Wrapping the fruit in delicousness... Rough Puff Butter Pastry....

Too many "aspiring" bakers tell me they CAN'T make good pastry!  I say "YES, YOU CAN"... you just need to understand a little of the actual chemistry that creates the final product to correct your technique!  I adore pies!  But every pie needs the RIGHT pastry to make it totally amazing!

Rough Puff Pastry is a basic butter dough with a tender bite and a delightfully flaky consistency.  It should be buttery flavoured, dry without being brittle, never oily textured, and the body of the dough must never be tough.  Most cooks overwork the fat component into the flour, use warmed fat (thinking it will be easier to handle) or knead the resulting mass; this creates gluten, a protein that gives bread wonderful elasticity, but is a disaster with pastry!

I cheat when it comes to pastry.  I make MOUNTAINS of it every year when the apples on my trees come ripe!  There are times when LARD is the better choice for pie crust, but with many people not happy eating that particular fat I will substitute BUTTER into my recipe, or use half butter and half lard.  NEVER use "special pastry shortenings"... the resulting pastry will be greasy, have an unpleasant melt point in your mouth and the layers created by using cold animal fat won't be nearly as flaky.

So lets' start with the basics.  I will give you amounts for five single crusts, but I usually double this recipe and make five large chunks.  Use a BIG bowl to allow your hands to work the dough.  Make sure your hands are really clean and remove your rings, watch, jewelry...   You will need a large knife to literally cut the COLD fat.
 Measure five and a half cups of unbleached all purpose flour into the bowl.  Measure in one teaspoon of salt (I sometimes just eyeball it) and a teaspoon and a half of double acting baking powder.  Stir this together with your hands until the dry ingredients are well incorporated.  Take your butter ( or lard, or combination of the two) out of the fridge and cut it lengthwise into four flat pieces. 
Turn each piece in the flour and cut each slice into four sticks.  Stack all the stick together and cut them into small blocks.  Toss the blocks with the flour mixture.  This is when mixing makes the perfect flaky consistency. 
You don't want to break the butter up too much, but you do want it a little squished.  I press some of the butter to flatten it with my hands, working the butter into the flour until the edges of the blocks are slightly rounded. 

Now comes the chemistry part.  Crack one whole egg into a one cup measuring cup.  Add one tablespoon of lemon juice (fresh is better!) and whip loosely with a fork.  Strain in enough ICE WATER to make one cup of liquid.  Pour the liquid ALL AT ONCE into a well in the middle of your butter loaded flour.  Pulling the edges of the flour into the middle with your hands, mix the resulting mass until it JUST holds together. 
You can add another teaspoon of water if the dough seems too dry to work easily. 

The reason this works?  Acids destroy protein;  the acidic component of the lemon juice acts as a dough conditioner, helping to prevent the formation of the protein - gluten - within the flour mass.  The egg acts as a binding agent and allows the crust to colour nicely when baked.  The double acting baking powder begins to activate when the liquid is added, but continues to create pockets of carbon dioxide during the heating process, making the flakes separate better and causing the characteristic flakiness that distinguishes good pastry!  The other ingredient you need for good pastry?  

PATIENCE!   Now you have to wait!  Divide the dough into five even lumps.  I actually combine two lumps into one at this point because I don't like my double crusted fruit pies to make a mess in my oven, but if you are making custard pies, or you want the beauty of a classic double crust or lattice topped pie keep it in five portions.  Wrap in plastic wrap OR slip the dough into clean plastic bags and put it in the fridge.  Literally forget about it for at LEAST an hour.

 Better yet, make it the day before so you can allow the dough to rest and lose any elasticity you may have worked into it as well as letting the animal fat harden again.

When you roll the dough I sometimes use an old, clean sheet as a "pastry cloth".  Flour your surface well, and work the dough into a disk with your hands.  The fat will resist the shaping process and that is GOOD.  Working with a rolling pin, begin to roll the dough into an evenly rounded shape... eventually I will post a video, but not this time!  When the dough will over flow the sides of the pan it is the right size.  If I am rolling a double portion I work the circle until it is TWICE the width of the pie pan so I can "flip" the dough over the fruit filling; that way the pie won't "spill" over the edges when the filling starts to bubble!

Push the dough into the bottom of the pie pan and poke a few holes in the bottom of the crust.  Fill with your prepared fruit filling, top with the second crust, trim, brush with a little water and dust with about a teaspoon of sugar before baking.  I like to use my gas oven on convection bake, with a temperature of about 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Your oven will probably use a different temperature.  Just remember - medium hot to flash the crust but not make the fat melt and run out before the flour can seal it in!

Just the pastry, my darlings....   I will give you the filling recipes later, or you can fill them with your own personal favorites ....    And it's a full moon, so the Kitchen Witch is heading off to better things tonight!

Fall is for the harvest.... French Onion Soup....

Finally taking the leap into cooking and posting my recipes after over 15 years of holding back, I feel as if I am racing towards a point where I was supposed to arrive... somehow, since I always seem to hit the ground running that is no surprise...  I am always asked for recipes and I figure this is the best way to get them to those who want them....

Lets' start today with classic French Onion Soup....  and all the little shortcuts I use to make it completely simple, special and delicious!  This amount will make two very large bowls or 4 small ones.  Increase as you need to make a larger batch.

First, find a large, fresh fall onion, about the size of a softball!  If you are prone to crying when you chop onions there are a few things you need to do first!  I keep mine in the fridge.  I find cold onions are less "pungent" and therefore easier to chop.  Make sure your knife is VERY sharp!  If you wear contact lenses it will work really well to keep you from weeping, but swimming goggles work too...  Peel the onion and cut it in half from the top to the root... and slice it very, very thinly with your knife.  Do it fairly slowly, so you don't make the juices spurt everywhere. 

Next, in a heavy bottom stainless steel pot preheat about one tablespoon of olive oil and about two tablespoons of butter.  When the butter is foamy add your onions all at once.  The bottom of the pot should be covered, but the onions should still sear a bit and not boil!  Turn the heat to medium to allow the onions to caramelize.. but not burn!  You can add a couple of crushed garlic cloves (I find mincing them increases the chance of burning and nothing tastes worse than burnt garlic!) and a teaspoon of dried thyme as well.  Let it cook and be patient!  When the onions are nicely browned and smell delicious deglaze the bottom of the pan with about a cup of a really GOOD red wine!  By good I don't necessarily mean expensive, just one that TASTES good!  A nice, full bodied, rich red will compliment all the ingredients.  I used a Zweigelt-Pinot Noir because I really like it, but a
Burgundy or a full Merlot will also do the trick!  When the pot has sizzled and is simmering add two cans of "consomme" concentrate (yes, I know... cheating... but consomme has the best flavour and who has bloody TIME to simmer beef and chopped vegetables in a "raft" on top of the stock pot for twelve hours?????)  plus two full cans of water to cut the salt.  Simmer this until it smells SO good you have to eat it ... the onions should be transparent and limp, the broth will be a rich dark colour and when you taste the salt should be just right, not overly salty!

To serve this delectable soup I shred about an ounce of Jarlesberg Cheese into each bowl and top it with the steaming soup!  If you want you can make a "Parmesan Raft" for your soup by toasting slices of buttered baguette under the broiler until they are lightly toasted; I like to use butter flavoured with garlic and sprinkle them with Parmesan cheese before toasting.  Float one on each serving and add more cheese if you like cheese (yes, I know... who doesn't like more cheese!).

Add a salad in season, or serve with a beautiful Artisan bread from the local bakery, perhaps an apple crisp for dessert.  Simple.  Pleasurable. Magical!