The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

A cold winters night

MANNA's picture
MANNA

A cold winters night

Its -12 degrees here last night in NY. I baked off a couple of goodies. A pie using the pate brisee crust from Bouchon Bakery. I replaced 1/4 of the butter with fresh leaf lard from a local farm. The filling is my own recipe with apples harvested from my own tree this fall. The pastry is the KAF quick puff pastry featured in Baking by Hand book I received for christmas. And the filling is strawberry jam my wife made from berries we picked over the summer. I prefer my pie, but then again my opinion is bias here. I was really impressed with the results from the puff pastry. I was quite proud of myself! Anyhow I keep working at it and feel my skills are getting more rounded out. I am working on the plans for my wood fired oven. When they are done I will post them here on TFL. Everybody take a look at them and provide feedback if you want. Here are some more pics, enjoy.

tchism's picture
tchism

Looks oh so good! Nice job.

MANNA's picture
MANNA

Thanks!

embth's picture
embth

How fortunate you are in upstate New York…surely a beautiful area and home to a wealth of small farms that offer good local fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meats….and leaf lard!   I prefer to use lard in pie crusts and pastries.  However, the lard found in most grocery stores is dated out 2 or 3 years and makes me wonder exactly what they do to it so it doesn't go rancid.   Last year, a friend bought a share of a pig and had the lard rendered, so it was minimally processed, needed refrigeration and had to be used within a month or so.  That lard was nice to work with and made wonderful flaky pastry like yours.  I have also found good quality organic lard at the Whole Foods Coop.                                                              I look forward to seeing your oven plans.  You will enjoy your wood fired oven….great hearth breads and family "Pizza Parties!"   : )

MANNA's picture
MANNA

I am lucky to be around so many small farms. As this type of farming is on the decline or extinct across the U.S.. I work out trades with most of them. Bread, pies, and cakes for what they have at the time. I need to divide up the lard I have and freeze it before it starts to turn. I will put in little cups measured out to what I need for a pie crust and then freeze and bag. The ovens plans are coming along. I need to work out the details. Since its a smaller oven I want it where you could cut out the templates for making the form's. I would like to get someone from the masonry heater association to review them before building too.

pongze's picture
pongze

Is this the quick puff pastry recipe that you used? http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/fast-and-easy-puff-pastry-recipe

If so, I'm astonished that it puffs so much!  I will need to give it a try.

MANNA's picture
MANNA

That is the recipe. Just dont overwork the butter into the flour. As one reviewer states its pie dough. I think thats because they mixed the butter in to much. You want some nice pieces of butter to roll out into sheets. When your ready to use it let it warm slightly at room temp before rolling to prevent cracking at the edges. And if it does crack no worries just smush it back together and keep going.

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Oh! that is So cold.

Great looking Puff pastries and pies, Manna. My pies and short pastry class is tomorrow.

Best of luck!

MANNA's picture
MANNA

That sounds fun. Hope you take some pic's to share.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Nothing beats Pie!!  Love the puff paste treats a lot though!  What's not to like - Well Done!

MANNA's picture
MANNA

Everybody likes pie :)