SC - Poppa's mustard

[KallipygosRed@aol.com]

A while back, Lady Brighid posted the following recipe, which we have 
now tried out:

Source: Diego Granado, _Libro del arte de cozina_, 1599
Translation: Lady Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann)

PARA HAZER TORTILLON RELLENO -- To make a stuffed tortillon

Knead two pounds of the flower of the flour with six yolks of fresh 
eggs, and two ounces of rosewater, and one ounce of leaven diluted 
with tepid water, and four ounces of fresh cow's butter[3], or pork 
lard[3] which has no bad odor, and salt, and be stirring said dough 
for the space of half an hour, and make a thin leaf[4] or pastry[5] 
and anoint it with melted fat which should not be very hot, and cut 
the edges around, sprinkle the pastry with four ounces of sugar, and 
one ounce of cinnamon, and then have a pound of small raisins of 
Corinth, which have been given a boil in wine, and a pound of dates 
cooked in the same wine, and cut small, and all of the said things 
should be mixed together with sugar, cinnamon, and cloves, and 
nutmeg, and put the said mixture spread over the pastry with some 
morsels of cow's butter, and beginning with the long end of the 
pastry, roll it upwards, taking care not to break the dough, and this 
tortillon or roll must not be rolled more than three turns, so that 
it will cook better, and it does not have to go very tight.  Anoint 
it on top with fat, not very hot.  It will begin to twist by itself 
at one end which is not very closed[6], in such a manner that it 
becomes like a snail.  Have the pie pan ready with a pastry of the 
same dough[7], somewhat fatty, anointed with melted fat, and put the 
tortillon lightly upon it without pressing it, and make it cook in 
the oven, or under a large earthen pot with temperate fire, tending 
it from time to time by anointing it with melted cow's butter, and 
being almost cooked, put sugar on top, and rosewater, and serve it 
hot.  The pie pan in which you cook the tortillones must be wide, and 
must have very low edges.

Translator's notes:
...[3] Both of these phrases use the same noun: "manteca".  This can 
mean either butter or lard.  I have translated "manteca de vaca" as 
cow’s butter, "manteca de puerco" as pork lard, and undifferentiated 
"manteca" as fat.
[4] "Ojuela" -- literally, small leaf
[5] "ojaldre" (sometimes spelt hojaldre).  Its etymology is also from 
"hoja" (leaf).  The modern definition is puff-pastry.  The recipes I 
have seen for pies made with ojaldre call for a rich unleavened dough 
with eggs and fat, about half a finger thick .  It’s coated with 
melted fat, rolled into a cylinder the thickness of an arm, then 
sliced into pieces two fingers thick.  (Presumably these slices are 
then rolled out, though the recipe doesn't specify.)  It's basted 
with melted fat during baking, the better to separate into leaves. 
("Ojaldrar", one of those verbs which require a sentence to translate 
properly.)  Some recipes call for the base or top pastry of a pie to 
contain a certain number of ojaldres.  This tortillon recipe seems to 
say that the dough can either be just rolled out thinly, or it can be 
turned into a sort of ojaldre (though they are not normally leavened, 
AFAIK).  If the former, I don't think it is intended to be too thin, 
since the roll is only supposed to make three turns.
[6] I gather from this that one end *should* be tightly closed, 
leaving the other to expand into a snail-like trumpet.
[7] This pastry underneath seems to function as part of the pan, not 
part of the tortillon.  It appears in other recipes as well.  A 
non-stick cookie sheet might render it unnecessary.

My recipe (half the original):
dough:
3 1/2 c flour = 1 lb
1/4 c butter = 2 oz
3 egg yolks
2 T rose water = 1 oz
1 scant T dried yeast (1 package)
5/8 c lukewarm water
1 t salt

filling:
1/2 lb = 1 3/4 c currents
1/2 lb = 1 3/4 c chopped dates
1 1/2 c wine
2 T sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/8+ t nutmeg
1/16 t cloves

to use in making loaf:
1/4 c sugar
1/2 oz cinnamon (I need to measure how much volume this is)
1 T butter
~ 2 T melted butter
1/2 t rosewater
1/2 T sugar

Note that most of the quantities are specified in the original recipe.

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl; mix yeast with warm water, beat 
egg yolks with rosewater, melt 1/4 c butter. Make a well in the 
center of the flour and pour the liquids into it, stir together with 
a wooden spoon, then knead for half an hour (!). Let rise an hour and 
20 minutes. To prepare filling, bring wine to a boil, add currents 
and dates and let boil two minutes; drain and add 2 T sugar and 
spices. When dough has risen, pinch off about an eighth of it and 
spread it out flat in the bottom of a greased 8"x 8" pan; spread 1/2 
t melted butter over it. Spread the rest of the dough out on a 
floured board to a rectangle 8"x15" (I did 7"x 11" and it wasn't big 
enough), spread with 1 t melted butter, and sprinkle on 1/4 c sugar 
and 1/2 oz cinnamon. Spread the filling on top of that; dot with 1 T 
of butter in pieces. Roll up and pinch together to seal, so that the 
filling won't all ooze out. Put on top of the piece of dough in the 
pan and spread another 1 t of melted butter over the top. Let rise 
another 10 minutes or so and put in a pre-heated oven at 350. Bake 45 
minutes or so, taking out halfway through to spread with another 1 t 
melted butter. After 40 minutes baking, sprinkle with rosewater and 
sugar, then put back for another 5 minutes.

Comments: good.  Too much filling per amount of dough for my taste, 
but that's what the recipe says. The piece of dough it is put on 
becomes part of the loaf, rather than remaining behind in the pan. I 
rolled this up as I do cinnamon bread, and it didn't really fit the 
description: didn't twist by itself until it becomes like a snail; I 
can't make much sense of this. Anyone have any suggestions?

Next time: do full recipe; knead for less time and compare resulting 
texture to see if the full half hour is really necessary; try rolling 
from the side of the rectangle rather than the end to see if I can 
get it more snail-like that way--maybe roll tighter ("more closed") 
at one end than at the other. Get volume measure on cinnamon.

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook