Wonderful Pecan Pie

For our most recent baking class adventure, we went on to make pecan pie starting with a basic pate sucree recipe. I saw this recipe and I kept nudging my partner and pointing to it. I wanted to make sure we got around to this one.

Lemonade and I went to Norma's for lunch and my Napoleon waffle was so ridiculously rich, I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to eat for days. But when this baby came out of the oven...I already took a bite before it cooled down. Delish! There are so many pecans here and unlike other pecan recipes I've tried out where they were a complement to something else, these pecans take center stage. Lemon Zest said she only wanted to eat the crust, but was completely unimpressed by it. She took a second bite of just the pecan and stayed around to demolish half this pie with me. Yumyum.

Pate Sucree (Your pie base)
Makes at least 3 pie bottoms

1 1/2 lbs all purpose flour
8 oz granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
8 oz butter
5 eggs

1) Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in butter in the mixer on the lowest speed. Mix until flour mixture resembles Parmesan cheese.
2) Beat the eggs, add to the flour and butter mixture. Mix until holds together. Scrape out of bowl and cover in plastic wrap. Chill until firm.

Pecan Pie
(makes at least 2 9" pies)

12 oz pecan halves
8 fluid oz dark corn syrup
6 oz granulated sugar
4 oz butter
3 eggs
Pinch of salt
1 fluid oz Bourbon

1) Combine corn syrup and sugar in a saucepan; stir well to mix. Place on low heat and allow to come to a boil, without stirring.
2) Whisk eggs with salt and Bourbon. When syrup boils, remove from heat and add butter, allowing the butter to melt on its own.
3) Whisk hot syrup into egg mixture, slowly, without over beating. Skim foam from surface.

*Note: Skimming the foam is an aesthetics thing. Otherwise, your pie will be foamy looking and hence, unappetizing. I admit that it was kind of disgusting to remove all the foam, but it helps!
You can't really taste the Bourbon. It offers a very subtle aftertaste, which is the only time you can separate the taste from the other gooey goodies. You could also replace the Bourbon with vanilla.
If you want to chocolate-fy this recipe, you can add 4 oz semisweet chocolate in when you add the butter in step 4! Part of me regrets not doing it b/c it smelled heavenly!

Putting the Pie Together...

1) Take the Pate Sucree and shape it into a circle before rolling out. Roll evenly from the center outwards until the dough is very thin. To transfer onto your pie dish, roll the dough onto the rolling pin and then unroll it over the pan.
2) Press the dough into the pan making sure the dough touches the surface. Trim the edges, allowing some excess to be folded over.
3) Fold over the edges and shape as desired.
4) If time permits, return dough to freezer.
5) Fill pan with pecans. Whole 12 oz may not be necessary. Fill until just below pan edge (the dough will rise and the pecan sauce will bubble, so don't go overboard here). Pour sauce over pecans.
6) If necessary, use a fork to press down pecans and make sure they're immersed.
7) Bake at 350 degrees about 40 minutes or until the center is set.

Overall, as excited as I was for this recipe, part of me wondered how good it could possibly be. Then I took it out of the oven....It's sooo good. It's got a ton of pecans in it so it's better than anything store bought. The pecans get well toasted throughout and have a wonderful texture. The sauce also stays gooey at room temperature so the food loving part of me takes the pecans and rubs it into the sauce before popping into my mouth. Yum. It's actually one of the first times where I enjoyed eating the filling more than I enjoyed eating a more balanced piece of filling and crust.

Raspberry Tart with Pastry Cream

Today, Opal gently let me know that I need to update more often. And she's totally right! It's been over a week since my last post, which is pretty unacceptable.

So today, I give you recipes for flaky pastry dough and for pastry cream. I made this in my class to produce a lovely raspberry tart.

Flaky Pastry Dough

For 1 Tart
4 oz butter (1 stick)
4 oz AP flour
2 oz cake flour (can use AP as well, just don't mix as much)
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
1.5 fluid oz cold water


1) Cut the butter into cubes. Combine dry ingredients by rubbing in butter by hand or using a mixer on the lowest speed. It's not necessary to mix until the butter has disappeared, only until the pieces are less than 1/4 an inch in diameter.
2) Stir in water until dough holds together. Do not over mix. The flakiness of the final pastry depends on the dough having some flaky qualities.
3) Wrap in plastic. Chill until firm.

*Note: You don't want the butter to actually melt.
AP flour will yield more gluten than cake flour; however, you can use AP flour in place of cake flour but just be sure not to over mix.
The pastry school advises to use recipes that go by weight b/c it's more accurate. You may note that there's 1/4 c of powdered sugar there. That was my addition b/c it doesn't make any sense to have a crust that's not sweet for a dessert! I think this could have totally used more sugar. Perhaps next time, I'll use granulated sugar instead.

While that's chilling...

Pastry Cream

1 pint milk
2 oz cornstarch
4 oz granulated sugar
1 egg
4 yolks
2 oz butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 oz vanilla (1/2 tbsp)

1) Combine milk with sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2) In a separate bowl, whisk whole eggs and yolks into cornstarch.
3) Pour 1/3 of the boiling milk into the egg mixture to temper. Whisk the egg mixture into the boiling milk, stirring until the pastry cream thickens and returns to a boil. Boil about 1 minute, making sure to whisk constantly (or chunks will form!).
4) Remove from heat and beat in butter and vanilla. Pour cream into a stainless steel pan and cover with plastic wrap so that it directly touches surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill immediately until use.

*Note: You pour the boiling milk into the egg mixture to raise the temperature of the mixture. If you pour the eggs directly into the boiling mix, they'll cook and that's gross!
When I made this, we swapped out the vanilla for 1 oz of raspberry flavored vodka. It's a lot of liquid for the cream to hold, but we felt that much was necessary in order to taste it. To be honest though, I'm always a bit wary about having flavored alcohol in my food. Sometimes it's a little too overwhelming and in this case, I think the 1 oz was a bit overboard. I'm sure the vanilla would've tasted better and it's obviously the better choice if you're making this for kids.

To assemble...

1) Roll the dough into a circular disk and use it to line an 8-inch tart pan. Trim away the excess. Chill the dough (you don't want the dough to get too hot until you actually bake it).
2) To bake the shell, place a sheet of parchment paper over the dough and weigh it down with beans or similar weighty object. This is to prevent the shell from shrinking as it bakes. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until set. Let shell cool down and remove beans and parchment.
3) Spread pastry cream evenly in tart shell. Cover with fruit as desired. Can glaze with peach or apricot glaze.

*Note: I obviously used raspberries. The glaze is totally for shininess, but b/c the taste would've conflicted with the raspberries, my tart is unglazed.

Overall, it was pretty good, but not "wow". It was beautiful to look at. My only complaint is that I think we added too much alcohol so next time, I'll stick to the vanilla.

xoxo,
lemonie

Bread bread bread!

I've been running myself ragged lately...as evidenced by the fact that I came home at 7:40 last night and was in bed by 8 pm. Hence, I was up this morning at 4. I've already done 1 load of laundry and done about 40% of my homework. Time for me to update!

Last Sunday, the instructor for my baking class is also formerly of Balthazar down in SoHo. The boule we made was ridiculous. Like, it was so delicious I could've eaten the entire thing in one sitting. And the braided bread was so pretty!


Basic Bread Dough
2/3 oz cake yeast (or 1/4 oz dry yeast)
1 pint warm water
1 1/2 lbs high gluten flour
1/2 oz salt

1) Disperse yeast in water with whisk.
2) In mixer with dough hook, add 1 1/2 lbs flour to yeast mixture. Add salt to flour, making sure the salt doesn't touch the yeast (it'll kill the yeast).
3) Knead for 8-10 minutes until dough becomes smooth and elastic. Place in oiled bowl and let rise for 1-2 hours, until doubled.
4) Deflate by pressing down with hands. Divide in half and shape as desired.

For Boule Shape (shown above)
Press each piece into an oval and fold the long sides towards the center. Press out again and repeat. Pince seam at bottom together tightly. Place upside down (smooth round side down) in a well floured bowl or basket. Cover lousely with buttered or pam-sprayed plastic rap and proof (leave out for it to rise again) until doubled ~45 minutes. Carefully invert onto cornmeal dusted baking sheet. Make slashes near top with a razor blade.

5) Preheat oven to 500 degrees and place an empty sheet pan in the bottom of th eoven. Add 1 quart of the water to the pan 5 minutes before the bread has finished rising. Place loaves in the oven and bake until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove pan of water, lower temperature to 400 degrees and continue baking for 20-25 minutes, until well-colored. Remove pans and cool on racks.

Note: Since Sim Cass is apparently the Prince of Darkness, he preferred that the bread stay in there longer for a darker crust.
To know if your bread is done, take it out, flip it over, and tap the crust. If it sounds hollow, it's done.



Braided Bread
6 fluid oz warm tap water
1 1/2 oz compressed yeast or 2 envelopes dry yeast
1 pint water
2 oz sugar
1/2 oz salt
1/2 pint egg yolks
3 fluid oz vegetable oil
2 1/4 lbs high gluten flour
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt for egg wash

1) Measure 6 oz water into a bowl and whisk in yeast. Set aside.
2) Place remaining water into mixer bowl and stir in sugar and salt to dissolve. whisk in yolks and oil. Add flour, pour in yeast mixture and mix on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes.
3) Cover and let rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled.
4) Divide into 18 oz pieces for braided bread.

To shape braids:
5) Divide each 18 oz piece into 6 oz pieces. Round (look at instructions for boule above on how to knead them into the round shape), and roll into a long cylinder that is wider in the center and tapers at the ends. Pinch one end of each piece together and braid (like you would hair!). Brush with egg wash, place on a tray, and let rise until doubled (be sure to cover b/c it'll dry out quickly and form a skin).

6) Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Note: We took the leftover bread and attempted to make hamburger buns. Attempted is the key word. My understanding is that we rushed the round balls into the oven and so we got round balls out. I brought it home and pretended like hamburger buns had never crossed my mind and we just wanted to make sesame covered bread rolls. =)

Going on a Diet: Post-Bacon Explosion

So a few weeks ago, my friend, whom I will call Messiah (anyone who knows him knows exactly why), shared the bacon explosion with me. While I understand this has been floating around since Christmas time, he was the first to look at it and think of me.

I really do enjoy meat, as you can probably tell from some of the more recent posts, but I wasn't sure I could handle this kind of meat. Oh, the insanity. The bacon explosion is the type of thing that would make you wake up the next day 10 lbs heavier...and that is just from taking a bite. But I found some free time this morning while I was in the middle of prepping some orders and decided to take the plunge. Just so you know, I'm going on a diet...starting tomorrow. Ha!

Bacon Explosion (from NYT)

2 lbs thick-cut sliced bacon
1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage, casings removed
3 tbsp barbecue rub
3/4 c barbecue sauce.

1. Using 10 slices of bacon, weave a square lattice like that on top of a pie: first, place 5 bacon slices side by side on a large sheet of aluminum foil, parallel to one another, sides touching. Place another strip of bacon on one end, perpendicular to the other strips. Fold first, third and fifth bacon strips back over this new strip, then place another strip next to it, parallel to it. Unfold first, third and fifth strips; fold back second and fourth strips. Repeat with remaining bacon until all 10 strips are tightly woven.

2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees or light a fire in an outdoor smoker. Place remaining bacon in a frying pan and cook until crisp. As it cooks, sprinkle bacon weave with 1 tablespoon barbecue rub. Evenly spread sausage on top of bacon lattice, pressing to outer edges.

3. Crumble fried bacon into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle on top of sausage. Drizzle with 1/2 cup barbecue sauce and sprinkle with another tablespoon barbecue rub.

4. Very carefully separate front edge of sausage layer from bacon weave and begin rolling sausage away from you. Bacon weave should stay where it was, flat. Press sausage roll to remove any air pockets and pinch together seams and ends.

5. Roll sausage toward you, this time with bacon weave, until it is completely wrapped. Turn it so seam faces down. Roll should be about 2 to 3 inches thick. Sprinkle with remaining barbecue rub.

6. Place roll on a baking sheet in oven or in smoker. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 1 hour for each inch of thickness. When done, glaze roll with more sauce. To serve, slice into 1/4-

to- 1/2-inch rounds.

Yield: 10 or more servings.

Notes: I made this in the oven b/c I don't have a smoker and it was still really good, but you don't want it sitting in its own grease for the whole time! So put it on a rack on top of a baking sheet so the fat drips off.

I also used only 1.5 lbs of bacon, and 1 lb of sausage. I think the bbq rub/sauce measurements up there are more of a guideline. Just feel free to sprinkle down as much as you want/need.

And unless you plan on expiring at an early age, you really shouldn't eat more than a thin slice at a time. I had a small piece and I can feel it being heavy at the bottom of my stomach.

Soy Sauce Ribs

I've been pretty absent lately. I've been swamped all weekend and I started my first class in a 12 week amateur baking series on Sunday. So far, I've learned a billion things about...yeast. I've been reassured that by the end of the 12 weeks, I'll be awesome. Yay!

Rather than sharing a recipe on the bread, here's one of my favorites from my mom's collection. Soy Sauce Ribs! If you like soy sauce and garlic (my two faves), then it's delicious. When my mom first made this, she used a lot of oil, which I think made it taste better. She noticed that we kept dipping our finger into the pot and licking it and so the recipe was adjusted to be a little healthier and to prevent the finger dipping. Sigh.

P.S. Sorry for the less than pretty picture. I was given less than a minute to steal the dish and snap a quick one b/c everyone was starving!

Ingredients
Pork Ribs
2 tbsp minced garlic
3/4 c rice cooking wine
1 tsp black pepper
Corn starch as needed (~1/2-1 c)
Soy Sauce
Brown Sugar
Cooking Wine
Honey
Sesame Oil

(Ratio of Soy Sauce:Cooking Wine:Honey:Sesame Oil - 3:1:1:1:1)

1) Wash ribs
2) Marinate with garlic (2 spoons), rice cooking wine (2 handfuls) and black pepper for 20-30 min
3) Dust with corn starch and fry in a pan until lightly browned
4) Simmer soy sauce, brown sugar, cooking wine, honey and sesame oil in a pot large enough to hold ribs. Taste and adjust if necessary.
5) Add ribs, cover, and stir every 10 minutes for 30 min.

Note: Steps 1-3 can be done in advance. Just put the ribs in an airtight container and freeze away until needed. Thaw out meat and continue with steps 4 and 5.

xoxo,

lemonie