While reading through my favorite Easter bread recipe (okay, you caught me; it’s my only Easter bread recipe!), I got to wondering about the etymology of the term “shortening.” Where did it come from and, for goodness’ sake, why is it called shortening?
By definition, shortening refers to any type of fat that remains solid at room temperature and has a high smoke point. These include lard, margarine and various hydrogenated oils. Some sources waffle as to whether coconut oil qualifies as a shortening. I’m going to meander out onto a limb to declare it a shortening, as it meets all the criteria. Other sites insist butter may be construed as a shortening; however its smoke point is considerably lower than that of other traditional shortenings.
That’s all well and good, but what does a shortening do? And why’s it called that, anyway?
Excellent questions. And by answering the first, the second becomes apparent. The name of the substance derives from its function in baking: to prevent the development of lengthening strands of gluten, the structures responsible for the stretchy, chewy properties of many breads. The molecules of fat bind to the gluten strands when the fat is cut into the flour and other dry ingredients and, instead of permitting that lengthening, keep the strands short, ultimately yielding a more tender, flaky and crumbly finished product. Hence, shortening. And, in case you weren’t aware, shortcake and shortbread (a light, crisp delicacy with a rich, buttery mouthfeel) also get their names from the shortening process – the prevention of long glutinous strands within the structure of flour-containing recipes.
So, what’s this about soap additives?
In 1902, German chemist Wilhelm Normann patented a process to hydrogenate fats so they’d be solid at room temperature. Five years later, fellow German chemist Edwin Kayser entered into a business agreement with Cincinnati-based soap manufacturer Procter and Gamble. Riffing on Normann’s previously patented hydrogenation process, Kayser developed a raw material for soap using cottonseed oil. The resulting product resembled lard, and rather than use Kayser’s new concoction in soap production, the marketing team at Procter & Gamble promoted it as a cooking fat. In June 1911, under a moniker derived from (ahem) shortening “crystallized cottonseed oil,” Crisco made its debut. And the rest is culinary history.
It’s been on store shelves for more than a century, but if the notion of using a product initially concocted for use on laundry day gives you the heebie-jeebies, you might want to try some of these shortening substitutes.
And now, as has become my custom, here’s my family recipe (handed down to me years ago by my godmother, from her mother – and probably her mother before her) for cazuppi, a traditional Italian Easter bread. It’s a firm-textured, slightly sweet, eggy bread featuring a heady undercurrent of vanilla that’s been part of our Easter breakfast for as long as I can remember. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I always do. The recipe may be halved. Or doubled.
Wishing you and yours a blessed and holy Resurrection Sunday.
Cazuppi
Ingredients:
6 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sugar
½ cup shortening, melted and cooled
½ cup milk, room temperature
Pinch of salt
2 Tbsp. baking powder (if using large eggs. For medium eggs, use 1½ Tbsp. baking powder; for jumbo eggs, use 2½ Tbsp. baking powder.)
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract (more or less, to taste)
5¼ to 6 cups flour
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Beat eggs ’til lemony colored. Add sugar a little at a time. Add cooled shortening while beating egg/sugar mixture. Add milk and vanilla. Add pinch of salt. Add baking powder and flour a little at a time. Mix ’til you can’t use a wooden spoon; then mix by hand. Dough should be of a medium-stiff consistency.
Form dough in to desired shapes. Raw eggs may be pressed (gently!) into the dough before baking, then criss-crossed with strips of dough to hold them in place. (hard-cooked eggs tend to get rubbery during baking.) Bake 25-30 minutes.
Notes:
Go easy on the flour – use only enough to achieve the desired consistency.
If desired, brush breads with milk before baking, for a shiny, glazed top.
You may want to start with the breads on the bottom rack of your oven for the first 15 minutes, then put them on the top rack during the last 10-15 minutes.
About the Author:
Rita M. Reali is a two-time international award-winning author and longtime editor who most enjoys editing memoir, general fiction and romance, along with inspirational writing. She’s self-published five novels: Glimpse of Emerald, Diagnosis: Love, The Unintended Hero, Second Chances and Tender Mercies – the first five in the seven-volume Sheldon Family Saga. The sixth novel in the series, Brothers by Betrayal, is scheduled for an early 2024 release. Her first children’s book, The Purringest Kitty Finds His Home, was released at the end of February. As a former disc jockey in her native Connecticut, Rita used to spend her days “talking to people who weren’t there” – a skill which transferred perfectly to her being an author. Now she talks to characters who aren’t there on “a little chunk of heaven in rural Tennessee.” Contact Rita. To purchase your own personally inscribed copy of any of Rita’s books, download this order form at her website.
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