The Savory Baking Topic

[Anna N]

We have the bread topic and a daily sweets topic but savory baking doesn't seem to have a home. I know we make quiches and meat turnovers and pot pies and tortieres so I think we need a place to show them off, to inspire one another and to address those aspects of baking that are specific to the savory.

I'd like to start out by really bragging! I have only started baking very recently and still consider myself a complete novice. Pastry is the most scary of all the topics in baking but today I made this:

This is a riff on Nick Malgieri's Tomato & Cantal Tart from The Modern Baker. The crust is his Rich Pie Dough from the same book. Not having Cantal I used a variety of cheese ends all belonging to the Alpine family of hard cheeses.

You know how you want your dish to match the photo in the cookbook you are using? Well if anyone has The Modern Baker and turns to page 142....

So we know pride comes before a fall but that's tomorrow....

Please, if you were doing some savory baking share it with us all.

[Beebs]

Oooh, I love savoury baked things!  And I think I can easily eat that entire tart of yours by myself, it looks so good!

 

I'm inspired to make curry puffs, maybe this weekend.  I had sort of planned on it with the leftover half-pound of ground beef.  But I used it up for something else, so no curry puffs.

[ElsieD]

It don't know if this will work or not, but I made this tonight. Basically, a base of puff pastry spread with basil pesto, topped with smoked mozzerella, heirloom tomatoes, more of the same mozzerella, parm and chopped basil. Just before serving it I will drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil.

Edited August 28, 2014 by ElsieD (log)

[ElsieD]

Trying to post the picture again. I'm so VERY new at this.

[pastrygirl]

Anna and Elsie, those both look delicious.  Now I'm craving pizza!

[MelissaH]

I'm mostly a "sweet kitchen" baker, but every so often I get a savoy baking bug. My latest obsession is with baking crackers containing cheese (so far I've done cheddar and parm) and some kind of spice (black pepper, cayenne, mustard, or whatever seems to go with the cheese in question). However, I haven't taken any questions because I've had mega issues with my crackers. I've based my batches off a recipe from King Arthur Flour (blog post with recipe link: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2013/08/21/0821-crunchy-parmesan-crackers-chee-easy/) and I apparently have yet to get it right.

 

I've tried rolling with a rolling pin and a pasta machine, but the thickness doesn't seem to make a difference (except in how long they take before they get brown and then overbrown and then burned to a crisp).

I've tried baking with and without convection. I've tried lowering the temp slightly when the convection fan is on. Again, the only difference seems to be in baking time.

I've tried leaving the crackers in the oven as it cools down with the door cracked open, to dry them out even further.

 

And no matter what I do, I wind up with crackers that aren't crunchy except for a very small window. When they're warm, they don't crunch. When they've cooled completely, they don't crunch. The only way I can get crunch with staying power is if I totally overbake the crackers, in which case the taste isn't any good.

 

I'm thinking that the next time I try, I'm going to use doubled-up baking sheets, since my crackers always seem to cook faster (and burn faster) on the bottom than on the top. Maybe that way, I'll be able to keep them in the oven longer and get them better dried out, so they'll crunch better. I'm also wondering about whether adding a little leavening to the dough might help: perhaps a little bit of puff would make it easier for moisture to escape, since it won't have to work its way out through a thicker layer of dough? I'd definitely continue to dock the rolled-out dough very well.

 

Has anyone had success in baking savory crackers? I'd like to make something as beautiful and tasty as Anna's tart!

[pastrygirl]

Melissa, I would try two things.  1) use a much cooler oven.  400F for cheese crackers?  Cheese burns too easily, I'd try 325F  2) separate the crackers by 1/2" or so on the baking pan.  If you have a large offset icing spatula, you can pick up several pieces of dough and transfer them to the baking sheet, leaving a little space as you slide each piece off.  The crackers will bake more evenly, and you won't end up with a mass of dough with dark edges and a blonde interior like the blog shows.

[Anna N]

Cheese straws. There were many more. Most escaped before I could grab the camera.

[Shelby]

Those look so good, Anna.  Recipe?

[Anna N]

Those look so good, Anna.  Recipe?

Shelby,

These are from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri using his instant puff pastry and parmesan cheese with sweet paprika. I don't have a link to offer you but basically you roll out puff pastry, sprinkle one half with parmesan cheese, paprika and a little salt, fold the dough over the covered half, roll it out again to incorporate the cheese then cut into strips, twist and bake.

[MelissaH]

Melissa, I would try two things.  1) use a much cooler oven.  400F for cheese crackers?  Cheese burns too easily, I'd try 325F  2) separate the crackers by 1/2" or so on the baking pan.  If you have a large offset icing spatula, you can pick up several pieces of dough and transfer them to the baking sheet, leaving a little space as you slide each piece off.  The crackers will bake more evenly, and you won't end up with a mass of dough with dark edges and a blonde interior like the blog shows.

Another little point where I diverge from the directions: when I use a rolling pin rather than the pasta machine, I actually roll the dough directly on a sheet of parchment, with another piece of parchment on top. I do flip it a few times and lift the parchment to be sure it isn't sticking. But I will definitely try separating the crackers. I'd thought about a lower temp, but since I seemed to have a bigger issue with the bottoms getting much darker than the tops, I first wanted to try double-panning to see if that helped any. You think the lower temp would be more useful? Or should I try both?

[JohnT]

Nice thread!

With spring approaching (bottom tip of Africa), this past week I started producing mini mushroom and sweet onion quiche. Puff pastry into 12cm pans and the filling added (together with a small amount of fried bacon and grated cheddar) followed by a normal egg and cream mix. They taste really good, even if I say so myself!

[Anna N]

JohnT

They look delightful. I'm guessing you are making your own puff pastry? Surprised the crust seems so delicate. Just learning about pastry.

[pastrygirl]

Another little point where I diverge from the directions: when I use a rolling pin rather than the pasta machine, I actually roll the dough directly on a sheet of parchment, with another piece of parchment on top. I do flip it a few times and lift the parchment to be sure it isn't sticking. But I will definitely try separating the crackers. I'd thought about a lower temp, but since I seemed to have a bigger issue with the bottoms getting much darker than the tops, I first wanted to try double-panning to see if that helped any. You think the lower temp would be more useful? Or should I try both?

 

The bottoms getting much darker than the tops is strange.  Does this happen with other baked goods?  I wonder if there is an issue with your top element.  Double-panning is definitely worth a try.

[MelissaH]

The bottoms getting much darker than the tops is strange.  Does this happen with other baked goods?  I wonder if there is an issue with your top element.  Double-panning is definitely worth a try.

Not that I've noticed, at least with cookies (which I also bake on parchment on these same sheet pans) or things that go in deeper pans. Maybe I'll have to pay more attention to whether the bottom browning depends on where in the oven they bake, and whether I get lazy and do multiple pans at one time in the oven.

[ninagluck]

I love savouy baking and I have some chorizo madelaines for you!

[Kerry Beal]

 

Had a piece of puff pastry left over from the Eggfest - and some wonderful tomatoes.  So cheddar with tomato.  

[JohnT]

JohnT

They look delightful. I'm guessing you are making your own puff pastry? Surprised the crust seems so delicate. Just learning about pastry.

Anna, no, I did not make the puff pastry myself. My kitchen has become too small for doing puff pastry (or should I say that it has reached its limit to house all my equipment, leaving me with just enough space to work in). However, I have a friend who runs a bakery and they make proper puff pastry with butter for a retail chain. He makes a few extra kilo's for me whenever I need some, which is great as it cuts down a lot of time in my small production runs. John.

[Anna N]

Anna, no, I did not make the puff pastry myself. My kitchen has become too small for doing puff pastry (or should I say that it has reached its limit to house all my equipment, leaving me with just enough space to work in). However, I have a friend who runs a bakery and they make proper puff pastry with butter for a retail chain. He makes a few extra kilo's for me whenever I need some, which is great as it cuts down a lot of time in my small production runs. John.

That's great. We can actually buy a fairly decent butter puff pastry here. It just comes from one particular chain and I don't happen to be very close to it.

[ninagluck]

how about strudel with savory fillings?

[Anna N]

how about strudel with savory fillings?

I think this is pretty close

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/148837-manitoulin-test-kitchen/?p=1978849

[Anna N]

Gerard's mustard tart from "Around My French Table" by Dorie Greenspan.

Dorie's recipes are usually so trustworthy that any fault I will blame on myself. I used the full 4 tablespoons of mustard called for -- 2 tablespoons of Dijon and 2 tablespoons of grainy mustard. She recommends tasting, however, with three raw eggs in there, and they were supermarket eggs , I was not too keen on the idea. As a consequence I found there was little mustard flavour. Perhaps I need to replace my mustard stock. I think perhaps a little more direction on the length of the vegetables would have been helpful. Mine were longer than the radius of the tart and hence piled up in the center where they charred. The pastry was much more successful than the filling.

[Kerry Beal]

Pastry looks gorgeous though.  

[janeer]

Here is another tomato tart. 

[LindaK]

Another savory tart from Malgieri's The Modern Baker: Corn Pudding Tart

 

 

Very simple and incredibly delicious.  Make it now while fresh corn is in season.

 

Grated and cut fresh corn, scallions, chiles, cream, eggs. Mostly corn, the egg and cream are there to bind, not take over.

 

I did a bit of tinkering with the recipe, swapped cilantro for chives. Omitted butter in the filling, figured between the pastry and cream, it was rich enough (it was), and didn't miss it.  

 

I will be making this again soon.