It seems like Canadian cuisine is all about the different ways you can fry bread. I’ll take it easy on you for the rest of the week but we’ll go with one more to end the month.
If you’ve ever done any touristy stuff in Canada you probably have tried Beaver Tails. They’re especially good after a day of skating along the Rideau Canal, the longest outdoor skating rink in the world. With a nice hot chocolate. You can get them at fairs, too, and in the States (though they call them “elephant ears” there, what a silly name).
You can’t get them around here. The franchise hasn’t moved this far east yet. So I got the recipe from here, from a genius lady who has come up with her own form. It makes about 20 pastries, so feel free to halve it.
Start with your yeast. Mix a pinch of sugar with 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl and sprinkle 5 teaspoons active dry yeast. Let that sit for a few minutes until the yeast is all dissolved.
Add in 1 cup warm milk, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Then add 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and between 4 1/4 and 5 cups flour. You may need more or less, depending on the vagaries of the weather and whatever else is going on in your life.
Stir that baby up real good until you have a dense but pretty elastic dough.
Knead the dough on a floured surface until it’s not tacky anymore. This will take about 5-8 minutes or so.
Drop it in a greased bowl and cover it with a tea towel. Leave it in a warm place to rise for about 30-40 minutes.
Look it at. All nice and risen.
Punch that sucker down.
Pinch off a golf ball-sized hunk.
Flatten it out into an oval.
Plop those suckers on a tray and cover them with a tea towel while you heat your OYLE.
When your oil is hot enough to fizzle a pinch of flour, you can start yer fryin’.
Before you fry your ovals, stretch ‘em out a little so they look a little bit more like beaver tails.
Slide them in one end at a time. You can fry probably two at once, maybe two minutes per side.
Let them drain on paper towels and cool enough so they don’t burn your face off when you eat them.
Now you have a range of toppings to choose from of course.
How about chocolate hazelnut spread with bananas?
Bananas and honey?
Jam?
The Pie had himself some jam and peanut butter. And banana. He’s a fan of all three.
And of course my favourite: cinnamon sugar with lemon.
