Less guilt, more joy croissants

I love croissants.  Who doesn't?
But if you knew precisely how much better goes into it (if you are buying an authentic one that is), and  unless you are trying to fatten yourself up before you embark on a stint in Antarctica, you couldn't really enjoy it.
That is why I don't buy croissants anymore.  What I do is to make my version at home whenever I feel the urge.

The base dough is a plain one with just flour, yeast, water, a little sugar and salt.
I roll out the dough as thinly as possible, I line the middle part with sliced cold butter, fold the dough till all the butter is hidden and seal well.  Roll out the dough, fold, roll out the dough fold, repeat this a few times.  Then cut the dough into triangles.  Roll from the wide end towards the pointy end.

Let it proof for 40~60 minutes depending on the temperature.

Bake till golden brown.



I don't weigh the butter when I make them.  I just put as much as I feel my family can safely consume without causing them to have a cardiac arrest.  Generally , I probably use about one third of the butter in the standard recipe.  


It still tastes pretty good.

Easy Tart Tatin

Usually, I am guilty of using bought frozen pie sheets for tart tatin, but for some reason I felt virtuous a few days ago and decided to make quasi real pie dough.

I just blitzed 125g of cold butter (reduced salt) with 125g of plain flour and added 60ml of cold water.  That's all, but I have got to say that the flavour of the real butter made this pastry such a joy to eat.

From now on, I think I will almost always make my own pastry.

Pear and Yogurt cake

It has been a stressful week and when I'm stressed, I bake even more than usual as I find it therapeutic.  The act of measuring, mixing, baking, transforming something into a delicious treat for friends and family.  The extra warmth the oven releases into the kitchen is also welcome.

This cake doesn't have alarming amount of butter or sugar.
It's a light and moist everyday kind of cake.


Butter 120g
Brown sugar 100g
Eggs 2
Yogurt 200ml
Self Raising Flour 210g
Cinnamon and or cardamon powder 2 tsp

Pear
Raw sugar 2 tbs
Icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Beat butter and brown sugar till fluffy and beat in the eggs and yogurt.
Add flour and spice last and mix till well combined.

Bake in a lined 20cm cake tin with sliced pear on top with a sprinkle of raw sugar to finish.
It depends on the oven, but it takes 30~45 minutes.

Powder some icing sugar on top when cool.