Faultless Recipes

Steak (I used 1lb flank steak for 3 people)
Bell peppers (tricolor is very pretty!)
Onion (I used 3/4 of a large Spanish onion)
Fajita seasoning (I used the pre-mixed McCormick packet)
Rice or fajitas
Toppings, such as shredded cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo

If serving over rice, get your rice cooker set up and going in advance.

Prepare the steak. I cooked it sous vide at 130 F for 45 minutes, then sliced into strips. Alternatively, slice first and stir fry in a pan with a tablespoon of oil.

Set aside the steak. In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of oil, and sautee the onions and peppers for 3-5 minutes. Add the steak, seasoning, and about 1/4 c. of water. Stir and simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Serve over rice, or in tortillas. Top with cheese, sour cream, and salsas.

Detailed instructions per my mom:

1 ½ cups lukewarm water
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
2 pkgs. Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
4 eggs
½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1 box seedless raisins
6 cups flour, tamped down and rounded

Warm-up 1 ½ cups water to a temperature of 110° - 115°. I use a candy thermometer. Sprinkle 2 pkgs. of the active dry yeast into the water. Add in 1 to 2 teaspoons of the 1 cup sugar. Stir the mixture and let sit to activate.

In a large bowl, beat 4 eggs (I do this in my mixer). Add in ½ cup (1 stick) soft butter or margarine. Add the rest of the 1 cup of sugar into the eggs and butter. Then add 1 Tablespoon of salt to the yeast and water mixture, stir, and add to the bowl with the egg, butter, and sugar.

Meanwhile, mix 1 box of raisins with the 6 cups of flour. Add this to the wet ingredients and mix together by hand. Next, turn this onto a lightly floured surface and mix more by hand, adding a little more flour until the mixture is able to be handled without sticking to your lightly floured hands. This is tricky because the bread dough is a moist dough, but all flour needed for handling the dough needs to be added at this step, and not later. You may find that you are adding another ½ cup flour or more to the dough mixture.

Turn the lump of dough onto a lightly floured board, cover with a tea towel, and let rest for 15 minutes.

Then, knead the dough on the counter/table until elastic. This should take a good 8 minutes of constant kneading. Yes, it is that specific! Too little kneading will cause holes in the loaf after baking, and too much kneading will cause the bread to be tough. You will find the dough become elastic, meaning that as you work it, it will contract a little with handling.

Then, grease a large bowl with shortening, and put the dough into the bowl. Turn the dough upside down so that the top will be greased also. Dampen the tea towel with warm water, squeeze out, and cover the dough in the bowl. Let rise until double in bulk, or 1 ½ or 2 hours.

Punch the dough down on a lightly floured surface and round out. Put back into the bowl and let rise again, until not quite double in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Then punch down again on a lightly floured board. Form into two loaves. I actually use my scale to measure out the dough into two equal lumps. Form two loaves and put into two greased loaf pans.

Brush the tops with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Cover again with the warm, dampened towel and let rise again until an impression remains from your finger, about 1 hour.

Bake both loaves about 50 minutes in a preheated oven at 350°. I have found that a convection oven more evenly bakes this dense bread. Check after about 45 minutes. Test doneness with a cake tester. It is done if the tester slides out clean. (Note from Sarah: cook until internal temp is 205°.)

Note: Depending on the temperature of the room, you might not see a lot of rising during the various steps. It should rise some, but oftentimes the bread does most of the rising in the oven. It’s really quite amazing.

Because I do all my 12 loaves in one day, I have devised a system for each batch. I make up a 3X5 card for each batch to track the time for each step. The cards have the following on them:
Mix & Stand…15 mins.
Knead & Stand…1 ½ - 2 hrs.
Punch & Stand…45 mins.
Punch & Loaves…1 hr.

Then I write in the start time and expected end time for each step. This really helps.