You know it’s Derby season when…
Just look at those dogwood blossoms will you? The tree in our back yard is positively covered in them. Say, that gives me an idea…
READ ONAuthor: joepastry
Home again home again…
Well it was a weird week. Technical troubles, work troubles, and in the end no Napoleons. Since the project seems cursed I’m going to put it aside for the time being and not drag all of you into third straight week of un-made mille feuille. And anyway it’s Derby week, time to perk up and […]
READ ONBad week for baking
Sorry gang, I’ve had ISP troubles the last few days and haven’t had any access to the site. Add to that I’ve been called out of town on business for the next three days, and this week is stacking up to be a bust. Back fresh and willing on Monday.
READ ONKentucky Rumbler
I was little heard from on Friday, primarily because of the earthquakes that rattled this old town early that morning. Most of us in here in the Pastry household slept right through the first one. It was 4:30 or thereabouts in the morning after all. Our youngest stirred and complained, but we chalked it up […]
READ ONGee, that’s a lotta cornstarch
Yes, pastry cream has a lot. Two and a quarter ounces in this recipe, which is a ton when you consider that pie fillings have maybe a tablespoon. Is it really necessary? It is if you plan on using the pastry cream for a thing like a Napoleon, in which case the pastry cream is […]
READ ONFood Science Pop Quiz
Anyone know what the term is for heating and/or cooling a liquid or melted substances in stages? That’s right tempering. Where a food substance like chocolate is concerned, tempering can be a somewhat involved process (designed as it is to produce a certain type of fat crystal that gives chocolate it’s sheen and brittle “snap”). […]
READ ONJoe’s Standard Pastry Cream
This is the pastry cream you want for things like Napoleons, layer cake filling, or other applications where the pastry cream must stand up on its own and not run. You can make this a variety of ways depending on how rich and/or sweet you like it. You can make it with all milk, 50% […]
READ ONSpeaking of kirsch…
Drifting off to sleep last night I found myself remembering a little episode from my college days overseas, back when I had more resources and opportunities than sense. That was the year I took advantage of the generous 6-week-long British spring break to go galavanting about Eastern Europe all alone. It was 1986, the wall […]
READ ONOh and…
…when I say “Napoleons” what I mean is the standard pastry cream-only mille-feuille, or what French pastry makers might call (or may have once called…since I’m not really sure) mille-feuille à la napolitaine. That being three layers of puff pastry inside of which are two layers of pastry cream and nothing more. There is another […]
READ ONAnd now for a little something sweet.
I promised I’d get off my days-long pizza kick, though I hate to leave the city of Naples, it’s so lovely this time of year. So why not make Napoleons this week? I know what you’re thinking: um, Napoleons are named after Napoleon, brainiac. You know, the emperor? In fact it seems not. Most historians […]
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