Pie

Pears, wine, pastry. What could be better?

Incase you don’t know, a galette is like a free form pie. It’s much easier than making a pie, and sometimes make me wonder why I would ever actually make a pie. Thinking that however, I am quickly reminded that while my sister loves me, she might love me a little less if I stopped making proper pies all together. Galettes are nice because you can fill them with what ever you like, and leave the edges as cut, or fold them over a small amount of your filling to trap in all of those delicious juices and flavours. I highly recommend exploring the galette world.

Pears are a nice change from apples, and are one of my favourite fruits. There are many different kinds, and with the recipe I went with Bosc pears. They are one of the cheaper kinds of pear and I’m sure that you can find them in almost any grocery store in North America, and beyond.

Moving onto the topic of pastry, don’t fear the pastry! This pastry is pretty forgiving and I quote, “the best pastry you have ever made.” Thanks Mom! Having seen the idea of grating butter in a lot of recipes circulating recently I was excited to try out the technique. I think it’s a brilliant idea, and I’m sure you will to once you give it a shot. It eliminates the fear of doing it wrong with your hands and is so much easier over all.

So here goes – I hope you and your friends enjoy this as much as my family, friends, and I did.

Quick Flaky Pastry

4 oz (110g) unsalted butter (always use unsalted butter when making pastry)
6 oz (175g) all-purpose flour
pinch (1/2 tsp) salt
100 ml ice water
*yields 10 oz pastry dough*

1. Measure 110g of butter and wrap in foil. Place in freezer until you are ready to use it.
2. Sift flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
3. Remove butter from the freezer and coarsely grate it using a stand up grater.
*The butter will start to soften a bit being at room temperature. When this happens dip the end you are grating in your flour and continue to grate. Repeat this as necessary.
4. Add the grated butter to the flour mixture. Using a palette knife, being to pull together the butter and flour. You want the flour to coat all of the little pieces of butter.
5. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of ice water over the butter and flour and continue to use the palette knife to pull it all together.
You may now begin to use your hands to bring the dough together. If you find your pastry is a bit dry, add 1 tablespoon of ice water at a time. You don’t want to pastry to be wet, but your bowl should be pretty clean when you are done.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or a ziploc bag and refrigerate until use.

Poached Pear Galette

3 firm unripe pears (I used Bosc) peeled with the stalk left attached
10 oz pastry dough (you’ve already done this!)
10 fl oz (275ml) red wine
1 oz (25g) caster sugar
1/2 cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp ground cinnamon)
1/2 vanilla bean
1 tsp arrowroot (I used gelatin powder and it was fine)

1. In a medium sauce pan, lay the peeled pears on their side.
2. In a mixing bowl combine red wine and sugar, and pour over the pears. Add the vanilla bean and cinnamon stick, cover and let gently simmer for 45 minutes. Turn half way through poaching to ensure all sides of the pear are evenly coloured.
** In case you hadn’t caught on, your pears will take on the colour from the wine – OSMOSIS!
3. Pre-heat oven to 475°F (220°C)
4. Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and lightly flour your rolling surface. With your rolling utensil of choice, roll the dough to about 1/8 inch (3mm) thick. Cut into six, 4 inch (10 cm) circles and arrange them on a lightly greased or silpat-covered baking sheet.
** If they don’t all fit, put the rest on another baking sheet
5. Remove pears from the wine mixture when ready and stand each pear up on end. Cutting through the stalk, cut the pears in half. Remove the core using a melon-baller.
6. Using a sharp pairing knife, starting from just below the stalk, slice the pear downward on a slight angle so that you can create a fan with the pear slices – while still attached to the stalk.
7. Place each half-pear-fan on a circle of pastry and place in pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes until pastry is lightly golden brown and puffy.
8. Meanwhile, remove cinnamon stick and vanilla bean and place sauce pan on high for 5 minutes.
9. In a cup mix arrowroot with a little cold water until a smooth paste forms. Add this to the wine mixture and whisk until it resembles the thickness of a syrup. Remove from heat.

Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and individually plate each one. At this point you can choose to serve immediately, thus warm, or let them cool. Drizzle the syrup over each pastry as you wish.

Recipe adapted from: http://www.daliaonline.com

This recipe is a mix of a bunch of different recipes I have come across in the past few days. I have been dying to try the cinnamon bun pie crust for a long time now, and it came to me the other day – why not make it into an apple pie? Here is the recipe in it’s three parts:

Preheat oven to 400°F
Cinnamon Bun Pie Crust:

2 cup sifted flour
2/3 cup lard
1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt
6-8 Tablespoons cold milk

Cut a 1-2 ft. square piece of parchment paper and sift flour onto paper. Sift flour again, but add the salt to ensure it is fully incorporated. Pour flour mixture into a large bowl. Cut lard into flour, and use a pastry cutter so that the lard is fully incorporated. When the dough resembles a crumble, add the milk a few tablespoons at a time. Use a fork to pull the dough together. Once this is done, turn the dough out onto your piece of parchment paper. Divide the dough into two sections. Form two balls with the dough, then flatten into discs. Roll out one disc of dough using a rolling pin or whatever cylindrical intrusment you have; a wine bottle or water bottle work well!

(at this point I started to use the cinnamon bun recipe)

1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Melt the butter, pour and spread it over the disc of pastry you just prepared. Evenly and generously sprinkle the cinnamon over the dough. Tightly roll it up, like you would normal cinnamon buns. Using a sharp knife cut the dough into 1/2 inch rounds. Flatten each round with your palm. Using a 9inch round pie tin – glass, ceramic or otherwise – gently press each cinnamon bun into the bottom of the pan and around the sides. (If you find you have run out of cinnamon buns, use your extra disc of pie crust pastry and repeat this step of adding butter cinnamon, etc.)

Now for the filling!

8-10 medium cooking apples (Macintosh or Cortland), peeled and sliced
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
In large bowl stir together apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Spoon into pastry-lined 9″ pie pan. Dot with butter.