Category: recipe

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Wiener Schnitzel (Oktoberfest)

Ingredients:

Wiener Schnitzel made September 22, 2012.

4 thin boneless pork chops or veal chops (we used chicken breasts instead)
1/2 c. oil (I use olive oil)
Flour
Parsley
butter
3/4 c. extra fine bread crumbs
2 eggs
salt & pepper
2 lemons
waxed paper

Heat the oil in a large skillet at medium high heat.  Place each chop between two sheets of waxed paper and pound with the smooth side of a meat tenderizer until thin (1/4″ – 3/8″).  Dip the meat into flour so that it is lightly covered.  Beat the two eggs in a bowl that is wide enough to dip the meat into.  Spread the bread crumbs onto a plate or flat surface. 

Take each cutlet, season with salt and pepper and dip both sides of meat into eggs to coat.  Then coat the entire cutlet with the bread crumbs.  Place in hot oil and cook on both sides until golden brown.  It only takes about 1-2 minutes per side.  In a separate pan, melt 4 tbsp of butter. As a note, traditional recipes call for lard instead of butter.  Once the cutlet is done frying, lightly fry it in the butter to give it the authentic German taste.  Serve each cutlet with half a lemon on the side.

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Pumpernickel Bread (Oktoberfest)

Ingredients:

Pumpernickel bread baked on September 22, 2012.

1-1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
1-1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup molasses
4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp caraway seed
2-3/4 cups rye flour
3 cups bread flourPreparation:
In large bowl, add warm water and yeast. Stir until yeast is dissolved.  Stir in the molasses and butter.

In a separate bowl, mix the salt, caraway seed, rye flour along with 2 cups of bread flour. Slowly add the liquid in with the dry ingredients.  Add the remaining bread flour until you have a dough that can be kneaded. You may or may not use the full amount of bread flour that is called for, depending on ingredients and weather.  Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for 5 minutes. If dough is too sticky, knead in more bread flour, a tablespoon at a time.

Place dough in greased bowl. Flip dough over so that top is lightly greased.  Cover and let dough rise in warm place for about an hour or until double in size.  Punch down dough. Cover and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Punch down dough a second time. Turn out on lightly floured board and knead dough briefly.  Cut dough in half. Shape each half into small, round loaf.

Grease baking sheet. Sprinkle sheet with cornmeal, optional.  Place both round loaves on baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about 45 minutes or until double in size.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 35 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped on.

Remove from oven and let loaves cool on rack.

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Orange and Rosemary Game Hens

Final dish of the orange rosemary game hen (cut in half), field mushrooms with hazelnuts, and port wine poached pears. Created September 16, 2012.

A very simple dish to make.  We created enough for 4-8 depending on the size of the rest of the meal and the appetites of your guests.

Ingredients:
4 game hens
2 cups of orange juice
1 tsp garam masala (can be found in most ethnic food sections)
4 oranges
1 large leeks, diced (a very mild onion flavored vegetable)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Black pepper (to taste)

Marinate the hens in 2 cups of orange juice for at least 4 hours.  While marinating, remove the zest and juice from the oranges.  In a large pot or Dutch oven, place the hens with a trivet at the bottom to prevent sticking.

Add the majority of the zest (reserve 2 TB of orange zest) and fresh juice along with 1 cup of water.  Tear the rosemary in half and add to the mixture.

Cook until the hens reach 160 degrees.  Pull off the heat and let set for 5 minutes before serving, sprinkling the 2 TB zest and garam masala to the dish and serve family style along with some rustic bread and red wine.

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Two Bread Recipes – Rye and Rustic Peasant

Rustic peasant and rye breads baked on September 15, 2012.

This past weekend, we began demonstrating bread recipes for the Wood Fired oven at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.  Most of our recipes this weekend turned out well.  We made a rustic peasant bread and a rye bread.  I usually don’t care for rye bread, but this recipe was quite tasty. 

Rye Bread Ingredients:
1 oz of dry yeast
1 and ½ cup of warm water
½ cup of molasses
6 tbsp softened butter
2 cups rye flour
¼ cup cocoa
2 tbsp caraway seed
2 tsp salt
3 and ½ cups of flour
Cornmeal

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Beat in the molasses, butter, rye flour, cocoa, caraway seeds, salt and 2 cups all-purpose flour to form a stiff dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to greased top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape each piece into a loaf, about 10 in. long. Grease two baking sheets and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves on prepared pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Rustic peasant bread. It tasted as good as it looked. Baked September 16, 2012.

Rustic Peasant Bread
1 pkg dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
4 cups flour
Cornmeal
Melted butter

Place yeast, water, sugar, and salt in bowl and stir until dissolved.

Add flour and stir until well blended. Do not knead. Cover and let rise until double in size (about 1 hour).

Remove dough from bowl and place in 2 rounds on a greased cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Let rise an additional hour. Brush top on dough with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Serve warm.

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Making your own yeast for bread

Looking forward to the upcoming weekends are the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, we will be bringing a lot of period bread recipes to the festival.  Unlike modern bread making, they did not go to the store to buy prepackaged yeast, they would have to either make their own, or find someone who has.

Below are two ways that I know of making yeast from scratch and preparing it for bread.  This is not something that grows in a couple of hours.  It takes days, if not weeks, to grow yeast. I hope you enjoy these techniques.

  • At the turn of the 20th century, yeast was made from boiling grated potatoes with a little sugar and salt until it became translucent. A cup of the old yeast was added to make it ferment faster. This yeast mixture was set on the back of the stove to ferment. It would keep for 2 or 3 days before going sour. The mixture would be the yeast that would be used for breads.  When more was needed, bakers would add a cup of the “old yeast” to a new potato and sugar mixture.

 

  • Combine 1/2 cup unflavored yogurt and two tbsp of flour in a clean bowl. Cover and allow resting for 24 hours.  Remove any liquid that develops over the yeast.  Add two tablespoons flour and two tbsp water and stir every morning for a week. If too much starter grows, throw away half and replace it with an equal volume of the flour and water mixture.  If bubbles develop, begin feeding the yeast every six hours with the flour and water mixture. Continue to pour off any water.   Feed the yeast about an hour before you plan to use.