Step One & 1/4: Bakery Sightings in NC

Had a wonderful trip to N.C. with plenty of chances to scope out local bakeries. This is the next best thing to testing recipes!!

Here is the recap of where we went:

Maxie B’s – a bit over the top for the cuteness factor, but I am in love with the wedding cake room. what I wouldn’t give for a tasting room!!!

Delicious – A bit on the big/cold side, but I liked the variety of cake selections and sizes. The look was a bit too polished.

Spring Gardens – old school bakery, a definite mom & pop place. solid offerings and a casual atmosphere. Good Coffee, great muffin (even if it was wrapped in plastic)

Simple Kneads (sadly no website) – By far my favorite! Just the kind of place I would have. Tucked in a downtown ally and providing tasty french breads & sweets to all. A semi-open kitchen with a classic rustic feels. Have to try and figure out their vegan muffin recipe – it was heavenly. Only I’d have a website for sure.

Other Edible highlights from Greensboro:

Bin 33 : Yummy dinner, especially the Avocado Fries & the Wonton Appetizers

Green Bean Coffee: Local, funky art, good coffee, & baked goods from Simple Kneads. I love their logo and mugs!

Natty Greenes: Local micro-brew. Beer good. Need I say more?

Cafe Minita: The best Indian food anywhere, even if the sous chef (me) is a bit too mouthy. The best part of a visit to NC is a visit with my best friend and guide to all things indian. Wish you guys could have a seat at this restaurant, but it is definitely by personal invite only.

Have decide that the test for this week will be the classic southern Hummingbird Cake – I never got to taste one while I was there, so I guess I’ll have to recreate it at home!

Travel

Travel takes on a new meaning when you are thinking of opening a business. Now I don’t look for museums or parks to visit but bakeries….okay maybe not much changes after all. On my way to N.C.  Any advice for bakeshops I should see along the way?  I plan on grabbing all the menus I can get ahold of.

Step One: Testing

This is the best part of imagining a bakery…testing recipes.

To this end I have spent the last few weeks (years) scowering the local library in search of interesting cookbooks…

Pastry textbooks from the 1960s, homemaker books from the 1920s, regional specialties (scandinavian to start), and some food chemsitry and history books for research and reference.

After hours of perusing, I have written down a handful of recipes to try out…as a girl’s gotta start somewhere.

I have cake recipes, cookie recipes and tart recipes.

My focus in dreaming about a bakery has been primarily about tarts. I love the versatility of a good tart – sweet or savory, mine or ours (small or large), deep and rich or light and fluffy. The tart is the perfect medium for me, as I can never pin down what it is I like to bake. Tarts can be anything and are suitable for any occasion.

Can tarts a bakery make? I am not sure, but wouldn’t it be nice if it were true? So without further adieu the first test recipe…

Photo: Good Food Magazine

Baked Lemon Tart with 1/2 & 1/2 dough

1/2 & 1/2 sweet dough

from: The Modern Pastry Chef’s Guide to Professional Baking – D’Ermo (1965)

This was explained as 1/2 pie dough & 1/2 sugar dough. It was light and flaky much like a scottish shortbread. It held up pretty well even after 3 days in the fridge as a full fledge tart.

I have scaled the recipe down from the original.

5 oz. butter

3.25 oz. sugar

6.25 oz. shortening

1 egg

2/3 t salt

1 1/4 t baking powder

1/2 # cake flour

1/2 # bread flour

1/3 c milk

Cream first five ingredients together in order listed. Sift flours & baking powder together. Mix to a smooth paste adding flour & milk alternately. Chill until needed Makes enough for at least two 23 cm tarts.

Lemon Tart Filling

From: Good Food Magazine, July 2008

5 unwaxed lemons

6 eggs

250g golden sugar

200ml double cream

1. Finely grate the zest of 3 of the lemons into a bowl. Halve all the lemons, squeeze out all the juice and pulp into the bowl with the zest – don’t worry about the seeds. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, then whisk in the sugar until completely combined. Whisk in the cream and lemon juice mix, then set aside.
2. Place a 23cm tart ring or loose-bottom flan tin on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. On a surface dusted with icing sugar, roll out the 1/2&1/2 dough to 1/4″ thickness. Lift onto a rolling pin, then drape over the tart ring or flan tin, leaving the excess hanging over the edge. Carefully press the pastry into the sides with a small ball of pastry. Put in fridge or freezer for 20 mins to allow pastry to chill.
3. While the pastry is chilling, heat oven to 200C/400 F Prick the base of the pastry case, line with greaseproof paper and baking beans, then bake for 15 mins. Remove the paper and beans, then bake the case for 5-10 mins more until it is biscuity brown and crisp. Lower oven to 150C/300F.
4. Use a ladle to push the lemon custard through a sieve into a bowl, pressing down on the pulp to extract as much juice as possible. Skim the bubbles from the surface of the custard, then pour the custard into a jug. Pull the tart out of the oven slightly, then pour in the custard so it comes to the top. You may have some left over. Push tart back in, then bake for 35-40 mins until the top forms a light crust and the custard is just set. Leave to cool, then chill.
5. Use a serrated knife to trim away the pastry and make a neat edge. Dust the tart lightly with powdered sugar, then use a blowtorch to caramelise the top. Leave the top to set, then repeat the process so that you get an extra-thick layer of caramel.

This tart was amazingly light and creamy and the crisp caramelized top was just divine!

Again?

I have had numerous blogs over the years, all with strong starts and weak endings.

I expect no less from this blog…

That being said, it is time for me to chronicle this next phase & try for some personal accountability.

The Road to Gooseberry Bakery

I am inspired by other bloggers to use this medium to document my journey to owning a bakery/baking business.

I don’t know if it will be a brick&mortar store, a mobile effort (all the rage these days), a farmer’s market stand, a catering operation, a home-business or all/none of the above.

What I do know is that after a life-time of passion, 2+ years of internal struggle, & an opportunity to reinvent myself, I am ready to try.

I want to share my passion for baking with the world.

To stand on my own two feet & finally see what I can accomplish.

That’s it. That is all I ask. Is it to much? Let’s find out shall we….