Hello, Caroline. Cooking and baking been one of my things since I was a child. My dad walked me through my first baking project, a cake made from a mix, when I was ten. I was twelve, when I made my first apple pie, all on my own. My mom wasn't home at the time. She was astonished, when she walked in and discovered me taking a beautiful apple pie from the oven. This recipe was given to me by a Canadian friend. It was his grandmother's recipe. It makes a lovely presentation, and is inexpensive as company fare. It is a ground pork and onion dinner pie. TOURTIERE Pastry (I really like this pastry) 2 cups white flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2-1 tsp. salt (depending on your taste for salt) 1/3 cup butter 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 1/3-1/2 cup cold water l tablespoon vinegar Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Work in the butter and shortening with a pastry cutter. If you don't have a pastry cutter, you can use your fingers. Combine water and vinegar, then lightly stir them into the flour. Sprinkle your dough with flour, then knead it for one minute Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic, and chill for 30 minutes or more. To use, roll out each half of your dough, separately, on floured board and cut to fit the size of your pie plate. (Invert your plate over the rolled dough and cut two circles an inch larger in diameter.) I use a 9" pie plate. Meat filling: 1-3/4s pounds ground pork 2 medium onoins, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 cup water 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. dry mustard 3/4s tsp. sage or savory 1/2 tsp. thyme 1/4 tsp. black pepper 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg 1-1/2 tablesppons white flour egg glaze: 1 egg white, slightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water. Cook ground pork in a large frying pan until it loses pink color. Push meat to the side, or temporarily remove from pan, so you can saute onion and garlic. Drain off fat. Add water, salt, mustard and seasonings to combined meat, onion and garlic mixture. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with your 1-1/2 tablespoons of flour, sift it first so it won't lump up, and simmer for about 3 minutes until mixture thickens a bit. Fill your pastry lined pie plate with meat mixture. Cover top with your extra sheet of pastry. Flute/seal edges, cut three 1" steam slits across the top, and brush egg glaze over the top so that it will brown nicely. Bake at 400 degrees (F) for 20 minutes, until browned. Allow to cool for about ten minutes before serving. Sometimes I add some chopped mushrooms to the mix. Lorna

Great information already posted... Here's an expanded version. Flour 101- -The more protein, the lighter the yeast bread - up to a point. Too much protein (gluten) will make bread tough, which is why commercial flour is a combination of protein levels so that it has an average amount correct for different baking needs. -There are two types of protein that make up the gluten group - glutenins and gliadins. This is what we generally call "gluten". Glutenins provide the elastic quality that allows bread dough to expand. Gliadins play a secondary roll by contributing to the viscosity and extensibility of bread dough. -Although durum wheat has the highest amount of protein of all wheat types, the main protein in durum wheat is gliadin, which makes it excellent for pasta, not bread, because of the viscosity and extensibility. This is the type of wheat I use for wholegrain pasta. -Bread flour is highest in the protein glutenins (great for yeast breads), milled from hard wheat varieties. -All-purpose flour is a mixture of hard and soft wheat so that it fits a protein profile that suits "all-purposes" for general baking. A little too much protein for really fine cakes, a little less protein than needed for really good bread. A middle-of-the-road flour. (Source: CookWise by Shirley O. Corriher) Percentage of protein.... Durum wheat - 13-13.5% protein - used for pasta Bread flour - 11.5-12.5% - use for yeast breads, pasta, pizza Northern unbleached all-purpose flour (King Arthur) - 11.7% - use for yeast breads, cream puffs, puff pastry, pasta, pizza Northern all-purpose flour (Robin Hood, Hecker's)- 11.7% - 11-12% - use for yeast breads, cream puffs, puff pastry National brand unbleached all-purpose flour (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) - 10-12% - yeast breads, cream puffs National brand bleached all-purpose flour (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) - 9.5-12% - biscuits, quick breads, muffins Bleached Southern all-purpose flour (White Lily, Martha White, Gladiola, Red Band) - 7.5-9.5% - Pie crusts, biscuits, quick breads, muffins Cake flour - 7.5-8.5% - Cakes, quick breads, muffins, pancakes ------------------------ Whole grain flour can have as much or more gluten than commercial flours. I'm using hard white winter wheat that has 13.1% protein - excellent for yeast breads. I've worked with wheat that had 16% protein levels. It takes more kneading to develop the gluten in high-protein wheat varieties and you won't get as tender a crumb as you do with lower protein levels. I also mill soft wheat for pastry, biscuits, cakes, quick breads; or mixtures of low-gluten flour (spelt) and hard wheat to make "all-purpose" protein levels when I need lower-gluten flour (cookies, quick breads, etc.). For low-gluten "cake" flour, I use a 3:1 mixture of soft white wheat and oats (or spelt) for fine cakes like chiffon or angel food. -Grainlady

Well, now, dcarch, why in the world should I bake biscotti, bake it again, then steam it to undo the baking, LOL, that would just be an extra step. Here is the King Arthur recipe. They do give options for flavoring, I'm thinking orange flavoring and a dunk in dark chocolate would be nice and of course I'll have to try that gingersnap thing, although they do not give that as an option. I did not spray them with water and they still sliced just fine. You know how those days goes, I couldn't even find a spray bottle for water! American-Style Vanilla Biscotti Here it is, a biscotti recipe everyone can enjoy � unlike classic Italian biscotti, which are quite hard, these are light and crunchy. Biscotti bake twice rather than once, and thus take a bit longer start-to-finish than normal drop cookies. But the dough is put together exactly like drop cookie dough. And if your kitchen skills include shaping a meatloaf and slicing a loaf of bread, you've got what it takes to make delicious, gorgeous biscotti. 6 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted 2/3 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 to 3 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 2 large eggs 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour coarse white sparkling sugar, for sprinkling on top, optional 1) Preheat the oven to 350�F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) one large (about 18" x 13") baking sheet. 2) In a medium-sized bowl, beat the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, almond extract (if you're using it), and baking powder until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs; the batter may look slightly curdled. At low speed of your mixer, add the flour, stirring until smooth; the dough will be sticky. 4) Plop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Divide it in half, and shape it into two 9 1/2" x 2" logs, about 3/4" tall. Straighten the logs, and smooth their tops and sides; a wet spatula or wet bowl scraper works well here. Sprinkle with coarse white sparkling sugar, if desired, pressing it in gently. 5) Bake the dough for 25 minutes. Remove it from the oven. 6) Using a spray bottle filled with room-temperature water, lightly but thoroughly spritz the logs, making sure to cover the sides as well as the top. Softening the crust just this little bit will make slicing the biscotti much easier. Reduce the oven temperature to 325�F. Wait 5 minutes, then use a sharp chef's knife or serrated knife to cut the log crosswise into 1/2" to 3/4" slices. Or cut the biscotti on the diagonal, for fewer, longer biscotti. As you're slicing, be sure to cut straight up and down, perpendicular to the pan; if you cut unevenly, biscotti may be thicker at the top than the bottom, and they'll topple over during their second bake. 8) Set the biscotti on edge on the prepared baking sheet. Return the biscotti to the oven, and bake them for 25 to 30 minutes, until they feel very dry and are beginning to turn golden. They'll still feel a tiny bit moist in the very center, if you break off a piece; but they'll continue to dry out as they cool. 9) Remove the biscotti from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool. Store airtight at room temperature; they'll stay good for weeks. Yield: 30 to 40 biscotti, depending on size. Tips from our bakers Variations: Add up to 2 cups nuts, dried fruit (dried, not fresh), or chips to the dough, along with the flour. Adjust the spice to suit the add-in, if desired; e.g., add 1 teaspoon cinnamon with 1 cup chopped dried apple and 1 cup diced pecans. Or substitute hazelnut, butter-rum, or your favorite flavor for the vanilla. A classic Italian anise biscotti is made with 1/2 teaspoon anise extract (or 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon anise oil, to taste), and 1 tablespoon fennel seeds. I am getting better with the computer, I actually finally figured out how to open two browser windows at the same time, copy and paste from the King Arthur website, and hopefully it'll end up here without strange symbols. I'm switching to a cable internet service next Tuesday, it should cut my bill in half and maybe give me internet access all the time, instead of getting a "not available" message about once every five minutes. If I get that message in the middle of a post, the whole post is gone, I have to close the browser window and start all over again. It's frustrating as heck. Grrr. Annie

To cook it so it can be pulled...crock pot!! Put it in a crock pot--add what ever sauce you like; on medium for several hours. We had a pork shoulder and I love it in weekend pasta.One onion, Left over meat of choice, cooked and cut up. One can of cream of soup, One bag of frozen vegetables. one cup sour cream. Pasta. Brown onion, add cooked meat then soup and vegis. Simmer for half hour. Sometimes I thin the soup with sherry. Just before serving over cooked pasta stir in a cup of sour cream. Any meat will do. We love smoked turkey in this dish so why not smoked pork.