September 25, 2017
September 25, 2017
Pie Crusts!!
I was super excited to learn how to make pie crusts because this is someting that I have seriously struggled with in the past at home. I feel like it is a process that gets easier with time and practice. I was desperately hoping that somehow I would be able to get away with simply following the recipe and hoping for the best... but it didn't really work out that way.
Mealy Pie Crust:
So this was kind of a disastrous learning experience. I scaled and started mixing all the ingredients without a problem until I left my station for just a second and my butter softened a little too much. My crumbly crust was suddenly a giant butter ball in my mixer! I hadn't even added the required water! In my distress to save my crust I dumped all my water in a hoped in vain that it would mix. It did not, and it was a clammy, gross mess. I was instructed to throw away my crust. Sad day.
I reminded myself of the critical control point that the butter must indeed be frozen solid to make the proper consistency of pie crust before adding water. I started on round 2 and kept a sharp eye on my mixing crumbs. You wont believe this, and Chef KJ doesn't know it but I messed up again. Thankfully my crust hadn't graduated to butterball form yet but it was almost to that point. I poured a little water in (just to say I did) and the crust barely survived. So lesson learned there.
Flaky Pie Crust:
Pretty Simple here. I felt like a very important factor to this formula is ensuring that the butter remains VERY COLD and still in big chunks. The butter chunks give the crust the desired flakiness and I was just fine with leaving them in.
Pate Sucre:
This dough was relatively easy to make but the real challenge for this recipe is making sure it is evenly rolled and pressed neatly into the molds. The tart cups also need to be poked all the way through to the bottom so the hot air can escape and they don't inflate. I had uneven dough so my tarts were half toasted and a little inflated. I learned a good lesson from that experience. Thankfully we don't have to make Pate Sucre for midterms!
WHAT I LEARNED:
WATCH YOUR MIXER AND DON'T TURN YOUR BACK. LESSON LEARNED.
Pie Crusts!!
I was super excited to learn how to make pie crusts because this is someting that I have seriously struggled with in the past at home. I feel like it is a process that gets easier with time and practice. I was desperately hoping that somehow I would be able to get away with simply following the recipe and hoping for the best... but it didn't really work out that way.
Mealy Pie Crust:
So this was kind of a disastrous learning experience. I scaled and started mixing all the ingredients without a problem until I left my station for just a second and my butter softened a little too much. My crumbly crust was suddenly a giant butter ball in my mixer! I hadn't even added the required water! In my distress to save my crust I dumped all my water in a hoped in vain that it would mix. It did not, and it was a clammy, gross mess. I was instructed to throw away my crust. Sad day.
I reminded myself of the critical control point that the butter must indeed be frozen solid to make the proper consistency of pie crust before adding water. I started on round 2 and kept a sharp eye on my mixing crumbs. You wont believe this, and Chef KJ doesn't know it but I messed up again. Thankfully my crust hadn't graduated to butterball form yet but it was almost to that point. I poured a little water in (just to say I did) and the crust barely survived. So lesson learned there.
Flaky Pie Crust:
Pretty Simple here. I felt like a very important factor to this formula is ensuring that the butter remains VERY COLD and still in big chunks. The butter chunks give the crust the desired flakiness and I was just fine with leaving them in.
Pate Sucre:
This dough was relatively easy to make but the real challenge for this recipe is making sure it is evenly rolled and pressed neatly into the molds. The tart cups also need to be poked all the way through to the bottom so the hot air can escape and they don't inflate. I had uneven dough so my tarts were half toasted and a little inflated. I learned a good lesson from that experience. Thankfully we don't have to make Pate Sucre for midterms!
WHAT I LEARNED:
WATCH YOUR MIXER AND DON'T TURN YOUR BACK. LESSON LEARNED.
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