Brown Sugar
1 cup white sugar
1-2 tbsp black strap molasses
    YEP!! It’s that simple!!

I’m sure most of you have had your brown sugar get hard as a rock. I found this very simple gadget that elimates all that hassles:

This is a “Brown Sugar Saver”. It’s made of terra cotta and all you do is soak it in water for about 20 minutes. Then you put it in your jar or bag. That’s it. That water keeps the sugar moist but doesn’t make it wet. It keeps the sugar soft for about 3 months.

     Why it took me almost a year to get back, I’ll never quite know. It’s not like I hadn’t been near there. I had been to Lexington Co op and Guercio’s more times than I can count.  This particular trip had me in search of Thai Pink Egg Tomato seeds from Richard Price’s Faerie Garden Seeds. Lexington co op had run out, so off to Urban Roots I went.
     I was greeted by the intoxicating scent of cinnamon rolls as I entered the store. After making my seed purchase, I followed the pied piper over to Five Points Bakery.
     Behind the counter, Melissa Gardner was carefully bagging a customer’s purchase of multi grain bread. Behind her, Kevin (Melissa’s husband) was rotating willow rising baskets with more of the same. Sunshine streamed in through the front glass, lighting up the rows of canning jars on the shelves.
     While Five Points Bakery is named after the five point intersection of Rhode Island, West Utica and Brayton streets, I (of course!) felt it was a sign from the goddess. The five points of the pentacle symbolize the five elements: earth, air, fire, water and spirit. In item that is baked at Five Points, you can literally taste them. From the earth the local wheat is grown in to the wind that carries the bees for the honey. From the fire of the ovens, not to mention the sun that warms the earth, to the rain that nourishes the seedlings. Most important is the spirit that goes into the labor. How much more spirit can you put into a loaf of bread than the energy of two people actually milling the flour right there, right in the store? The Gardner’s actually have a Samap natural stone mill.
     Almost all of the ingredients for the Gardner’s offerings are locally sourced.  Five Points buys their wheat from growers in Hamburg, Hunt and Kendell NY. Eggs come in from Colden, butter from Moravia, veggies from good ol’ Alden. The greatest thing about shopping at Five Points is that you don’t have to ask or guess about the origins of the offerings. You know that everything is either local or fair trade. Back to that shelf of canning jars: contained within vintage glass top jars are oats, beans and homemade brown sugar to name just a few things. I buy a lot of canning jars at yard sales or thrift stores. Over the years I hard amassed a few dozen glass tops. I brought them with me my next trip. Kevin and Melissa charge a small deposit for the jars, but a fair amount don’t make it back. It felt good to give them a home. The cinnamon rolls Melissa gave me in return were an unexpected, but delightful treat.

     Five Points offers “shares” of bread. You can subscribe for a full year or per quarter. What you get is a weekly care package of selected items. If you cannot get into the city on a weekly basis, or if you think you just cannot eat that many baked goods, just stop in and pick up a loaf (or two, or three!). While you are there, check out the cooler. Inside you will find locally raised beef, pasture raised eggs and milk that actually has the cream on top. Trust me, it’s worth the trip! 

 Five points Bakery                                                                                          
 426 Rhode Island St
 Buffalo NY 14213
 716-884-8888

       Bread is truly a spiritual experience. Many cultures break bread as a symbol of friendship. Prayers state “give us this day our daily bread”.
      I consider myself a bread snob. I say this with pride, not a crumb of shame. I grew up on Wonder bread. Lifeless, hardly filling, no flavour at all to it. The label bragged of all the vitamins and minerals contained within the brightly coloured package. I never could quite figure out how it was good for you.
      On occasion, my mother would buy Rich’s frozen bread dough. She would thaw, rise and bake a loaf on a cold winter day. We have a lot of those in Buffalo. You’d have to wait until it cooled enough to slice, otherwise it (a lot like the Wonderbread) would mush into a tiny ball. I was happy to rip off a chunk and cover it in butter, the hotter the better. While I enjoyed that fresh baked bread, I still felt a lacking. Why was it that it didn’t quite fill me up? Why did it not taste like anything until you covered it with jam?
      We had a neighbor who had come to the US from Poland. Mrs. Moulgilski was a tiny woman. If she stood 4 ½ ft, I would be surprised. I often wondered if she had always been small, or if over her 90 some odd years, gravity and a hard life had helped that along. Mrs. Moulgilski baked bread. I mean she REALLY baked bread. That little old woman bashed and kneaded and pulled strange black dough. She beat it into submission, fashioning it into loaves and baking it in an oven you had to light with a match. She would bring some over to my grandmother when they shared a weekly cup of coffee. I was always afraid of that bread. Why on earth did she have to treat it so harsh to make it edible? One day I decided to brave the unknown and try it. The beast would not easily cut, not tear. Rather it had to be sawed with that large knife Nana kept in a special spot of the tableware drawer. I gingerly put a piece in my mouth, very quickly reverting to an animal like state, ripping it and chewing like I had not eaten in a month. It was, indeed a spiritual experience. A lowly peasant loaf had awakened my senses. Such was the beginning of my love affair with pumpernickel.
     Over the years I have made many a loaf. I have tried just about every flour found in the grocery aisle. I have grabbed up pouches of unheard of grains from the health food store like a pirate raids a treasure. Some combinations were noteworthy, others became bird feed.
    I have traveled to many cities around the US. In each, I have sought out the signature style of that staff of life known as bread. Little did I know that I would end my quest for the perfect loaf right in my old back yard: Five Points Bakery, Buffalo NY.

  Other items that may make canning easier for you are magnetic jar lifters, a funnel, nonmetallic spatula, and specially designed, non-metallic jar-lifters. You can improvise these things as well, just make sure you are using non-metallic utensils as metal can react to some of the ingredients and cause an off taste.

  The most important part of canning is the lid. Most home canning lids come in two pieces: a screw-top band and a flat metal lid with a sealing compound along the rim. The screw band holds the lid in place during the heat-processing, but it is the flat metal lid with sealing compound that actually preserves the freshness of your food. When screwing your lid down, it is important to not screw it too tightly. It should be tightened only using hands, not over-tightened. Do not reuse any lids, only the bands! It is not worth the risk of spoiled food if it doesn’t reseal right. Who wants to spend all your time and energy only to skimp out and possibly ruin your food?
  In order to properly sterilize your jars, you must heat them  in a large, deep pan filled with water at least three inches deeper than the height of the jars. I just use kitchen sink to do this. I fill the sink with boiling water (stove heated, not right from the tap). In a separate sauce pan, simmer the flat lids. You do not need to heat the screw bands. You can do this as you prepare your recipe . Once you are ready to place your food into your jars, you will fill the jars one at a time.
  Pull your jar out of the water and empty the jar into your simmering pan. It is recommended to not dry your jar. Fill your jar, leaving the recommended amount of head space (space between the lid and your food) as per your recipe. Usually this is 1/4 inch.  Make sure you release the air bubbles using some kind of non-metallic cooking utensil, then wipe down the rim of your jar. Removing food particles before attempting to lid the jar is extremely important as food residue can spoil your jar. I will prohibit it from sealing properly. Take a hot lid from your water dish (use a magnetic lid-retriever, if you have one) and center it on your jar. Screw the band down evenly and move on to the next jar. When all jars are filled, you will boil the filled jars for at least 10 minutes in a covered pan. Follow the processing instructions of your recipe, it will have the specifics. After the specified time, remove the jars from the pot. Don’t tilt them as the rubber sealing compound may not have set yet, and let them cool in a draft-free location for 24 hours.
  When you check your seals the next day, make sure the lids are concave and do not move when pressed. You may leave the screw bands on the jars or take them off, but they are not needed in order for your jars to remain sealed. Canned food should be stored in a cool, dry and dark place, such as a pantry.
  OK! So that’s the basics of canning high acid foods in a Water Bath. Who’s ready for strawberry jam?

 I know, I know! Corny old joke, but I couldn’t resist!!!
   So, why would you want to can your own food?  There are many reasons. My main reasons are that I know exactly what is in my food.  I know that if I can my tomatoes, there are tomatoes, water and maybe salt. Strawberry Jam? Strawberries, sugar (or honey), water. If you have grown your own produce, you also know what kind of fertilzers have been used. I have to be honest that sometimes I don’t think I save money. That really doesn’t phase me. I like knowing that this is something I have done myself. It can be a form of therapy. The process of slicing, dicing, grinding crushing…… a great way to work out the day’s frustrations. It also gives me time to clear my head and think about nothing else but the task at hand.  My family sometimes jokes that they can tell how depressed I am by the amount of jars of jam in the cupboard!
  There are alot of times I go a little nuts at the farmer’s market. If I see a good deal, I have to make the most of it. Canning is a way of making that deal last the whole year. I also enjoy foraging for berries. Last year I picked (no joke!) about 10lbs of black raspberries for free at a public access land. Black raspberries sell for around $7.00 a pint in my area, so you can see what I saved. Because I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do with all my found treasure, I froze the whole lot in ziploc bags. You can absolutely make jam from frozen fruit. Same with my tomatoes. Even with determinate strains, you may not have enough to process right away. Pop them in the freezer until you have enough! You will be surprised at how the skins slip right off.
  Anyone want to dance the can can?

  For those of you who are truly traditional, here is Aunt Hattie’s Pączki recipe. Feel free to make it your own and use any type of jam or jelly, but raspberry is the most traditional. Raspberries grow pretty much anywhere. Even the poorest citizen can find them in a field. It didn’t (and doesn’t!) take much to turn them into a royal treat of homemade jam. I will warn you ahead of time, this recipe makes ALOT of doughnuts: @ 4 dozen. You can guess why I don’t make it that often. I have tried unsuccessfully to reduce the recipe in size, but it just hasn’t worked out. Results were inconsistent. Since you will have so much dough, most household stand mixers won’t accommodate this batch. My own 12 qt mixing bowl barely holds it, and I use that for hand mixing. My suggestion is to make them for a party or bake sale. 5am looks better every time is go to make them!!!!

Sponge
  In a large bowl, dissolve 3/4 oz of yeast in 1/4c of warm water. Add to this 1/2 qt of room temp milk and 3 c flour. Let this sit at room temp until bubbly, about 1/2 hr.
  While your sponge is bubbling away, in another bowl combine:
  1/2 quart warm milk
1/4 lb butter
2 tbsp shortening
1/2 c sugar
2 tbsp whiskey

Mix these ingredients into the sponge. Add to it:
6 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
9 c flour
2 tbsp shortening
1/2 c sugar

    With a wooden spoon, mix everything together until you have a smooth dough. Your arm is pretty much going to feel going to fall off LOL! Cover bowl with plastic wrap (Aunt Hattie used a towel) and let the dough rise until it id doubled in size. Then, pull off pieces about the size of a small apple (golf ball) and roll into balls. Feel free to use more flour to keep the dough from being sticky.  
    Place the balls on a well oiled cookie sheet and let rise until doubled in size. This will take @ 1/2- 3/4 hr.
    When risen, fry the dough balls in a deep pan filled with “lard” (vegetable shortening is a good choice). They should be light to golden brown on both sides.
    Drain on paper towels or a brown paper grocery bag. When they are cool enough to handle, use a pastry bag to fill them with raspberry jelly.
    Eat them as they are or roll them in some granulated or powdered sugar. Glaze is also nice drizzled on them, but quite messy. 

  ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!