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| By Andrew Knowles |
Years later, once I’d left home, I tried making choux pastry. It was an inedible disaster. I never got as far as experimenting with any classy fillings or toppings. Then the Great British Bake-Off started on TV and I decided to try again. I used the basic choux recipe from this Bake-Off challenge (I wasn’t mad enough to think I could construct religieuse, I just wanted to get the pastry part right!). The result was at least edible, but as DD said, they looked like “fried pinwheels”. I adjusted the oven temperature, in case my oven wasn’t hot enough. Batch two was better, but still heavy and close textured so I gave up. Then OH reminded me that my home-made bread improved enormously after I watched Daniel Stevens baking on TV. Before that, I'd been following recipes to the letter but the texture of perfect dough was something I needed to see before I could get it exactly right.
That sent me straight to YouTube, where I found this 101 on choux pastry...
and yes, there's a world of difference between following written instructions and actually watching someone work. I didn't use the quantities in the film, it was the consistency of the paste while cooking and when ready for piping that I needed to see. My next batch of choux pastry turned out perfectly, and was filled with crème pâtissière and topped with shiny chocolate ganache (though I still didn’t bother turning them into religieuse). If only I’d been able to see Gran working with the right consistency of choux dough years ago, I could have saved myself a lot of time and effort.
What’s the most useful thing you’ve learned online? There’s a signed book from my backlist for a comment drawn at random on Monday, 18th November.
11 comments:
I learned how to fold three dimentional paper stars. In which you can light a small candle. A German lady folds them on youtube & though I could not understand everything she said in subtitles. I did see very clearly how it was done. Mom and I tried them a couple of years ago & now make them every year as it looks really magical when it's dark :) I have a picture of one of them on my blogpost of Nov 11, it's the one on the left in case you wish to see what they look like. Super simple to do, can be done with a sheet of printer paper. Does go better with a thicker paper I find. Perhaps it's a "usefull" and fun craft to do (with kids?) when it's raining or Christmastime :D I certainly enjoy making these origami stars, also great on the dinnertable or windowsill. As small favors to guests... Versatile decoration, inexpensive and quick :)
That sounds lovely, Jo - I'm going to find that and try it, as DD and I are doing a Victorian-themed Christmas tree for the Church festival this year. Thanks for commenting!
Choux pastry is surprisingly easy to make. I love using it to make profiteroles. They’re always a fun dessert.
I am still trying to learn how to make the English Christmas pudding, the last 2 I made both turn out kind of a cream not dark in color and one was so hard. My husband is English and I wanted to surprise him, you can't get all the ingredients here in the USA so this year we will buy one already made here at a shop in Los Angeles. it's safer that way.
I love baking at Christmas time our daughters and I make ginger bread men and a pumpkin loaf.
Penney
Hi Connie, thanks for commenting. Yes, you're right: it's easy, once you know how!
Hi Penney, I find the problem with steamed Christmas pudding is that they take so long to cook. I always used to make them, but half the time we were too full of turkey dinner to appreciate the effort! Now I usually do individual chocolate sponge puddings with sauce, or something similar. The English Christmas puddings I used to make got their colour from dark brown sugar, with lots of dark fruits, stout and sometimes black treacle too. They went several shades darker when cooked, and as you say were always pretty substantial. I hope you'll enjoy your LA version, and thanks for commenting!
Hi Christina
I used the light brown sugar that's why! My daughter want to try it again this year so we'll give it another try!
Penney
Glad to hear it, Penney - I hope it's a success. Does your recipe include breadcrumbs? Weird as it may sound, that's supposed to keep the pudding's texture lighter than flour would.
I just found 2 recipe of pudding but still have not try to make it :D
Hi everyone - I've just drawn the winner of the signed book from my backlist, and it's....Penney! Congratulations, Penney - if you'd could send me your snail-mail address I'll get your prize in the post. Thanks to everyone who commented. See you again next month!
Hi Christina,
Thanks I'm sending my info to you now
Penney
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