I have already told you - I have a consultant on "Soviet cuisine", a lady who received the profession of a cook in the USSR and worked in many places at that time? Her name is Aunt Zina, but, forgive me, I won't tell her surname.
It is interesting to read and listen to her memories of that period, or rather, about her work at that period - especially since, having been born in 43, he found many changes and perturbations ...
One of the stories is how she earned a cooperative apartment for several years "on pies".
- Then, after all, the UBHSS fought against the thugs? - I was amazed when I heard it for the first time.
- Tyuu! She replied. - There was no need to steal, peks, most importantly, but peks. Second salary, and even more in the season. Vacationers will come in large numbers - for pies there is a line near the beach, a little shorter than in the mausoleum.
In general, Aunt Zina got a job a couple of years after receiving her diploma in a small dining room of a resort town. Its peculiarity was that the stolovskie pies were sold out, and a man, a Jew, who was not yet old and very, apparently, nosy, worked as a seller of pies.
Having received the groceries that relied on the day for work, Aunt Zina set to work early in the morning. She put down the dough (with lamentations, what a bad flour and shitty yeast), danced around it like one of the teachers taught, and... got up to the table. What she honestly did not keep silent about - she did not send the pie preparations (when the dough was cut into pies) after the first batch (namely, the pies were taken from it for weighing) on the scales. It took a lot of time, so it is everything in size.
And so the day passed - she bakes pies, the seller periodically returns, refills her cart. In the evening he gave Aunt Zina three rubles - he said her share.
She is in a panic - as a share, I will not steal! And he grins - take it, he says, take it, earned it, the pies are good, lush, and more than according to the layout given to you, you should. The total weight of the sold pies is equal to the planned one, the proceeds for them are all surrendered, every penny, do not think about the rest.
To explain it roughly, the cook was given food - she has to make a hundred pies of these food. But if the dough is good, the flour is strong, the yeast is working, then the pies can be one hundred and twenty. They will be magnificent, in size - as it should be, but by weight, of course, they will let you down - but there you can write off the package, and not they found fault with the fluctuations in the weight of the products at the exit - either the flour will be brought in weak, then - damp... More filling will not be enough in such pies.
In general, Aunt Zina thought, and the next morning she came to work early. Because the more you dance around the test, the better it will come out. And you can make to work even almost hopelessly dead yeast, and even from weak flour you can get an airy dough.
-And how much more? - I asked.
- Well, against the established norm, in terms of the volume of the test, 15 percent was enough for me. There were craftswomen who baked a third more than it was supposed to. But there was already a risk, the fillings with gulkin... the buyers were indignant ...
And now the promised techniques that were used to make the dough come out airy and tasty, and there are more pies in quantity.
1. We dilute the yeast in water, at a temperature of at least 30 degrees and no more than forty. Dissolve a little sugar in the same water. If yeast is diluted in water with a temperature below 30 degrees, they may wake up, but they will grow very poorly. If it is above forty, it is also not very good, and if it is above 50, it will simply cook.
2. The ratio of flour and water is standard - 1 to 2. for 1 liter of water - two kilograms of flour.
3. It is not necessary to knead the dough, adding flour gradually. In public catering, this is not difficult to do - there the dough is kneaded in the machine. At home, first pour water into the container, add diluted yeast, salt, sugar (if it is in the recipe) into it, and that's all - flour. Stir to avoid lumps - left for half an hour. During this time, gluten will develop as it should, without tiresome kneading.
In public catering, it looks something like this: stir, turn off the car. We waited twenty thirty minutes - they turned it on. At home, after half an hour, you need to knead the dough (a little) in a circular motion from the edge to the middle. The result is a dough of uniform structure.
At the same point - it is important that eggs and the fatty component, if any, interfere with the dough last. It is impossible for the fat to mix directly with the yeast - they will work worse.
4. In order for the pies to be soft and fluffy, you need two kneading and one proofing. The first kneading takes place after 45 minutes or an hour, while, if everything was done correctly, and the yeast began to work, the dough should already double in volume. Second workout - another hour. Then you can cut the mass into pies, and even sculpt them.
The main thing is that the proofing after that should be about an hour. And when this hour has passed - then in the butter or in the oven pies.
Bon Appetit!