Pie crust

Well, I had another minor success: pie crust. I know it's pretty lame that I've never made a homemade pie crust before. I usually don't make pie and when I do, I prefer graham cracker/shortbread/chocolate wafer crusts. But I did it! I made an apple pie with a double crust. Was it pretty? No. Which you can totally tell by the picture. But was it delicious? Yes! Which you can also tell by the picture because I forgot to take one before eating some, and I'm not ashamed to say I have already eaten 1/4 of the pie and my husband hasn't even made it home yet. So here's the recipe:
From Taste of Home Baking
Classic Pie Pastry
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup shortening
6-7 tbs cold water

In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until a ball forms. Cover and chill 30 minutes or until easy to handle. Divide dough in half so one ball is slightly larger then the other. Roll out larger ball on a lightly floured surface to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Transfer pastry to pie plate. Trim pastry even with edge of plate. Add filling. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of plate; place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cut slits on top. Bake according to recipe directions.

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
Classic Apple Pie
3 tbs all purpose flour
1 large egg yolk
1 tbs heavy cream
3 lbs cortland apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
2 tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbs butter, cut into small pieces

In a small bowl, beat egg yolk and cream with whisk. Set aside. In a large bowl, toss together apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Arrange in pie shell. Dot with butter. Brush rim with egg wash. Place second piece of dough on top, gently press over apples. Gently press the top and bottom pieces of overhang all together. Tuck dough under and crimp. Brush entire surface with egg wash and cut to vent. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes.

The crust didn't come out very pretty. I had trouble getting it rolled into a proper circle, and then I couldn't get it crimped together right. To be fair, my son was starting to pitch a fit and I had to hurry up to entertain him so I didn't get to spend much time trying to fix it. BUT the taste was great, the pie crust tasted wonderful and flaky and that's all I really want. I didn't want to attempt a lattice top because I thought it would be too much at once and I'm glad I didn't! I think I'll need a sitter for that or at least for the husband to be home. I'm glad to knock another thing off the list though and to see that pies aren't as difficult as I though.

Crusty French Bread

My son was so amazingly well behaved tonight I'm a little suspicious he's been swapped. The past few days (before tonight) have been such nightmares. He's been fighting sleep, fussing a lot and just being onery all around. I love him dearly but the boy drives me nuts sometimes! But tonight, we really enjoyed each other's company. He smiled, played, did his tummy time, read stories with me and went right to sleep without a fight. When he woke up for his night feeding, he ate and went back to bed; that simple! So I was free to bake whatever I wanted. However I was ill prepared because my husband had class and I was just expecting the worst from our kiddo so I didn't plan for anything or have the ingredients I needed. So I baked something very basic (and yet still new!). It's almost a shame because I had all the time in the world tonight.

Now before I start this post, I want to state something: I am not expecting this blog to be anything more then just fun and a challenge for myself. I am not a professional or even creative. And I am not a photographer, in fact a large amount of these photos will probably be taken on my cell phone. I don't have the time to try to master food photography. And my food probably won't be pretty very often. I can accept the fact that I am an amateur. So that being said, here is number one off my bucket list; baguette.

From Taste of Home Baking
Crusty French Bread
1 pkg (1/4ounce) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs Canola Oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Cornmeal
1 egg white
1 tsp cold water

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Beat until blended. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turn once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down, return to bowl. Cover and let rise about 30 minutes.
Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into a 16 inch x 2 1/2 inch load with tapered ends. Place loaf on baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 25 minutes.
Beat egg white and water, brush over dough. With a sharp knife, make diagonal slashes 2 inches apart across top of loaf. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and place on wire rack to cool.

As you can probably see from my picture, I think I put a little too much egg wash. Also, it's a pretty wonky shape. I've never kneaded dough before and only really shapped it once so I don't think I did it exactly right. But overall, I think I did decent. The bread taste good and that's what matters, right? One thing you should know about me is I don't care if food is ugly or not, if it tastes great then I'm stoked. Cosmetics aren't so important to me.

I'm slowly realizing that baking with yeast isn't nearly as scary as I used to think. I used to browse recipes, see something that looked good but shy away as soon as I saw the ingredient 'yeast' listed. Something about making sure you got water to the right temperature and yeast dissolving just seemed too difficult. That was before I realized that there is such a thing as instant yeast, but I now also know that active dry isn't difficult either. So yay for conquering fears! You can't grow as a person (or baker) til you can overcome your fears, right?

Baking Bucket List

I really love to bake and it's one of the few things I do to unwind. I haven't done it quite as much in the past couple of years and I miss it. I also recently had my first baby, and he is everything I have ever wanted in life but I'm not going to pretend it isn't extremely stressful. I feel kind of trapped in my home and like I've lost myself amongst becoming a mommy. I really need to find something for myself again because I can feel myself becoming way too stressed out and I don't take time for myself anymore. So I want to start baking again, and not only do I want to start baking, but I'd love to challenge myself. There are so many different breads, pastries, and baking techniques I've never tried but am interested in. I enjoy food, and I feel like I appreciate sweets and everything that goes into them. When I look back, the most relaxing and enjoyable times I've had in my life often include a delicious dessert of some sort, enjoyed in the company of friends.

I don't have a lot of skill, so the items on my bucketlist may seem juvenile and simple to others, and some of them probably are very easy but I still really want to try everything and conquer them all. My goal is to complete one a week. I have to be realistic, I'm a new mother and don't have a ton of time on my hands and my son isn't at an age to compromise or negotiate with mommy, so when he says it's time to stop baking, it's time. But I think 1 a week is very reasonable. So here's my list in no specific order:
Baking Bucket List
Cookies
Whoopie Pies
Black & White Cookies
Spritz Cookies
Biscotti
Cut out cookies
-Decorated with Royal Icing/flooding technique
Tassies
French Macaroons
Bread
Popovers
Bubble Bread
Beer Bread
Sourdough Bread
Challah
English Muffins
Gingerbread
Baguette Completed 12/1/2011
Brioche
Soft Pretzels
Irish Soda Bread
Zucchini Bread
Braided Twist
Foccacia
Hawaiian Sweet Bread
Ciabatta
Desserts
Tiramisu
Baked Alaska
Souflee
Creme Brulee
Chocolate Mousse
Crepes
Misc.
Homemade Lemon Curd
Homemade Vanilla Extract
Truffles
Meringue Shells
Homemade Pizza Crust
Stromboli
Fondant
-Marshmallow Fondant
Homemade Marshmallows
Gingerbread House
Spanakopita
Pies/Tarts
Homemade Pie Crust Completed 12/8/2011
Lattice Topped Pie
Lemon Meringue Pie
Tartlets
Pastries
Cream Puffs
Eclairs
Baklava
Cannoli
Strudel
Danish
Turnover
Ladyfingers
Scones
Cinnamon Rolls
-Sticky Buns
Bear Claws
Doughnuts
Chocolate Babka
Cakes
Pineapple upside down cake
Coffeecake
-Coffeecake Ring
A 3 Layer Cake
Better then Sex Cake
Shortcake
Petit Fours
Angelfood
Filled Cupcakes
-Fauxstess Cupcakes
A Cake Roll
Pound Cake
New York Style Cheesecake
Crumb Cake
Molten Lava Cakes
I may add more to my list the more I learn. I'll post about my successes and failures. If I fail, I'll try again and see what I learn from my mistakes. I am really excited for this experience!