For the bakers amongst us!

That all looks amazing, Pierre!

I've spent the past few years working on pasty ('pass-tee) recipes. These are a type of meat pie with a short crust pastry, historically from Cornwall, England. I use something called a rough puff pastry, which doesn't really puff up. It's basically a strong crust that holds up to handling after these things are baked, since these are meant to be held while they're eaten. The filling is stew-like but with a lot less liquid than stew. I like root vegetables and ground buffalo, chicken and mushroom, and I've made a lentil and vegetable curry version that was very good. These get an egg wash on top. I've also made an apple pie filling with a touch of cardamom and lime. The top of those got a cinnamon/sugar butter wash.

My other specialty is chewy chocolate hazelnut cookies.

-Andy

 

Ok my friend, your gonna have to share recipes ya know!

 

Go on with your bad self Andy!

 

We'll see. The filling is easy. Sorting out the crust took many, many batches. I'd like to one day build a business around those, but I'd need to find some investors.

Ha!

-Andy

 

One of my "No knead" loaves. Amazing how nice a loaf you can get from this method.

 

That's a beautiful loaf....and a fantastic knife. What kind is it?

 

Thanks. That is the tried and true Tojiro bread knife.

 

Need to start taking some pics
Do you guys make your own puff pastry or buy it?

 

Life's too short. I buy puff pastry. I almost never use it, though. It saddens me to see meat pies that are just food in a dish that's covered with puff pastry. Steak and ale pie, for instance, should be a box or small pie made of suet crust that's filled with cubed beef and gravy. The puff pastry topping is a quick and dirty way of making a great dish mediocre, at best.

I do make quiche with puff pastry as the crust (roll out into pie pan, perforate with a fork, blind bake, then fill with quiche ingredients and bake again). That's not part of my "healthy lifestyle" these days, however.

-Andy

 

You just need to add some bacon to it, and then all is right with it. :thumb

 

Bacon, mushroom, spinach, and blue cheese.

-Andy

 

Now I'm hungry.

 

Looks great! What do you have in the pics?

 

my Tangzhong(water roux method) "hot dog buns".

 

That made me laugh out loud! Excelent.

Here is one that never gets old- I cannot take credit for it though.

 

That's the thing, the pre-bought puff pastry rolls are not satisfying so I just don't make anything involving puff pastry at the moment. I never tried making puff pastry yet. Looks like the kind of thing that you would keep messing up until you find someone who knows what he's doing to teach you...

 

It would be a nightmare to make the real deal. I'll post up my rough puff pastry recipe this weekend if I have time. It doesn't really puff up, but it's killer for sweet or savory pies and quiches. It holds up well, and it's all butter (no shortening). Most all-butter crusts are tough but taste great. An all-shortening crust would be very flaky but flavorless. 50/50 crusts work well, but I don't like shortening, and they can't endure the manhandling a pasty ('pass-tee... hand pie) gets subjected to. The folding process when making a "rough puff pastry" seems to help make an all-butter crust a little flakier. All good things.

-Andy

 

I've been trying to do a good home done pasty ever since a few trips I made to the UK, and keep failing. Looking forward to seeing your recipe on this!

 

I might as well share it, since I doubt I'll ever get my pasty business off the ground. That said, I found a 2 story vacant Dairy Queen in town that I could turn into a pub. It has, of course, a small kitchen, and the building is steel and mostly glass. It would be a cool pub if done right. I could call it Her Majesty's Public House. The locals would probably get the joke.

-Andy