Making many firsts

Finally, I have mustered up enough courage to attempt making The Dough. In fact, I must have been feeling very courageous for I made 2 batches of dough. A multi-purpose dough for the quiche and also a sweet light dough for my strawberry tart. Actually, I was persuaded by Julia Child by the way she described it: dough making is really a piece of cake with a food processor. Well, the blending of the dough is, but the shaping of the dough … it is still touch-and-go for me. The dough recipes are from Julia Child’s From The Kitchen Of Julia Child.

The first “First”- For the first time in my baking life, I was able to lift the dough up with the wine bottle (which I use as a rolling pin) much like the professionals! And I meant the whole dough!! Wohoo!! But that’s just the sweet dough. The multi-purpose dough … that's another story.

The second “First” – I made crème patisserie from scratch. What’s this? If you have eaten a fruit tart from Delifrance Café or any decent fruit tart, this is the creamy custard-like filling holding up all the fruits in place. Some time ago, I seemed to be addicted to Delifrance’s Peach Tart and was eating it almost every other day. Savouring the delectable filling and wishing that I would be able to have this for dessert after every meal! So I picked up Jacques Pepin’s Complete Technique and made his version of crème patisserie. I read his instruction with apprehension cos the yolks and sugar are be beaten with a whisk until “ribbons” are formed. And he said that it would take 3 to 4 minutes. I told Hubby: “Yeah, that’s with arms of Jacques Pepin!” In the end, the whisking took about 15 minutes, and most of it was done by Hubby. The crème patisserie was so delicate and light; different from that of Delifrance.

The third “First” – Having seen Swiss Gruyere cheese appearing in so many recipes, I have never tried it until now. The cheese is quite salty and also it has quite a strong taste to it. Hubby said that it tasted good in the quiche, but I find it is a tad too strong for my palate.

Here is my prebaked sweet dough pie crust. Since I was able to line the dough the proper way, the crust does look neater (although I need more practice with the crimping of the edges).




P.S.: I will post up the photos of the Strawberry Tart and Swiss Cheese Quiche later. Having problems with adding photos.

Comments