Beyond a doubt, the 99-Cent store is unsurpassed in pricing. I bought a couple of 30 oz. cans of Plums there last week, a buck apiece! Product of USA! Had to convince my wife I needed them, she cannot eat because of ultra-low carbs diet. Here's the product: One of the imponderables I've voiced recently about low-glycemic index, whole-grain pasta, un-cut grains other than wheat, have hung in there rather waveringly. My wife, and all the authorities state whole-grain flour should always be mixed with milled wheat flour, about 50-50. Being the ever-questioning rebel, I wanted to know why. "Won't rise if mixed with yeast" usually came up. So, here's the flour I used, 100% whole grain Rye, of all things! Here's the blob of whole-grain Rye dough, ready to await "rising". Will it? Maybe not much. Why not? Nobody answers that. I made a 1/4 size batch, knowing 1/2 was more than enough for two big kolaches! Ready to be rolled out into a circular flat piece, to be fitted into a pie-pan for baking. Here it is fitted into the pie-pan, about 3/8 inch thick all around. Note how dark the color of Rye dough is! The only ingredients are Rye flour, egg, sugar, nutmeg, milk, water, light Margarine, and yeast. Here are the plums in the pie-pan. I took the can's liquid, and boiled it down to about 1/2 it's volume, added a bit of starch, and made a compote to surround the plums in the kolach. The photo-save guy has lost the pic of the Kolach in the oven, with compote spread over. I hate having to be unable to complete my work here half-assedly, but, such is life in the computer lane. The Kolach is in the fridge. I'll describe it's acceptability tomorrow after sampling it with my morning coffee! Frank
Well, as a critic, I must be unbiased! It tastes pretty good! But, the plums being pre-cooked already in the can, make them a bit softer than my Grandma's were, as she used fresh fruit, which cooked in the "pie-shell" as it baked. I knew that kind-of, so added the plums and compote about 10 minutes before I deemed the crust "done". The Whole Wheat Rye flour actually did rise, more so on the bottom of the Kolach than the top edge, which is dry and crusty, but edible, even without coffee. Here's this morning's breakfast. Happy with it! Frank
Yum, that crust looks amazing. I love rye. I don't care for wheat, and it doesn't care for me, but I have been wanting to work with rye for a while now, and have a package in the house. I will have to look to see if Dollar Tree has large cans of fruit the next time I go by one. That's the only dollar store I frequent, because I don't care for the 'dollar' stores that have items costing up to $10 and even more. There's a .99c store south of here, but I won't get down there until I can get the car fixed. That finished product looks yummy. I wouldn't have thought of making a compote with the juice from the can, I'm impressed.
@Diane Lane The juice in the can amounted to 1 cup. It tasted slight tart, not extremely sweet, but of course had the sweetening ingredient dissolved in it, corn syrup. I boiled it just as it was out of the can, to about 1/2 Cup left, then added 2 teaspoons of corn starch dissolved in a bit of cold water, stirred it up until thick, and spooned it over the plums in the dough "shell". The fruit was more mushy soft than I would have liked, so I baked the dough all by itself until it seemed nearly done, then added the fruit and compote about 10 minutes before removing the whole works from the oven. Dough recipe calls for 350 degrees, I used 325. 30 minutes was all it needed. I think fresh fruit, being "crisper", would be preferable, and would "cook down" in the dough well for the entire baking time. I have no idea how to make compote, and my wife beforehand, when I sought advice, predicted poor results, but was reluctant to be entirely negative, as she has seen some of the strange concoctions I have put together successfully, using technical principals of Chemistry and Physics! I hope you can get the car fixed! Frank
I don't have enough experience with the variations between fresh, frozen and canned fruit to know which would work better. I tend to lean toward fresh when possible, then canned, since it's somewhat affordable. It seems frozen fruit prices have gone through the roof, so that's the one I use the least. I purchased some frozen fruit at the dollar store a while back, and definitely wasn't impressed, but then again, it was about 1/7th of the cost of what I'd pay at Kroger.