by Catherine Doherty

I believe it might be timely for Easter recipes.

I am giving you the whole story of Easter cooking as it is recorded in our “Book of Customs.” We have quite a few customs accumulated in the 25 years of our apostolate. Amongst them festive foods.

Koolich – Russian Easter Bread
For a family of four to six

5 lbs. flour
10 eggs
1 qt. of milk (you might need a wee bit less or more)
1 to 2 lbs. of sugar (depending if you like your bread sweet, or not too sweet)
½ lbs. melted butter
1 cup raisins
½ cup of peel
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup blanched chopped almonds
2 packages fast rising yeast
1 tablespoon cardamom seed with icing sugar
2 tablespoon saffron liquid
(You can skip the cardamom and saffron if they are hard to obtain, though most of the big department stores have them)

Sift the flour twice, so that it will be light, and make sure the flour has been placed the night before in the kitchen – not far from the stove – as the flour has to be warm. It rises better! The milk must be heated, lukewarm. Test on your wrist. Hot milk will kill yeast; cold will retard its rising. Next prepare the yeast, following the exact directions on the exact envelope. Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks with approximately ¼ lb. of sugar. The whites are left until last, but have to be beaten to “peaks.” Cardamon and saffron are the two spices that have to be prepared the night before. Cardamon is usually purchased in kernels or nuts. These must be heated on the top of the stove and then broken up. The little black seeds or kernels are then extracted and beaten with something heavy. Add a teaspoonful of icing sugar, until quite powdered. Sometimes you can buy them already hulled and ready to be beaten with sugar.

The saffron is placed in a cup and boiling water – about ½ cup – is poured over the delicate strands of that spice. It will produce a vivid, orange-yellow colour. This will penetrate the dough pleasantly and give it a lovely taste too.

When yolks are beaten, the flour sifted, the milk lukewarm, cardamom and saffron ready, the cook proceeds to work with same.

The flour is made ready by mixing into it all the dry ingredients – the remaining amount of sugar, raisins, peel, salt, cardamom, cinnamon and almonds.

Then the warm milk is taken, and into it is placed the saffron and the sugar-yoked beaten eggs and active yeast specially prepared. Now beaten whites of eggs are added.

Then the warm milk and its contents are slowly poured into the flour mixture. You might need a wee bit less or even more of milk – at this point it is hard to tell – it must not be too hard or soft, but easy to knead. When all the milk is put in, the kneading begins. The kneading proceeds until the dough easily falls off the hands of the cook and the utensil where it is kneaded.

As soon as this stage is reached, the dough is covered with a clean cloth and put near the stove to rise double its bulk.

While the Koolich is rising, prepare the tins to bake them in. Any kind of tins may be used, but it must be borne in mind that tow at least, representing Christ and the Church (if you are very ambitions and wish to increase the recipe, you can make 13 – Christ and the Apostles. These must be made higher than any others. For this, fruit juice tins could be used. The authentic size of a tin representing the Christ Bread should be 12” high and 6-8” wide.) The tin representing the Church should be 10” high and 5” wide. The rest of the Koolich can be baked in ordinary tins.

With the dough that is left over you can make the three letters P A X and use this as part of the center piece for the Easter table (Pax is Latin for Peace). The letters can be made by braiding the dough. Each letter is baked on a cookie sheet. All tins used for this bread are well greased.

Once the dough is in the tins, it is time to decorate them with blanched almonds that have been made ready. Before putting the breads in the oven, the top of them should be smeared either with melted butter or milk. That makes the baked laves shiny. The oven should be at 350 degrees, and the ordinary size tins should bake 1 hour. The tall ones should bake between 1 ¼ and 1 ½ hours, but it must be tested carefully to see if the dough is baked. You must be very watchful, as the tops of such reads burn easily. When the koolich breads are thoroughly baked, they are left to cool 24 hours. One can see immediately that baking time and preparation time begins Holy Thursday, so that by Holy Saturday everything is ready. When the 24 hours has elapsed, the top of the Koolich is further decorated with pink icing sugar, and white around the edges of the top. And dry icing sugar is sprinkled on them. The Christ Koolich and the Church Koolich are further decorated with an addition of a little cross on top, or a paper flower to make them stand out. They are then placed on the prettiest plates available, and are ready for serving.

Paska – represents the “Lamb of God”
For a family of four to six

2 lbs. of cottage cheese
½ lb. sugar
1/8 lb. of soft butter
3 eggs
1 cup raisins

Cottage cheese and sugar are well mixed first. Then the softened butter is added, and the mixture is beaten again. An electric beater can be used if available. The raisings and eggs are then added, and more mixing is done until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Flower pots with a hole of 1 ½ “ in diameter are washed with boiling water and lined with gauze. Enough gauze must be used to line the pot fully and leave a surplus of about 5” outside of the pot.

The mixture is then poured into the flower pots lined with gauze. An inch and a half must be left at the top of the pot. The extra sides of the gauze are folded over the mixture so that it is cover with gauze. Little flat pieces of wood are then placed on top of the gauze to serve as a foundation for stones, iron pieces or what is available to weigh down the mixture. These must not touch the sides of the form of the pot, or they will not do their job of pressing out the fluid of the Paska. The whole idea of weights is to get the water, and other liquid, out of the mixture so it will be a compact mass when served.

It is advisable to have the Paska done on Holy Thursday, so that the pressing or squeezing process can be done that night. I twill take all of that time to achieve the required results for Easter. Friday, around noon, a little more eight is added.

The ingenuity of the cook is required to see that the pots drain right. The post cannot stand on the floor, but must be placed on two pieces of wood with a big empty space between them, allowing the liquid to run off. Nothing may touch the hole from which that liquid comes out, or the Paska will be spoiled – being too liquidy or too mushy to stand up.

Before going to Mass, the weights are removed gently, the gauze opened, and the Paska, now hardened and having the shape of a flower pot, is put on a nice plate. A paper flower, or a cross, is put on top. It represents Christ the Lamb. Now it is ready for serving.

In Madonna House a special form, made of wood, has been prepared for the Paska. It consists of four sides slanted, with liturgical symbols carved into the inner sides (so that these will show on the completed Paska).

Eggs

Eggs, symbolizing Eternal Life, which Christ has given us by His death and Resurrection, are quite a wondrous part of the Easter meal. We hard-boil and dry them. And, when the eggs are completely dry, we polish them with a rag dipped slightly in butter. Then we place the eggs
on nice plates, lovely bowls or baskets. They add much to the decoration of the table.

It would be nice if you explained to the children the liturgical meaning of the bread as Christ and His Church, Paska, the Lamb of God, and the eggs, Eternal Life, which Christ gave through His death and Resurrection.

by Catherine Doherty

We are still so filled with the holy days of December that our minds cannot think of any other cooking but that of the past season.

So, if you are a recipe saver, here are a few for your next December-January file.

Epiphany Fruit Bread

Ingredients for setting yeast batter:
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 packages active dry yeast
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup melted butter

Ingredients for remainder:
1 cup seedless raisins
½ cup currants
1 – 8oz. jar diced candied mixed fruit
4 cups all purpose flour

Scald milk and stir in sugar and slat. When cook, add yeast which has been set and mix. Add all other ingredients in first part of recipe and beat until smooth. Then add the remaining ingredients one at a time and knead the dough lightly on floured surface. Let rise. In about two hours punch dough down, and divide into three parts. Shape each part into a crown – representing the crowns of the Wise Men, and in each part put one penny. (The member of the family who gets the penny must say a prayer for the others for the balance of the week.) After the bread is shaped, let it rise again, and bake in moderate oven (350 degree F) for 30-40minutes. They may be iced with confectioners sugar icing, if desired.

Vanocka – Braided Christmas Bread
From Czechoslavakia

1 ½ cups milk
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground mace
2 packages active dry yeast
3 cups flour
2 eggs slightly beaten

Remaining ingredients:
5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup butter
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1 cup seedless raisins
½ cup chopped blanched almonds
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons water

Set the yeast in warm water and a little sugar. Add the other ingredients listed in the first section. Sift the 5 cups flour in a bowl and cut in butter. Then stir down the yeast mixture and add lemon rind, raisins and almonds. Add yeast mixture to flour-butter mixture and beat well. Knead dough and let rise for about 2 hours. Then, divide the dough in half and divide one half into 3 equal portions.

Roll these into ropes 20 inches long. Let rest 15 minutes. Then braid very loosely. Seal ends; place on greased baking sheet. Next, divide remaining dough into 5 equal portions. Roll each into a slim rope 15 inches long. Loosely braid 3 ropes and place on top of larger braid; fasten with toothpicks.

Twist remaining 2 ropes and place on top of smaller braid; fasten with toothpicks. Cover and let rise for about 20 minutes. Beat egg yolks with tiny bit of water and brush on top. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

Delicious! Just try it!

Speculatius – St. Nicholas Spice Cookies
From Holland

1 c butter
1c lard
2c brown sugar
½ c sour cream
½ t baking soda
4t cinnamon
½ t nutmeg
½ t cloves
4 ½ c flour
½ c chopped nuts (optional)

Cream butter, lard and sugar – by hand with rubber spatula or with electric mixer. In separate bowl, combine spices, baking soda and flour.

Add sour cream to creamed mixture, alternately with dry mixture. Stir in the nuts. Knead dough into rolls. Wrap in wax paper and chill overnight. Roll dough very thin and cut into shape of good St. Nicholas himself. Bake 375 for 10 minutes, or until not quite golden.

On small slips of paper we write a message from the Bible for every member of the family and insert it in the right arm of St. Nicholas. We cook this slip of paper with the cookie. We decorate the cookie to look like St. Nicholas himself and write each person’s name on the cookie with frosting.

by Catherine Doherty

How much we miss in fun, taste, adventure, and economy in bypassing yeast-raised dough and all the wondrous things one can make with it!

For some unearthly reason the modern housewife considers yeast dough, and all that goes with it, first a mystery, secondly a chore. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is less a chore than many elaborate dishes, and there is no mystery attached to it nowadays, because of the new fast-raising yeasts and the perfectly timed electrical or gas ranges. In fact it is very simple to dazzle the family with many new variations on an old theme, and to bring into the modern home that good homey nostalgic smell of newly baked yeast dough, which sharpens appetites even before one sees the finished product itself!

Take a yeast-dough meat pie with rich gravy. Make it, say, for a family of four.

Two fast raising yeast envelopes (Fleishman is best)
½ cup of lukewarm water
2 teaspoons of granulated sugar

First stir sugar in lukewarm water until sugar is well dissolved. Then add yeast. Add by sprinkling. Don’t mix. Let stand ten minutes. In the meantime, heat 2 ¾ cups of milk (or water) to scalding temperature. Add ½ cup of granulated sugar, 1/3 cup of shortening or any other fat you prefer (or have on hand) and ¼ teaspoon of salt.

Mix yeast mixture with second mixture and work into this combined liquid 4 cups of sifted ordinary white flour. Beat well until dough is elastic and smooth. Add about 2 to 3 cups more of white sifted flour. Put on board and knead until flour is well mixed and dough soft and elastic again. It takes only a few minutes really.

Then put into greased dish and let rise until double its original size. Keep it in a warm place in your kitchen, away from drafts. Usually it will rise enough in an hour. Then take half of your dough. Flour table or bread board well and roll dough out with rolling pin. At first it will sort of stretch, and you may think you are not getting anywhere. Jest press harder on the rolling pin and make of the dough a nice square – big enough to fit into the baking pan you want for the occasion (you know your family’s appetites!) and enough to cover over. For what you have in mind is a meat pie, remember.

O.K. So you rolled your dough over. It is a nice good square of orderly shape. Now you take the meat. Best for this is leftovers of beef that have been ground through a machine, with two raw onions and then seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. (I add just a pinch of paprika and sage.)

Now you lay out this meat mixture on half of your square of rolled out dough. Then cover it with the other half, and pinch sides all around nicely. Put into greased baking dish and smear the top with some melted butter. Put into oven and bake at 300 degrees for one hour. Serve piping hot with the following gravy:

Four finely chopped onions, browned
1 can of celery soup
Salt, pepper, sage and paprika to taste

If this gravy is a wee bit too thick for you, add water.

Some dough may have remained. Make buns with it. Usually though, everyone asks for a second helping. That meat pie is good cold too, for school lunches.

Anywho I’ve been toying with the idea of trying again, especially since both the little ones will be in school in the fall three days a week. And I got a tip that’s a little bit of an inspiration this week. A friend of mine was doing a HUGE batch – eight loaves, two times over. She must have a huge freezer and a lot of energy, but what caught my attention was that after the dough’s first rising – as she was separating one very large pile of dough into individual loaves – she weighed each piece on a kitchen scale, lined with a small piece of wax paper.

I asked her why, and she says that it’s to ensure that every loaf bakes evenly. For her particular recipe that was all whole-wheat, she says that each loaf weighs two pounds. Eight loaves of equal weight helps her to be sure that nothing is wasted by being undercooked or burnt and helps manage such a large batch. Seems pure genius because anyone can do this with their own favorite bread recipe – as each might weigh slightly different. It’s also insurance for the times when little helpers are in the kitchen. Something I’ll always remember and hope is helpful for you.

4 ½ t yeast
½ c warm water

2 ½ c milk
½ c butter
2/3 c sugar
2 t salt

4 eggs
8-9 c flour

Dissolve yeast in water.

In medium saucepan, combine milk, butter, sugar, salt and heat until butter is just melted. Remove from heat.

In large mixing bowl, beat eggs with fork. Add yeast mixture. Add milk mixture. Add flour gradually and mix thoroughly. Do not knead.

Let rise until double. Punch down then roll out ½ dough at a time into large rectangle. Brush with melted butter and lots of cinnamon and sugar. Make jelly roll and slice. Rise another 30 to 40 minutes in greased pans. (I use 1 – 9×13 cake pan and 4 – 9″ round cake pans.) Bake 375 for 20 minutes or until brown on top.

Note: To mix the flour completely in, I find mixing with my hands works best at the end. You just want the dough to be smooth and not sticky, like any other bread dough before rising. It’s *almost* kneading, but not quite.

Powdered Milk Frosting

From Whole Foods for the Whole Family, the cookbook compiled by LaLeche League members.

It is perfect for the cinnamon rolls from ingredients you have around the house! I usually double this recipe when I make the buns and then any time I pull out one of the baggies from the freezer.

¼ c butter, softened
¼ c honey or any sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 c instant dry milk powder

Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer. Beat in milk and vanilla. Add dry milk powder and beat until light and fluffy. Chill and watch it melt on top of warm rolls. Yum! Can adjust amounts of milk, dry milk powder, and butter for different consistencies.

Note: I know that last sentence in the instructions is vague, but it is basically letting you know that you can fudge this one a little with no worries. Make it thinner, thicker, less butter, more butter – whatever your family enjoys.