You're a tart, lets have a quiche!

I've been a lagger lately...Besides the usual weekly baking, we are planning for our upcoming group project. We've done bread week and my posts still stuck with tarts and pies. However, the pie and tart week posed such challenge for me that every recipe seems important and worth-mentioning. After a few attempts at both sweet short pastry and pie dough, I am happy to announce that I am getting better at making the doughs. However, there are a few important points while handling these doughs, especially sweet short pastry:

1. Use cold butter and cold water.
2. Before any liquid added to the crumbs like mixture from rub in method, monitor the consistency as you add the liquid. Even though a recipe called for 100ml liquid, you can't assume that it won't be too wet (non sticky) or too dry (non crumbly, no crackings)   
3. Let the dough has some R&R. Best if you could make the dough overnight and let it chill in a fridge or once the dough being laid in a pie ring, chill it again.
4. Work quickly with the dough. Roll them evenly and always floured the rolling pin and surface. Not too much flour tho.

Here are two simple tart recipes that we did which uses baking blind. Baking blind includes an initial baking of the pastry before the filling is added. Usually bake with beans/rice so the pastry remains in shape during baking. Such pre-baking technique used for pastry cases that are to be filled with an uncooked or precooked mixture.

Fruit Tartlets

In this recipe, we'll be using the sweet short pastry for the base. Using 3cm tartlet rings, roll the dough as thin as possible. Bake blind until golden but not brown. Cool over wire rack. Melt some cooking chocolate and brush the interior of the tart shells. Let them cool.

Pastry Cream (the custardy filling holds the cut fruits in the tart shells)

Milk...................................................250g

Vanilla Essence..............................Drops

Egg Yolk..........................................50g

Sugar...............................................50g

Corn Flour.......................................25g

Butter...............................................35g

1. Boil milk in a pot. Mix half the sugar and vanilla essence into boiling milk.
2. In a separate bowl, mix egg yolk and the remaining sugar with a whisk.
3. Add corn flour into the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Stir till smooth.
4. While whisking, slowly bear in hot milk into the egg yolk mixture. Stir constantly.
5. Return everything to the pot and cook until mixture thickens (medium heat).
6. Lastly, add in butter.
7. Fastest way to chill is wrap the pastry cream in a cling film and laid it flat in a fridge.

Fill the pastry cream in piping bag and pipe it in the chocolate covered tart shells. Decorate with variety cut/sliced fruits and berries. Glaze the fruit topping with apricot flavoured glaze.

Chocolate Coffee Tart

Since the filling is sweet, we'll be using the sweet short pastry for the base again. Using 8cm tartlet rings, roll the dough as thin as possible. Bake blind until golden and cool on wire rack.

Whipping Cream/Heavy Cream.............................................90ml

Milk............................................................................................90ml

Chocolate (medalions)...........................................................120g

Egg............................................................................................half of a medium sized egg.

Coffee essence........................................................................drops

1. Combine the cream with milk in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat.
2. Add chocolate and stir until chocolate completely melted and blended uniformly.
3. Add the coffee essence.
4. Beat the egg lightly in a bowl and stir in gradually in the warm chocolate mixture.
5. Pour the chocolate liquid into the tart shells.
6. Bake at 170 degrees C and let it cool. Best serve chilled.

Quiche Loraine

This recipe, surprisingly a hit amongst all of us. Probably most of the stuff we made previously were all sweet and we can use almost anything for the filling. Since the filling is savoury, it is better to use pie dough instead.

Prepare a pie dough and do a bake blind for 20mins at 180 degrees C. Once the pastry turn golden, remove the beans and bake for another 5mins. For 2 x 5 inches or 1 x 12 inches pie ring, here's the ingredients:

Eggs...............................................................3

Milk.................................................................50g

Cream............................................................100g

Salt, pepper, oregano and herbs to taste.

Sky's the limit when it comes to the rest of the filling. Vegs: capsicums, onions, tomatoes, spinach etc...Meat: ham, bacon (cook 1st), sausage, smoked salmon etc. Finally, tops with shreded/grated cheddar cheese.

1. 
   
   Set the temperature to 160 degrees C.
2. 
   
   Add some cheese in the pastry base and all vegs and meat follows.
3. 
   
   Combine the eggs with milk and cream in a bowl and season well. Pour over the meat and vegs. Sprinkle some herbs and tops with cheese.
4. 
   
   Bake for 30-40mins or until set.

Pear Streusel Tart

If you like it sweet and fruity, here's another sweet recipe for you. I like this recipe because it works on both sweet short pastry and pie dough but I find the original recipe is too sweet. So here are some changes.

1. Instead of canned pear, use fresh pear.
2. Reduce 20g off the icing sugar and honey.
3. Use pie dough instead.
4. Use maple syrup instead of honey.

Set the oven temperature at 170 degrees Celcius.


Struesel (or crumbles):
Butter..........................................................85g

Icing Sugar.................................................75g

Cake Flour.................................................140g

Walnut (coarsely chop)..............................50g

1. Rub in flour and butter until well combined.
2. Add in icing sugar and toss the mixture. Consistently rub in with fingers to form crumbly texture.
3. Add the chopped walnut and toss again until it is properly mixed.

Filling:

Maple Syrup/Honey..................................115g

Corn Flour..................................................22g (thickening agent)

Butter..........................................................30g

Glucose......................................................0.5g (a teaspoon)

Pear............................................................3 small pears (skinned, cored and halved)

Note: Cook the pears in water enough to cover the fruits and 50g of sugar. Avoid overly soft pears. Once the pears soften, drained and let it cool.

1. Again, on a 5 inches diameter pie ring, roll a 1mm thick pie dough (chill).
2. In a saucepan, melt butter and add in maple syrup and glucose. Once mixed, add in corn flour and bring to boil. Stir constantly until the liquid is smooth and let it cools.
3. If the liquid is lumpy, don't worry - do what I did, strained it off.
4. Slice pear into small wedges or fan shaped. Once the liquid is cool, soak the pear and arrange the pears in the pie ring. Add in the remaining liquid to cover parts which are exposed.
5. Generously, cover the pears with streusel (you need a lot since the butter and sugar in the mixture will melt as you bake).
6. Bake until golden brown.

Note: Do not poke the base with fork because the liquid will seep through during baking and demoulding (removing the tart from its ring) will be difficult.

Frangipane aka Almond Cream Pie (Yummy!)

Of all the 6 recipes we learnt this week, this is my favourtite and I am planning to master it. Its filling is sweet and creamy with strong almond taste! Since this is a sweet filling, similar to the apple pie, we'll be using the sweet short pastry for its base.

Prepare the sweet dough as instructed. Making sure no kneading or work on the dough too long (chill the dough flat in a cling film before use should do the trick). Working with the dough is tricky for me because it is tends to be sticky (presence of sugar)...so I have to work on it with confidence and fast. Once the dough is set on the pie ring, make sure poke the base with a fork to create a few small holes.

Lets look at the filling recipe - for a 5 inches diameter pie ring (set oven temperature at 170 degrees Celcius):

Butter..............................................................125g
Icing Sugar.....................................................95g
Brown Sugar..................................................15g
Vanilla Essence.............................................Drops
Lemond Essence/Juice................................Drops
Glucose (fruit sugar - very sticky).................25g (purpose is to retain moisture)
Egg..................................................................1
Ground Almond..............................................100g (blanched almonds to remove skin and blend)
Cake Flour...................................................... 25g
Nutmeg Powder............................................. Pinch
Canned fruits for topping (peaches, cherries, blueberries etc)

1. Cream butter, glucose, icing sugar, brown sugar and essences (vanilla & lemon) until fluffy.
2. Beat egg and add gradually. Mix well.
3. Mix ground almond, flour and nutmeg powder together.
4. Fold in the dry mixture to form a smooth batter.
5. Fill batter into a piping bag and pipe into pie ring in a circular motion. Allows 5mm gap between the batter and pastry edge (this filling will rise).
6. Put in oven. Once it is half bake (filling rises but the pastry is still whitish), arrange fruits on the top.
7. Continue to bake until golden brown.

Note: Glazing the fruit topping is not necessary. If desired, dilutes some apricot glazing gel in warm water and brush the pie top once it is cool on a wire rack. 

Classic Apple Pie

Never a big fan of baked fruits but pie making is not complete if you have not make an apple pie. Here's an apple pie recipe I learnt this week.

This recipe is for a 5" diameter pie ring/tray. Set the temperature at 170 degrees Celcius.

Apple (Granny Smith).............................3 medium sized

Raisin.......................................................half a handful

Butter A....................................................7g

Sugar A....................................................23g

Corn Flour (5g) + Water (15g)

Sugar B....................................................25g

Butter B....................................................2g

Lemon Juice............................................half a lemon

Cinnamon powder..................................a pinch

Nutmeg powder......................................a pinch
Salt...........................................................a pinch

1. Peel, core and cut apples into cubes.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter A and add in apple cubes and raisins. Saute until apple slightly soften.
3. Add in sugar A into cooked apples.
4. This will draw juices out of the apples.
5. Bring this to boil and add in corn flour mixture. This will thicken the sauce. Lower the heat and stir well, until the liquid becomes smooth.
6. Remove from heat and stir in all the remaining ingredients.
7. Once sugar B and butter B dissolve and mix well, let the filling to cool down. (Tips: pour the filling into cling film and wrap it. Let it set under cool temperature - this to avoid drying/crystalisation).
8. Roll sweet short pastry to 3mm thick and set over pie ring/tray (chill this).
9. Once the filling cool, take out the chilled pastry base and fill it with apple filling.
10. Prepare some egg wash (beat one egg. Get a brush ready).
11. To create a lattice effect for the pie top, cut the remaining sweet short pastry into 1cm wide strips and arrange the strips on the pie (please refer to image). Brush egg wash where the strips are touching the pie side.
12. Egg wash. Bake until golden brown and serve warm.

This recipe is a must for all pie making beginners. It turns out to be very delicious!

Shut your pie hole!!

After the drama last week, I've decided to keep my mouth shut. All of us were assigned cleaning tasks according to a duty roaster - a small triumph for me. This week, we are going to learn everything about pies and tarts! So putting everything behind, I am ready to learn new stuff. However, this week lesson also means something that I've always dreaded...making pie pastry. I hate that I don't have a nifty fingers to roll a proper pastry. This week lesson also means something very new to me since I am not a huge fan of pies or tarts. 

Success or failure of pie pastry depends on how the flour and fat (butter, shortening or margerine) are mixed and how gluten is developed. We learnt about the two mixing methods two weeks ago:

1. Creaming - mixing butter and sugar before adding any liquid such as eggs, milk etc followed by flour.
2. Rub in - butter is mixed into flour until particles of fat are about the size of pea formed. Water is added in to form some gluten in the flour.

We also learnt two types of pie dough (difference between the two is in how the fat is blended with the flour):

1. Flaky pie dough - fat is rubbed into the flour until the particles of fat is about the size of peas/walnuts depends on how flaky the crusts required after baking. The bigger the fat particles, the flakier the crusts. When water is added, the flour absorbs it and develops gluten. When the dough is rolled out, the lumps of fat and moistened flour are flattened and become flakes of dough separated by layers of fat.
2. Mealy pie dough - fat is blended into the flour more thoroughly, until the mixture look like coarse cornmeal. The crust is very 'short' and tender because less gluten can develop. Less water is needed in the mix because the flour won't absorb as much as in flaky dough. The baked dough is less likely to absorb moisture form the filling.

Mealy dough is used for bottom crust, especially in baked fruit pies and soft or custard type pies, because it resists sogginess. Flaky doughs are used for top crusts and sometimes for pre-baked shells.

Sweet Short Pastry (Creaming Method)

Butter................................................125g
Sugar................................................ 45g
Salt.................................................... 1g
Egg.................................................... 35g
Cake Flour........................................ 200g

1. Using paddle attachment, mix the butter, sugar and salt until evenly blended.
2. Add egg and mix just until absorbed.
3. Add flour into the mixture and mix just evenly blended.
4. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill a few hours before using.

Pie Dough (Rub In Method)

Butter................................................ 113g
Flour.................................................. 200g
Salt.................................................... 6g
Sugar................................................ 2g
Water (cold)..................................... 68g

1. Combine salt and sugar with water and set aside.
2. Rub butter into flour until mixture resembles crumble.
3. Add water to flour mixture and mix until water is absorbed (check the consistency- not sticky).
4. Wrap and chill in cling film a few hours before using.

Amazingly, after making some pies and tarts I started to like them but gosh! Not easy to make since it involves lots of steps especially those small little fruit tartlets!!!  

Sebastopel, a German cookie

If you like a cookie recipe which is not your typical cookie but crispy, chewy and nutty at the same time, Sebastopel will tingle your tastebuds. This week, we also learnt to make two other cookies, Biscotti and Oatmeal cookie which is kinda boring so I won't post them here. The making of sebastopel involves two parts: base and topping. 

Base:
Sugar dough/sugar pastry (set oven temperature to 160 degrees Celcius)

Multi-purpose flour/cake flour**....................................250g
Caster sugar .................................................................125g
Butter (chilled)...............................................................125g
Egg.................................................................................55g (1 medium sized egg)
Lemon zest....................................................................half of lemon

**Note: Multi-purpose flour has protein content slightly higher than cake flour and suitable for half bread, half cake recipes...such as, muffin and cake. Not suitable for bread tho.

1. In a large bowl, add in multi-purpose flour gradually into chilled butter. Rub the two ingredients together with hands to achieve a consistent texture.
2. Add in sugar and continue to rub the ingredients together until even.
3. Add egg and lemon zest. Careful with the egg because by now the mixture should be in a dough form. A perfect dough should be looked and felt like a "playdough". If too dry after adding all the egg, milk/water can soften the dough. If too soft/wet, freeze the dough will achieve a desired consistency.   
4. Lightly flour a clean surface and roll the dough using a rolling pin. 
5. On a baking parchment, roll the dough to 4mm thick and prick a few holes with fork before putting it on a baking tray.

Topping:

Set oven temperature to 200 degrees Celcius

Hazelnuts (crushed coarse)**..................................100g

Caster sugar..............................................................75g

Egg white...................................................................75g

Orange peel (crystalised orange)**........................ 60g (soak in orange juice if too dry)

Cake flour...................................................................10g

Raspberry jam**

**Note: all these ingredients can be substituted. E.g. hazelnuts to almonds, cashews etc..., orange peel to pineapple, lemon etc..., raspberry to strawberry, mixed berries etc...

1. Mix sugar and egg white in a mixing bowl and set over bain-marie and whisk slowly until the sugar dissolves. Control the heat and not to cook the egg white.
2. Add all dry ingredients to above and stir well (make sure the orange juice is drained).
3. By now, the sugar dough in the oven should be 80% cooked.
4. Take out the base and spread a thin layer of jam.
5. Spread the sugar mixture over the layer of jam. Make you leave a 5mm border so the sugar mixture does not overflow.
6. Bake it in the oven until the topping turns golden brown.
7. Cut into desirable sizes and enjoy! 

"I can smell a lazy bugger miles from here!!!"

Today, there's a HUGE drama in the kitchen. Everyday after cooking or baking, we are responsible to clean up all utensils, machines, working tables and floor everyday. Since there are only two basins, some of us have to do the general cleaning, sweep and mop the floor. 8 days had passed and I felt some of us are not pulling their weights. I noticed that some had decided to do a little bit of washings and left the kitchen without making sure the rest of works were done. Worst is that they will stand in one corner and chit chat about the latest movies or gossips while the rest busting their asses off.

So today, I couldn't keep quiet any longer and decided to ask three of the coursemates who were standing talking about the weather to help up and making sure the rest of the kitchen are clean. Obviously, the mother hen became defensive and lashes out on me. Poor me, with soapy hands and dirty dishes in the basin had to listen to her screams. So I decided to target her as the main culprit. Reasons being, she's the oldest of the bunch and you thought she would have some sense of responsibility. And, I felt she's the one who's wasting everyone's focus when she continuosly talking rubbish.

The drama went straight to the main chef. I was at fault because I did not make a complaint first...duh! But, I am not a back-stabber. If I am not happy with someone's work ethics and attitude, I will tell her/him straight in the face! 

Well, immediately a meeting was held and I was requested to explain the drama from my side of the story. I told everyone exactly what happened (as I remembered) and agreed that a work schedule is important for everyone. Obviously, she was not happy because in the end my motive was genuine which is to make sure everyone's treated fairly and was given equal workload.

As we came to a solution to work according to a work schedule, she again bursted "I will not work with Brandon!"..."you're full of shit"..."stop your charade"... Well, I do not want to work with you either and do not start cursing or name-calling coz you will be surprised the words that will come out from my mouth when I am pissed. She demanded that I apologise to her which I quickly replied "Never!" and accused me of no self respect. Erm...dearie, self respect means you respect others NOT just yourself...so please check the dictionary before you even use a word bigger than yourself...Surprisingly throughout the whole drama, I was very very calm...  

In the end, sadly my cookies were burnt, lost a knife, everyone had a stressful day and I was pissed with myself to get into such mess. Sigh...