So this week I was inspired by BBC1’s Great British Bake Off
(which is on TV Wednesdays @ 8pm), by their theme of the week.. Pastries! I
haven’t made pastries in a long while, however one of the reasons I think that
I tend to avoid making pastries is because the process requires a lot of time.
With pastries you must practice practice practice, follow the instructions step
by step exactly as they require because the ratio of ingredients are crucial to
the outcome. Pastries come in all different types, shapes and sizes; some of
the more well-known pastries include Shortcrust, Puff, Filo & Choux. There
are some that may be more difficult to make than others however pastries are
very versatile, delivering both sweet & savoury favourites. Definitely do some
research and give them a go. There is nothing more rewarding than putting a
great deal of hard work into making something like pastry, nailing it and
people showing their appreciation towards your hard work.
Click on the BBC Food website below to look at the different
types of pastries and also gain some new ideas on Pastry recipes.
I will always remember the day I made pastry during a Food
Technology lesson in High School. It was one of the days I believed I finally
cracked it in the kitchen and helped to motivate me to cook at home. When we
think of desserts, we generally think cake, crumbles, pies, ice cream or
something made of chocolate. The dessert I’m posting today is Choux pastry inspired,
ultimately a profiterole, but I will be tweaked slightly. The recipe is the
actual recipe that I used in school and kept after all this time. So here goes…
All you need is:
125ml Water
65g Plain Flour
50g Margarine
2 Eggs
1 Carton of Double Cream
1 Box of Strawberries
100g Chocolate (optional)
Baking Tray
Baking Paper / Greaseproof Paper / Foil
Piping Bag
Saucepan
Wooden Spoon
❶ Preheat oven to 210°c / Gas Mark 7 then grease flat baking
tray directly, or simply place Baking paper onto the tray.
❷ Put water and margarine in a pan together, heat until the
margarine has all melted.
❸ Keeping it on the heat, quickly add flour into the mixture
and mix into a firm dough. (You should keep the pan on the heat, this cooks the
flour in the mixture)
❹ Once everything is all combined, take the pan off the heat
to rest & cool.
(Make a well in the mixture so that it helps to cool
quicker. The reason why you must cool the mixture before adding the eggs is
because the heat may scramble/cook the eggs if it is mixed in straight away.)
When you think the mixture is cool enough beat in the eggs one at a time and
combine. (I always find that cracking the 2 eggs into a measuring jug
beforehand and pouring the egg in a little at a time is the best, because
sometimes both eggs will make the mixture too runny. What you want is a firm/thick but slightly runny dough.)
❺ Transfer the mixture from the pan into the piping bag,
then pipe small ball shapes onto the baking tray. (Don’t pipe the balls too
close together as you must allow room for growth, due to the pastry expanding)
❻ Place in the oven for 30 minutes to bake.
❼ Once they are out of the oven, leave them to completely
cool before anything else. Then whip your cream, melt your chocolate (optional)
or prepare any fruits you may be using to decorate.
I chose to use Double cream whisked together with 2
tablespoons of Icing sugar and using Strawberries to decorate & serve.
Now all you have to do is share them or just eat them,
probably the latter.
Enjoy!
Wendy x
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