How To Make Your Own Damn Tortilla: a Letter From Zach Sachs

"Hi Cassie,

So I guess the massive snow day were were cueing you up for was just
rescheduled for tomorrow. The schools are clearing their slates
already and I suppose we're all trying to figure out how to get in
trouble before the thing starts dumping down on us. California must be
miserable.

A flour tortilla is lard, flour, water and salt. So about three Tb of
fat, two cups of flour, a little shy of three-quarter cup of warm
water, two heavy pinches of kosher salt. Form a dough that is neither
slack and wet nor dry and crumbly. Knead briefly. Let rest one hour.
Divide the dough into balls — about 12–14 — they will fit familiarly,
a certain way cupped in the inside of your palm. Let them hang out for
ten minutes after they're formed and then, on a surface well-dusted
with flour, roll out the dolls with a pin (or, as I did for many
collegiate years, a wine bottle). Heat something flat over medium heat
and when it's gotten quite hot, cook em on each side until they're the
way you like it (Chris likes them covered with small brown dots like a
ripe banana, I prefer them at once doughy and charred, like a good
pizza). Keep them warm in a couple of towels.

If you roll them all out you can keep them in the fridge for a few
weeks, heating them up as you go along. My mom's favorite snack is a
warm, fresh tortilla with butter and honey. However. That particular
combination is just the sort of bright and easy midnight fix that I do
not possess the willpower to keep around. Fortunately, making other
people eat them all is usually not difficult. OK, your turn.

Bring back some sunshine for the rest of us,
Z"

breadhead: the adventures of

Do you ever get in over your head? I do. I also start things I can't finish, bite off more than I can chew, and have eyes that are bigger than my stomach. If you add all of these things together, you'll realize that I get into a lot (a lot a lot) of trouble pretty much all the time. So when I find myself in the MOST trouble; sitting precariously astride the absolute pinnacle of trouble-having, when I cannot possibly get into any more trouble, I will always conveniently quarantine myself by doing something that is time-consuming and keeps me tied to my apartment all day. I hate laundry, so the thinking-persons solution is bread-baking. I bake bread all day. "Sorry, can't come out. The dough is rising."

Rising.

Crusty Cornstalk Bread (c/o of Gourmet Magazine, RIP)

You Will Need:

1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast (from a 1/4-ounce package)
1 1/4 cups warm water (105–115°F), divided
1 tsp mild honey or sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoon stone-ground yellow cornmeal, divided

Equipment: a spray bottle filled with water (or your hands, dipped in water)

To Make:

Stir together yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and honey in a large bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)



Mix flour, salt, 1/2 cup cornmeal, and remaining cup warm water into yeast mixture with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until a soft dough forms. Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and knead, dusting surface and your hands with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is elastic and smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. Form dough into a ball.



Put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch down dough (do not knead) and fold into thirds like a letter (dough will be soft), then gently roll into a 12-inch-long log with lightly floured hands. Sprinkle a large baking sheet evenly with remaining 2 tablespoon cornmeal and put dough diagonally in center. Alternating sides, make 3-inch-long diagonal cuts, about 1 1/2 inches apart, into sides of log using kitchen shears (ends of cuts should not touch; maintain a center “stalk”). Gently pull apart cuts to stretch dough, forming rolls that are separate (about 1 1/2 inches apart) but connected to center stalk. Cover with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.







Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle. Set a pan of water on the bottom rung.

Spray rolls with water, then bake, spraying into oven 3 times in first 5 minutes of baking (to help form a crust), until golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer roll to a rack and cool at least 20 minutes.

packages that care & banana bread

(photo by Julia F.)

I know a girl named Julia and she takes care of me. In college, the front porch of her apartment would suffer the regular collisions of my bike tire as I catapulted myself through her front door and unceremoniously into the middle of whatever she was doing. She was a master of the "Oh Cassie" eye-roll-and-sigh combination.....you know the one. It was a simultaneous acceptance of and preparation for whatever disaster I was about to inadvertantly wreak upon the normal and manageable rhythm of her life. ( If you know me, you perform it on a twice a day basis at LEAST. )

But Julia was the best at it, so it goes without saying that I owe her one. She recently moved to Kansas City and I decided that I would craft her the ultimate-special-wonderful-care-package-of-joy. Inspiration came by way of the million years old Moosewood Cookbook that has been the cornerstone of my cooking since I was too small to even see above the countertop. I knew as soon as I saw this:



that i had found the magical, integral centerpiece to my care package. Oh, Moosewood. How I love thee.

Moosewood Cookbook Banana Bread

FIRST:

1.5 cups melted butter
1 3/4 cup brown sugar (or 1 1/2 cups honey)
4 eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Grated rind of 1 orange

TO MAKE: Beat these ingredients in large bowl, beginning with sugar or honey and butter, add eggs one-at-a-time. Add remaining ingredients, and beat until light in color.

NEXT:

2 cups whole wheat flower
2 cups white flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups well-mashed , ripe banana
soaked in
1 cup strong, black coffee

TO MAKE:

Add flour mixture and banana stuff alternately to the butter mixture, beginning
and ending with flour (flour-banana-flour-banana-flour). After each addition mix gently to combine, but do not beat
or otherwise overmix--this toughens and dries a cake. Add nuts and raisins last if you want them. Generously butter 2
loaf pans and sprinkle with sesame seeds (they'll stick to the butter). Divide batter and bake at 350 F. for 40-50
minutes or until done. Cool 10 minutes in the pan then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.