Tag: vegetarian

Mom’s Dough Gods

When we kids were at home, Mom made dough gods almost every time she made bread. We devoured them hot from the pan coated with sugar and cinnamon. We thought they were better than doughnuts.

Some people call them dough gobs, but they were dough gods to us. I don’t know how they got that name, but they deserve it. They truly are a heavenly treat, despite the fact that they are one of the simplest foods you can make. Stir up some bread dough, let it rise an hour or so and fry it in any kind of cooking oil you have available. Mom used lard, shortening or vegetable oil, and her dough gods always turned out golden and tasty.

You don’t need a special dough. The recipe below makes a standard nine by five inch loaf of old-fashioned white bread or a batch of dough gods. Double the recipe and you can bake a loaf of bread along with the dough gods. There’s really no extra work to make both at the same time, so you get the loaf of bread as a bonus.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup milk
1 heaping tsp. active dry yeast (1/2 package)
1/2 cup water
1 T sugar
1 T butter
3/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 – 3 cups all-purpose flour
Oil to fry dough gods in
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

PROCEDURE:

As with all bread baking, start by scrubbing your hands well.

Put one-half cup warm water (90º to 110º) in a cup with a quarter teaspoon of sugar and stir in the yeast. While the yeast is proofing, warm the milk to about 110º and pour it into a large bowl. Stir in the salt and sugar. Melt the butter and add it to the milk.

Stir in the flour one cup at a time, beating thoroughly between additions. After you have stirred in the first cup, mix in the yeast. Continue adding flour one cup at a time until the dough becomes stiff and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Let the dough rest in the bowl for five minutes, then scrape it out onto a well-floured work surface with a spatula and use the spatula to turn the dough to coat it with flour before starting to knead it. Powder your hands with flour, and knead the dough until it is smooth and satiny, about four to five minutes.

If you have never kneaded dough, you should check out Wikihow.com for an excellent lesson on kneading or go to Thekitchn.com for a good video showing you how to do it. Actually, doing both is a good idea. Just go to the sites and use the search for “knead dough.”

Return the dough to a greased bowl, roll it to cover the surface lightly with grease, and cover the bowl with a damp towel. Put the bowl in a warm spot in the kitchen (I use the top of the refrigerator) and let the dough rise until it has doubled in bulk, usually an hour or a little more. Punch it down and knead it on a lightly floured work surface five or six strokes. Pat it down to about an inch thick and use a knife or baker’s scraper to divide the dough into twelve or fourteen pieces. Roll the pieces into balls about the size of walnuts and cover them with a damp towel.

Put the sugar into a shallow bowl or pie tin and mix in the cinnamon. Put some paper towels in a baking pan or on a plate to absorb any oil from the dough gods after they are fried.

Heat a quarter to half-inch of vegetable oil in a ten or twelve inch skillet over medium high heat. While the oil is heating pat some of the dough balls into circles about a quarter inch thick, then stretch them out even thinner.

Test to determine if the oil is hot enough by dropping a small piece of dough torn off from one of the bigger balls into the oil. It should brown on one side in about thirty seconds and finish in another thirty seconds on the other side.

Put two dough gods into the oil, let them fry for about a minute, then using tongs or a slotted spoon, turn them over to finish cooking. If the first one is not golden brown when you turn it, just turn it back for a few more seconds and raise the heat a little.

When both sides are golden brown, take the dough gods from the oil and let them drain while you put the next pair into the pan. Dredge the two you just cooked in the cinnamon sugar and put them on a plate.

Enjoy!

NOTES: Dough gods are best eaten warm, and a couple of kids can keep up with the pan, at least for the first four or five dough gods. You can omit the cinnamon and even the sugar if you want.

I think that Mom used tongs to handle the dough gods, but I have a faint recollection of her using a cooking fork. Just be careful not to splash any hot oil on eager hands snatching dough gods from the plate.

And finally, I found a couple of recipes on the Web that called for frozen bread dough (thawed and allowed to rise of course). I would never use it, but perhaps I am a Luddite in the kitchen.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

As I have written elsewhere, my family ate lots of potatoes. If not at every meal, we had them almost every day—in soups, stews, pot roasts, pancakes, bread and salads or by themselves boiled, fried, scalloped or mashed. I like them just about any way they can be prepared, but mashed is probably my favorite.

Mashed potatoes are so easy to make that I wonder why people buy instant mashed potatoes. If you don’t want to take the time to peel them, buy thin-skinned varieties such as Yukon Golds or baby red potatoes and scrub them with a vegetable brush before you cook them.

Some of the finest restaurants I know make a point of explaining that their mashed potatoes are made with the skins on with all the nutrients and fiber that God intended potatoes to have. So if you want to treat your family and guests to a truly elegant dinner, serve them mashed potatoes textured with pieces of peel. Of course, be ready for a puzzled “What’s this?” from a four year old studying something that he thinks fell into the pot before you mashed the potatoes.

Here is how to get creamy mashed potatoes every time.

INGREDIENTS:

Potatoes
Water
Salt
Butter
Half and Half
White pepper

PROCEDURE:

Assuming that you are using russet or Idaho potatoes, two of the best varieties for mashing, peel enough for the number of servings you need—usually one medium potato for each serving. Cut them into quarters and put them into a saucepan. Cover the potatoes with water, add a teaspoon of salt and bring them to a boil. Cook them for fifteen to twenty minutes until they are just fork tender, not falling apart, Drain them and leave them in the warm pan. If you are making only two servings, use a half teaspoon of salt.

While the potatoes are cooking, put a tablespoon of butter plus a tablespoon of half and half for each potato into a small pan or microwavable dish. Heat the mixture until the butter is melted.

Working quickly, mash the potatoes in the pan, pour the half and half and butter over them, add dashes of salt and white pepper and stir with the masher until you have a smooth fluffy mixture with no lumps. If necessary add a little extra half and half to the potatoes. You want them creamy, not hard and dry.

NOTES: If you want to be fancy, garnish your bowl of mashed potatoes with a couple sprigs of parsley or a dash of paprika. Parsley resting on hot mashed potatoes does contribute a nice fragrance.

Mom used to finish the bowl with a pat or two of butter on top, but I just mash enough into the potatoes. That way I avoid the lectures about excessive butter consumption from people who tell me that my mashed potatoes are better than theirs.

If you use unsalted butter, you may need a little more salt. As usual, taste and adjust the seasoning.