POCKET MIXER RECIPES

Steps:

• In the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir to blend. Let the yeast stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.
• Stir in the salt. Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated and the dough gathers into a ball; this should take about 4 minutes.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Place a large pizza stone on the lower oven rack, preheat the oven (and stone) to 500 degrees F.
• Punch the dough down, divide it into 8 pieces, and gather each piece into a ball; keeping all of them lightly floured and covered while you work. Allow the balls of dough to rest, covered, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out.
• Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a circle that is about 8-inches in diameter and 1/4-inch thick. Make sure the circle is totally smooth, with no creases or seams in the dough, which can prevent the pitas from puffing up properly. Cover the disks as you roll them out, but do not stack them up. Put 2 pita rounds at a time on the hot pizza stone and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bread puffs up like a balloon and is pale golden. Watch closely; they bake fast. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes; they will naturally deflate, leaving a pocket in the center. Wrap the pitas in a large kitchen towel to keep them soft.

Steps:

• Prepare the dough: In the bowl of a food processor, combine all-purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Pulse a few times to blend. Add butter and pulse 10 times, or until butter chunks are broken down by about half.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and egg. Scrape flour mixture into the bowl and use a flexible spatula to stir together until nearly all the flour is moistened. Use your hand to quickly knead the dough to bring it together. Transfer dough to a work surface, pat into a rectangle, and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll chilled dough into a roughly 8-by-15-inch rectangle. Fold the two short sides of the rectangle toward the center, folding the rectangle into thirds, like a letter. Rotate dough 90 degrees, then roll out again into a 8-by-15-inch rectangle; fold into thirds again. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes.
• Roll the dough out into a roughly 8-by-15-inch rectangle, fold into thirds, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes two more times. At this point, wrapped dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to 3 days, or freezer for 2 months.
• Prepare the filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine almond paste, butter, confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons of the egg whites and the salt. Beat to combine, then beat in lemon juice, adding more to taste, if you like.
• Line two rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and cut in half.
• On a lightly floured work surface, roll each half into a 6-by-24-inch rectangle. Spread 1/2-cup filling on each in an even strip down the center (about 2 1/2-inches wide).
• Fold one long side over the filling, leaving the remaining third of the dough exposed. Use a pastry brush to the open border of dough with reserved egg whites on both the long side and two short ends. Fold the second long side over the first; pinch and press the seam tightly along the length and at both short ends, sinking your fingertips into the pastry to create a tight seal.
• Remeasure dough to make sure it’s at least 24 inches long; if necessary, stretch it back out. Form into an oval, then tuck one end into the other. Pinch and press the seam together, then transfer oval to prepared sheet pans and flip over so it’s seam-side down. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot for 30 to 45 minutes, or until slightly puffy.
• When ready to bake, heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush pastry with more egg white, then bake until golden, about 25 minutes, rotating sheet pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through.
• As soon as the pastries come out of the oven (and the pastries are piping hot!), do something that seems a little crazy: Compress each pastry slightly by using the sheet pan with the other pastry on it, setting the sheet pan on top of the pastry and pressing gently to eliminate the air pocket between the pastry and filling. Transfer the sheet pans to wire racks and allow pastries to cool completely.
• Prepare the icing: In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, fine sea salt and 4 teaspoons water. Spread icing over tops of the kringles. Let icing dry before slicing and serving.