Homemade Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups Flour (NOT Self-rising)
2 Tbs Sugar
1/6 Cup Crisco (Butter Flavor works well)
1/3 Cup Butter
1/3 Cup COLD Water

Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Slowly add water, a tsp or so at a time, blending well between additions. You want the dough to form a rough, crumble consistency that can hold together in balls about the size of peas.

Roll dough out on HIGHLY floured surface. Remember to flour your hands, and rolling pin! Roll to 1/8 - 1/4" thickness, then invert into baking dish. If it breaks apart that is okay! You can use your fingers to gently push pieces in to cover the whole pie pan, or baking dish.

Its now good to fill & bake!

Using the 2 different fats allows them to melt at 2 temps, providing a flakier crust.

Starter for Sourdough Bread

1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour


Place 1 cup milk in a glass jar, cover with cheesecloth and let stand at room temperature for 24-36 hours. Stir in 1 cup flour, cover with cheesecloth and set outdoors for 24 hours. Set mixture in a warm place indoors until it is full of bubbles (3-5 days). Store in a covered container in refrigerator. Use only part of starter each time. Replenish by adding equal parts of milk and flour.

This is an old family recipe, from my Mimi. May it serve you well in your bread making trials.

Aliter Dulcia (Sweet Roman Toast)

White Bread
Milk
Olive Oil
Honey


Remove the crusts from the bread and slice it. Dip in milk and saute in olive oil. Sprinkle honey on top and serve.

*This recipe is much like "french toast", but omits the egg so is wonderful for people will allergies to eggs. I've also made it with Soy Milk and it turned out just as good. It is listed as a Roman dessert, though I make it as a breakfast. As found in "De Re Coquinaria" by Apicius.*

Flour Tortillas

2 cups All-purpose Flour
3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil or Shortening
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2/3 cup Warm Water (100-110F)

Place flour and salt in mixer, combine. With mixer on lowest setting, gently add oil. Mix 30 seconds. Slowly add water, scraping sides of bowl if needed. Mix until dough ball forms. If dough is still too stiff or dry add more water, 1Tbls at a time. If too sticky, add flour 1Tbs at a time. Mix just until combined. Cover dough, let rest 30 minutes.

Pre-heat pan/tortilla flat/tortilla press (I have one, though I suggest doing it by hand 2-4 times before buying a kitchen gadget you might not get any use out of otherwise). Place one small ball (approximately the size of a quarter) in bottom center, towards rear of tortilla press. If using a pan, roll circle out on lightly floured wooden board until you can see the wood-grain through the dough. I know it will take a while, but the dough will puff when cooked, so you want them as thin as possible without ripping.

Cook about 1 minute per side, until bubbles form and a few golden brown spots appear on cooked side. Turn and repeat. Keep tortillas warm by covering with a clean cloth. You can cool completely, bag and refrigerate up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 1 month. Makes 10-12 tortillas.

Old Fashioned Yeast Bread

5 3/4 - 6 1/4 cups All-purpose Flour
2 packages Active Dry Yeast
2 1/4 cups Milk
1 cup Sugar
2 tsp Salt
1 Tbls Shortening

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 2 loaf pans. In large mixing bowl combine 2 1/2 cups of flour and the yeast. In sauce pan heat milk, sugar, shortening and salt just till warm (115 to 120 ^F), stirring constantly till shorting is almost melted. Add to dry mixture. Beat at low speed with electric mixer for 1/2 minute scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. By hand stir in enough flour to make a moderately stiff dough.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead till smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes). Shape into ball and place in lightly greased bowl turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled (about 1 1/4 hour). Punch dough down. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and divide in half. Shape each onto ball and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll in to 12 x 8 inch rectangle. Starting at narrow edge, roll up tightly and seal ends by tucking under loaf. (situate seam on bottom of loaf also.) Place into loaf pans and let rise until doubled (45 to 60 minutes).

Bake for 45 minutes or till done. If top browns to quickly cover loosely with tin foil last 15 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. This recipe also works well as rolls.

Flour Tortillas

I've grown up on these, and they're a form of comfort food for me. They're also very versitile as a bread subsitute. While making them by hand can be difficult, the rewards are well worth the effort.

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
3Tbs. Vegetable Oil or Shortening
½tsp. Salt
2/3 Cup WARM (100-110°F) Water

Place flour and salt in mixer, combine. With mixer on lowest setting, gently add oil. Mix 30 seconds. Slowly add water, scraping sides of bowl if needed. Mix until dough ball forms. If dough is still too stiff or dry add more water, 1Tbs at a time. If too sticky, add flour 1Tbs at a time. Mix just until combined. Cover dough, let rest 30 minutes.

Pre-heat pan/tortilla flat/tortilla press (I have one, though I suggest doing it by hand 2-4 times before buying a kitchen gadget you might not get any use out of otherwise). Place one small ball (approximately the size of a quarter) in bottom center, towards rear of tortilla press – If using a pan, roll circle out on lightly floured wooden board until you can see the wood-grain through the dough. I know it will take a while, but the dough will puff when cooked, so you want them as thin as possible without ripping.

Cook about 1 minute per side, until bubbles form and a few golden brown spots appear on cooked side. Turn and repeat. Keep tortillas warm by covering with a clean cloth. You can cool completely, bag and refridgerate up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.

Makes 10-12 tortillas

Fun usages:

Tacos (of course)
Sandwich wraps
Pinwheels
Instead of crackers with soup or stew
Grilled with Goat's cheese or Mozzarella strips inside
Quisadillas
etc, etc, etc...