lamination

It was a weekend where the heat index was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  

And I decided to work with laminated doughs.  Part of the reason was that I thought I was going to need to bake bread but the boyos brought bread back from their travels.  There were yeastie beasties to be used.  

I also have been watching a lot of Great British Bake Off and a cookie challenge was watched.  I had forgotten about arlettes.  I am not sure how I forgot about arlettes because they were so tasty last time.

But the heat!

The arlettes turned out tasty but they were pretty rough.  The butter was a bit soft for a couple of turns.  Then, for the last roll, the butter was much too cold.  The arlettes were very rough looking but lovely to eat.  Koda Bear likes how big they are!

With the extra yeastie beasties, I made a family style kouign amann.  I cut the size way back and used 41% butter to dough weight.  I just wanted a little bit of cake, not loads.

I was actually trying a new recipe from Bon Appetit and realized it had much too much sugar in it.  I like the European level of sweetness compared to the United States.  I went back to the French recipe I use.  But my laminations are getting much better!  I am so excited.  I think my coronetti should be getting better too.   I will need to try them again soon.  Maybe a very small batch.  I like working in tiny batches.  Who needs to feed an army when there is only one or two?

The 100 degree Fahrenheit heat index was a good test of patience.  Though I did keep thinking I was crazed.  Next time, I hope it is not so hot!

marigold

So last weekend I put linen in a pot with marigold.  The marigold flowers produce a yellow colour and I wanted to see.  I can grow these in my garden in autumn so I am very curious.  

It turned out to be a nice yellow.

Now.  The crazy right now is that I cut this out as a dress before I dyed it.  But I want to wear is black or grey or dark burgundy or anything that is so dark that it is hard to tell it is not black or a very dark brown.  Yellow really is not a top choice right now.  But I was playing.  I will use what I was playing with.  I can always wear the dress to walk in or dye things in.  A dyed dress that has traces of other dyes.  That could be pretty cool.

I am thinking about trying a bit of madder on the cotton silk fabric I have.  To make another slip.  A red slip for under black dresses.  And buying some linen sheets in black and charcoal because it seems like the only place to find the right colours for what I wish to wear.  I keep skipping the light coloured clothes in my wardrobe unless they are the only thing to wear.  

cabbages to a slip

When I had dyed the fabric with the red cabbage, I got a very fuchsia pink/purple as the colour.  I am not a pink girl.  My favourite colour to wear is black.  I get threatened with pink.  The fabric was good because the dye worked but not good because of the colour.  But I was going to use it anyhow.  I pulled out silk and lace to start pondering about it.  

Then I washed it with my sea salt laundry detergent.

I was so happy!  So pleased!  I could have gone for a bit more purple in the blue but it was not pink!  I could add many more exclamation points.  

I put the slip together while listening to another one of my romantic comedies where the is gunfire and explosions.  Action movies are a preference.  The house is very quiet.  More dyed silk but not my work.  Lace.  

Finished.  And it is just lovely.  The cotton silk satin feels very nice on my nerve endings.  Since I am in the midst of a flare, soothing to my nerve endings is a plus.  I know silk, lace, and cotton do not make pain go away but the pleasure of making something pretty helps.  

I keep thinking I will feel better soon.  There were times today that it was a breath at a time.  But then I was sitting at my sewing machine again thinking that I wanted to take a skateboard out.  Too much traffic and much too stiff.  I am not sure anything moves that way right now.  But there is no surf but I can carve down the street.  It makes me smile and that is what counts right now.

mille crepe cake

I have gotten asked for lots of cake recently.  Even a red cake with red jam with red frosting.  That one went with the boyos to Tennessee.  MUCH sugar in that vehicle!

I actually got away with making two cakes that did not have sponge.  I win!  I made a kugelhof because I was having a horrible terrible week and I thought it sounded wonderful.  But, on the same weekend, I made a vanilla cake because it was requested.  Cake and vanilla requested.  Form was not specified.  Sponge was not a requirement.

I made a mille crepe cake.

Tasty!  Fairly simple if you make crepes or swedish pancakes at all.  That and a bit of vanilla whipped cream made this cake.  Now I will say that it is currently residing in the freezer because it has the tendency to melt.  Ten minutes of defrosting sure do help the cutting.

Vanilla cake.  Just a different form.

mille crepe cake

2 batches of swedish pancake batter or enough to make 20 six inch pancakes

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup white sugar

Make 20 swedish pancakes or your favourite crepe recipe.  Make sure that they have a bit of golden on them. It makes the cake prettier.   Let them cool completely.

Put the heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla in a bowl.  Whip until it forms soft peaks but not until it has turned to butter.

Place a pancake on a plate.  But a large dollop, a couple of tablespoons, of whipping cream on it.  Spread the cream to the edges.  Repeat until all the cream and pancakes are gone, ending with a pancake.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Serve!

When it is warm, it is not the easiest cutting cake.  This is a little more then ten minutes out of the freezer.  But it is good.

I have some ideas on other flavours I may just have to try.  It is also easily gluten free.  Wahoo!  

smoked salmon and potato pie

Watching the Great British Bake off means there is more pie in my life.  Not sweet pie but savoury.  I actually bought Paul Hollywood's pie book for just that reason.  American cooks do not seem to focus as much on savoury pie.  This is a modification on what he calls his temptation.  Hot smoked salmon.  Golden potatoes.  Cream.  Carmelized onion.  All baked in pastry.  He suggests puff.  I use hot water crust.

Yum!  It is one of those meals that I find, if you can not eat it all the first night, gets better the longer it sits.  It normally does not last past three days around here though.  It makes pretty spectacular lunches.

The only problem is that in summer it makes the kitchen hot.  Oh well.

smoked salmon and potato pie

Note:  I make one six inch springform or high sided cake pan with a removable bottom

1 recipe hot water crust pastry

25 grams butter

1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced

400 grams Yukon yellow gold potatoes, thinly sliced.  Peel if you wish.

about 500 ml milk 

200 grams or 8 ounces hot smoked salmon

50 grams double cream if you can find it or heavy whipping cream

salt and pepper to taste

In a frying pan, melt the butter over low heat.  Add the onion and sauté over low heat until carmelized.  This will take about 20 minutes.

Put the potatoes in a saucepan.  Cover with milk. Bring to a boil, turn down, and cook until the potatoes are just tender.  There should be a bit of bite because you will bake them again.  Remove from heat and drain but reserve 50 ml of the milk.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line the bottom of the tin you chose with the hot water crust paster.  Save enough to make a lid.

Put a third of the potatoes on the bottom of the pastry lined tin (I was making two here and doubled everything).  Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper.  Go lightly.

Cover the potatoes with half the onions and half the fish, broken up or flaked into pieces.

Repeat the layers but end with potatoes.

Mix the reserved milk with the cream and pour over the pie.

Cover the pie with the reserved dough.  Pinch the edges closed.  Poke the top so the pies do not explode.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

If you can, wait thirty minutes to eat or until it cools to room temperature.  The above picture is what happens when you cannot wait.  It just does not hold together well.  

But it is so good!

It has been an odd evening so far.  Good but nothing has gone as planned.  Oh well.