Scandinavian Cardamom Braid (Refrigerator Method)

Scandinavian Cardamom Braid (Refrigerator Method)


A sweet plaited cardamom flavored bread is a classic in all of Scandinavia and is always found both on the breakfast and the coffee “tables”. It is rich with eggs and butter giving it a tender crumb and a thin, golden crust. I bake this bread often, but have simplified the method to save time and effort, and to eliminate tedious kneading, I chill the dough after mixing. The chilled dough is easy to handle, making it simple to shape into braids. For the best flavor I recommend using freshly crushed cardamom seeds. Ground cardamom, regardless of the brand loses so much flavor you can hardly taste it in the finished bread.


2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup warm water, 105*F. to 115*F.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1 teaspoon freshly crushed cardamom seeds
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour


In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let stand about 5 minutes or until the yeast foams. Whisk in the butter, dry milk, cardamom, sugar, eggs, and salt.


Stir in flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough is very stiff, but still moist (depending on the time of year and humidity, the amount of flour you will need will vary.)

Cover and refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.

Divide chilled dough into 2 parts. Divide each of the parts into 3 parts. Shape each part into a rope about 30 inches long. Braid three ropes at a time together to make 2 loaves. Place the two loaves on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover and let rise until puffy, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (325 degrees F. for convection oven). Brush loaves with a mixture of egg and milk and sprinkle with sliced almonds or pearl sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden.

Tips for Preparing ahead:

The nature of this bread makes it a natural for “mixing up ahead of time”, as it needs to be stirred up and chilled at least for two hours. Once baked, the bread can be

A SCANDINAVIAN COFFEEBREAD - WALESBROD

This is a very popular pastry that is neither Swedish nor Welsh and is known as Swedish kringle to some Scandinavian Americans. The word “kringle”, however, designates a pretzel shaped bread, which this is not. Some Americans call it Danish pastry, which to me is a misleading term. In Sweden and in Finland, the elements are shaped into round individual cakes, and then are called “Maria Pastries”.
If this description sounds mysterious and difficult to you, let me explain: Swedish Welsh Bread or “Walesbrod”, is a simple combination of classic bakery elements. It’s basically a cream puff pastry (Choux Paste to the French) baked on top of a flakey pie pastry, then decorated with an almond flavored icing. Sound familiar?

SWEDISH WELSH BREAD
Makes 2 pastries, 12 x 4-inches, about 8 servings
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons firm butter
2-3 tablespoons ice water
CHOUX PASTE
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
ICING AND DECORATION:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons softened butter
2-3 tablespoons cream
1 teaspoon almond extract
about 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds or filberts, chopped*

Measure the flour into a mixing bowl or workbowl of a food processor with the steel blade in place. Slice the butter and add to the flour. Cut in with a pastry blender or process using on/off pulses until the butter is the size of peas. Add ice water and mix gently until the flour is moistened. Press pastry into a ball and divide into 2 parts. Roll each part out to make a 12 x 4-inch rectangle and place on an ungreased or parchment-covered baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 400*F. (375*F. for convection oven).
In a saucepan, heat water and butter to boiling. Add the flour all at once and stir until smooth and stiff. Remove from heat and add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until dough is smooth and shiny. Add the almond extract. Spoon or spread the mixture over the two pastry rectangles.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until puffed and golden. Do not overbake. Cool.
Mix the powdered sugar, softened butter, and enough cream to make a smooth frosting. Add the almond extract and drizzle over the top of the pastry. Sprinkle with the almonds or chopped filberts.
To toast nuts, spread on a baking sheet. Place in oven set at 300F. and bake 5 to 10 minutes until toasted.

PEA SOUP MENU FOR WINTER PARTIES

PEA SOUP MENU FOR WINTER FUN

This is the perfect time of year to settle in, simmer a pot of pea soup, bake a loaf of rye bread and read a book. Well, that’s what I dream about. I do get the pea soup and bread going, but there is always something that seems to come in the way of cuddling into a blanket and reading a book. Rather, I simmer the soup, bake the bread and read the book while I catch a few minutes on the stationery bike as I try to shake off that five pounds that crawled up around my waist the past few months.

Scandinavians on the other hand, are avid outdoor-sports fans – never mind the cold winter weather. By February, the days have become longer, though not much warmer and with more daylight hours people spend time outside, enjoying ice skating, sliding and cross-country skiing. I love the cross-country skiing, too.

Being the “Martha” of a group, I’m always thinking about what to feed people. I love to have impromptu parties, but need easy ideas for menus. This is one foolproof menu that doesn’t require a lot of last minute attention.

A pork roast simmers with the peas, onions and spices, lending its rich flavor to this rather unusual recipe for pea soup. The idea came many years ago from a friend in Finland. When the soup is done, you simply lift the roast out of the pot and slice it to serve as a topping for open-faced rye bread sandwiches. Add to the menu sliced hot house (from Bay Produce), tomatoes. Norwegian Apple Pie which is more like an apple crisp than pie makes a perfect, simple dessert.

PEA SOUP WITH PORK
2 cups dry yellow Swedish peas
3 quarts water
1 (3 pound) lean fresh pork roast
3 medium onions, sliced
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon dried leaf marjoram
Salt and pepper to taste

Sort and wash the peas and place into a deep soup kettle with the water. Soak overnight. Simmer over medium-high heat for 2 hours or until the peas are softened. Add the pork roast, onions, ginger and allspice. Simmer two to three hours until the pork is tender. Skim fat from the surface. Add the marjoram and salt and pepper to taste. To serve, place the pork roast on a platter and cut into slices. Serve on top of rye bread slices. Makes 6 servings.

FINNISH RYE MEAL BREAD
1 package active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1-1/4 cups warm water (105*F. to 115*F.)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons melted butter
1-1/2cups rye meal, dark rye, or whole wheat flour
1-3/4 to 2 cups bread flour

In a large bowl, stir yeast and sugar into the warm water; let stand 5 minutes to soften. Add the salt, butter and rye meal and beat until smooth. Beat in bread flour, 1 cup at a time until dough is stiff. Let rest 15 minutes. Turn out onto a floured board and knead about 5 minutes until dough feels smooth and well mixed. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 hours. Punch dough down and shape into a ball. Place loaf on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 375*F. (350*F. for convection oven). Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Brush top of hot loaf with butter if desir3d. Cool on a rack. Makes 1 large loaf.

NORWEGIAN APPLE PIE
1 egg
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup chopped pecans, almonds or walnuts
2 small, tart apples, diced (about 1 cup)

Whipped cream for serving
Preheat the oven to 350*F. (325*F. for convection oven). Generously butter a 9-inch pie pan; set aside. In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except for the whipped cream until well blended. Turn into the pie pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. To serve, cut into pie-shaped wedges and top with whipped cream. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

MAPLE SMOKED SALMON

Once a year we fill our freezer with salmon fillets we order from our friend, Dave Rogotzke who commercially fishes Alaskan salmon in June and July. Another of Dave’s projects is making maple syrup from his 5000-tree maple grove just north of Duluth. This makes a wonderful combination! Dave cures the salmon in a maple syrup brine before smoking it over charcoal. The recipe here is a combination of Dave’s and my ideas.
Lest you think this is a very ambitious project, I have to say that it isn’t difficult to make smoked salmon at home, It is definitely worth the effort - but you do need to plan your time so that you can allow 4 hours for the fish to cure. Once cured, you rinse the fish, place it on racks and allow it to dry, refrigerated, overnight. You smoke the salmon on your backyard grill using plenty of wood chips – but only for 20 minutes. Cook it too long and the salmon is dry instead of juicy.
This is what is called “hot smoking” which cooks the fish while it smokes. It works best on a charcoal rather than on a gas grill on which it is harder to control the results. Cold smoking is another process to try someday, but it is more complicated and requires a special grill. Cold smoked salmon remains raw (as in graavlax), and has a smoked flavor.
Hot smoked salmon is delicious served flaked on top of a bagel or toasted bread spread with cream cheese. You might want to try Dave’s favorite way – that is, to cut the salmon into 1-1/2 to 2-inch cubes before curing and smoking. This makes a perfect appetizer to serve with just a toothpick.

MAPLE-SMOKED SALMON
Makes 6 servings
2 pounds salmon fillet, skinned and boned*
1/2 cup coarse kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup pure maple syrup (not artificially flavored syrup)

Cut the fish into 3 to 4-inch pieces crosswise. Place into a glass or ceramic pan. Mix the salt, pepper, allspice and ginger and rub the mixture into the fish. Pour the maple syrup over, coating the top and the bottom of the fish pieces evenly.
Cover and refrigerate 4 hours. If you allow the fish to stay in the brine longer it becomes unpalatably salty. Rinse the brine off the fish, pat dry, and place on a rack over a pan and refrigerate overnight, uncovered, to dry. (If you place the fish on the rack from the barbecue, rub it with oil or coat with nonstick spray so that the fish can be removed easily after smoking.)
Light a charcoal fire and place a drip pan in the center of the grill. Divide the coals evenly on either side of the pan. Place 1 cup of drained wood chips on each side. Rub the grill with oil or coat with nonstick spray and arrange the fish on the rack over the drip pan. Cover and smoke for 20 minutes or until the fish is firm to the touch but not dry. Transfer onto a serving platter to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
*If you skin the fillet yourself, save it and make a “salmon chips” from it. Simply brush both sides of the skin with oil – a flavored oil such as dark Asian sesame oil is wonderful. Grill the skin directly over the coals until crackling crisp, 10 minutes per side. Serve at once.

DAVE’S APPETIZER SALMON
Follow the directions for Maple-Smoked Salmon, but cut the fish into 1-1/2 to 2 inch squares before brining. Makes about 24 appetizer servings.

SOUP AND BREAD

SOUP AND BREAD
Maybe it’s the farm girl in me, but a meal of soup and bread is comfort food. Growing up, it was almost always “mojakka”(a Minnesota Finnish stew) and rye bread. I still crave the combination.
Soup and simple bread is food of common folk that encourages conversation and relaxation. Just look into the ethnic foods of any country and you find ideas. Latin American black bean soup matches with cornbread. Indian Mulligatawni with pita bread, or Russian cabbage borscht with black bread are a few examples.
So, pick your menu, bring the soup pot to the table, put the bread on a board, light candles and turn down the lights. Here I’m offering a Southwestern soup and bread combination.
Although it is springtime, evenings are still chilly. What’s more, this time of year is busier than ever. But that doesn’t mean that you have to entirely abandon the idea of entertaining. If you, like I, want something tasty, economical, colorful, and not too time consuming to prepare – just give this soup and bread combination a try. You can make the soup ahead, cool and refrigerate and then reheat it for serving later. It makes a generous eight servings, so if you cook for just two or four, you have soup for more than one meal.
This Southwestern Chicken Tortilla Soup is like one that I enjoyed in Santa Fe in an outdoor café. It was served in wide bowls with the toppings on the side. This is my attempt at copying it. The toppings add color and freshness to the soup.
The Cowboy Beer and Cheddar Bread is my adaptation of a beer bread recipe I picked up last summer when I visited Colorado Dude Ranches. It’s incredibly simple to stir up and is good hot from the oven or sliced and toasted the next day.

SOUTHWESTERN CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP
You can find dried ancho chilies in the produce section of the supermarket. The chili itself is mild, but the seeds are spicy. The flavor of ancho chilies rounds out the distinctive flavor of this soup.
Makes 8 servings
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 teaspoons ground chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 cups chicken broth
1 dried ancho chili
2 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cooked, shredded chicken breasts
3 cups frozen whole kernel corn
Garnishes:
2 ripe avocados, peeled, diced
Tortilla chips or strips
2 fresh tomatoes, diced
Chopped fresh cilantro
Shredded Jack or Cheddar cheese
Sour Cream

In a 4-quart soup pot, heat the oil. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, chili powder and cumin and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes until vegetables are tender and mixture is aromatic. Add the chicken stock and ancho chile. Cook over medium-high heat for 15 minutes or just until the ancho softens. Remove from the soup, pull off the stem and discard the seeds. (If you prefer a spicier soup, leave the seeds in.)
Put the chile with the diced tomatoes into the lender and process until smooth. Add to soup pot and continue simmering 1 hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Before serving, add the chicken and corn and heat to serving temperature.
Serve the garnishes separately to add to each serving of soup as desired.

COWBOY BEER AND CHEDDAR BREAD
This is a stir-it-up bread that takes just a few minutes to mix. If you bake it in the convection oven, the baking time is reduced by about one-fourth.
Makes 1 loaf
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer, any kind will do – even non-alcoholic brands
Butter
Preheat the oven to 350*F. (325*F. for convection oven).
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cheese, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the beer and mix with a fork until all dry ingredients are moistened. Don’t overmix. Spread the dough into a 5 x 9-inch loaf pan. Bake for 40 to 55 minutes until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean and dry. Brush top of hot loaf with butter.

Welcome to my website!

SALT CAKE
I was about five years old and I had already discovered that it was far more pleasurable to satisfy the wishes of my parents than to rebel. Maybe it was because my mother lost her mother at the age of five. She must have told me the story, though I don’t remember, but for some reason I carried this vision in my mind. I know she told me more about it later in life.
She always referred to “Stepmother” when she talked about the woman who had replaced her mother after her untimely death. “Stepmother never let us into the kitchen,” she would say, “I want my kids to know how to cook.”
So when she said I needed to learn how to bake a cake, I agreed. She took out the big tan crockery mixing bowl with blue stripes round the outside, the wooden spoon, and the essential ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, salt, baking powder, flour, vanilla and milk.
The wood stove had been fired up so that the gauge on the front of the oven read “350*F.” It was winter and the stove was always hot and ready for baking.
She scooped an egg-sized sphere of butter and slapped it into the bowl. “About a half cup is right”, she said. Then she poked the butter with the tip of the wooden spoon making indentations that looked like so many commas in a row. This was to soften the butter, she said.
Then she added sugar in twice the measure of the butter, about a cup and stirred it until it was all creamy. She added eggs, two of them, stirring really fast so that the liquid of the eggs was whipped into the butter mixture. She went on to mix in the flour and baking powder, and explained that one teaspoon of baking powder to one cup of flour was the best proportion. Vanilla for flavor and enough milk to make a smooth, pour-able batter and the cake was ready for the baking pan.
“Taste it” she said, “If it tastes flat – add a pinch of salt. We did, and we mixed it in. Then we scraped the batter into the buttered pan and stuck it into the oven to bake until a straw plucked from the corn broom and stuck into the center of the cake came out clean and dry.
I tried to memorize all this. I hadn’t yet started first grade and couldn’t read or write so I couldn’t take notes.
It was some time later and my mother was in labor, not an uncommon occurrence – there eventually were ten of us. Dr. Van Valkenberg (Floodwood’s resident physician) and my father were in the bedroom with her. I wasn’t allowed into the room. The kitchen stove was fired up because they needed boiling water to sterilize stuff. My job was to open the side lid of the wood stove and add a piece of firewood every fifteen minutes or so.
I decided then to bake a cake for “Mummy”.
I took out the bowl and spoon and tried to remember all the ingredients. I mixed the batter as I remembered it. Last of all, I tasted it. It was flat. I added a pinch of salt. Still flat. I added another pinch of salt. Still flat. Finally I was tossing handfuls of salt into the batter and it didn’t help at all. The batter looked good. So I poured it into the pan and put it into the oven. Pondering what could have been wrong when the cake was half baked, I realized that I had forgotten the sugar.
The cake turned out golden and beautiful. It looked good! I proudly served my mother a square. She didn’t say anything about it being salty. She only said that it looked beautiful.
Many years later she admitted that the cake I had made was so salty it made her mouth pucker. That was Mummy - always encouraging and always looking for the best in others.

Apricot-Almond Danish Pastry

December/January Woman Today

APRICOT-ALMOND DANISH PASTRY

With the passing of Julia, I (and the world) lost a friend, a mentor, an instant, generous, source of information.



I recall the day my sister, Lil, relayed a question to me from her friend who was too shy to ask me directly. This friend had come home from France with fresh truffles, and didn’t quite know how to keep them. I’d never had this problem myself, so I called Julia Child. We chatted a bit first, then I asked the question “what would you do if you had fresh truffles from France, - how would you keep them?”.



“Of course, they do spoil like any mushroom” she told me, and then that she would freeze them, or put them into oil and into the “fridge” although most experts wouldn’t like that idea too much, she said, “but then you have that lovely oil to use”.



Often, I get asked for the recipe I made with Julia in the television series “Baking with Julia”. The recipe was published in the book, “Baking with Julia” written by Dorie Greenspan. This is a perfect time to offer the basic Danish Pastry recipe because if there’s any time during the year when we like to bake special goodies it’s during the Holidays. This is an easy refrigerator version of Danish Pastry. You can use a variety of fillings and shape the pastry many different ways although I have room for only one example here.



Apricot-Almond Danish Pastry



This refrigerator pastry needs to chill overnight, so plan accordingly.



1/4 cup warm water (105*F. to 115*F.)



1 package active dry yeast



1/2 cup milk, at room temperature



1 large egg, at room temperature



1/4 cup sugar



1 teaspoon salt



2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour



2 sticks (1/2 pound) cold unsalted butter



Apricot-Almond Filling:



1 cup (packed) dried apricots



1 cup water



1 cup sugar



2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice



1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract



1 cup toasted, chopped almonds



For glazing and baking:



1 beaten egg white



Pearl sugar or sliced almonds



Powdered sugar glaze (1/2 cup powdered sugar, 2-3 tablespoons hot coffee or water)



For the pastry, in a large bowl, combine the water and yeast; stir to dissolve and let stand 5 minutes until the yeast begins to foam. Add the milk, egg, sugar and salt.

Measure the flour into the work bowl of a food processor with the steel blade in place. Slice the butter into the flour, then using on/off bursts with the food processor, cut the butter into the flour until it is in pea-sized pieces. This takes about 8 bursts. Turn into a large bowl. Pour the yeast mixture over and fold the two mixtures together just until the flour is moistened. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.



For the filling: Stir the apricots, water and sugar together in a large microwave-safe bowl or a 4-quart glass measuring cup. Put the bowl in a microwave oven and cook at full power for 10 minutes, stirring a few times, until apricots are soft and puffed and have absorbed almost all of the liquid. Turn the mixture into the work bowl of a food processor with the steel blade in place and process until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice, almond extract and the almonds. Cool. Can refrigerate up to 2 weeks before using.



Lightly flour a work surface and turn dough out onto it. Dust the dough lightly with flour and shape the dough into a rough square with your hands. Roll out to make a square about 16 inches on each side. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter. Roll lightly to flatten the dough and fold it again into thirds, closing the ends (the dough will now be in a square). Wrap the dough and chill for at least 30 minutes. Roll again into a 16-inch square Fold into thirds again, business letter style. Roll out a second time to make a long, narrow rectangle and fold up again in thirds to make a square. Chill again (to work on it later), or roll out to make a square 20 inches on a side. Cut into sixteen 5-inch squares.



Place a pastry square on the work surface. Spoon a tablespoon of the filling onto the center. Brush the uncovered edges with egg white and lift the four corners of the pastry off the counter and seal in the center of the square. Squeeze the corners together to give them a little pinch and a twist to create a small topknot. Place on a parchment-covered baking sheet.



Preheat the oven to 400*F. (375*F. for convection oven). Let the pastries rise, covered with a kitchen towel for 30 minutes until they look puffy (they will not double).

Brush the pastries with beaten egg white and sprinkle with pearl sugar or sliced almonds. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Transfer onto a cooling rack and drizzle with powdered sugar icing if desired.

Makes 16 pastries



ˇ