chefpeon

Sure you can. Just takes a little practice. I do it all the time. edited to say: Ok, not a spatula.....I use a turntable and that paint-masker tool thingy that I have discussed on several other threads. Like this one.

Every carrot cake recipe I have used COUNTED on the extra moisture in the carrots to thin the batter out. As I mix, the batter is super thick, then when the carrots are added, it thins out quite a bit, which is what is supposed to happen. I've never heard of squeezing grated carrots...yipes! Man if I had to do that with the large batches I make, I'd never get anything else done! I think Anita's right......if your cake is soggy, you may have too many carrots in there.

It is pretty easy.....ok, how to explain.....hmmmmm. I should have had my husby take a picture AS I was fluting and it would have been easy to see! I didn't think of it....sorry. Ok, the indentations are formed by my index finger. As I'm making the indentation, with my other index finger and thumb, I am pressing the dough in a V-form around my index finger. Does that make sense? Next time I make a pie, I will have my husband snap a pic as I'm fluting and I'll post it here. No doubt, I do lose a lot of detail when the pie bakes....that's why I make the fluting so defined when I make the pie.....'cause I know...<snif> that some of it will go away. The pie still looks pretty good out of the oven though.....

Ok, kids, as promised, here is my Leaf Lard Pie Demo. I've posted the recipe and instructions in RecipeGullet, and it's here. First, you must have your leaf lard, although in this recipe, I'm sure regular lard would work fine too. You can purchase leaf lard, already rendered, for $1.00 per 1 pound tub at Dietrich's Meats. I've been a PC for over 15 years. I've made a LOT of pies, and I've made a LOT of pie crusts, and I've tried a LOT of recipes. Discovering leaf lard, for me, has been like finding a genie in a bottle. I swear by the stuff......I've never made anything better, I swear to God! In fact, I love leaf lard so much, I would marry it......or maybe be the Official Spokesmodel/Ambassador of Leaf Lard. Don't worry, my opinion is totally unbiased and I'm not being paid to say it.....not even by Mr. Trump. So this demo is just a visual tour of your basic pie dough making process. No new ground being broken, except for the fact that I'm using the MAGICAL LEAF LARD. The technique I use will serve anyone well, no matter what pie crust recipe you use. Ok, step one...... Combine 1/4 cup ice water and two tsp. white vinegar. Measure out 6 Tbsp. of leaf lard (or 3 ozs)....weighing it is easier. Then, combine your 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 3/4 cups pastry flour, 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. baking powder. Put that, and your bowl of vinegar water in the freezer for about 20 minutes so everything is nice and cold. Having your ingredients ice cold is optimal to get the flakiest crust....the coldness keeps the butter and lard from "squishing" into your dry ingredients and reducing flakiness. But you know, if you skip the step of putting everything in the freezer, it's not the end of the world. As a matter of fact, I skip it a lot when I don't have much time, or more likely lack of room in my freezer. Next, cut up 12 Tbsp. (1 and a half sticks) COLD butter into small chunks. You can use salted or unsalted butter....depends on your preference. Place the butter chunks and lard on top of your dry ingredients.....like so...... Next, using a pastry cutter, or by rubbing with your fingers or using a couple of kitchen knives, cut the butter and lard into the flour mixture til it looks sorta like coarse meal flecked with pea size chunks of butter and lard.....kinda like this... I've always liked using a pastry cutter best. If I were making a bunch of pies at work, I'd have my dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, and I would cut the butter into the dough with the paddle attachment on the mixer, or if I was lucky and had a dough blade, I'd use that. Next, sprinkle in your vinegar/ice water mixture, and using a fork, toss it around til it comes together. I've always found that the amount of water called for in this recipe is always right on. I've never needed to add more or less. Next, gather your moistened li'l chunks into a rough dough ball.....like so..... Then divide your dough ball in half..... Then press into two fat disks, and wrap them in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours before using. You can freeze it too, if you want. Ok! 30 minutes are up......time to roll it out! Here's my bottom crust......see all the "chunks" of fat in there? That's a GOOD thing! I line my pan, and put my apple filling in, which I made from the apples I have in my yard. I have no idea what kind of apples they are, but they're great baking apples. I dot it generously with butter, then roll out my top crust. I brush the edge of my bottom crust with water, then place my top crust on, press to seal, then trim the edges with scissors. Then I roll the excess crust under the edge, tuck it into the pie pan, flute the edge, brush the top with egg wash (no egg wash on the edges!), cut steam vents (A is for Apple), and sprinkle with coarse vanilla sugar. Into the oven it goes...... As you can see, I have TWO pies in my Fabulous Frigidaire Flair oven. The first pie, which I demo'd and the mini-pie, which I made from the dough scraps and extra filling I had. I love my Fabulous Frigidaire Flair oven. It was top o' the line in 1962 (the same year I was born), and here it is 43 years later, still chugging away. I love it so much that I have another one just like it in my garage as a "parts" oven. I will definitely cry the day that I can no longer fix my Flair, and can't find parts. The Flair oven was also the oven Samantha had in her kitchen on Bewitched! Ok, pie is done........ Yum! Looks great! Gotta let it cool.....then...... cut a slice! Is that a flaky lookin' pie crust or WHAT??? Gotta trust me when I say it tastes great too! Now check this out......this is a slice of the mini pie that I made with the scraps! It looks just as flaky! Pretty cool, huh? Hopefully you can discover the joys of leaf lard too......you'll love it, I promise!

Leaf Lard Pie Crust This is truly the flakiest and most tender pie crust you'll ever make. You can purchase leaf lard at Dietrich's Meats 610-756-6344. As of this writing, a 1 lb tub is $1.00. 2 tsp white vinegar 1-1/2 c all purpose flour 3/4 c pastry flour 2 T sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp baking powder 6 T leaf lard, chilled 12 T chilled butter, cut into small pieces Combine vinegar and 1/4 cup ice water in a small bowl. Combine flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Put both bowls into the freezer until well chilled, about 20 minutes. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter and lard into chilled flour mixture until it looks like coarse meal flecked with pea size pieces of butter and lard. Sprinkle in water-vinegar mixture, stirring dough with a fork until it begins to hold together. Press dough into rough ball, then divide dough ball in half, shape into two balls and flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 8 hours before using. Keywords: Pie, Dessert, Easy ( RG1397 )

Isn't the brandy or rum an important part of the flavor of an aged fruitcake? I'd think leaving it out, or substituting it with beer would be detrimental. Don't they sell the smaller sizes of liquor in NZ? Here in the states, the liquor stores sell even the "airplane" sizes of liquors......

First, I don't claim to have much knowledge regarding the history of food and cuisine. I wonder who came up with eating foods in a certain order, with the sweet item usually being last? And who decided that you don't eat meat for dessert? I'm pretty darn sure cave men just ate what was there at the time it was there....they probably feasted on berries that Bertha brought, then, having enough energy to go hunting, brought home some meat. After the hunt, being really hungry, they probably ate more berries WITH the meat. Bertha, suffering PMS, insisted that they eat the meat first, then the berries, and well, that was the end of Bertha. The moral to this story is, that the joy of food (and art, for that matter) follows the basic idea that: there ARE no rules! If ya wanna serve meat for dessert then, go for it. You could probably call it "nouvelle" or "cutting edge" but I think it's just reverting back to the age 'o Bertha. You know, how what is old is new again. But here we are, most of us inwardly conditioned and programmed to eating our food in a certain order....myself included. I like dessert at the end of my meal.....not sure exactly why that is when I really think about it. Habit, I guess. I remember being punished at my nursery school for eating the candy bar I had in my lunch before I had my peanut butter sandwich. The teacher took the rest of my lunch away. True story. This "food order" is ingrained into our society. Whenever someone attempts to mess with something so omnipresent, it's like swimming upstream. You have a lot of energy to begin with, but when no one goes for it, you give up. I don't think we'll see much of a trend regarding meat for dessert, and if we do, it'll fade fast I'm sure. In my experience I know most people won't go for it. Hey, I love to dip my breakfast sausage in maple syrup, but I still don't want it for dessert.

Yeah, I had intended on purchasing the book, but read a few excerpts and decided his new techniques were over the top for me...... It was this "kick" method that I figured I'd never be able to master........

The tier sizes are 14, 12, 6. The bride wanted the bottom two tiers to feed 80 because she wanted to save the 6 inch cake. My normal policy is to give a gift certificate for a 6 inch anniversary cake so they can have a fresh one, but she really wanted to save and freeze the "original" one. To each his own I guess! Thanks for the kudos everybody. Most of the time I get "stuck" having to reproduce other people's designs, which is sort of a drag for me. I really like it when people trust me enough to come up with my original stuff. That's when it's truly FUN.

It took me 5 hours to decorate....give or take. I had kneaded all the colors into my fondant and modeling chocolate a few days ahead, and cut out little stencils to make my various shapes....like the stars, the little doorways and the black thingys. I try to do as much in advance as possible so that it's as easy as possible come assembly time. I wouldn't say any one layer was more challenging than the other, because I had it all planned out and knew what I was going to do. The cakes are lemon with lemon curd filling. Everything is fondant except for any shape that is colored black or yellow. The black and yellow is modeling chocolate. The reason for that is when it comes to cutting out shapes, fondant stretches around too much....even if you use an X-acto knife. The shapes that had a lot of detail to them cut better with the chocolate. I used regular ol' liquid gel paste color (Chefmaster) and a little bit of powdered color where needed. I used powder in combination with my liquid gel red to get the right shade of red, and I used black powder to deepen the black without making the fondant too soft. Fondant gets more soft and hard to handle the more liquid color you add, so I offset that with powder. The gold touches are royal icing painted with edible gold powder mixed with lemon extract.

Yup....got a website....... at the bottom of my post, just click the word, "card", and when the window pops up, you'll see my URL. My website needs some serious updating......it's one of my priorities in the next couple of weeks.

This weekend's wedding cake features a design I created when the bride told me she wanted something "Moroccan". This is what I came up with. I'm rather pleased with it. I love doing the "non-traditional" type stuff. Thought I'd share. I call this design "Casablanca".

'Das Right!!! We wanna see the cakes and the scones and the muffins and the danishes and the cookies!

Are you talking about both major equipment and small stuff? My number one necessity piece of equipment, besides a mixer and my offset spatula, is..... A NICE COMMERCIAL ROBOCOUPE. No stupid Cuisinart Food Processors! Not even the "professional" model.....those stupid chintzy plastic workbowls break all the time.....argh! They're never big enough either. I worked in ONE place that owned a Robotcoupe and boy did it save me time. It was a piece of sh*t Robocoupe too........the housing was held together with duct tape, because it had been dropped. It still worked though, and we babied it, because we didn't want to lose it! Other neat things to have: A SHEETER! Another wonderful timesaver! If you're thinking about doing roll-in doughs, you really can't do it efficiently without one. A STEAMKETTLE! Those are "oh so nice" if you have to boil a lot of things. A BAKER'S SCALE. No explanation needed. A LOT OF CAMBROS in various sizes for easy clean storage of prepared ingredients. FLAT SHEET PANS. RUBBER SPATULAS. A HEAVY BOTTOMED STOCKPOT. A HEAVY BOTTOMED SAUCEPAN. A NICE SHARP CHEF'S KNIFE in whatever length you wish. A LONG SERRATED KNIFE. BENCH SCRAPERS and BOWL SCRAPERS A GOOD PARING KNIFE Man, I could go on and on I suppose......but the above are what's important to me..... Man, I wish I had a ROBOTCOUPE!!!!!

That's why I wear old T-shirts to bake in. I never worry about getting spots out 'cause I'm just gonna get another one anyway. I save the ol' chef jacket for meeting with clients......stays really clean that way!

Let me put it this way. If you've ever been a housewife who has the challenge of making last night's leftovers look appealing to a fussy family, then you too can master minis! One thing I really love about being a PC is the pride I take in the fact that there is virtually NO WASTE in whatever I make! Even mistakes (like overbaked cookies) can be turned into something (like crumbs for cheesecake crusts). All the stuff I save from other projects (leftover mousse, cake trimmings from sculpting, extra buttercreams, leftover tart shells, eclair shells, ganache, etc etc etc) eventually gets incorporated into minis. It's a great thing. Fun too, because you get to be creative and imaginative with a palette of ingredients.....one of my favorite things! I think some people get thrown if there isn't an actual recipe to look at. It's like some folks need paint by number kits, and some of us just like to throw paint at a canvas. I'm the latter. My advice is, think of what would sound good to you.......a nice flavor/texture combo, and use what you have to make it happen! Recipes......you don't need 'em! Really! Some of the best stuff happens when you throw paint at the canvas.....!

Ok, without actually having tried the recipe, but looking at proportions, I would guess that yes, you can whip it, but it may not be as fluffy as a ganache that didn't have caramel in it. Argh. I must say, it's a tough call. Guess I'll have to make some! The recipe sounds great!

For those of us who don't have the book, can you enlighten us with the basic recipe? If I know how it's made and what it's made of, I can probably tell whether it's whippable or not.

Um, well, the only "batter dispensers" I've used have been either a 24" cloth pastry bag with a relatively small tip, or any sized scoop (disher).

This is just a few "galettes" I grabbed off Google. Yowza. Just remember kids, when asked for a "Galette" make sure you get clarification! Potato Galette Apple Galette Galette des Rois Galette, according to Wikipedia Galette Lyonnaise Winter Squash Galette Galettes (butter cookies) Yukon Gold Gruyere Galette Galette de Crabe le bec fin

My first comment is: I always toss my fruit (drained) with a little sugar and cornstarch prior to using in a shell, pie or otherwise. I don't like my fruit desserts to be all watery.....I like to thicken fruit fillings in all instances.....less mess and less sog. The cookie/breadcrumb thing is a great idea....definitely soaks up the extra juice and adds pleasing flavor/texture. Since I'm a fruit and cheese lover, I also like to line the bottom of my shells with very thin slices of brie. That may not be for everyone, but I love the flavor, and it really helps prevent sog too. Ok, now regarding the term "Galette"......! What does "Galette" mean, actually? I've heard of cookies referred to as a "Galette", fruit desserts as the topic here, cakes, and even savory items, like for instance, "potato galette". If someone says to me, "How do I make a Galette?" I have no idea how to answer them, because I don't know what kind of "Galette" they are talking about. I see no consistency in the use of the term. I don't know if it refers to a shape, a methodology, a baking method, or use of certain ingredients. In every instance I see "Galette" used, I cannot establish a common denominator. This may fall into the old, "Torte" argument (Torte Reform? ), where "Torte" is seemingly used interchangeably across the board. When someone says "Torte" to me, I always have to ask them to clarify, because a lot of times they actually mean "Tart". Same with "Galette". These people always look at me funny when I ask them to describe what they are talking about, because I've just taken myself down a few rungs on the PC ladder. "Goodness! She calls herself a pastry chef, and she doesn't even know what a Galette is!!!!" Sometimes, you just can't win........

I think I just realized something....especially after looking through the "sugar sweet sunshine" site. Maybe it's a good thing that a lot of people don't know what they're getting into when they open a bakery/cake shop. They're full of good ideas and optimism. You need all the optimism you can get when you open a place. It's a lot of work. I've been in the biz for so long that I totally know about the pitfalls of it, and that alone, is what keeps me from opening my own shop. Most of my optimism has faded in the harsh face of reality, and my refusal to be "married to my work" (although, as it is, I sort of already am) keeps me where I'm at. Maybe going into it half-blind is what's needed. 'Cause if everyone had my attitude there wouldn't be any fun indie bakeries at all.

Hmmmm....whaddya know! I've learned three things reading this thread: 1. Vegans don't eat honey. (Why?) 2. There is such a thing as vegan wine, and there's wine that has fish bladder remnants...yum! 3. Brits aren't familiar with Graham Crackers! Wow! I never would've guessed that. I don't think it would even be possible to do a vegan pudding, would it? A comment: Why is it when one person (or less than the majority) has a funky diet regimen (by choice, not medical), the host feels compelled to cater to their needs? Just because one person is vegan, everybody else has to eat vegan too? I've been in these situations a lot, because I live in the L'il Berkely of the Northwest......more vegans per capita than I've ever known. I've been to quite a few vegan dinner parties. Needless to say I didn't eat much. Maybe I'm spoiled, but vegan meals are FAR from satisfying to me! I don't know how they can stand it. Not only that, but since we live in a mostly non-vegan world, having to pay THAT much attention to what you're eating, is, well, tiring. Honestly, though, I'm not really as mean as I sound. If I were hosting a dinner party and someone was vegan, I would make one of the dishes a vegan dish, but I certainly wouldn't center the whole meal around my one vegan guest. If they're still hungry they can eat the grass in the front yard. Ok, maybe I AM mean. I'm sorry, but vegans annoy me. My main job is baking cookies and pastries for a little wholesale bakery. I do a vegan cookie that I personally think is crap, but apparently the vegans like it. It sells, anyway. It's made with plum puree, canola oil, organic sugar (it looks like a cross between brown and granulated sugars), vanilla, whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, dairy free chocolate chips, and toasted hazelnuts. The only good thing I can say about this cookie is it has a helluva shelf life......wait, make that a "half life".

I think the most valuable lesson my pastry instructor taught me was his mantra....he repeated this often..... "You people are NOT CHEFS. When you graduate you will NOT BE CHEFS. You'll be cooks....bakers.....maybe even dishwashers. This course only provides a means to get your foot in the door. The rest is up to you. If you work hard enough, are willing to learn much more than you will ever learn here, follow directions, and don't show attitude, maybe....someday, you will be a CHEF." Every culinary student needs (I repeat, NEEDS) to hear this!

Once I've added my final layer of mousse, and the whole thing is frozen, I take the mold (or pan) out of the freezer, warm the sides up with my trusty propane torch, and it slides right out. Then I do whatever I do with them.....put them on cake boards or cut for individual servings.......they're so much easier to work with when frozen!