Harmony didn't debut as a Donation Dog yesterday. The event was "weathered" out - too windy. Then it rain. Then the sun came out but everyone was gone so it was too late.
My cousin has sent me his recipe for Basic Sweet Dough which he turns into cinnamon rolls.
(I love my cuz a lot and hope I don't get in trouble with him for this.) The recipe calls for measurements in 1/6's. Who is he kidding? Here he is, on the right, with older bro, Norm.
Granted, this was taken a few yrs ago. Back to the rolls. The recipe mentions a DASH of milk. How does one get that? Maybe a SPLASH but aren't dashes for dry items, quite like a pinch would be? Are pinches now not PC so we are to use dashes? Or, is a dash bigger/smaller than a pinch? In a pinch can I use a dash? Or am I required to make a mad dash for the needed ingredient? This recipe only gets more interesting as one reads further, proving the old adage that it is wise to read the whole recipe before embarking on a new kitchen adventure. The guy wants me to use 5/3 T butter at one point and I guess the remainder later, when I lightly spread butter over dough". This total amount translates - ready for this - to " (2 2/3 T)" or 1/6 cup. I haven't figured that out. Is it 2 x 2/3 which is 4/3 or is it 2 full T and 2/3 T, or is is 1 T (3/3) and 2/3 T? I'm easily confused so if/when I use this recipe I'd go with the 1/6 cup. and wing it on how it is divided out. And, then I am to use broken pecans. Is this because they cost less or was a it a family thing that when these were first made all that was left were broken ones? If all I have is whole ones do I need to break them? Wouldn't it be all right to chop them electrically? I fear this is way too much for me. It involves using yeast and I am not gifted in that area. Nor am I willing to do the conversions on the rest of the recipe to get the 1/6's figured out. Something tells me he is passing along what he was handed years ago - the recipe that started out calling for 25 lbs. of flour - now modified. I'm going to hope that RT comes in from TX on one of his motorized bikes and bakes up a batch of these for me to nibble on, or we have a bake sale, all the while Harmony will be taking his wallet and making a big donation to APL.
1 comment:
Ms. Merriam Webster defines dash as “to affect by mixing in something different”, the milk being different from the brown sugar and butter, although two of these do come from cows.
I could have used splash, but once again referring to Ms. Webster, a splash could cause a spatter and when baking rolls in a hot oven, we don’t want to spatter, thus dash fits better than splash.
Nowhere in this recipe is there any hint of a pinch. A pinch is used in another of my recipes and that would be for crackerjacks. That recipe contains not only a pinch , but measurements of butter the size of an egg and alum the size of a pea. This is often referred to as the high science of weights and measures and can be found in any good cookbook worth its weight in salt the size of hail.
A trip to the grocery will reveal that butter is sold in one pound packages containing four each rectangular shaped sticks of butter. The wrappings for the butter are marked in easily read divisions of a tablespoon, each stick containing eight tablespoons. Thus, to extract 2 and 2/3 tablespoons from the stick, you would commence at one end of the stick, go past the first two lines and stop 2/3rds the distance between line two and line three. Taking your butter knife, or a paring knife if the butter is cold, cut through the stick of butter at the said location. This activity will yield 2 and 2/3 tablespoons of butter to be used in making the dough with 5 and 1/3 tablespoons of butter remaining in the original stick.
There is no requirement to use the entire stick of butter in the recipe if that is what is confusing you. However, we will be further dividing the remaining butter at a later point when making the mixture for the bottom of the pan. These two events, although related, are not similar and should not be construed as being one and the same. In the final analysis, there will be butter remaining in the original eight tablespoon stick of butter and this can be used, if desired, to spread over the cinnamon rolls when removed from the oven. Although I doubt you want the extra calories/cholesterol.
I would advise not going with your “half-baked” idea of using a measurement of 1/6 cup of butter. This is seems to be a very difficult method of arriving at the desired outcome. Would one melt a cup of butter and then attempt to extract 1/6 of it? And what would you do with the remaining 5/6 cup of melted butter?
Now to arrive at 5/3 tablespoons, you have two choices. 1. Start at the other end of the stick, go past the first line and stop 2/3 the distance between lines one and two. Method 2. Continue where you sliced before, go past the next two lines and 1/3 the distance between lines two and three. Slicing in a downward motion with a knife, you will be left with two segments of butter, one a measurement of 5/3 and the other 3 and 2/3 using either of the two described methods.
Pecans are sold in groceries, (the same place where butter is available) in packages labeled as either pecan halves or broken pecans. To obtain the desired outcome, broken pecans are used. Picture in your mind, a freshly baked cinnamon roll topped with pecan halves, then do the same with broken pecans and you can easily see why broken pecans are the choice of preeminent breakfast chefs.
If you are faced with the dilemma of only having pecan halves, you do need to break them. Do not chop them electrically as you questioned. This will result in chopped pecans, not broken pecans. Break them with your digits.
Just be glad the recipe didn’t call for 5/6 of an egg.
Obviously, you did not do your doctorate in mathematics.
uf-da!
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