
Pete Fred
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Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
I'm a sucker for a good almond croissant. The ones at my local bakeries are a bit disappointing, unfortunately. But from time to time one of them will have a bag of discounted croissants, so I make my own... I punch up the almond flavour by toasting the almonds and not being shy with the bitter almond extract; a good dunk in rum syrup gives the base a pleasant crunchy chew; and overfilling the cream means the overspill caramelises nicely on the tray. Miam-miam, as they say over here. -
Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
Individual steamed sponge pudding... The topping was from the seemingly infinite stash of plum caramel that I made last year ("freeze up to 3 months"?... pffft!), and the custard was extra-thick from using cream instead of milk. -
To yesterday's leftover leek and onions, I added some chicken and dried mushrooms, and popped a lid on top... This was the first time I've baked a suet pie crust in the oven. I liked the more defined crunchy top that yields to the soft, squidgy pastry that soaks up the filling.
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Individual steamed allium pudding... The basic filling is leeks, shallots and onion. As a bit of an experiment I zhuzhed it up with caraway seeds, za'atar, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce... The leek/caraway combo was a good 'un. I'll have to remember that one.
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Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
Today is La Chandeleur (Candlemas) when the French go crazy for crêpes, so I thought I'd join in with an orange and vanilla gâteau de crêpes (or mille-crêpe cake in franglais)... -
Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
Until recently, I never knew that croissant butter was a thing... I went all in on the Frenchiness and smeared it on a warm baguette... It's tasty stuff - how could caramelized, butter-soaked croissant purée not be! - but very rich. User discretion is advised. -
Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
@TdeV My neighbour said it reminded her of an implant. I didn't like to ask if she was speaking from personal experience. -
Listening to The Go-To Food Podcast interview with Tim Hayward, formerly a host of this parrish, and he mentions eGullet a couple of times, albeit briefly. Thought I'd mention it in case anyone remembers the name and is interested. Or YouTube.
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Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
For anyone who likes a good wobble, caramelized cream panna cotta... It was good; light and delicate, barely set. If I'd have had any muslin I could've strained out the bits for a clean look. -
Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
@oli Don't let my equivocation put you off. I like Italian-style almond cookies; it was only the flavouring here that underwhelmed. A bit of orange or lemon zest in the dough livens things up no end, and more almond extract would help. Whether it's worth doing the rum-butter glaze in addition, I'm not so sure, although it might help with the colour. -
Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
Rum-buttered Almond Cookies from last year's NYT Cookie Week... They were fine, but the expected buttered-rum deliciousness didn't really come through, despite a good bath in the stuff. A handsome cookie, no doubt, and simple enough to make, so probably worth chucking into a selection for the visual appeal. -
Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
I mentioned it last summer when I had a super-abundance of plums. If you don't have Dana Cree's book*, she says that it's from a Chez Panisse recipe. But if this is it then it's not quite the same (although at the end of the day it really is just puréed fruit mixed with caramel). @ElsieD tried it with peaches and liked it. *PM me and I can give you some pointers. -
Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
It's around freezing here at the moment, so a hot, steamed pudding seemed like a good idea. Plus I was looking for an excuse to christen my newly acquired individual moulds... With Bird's custard, naturally; and a blob of plum caramel because it was just sitting in the freezer not doing much. -
Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
My thoughts, too. So I made some more with a generous dose of almond extract replacing the cinnamon... The raw dough smelled and tasted almondy - almost too almondy, in that artificial way. But they baked up surprisingly muted. Go figure. No worries. I imagine it will be fine with vanilla, cardamom, tonka, etc... -
Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Pete Fred replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
I was browsing some of the baking recipes over the weekend on the Glen and Friends YouTube channel. It was a good watch. I made the Almond Slices from a 1936 book promoting an aluminium (al-yoo-min-ee-um 😉) cookware company... Calling them almond slices is a bit misleading. It's really just a visual thing; they don't in any way taste of almonds, just cinnamon. But the texture was spot-on with that perfect biscuity crunch. I'll make them again and switch up the flavourings.