Gluten-free Gourmand

The Julia Childs croissant recipe takes 24 hours.  I don't want to brag here, but my new croissant recipe only takes six!  Croissants aren't easy, but I've taken the tricky bits out.  These crescent rolls are even better than if you took an extra18 hours to make them. The traditional method of making croissants calls for a laborious task called "laminating" that takes up lots of time and labor.  This recipe uses a technique typically seen in other types of pastries and biscuits - cutting in the butter.  This is much faster than laminating and doesn't take much in the way of technique.  So never fear, you do not need to get a degree from the Cordon Bleu to make these tasty pastries! Croissant Recipe, Quicker and Easier Mix time:10 minutes Chill time: 60 minutes Rolling/shaping time: 30 minutes Rise time: 3-4 hours Cook time: 20 minutes Yield: 8-12 croissants In a food processor, or in a medium mixing bowl, blend together: ...

If you already have some puff pastry, croissant dough, or danish dough made, then assembling some raspberry squares is very easy.  It's also an impressive dessert to bring to any occasion.  You can use any fruit, fresh or frozen, instead of the raspberries.  Here I used frozen raspberries. Raspberry Pastry Squares Recipe This recipe makes as many pastry squares as you have ingredients for.   Prep time: 10 minutes (with pre-made pastry dough) Cook time: 20 minutes Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Push through a fine mesh seive: apricot jam (optional) Set the jam aside.  Roll out to about 1/4" thick (or more): puff pastry, croissant , or danish dough Cut the dough into as many squares as needed, 2-4 inches per side.  Place the squares at least 1/2 inch apart on a parchment-paper lined sturdy baking sheet with sides.  (Do not use a baking sheet with no sides or you may start a grease fire.  Butter will probably come out of the d...

There's something about Portland weather.  The rain, you might say.  It's that every June, I start getting the urge to cook bread, soups, and stews again, even though I thought I'd given that up for the summer. Portland always gives you a few really warm, summery, breezy days in May, then takes them all back for a few rainy, cold, sleazy days in the beginning of June.  It's those rainy June days when I want something like chicken pot pie.  The nice thing about this dish is, you can put your spring vegetables in it if you want. Recipe for Chicken Pot Pie The first thing to consider when making chicken pot pie is how much volume your pot - or in this case your casserole dish - holds.  To determine this, you can fill your casserole with water and then dump that water in the pot that you will use to stew your ingredients, take a note of the level that it fills to, and proceed.  Or, if you would like to be authentic, I suppose you could just use you...

I assure you that I am the most impatient cook ever.  If there is a step that can be skipped or a corner that can be cut I will skip and cut at the same time.  I tend to look at recipes as a collection of concepts, many of which are just the author's unscientific and convoluted way of going about making something that should be very straightforward.  I look at recipes for methods for creating something, then I modify that method and create something similar, but mine, and faster and better. Near-perfect croissants that split a little It's this tendency to change things and modify that makes croissants a tricky thing for me.  They are very dependent on technique and making them is very detail-oriented.  I'm more of a big picture person. It's also this tendency to change a recipe that allowed me to figure out how to make croissants gluten-free.  It's a long and grueling process to make the laminated dough.  I simplified it.  Trus...

I used to say that the only things I missed about eating gluten were croissants and beer.  Those of you that follow my Facebook page know that I've been working really hard to perfect a recipe for croissants.  My next post will be about making the croissant dough.  This post will be about the technique for laminating dough for puff pastry, croissants and danishes.  The three types of dough are a little different from each other, but the technique to incorporate the butter into the dough is the same for all three recipes. You will need: Ingredients 1 recipe puff pastry, croissant, or danish dough. chilled butter for the recipe, usually 12 oz/3sticks/340 grams 2 Tbsp GF flour or starch of your choice potato starch for dusting the dough Equipment parchment paper or, less desirable, plastic wrap rolling pin, preferably a club-style pin but I use a marble rolling pin A dry, clean pastry brush I drew heavily from Joe Pastry's blog post about this same t...