Adventures in Kringles
Several weeks ago, my mom handed me a recipe and said, "make this!" Not one to turn my mother down I went after it whole heartedly.. and it turned into an unmitigated disaster.
I'll start off by saying, it was not my fault.
I've had exceptional luck with baking regular bread. And when I say exceptional, I mean it without a hint of humility. My mom has bragged that fact to anyone who will listen, which is astounding onto itself. That branched me into baguettes which were also a resounding success, followed by amazing dinner rolls. My mom claims to have terrible luck with any recipe involving yeast, which is why she gave me this recipe to make instead of attempting it herself. My grandmother had made it for her as a child and it held a special place in her heart, so of course I couldn't turn her down. When she was last in Wisconsin, she had my Grams dictate the recipe to her. When it fell into my hands, it was written on an index card in paragraph format with sparse instructions and obscure words like "cakes of yeast". After applying my google-fu I felt comfortable starting this newest endeavor in baking.
It was an epic failure. And I do mean... epic. The recipe said to let the dough sit overnight but when I checked it the next morning it was gooey on the top, crunchy on the bottom and all together slimy. I still attempted to use it, along with the filling recipe that was provided. That called to mix sugar and butter, which is then rolled up in the pastry and set to rise another hour before going in the oven. What resulted was a globby, and after it had baked, crunchy mess. While I swore off making this Kringle ever again, my mom bravely ate every bit of it. Bless her.
A few weeks ago, I was looking for a Sour Cream Coffee Cake (omg yum) recipe that was in an old Church Cookbook of my grandmother's, and right above it.. 'lo and behold, was the actual recipe for the Kringle. It was disguised under the name "Never Fail Coffee Cake". At my mother's behest, I tried again.. doing everything I could to prove the "Never Fail" wrong.
Aaaand, I succeeded.
That's where I found out the recipe actually only required two teaspoons of yeast whereas before I'd used six, needed to be refrigerated overnight, had twice as much flour, half the eggs, and the filling contained no butter whatsoever. After bravely attempting the gooey dough again, I put it in the fridge and waited, peeking occasionally to see if it was rising at all. When I rolled it out my mom commented that I was making it too thick, but this time I was following the instructions to the *LETTER*. I made the filling wrong, and that ended up too soupy to actually stay in the dough once it was rolled up. *eyeroll* For one of the kringles, I used jam instead of my mixture and that stayed together quite nicely but again, epic fail. I gamely tried a piece of this one and I'll admit it still tasted good, if it didn't actually look right.
So, long story...... less long, I am attempting it again tonight/tomorrow and this time it's not going to suck! Except I bought the wrong yeast last time and I've never used it before in this recipe. Like with other recipes I assumed I had to proof it, which activates it.. but I'm thinking now I didn't have to. Oh well. I'm giving myself five attempts, and after that I'm never making it again... ever.
I'll fill you in on the details of attempt number 3 tomorrow!
I'll start off by saying, it was not my fault.
I've had exceptional luck with baking regular bread. And when I say exceptional, I mean it without a hint of humility. My mom has bragged that fact to anyone who will listen, which is astounding onto itself. That branched me into baguettes which were also a resounding success, followed by amazing dinner rolls. My mom claims to have terrible luck with any recipe involving yeast, which is why she gave me this recipe to make instead of attempting it herself. My grandmother had made it for her as a child and it held a special place in her heart, so of course I couldn't turn her down. When she was last in Wisconsin, she had my Grams dictate the recipe to her. When it fell into my hands, it was written on an index card in paragraph format with sparse instructions and obscure words like "cakes of yeast". After applying my google-fu I felt comfortable starting this newest endeavor in baking.
It was an epic failure. And I do mean... epic. The recipe said to let the dough sit overnight but when I checked it the next morning it was gooey on the top, crunchy on the bottom and all together slimy. I still attempted to use it, along with the filling recipe that was provided. That called to mix sugar and butter, which is then rolled up in the pastry and set to rise another hour before going in the oven. What resulted was a globby, and after it had baked, crunchy mess. While I swore off making this Kringle ever again, my mom bravely ate every bit of it. Bless her.
A few weeks ago, I was looking for a Sour Cream Coffee Cake (omg yum) recipe that was in an old Church Cookbook of my grandmother's, and right above it.. 'lo and behold, was the actual recipe for the Kringle. It was disguised under the name "Never Fail Coffee Cake". At my mother's behest, I tried again.. doing everything I could to prove the "Never Fail" wrong.
Aaaand, I succeeded.
That's where I found out the recipe actually only required two teaspoons of yeast whereas before I'd used six, needed to be refrigerated overnight, had twice as much flour, half the eggs, and the filling contained no butter whatsoever. After bravely attempting the gooey dough again, I put it in the fridge and waited, peeking occasionally to see if it was rising at all. When I rolled it out my mom commented that I was making it too thick, but this time I was following the instructions to the *LETTER*. I made the filling wrong, and that ended up too soupy to actually stay in the dough once it was rolled up. *eyeroll* For one of the kringles, I used jam instead of my mixture and that stayed together quite nicely but again, epic fail. I gamely tried a piece of this one and I'll admit it still tasted good, if it didn't actually look right.
So, long story...... less long, I am attempting it again tonight/tomorrow and this time it's not going to suck! Except I bought the wrong yeast last time and I've never used it before in this recipe. Like with other recipes I assumed I had to proof it, which activates it.. but I'm thinking now I didn't have to. Oh well. I'm giving myself five attempts, and after that I'm never making it again... ever.
I'll fill you in on the details of attempt number 3 tomorrow!