This baking show is gonna kill me. I actually bought some actual cow butter so I could make puff pastry.
If I make shortcrust or rough puff, rough puff being basically a shortcrust dough rolled and folded into layers, like Joey told me, it comes out good.
If I attempt full puff pastry, not so much.
I just found this recipe for full puff pastry, and I’ll try it again sometime.
Sometimes, I smell pastry in my head. Or, as my mother used to say when I smelled a phantom smell, on my upper lip. That happened to me the other night, so I made a pot pie.
I “blind baked” the bottom crust, as they say on the baking show, meaning I baked it for ten minutes empty.
For the filling, I used a can of mixed veg (because I was HONGRY and didn’t feel like chopping a million, billion vegetables). Cooked ’em in a skillet with beef broth (veg would have been good, too), shallots, whatever herbs I felt like tossing in, and arrowroot powder to thicken the gravy. I had some kinda meat in there, too. Just shreds for added flavor. Beef, maybe. Not necessary.
When that was good and thick, I poured it into the baked crust and put a top crust on. Crimped it all along the edges and cut holes for the steam to escape.
In other news, I gave up on my potato plants and harvested what there was. Between the raccoons and the hornworms, this is what I had to show for my time and (minimal) effort.
Fried ’em and had ’em for breakfast. OMG, so fresh and delicious!
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Something doesn’t go as planned.
Dan Antion
September 8, 2020 at 7:23amA breakfast of fried potatoes can offset a lot of work and disappointment. Good choice.
Marian Allen
September 8, 2020 at 1:36pmNothing better than fried taters, IMO, except for one thing: fried taters picked fresh just outside the door minutes before you put ’em in the pan. 🙂
Dan Antion
September 8, 2020 at 2:16pmMmmmmm
RAAckerman@Cerebrations.biz
September 8, 2020 at 1:20pmSo, did you make dessert or the main course? I can’t quite figure that out.
Marian Allen
September 8, 2020 at 1:37pmI made it all. I made sweet pastries for dessert, and veg pie for the main course. And fried potatoes for breakfast.
Babs Mountjoy
September 8, 2020 at 1:32pmWhich cooking show? My daughter watches a bunch of them….so many these days! I remember when there was just Julia CVhild and the Galloping Gourmet!
Marian Allen
September 8, 2020 at 1:38pmI think I put a live link in there, but The Show is The Great British Baking Show. I only watched Julia Child once or twice, but Mom and I used to LIVE FOR The Galloping Gourmet. 😀
Debbie Lueders
September 8, 2020 at 5:13pmMy friend and I have been obsessed with all the old reruns of the Great British Baking Show! Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry are too much! I too have been writing down puff pastry, rough puff, short crust, and all they’ve been saying but haven’t thought of making any of them! I’ve read reviews of Mary Berry’s baking Bible on Amazon and they say the ovens don’t cook the same over here and over the pond…but apparently there’s some conversion charts in the front of the book. I don’t want to convert things if it’s a 300 page cookbook! What say you?
Marian Allen
September 9, 2020 at 10:27amYeah, I’d been thinking I’d like to look at Paul, Mary, and Prue’s books, but I never did math very well, so conversions put me off. On the other hand, I do have a kitchen scale, so I could weigh the ingredients and only have to convert the temperatures, and I might just be able to handle that….
Debbie Lueders
September 9, 2020 at 2:29pmMarian, let me know if you try one of their cookbook recipes! Beating the butter with the rolling pin sounded fun. Your pictures looked amazing. Did they all taste terrific?
Marian Allen
September 9, 2020 at 2:34pmThe rough puff ones tasted terrific. The attempt at full puff was dismal. Tough as an old booot, mate, and stodgy; not very nice at all.
kirizar
September 9, 2020 at 7:25amSince Covid happened I’ve been baking like a mad woman and foisting desserts on neighbors in an attempt to stave off eventual over saturation on my part. (I’m totally hydrogenated at this point.) my fails are too numerous to mention—though the most recent was an attempt to make coconut cookies with fresh coconuts—not a skill for the week wristed.
Marian Allen
September 9, 2020 at 10:28amOoooo, I’ve never used fresh coconut. Our #1 Daughter makes coconut cream pie — very rarely — with fresh coconut, and it’s dee-vine!
kirizar
September 9, 2020 at 11:23amAll I think about when I hear of coconut cream pie is Maryann making them on Gilligan’s Island. If you think it’s worth making, I’ll give it a shot.
Marian Allen
September 9, 2020 at 11:26amLOL! Let me know how it goes.
acflory
September 9, 2020 at 9:40amNever in a million years would I dare make either one of those pastries. I’m literally in awe, and the vegie pie looks delicious. 🙂
Marian Allen
September 9, 2020 at 10:30amI don’t know what possessed me to try puff pastry on a hot, damp day. The veg pie was delicious, but I think I could have made the casing crust thicker. The crust is my favorite part. lol
acflory
September 9, 2020 at 7:40pmlol – we love crust too. Thanks to the pandemic, the Offspring has become very adept at yeast doughs and makes all our pizza bases now. Btw one of our favourites it pizza with caramelised onions, fetta and fresh basil leaves. We use no extra oil so the taste is fresh and clean and really, really good.
Marian Allen
September 10, 2020 at 10:10amThat sounds good, except I’m all about the oil. lol! Have you put a small pan of hot water into the oven when you bake egg-washed bread, to steam the crust? Makes the crust extra hard, with a very soft crumb inside.
acflory
September 10, 2020 at 7:13pmActually, now you mention it, the last time I made a sweet date bread [which turned out beautifully] I did put a pan of water on the tray underneath the bread. Someone had suggested it and I thought I’d give it a try. I was also using a new high sided pan and a slightly different recipe so I didn’t connect up the dots. Thank you!
bikerchick57
September 10, 2020 at 2:48pmThe fried taters sound good, Marian, but the pot pie and pastry is what caught the fancy of my taste buds. I haven’t made any kind of pastry in years, but perhaps this upcoming winter will be the season for it.
Marian Allen
September 10, 2020 at 2:58pmWe’ve had a coolish spell that made it possible. Normally, I bake in the winter, unless I can fit it into my toaster oven.