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"Baking With Julia" by Julia Child (2004)


SethG

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I made the twice baked brioche a little late, but it was fantastic! I found it reheats well at 350 for 5-10 minutes--re-crisps nicely.

I think I'm going to have to skip the tart this weekend. I think we've had our limit of sweets, wonderful though they've been.

Mdt--I agree on the orange flavor, and I don't think the vanilla bean came through very strongly either. I'm not complaining though--it was delicious.

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For breadmaking, I learned everything I know from one book: Beard on Bread.As far as I know, it is out of print; however, it is available on ebay and through the determined people at Half Price Books, who will go through hell and high water to find it.

The book contains illustrations rather than photographs, and, like his other books, is written simply and clearly. You will find just about everything you need, from basic white bread to which types of wheat grains and flours to use to biscuits and doughnuts and...well, you get the picture.

If you are willing to search for it, it will be worth finding.

May the yeast be with you.

-42feed

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Apple Tart for this weekend, but I may skip the foccaccia because I want to make the flaky-looking foccacia in RLB's Bread Bible. I like the idea of sweet one week and something savoury or less sweet the next week.

P.S. Thanks Ellen_C!

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Unfortunately, I was ill most of the weekend (and sadly still am....darned flu!) I did purchase my brioche ingredients, though. So, maybe I will get to it later this week. Kudos to all of you who finished! :smile:

By the way, I hope you are feeling better, brngckn. I'm sure eating the brioche you'll make will be the final cure!

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For breadmaking, I learned everything I know from one book:  Beard on Bread.As far as I know, it is out of print;

I did a search on Amazon.com and they have it new. Beard on Bread Is this the same book?

Wearing jeans to the best restaurants in town.
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I made my flaky pastry dough this evening, letting it chill until tomorrow. I broke it up into four parts as Julia indicated, and froze three for future pies.

Boy, I don't like working with vegetable shortening. It's nasty!

One great thing about this project is that I am using all kinds of stuff in my kitchen that I own but never have a reason to use. I finally used the paddle attachment on my mixer this evening, and tomorrow I will be using the apple peeler contraption that the Picky Eater bought me for my birthday a couple of years ago!

Neil

Author of the Mahu series of mystery novels set in Hawaii.

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mdt,

Yes, that's it. I also checked and found out it went back into print awhile ago, which is great, because it is such a useful text. I might have to purchase another one, since mine has been used so much that it is now held together by a rubber band! Sentimental value, I suppose!

-42feed

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i2780.jpg

I haven't tasted this tart yet, but it was an awful lot of work, and was a real reminder to me of how much I don't know, and of the fact that presentation is still my weakest point.

I honestly could not understand the directions for making some kind of ledge out of the crust. I think this was a very tough recipe, partly because it was poorly written (I do teach technical writing, after all, and plan to use part of this recipe as an example in class of what not to do!) and partly because I just don't have the required skill level.

I will be curious to hear what others have to say about this.

Neil

Author of the Mahu series of mystery novels set in Hawaii.

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I didn't cruise through the Julia recipe as I already made my apple tart, but I'm intrigued by the shortening and the ledge. I am at a distinct advantage with the shortdough shells I use at work, but trust me, I've made a few from scratch. Stretching yourself is what it's all about. Develop your instincts for discernment...is this a recipe I want to bother with? Does this seem complete enough to give me the desired result? And I agree with the writing thing. Some recipes are just impossible. I just bought Peter Reinhart's Pizza book, so I will be making pizza this weekend.

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I just bought Peter Reinhart's Pizza book, so I will be making pizza this weekend.

I have his pizza book too, but haven't gotten around to making anything from it yet. Maybe I'll try something this weekend and we can compare notes.

allison

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Plax, that tart looks good to me. I see a little unevenness around the rim of your shell but I think you're being hard on yourself! It looks delicious.

Did you see the instructions for lining a tart pan on page 352, accompanying the color illustrations of the apple tart? I think these instructions are a bit easier to understand than the ones in the recipe proper, which I agree are hard to follow.

Haven't tried it yet, myself. But I will make the apple tart on Sunday or Monday. And catch up on brioche during the week, I promise!

"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast;

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast!"

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Plax, I agree it was a bit of work. Honestly, when I read your post I thought, "What's to it? Ya cut up a couple apples." :laugh::laugh: I was wrong.

Things I'd do differently: I wouldn't buy the bagged apples. The bagged

apples were so much smaller; it made a challenging project more difficult. I ended up slightly short on my compote. I started with almost twice as many as she recommended but my apples were just so puny. I'd also buy a decent mandolin. My cheapo mandolin gave me fits. Lesson learned. I'd roll out plenty of pie dough so I wasn't piecing it together! argh.

Yes, I'm complaining but I did have fun making it. :smile:

And it tastes great.

--therese

i2789.jpg

Many parts of a pine tree are edible.
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The tarts look wonderful! :smile: My brioche is on its final rise right now...better late than never! My syrup and frosting are ready and waiting. I got use the almond grinder that I got for Christmas - sweet!! :biggrin: I will skip the tart for now and be caught up with you all for next weekend.

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I made my tart today. I used whole wheat pastry dough and I don't think I'll do that again. It was okay and I'll certainly use the three disks I have in the freezer, but I think my family will like it better if I use white flour. I also forgot to put the jelly roll pan under the tart when it was cooking. It took longer to bake and didn't brown the edges as nicely as I would have liked. Don't get me wrong, though, it was very good and even my picky eater liked it. I am definitely going to be doing this one again.

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That brioche looks fab, brn!

I made the apple tart tonight.

i2925.jpg

I gotta say, I didn't find it to be a lot of work. But I just started a leave of absence from my job, so I was happy to make dough in the morning, blind bake the dough and make the filling in the late afternoon, and then complete the top layer right before putting it all back in the oven. I found that spreading out the work did make it seem like no big deal, however. I think this would be a good dessert for a dinner party-- you can do everything but the final layer of apples before the party. I left my pre-baked shell and the filling sitting for a couple hours before I put it all together.

And the final layer of apples was a breeze with my new fancy Bron Mandoline. Did you guys cut yours by hand? That would probably have taken me a lot longer.

The only real trouble I had (and it wasn't really a problem) was in the crust-- I made mine in the food processor, and I stopped adding water too soon. Everything worked out fine, but I had to be very gentle with my dough when I rolled it out to avoid breaking it. In the end, though, I think it was the best pastry dough I've ever made. I've made some tarts here and there, and I always think pastry crusts are easy, but this was notably better than most I've tried. I didn't go back to check other recipes, but it seemed when I was making it that this recipe for tart dough had more butter and shortening than some others I've tried.

Did I mention that the tart was fantastic? Four of us gobbled the whole thing down. It was gone in a flash. I would make it again in a heartbeat.

So focaccia this weekend? And I still owe you all some brioche.

Edited to fix my picture.

Edited by SethG (log)

"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast;

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast!"

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Made my apple tart on Sunday and followed the same schedule as Seth. I also didn't find it to be much work. I used my apple peeler with the slicer disabled and hand-sliced the apples. I didn't think to use my mandoline (duh!). I've made the flaky pie crust from BWJ before, but it turned out even better this time around. I think it helped that my kitchen was cold, my butter was just out of the freezer, shortening was briefly in the freezer and the water was icy. I had long streaks of butter when I rolled out the dough. I was a little confused about the ledge directions, so I ignored them and did it my own way. I used a bit of leftover almond cream from the twice-baked brioche then topped with the compote and the sliced apples. It also took much longer to bake than the directions. Mine looks very much like Seth's except the side of my pan is straight and my apples were a bit darker. I found the tart a bit sweet on its own, but it was perfect with some creme fraiche. I'll probably end up throwing out about half because I can only eat one more slice and I was too ill to invite anyone over this week or bring it to work. (No pic this week because I dropped my digital camera and now need to buy a new one.)

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So focaccia this weekend?

Well, no responses this week, but I know at least three or four of you made a tentative commitment to focaccia last week!

Assuming somebody besides me still wants to make focaccia, how are you planning to top it? The basic herb version in the book seems less than thrilling. I might try to make a pizza out of it. Do you have any favorite toppings?

"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast;

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast!"

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I'll most likely try the focaccia this weekend. I have a tried and true recipe I use, so it will be fun to see how this compares. We like our focaccia with garlic infused olive oil, rosemary, prosciutto, calamatas and parm. mmmm.

BTW, I think all the tarts turned out great looking! And the twiced baked brioche pics lovely. I'm really enjoying seeing all the pictures.

--therese

Many parts of a pine tree are edible.
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It's definitely a focaccia weekend for me. I am thinking that I will top with EVOO, roasted garlic, and parm. I could eat bread all day.

I love all the pictures too. It makes me want a digital camera so bad. This was a great idea Seth. Thanks!

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We like our focaccia with garlic infused olive oil, rosemary, prosciutto, calamatas and parm. mmmm.

That sounds about right to me! I don't have any garlic-infused oil, so I think I'll just add some garlic.

"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast;

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast!"

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