Sugar High Fridays 5 is coming up on February 11th (hosted by Clement of a la cuisine!), so I thought I'd better start working on my pastry skills now. Since I haven't made puff pastry dough in forever and wasn't sure how things would go, I figured I'd incorporate it into something simple at first.
When you're only working with a couple of ingredients in a recipe, you want them to be absolutely top-notch, so I bought a bar of Green & Black's Maya Gold, a blend of dark chocolate, orange, cinnamon, nutmeg and a bit of vanilla. The combination is really gorgeous, and aside from eating it out of hand, this is the perfect use for it.
Working with the dough wasn't too bad, but I wasn't overly thrilled with the results. I'm glad I've started working on it now; I think I'll need the next couple of weeks to do a few run-throughs and work the kinks out. I'm not sure what I'll end up submitting to SHF5 , but I know I'm going to enjoy trying to figure it out.
Moira - What a tempting picture you have here - as well as a beautiful blog! I found you through your comment on a la cuisine, and will definitely be returning regularly. I'm a new food blogger myself, and envy your photography skills. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Katie | January 21, 2005 at 11:20 AM
Hi Katie,
Thanks for the kind words! I've been having a lot of fun this past week, and I'm looking forward to participating in the online foodie events that are coming up. Are you planning to as well?
I'll be stopping by your blog soon...cheers!
Posted by: Moira | January 21, 2005 at 12:15 PM
Because of THIS post, you reminded me of SHF which I kinda put on the back burner for too long then forgot all about it....cross my fingers that I'll come through for this one!
Ha! The thing about the villa....you know, it is EASY to get carried away and start dreaming of fixing up an old place, but in truth I am not one bit of the renovating type. I just like to occasionally get into the lets-buy-a villa-mode and amuse my husband...who thinks that I watch too much movies. ;-)
Posted by: rowena | January 21, 2005 at 06:23 PM
Hi Rowena,
Oh, yes- you absolutely must enter something! I've got a few things I'm thinking about, but I'm not beholden to any one recipe yet.
I completely understand about being anti-renovation, it's never really appealed to me, either. Now, hitting the lottery, splashing out on a villa and having someone else do all the work...that's a different story altogether, right?
Posted by: Moira | January 22, 2005 at 11:28 AM
Hi Moira,
I definitely want to participate in SHF, but I'm a bit intimidated by puff pastry. Clement's post is so encouraging though, and your first attempt is so lovely, that I think I'll just have to be brave and give it a try!
Posted by: katie | January 26, 2005 at 06:15 AM
Hi Katie,
Oh, yes- I think it can only be a good experience, and it may even be great!
Posted by: Moira | January 26, 2005 at 06:23 PM
I'm not always the biggest fan of pain au chocolat but but but suddenly I neeeeeeeeeed to have some. What a wonderful photograph! (came across your blog via IMBB's "Food Blogs Live!")
I gather you make your own puff pastry? Is it one of those recipes requiring cold marble and two days?
Posted by: ejm | January 30, 2005 at 01:30 PM
Hi ejm,
I did make it, without the marble slab or a two-day schedule, though! I used the recipe from Baking with Julia and made sure the kitchen stayed cool (I have a window right by my work space). It wasn't bad at all, but I'm not sure that I'd do it again anytime soon. In fact, I think I might just use frozen dough for SHF5 coming up this week.
I'm glad you like the photo and that you were able to get here via IMBB! It's nice of them to include me on their feed.
Cheers,
Posted by: Moira | January 30, 2005 at 01:48 PM
Moira, is the store bought puff pastry that you buy made with butter? I don't have a copy Child's "Baking With Julia" but I'd be very surprised if hers didn't use butter... I think I need to get hold of one. So you did your puff pastry in one day and just on a regular countertop?
Store bought frozen puff pastry that I've seen here is invariably made with vegetable shortening (which means palm oil - not nearly as good a flavour!) It's fine for savoury things but I'm not sure that I'd want to use it for pain au chocolat.
Posted by: ejm | January 31, 2005 at 08:30 AM
Hi ejm,
No, the store-bought kind does *not* have butter in it. Here's what Julia Child says about that in Baking With Julia:
"...and haven't the time to make the dough from scratch, you can use store-bought puff pastry. If you're lucky enough to live near a bakery or specialty market that sells all-butter puff pastry by the pound, by all means buy it. But if you can find puff pastry only in the freezer section of your supermarket, and it's not made with butter, buy it anyway- the things you can make with it are too good to give up because you can't find the perfect pastry."
If it's o.k. with Julia, it's o.k. with me. Anyway- even if you're not thrilled with the diminished flavour of the pastry, you'll have gooey chocolate to make up for it, and that never works out too badly!
In case you end up wanting to make your own, I found a recipe from Emeril Lagasse online that is awfully similar in ingredients and technique to Julia's:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_5394,00.html
Posted by: Moira | January 31, 2005 at 01:00 PM
Earlier today, I looked around a bit on the net and in the various cookbooks I have. After reading Madeleine Kamman's recipe for puff pastry in "When French Women Cook: A Gastronomic Memoir" (wonderful book, by the way) I got thoroughly intimidated. I went and bought some frozen phyllo pastry from the store. It's made with canola oil. I know it's good because we've had it before. But it IS comforting to hear that Julia Child said to go for it even if it hasn't been made with butter.
I just saw the excellent biography that was done by PBS on Julia Child ("Julia Child - America's Favorite Chef"). She truly was a lovely woman with the most infectious joie de vivre (if joie de vivre can be considered infectious).
Posted by: ejm | January 31, 2005 at 06:46 PM
Oh, I'm glad you decided to give it a try, but you should know that phyllo is a different type of pastry dough than puffed pastry. Phyllo is in individual thin sheets which do not puff up, while puff pastry starts compact and expands in the oven into many layers.
I read a biography of Julia Child a few months ago (Appetite for Life by Noel Riley Finch) and it was excellent as well. She was an incredible person with a fantastically positive attitude- a good role model for anyone, I think.
Posted by: Moira | January 31, 2005 at 07:02 PM
Oh rats!! Of course you are right! I was getting mixed up with feuilles.... I'll have to use the phyllo to try making baclava (what a tragedy ;)) I didn't even notice if the store HAD puff pastry as well as phyllo pastry. I'll have to look next time I'm there.
Posted by: ejm | February 01, 2005 at 02:01 PM