" DON’T NEED NO MEASURIN’ CUP! "

I had the great pleasure of teaching a series of writing  classes through the Mirowitz Center in St. Louis. "Writing Your Own Family Food Fable" generated so many great ideas and I will feature the stories for the next few weeks on the blog. This week, a great piece written by Marilyn Brown . She creatively wrote it as a letter to her granddaughter, telling the story of of what she learned from her own grandmother. Enjoy reading!!!!

Marilyn and her Bubbie

 

Dearest Hannah,

I bet you think you have to measure ingredients in order to be a good baker, right?  Well, let me tell you about your great-grandmother (Bubbe).

She wasn’t much of a cook, although she really tried.  All meat had to be well-done…cooked to a black, charred mass.  And, of course, without much taste.

But, oh my, could she bake!  And she baked by “feel” not with measuring spoons or measuring cups. 

This ability to feel the dough really came in handy when my mother lost her focal vision due to ARMD.  She couldn’t see very well at all, so I would actually measure ingredients for komish bread.  Then she would knead the batter and roll out the strips to make those yummy treats.  I am so grateful to have been able to share this baking experience with her up to the end of her life.  And I think of her whenever I smell komish bread baking in my oven.

Another story for you, Hannah…one day I decided I really had to have Bubbe’s recipe for apple strudel.  So, the two of us took out all the ingredients – apples, nuts, flour, sugar, cinnamon, graham crackers, etc.  And then she got to work.

I insisted that she measure everything, so I could write down amounts and be able to duplicate the tasty treat in my own kitchen.  All went well…at first.  Bubbe was busy making the dough, measuring the flour, etc., just as I had asked.  And then I looked up from my note pad and saw her throwing a handful of flour into the bowl.  “Wait!” I cried, “how much more flour did you just add????”  

“I don’t know,” she sighed, “but the dough just didn’t feel right.”  Oh, boy, I thought.  Then I, too, felt the dough for future reference.  And, dear Hannah, it worked.  I can now make my mother’s wonderful apple strudel.  And I will pass down the written recipe to you.  But we will have to make apple strudel…and komish bread…together someday soon, so you can learn what “professional” strudel dough and komish bread batter feels like. 

 

Bubbe’s unwritten apple strudel recipe:

To make dough, mix this stuff into some kind of bowl…

Quite a bit of flour

Some oil (anything other than motor oil!)

Warm water…about twice as much as the oil

A bissel vinegar

Knead until dough feels right.

 

Roll out a clump of dough until it’s pretty thin…round or oval in shape.  Sprinkle the following onto the dough:

White raisins…at least a box

Graham cracker crumbs

Nuts

Cinnamon and sugar

Oil…put this onto the dough first

 

Filling:

A bunch of large apples, grated…and peeled…and cored

Maybe a cup of brown sugar

More flour

A bit of lemon juice

Another box or so of white raisins

More graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, nuts

 

Put some of the filling onto the end of a piece of dough…roll up.  Put roll onto a cookie sheet.  Brush with oil, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  Slit.

 

Bake in a warm oven until done.

Marilyn Brown