Happy New Year and More Baking

I kind of ghosted my Substack, but I'm back.

When I last posted in June, I had just baked a rhubarb pie. Then I got really busy and barely baked all summer. Even though I did bake Thanksgiving pies, it was such a busy time that I didn’t take any pictures. I did, however, achieve a couple of little pie triumphs. First, my pecan pie turned out great! I think it might be the first I haven’t overbaked. Custard pies are so tricky. I have learned that you have to pull them before they are fully baked and let the carryover cooking do its thing, but it’s hard to actually do! I also made a salted honey pie, which was really good! Even better given how little work it took. This is one that I highly recommend. It’s from Four and Twenty Blackbirds. The recipe is here. I have been interested in this pie for a while, so I bought a carrot blossom honey this past summer at the Heidrun Meadery in Point Reyes to use in this pie. Because the honey is the primary flavor, I think this is a great place for an interesting honey, but, I think it would also be great with a standard grocery store honey. Here is a picture of the Thanksgiving pie table. My niece made the pumpkin pie this year. In addition to the pecan and salted honey, I also made an apple cherry pie. The flavor was good, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.

In mid-December, I did two big baking projects in the same week! First, I made sourdough. It was a pretty cold day and it took a bit of work to proof it properly, but ultimately, it worked really well! I got a little concerned about overbaking it and pulled it a few minutes before I should have. It could have gotten some more color, but, it was pretty well baked and the flavor was really good!

Then, two days later, I made puff pastry from scratch. Of course, that was a warm day, which made it quite challenging. I didn’t take many pictures, because I was pretty stressed out throughout the process. But, in retrospect, I think the most important thing is the minute anything feels less than cold and firm to just throw it in the fridge and walk away for twenty minutes. It turned out really good! The sausage roll I made with it was tasty, but I did need to roll out the dough just a little more than I did. If you look closely, you can see that there is a layer that’s pretty thick and needed to be rolled out. But, for a first try, I was happy with it.

And finally, for the new year, I have decided that I am going to bake through Erin McDowell’s Savory Bakes. First up is cornbread! This was a simple recipe, really delicious and moist. I made one of the alterative recipes a few months ago with all cornmeal and no flour. I didn’t really like the flavor or texture. This one has both flour and cornmeal. It also has a little bit of brown sugar. It doesn't really make it sweet, but it keeps it moist. I also think it makes for a little more complex flavor. I will be sharing my journey here as I bake through the book!

I hope everyone had successful holiday bakes!

Michelle

PS, check out the flakes on this pecan pie.