Pizze Fritte

Word of the Day

Schmuckspert - One who is considered an expert on clumsy or stupid people.

Woodtick Count of the Day - 42

HTP dug out an old recipe from his Grandma Z's recipe file that HTP had scanned into his computer. We've got a family reunion coming up and he's been remembering many of the foods that he enjoyed as a child. Pizze Fritte. Pizze Fritte is a kind of fried raised donut with raisins. Italian, of course. HTP remembers his Grandma's pizze fritte with great fondness. Unfortunately, her recipe, written in her own hand, isn't exactly clear on some things. Like...exactly how much flour does one need to use? She wrote that you keep adding flour until the dough isn't sticky. OK. I'll buy that. And engineer like HTP finds such lack of detail a bit crazy-making. And when something makes HTP crazy, he tends to try and make me crazy.

I told him that, judging from the amount of liquid in the recipe, the amount of flour that we needed would be approximately 8 cups. He doesn't like approximate. I won't go into the whole crazy-making episode of him trying to use his engineering skills to translate his Grandmother's recipe but I will tell you that I was ready to kosh him on the head a couple of times. He wanted to know how many pizze fritte that recipe made...his Grandma didn't say. Judging from the ingredients, I figured...LOTS. He wanted to know the exact temperature of the oil. He wanted to know how many ounces a package of yeast had in it...and how many teaspoons. Why? Some things you just know. He wouldn't believe me when I told him that there was approximately 2 tsp. of yeast per packet. I actually measured it one day. Three medium potatoes. Define medium. *sigh* You can't totally engineer cooking. I left him busily engineering as much as he could while I peeled the potatoes and got them boiling. The recipe called for three medium potatoes, boiled and mashed and a quart of potato water. That's a lot of liquid. I was close to the amount of flour needed in the recipe...but...we needed 10 + cups of flour. LOTS of flour.

My poor mixer couldn't handle the amount for this recipe. I ended up having to finish the mixing process on top of my counter. I suspect Grandma Z has a HUGE wooden bowl that she used for making this amount of dough. I actually had to split my final dough into two parts so it could rise until doubled. That horror flick, The Blob, came to mind. In the future, HTP and I will either have to half this recipe or find a HUGE bowl in which to make it. By the way, I thought my bowls WERE huge. Hah!

I ended up having to divide and conquer. I worked with half the now doubled blob at a time....working in the raisins and forming the donuts while the oil was getting hot. How hot? I tossed a tiny scrap of dough into the hot oil. It immediately sizzled to the surface. HTP would have to be satisfied with that. The oil was hot enough. Working as a team, HTP and I formed and fried up four dozen pizze fritte...and then I tackled the second blob. We ended up making 8 dozen pizze fritte. I'm thinking that HTP is going to have to engineer the recipe down to half. There's no way that we can or should eat 8 dozen pizze fritte....no matter how good they are. And they are...very good. I know this because we taste-tested. We had to make sure they tasted like the ones HTP's Grandma Z. made. Ours weren't as greasy. HTP thinks his Grandmother fried hers in lard. Ain't happening. All told, it took us five long hours to complete our task from peeling and boiling the potatoes until my counter top was clean and shiny again.

HTP took some of the pizze fritte with him today to take to his folks. He's going to be spending the day in the big city. Eye appointment.

Me? I've already eaten four pizze fritte this morning. Two before breakfast. Yummy....unfortunately. I'm going to have to give some of these pizze fritte to my folks and my sister. I still have to make some pizzelle for an upcoming family reunion this weekend but that'll have to wait until my window-washers are gone.

Window-washers? Yup. I've got window-washers here today. We'd planned to have them come earlier...in June...or even July but had to postpone. These guys come in from a big city over 1 1/2 hours from The Lake. The only way Sis and I can get them to come out this far is to arrange that they come to wash the windows for both of our houses at the same time. It isn't always easy to arrange a joint window-cleaning date for when both of us are available.

I wonder if we'll have Kamikaze birds attack the windows again this year. Last summer, after window-cleaning, I had a quail nearly break one of my freshly clean windows. Poor thing broke its neck. Dual-pane windows aren't all that easy to break.

Murphyism of the Day

The Clinic Principle

The longer you spend in the waiting room, the greater the likelihood that you will be sent to another room to begin waiting again.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.

- Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)