Any Soviet and post-Soviet child remembers milk cake. They were given afternoon tea in the kindergarten, sold in the school cafeteria and in the department store on the way home. They were often brought by mother from work, they smelled sweetly of butter, sugar and very little - paper for the first printers. We loved them ourselves, and our kids will certainly fall in love with them: it remains only to recall the very recipe for milk cakes from childhood according to GOST.
Dessert from the Soviet Union
Soviet children were not spoiled for exquisite desserts: dried fruit compote, dried jelly, grandmother’s pies on holidays and a couple of caramels - this, perhaps, is the whole modest set of october or pioneer.
Tasty crusts from childhood appeared in Soviet canteens in the 60s. Round, gingerbread carved edges with a distinct smack of soda were sold all over the Union for 8 kopecks. Korzhiki were different: simple, with the remnants of flour on top; "glossy", covered with a thin layer of eggs; "sugar", sprinkled with caramelized sugar on top, and nut. The latter are better known in the regions, but in the capital it was more common to find sand rings with peanuts.
From catering - to houses and apartments
It would seem that GOST is practically a state secret, however, in the Soviet Union and harsh aunts-technologists there were children who were waiting for them in a round-the-clock nursery and kindergartens, and therefore the recipe was quickly distributed among Soviet hostesses.
And by the 80s, biscuits, as in childhood, were baked in almost every apartment. If possible, cheap margarine was replaced with oil, second-rate flour - with a premium product. Quality only benefited from this, but the soda aftertaste remained the same: either the Soviet housewives had a poor idea of the correct proportions for quenching the soda, or they did not pursue the goal of getting rid of the smell, but the children continued to fondly love this plain dessert.
Originally from a dining room, brought up in a family
Today, on the Internet and in all kinds of books devoted to Soviet cuisine, you can find hundreds of different recipes for pastries from childhood according to GOST, while they will differ not only in the ratio of ingredients, but also in general composition. Why did it happen if GOST was the only one in the whole country?
The answer is simple and lies on the surface. Each family replaced the ingredients in the main recipe and changed the proportions as they saw fit and in search of the perfect taste.
So, day after day, the recipe evolved and modified. However, is it possible today to find the very composition that captivated the Soviet people?
A recipe for shortbread from childhood with a photo
No matter how many variations of shortcakes you try, they have one thing in common: they are all made from flour, sugar, milk, butter, eggs and vanilla.
To prepare 10 pieces, take:
- 420 g of wheat flour;
- 100 ml of milk;
- 1 sachet of vanilla sugar;
- 1 egg
- 200 g of sugar;
- 100 g butter;
- 1/2 tsp baking powder.
Bring milk with sugar and vanilla to a boil. Sift flour and baking powder into a separate bowl. Beat the butter at room temperature thoroughly with a mixer, add the egg and continue stirring with the mixer until smooth. Pour milk syrup into the egg mixture. Pour flour with baking powder and quickly knead elastic, smooth dough.
Roll out a 6 mm thick layer and use molds or a glass to cut out shortcakes with a diameter of 7-10 cm. Lubricate finished products with whipped yolk and bake in an oven preheated to 210 degrees for 12 minutes. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack.
The same form
Remember, what form did those very shortbreads have, as in childhood? Neat, smooth rounded edges, somewhat reminiscent of a flower. Who and how invented this uncomplicated, but memorable form?
It is believed that the first shortcakes, which spread a little later throughout the Union, were first proposed by the technologist A. V. Postnov, who worked at one time in the famous dining room of the Gorky meat processing plant No. 1. It was he who considered it necessary to dilute the assortment of jam pies and muffled cupcakes with shortcrust pastry that remain relatively fresh for a long time.
The cook didn’t have any forms at hand, and therefore, to give his shortcakes a special look, he used ... ordinary tin cans for baskets with protein cream.
As subsequently developed a short life, history is silent, but the GOST recipe appeared already in 1960 in the book "Products from the test" by R. P. Kengis. Around that time, shortbreads entered the menu of all the USSR canteens.
Simple for 8 cents and sugar for 10
Simple crusts had a round shape and smelled strongly of milk, sometimes they were smeared with yolk, and then they were pleasantly glossy. Sometimes the yolk was not found, and the products were rough and powdered with flour.
Sugar “raw gingerbread” appeared at the same time as the usual ones - they were covered with a beaten egg and sprinkled with sugar, which was caramelized in the oven. Such shortbreads had a slightly elongated oval shape and fit well in the pocket of a school apron. Many girls of that time received scolding from mothers and grandmothers for crumbs and greasy stains from baking, but it was almost impossible to resist.
Raw gingerbread cookies of the Soviet era
In the Kengis book there were two whole recipes: ordinary dairy and sugar, sweet crusts. The second unofficially called raw gingerbread. Cooking both is not at all difficult.
For sugar cakes, as in childhood, take:
- 670 g of flour;
- 200 g of sugar;
- 50 g margarine;
- 5 g of vanillin;
- 3 g of soda;
- 160 ml of water;
- 7 g of baking powder.
Mix and knead the soft, pliable dough. Sprinkle it with flour and roll it to a thickness of 6-7 mm. Lubricate with vegetable oil and sprinkle generously with sugar. Walk on top with a regular or embossed rolling pin. Using curly cutting, cut out future gingerbread cookies and lay them out on baking paper. Bake at 200 degrees on an average level of 12-15 minutes. Ready gingerbread cookies need to be cooled on a lattice.
All-time baking
Time is running, epochs and power are changing, and tastes remain. According to GOST, dairy cakes from childhood are also included in modern official collections of recipes for schools and kindergartens.
Cooking with such recipes is the surest way to get exactly that nostalgic taste.
Ammonium or baking powder?
In most production recipes, you can find ammonium - one of the subspecies of the baking powder used in confectionery. It can also be found in stores - usually in glass or plastic packaging with a tight-fitting lid.
However, is it advisable to use ammonium in home baking? This baking powder is added to products with a moisture content of less than 5% - crackers, dry cookies or thin cake cakes. In other baked goods, such as biscuits or muffins, it can form life-threatening ammonia and make foods unsuitable for human consumption.
The baking powder itself should be stored in tightly closed sealed containers and added to the dough immediately before baking, since when it comes into contact with air, it forms ammonium bicarbonate - an extremely toxic substance.
The use of such a baking powder is justified only in industrial production, where the amount of ingredients is verified to a gram and an error is practically eliminated. In home baking, it is better to use regular soda and acid in the correct proportions.
For big and small
Remember, as a child, cake was laid on a glass of hot tea, and when it was time for dessert, it was already wet from steam and became a little wet, but still very tasty?
Both then and now, korzhiks will be pleasant both to children, and adults. Baking cooked at home can be safely given to kids, too: they will appreciate the delicate taste and softness. If you want to make GOST's shortcakes even more useful, then try cooking them with cottage cheese.
Take:
- 400 g of cottage cheese;
- 170 g of sugar;
- 2 eggs;
- 120 g of softened butter;
- 90 ml of serum;
- 400 g flour;
- 1 tsp soda.
Beat cottage cheese with butter, sugar, eggs and whey until smooth, partly add flour with baking powder, mix thoroughly after the next serving, and knead soft dough. Send it for half an hour in the refrigerator to "relax." Roll out a layer with a thickness of 6-7 mm, cut out future shortcakes, prick them with a fork and bake for 25 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees.
In the finished product, the taste of cottage cheese is almost not felt, and therefore even the most fastidious kids will gladly eat them for an afternoon snack. Korzhiki is convenient to take on the road or for a walk as a simple, satisfying and healthy snack. And adults can be slightly nostalgic for those times when the grass was greener and the sky was higher. Enjoy your meal!