Sunday, September 24, 2006


luv my roul'pat

what's fabulous about the rustic apple tart from yesterday is that the recipe gives patisserie-quality results -- light, crisp, flaky, fresh, highlight on the apples themselves -- with just about zero work. zero work is a good thing.

the hardest part of the recipe is peeling the six apples, you know? but i understand that some people are hesitant to deal with pie crusts of any type. to this i have to say -- the food processor is your best friend.

long-time readers recall that i have an antique cuisinart circa 1980, which i bought at a garage sale in '88 from a woman who was getting divorced. she had used this wedding gift like, twice.

i paid US$25 for it (it holds up to 3-1/2 cups of flour), which was a lot at the time since i was a starving graduate student. and altho' small by today's standards, the puppy just doesn't die.

to compare, my kitchenaid pro stand mixer bought in 1999 has expired twice and been repaired twice. the cuisinart keeps on plugging.

used properly, the cuisinart makes great pie crust. just keep the butter frozen, process for literally no more than 10 seconds, and use ice-cold water.

don't expect the dough to ball up. if it does, it's too wet.

but when you reach in with your hands and press the dough together, it will bond. that's when you wrap it up and chill it for an hour.

this makes perfect crust every time. and it's braindead easy.

the other thing about pie crust that terrifies people is the rolling out. the dough often sticks, tears, fights back.

none of this is a problem -- to prevent sticking, skip the old-fashioned pastry cloth and upgrade to a large roul'pat.

for tears, just patch the tears with dough scraps from the long ends, and whenever the dough starts to fight back, let it rest for 5 minutes under a piece of plastic.

the final challenge for many appears to be moving the dough from the rolling surface to the pan. this is where the roul'pat comes in so handy.

i no longer wrap the dough around the pin to move it to the pan -- that risks tearing and even dropping the dough!

instead, i just put the pan over the dough on the roul'pat and flip the silicone mat. bingo.

as for clean-up, just rinse the roul'pat in the sink and let it air-dry flat. baking should be all about the eating, not the cleaning.

i don't advise putting the roul'pat in the oven. get a silpat for that, ok?

btw, i want to review the new edition of that great yoga magazine namarupa, but mine still hasn't come! i'm like the last person in the world to get my subscription, it seems like!

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posted by fortune | 10:48 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments