I supplemented the farm box cherry plums with 4 small red plums from the supermarket. I was having a devil of a time pitting the red plums. when it was time to start on the tiny cherry plums, I was thinking this is going to be an unholy mess! Then like a freight train it hit me! I broke out my unused still new in the box cherry pitter. It worked like a charm!
Phase 2.
What you see here is 1500g of premium quality Pate brisee. I am taking a break while the pastry chills out. The next step is to scale and divide. Once that is completed, I will work on the filling while the pastry chills out again.
Plum pie:
Phase 3 and 4
The pastry is divided and chilling. The filling is done and cooling on a sheet pan for quick heat transfer, (without refrigeration.) The next step is shaping the pie shell and cutting the lattice strips. We are approaching the end game. Time to keep cool and collected.
The end game.
I am happy with the outcome. The pâte brisée is a plastic fork-tender, buttery and delicious. The filling is soft and juicy while remaining firm. The flavor is sweet-tart and would pair perfectly with vanilla ice cream.
Welcome to a midweek bake/experiment. I am still thinking about gluten and tough pastry. My research reminded me of something I already knew. Gluten development starts as soon as the water hits the "live flour." Live flour is flour that has not been encapsulated in fat. So the dilemma becomes how do we cut in the fat leaving nice size pieces (for flakiness) while still encapsulating all of the flour? I think I have an idea, (now this next part, is just me being me) Should this actually work it will be the most groundbreaking development in the history of pie making! Smile... Here is what we have so far.
The four fruit two-sided filling is quite whimsical.
This is the flour with the butter cut in and the oil added. As you can see I only gently tossed the dough with my fingers, I did not want to make it a paste. After I added the water and kneaded it a couple of times this is the result. The dough took considerably less water than the formula called for. The added liquid in the oil and NYC humidity I think.
Regarding Enzo's pepperoni versus Rosa Grande. Enzo's wins, way less greasy no need to microwave. Just the right amount of grease. Smile. Closing thought I need to get that bar stool guy to stop around my way. I will make him a pie to knock his Brooklyn accent back into last month!
Photos. Nice even playing field. If you want a nice result, you have to pay attention at this juncture. Now that is a nice stretched skin Oven ready self-explanatory
I could not let stand the poor results of this morning bake. Let's hope the Goddess Fortuna Redux, takes mercy and leads this bake safely home!
P.S.This is what a 25% increase looks like. I'll be back once the buns are safely on the cooling rack. Smile...
These bad mama-Jama's Are ready to go! Pre-heat, steam, and bake-off!
Perseverance, determination, commitment, and courage-those things are real. The desire for redemption drives you.
Michael Phelps
There was a malfunction with the two longers ones. They did not fall centered in the baguette pan. Moving them proved to be a mistake. Alas, let's leave that for another discussion, now is the time to revel in victory!
The dough has been mixed using my Traditional baguette, bosch specific method. We are now in bulk ferment. I find it very helpful to have my tiny work station ready and organized.
since we know that 1,680 grams of dough equal approximately 1.68 liters, we can calculate a 25% increase to be approximately 2.1 liters. The progress will be checked in 60 min. from the start of bulk.
After 105 minutes at 76 degrees F., the baguette dough is showing good fermentation. Not only is the volume increase very close to 25% the top view shows a slight but pronounced dome, the corners are pulling away from the sides, and air bubbles are visible.
The dough was divided, and pre-shaped 3 at 560 grams. The final shape will be long batards.
After 7 Hrs. of cold retard/proof, here we have the three long batards and one Asciugamano. While searching the fresh loaf archives I happened on the DMsynider formula for Asciugamano, I decided to give this obscure Italian bread a go! Actually, the Asciugamano is a blank to help hold the batards during the proof.
From the looks of things, we seem to be slightly over-proofed, not grossly, however.
Wow! What a letdown, I could kick myself! I neglected to turn down the oven temperature, after purging the oven for the second 13 minutes of bake time. I only checked on them once, 10 minutes in. This is the sad result. Over proofing notwithstanding, this would have been a pretty okay bake!
Closing thoughts.
1. The shaping turned out rather well, especially for the seeded bats.
2. These are the size I have been trying to emulate! The Italian batards from the Prenice brothers bakery, made famous by Sonny's Hero shop.
3. Had I ended the bulk only 15:00 minutes earlier I am fairly certain these bats would have burst open.
4. I am glad I proofed these seem side up. The dough had begone to dry out. I will have to dampen the flour sackcloth cover, next time.
5. True that! Plenty of time for counting, when the deal is done!
