Aunt Emma's Never Fail Pie Crust

3 c sifted flour
1 1/4 c Shortening
1 tsp salt
1 egg, well beaten
5 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp vinegar

Cut shortening into flour and salt.
Combine egg, water, and vinegar in a separate bowl.
Pour liquid into flour mixture all at once. Blend with spoon until flour is all moistened.
It can be re-rolled without toughening. Will keep in refrigerator for two weeks or divide into balls enough for one pie and wrap in Saran wrap and freeze indefinitely.

Makes 2 crusts

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Enjoy Time to Loaf

When I saw that the Tuesdays With Dorie online baking group was baking Golden Brioche Loaves this week, I wasn't sure whether to feel overjoyed or helpless. Leave it to Dorie to write a bread-baking recipe that even I could succeed with.  Let's see, I haven't made a loaf of bread, without a bread machine, for YEARS, maybe even decades. Dorie used two full pages of text in her book, Baking, From my home to yours, to share her brioche-baking anecdote and describe how to pull this off.  The ingredient list is short and easy to find. The thing that stands out: THREE STICKS OF BUTTER shared between two loaves.  Woohoo!

The recipe suggests using a towel over the mixing bowl to "help keep you, the counter, and the kitchen floor from being showered in flour".  I wouldn't have thought of that on my own.  As hubby can attest, every time the flour jar comes out, I am wearing a significant amount of it.

 
My mixer wearing it's flour-containment uniform.
How'd that glass of wine get in the photo?

Ready for a warm place to rise

Dough rises four times before being
refrigerated over night.












On the second day, out of the refrigerator, the dough is shaped and cut into 4 pieces per loaf pan. Then it's time to rise again! An egg and water glaze makes for a nice finish.

This was the most delicious bread ever.  Light, tender, and oh, so buttery. As Dorie suggests, I saved the second loaf to make "bostock", stale brioche spread with almond cream, sprinkled with almonds and baked to a puffy and golden finish. Oh my.  More to come...

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