White, all-purpose flour. It's inexpensive, readily available, and foundational to a whole host of delicious foods. It's far from deeply nourishing, even with the trace amounts of nutrition the factory adds, but can a case be made for using more of it? I believe so, and I intend to make it.
Think of the foods that you buy most frequently. Not raw ingredients, mind, but finished foods. What comes to mind? For many, item one on that list would have to be bread. This includes sliced bread, hotdog and hamburger rolls, and Italian bread for spaghetti nights. Speaking of spaghetti nights, pasta is easily a close second to bread as far as regularly purchased staples of Americans. Including macaroni and cheese, egg noodles for soup, and of course spaghetti, pasta is a crucial part of even the most frugal of American diets (not to mention special occasion stuffed pastas like ravioli, pierogies and tortellini). We can't forget biscuits or their close relatives, scones and American style dumplings. And then there are snacks and desserts: cookies, brownies, cupcakes, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls. There are more exotic breads, like tortillas and pita and naan and other flatbreads, yeasted or not and with or without fillings. And there are amazing and delicious appetizers, like Asian dumplings and crab Rangoon and egg rolls, onion rings and fried mushrooms and … I feel like my point has been made. So here's the bottom line, folks: with all purpose flour, water, salt, and various other ingredients possibly including fat, yeast, eggs or sugar, you can create virtually all of these foods yourself.
There are a few basic techniques that every homemaker should know in order to stop buying flour products from the store. These include making a yeast bread, making a hot water dough, and making a basic batter. A yeast bread can be as simple and inexpensive as you choose to make it, and if you use enough liquid to make it just a little annoying to work with, it will shock you with how pleasant, springy and delicious its texture can be. A batter for frying will typically involve an egg and a liquid like water or milk, usually as much as 25%-50% more by volume than flour--That's what makes it a batter, not a dough. But the one I would like to focus on today is the hot water dough, because I've been surprised by how many delicious meals center upon this technique.
Hot Water Doughs: One Strong, One Soft
2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda (soft dough only)
1 tbsp. fat of choice (soft dough only)
1 1/2 cups hot water, or more as needed
mix flour and salt. If you're making a strong dough for a food that will be stuffed before cooking, omit the baking soda and fat; they are intended to make a soft, tender dough, so if you're making tortillas the baking soda and fat are not strictly necessary, but will give the cooked dough a tender texture that is very pleasant.
I generally heat water to boiling and have a measuring cup at the ready. I'm capable of guessing how much hot water to pour over the flour but pouring the water into the measuring cup allows it to cool slightly, which is preferable. After measuring, pour the hot water into the dough all at once, stirring quickly with a fork or spoon. If there's still a ton of dry flour after this addition you can drip a little more water in, but you'll be surprised how much will be hydrated in the initial vigorous stirring.
Once all the flour I moistened and hodls together in a ball, cover (I usually put a plate on top of the bowl) and let rest at least 5 minutes--half an hour is better. Then kneed it into a smooth dough. If you want to shape now go to the next step, or you can refrigerate it overnight (or ya know just leave it covered on the counter because who needs that much complication in life.)
When you're ready to shape, the first step is to divide the ball into pieces of the correct size for your project. Want six inch diameter tortillas? Make your balls a little bigger than a golf ball. Want burrito tortillas? Mind the size of your skillet, but make the balls about 1 3/4"-2" in diameter. For dumpling wrappers you're going to be making the balls a little smaller than a ping-pong ball. Or for wonton or egg roll wrappers, you'll just be rolling the dough out as thin as you can get it and cutting squares lf 3-5".
Time to start rolling. I've got a marble rolling pin, and it makes this so much easier: more weight in the rolling pin means less work for my back! So if you ever see one on special or have occasion to register for one for your wedding or baby shower, go for it. Even without one though, as long as you bear down on the dough you can get it good and thin. Use plenty of flour until you get a feel for how much you need, you can always brush some off if you have too much. This part is an inexact science; I tend to roll my tortillas a bit on the thin side (you want to be able to see light through them but not read the newspaper), whereas dumpling wrappers and especially wontons and eggrolls benefit from being as thin as is imaginable.
If you're stuffing your strong dough before cooking, add your fillings. For dumplings you're generally looking at a similar volume of stuffing as the amount of dough you started with, so if you made a 1" ball of dough, you're going to shoot for approximately a 1" ball of stuffing (I usually use about half ground pork and half combined finely chopped cabbage, carrot, green onion, plus some sesame seeds, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil). Then use your favorite method of cooking: you can steam them in a lightly greased steamer basket, or fry them in a skillet with the lid on, or use the traditional boil and brown method: 1-2 tbsp. hot fat in a skillet, add dumplings, add 1/4 cup water and put a lid on it for ten minutes; remove lid and boil until the water is gone, leaving the dumplings with incredibly pleasant, crispy bottoms. For a wonton, you're going to do approximately a tablespoon of cream cheese mixture (ratio of 1 cup cheese: 1 egg: 1-2 green onions, or if you're using crab, add a can of crab meat--plan to freeze half in that case). Fold and deep fry until they float and bubbling slows down, turning as necessary.
Your soft dough, on the other hand, simply gets rolled out as thin as you like and then plopped in a very lightly shined hot pan. Maybe a minute on one side, flip, a minute on that side, onto a plate lined with a towel; cover and get the next tortilla in a pan. Homemade tortillas are a cheat meal for me these days when I didn't make a plan to feed everyone. Want a way to serve some beans you've been saving? Or Spanish rice? Or pulled pork? All of the above? Wrap some hearty tortillas, add a smidge of cheese and some salsa. Don't think the seasonings are very Mexican? Add oregano, cumin, and a little lime juice: fixed. Want quesadillas? spread cheese on half the tortilla after you flip it; give it a second, then fold, press lightly, give it a second, flip, press, give it a second, cut with a pizza cutter, done. :) I usually do two pans at the same time unless I'm cooking a quesadilla just for me.
(That never happens.)
There will be occasional failures. Your first few batches of dumplings may well fall apart (tip--they're still very edible--you can even chop up the wrappers into fragmented "noodles" and add it all into a veggie stir fry.) Your wontons or egg rolls may pop open and make a mess in your frying oil (make sure to use plenty of water when gluing them shut), and your tortillas may not be the perfect thickness (though if almost doesn't matter--they always make good quesadillas). If you try to fully utilize your failures and learn from them, you'll be surprised how quickly it becomes habitual to make these foods from scratch.
So there you have it! If your stir fry dinners always make you wish you could afford to stop at the best of the three local takeout joints for dumplings and Rangoon, or if you find your addiction to quesadillas is forcing you to spend a dollar a week on flour tortillas, it's time to get out the tea kettle, rolling pin and flour and start experimenting!
Think of the foods that you buy most frequently. Not raw ingredients, mind, but finished foods. What comes to mind? For many, item one on that list would have to be bread. This includes sliced bread, hotdog and hamburger rolls, and Italian bread for spaghetti nights. Speaking of spaghetti nights, pasta is easily a close second to bread as far as regularly purchased staples of Americans. Including macaroni and cheese, egg noodles for soup, and of course spaghetti, pasta is a crucial part of even the most frugal of American diets (not to mention special occasion stuffed pastas like ravioli, pierogies and tortellini). We can't forget biscuits or their close relatives, scones and American style dumplings. And then there are snacks and desserts: cookies, brownies, cupcakes, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls. There are more exotic breads, like tortillas and pita and naan and other flatbreads, yeasted or not and with or without fillings. And there are amazing and delicious appetizers, like Asian dumplings and crab Rangoon and egg rolls, onion rings and fried mushrooms and … I feel like my point has been made. So here's the bottom line, folks: with all purpose flour, water, salt, and various other ingredients possibly including fat, yeast, eggs or sugar, you can create virtually all of these foods yourself.
There are a few basic techniques that every homemaker should know in order to stop buying flour products from the store. These include making a yeast bread, making a hot water dough, and making a basic batter. A yeast bread can be as simple and inexpensive as you choose to make it, and if you use enough liquid to make it just a little annoying to work with, it will shock you with how pleasant, springy and delicious its texture can be. A batter for frying will typically involve an egg and a liquid like water or milk, usually as much as 25%-50% more by volume than flour--That's what makes it a batter, not a dough. But the one I would like to focus on today is the hot water dough, because I've been surprised by how many delicious meals center upon this technique.
Hot Water Doughs: One Strong, One Soft
2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda (soft dough only)
1 tbsp. fat of choice (soft dough only)
1 1/2 cups hot water, or more as needed
mix flour and salt. If you're making a strong dough for a food that will be stuffed before cooking, omit the baking soda and fat; they are intended to make a soft, tender dough, so if you're making tortillas the baking soda and fat are not strictly necessary, but will give the cooked dough a tender texture that is very pleasant.
I generally heat water to boiling and have a measuring cup at the ready. I'm capable of guessing how much hot water to pour over the flour but pouring the water into the measuring cup allows it to cool slightly, which is preferable. After measuring, pour the hot water into the dough all at once, stirring quickly with a fork or spoon. If there's still a ton of dry flour after this addition you can drip a little more water in, but you'll be surprised how much will be hydrated in the initial vigorous stirring.
Once all the flour I moistened and hodls together in a ball, cover (I usually put a plate on top of the bowl) and let rest at least 5 minutes--half an hour is better. Then kneed it into a smooth dough. If you want to shape now go to the next step, or you can refrigerate it overnight (or ya know just leave it covered on the counter because who needs that much complication in life.)
When you're ready to shape, the first step is to divide the ball into pieces of the correct size for your project. Want six inch diameter tortillas? Make your balls a little bigger than a golf ball. Want burrito tortillas? Mind the size of your skillet, but make the balls about 1 3/4"-2" in diameter. For dumpling wrappers you're going to be making the balls a little smaller than a ping-pong ball. Or for wonton or egg roll wrappers, you'll just be rolling the dough out as thin as you can get it and cutting squares lf 3-5".
Time to start rolling. I've got a marble rolling pin, and it makes this so much easier: more weight in the rolling pin means less work for my back! So if you ever see one on special or have occasion to register for one for your wedding or baby shower, go for it. Even without one though, as long as you bear down on the dough you can get it good and thin. Use plenty of flour until you get a feel for how much you need, you can always brush some off if you have too much. This part is an inexact science; I tend to roll my tortillas a bit on the thin side (you want to be able to see light through them but not read the newspaper), whereas dumpling wrappers and especially wontons and eggrolls benefit from being as thin as is imaginable.
If you're stuffing your strong dough before cooking, add your fillings. For dumplings you're generally looking at a similar volume of stuffing as the amount of dough you started with, so if you made a 1" ball of dough, you're going to shoot for approximately a 1" ball of stuffing (I usually use about half ground pork and half combined finely chopped cabbage, carrot, green onion, plus some sesame seeds, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil). Then use your favorite method of cooking: you can steam them in a lightly greased steamer basket, or fry them in a skillet with the lid on, or use the traditional boil and brown method: 1-2 tbsp. hot fat in a skillet, add dumplings, add 1/4 cup water and put a lid on it for ten minutes; remove lid and boil until the water is gone, leaving the dumplings with incredibly pleasant, crispy bottoms. For a wonton, you're going to do approximately a tablespoon of cream cheese mixture (ratio of 1 cup cheese: 1 egg: 1-2 green onions, or if you're using crab, add a can of crab meat--plan to freeze half in that case). Fold and deep fry until they float and bubbling slows down, turning as necessary.
Your soft dough, on the other hand, simply gets rolled out as thin as you like and then plopped in a very lightly shined hot pan. Maybe a minute on one side, flip, a minute on that side, onto a plate lined with a towel; cover and get the next tortilla in a pan. Homemade tortillas are a cheat meal for me these days when I didn't make a plan to feed everyone. Want a way to serve some beans you've been saving? Or Spanish rice? Or pulled pork? All of the above? Wrap some hearty tortillas, add a smidge of cheese and some salsa. Don't think the seasonings are very Mexican? Add oregano, cumin, and a little lime juice: fixed. Want quesadillas? spread cheese on half the tortilla after you flip it; give it a second, then fold, press lightly, give it a second, flip, press, give it a second, cut with a pizza cutter, done. :) I usually do two pans at the same time unless I'm cooking a quesadilla just for me.
(That never happens.)
There will be occasional failures. Your first few batches of dumplings may well fall apart (tip--they're still very edible--you can even chop up the wrappers into fragmented "noodles" and add it all into a veggie stir fry.) Your wontons or egg rolls may pop open and make a mess in your frying oil (make sure to use plenty of water when gluing them shut), and your tortillas may not be the perfect thickness (though if almost doesn't matter--they always make good quesadillas). If you try to fully utilize your failures and learn from them, you'll be surprised how quickly it becomes habitual to make these foods from scratch.
So there you have it! If your stir fry dinners always make you wish you could afford to stop at the best of the three local takeout joints for dumplings and Rangoon, or if you find your addiction to quesadillas is forcing you to spend a dollar a week on flour tortillas, it's time to get out the tea kettle, rolling pin and flour and start experimenting!
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