Today is Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday" or "my feast day", as I sometimes call it) so I spent much of last night making treats to celebrate the last day of bread-based indulgence. I'll still be baking during Lent, but there will be a lot more Multigrain Breads and very few caramel pecan cinnamon rolls.
I started out by mixing a batch of spudnut dough (donut dough with mashed potatoes added, and if you haven't tried it, put it on your "What I'll make After Lent" Pinterest board). While it was rising I made skillet cornbread, with whole corn kernels mixed in. We had corn for the vegetable at supper and there was a bit left over to use up. Besides, Abbot Philip prefers his cornbread that way, and anyone who has to bear the burden of being my religious superior deserves a little spoiling now and then. I have to say that it turned out perfectly---golden brown, darker and slightly crisp on the edges, tender in the middle.
I still had some time before donuts would be ready, so I made a batch of "Sunday Waffles" from an old Farm Journal bread book. They are perfect for Mardi Gras: only two cups of flour, but a whole cup of butter and four eggs! Pancakes and waffles were (and are) often served on Shrove Tuesday in order to use up butter and eggs before Lent, as in some countries and during certain periods, they were forbidden during the penitential season. I was mysterfied that they didn't get quite as poofy as usual, until I checked the package for the baking powder and discovered it had expired last year! Go check your baking powder, baking soda, and yeast packages right now, so you won't have any unpleasant surprises for your Easter baking. Yes, now---I'll wait.
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Before I began baking I ran over to the gym to rehearsal for the spring musical---one of my carpenter dads was bringing a window unit he made for us. There were some girls from my junior religion class, and I told them that I had all the ingredients for Fruit Poop (like Deer Poop Candy , but with white almond bark and Froot Loops) except the cereal, and that if they picked some up after rehearsal, I'd make some for their class to enjoy for Mardi Gras. After the cornbread and the waffles were finished, I started on the donuts, and they arrived with cerreal in hand just as the first test donut emerged from the fryer!
I started out by mixing a batch of spudnut dough (donut dough with mashed potatoes added, and if you haven't tried it, put it on your "What I'll make After Lent" Pinterest board). While it was rising I made skillet cornbread, with whole corn kernels mixed in. We had corn for the vegetable at supper and there was a bit left over to use up. Besides, Abbot Philip prefers his cornbread that way, and anyone who has to bear the burden of being my religious superior deserves a little spoiling now and then. I have to say that it turned out perfectly---golden brown, darker and slightly crisp on the edges, tender in the middle.
I still had some time before donuts would be ready, so I made a batch of "Sunday Waffles" from an old Farm Journal bread book. They are perfect for Mardi Gras: only two cups of flour, but a whole cup of butter and four eggs! Pancakes and waffles were (and are) often served on Shrove Tuesday in order to use up butter and eggs before Lent, as in some countries and during certain periods, they were forbidden during the penitential season. I was mysterfied that they didn't get quite as poofy as usual, until I checked the package for the baking powder and discovered it had expired last year! Go check your baking powder, baking soda, and yeast packages right now, so you won't have any unpleasant surprises for your Easter baking. Yes, now---I'll wait.
***********
Before I began baking I ran over to the gym to rehearsal for the spring musical---one of my carpenter dads was bringing a window unit he made for us. There were some girls from my junior religion class, and I told them that I had all the ingredients for Fruit Poop (like Deer Poop Candy , but with white almond bark and Froot Loops) except the cereal, and that if they picked some up after rehearsal, I'd make some for their class to enjoy for Mardi Gras. After the cornbread and the waffles were finished, I started on the donuts, and they arrived with cerreal in hand just as the first test donut emerged from the fryer!
My enthusiastic students helped me make a couple dozen donuts with chocolate hazelnut frosting on some and French vanilla glaze on the rest, with cinnamon sugar on the donut holes. They washed dishes, cleaned counters, put away ingredients. We laughed, talked about Lent, religion class, the musical, etc. They left a little after 10 p.m. (kinda late for a school night---ooops!) and I made the Fruit Poop and went to bed.
So why no photos? The "No Image Available" icon at the top of the page is not a mistake. Several times throughout the night I thought: I should go get my camera--this would look great on Facebook, or the school website. The breads, the happy kids, chocolate smeared on smiling faces. But I made a conscious choice just to experience and remember the moment, not merely to record it. I take pictures of my baking all the time---last night I chose simply to enjoy the company of my theatre kids.
We seem to have an obsession with keeping a record of memorable moments, to the point that we're so busy getting "The Shot" that we're missing the event. How many parents haven't watched a soccer game or recital except through the viewfinder of a camcorder or cell phone? This is not a new idea, and journalists, commentators and bloggers have made the same point, more eloquently than I can. But I have to say I never expected that problem to invade the monastery.
Fear not, Breadheads--I shall continue to document my culinary adventures, I'll still be posting pictures of my latest recipe testing or an especially fine example of an old favorite. I enjoy seeing posts and likes on Facebook and comments on the blog. But it's good for us all to remember to unplug from the social media machine every once in awhile, turn off the CoolPix or the iPhone, and just enjoy baking a memory.
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