Two things have helped me keep my sanity throughout this time of stress and constant observation 1) sewing and 2) baking.
Sewing is no surprise, as it's been a hobby since middle school and I've gotten rather good over the years. Cross stitch is my first love, and Dimensions has the best kits ever, but I've fallen in love with Herrschner's for European or unusual pieces. I've got an 11" x 14" on order as well as recently completing three other smaller pieces, so at least I have some form of productivity going for me. Herrschner's also has a fantasic jigsaw puzzle shoppe which has also provided some great, fun times.
Baking has emerged as rather a shock. While we've done a marathon Christmas cookie weekend for longer than I've been alive, I rarely have the stomachs to feed or the time to put toward some serious baking. I made a pumpkin pie with cranberry glaze for Thanksgiving since I had the time, but having read American Pie a million times I've always been drawn to testing some of the recipes.
Add to that the fact that my dad loves chocolate cream pie and banana cream pie but can rarely find it on menus and I figured that they would be the perfect test cases. So beginning with the weekends I'm spending in NJ I experimented, always with cookie crusts. The pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving was a gingersnap crust, the chocolate cream pie chocolate wafers, and the banana cream Nilla wafers. All three turned out well, and I learned to make homemade pudding, temper eggs, and the basics of simple cookie crusts.
There was one HUGE hurdle which is indispensable to be a true pie baker, however. Homemade pie crust. It's the stuff of legends and storied mishaps of old, with as many unspoken rules as written ones. The final frontier of pies. I found a recipe using both butter and shortening, applied the ice cold rule, and made my own crust two weekends ago for another pumpkin pie since it only required a bottom crust.
The crust was tender and flaky, a bit thick on the outside of the bottom but that's easily fixed next time I roll out the dough, and I was SO happy that it turned out almost perfect. I had the second crust in the refrigerator from the same recipe and as soon as I tasted the pumpkin pie I popped the second crust into the freezer for next time I make a pie only requiring one crust.
Do I foresee starting a bakery business, etc? Hell no. Can I bake a pie every weekend? Not unless I want to gain 50 pounds. But do I think I'll continue to bake on and off? Most definitely. It's a wonderful challenge and now that I've crossed the Rubicon of crusts the sky is the limit (or the pie is the limit, heh). Maybe someday I might work at a bakery part time or something to get a feel for the industrial scope of a business. Stranger things have happened and I'd be a lot happier than I was in the job I just left.
Sewing is no surprise, as it's been a hobby since middle school and I've gotten rather good over the years. Cross stitch is my first love, and Dimensions has the best kits ever, but I've fallen in love with Herrschner's for European or unusual pieces. I've got an 11" x 14" on order as well as recently completing three other smaller pieces, so at least I have some form of productivity going for me. Herrschner's also has a fantasic jigsaw puzzle shoppe which has also provided some great, fun times.
Baking has emerged as rather a shock. While we've done a marathon Christmas cookie weekend for longer than I've been alive, I rarely have the stomachs to feed or the time to put toward some serious baking. I made a pumpkin pie with cranberry glaze for Thanksgiving since I had the time, but having read American Pie a million times I've always been drawn to testing some of the recipes.
Add to that the fact that my dad loves chocolate cream pie and banana cream pie but can rarely find it on menus and I figured that they would be the perfect test cases. So beginning with the weekends I'm spending in NJ I experimented, always with cookie crusts. The pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving was a gingersnap crust, the chocolate cream pie chocolate wafers, and the banana cream Nilla wafers. All three turned out well, and I learned to make homemade pudding, temper eggs, and the basics of simple cookie crusts.
There was one HUGE hurdle which is indispensable to be a true pie baker, however. Homemade pie crust. It's the stuff of legends and storied mishaps of old, with as many unspoken rules as written ones. The final frontier of pies. I found a recipe using both butter and shortening, applied the ice cold rule, and made my own crust two weekends ago for another pumpkin pie since it only required a bottom crust.
The crust was tender and flaky, a bit thick on the outside of the bottom but that's easily fixed next time I roll out the dough, and I was SO happy that it turned out almost perfect. I had the second crust in the refrigerator from the same recipe and as soon as I tasted the pumpkin pie I popped the second crust into the freezer for next time I make a pie only requiring one crust.
Do I foresee starting a bakery business, etc? Hell no. Can I bake a pie every weekend? Not unless I want to gain 50 pounds. But do I think I'll continue to bake on and off? Most definitely. It's a wonderful challenge and now that I've crossed the Rubicon of crusts the sky is the limit (or the pie is the limit, heh). Maybe someday I might work at a bakery part time or something to get a feel for the industrial scope of a business. Stranger things have happened and I'd be a lot happier than I was in the job I just left.
posted by AnonymousX at 11:38 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home