i'm just saying: the dough is always all over my hands til i develop enough gluten for it to reincorporate into the the dough ball. she just kind of pushes the dough a few times and it's done.

-i learned how hot the water should be to wake up the yeast (the other tricky part of yeast doughs). every time she heated it up and determined it was the right temperature i made sure to stick my finger in. so now i have a better idea of what temperature it should be, though i think babicka has a perfect pitch type of sense of what temperature it should be (and i'm definitely not there yet).

-babicka makes all the bread-related products in her house. once a month she makes rolls and freezes them. she also makes rye bread as often as they need it (it is such delicious bread! it's half wheat, half rye, i believe, and it's got an almost crumbly texture. i love that stuff).


it was fun to get a behind-the-scenes look at babi's baking. she's always critiquing what exactly went wrong with whatever delicious pastry we happen to be eating at the moment (which i say with great affection. i am the exact same way: must be a genetic defect!). but the analysis is happening during the baking as well (of course!). she mentioned while we were rolling out the kolacky dough that they would probably puff up too much in the over because we didn't allow the dough to rise long enough before punching it back down (correct), and she was as fanatical about the thickness and application of the toppings/fillings as i am about properly taping or burning a screen. i guess we share the idea that if it's important enough to do it yourself, it's important enough to do right.


i also got a couple czech cookbooks from her (one czech, one slovak, to be precise). i'm going to attempt a few recipes, though that will probably require a little translation help. i'll be sure to share here when i try one.

thanks for letting me bake with you babicka!

Shortbread

I am a shortbread enthusiast. It has the highest deliciosity-to-effort ratio of any baked good: it's not only one of the tastiest things to eat, but also one of the easiest to make. And as if that weren't great enough, you almost always have the ingredients on hand, so it's just one step of difficulty away from conjuring up food in your replicator, Star-Trek style. Shortbread was undoubtedly a major factor in surviving my first Chicago winter. I think made it on average about once a week this winter, trying different recipes, techniques, tactics, and baking times each time, in an effort to discover the perfect shortbread.

So yesterday, as Sean and I were throwing together an impromptu picnic and I was trying to figure out a dessert I could make quickly, I decided to make some shortbread. It came out so good that I think I have finally hit upon my ideal shortbread recipe. Yesterday I used scotch instead of water, which added a subtle smoky taste and was delicious, but I think in general I prefer my shortbread unadultered.

So here's my shortbread recipe. You'll find most recipes are pretty similar ingredients-wise, but small alterations in technique and quantities make a big difference when you're making something this nakedly simple.

1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 superfine sugar (or half powdered, half granulated)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup salted butter
2–3 tbsp ice water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put dry ingredients in food processor, and pulse a couple times to combine. (If you'd like to make superfine sugar from granulated sugar, put your sugar in the food processor first, and process for 30 seconds to a minute before adding the flour and salt.) Cut butter into small chunks and add to food processor. (It is essential that the butter be as cold as possible: do not remove from fridge until you're ready to add it.) Pulse until you have the butter integrated: this should look like coarse crumbs. Turn on the processor and add ice water slowly, without dumping in the ice, til the dough begins sticking together. (It will still be pretty crumbly.)

Turn out the dough into an 8-inch baking pan and press it into the pan. (You may want to line the pan with parchment for easier removal.) Score into 18 pieces (6 by 3) with a knife. When oven reaches 400 degrees, reduce temperature to 325 and bake shortbread for 15 minutes.

Remove shortbread and cut into the pre-scored rectangles, and place the pieces about an inch apart on a baking sheet. return to the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown on the edges. Let rest on the pan for one minute, then remove to a cooling rack.

Mazanec

Yesterday I baked a Czech Easter bread called Mazanec. It's a sweet egg bread with golden raisins and almonds in it, and it's delicious. Thanks for the recipe Babicka: it turned out great! I am sending a few loaves as small thank-you gifts for my letter of rec writers, but now after making it, I wish I could send them the smell too: my apartment was filled with the heavenly aroma of fresh bread for hours. I was initially intimidated by the prospect of making bread: mainly waking up (but not killing) the yeast, and kneading. I love to cook, but when it comes to baking, but I usually stick with shortbreads, tarts, and scones, which are mainly about cutting fat into flour, and less sciency than yeast breads. But it turns out there's nothing to fear! The key to kneading is that you keep at it until the dough's no longer sticky. I was afraid that this point would come gradually, and discerning it would require a zen-like understanding of bread kneading, but it turned out to be really definitive and obvious. Thanks for the great directions Babicka!

florida citrus part 2

The tangerine tart turned out beautifully. Here's a picture for your vicarious enjoyment.


I made Dorie Greenspan's Sweet Tart Dough which I found over here at Cafe Johnsonia (I left out her lemon zest addition since I was making a citrus tart, although for a different tart, that sounds tasty). For the filling, I adapted this orange custard recipe from Epicurious. I of course used tangerine juice instead of orange, and I skipped the Grand Marnier and instead added half a teaspoon of vanilla. I topped the tart with sectioned tangerines, because then it's healthy, right? Seriously though, the fresh citrus was a lovely contrast to the buttery crust, and the overall effect was mellow creamy, and perfectly sweet.

By the way, this crust is to die for. This is definitely my standard tart crust from now on.