Fall in the South

Satsumas, are just coming into season.  This one I picked this morning.  They are much like Clementines but much larger.  Even though

they are a citrus, they have a very narrow growing window in the South they can reach best flavor.  The optimum location is just far enough north that they are not damaged by a heavy freeze.  Too far South and it is too warm to develop that wonderful sweet flavor.  They are mostly seedless but some of pollination comes from my Meyer Lemon tree so those Satsumas can have seeds.

Danish Braid

I have been working on a Danish dough recipe that would be easy for the average person to work with whether they have a mixer or not.  It is also important for the recipe to of a size that the average, home baker can work with in a timely manor.  I have a change I want to try then I will post the recipe.

Size wise I wanted the recipe to fit a pound of butter that comes in four sticks.  This gives a recipe that is large enough to make quite a few pastry items so you can store them in your freezer.

Danish Dough by Romina Rasmussen was my starting point.  She is quite well published and owner of
Les Madeleines in Salt lake city.  The changes I made were to accommodate an overnight cooler rise and a change to allow proper baked color without using an egg wash albeit you do lose the shine.  If you wanted to use Chief Rasmussen as is it is perfect without any changes.

http://www.les-madeleines.com/chef.html

I do take a single batch dough and make it two different laminated doughs.  This gives the home baker a size that is easy to work with as well as limits handling time which can detrimental to laminated dough.

Notice too the larger amounts of Cardamon which is balanced with a lemon zest.

Confederate Rose

I always thought the origin of the name Confederate Rose came from the flower color cycle.  It starts white representing the glory of the Confederate states rise then, it turns blood red, then dies.

These flowers are quite large. Maybe 6" across.

Banana Forming