[Sca-cooks] Re: pie crusts

[Decker, Terry D.]

The original text of the recipe reads:

<<70>>
Ain torten von pflamen, sý seýen dir oder gren

Last sý vor sieden jn ainem wein vnd treibs dúrch vnnd
nim air, zimerrerlach, zúcker, laß bachen den taig zu der
torten, hept man also an, man nimpt 2 air vnnd erklopffts,
darnach riert ain mel daran, bis es dich wirt, schit jn darnach
aúff den disch vnnd arbait jn woll, bis er recht wirt, hernach
nempt ain wenig mer dan den halbtail vom taig vnnd
welglet ain blatz, so brait jr die torten haben welt, hernach
schit die pflamen daraúff vnnd welglet hernach den andern
blatz vnnd zerschneit jn, wie jr jn geren haben welt,
vnnd thiets oben jber die torten vnnd zwicklens woll
zúsamen vnnd lasts bachen, also macht man all tortentaig.


I think the key to the recipe is in the phrase:

"schit jn darnach aúff den disch vnnd arbait jn woll, bis er recht wirt"

which Valois Armstrong translates:

"Pour it on the table and work it well, until it is ready."

I would translate it:

"take it from the bowl and work it until it is right"

A slightly different meaning, but one I think better suited to the recipe.
The reason I choose to translate it this way is I think "schit" is a variant
of "scheiden," "to separate."  I don't have any of my German language texts
or the modern German translation of Welser at hand, so I may be very wrong
on this one.

On the practical side, I would probably follow Adamantius' advice and use
softer (cake) flour in the recipe, make the dough a dough rather than a
batter, try not to over work the dough (work it well, but only until it is
pie dough), and I might test the differences  with resting and not resting
(for about 30 minutes) the dough even though resting is not mentioned in the
recipe.

Bear


> One pie crust I've made this summer, well, had fits over is
> more accurate is
> the pie crust attached to the plum pie recipe in Sabina
> Welserin's cookbook:
> 70 a tart with plums, which can be dried or fresh
> Let them cook beforehand in wine and strain them and take
> eggs, cinnamon and
> sugar. Bake the dough for the tart. That is made like so:
> take two eggs and
> beat them. Afterwards stir flour therein until it becomes a
> thick dough.
> Pour it on the table and work it well, until it is ready.
> After that take
> somewhat more than half the dough and roll is into a flat
> cake as wide as
> you would have you tart. Afterwards pour the plums on it and
> roll out after
> that the other crust and cut it up, however you would like
> it, and it on top
> over the tart and press it together well and let it bake. So
> one makes the
> dough for a tart.
>
> So I took 2 large eggs and beat them. so good, so far. I
> slowly added a cup
> of flour, it wasn't really pourable after the 1/4 cup, but it
> didn't look
> like pie dough until 1 cup. Maybe I should have used only a
> 1/4 cup. Anyways
> most pie crust recipes need to handled as least as possible,
> but this said
> to work it well. After a brief knead, it began to look more
> like noodle
> dough than pie dough. It was not a lot, either, so I
> attempted to roll out
> the entire mess, er mass. The gluten was developed and so I
> could only roll
> it out to a 1/4 inch. sigh. Well, it wasn't enough for my
> smallest (8 in.)
> piepans, so I turned into a extra large plum turnover. After
> cooking, it was
> edible, barely, and tasted more like a bread than a pie crust.
>
> So, any advice or ideas before I try this one again?
>
> Beatrix of Tanet
> (the plums were really good, tho')