Today, a note on flour types: White wheat flour comes in a wide variety, depending on the intended use. It's usually a blend of soft winter grain and the harder, more protein-rich summer grain. Each blend contains a specific amount of protein that, when mixed with water, creates gluten. "Cake flour" contains the lowest percentage of protein - 5% to 8%, "pastry flour" contains 8% to 9%, "all-purpose flour" is in the middle with 9% to 12%, and "bread flour" contains the highest - 12% to 13%. Bleaching flour is a process used to turn it from its fresh, natural yellowish colour to a nice eggshell white tinge. It also helps to develop the gluten. While flour can be "naturally" bleached by letting it age for 10 days, the process is usually "artificially" accomplished by adding flour bleaching agents.
I used this recipe for the hamantaschen:
- 2/3 cup pareve margarine or butter
- 1/2 cup sugarpurim quiz
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/2-3 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Dash of salt
2. Add the vanilla. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt until a ball of dough is formed (a food processor is excellent for this).
3. Chill for 2-3 hours, or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
5. Taking 1/4 of the dough, roll out on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut circles of dough with a drinking glass or round cookie-cutter. With your finger put water around the rim of the circle. Fill with 1 teaspoon poppy-seed or nut filling and fold into three-cornered cookies. (Press two sides together, and then fold the third side over and press the ends together.)
6. Bake on a well-greased cookie sheet 10-16 minutes, until the tops are golden."
Note: I used pastry flour.
My fillings:
1) Orange Marmalade (see previous post)
2) Sweet Azuki Paste (see previous post)
3) Walnuts and Honey - I toasted the walnuts, blended half of them to fine pieces, then mixed with honey until I got a nice paste.
They are tasty. The marmalade was a bit problematic, as it expanded greatly and oozed all over. The azuki paste worked well, a good combination of sweet and savory. The honey-walnut hamantaschen were also good, but maybe lacking a bit of moisture.