I'm Doing Some Baking - Culinary Advice Needed

8/06/08

[Grammy]

I can tell you how to make a good pie crust. The trick is to *not* overwork it.

Start with cold butter and lard, and when you cut the fat into the flour (which I do by hand) make sure it has some large pea sized pieces. As you roll it out these smash and make a layer of fat. Then when you bake it that layer of fat melts and you have a flake.... as in flakey crust!

[Artemis Webb]

It IS available most everywhere and I should have made myself more clear. I lived in the south for several years, in Alabama and Georgia and what you say is correct about its availability.

Here in Missouri you can find it in most stores also. It’s just not commonly used though and as lard tends to go rancid faster than other oils I don’t trust what I see on the grocery store shelf. In fact I would probably be far more trusting of lard bought at a Mexican grocery store because I’m sure the product is rotated out faster.

Thanks for correcting me.

[DeLaVerdad]

Not sure about using lard either but I agree with you about Crisco

INGREDIENTS: SOYBEAN OIL, FULLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, PARTIALLY HUDROGENATED COTTONSEED AND SOYBEAN OILS, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, TBHQ AND CITRIC ACID (ANTIOXIDANTS).

I have never cooked with lard or Crisco when baking and no one has complained. Isn't there an all-natural alternative - why not just butter?

[dforest]

I guess that is what I do wrong. I try to pound out the big pieces.

Thanks. My grandmother made the best noodles from scratch.

Thing is, she had a hard time telling people how she did it.

Truth is? I haven’t had noodles like she made anytime after she died.

[dforest]

I meant to tell you, my grammas noodles were tender and somewhat translucent. How did she do this?

[Grammy]

The texture of baked goods depends on lots of things, like what kind of flour is used and what kind of liquid, levening, mixing means and cooking method.

Tender usually means that she worked quickly and didn’t give it a chance to build up gluten... which is like little sheets of rubber. Gluten is formed when flour is worked in the presence of liquids. Kneading bread is done to fully develop gluten. The gluten catches the CO2 emitted by yeast, so it is desirable in bread, but in things without levening, like noodles, or in other forms of levening, like quickbreads, gluten just means tough.

I don’t know what would make them somewhat translucent other than they were fresh, which tend to be more translucent than dried noodles are.

[numberonepal]

Soybean oil is your first red flag. Hydrogenated is your second. Hydrogenation extends shelf life and makes regular plant oil (fat) into trans-fats. Trans fats are cellular poison. Don't get me started on soy but I suggest you read this series of articles for a quick overview.

Butter has a tendency to become grainy after it has been melted unless it is again whipped. Butter can also separate or "break" if heated improperly or if it isn't agitated enough while cooking. There is a lot of air in butter blocks. When it is churned in is in effect whipped. Lard is not whipped and maintains its volume and consistency after it cools. Butter is great for crusts and certain breads (croissant for example).

For what it's worth your body is built to digest lard and not Crisco.

[DeLaVerdad]

Thanks for the great info - I enjoy talking nutrition and generally prefer a purist (natural versus processed ingredients) approach to cooking http://www.slowfood.com/ - what exactly is lard and where do you get it? Us urbanite folk don't use it often, at least not in my history.

I agree with you about soy and avoid it because it's a thyroid inhibitor ...

[numberonepal]

Lard is pig fat. It is usually in the same place as the Crisco.

[steveo]

When I make my pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I always use lard for the crust. I always get hugh raves about the crust. Don’t mess with the recipe.

[elkfersupper]

Quit fretting and use the lard.

I use a lot more lard than Crisco (none) and a lot more butter than margarine (none).

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The trans-fat change has reached Nabisco crackers, too. Tried a Triscuit lately ? They’re hard as a rock.

[Grammy]

I didn’t realize that! I guess since it doesn’t affect what I am working on I hadn’t paid attention.

I do know I haven’t had a decent french fry in years.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I called the 800 number on the box and the respondent explained Nabisco had gone trans-fat free and I wasn't the first to notice a change in taste. He offered me a coupon for another box of Triscuits (as if this was the solution to the problem.)

[Grammy]

Perhaps, one day, these companies will recognize that their sales have fallen. I wonder how many are smart enough to realize that it is from the drop of quality of their food?

[kalee]

I only use solid shortening when making ginger cookies and you are right, the new Crisco is awful. Lowe’s Foods Solid Shortening still has trans fats so it works. They haven’t make any changes so far. I probably should contact them and offer them to offer encoutagement so they will remain with the old formula.
Have you looked at store brands where you live?

[kalee]

Don;t forget to post the recipe. ;)

[Grammy]

When I discovered the crisis of formula change I went to Costco and bought out all they had of the old stuff. I have not yet run out of that, as I treat it like gold.

I have a different product that I will use for icing, and lard for pie crust. I guess the way my stash is running I will need to start looking soon.

[Kjirstje]

<< the very LEAST you could do is share the recipe :) >>

Tarnation—the very LEAST you could do now is send each one of us a loaf!