Princess Peach

Peach Pie

Beer and Baked Goods Saturday featured peach pie.  Fruit pies are very simple but with this peach pie what was most important was the fruit to crust ratio.  The filling involves peaches and a little sugar, flour, and salt.  Peaches are not in season yet so I used canned peaches (and people could tell the difference).  I chose a lattice double crust in an attempt to try something new!  The pie looked nice and tasted great.

When making the pie I was concerned about the fruit letting out juices during the baking so I sprinkled a thin layer of bread crumbs on the pie crust before filling the pie.  The bread crumbs are pretty much flavorless but would absorb any extra juices of the peaches.  I had an issue with the fruit juices when I made blueberry pie so I tried to fix this problem.  It most certainly worked, my pie held together when I cut and served it and as always it was a success at Emitt's (even when served with a bottle of Miller Lite).

Quiche!

Pie is not only intended for dessert but also can be made into a delicious meal, i.e. quiche!  Quiche is basically an oven-baked, egg based pie.  You can add a handful of ingredients (vegetables, meats, cheeses) to a simple egg and milk filling.

My interest in baking quiche started like most other things I try to make; I had ordered quiche at a cafe and as I indulged in it, decided that it really can't be too difficult to make.  And this was surprisingly true.

I chose to make a tomato basil quiche.  I started out making the crust.  I used the same dough recipe as I do for dessert pies.  Then a sautéed onions and tomatoes in a basil, garlic, olive oil mixture.  I layered the bottom of the unbaked pie shell with cheese and added the sautéed vegetables on top.  I then beat eggs and poured over the cheese and vegetables thinking my quiche was ready to bake.  This is of course where I made a classic mistake.  

Classic Le Petit Baker

I had beaten four eggs and thought I was done, however I forgotten to add milk to the eggs.  Adding milk to the eggs will ensure a fluffy, less dense quiche, so I decided that I had to somehow add the milk.  I got a little rustic and poured whole milk into the tart pan that already had all the fillings.  I simply used a fork to milk all the ingredients together in the tart pan.  I'm sure some of you may be questioning this technique but I have read about making cream pies this way.  I've read that the Amish prefer to mix all the pie filling ingredients, not in a bowl but in the pie shell.  Well, either way it worked!  My quiche came out looking beautiful and was fluffy and the perfect lunch dish.

Do It Yourself

Making this quiche reminded me about how I get most of my baking ideas.  I generally I'm out and about, see something I like, and then decompose it and figure out how I can do it myself.  I've gotten a lot of my ideas from exploring cafes and bakeries around Chicago and seeing what other people are doing.  I've indulged in many slices of quiche but never took the time to try it on my own.  I finally did and it was successful.  

Maybe my method of design is not the most unique and individual.  Perhaps you think that I'm merely stealing other people's ideas or recipes but let me leave you with a quote by a man who offers me inspiration...

          "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your 

           sources." 

                    - Albert Einstein

Canceled

Unfortunately I decided to cancel Le Petit Baker's debut at the Empty Bottle Farmer's Market.  I feel that there was a slight miscommunication between the organizer of the event and who exactly Le Petit Baker is.  I'm not sure they really understood that as legitimate as I like to come off, I'm merely a struggling baker.

However, no worries!  Le Petit Baker will still continue her baking adventures! Perhaps I'll find a better suited market to make my debut at! 

Upcoming treats include; tomato basil quiche, peach cobbler, and madeleines.

Very Sticky Honey Pecan Buns

I recently took on my first challenge with using yeast.  I've been meaning to bake the challenging cinnamon bun for quite some time and finally did.


Yeast


As delicious as cinnamon buns are, they are not at all easy or simple to make.  Baking these treats requires you to make the dough a day in advance so the yeast can rise (and your buns will be soft and delicious).  I never baked with yeast, so testing these buns out was an interesting surprise.  I made the dough Friday afternoon and it was quite a workout.  
The dough was simple: yeast, flour, sugar, salt, butter, and milk.  However, I had to knead the dough by hand for ten long minutes (considering that I don't have a stand mixer).  I'm pretty sure that I developed carpal tunnel from those ten minutes.  Anyway, once the dough is mixed I watched it rise and patted into down every half hour for two hours.  Then the dough needs to sit refrigerated overnight.  After that the dough should be set.
As I said it should be set, however, that was not my case.  Unfortunately, my refrigerator was too cold and the dough froze! Yikes!
I managed to recover the dough by letting it thaw out but I had to finish the baking at Emmit's considering I was suppose to be at work at 11 in the morning.  I wasn't sure how the buns would turn out because of the freezing.  I baked them longer than the time required but that could have been because I was using the oven at Emmit's.  Either way they came out delicious!


Success


I was very surprised at the results considering this was my first attempt but they were amazing.  They tasted like french toast with a sticky glaze and a pecan crunch.  Overall, my success was encouraging and everyone enjoyed them.

Blueberry Pie

The Secret Life of Pie

After multiple requests from one of Emmit's favorites, Tom Forde,I baked blueberry pie for this Saturday at Emmit's.  As always I woke up early to bake a delicious fresh pie.

Blueberry pie is a double crusted pie (there's pie crust on top of the pie) and baking can be difficult.  However I've developed a few tricks that make the crust come out better.  Because I make everything from hand, I don't use a food processor to prepare the pie dough which is generally standard.  As I've written before, using cold ingredients is really important for the pie dough.  Pie dough requires a lot of butter and cold butter can be difficult to work with.  I've found that using a cheese grater and grating the butter gets a perfect consistency and texture for the pie crust (so that's my little secret I'll share with all of you whom I've inspired to start baking pie!). So I just grate the butter into the flour and sugar mixture and then work the dough with my hands.

I also cover my pie with aluminum foil while baking it.  This prevents the edges of the pie crust from burning.  The aluminum foil will bake the crust but not allow it to brown so for the last few minutes of baking the pie I put it in the broiler and it browns the pie crust.  Just a little note about ovens: gas ovens and a lot better for baking than electric ovens so next time you buy an oven, I'd recommend gas. 

When it comes to the filling, fruit pies are really easy to make. Pick a fruit and add sugar and that's basically all you need.  (Of course I chose to add some lemon juice to my pie).

Living Up To T. Forde

Tom Forde, a friend of Emmit's owner Ron, is quite the difficult customer- he's very hard to please and is generally critical of any baked good I give him.  So Tom told me blueberry pie was his favorite and I thought I'd take on the challenge.

Drumroll please...

So what did Tom Forde think of my blueberry pie?


T. Forde's response was as classic as blueberry pie.  He mumbled a few words but I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it.  I'll admit that as weary as I am about fruit pies, I am proud of my blueberry pie creation.