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Improvisation...
Dec. 31st, 2010 11:22 amHere it is, the last day of the year.
Our window thermometer indicated an outside temperature of 0°F this morning (about -18°C), so I set about forming loaves from the dough I mixed last night with the idea that baking bread at 450°F would be a good way to warm the upstairs in the morning.
This morning, it also occurred to me that I still had a baseball-sized chunk of galette dough left in the fridge from last weekend, so I decided to improvise a bit.
I split the dough in two parts, rolled out the first part until it was big enough to cover the bottom and sides of a "standard" Pyrex pie plate, and placed the dough in the plate and set it aside. Then I took two medium Gala apples, peeled them, and sliced them into reasonably small pieces and set them aside as well.
I took 2/3 of a stick of butter, melted it in a saucepan, and combined it with about 2/3 of a cup of sugar, with the intention of making caramelized sugar. I had never done this before, and didn't know what to expect. The sugar did start to turn brown, but only after the water in the butter had boiled away.
Once the bread was done, I took the loaves out of the oven, let the temperature coast down to 400°F, and then poured some of the caramel into the bottom of the pie pan, laid the apple slices on top of the caramel, and then poured the rest of the caramel on top of the apples.
Somewhere along the line, I had been able to roll out the other half of the dough so that I could drape it over the pie plate, and once the apple and caramel was in the pie plate, I covered the plate with the other layer of dough, crimped the dough in a sort of rough-and-tumble manner, and put the works into the oven and baked it for 30 minutes.
Upon taking it out, I noticed that the caramel had "leaked" into a thin layer between the crust and the plate, and as all my previous experience with caramel is that it is very sticky at room temperatures, I decided to flip my creation onto a plate (so as not to have to chisel it out of the plate later).
As it turned out, Galina and I left the kitchen for a few moments, which gave Shiloh an opportunity to do a "taste test" of my creation.
Taking comfort in the fact that the dog was still standing 30 minutes later and not exhibiting any indications of pain, etc. (just kidding), Galina and I had a slice of the item as dessert after breakfast.
I have to tell you, it was pretty good, and Galina agreed.
And so, I would have to assess this culinary improvisation as a success. The only down side is now having to do about an hour on the treadmill to neutralize those calories! Yikes!
Cheers...
Our window thermometer indicated an outside temperature of 0°F this morning (about -18°C), so I set about forming loaves from the dough I mixed last night with the idea that baking bread at 450°F would be a good way to warm the upstairs in the morning.
This morning, it also occurred to me that I still had a baseball-sized chunk of galette dough left in the fridge from last weekend, so I decided to improvise a bit.
I split the dough in two parts, rolled out the first part until it was big enough to cover the bottom and sides of a "standard" Pyrex pie plate, and placed the dough in the plate and set it aside. Then I took two medium Gala apples, peeled them, and sliced them into reasonably small pieces and set them aside as well.
I took 2/3 of a stick of butter, melted it in a saucepan, and combined it with about 2/3 of a cup of sugar, with the intention of making caramelized sugar. I had never done this before, and didn't know what to expect. The sugar did start to turn brown, but only after the water in the butter had boiled away.
Once the bread was done, I took the loaves out of the oven, let the temperature coast down to 400°F, and then poured some of the caramel into the bottom of the pie pan, laid the apple slices on top of the caramel, and then poured the rest of the caramel on top of the apples.
Somewhere along the line, I had been able to roll out the other half of the dough so that I could drape it over the pie plate, and once the apple and caramel was in the pie plate, I covered the plate with the other layer of dough, crimped the dough in a sort of rough-and-tumble manner, and put the works into the oven and baked it for 30 minutes.
Upon taking it out, I noticed that the caramel had "leaked" into a thin layer between the crust and the plate, and as all my previous experience with caramel is that it is very sticky at room temperatures, I decided to flip my creation onto a plate (so as not to have to chisel it out of the plate later).
As it turned out, Galina and I left the kitchen for a few moments, which gave Shiloh an opportunity to do a "taste test" of my creation.
Taking comfort in the fact that the dog was still standing 30 minutes later and not exhibiting any indications of pain, etc. (just kidding), Galina and I had a slice of the item as dessert after breakfast.
I have to tell you, it was pretty good, and Galina agreed.
And so, I would have to assess this culinary improvisation as a success. The only down side is now having to do about an hour on the treadmill to neutralize those calories! Yikes!
Cheers...
