Christian Chefs Newsletter
December 15, 1999

OUTLINE:
           Introduction
           Christianity in the Kitchen - My "Jewel" of the Year
           Learning Subject of the Month - Flour
           Recipe Contest
           Featured Recipe
           Recent Job Listings - 1 New
           Featured Website - www.tudocs.com

As most of you know, in addition to our recent website redesign, we have had numerous changes lately, including our new Message Boards, Chatroom, Job Listings, and much more to come! And NOW, God has recently allowed us to expand our membership through the use of paid and donated advertisements in popular culinary and Christian magazines. The first ad will be in next month's edition of American Culinary Federation's newsletter, the "Culinary Review". We will be advertising more and more in similar magazines, finances permitting, so keep your eyes open for these ads coming out soon in your favorite culinary and Christian magazines. Please keep praying with us about this, because we want God's perfect will for our fellowship.

I hope all of you get a little time outside this busy time of year at work to spend with your families. God bless, have a Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year going into the new Millennium!!!

Ira

During this beautiful season of reflection over the events of the past year, I would love to encourage all my fellow chefs and cooks with a "jewel" our Lord gave me this year.

As some of you know by now, I was a camp/conference cook for twenty-four years before I became a Sheriff Cook II.

This story goes way back to the early seventies. I was working at Camp Seeley. For those of you who might have seen the remake of the movie, "The Parent Trap", it was filmed at Camp Seeley and at our beautiful Lake Gregory, here in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California.

The kitchen is located way down behind the camp by a beautiful mountain steam. As my staff and I worked down there, we always took time to pray for our campers; especially when we had Christian groups renting this City of Los Angeles Parks and Recreation camp.

This particular year, we had a large group of youth from Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa in for a week. I remember this particular group because their music was so full of joy and spirit. This was the early "Praise Music" as we call it today. I would close down the kitchen at night and was invited to join their campfire. They would always stop and greet me and sing "Sweet, Sweet Spirit" to me. How I have always loved that song. There was a wonderful sense of the presence of God with this group of adults and young people. This was my first exposure to Chuck Smith and the "Jesus People" movement of the sixties and seventies.

We would all be sitting or standing there, singing sweet praises to the background sounds of the crackling fire and the bears rummaging through the day's garbage in my dumpsters down by the kitchen. :-) I have lots of fun bear stories - as the Lord has sent me many bear friends - but that is a reflection for another time. :-)

I grew to love these particular campers in a very special way. I have continued to pray for them to this day.

So, why do I tell you all this? What is the "jewel" in all this? Not long ago, in a Sunday morning message, my Pastor Tim dropped the "jewel" right in my lap. He shared how he had given his life over to Christ during a retreat up at Camp Seeley when he was a young teen. I was sitting in the back of the church and just started to weep with joy. My heart of hearts was so blessed - my pastor was one of those special campers - one of thousands I have served meals to in Jesus' Name!

We so seldom "see" the eternal fruit of our food service ministry. It is my prayer for you that you don't see your "work" as just a job, but see it as a service to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

After the service, I went up and shared this little story with Pastor Tim. We have been friends for many years now and never knew about this unique spiritual connection before. Now I look up and see my dear Pastor, but I also see one of "my" camper kids.

The Lord gave me this special "jewel" at a difficult season in my life. I am now becoming more and more disabled due to my job injury and at times it is hard to keep my spirits up. The Lord just gave me this little bonus "jewel" to lift me up. Isn't our Lord wonderful? Our dear precious, gracious, loving Father God! Pastor Tim has encouraged me to become involved in ministry to folks with chronic illness/pain. I now divide my time between this ministry and HopeKeepers (my support group for Christians). HopeKeepers is a ministry of Rest Ministries out of San Diego (link below).

See how the ripples continue out from the center of that one little moment in ministry at a camp way out in the woods?

So dear brethren ~ HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Keep praying over those folks receiving those seemingly endless lines of plates of wonderful food that you prepare and send out of your kitchen. You are all working right where the Lord wants you. He put you there. Keep praying :-)

PRAISE THE LORD!

Do you have a "jewel" that would encourage the rest of us? If so, please send it to us so we can all praise the Lord with you.

by Diane Boone, Retired Chef
Southern California Representative of CCF

Rest Ministries, Inc. Chronic Illness/Pain Support:
http://www.ixpres.com/jlcopen/

If God is speaking to your heart about these things, and you need somebody to talk with, please don't hesitate to e-mail us about your need and somebody from the Fellowship will contact you as soon as possible.  If you have a prayer request or would like to start a theological discussion on this or any other topic please feel free to post it in our Message Boards:
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/forums.html

Have you ever wondered what the differences are between all the flours available on the market? Well, if you don't already, you'll soon know how all these flours are made differently, the uses for each, and even more interesting information on this subject.

Starting with its definition, flour is the finely ground and sifted meal of any of various edible grains. Giant steel or stone rollers are used to break and grind the grain. At this point you may be thinking to yourself, "Who cares what the rollers are made of, just cut to the chase." As you'll soon find out, even the kind of roller used makes a big difference in the type, characteristics, and uses of the flour, but if you really are that anxious, you can scroll to the bottom of this article. Just be aware that if you do that, you'll be skipping all the why's and if's about flour to the list of each type of flour and its recommended uses. Going back to the rollers, most supermarkets carry steel-ground flour. This grinding method produces a great deal of heat, which strips away the wheat germ and destroys many of the valuable vitamins and enzymes. On the other hand, stone grinding generates almost no heat, making the flour more naturally nutritious by preserving all the valuable vitamins and enzymes, which saves the germ. This type of flour can be found in some large supermarkets and in specialty stores.

Wheat is the world's largest cereal-grass crop, and for very good reasons. Unlike other grains, wheat contains a relatively high amount of gluten. Gluten is the protein that, when a bread dough is kneaded, helps hold in the gas bubbles formed by the leavening agent (the leavening agent being yeast in most cases). Out of the 30,000+ varieties of wheat, the three major types are hard wheat, soft wheat, and durum wheat. Hard wheat is high in protein (10-14%) which yields a flour rich in gluten, making it best suited for yeast breads. Soft wheat isn't very good for baking, but is excellent for pasta making. Generally, the rule holds that more protein means more gluten, and more gluten means that your breads will be high, thick-crusted, and full of fresh grain flavor.

The word "Whole" on the label means that the bran has not been stripped away before it's milled. This will give the flour a darker appearance, and will generally have a nut-like and more pronounced flavor than those made from white-wheat flour.

The texture of flour all depends on how fine a bolting (sifting) it receives at the mill. The "Enriched" label on flour signifies that niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, and iron are added to the flour, which are required additions (by US law) in all flours that don't contain the wheat germ.

Some manufacturers add potassium bromate to the flour to increase the yield. This process is called "bromating the flour", which is a controversial procedure that is banned in some areas.

In reference to organic flours, I think Daniel Leader, owner of Bread Alone, says it best: "When I first started baking with organic flours, I wasn't prepared for the surprises. After all, commercial flours, even though they never taste very good as a rule, manage to behave predictably and are durable. Organic flours may, on the other hand, deliver a full earthy taste one season and a subtle wheaty tang the next, depending on how the growing season progressed and how the fields were fertilized and drained."

As we promised, here is the list of many different types of flours, including their individual descriptions and recommended uses:

All-Purpose Flour: A mixture of approximately equal parts hard and soft wheat flours. It's used in the kitchen rather than in the bakeshop.

Bread Flour: A hard wheat flour. It's very easy to dust into a thin film, making it ideal to use when rolling out and working with dough. Bread flour is milled from wheat rich in protein, providing dough with a high gluten content. The wheat must be grown in areas with appropriate amount of rainfall and in soil rich in nitrogen. Bread flour is obviously best used for baking breads.

Cake Flour: A soft wheat flour that has been chlorinated to further break down the strength of the gluten. It feels very smooth and can be pressed into a lump in your hand. Because it contains less of the gluten-producing proteins, cake flour yields a more crumbly, but lighter texture. It is used in making sponge cakes and other baked goods where a weaker gluten structure is preferable.

Pastry Flour: Another soft wheat flour, which is close to all-purpose flour in gluten strength. It can be used for the same uses as cake flour, but with cakes and pastries you'd prefer to have some gluten strength in.

Whole Wheat Flour: Also known as graham flour, whole-wheat flour is milled from the entire wheat kernel, including the germ and the bran, this being the reason why it is very nutritious. This flour doesn't keep as long as white flour because of the fat contained in the wheat germ. Whole wheat flour can be used to make breads, but since bread made solely from this flour is a lot heavier than that made with white flour, most of the time a combination of the two is used.

Nonwheat Flours: Flours other than wheat (that have been milled from other plants) can be used. Each contributes its own distinctive taste, texture, and nutritional benefit; however, since these flours are lower in gluten content, they are always combined with a percentage of wheat flour to assure proper leavening.

Barley Flour: This flour is seldom used in bread baking today, but in the past it was used extensively. To substitute barley flour for wheat flour, use half the amount by volume, continuing to use wheat flour for the other half.

Buckwheat Flour: This flour is made from the roasted seeds of the plant. Buckwheat is used most often in pancakes, especially for the popular buckwheat blini, known from Eastern Europe.

Corn Flour: Corn flour, not to be confused with cornstarch, is milled from either white or yellow corn. It's also produced as a byproduct in the making of cornmeal. This flour contains no gluten, and is sprinkled on top of English muffins, sourdough breads, and breadsticks to give them a crunchy crust.

Potato Flour: Potato flour, also known as potato starch, is made from cooked, dried, ground potatoes. It is most frequently used as a thickening agent, but can also be used in baking to reduce the gluten strength of bread flour since potato flour has no gluten.

Rye Flour: This is one of the best-tasting flours for making bread. It is divided into four categories, those being light, medium, dark, and pumpernickel. As with wheat flour, these grades are determined by the part of the grain that the flour is milled from, the medium grade being the most popular. Pumpernickel flour is made in much the same way as whole wheat flour: it is milled from the entire rye grain including the bran. Rye flour is almost always mixed with some wheat flour to give it added gluten strength and rising power in bread baking. A small amount of vinegar added to rye bread dough will help to bring out the rye flavor. Caraway seeds are almost always an ingredient in rye bread also.

Soy Flour: Soy flour is made from the soybean rather than from a cereal grain. It isn't commonly used in the pastry shop, but it is very nutritious and can be mixed with other flours in cakes for consumers with special diets.

by Ira Krizo, CCF Director

For more information on "Grains, Meals, Flours, and Other Starches" in general, you can find a chart on them, including their names, purchase forms, and major uses in our Charts page. As well as that chart this same webpage includes the above chart defining each flour and telling the uses for each:
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/charts/starches.html

We encourage and welcome any questions you may have about this article or any other food- or faith-related questions in our Message Boards:
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/forums.html

GOLDEN DIPT STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD RECIPE CONTEST
WEBSITE: http://www.goldendipt.com/contest.html
PRIZES: Grand Prize: $1,500; A finalist representing each of the above regions wins $500, with the Grand Prize winner receiving an additional $1,000.
DEADLINE: Dec. 31
INFO: Highlight the unique tastes of your region -- Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Western United States -- in Golden Dipt Foodservice's Regional Cuisine Recipe Contest. Open to food service professionals age 18 or older. Entries will be judged on four criteria: taste, creativity, ease of preparation and visual appeal. Judges designated by the sponsor will select the regional winners. The grand prize winner will be selected from among the regional winners.

To find out about future contests, you can follow the below link to the NEW "Contests" area of our website:
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/contests.html

All contests listed above are provided by the company listed, NOT by CCF. For additional information on each contest, please visit the designated website for that specific listing. Enjoy!

5 oz (142g) bittersweet chocolate
2 oz (57g) unsweetened chocolate
7 oz (200g) (1 3/4 sticks) soft sweet butter
2 cups (473ml) sugar
5 large eggs
13 Tbsp (192ml) flour
Pinch salt
20 oz (567gm) cream cheese
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 325'F (163'C).
2. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 by 13 inch (23 by 33cm) pan.
3. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave and allow to cool slightly.
4. Combine the butter and 1 1/4 cups (296ml) of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, cream on medium speed until light and fluffy. Continuing to mix, add 3 of the eggs and beat well. Stir in the melted chocolate and mix until smooth. Decrease to low speed and stir in the flour and salt.
5. Spread the chocolate batter in the pan, reserving about 1 cup (236ml) for later use.
6. Combine the cream cheese and the remaining 3/4 cup (177ml) sugar in a clean bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining 2 eggs and the vanilla extract and again beat until smooth.
7. Spread the cream cheese mixture in an even layer over the chocolate batter. Scatter spoonfuls of the reserved chocolate batter over the cream cheese mixture. With a knife, swirl the chocolate batter into the cream cheese mixture, creating a marble pattern.
8. Bake the brownies for 50 to 55 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with a moist crumb. Cool for at least half an hour before cutting.

Find jobs and post job openings here:
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/employment.html

**
Name = Wesley Woods Conference Center
Location = Williams Bay, Wisconsin
Timeline = Full Time, Year Round
Position = Food Service Manager
Responsibilities = Purchasing, train/supervise summer staff, cook for 50 - 150
Pay = 16 - 17.5k/year, medical, pension, housing
Contact:
           Craig E. Cheney
           Wesley Woods Conference Center
           250 Stam Street
           Williams Bay, WI 53191
           Wesleywds1@elknet.net
           (262) 245-6631

This is an excellent website if you're looking for culinary links! Here you will find numerous website reviews that are all rated on a 5-pot rating system with categories ranging from "Beverages" to "Low and Fat Free" to "Chocolate" to "Food Usenet Groups".

http://www.tudocs.com

Permission is granted to circulate this publication via e-mail or in printed form to others providing that no fee is charged and that proper credit has been given to CCF for the part sent.

Donations are sincerely and deeply appreciated and may be sent to the below address. The following link leads to our "Finances" webpage, where you can find how all CCF's finances are handled:
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/finances.html

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God Bless,
Ira Krizo, Director

Christian Chefs Fellowship
webmaster@ChristianChefs.org
http://www.ChristianChefs.org
P.O. Box 608
Crestline, CA 92325-0608
Phone: (909) 338-0876
Fax: (508) 462-1068
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