For the bakers amongst us!

For what it's worth, I can promise you beyond any doubt I wouldn't sell it or try to open my own business that uses it. lol I merely want good at home good eats. lol

 

If someone wants to open a business, I'd say go for it! Kudos for being more risk tolerant than I am. Still, I know I'd be happier in a job where I made or did something all day. I need to be physically busy, as well as mentally busy. I'm not well suited for a desk job, but that's where I keep ending up professionally.

I may give the pub idea a go one day, especially if I can talk Chef John into moving back out west. I can pour beer, but I need an experienced chef and business partner.

-Andy

 

If it help push you over the edge to get a business, I'll volunteer to drink the beer

 

Sold. Investor number 1 is now on record. The good news is that this old Dairy Queen is at the back of the busiest grocery store parking lot in town, that part of town is all residential neighborhoods and apartment complexes, and the nearest pub is miles away. I've been giving it serious thought lately.

Anyway, hooray baked goods! (sorry for derailing the thread)

-Andy

 

I'm showing a molasses swirl loaf, pretzels in different knots and some steamed flower rolls.

 

I would definitely be interested to see how you make your pastry. Seems like it would work really well for dessert.

 

Very nice. I need to try making pretzels sometime.

-Andy

 

Pretzel recipes I've seen follow a dough recipe like that used for bagels.

 

I owe more than most in student loans still You can feel free to employ me but I don't have much for an investment!

I make a quick and dirty pretzel with my leftover bread dough. Roll the strips of dough out, shape them. Boil them in baking soda water then brushed with butter, salted and tossed in the oven. People love them. Not much to them (not a real pretzel) but they go great with mustard and beer.

Homemade puff pastry is a pain in the butt. Not many places even make it. If you have a sheeter it isn't bad but most places don't have a sheeter. A sheeter is a machine that rolls out dough while it is on a sheet, unlike a pizza dough roller which you feed the dough through from the top and it comes out the bottom like a pasta roller.

 

Not to mention either a cold marble top, or cold stainless workspace. Both greatly improve the ease of making puff pastry. There's a pretty narrow temperature margin to stay inside for the butter in the layers to roll easy with the dough, but not get too warm and start to liquify through the layers.

 

or be too cold to roll right and break through the pasty dough...

 

So with all that said, here's my rough puff pastry recipe:

200g white all-purpose flour
100g whole wheat flour
Pinch of sea salt
150g chilled, unsalted butter cut into small cubes
Ice water

Mix flour and salt, add the cubed butter, toss butter in flour until butter is coated with flour.

Add ice water until the mixture just comes together (about 10 tablespoons of water) into a somewhat firm dough.

On a well-floured surface, shape the dough into a rectangle. Flour the surface of the dough rectangle. Roll the dough out in one direction away from you until you have a rectangle that's about 1cm thick. Fold the dough like a business letter. Fold the farthest edge 1/3 of the way toward yourself and the nearest edge 1/3 away from yourself. You should have a 3 layer rectangle of doughthat's about 3cm thick. Turn it 90 degrees (1/4 turn) and roll it out again. Repeat this rolling and folding 5 more times. Try to work fairly quickly so the butter doesn't melt. Fold the pasty into thirds one more time, but don't roll it out. Wrap it in cling film at this point, and put it in the fridge to rest for 45 minutes up to an hour.

You can then roll out the dough once you have your pasty, pie, or quiche filling almost ready. If making a pie or quiche, I like to blind bake my crusts at 375 a little before I add the filling. I haven't used them, but I'd like to get some ceraic baking beans to help the crust stay put. It hasn't been a big issue blind baking without them, though. I just leave a little extra crust over the ege of the pie pan so the crust doesn't slip down the inside of the pan. You cut off the excess after the blind bake.

For pasties, you just cut out 9" squares add some filling to one half, fold and crimp the edge. I make somewhat dry fillings, then add a pat of butter on top of the filling before I fold and crimp the dough. Traditional fillings are root vegetables and ground beef with whatever seasonings you like, chicken and leek (with some sort of white cream sauce), and chicken and mushroom. Sweet pie fillings also work well in a pasty. You can egg wash your pasties with lightly beaten egg that has a splash of milk. You can bake these on a pan covered with parchment paper, but they don't really stick on an ungreased pan if you don't have parchment paper.

-Andy

 

Thanks for sharing! I will give this a shot when I get the chance

 

How often do you come up to Portland Andy? There's a place that does pot pies, pasties, and sweet pies. So popular they opened a new location. Their first was in a weird spot. If you make it in a foodie town and it's delicious, they'll come find you!

 

We get to Portland about once a month. I need to check out that place. I've seen their website. Just don't know how well it would work in a small town like Corvallis. I'd have to do a value chain analysis and a market survey.

 

Yea. That's where the "foodie town" part comes in I suppose. But who doesn't want pie in all shapes, forms, and sizes?? It's bloody pie! :lol:

 

Oh, I agree completely. I think pie would fly just about anywhere. I'd like to start a chain pasty business like they have (2 of 'em!) in the UK.

 

Oooo. Why the UK though? Are you British or just love cold and wet?

Oh wait... We already live in cold and wet.

 

He's just saying they have 2 different chain restaurants in the UK that specialize in making/selling pastys, and he'd like to start a chain here that is just like that.

 

Aren't you supposed to give them a lye bath, or something like that? I'd love to make some really good soft pretzels, but I am to baking what Mike Tyson was to chivalry.