Spring 2025 update

Here we are, and March continues to march on! It’s been an interesting few months since my mom’s death November 15, 2024 and Steve’s near death experience on New Year’s Eve. We are thankful for so many things as we continue to move through life.

News flash - I’m migrating to a different email - frenchtarte52@gmail.com. You’ll see it in the footer sections on the site’s pages and it will be the email that is used when submitting requests through the contact page.

While my kitchen projects have been somewhat limited since the first of the year, I’d like to share a few from recent months (and some planned for the future!) as we ease into spring. Steve and I are looking forward to our trip to France March 28th with fingers crossed that the world hasn’t gone completely mad by then.

This Squarespace platform I’ve been using for many years now has changed in such a way that I can’t figure out how to link you directly to previous posts that I might be referencing. I’m working on it but it’s frustrating to say the least.

Above are cannelés bordelais that I made for a Christmas treat. A delicious caramel-y custard, native to Bordeaux, we enjoyed several versions of it on our trip last spring.

Composed cannelé dessert in bordeaux last spring

In addition to the “ways to use brioche” I posted on recently, I’ve tried a few other recipes from the Ferrandi book. So far the results have been less than stellar. Even though the recipes are written very clearly with excellent illustrations and step by step descriptions (and I’m pretty sure I know what I’m doing), the textures and flavors of the end results are simply lacking. Bicolor croissant, flaky puff rolls, rye wheat loaves - all made with laminated dough - do not have me coming back for more. Live and learn.

Rye wheat loaves - so-so results

Caramel topped blueberry cakes in early January offered visions of Michigan summer fruits. Plus I still have local Michigan blueberries in the freezer to keep us going until July/August.

I made baguette a couple of weeks ago which turned out OK but not with as crusty a crust or as open a crumb as I would have liked. So, I’ve been reading various sources/recipe approaches as I investigate the deeper nuances of a good baguette. I’ll be making more soon. Gotta keep learning, right?

Here’s the poolish for a Richard Bertinet baguette that I’ll be baking soon.

Here’s a baguette from days past.

From my November 2020 post - Now this is what I’m looking for!

I hadn’t made pizza dough for some months for a variety of reasons, but a recent batch using King Arthur’s 00 flour was fantastic.

Thanks King Arthur!

I have another pizza dough batch on hand using a Michel Roux recipe that we’ll be baking soon. I’ll keep you posted on that one.

As we get closer to our departure to France, I’m working on using up certain ingredients in my larder, one of which is some Danish Creamery salted butter. I’ll make batches of my classic sea salt caramel shortbread dough as well as the dough for the Scandi style caramel biscuit slices I made this past Christmas season.

Caramel biscuit slices - oh so tasty!

The doughs keep very well in the freezer (well wrapped, of course) for some months, so it will be nice to have those at the ready for some easy after travel baking projects.

I have a couple of classic gateaux on my list too - you may be hearing about at least one of them before we head across the pond. Fingers crossed on that one.

OK, so I admit I’m all over the place with projects, past and future. Processing emotions and doing our part to enjoy life is important as we age. No one ever said it was gonna be easy.

Meanwhile we’re feeling spring in the air, the sandhill cranes are coming back, the snowplow piles are almost gone, my tulips are poking out of the ground and the daylight is lengthening. Aaaaah - so refreshing.

As Steve often says “life is short - go to Paris”.

Let’s call this the bluebird of happiness

And finally . . . . .

Prelude to the blood moon - photo compliments of Steve Soper

Late summer update

August is almost over! Baking continues now and again, tucked in amongst hosting out-of-state family visitors, hot/humid weather, household and outdoor projects and the occasional country drive to feel the wind in our hair. Through it all I always circle back to the kitchen and thought I’d share a few of the treats I’ve made of late.

This time of year the likes of peaches, blueberries, tart cherries, tomatoes and sweet corn enter into my baking projects.

Thinking of tarts? Grab your favorite pâte brisée, create your filling and go for it!

For a savory treat, blind bake the crust, let cool, fill with a whipped goat cheese/ricotta filling and top with roasted tomatoes and fresh thyme. I think you’ll like it.

Roasted tomato goat cheese tartelettes

Blue, blue, blueberries!! These are individual versions of the double blueberry tart I wrote about here. I tweaked my pâte brisée by replacing some of the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry/spelt/rye flours which resulted in a delectable crust that seemed so right with the blueberries. Love it.

Fresh blueberry tartelettes

On another tart note, how about fresh raspberry tarts - pâte sucrée d’amandes with frangipane (blend of crème pâtissiére and crème d/amande) baked in, topped with fresh raspberries and finished off with raspberry coulis glaze - delicious!

Back to the savory side, here’s pizza topped with local fresh corn, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and our go to favorite grated fontina cheese (soooo much better than traditional mozzarella in our book). Thanks Cheese Lady! TIP - pop the cheese into the freezer for 30-40 minutes then grate - it’s much easier.

Here are individual cherry puff feuilletées, a twist (hah!) on the free form cherry tart using the same components (puff pastry and tart cherry filling) but in a different form.

Tart cherry feuilletées

My go to favorite cakes of late, based on a financier like recipe (no brown butter here) - these are blueberry lime with roasted strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream - both petite and standard versions. Change up the flavors to reflect the seasons. Mmmmm!

Petite

Standard

While these have nothing to do with fresh summer produce, you should know by now that I have to include some of my favorite laminated pastries.

Classic butter croissants can’t be beat. Pay close attention to the steps, how you handle the dough, the resting and rising times. They’re all so important in achieving the lovely airy center with crispy exterior.

Next up - maple glazed cinnamon buns made with laminated Danish dough. I’ve done versions of this sort of thing many times, yet some treats simply bear repeating (just like the croissants!).

I made the laminated dough this go around by adding 120 g butter to the dough and using 180 g for my butter block. Putting the dough through one 4-fold and one 3-fold yielded some lovely layers.

For the filling (I’m always tweaking the mixture) blend 100 g dark brown sugar, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 42 g melted butter, 3 tablespoons flour, 4 teaspoons cinnamon (I use King Arthur’s Vietnamese version), a pinch of salt and a splash of vanilla extract. Feel free to go up to 2 tablespoons cinnamon to amp up the flavor.

Roll the finished dough into a 10” x 17”-ish rectangle with the long side parallel to the work surface. Spread the filling evenly and roll up into a log. Trim ends a tad, cut 16 one inch slices and place cut sides up/down into buttered muffin tins or open rings.

I have some 80 mm one inch high open tart rings that I love for this type of pastry. They hold the dough just right to allow for rising and preserving a pleasing round bun shape in the oven.

Bake about 18 minutes at 350ºF. Mix 3 tablespoons maple syrup with 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar and thin with a bit of cream or milk to your desired consistency. I prefer thinner for a not too heavy coating.

Scrumptious, tender and buttery, lightly glazed - just what the doctor ordered!

Even though it’s HOT here right now, I can’t help but dream of apples, pears, nuts, pumpkins and more as the seasons continue to change.

Hang in there folks! We can do it. Here’s to a beautiful autumn.