Terece's Notes and Recipes from the October Cooking Class

Notes for October 28, 2010 cooking class

Pies, Pastries and Desserts

· The fats in pastry keep the crust light & fluffy. As the fats melt, they create steam which forms little air pockets in the pastry.

· If you want a lighter crust, add 1 part CAKE FLOUR. In the Puff Pastry I made, I substituted 1 part cake flour for the all-purpose flour, ie: if it calls for 4 C. of flour, you’ll have 1 C. cake flour and 3 C. all purpose flour. Get out your calculators. This was the first time it made the pastry this way and, I must say, I’ll continue. The puff pastry was even lighter than usual.

· If mixing up your fruit pie filling ahead of time, the juice will thin out the mixture. You’ll need to determine if you need to add a little more thickening agent to the fruit, such as flour or cornstarch. When I mix up my fruit fillings, I allow the juices to run and form a sauce, then I dip my finger in the juice, taste it and decide if I need to add a little more of any of the ingredients. This is where you need to get your seasonings right. You can’t do anything about it after the pie is baked. Remember to start with small amounts of spices, you can always add more, but it’s really difficult to correct for too much spice.

· It is best to bake pie crusts in the center position of the oven, unless you’re using a convection oven, then bake on all 3 racks, if you have room. I bake all my pies at 350 and extend the baking time, if necessary. If you do this, you won’t need to worry about burnt crust. If you’re baking convection, traditionally, you’ll reduce the heat by 25 degrees and select the shortest time indicated on the baking time to start checking for doneness. Most fruit pies are done if the liquids are bubbly and have an appearance of being jelled and the crust is golden brown. As a frame of reference, I bake my apple pies for 1 to 1 ½ hours. I like my apples soft, not crunchy. Cherry pies and soft fruit pies will bake faster because the fruit will cook faster. When baking custard type pies, you’ll test for doneness by slipping a knife, vertically, into the center of the pie and pulling it out. If it comes out “clean”, it’s done, if it comes out with a film on the knife, it needs to cook longer.

· When baking, you want to turn your product, half way through the baking time. This will allow for hot spots in the oven and for more even baking. If you’re using convection bake, you may want to rotate your product from shelf to shelf. Pay attention to your oven to get a feel for how it operates. If your oven is baking or cooking faster than indicated in a recipe, your oven is probably cooking “hot”, if it takes longer than normal for a recipe to finish, your oven may be cooking “cooler”. You can have your oven tested by a repair person and adjusted, if necessary, or you can purchase an oven thermometer. Place the thermometer in the oven, as directed, turn the oven on to 350 and when it’s supposed to be at temperature, read the thermometer. You can then make adjustments in the temperature setting to allow for the difference in oven temperature. This is so important in order for you to get a good result. Even new ovens are not always calibrated properly.

· EXCEPTION: If you are baking with Puff Pastry, you’ll want to bake your product according to the recipe instructions. If you’re adding a filling, as in the Country French Pear Tart, bake at 375 on a convection setting, 400 on a regular setting. The reason you want to bake at a higher temperature is that you don’t want the butter chunks to start melting before they start releasing their steam and puffing your dough. If you have a frilling that will take longer to bake, like apples, consider cooking your filling, including the thickener, spices and sugar, before filling your pastry. There are two good reasons that you might want to do this. One is that you’ll get a good idea of how thick your sauce will be and you can make an adjustment then if you need more thickener. Remember that if you’re thickening with cornstarch, you want to add cool to the hot mixture, so make a little slurry of tap water and cornstarch to add to the fruit mixture and continue to cook till it comes to a boil, that is how thick the juices will be. If you’re adding flour, sprinkle flour over the fruit mixture, don’t dump it in and mix it gently so it won’t clump together. Remember that with a flour thickener, it will continue to thicken as it cooks/bakes, so leave it a little on the runny side.

Second, this will allow those apples to partially cook before you add them to the puff pastry crust. This will reduce the baking time and your puff pastry won’t get over brown waiting for the apples to finish. Remember, if you do this, you’ll need to allow the filling to come to room temperature before pouring in the middle of the crust, or you’ll melt the butter. Not good for puff pastry.

· Having fresh citrus juice in a recipe really does make a difference. Purists will say it’s the only way to go. If you’re not a purist, you can use bottled, but it really won’t taste the same. If you have a habit of wasting those lemons, oranges and limes that you bought in a big bag to save money, then take a little time to zest all your citrus. I zest one lemon (lime or orange) at a time directly onto a piece of plastic wrap. When the entire lemon is zested (you only want the colored portion, not the white), I wrap the plastic in a little package and place it in a zip lock freezer bag. I know that one package is the zest of one lemon. When I have a recipe that calls for zest, I pull it out of the freezer and add it, frozen, to my recipe. After I’ve zested all my fruit, I juice it, pour the juice in an ice cube tray, freeze it and, once frozen, I transfer cubes to freezer bag for easy storage. One ice cube is about 1 Tbl. depending on the size of your tray. Measure how much liquid it holds ahead of time and then you know how much juice you have. This is a great way to have fresh zest and juice without waste.

· In the Pear Pastry Tart I made, I got a little carried away with the lime juice. Of course, the first thing you add is sugar. After that was done, I realized that I needed something to offset the lime and cut the sweetness of the sugar. Add salt. You’ll be surprised how much salt will help with sweet products as well as acidic products. It will enhance the flavor, cut the sweetness of frostings and cut the acid in acidic fruits, such as pineapple and grapefruit.

· When adding a hot liquid to a glass container, always warm the container FIRST to keep it from cracking. This is particularly useful when pouring hot gravies or sauces into pitchers or gravy boats.

· When making apple or fruit pie, remember the fruit will “shrink” as it cooks down and cools. If you want a “full” pie, you’ll need to add extra, especially with apple. It’s more difficult to add much more when your dealing with fruit that doesn’t “pile” well.

· When adding salt to a recipe, it’s best to add a small amount at a time and mix well before adding more. It’s always better to season with a small amount and then let individuals add more at the table.

Here are the recipes that weren’t included in your file for the October class:

PUMPKIN TRUFFLE CAKE

TRUFFLE CENTER

2/3 C condensed sweetened milk 1 C semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat in microwave until chocolate chips are melted and set aside.

CAKE

3 C all purpose flour 2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda 4 tsp pumpkin spice

1 ½ C soft butter 1 C granulated sugar

1/2 C packed brown sugar 6 eggs

1 C pumpkin

Blend eggs, butter and sugar; Add remaining ingredients and mix well; spray & Flour 12” bundt pan.

Spoon in 1/2 - 2/3 of the batter into the bundt pan and make small trough in center of batter, pushing batter up the sides and around the center post of the bundt pan; spoon the truffle filling into the well; DO NOT let it touch the sides of the pan; spoon remaining batter over the top of the filling and smooth the top.

Bake 55-65 minutes at 350*. Test doneness around inner edges to avoid dipping tester in the truffle filling. (if you don’t have a cake tester, you can use a long piece of uncooked spaghetti).

BROWN BUTTER FROSTING

1/4 C butter-browned to a light golden brown

1 C powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1-2 Tbsp milk

Allow to cool slightly and pour over cake, immediately. If you allow the frosting to cool, it will set up.

PUMPKIN CIDER PUDDING CAKE

CAKE

1 C all purpose flour 3/4 C granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

1/4 tsp salt

Mix well and stir in the following ingredients just until moistened:

1/2 C canned pumpkin 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 C milk

Spread in greased 8x8x2 square pan; set aside.

Mix together in small bowl:

1/2 C packed brown sugar 2 Tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp pumpkin spice

Sprinkle over pumpkin batter.

Boil

1 Tbsp butter 1 1/2 C apple cider

Pour over top of batter and bake 40-45 minutes @ 350* until top is golden brown and edges are bubbly. Cool 15 minutes. Serve warm.

PASTRY CREAM

1 - 8 oz pkg. of cream cheese at room temperature.

Small box of instant pudding – the flavor will depend on what you are making

1/2 the amount of milk indicated on package

Whipped cream

Mix cream cheese with milk until smooth and lump free. Add pudding and mix well, making sure there are no lumps. Fold whipped cream into the pudding mixture. The more whipped cream you use, the lighter your filling will be, the less you use, the stiffer your filling will be. It’s up to you.

BUTTER CREAM SAUCE

1 cube butter 2 C granulated sugar

1-2 C. cream (you can use milk or half and half)

Pinch of salt 1 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring

*Zest or spice - optional

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat till the syrup picks up a little color. Add the cream and continue to cook till it thickens and “coats the back of a spoon”. If the syrup cools, you may need to add more cream to thin the mixture out to your desired consistency. Remove from heat and add flavoring; store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

*you may want to add orange zest or another citrus fruit, or nutmeg to serve with a pear tart, etc…

PEAR TART

Use Lion House Pie Crust

8-12 small pears 3/4 to 1 C granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

¼ tsp of nutmeg, or to taste (fresh grated is best, ground is all right)

Zest of 1 lime 1 – 2 tsp. lime juice (or more to taste)

Add about ¼ - ½ C. flour to thicken (it depends on how much juice you get off the pears and whether you use the filling right away or allow it to sit. You’ll use more flour if the filling sits and less if you use it right away). You may need a little more than the ½ C, you decide.

Roll the crust into the shape you want your tart to be (this may depend on the shape of the pan you’re baking your tart on). Remember that the Lion House crust has baking powder, so it will expand as it cooks. You can roll this dough fairly thin, less than a ¼ inch thick.

Transfer crust to the baking pan (you can roll your crust on parchment paper and transfer it straight to the baking sheet, you can lift the dough over your roller and transfer it that way). Make sure that your crust is in the middle of the pan, so when you fold your edges over, you’ll have an even amount of space on all sides of the pan, this will allow for more even baking.

Pour the pear mixture (or any fruit) in the center of the crust and fold all the sides up over the crust, doing one side at a time. You can pleat the crust a little on each side to give it a more decorative look. There should be an open space in the middle where the filling is not covered with crust.

Brush the crust with water and sprinkle generously with sugar.

Bake at 350 - 375 until golden brown and the liquids are clear and bubbly. Check it after 40 minutes and every 5-10 minutes after. It may take up to an hour.

*Note - You can bake at the higher temperature when the fruit is less firm or you’ve pre-cooked the filling. Keep an eye on the crust so it doesn’t over brown.