Baked Pear Tart

So today's treat is a pear tart. This is a tart shell with a layer of apricot jam then a stack of fresh pears on top. I am really liking the tarts because they are a quick and simple dessert to make. At most I spend an hour preparing and baking everything to make a final product. These would be good for an emergency dessert if unannounced guests came over. The only really labor intensive part of the tart is the shell and even that can be thrown together in a stand mixer.

This recipe calls for partially baking the shell before you put in the filling. With such a quick cooking filling if the shell was not partially baked before hand you would be left with a very moist maybe not even cooked final product.

By itself the tart shell smells fantastic almost like a cookie, though I guess that the make up of the shell is very similar to a sugar cookie anyway. With the last tart I was picking at the left over shell bits as people took their slices.

Since everything is now in the oven for its final bake soon I will have pictures up.

Raspberry Jam Tart

So I know I missed a few days but these things happen. I had a busy but fun weekend and am now back so I won't waste time and get on to today's dish. I made a tart; its kind of like a pie but at certain key points very different. Instead of the normal flour, butter, and water crust tarts tend to have a sweeter crust so this one I made contains, flour, butter, water, egg, sugar, and lemon juice. Otherwise it seemed very much like a pie with a filling and good smells coming from the oven.

'smore coming soon.

So today I took a break from the kitchen and packed up and spent the afternoon at the beach. I had a lot of fun relaxing and playing in the water. I think certain people agree when I say we should go back again. Check back tomorrow for a new thing I still need to decide what I will make.

Cherry Pie

Sorry for the lateness of this update. The night I was going to bake this pie my internet died so I couldn't get the recipe online. So I like cherry pie. Often it isn't too sweet, too heavy, or too tart and goes well with almost any meal. That is why tonight I wanted cherry pie so off to the baking and more to come.

Pecan Pie

This pie I will admit is something I don't usually eat. I find it a tad too sweet for my own tastes. However, I know my family and certain co workers will happily devour it. So I make it from time to time.

The pie turned out pretty good. I even had no left overs in the filling bowl so it felt like everything was perfect. All that remains is that "How quickly it will be eaten" test.

Chocolate Chip Pie

So tonight I decided to go with the ultimate sweet tooth satisfier. Chocolate chip pie, this very tasty pie is like eating chocolate chip cookies in pie form and is even better is eaten fresh from the oven with a little bit of milk.

Blackberry Pie

Now I know this is a very basic pie, however everyone seems to love it. Anytime I bring it to the office it tends to disappear nearly instantly.

Here is one of my past efforts at blackberry pie.

More to come once I finish this pie later tonight.

The pie went okay, managed to make just enough crust for the pie. Plus since I used butter this time the crust smelled much better then the shortening one I did yesterday. I already had to start fighting off the vultures who wanted pie for breakfast.

Blueberry Pie

So I started pie week this week. Now instead of doing normal sized pies I am planning on mostly doing mini pies baked in muffin tins. Why? Well for one very good reason; its easier to eat on the run for anyone involved because its a night hand held snack.

Now for tonight's attempt I am doing blueberry pie. I have always had a bit of trouble with blueberry pie because generally the filling doesn't set enough so we will have to see how it turns out tonight.

Update: Well the pies turned out great. By the time I woke up the next morning 2/3 of the mini pies I made were gone.

Raspberry Lemon Muffins

Now I know this post is late in coming also. I promise to get back on track during next week where I will do a ton of pies, why? Because Pie-rats love pies. So back to this post being late; My brother who doesn't know about this blog as far as I know had just asked me if I was baking something tonight. It seems he has gotten accustomed to having a muffin or fresh bread to snack on every morning. Well I despite that I figured I might as well start baking.

Now for the recipe. Its one of the odder ones because instead of milk and butter the recipe called for plain yogurt and vegetable oil. Otherwise it was the standard recipe, flour, eggs, baking squiggle soda/baking powder, and flavoring of some sort. In this case the flavor was raspberries and lemon juice. The recipe called for frozen raspberries but I accidentally let mine defrost too much. So, in the mixing they started to fall apart. But things still smell great and the muffins will come out good.

Margarita Cupcakes

Sorry about the lateness of the update, but I went to the LA County fair after baking today's treat with a friend and haven't had the chance to post this until now.

So today's treat was Margarita Cupcakes. I baked them with my friend at her place and these were very good and we even managed to get the frosting right. Yes it contained tequila in both the cupcakes and frosting plus a healthy amount of lime juice.

Pictures to come tomorrow.

At the fair we indulged ourselves and has deep fried oeroes and coke icee. We also wandered around looked at the various exhibits and saw a dog agility show. Including one dog that was jumping nearly 5ft in the air. This wasn't a big dog either just about the same size as a beagle.

Apple Strudel Muffins

So today I really did two recipes. One was for the apple muffins themselves, the other was for the topping. Apples always make a good snack plus you can buy a 3 pound bag for only a few dollars so I have always been a fan.

So these muffins were pretty simple, chopped apples put into a muffin batter and then baked for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. The topping was nice as well, butter cut into brown sugar, with a little but of flour and cinnamon.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Today I decided to go for what my co workers would jokingly call "Chocolate Death." Now for us this is both a bad and good thing. We tend to call something 'death' when we know we want it, it would taste great, but we also know it would be pretty bad for us.

On to the muffins, I unfortunately didn't have any semi sweet chocolate squares so I ended up using chips in replacement. But that was fine as they melted even quicker then a square would have. Otherwise everything was perfect and within 15 minutes of the muffins being in the oven there was a faint smell of chocolate in the air and I was getting kind of hungry. But I resisted snacking until they were ready. I think it was worth the wait.

Strawberry Muffins

Today's snack is Strawberry Muffins. Now I love strawberries, to me they are just the right mixture of sweetness, tartness, and juice. If I could I would have them as my fruit of choice every day. Plus when baking with them; the smell is fantastic.

These came out extremely well. I bought perfectly ripened strawberries and they weren't too hard or soft. They chopped up perfectly and I couldn't help but eat a few while rinsing them in the sink.

The recipe was a little off though, based off the comments in its original form it would have produced an only okay muffin with more of a bread flavor. So I added about a quarter of a cup extra sugar and sprinkled a little bit of sugar on top.

Tune in tomorrow for chocolate chip muffins.

Blueberry Muffins

So this week I decided that I wanted to take a break from bread. Family members started complaining that I was giving them too much free bread and they couldn't possibly eat it all that quickly (there are only four of us locally). So I loaded up my old standby website for recipes http://www.allerecipes.com/ and found a good muffin recipe for today.

I also went and got a new muffin tin and liners. Apparently they now make silicone based ovenware. The muffins came out good and were very popular. So much that after before I even left for work 8 of the 10 I made were gone.

Pictures to come soon.

Pane Toscano Scuro

Today's bread is a whole wheat version of the one I baked yesterday. I again had issues with getting this one to stay in a good form. When I cut the pattern into the top the bread fell down again. Otherwise it came out okay. The crust was very light and the crumb was a good wheat bread. The only thing I didn't like was the bread was heavier and flatter than I wanted.

Pane Toscano o Pane Sciocco

This is a weird bread. Most of them contain a little salt to help keep the form and rise properly. However this one contains none. Its supposed to be a salt less bread.

Otherwise its pretty much just bread. My baker's peel arrived and this was the first time I got to use it.

Today's end product:

Ciabatta

Now this bread is pretty well known for being for sandwiches. Just saying the name seems to conjure up a mental image of a delicious flat bread sandwich with some honey mustard, lettuce, and filling of your choice. Well with this bread it makes sense. The recipe tries hard to prevent the dough from rising upwards and instead keeping with its flat form.

The starter for this dough was another Biga, this time for some reason the Biga I made was not as sticky and moist as the last one I made. It took on an almost doughy texture this time. Now the really scary part was the dough it self. Instead of being the normal bread dough that kind of like chewed gum. Ciabatta dough is very loose, very moist, and very sticky. It has a tendency to stick to everything which made it rather hard for me to work it by hand. But I heeded the author's warning about the dough's properties and quickly kneaded it adding as little flour as possible then set it to rise in an oiled bowl.

Now the really hard part came after its first doubling. I had to form this large sticky (though not as bad as it was) mass into four equal flats for baking. Using my metal dough scraper I cut it into the four sections and set to work. After another 90 minute rise time it was ready to put into the oven in sets of two.

Here is the finished product:

The bread is honestly as advertised and would be great for sandwiches; it was fantastic with just a little bit of honey.

Pane all'Olio

Well today I was supposed to do Ciabatta bread. But like a fool I did not read the recipe close enough and didn't set Biga to rise the night below. So tomorrow I will do the Ciabatta bread and tonight I am making Pane all'Olio or Olive Oil Bread.

This bread will be taking the form of a wreath of small rolls each to be broken off and eaten from the circle in turn. The author suggests serving it with various meats or anti pasta. So I will try it with some cheese once the bread is done.

Well the bread got off to a good start. I let my starter sit a little extra longer then I should have but that helped get yeast throughout the dough and it has more then doubled during the first hour and a half rise.

After the first rise I had to break the dough into several parts. The book said 12 to 14 rolls should come out of each batch. Unfortunately, I am working in less then ideal conditions and have a rather small oven. So I had to do two wreaths of 5 with 2 extras being baked by themselves.

Well the rolls have come out of the oven now and they smell fantastic. A lot like the bread you would get at an italian restaurant. Which would make sense considering the book I am using.

Finished Rolls:

I must add, after everyone tried it they all agreed this bread has been the best I have made so far.

Pane di Como Antico o Pane Francese aka French Bread

So today's foodstuff seems pretty simple, after all what could be complex about a loaf of french bread? Well, there is more then meets the eye to french bread. The last bread I made required only a simple starter, made only a handful of hours before the bread it self is started. The french bread calls for what the author called Biga. Biga is a more traditional starter in that you must have it from the day before where its spent the whole day rising and producing more yeast cells. My biga seemed to work well and its consistency is that is super sticky chewing gum. The kind that you can never get off your hands or shoes no matter how much you try.

The dough is rising in its oiled bowl now. I tend to use olive oil for my baking. I have no clue if this is the right thing to do. I know that olive oil has a much lower burn temperature then other oils. But it feels right to be using it when doing italian baking. After this rise is over I will be splitting the dough into two loaves and setting it for the second rise.

Here is the dough being put into the oven. My baker's peel still hasn't arrived in the mail yet so I was forced to use parchment paper this time around. As I am typing this my kitchen is filled with the fantastic smell of fresh baked bread.
The finished bread:

Pane Di Como

This bread is described as a delicious breakfast bread with a crunchy dome and a feathery floury top. The interior is supposed to have irregular holes through out the bread.

I must admit that that I did not get off to a good start with this bread. I found out that I had failed to get the malt syrup. After some quick research (google!) I found that it is used as a sweetener. So I put in a pinch of sugar and am hoping for the best. Thankfully it was the starter that called for it so I am hoping that the syrup is not too powerful a taste factor in the bread.

The dough seems to be acting well for me and mixing easy. I just finished the first rise and put it into bowls with small clothes covered in flour. From there after the second rise I will turn the two loaves out onto the preheated baking stone.

Well at this point the bread smells great. It was a little awkward turning out the loaves but I eventually got it. Heres how the bread looked going into the oven.
Well I just pulled the loaves out of the oven and let them cool. They taste just fine, the dome is very crunchy and the crumb nice and soft and tasty.

Heres today's end product:

Tomorrow is Pane di Como Antico o Pane Francese

Supplied

So I spent today going from store to store before work. It was amazingly hard to find a baker's stone in a local store. It turns out that both my local Sears and Macy's don't carry them, but somehow Target did. I also got a cooling rack, various mixing supplies, and a jar of active dry yeast. Now all I need is for my baker's peel to come in the mail and I will be ready to start.

So tuesday I will start with Pane Di Como. By then I will be completely setup and ready. I will be including pictures of my efforts and hopefully they will look fantastic.

Prologue

So last night I watched Julie and Julia with my friend Lauren and it got me thinking. Although I love cooking and baking, I never really attempted it do it every day. I even managed to amass a small collection of cook books. So I am sure, I am among hundreds of others that were inspired by this movie. I will attempt the feat of cooking my way through a whole cook book at the rate of one recipe a day.

Of course deciding to do this project raised a whole new set of problems. What cook book shall I use? How can I cook my way through a book if I recently became vegetarian? So I decided on a baking book. Most of the recipes allow for the substitution of lard with olive oil.

The book I chose is The Italian Baker by Carol Field. This project will start on my birthday (9/8) so I will have a couple days to procure various tools needed. Until then nonexistent readers.