I've been meaning to do this for awhile. I do not have internet in my house: at first, merely out of laziness, but now my stubbornness has set in and I straight-up refuse (mostly so I do not have to deal with internet people).
If you know me, you know that I have recently discovered a new obsession with vegan baking. I think Facebook people are sick of my food-status updates, so this is a good idea. I hope someone reads my blog and gets inspired by my delicious treats. Be careful though, I have definitely gotten a little chubbier because of these goodies. My friends have, too. Oops!
This is Bert: he will be assisting us in this journey.
Most recently, my proudest accomplishment (in baking. or life, let's be honest) is this EPIC apple pie.
I used Granny-Smith apples, which work well for apple pie because they are so tart and crunchy.
People are often intimidated by pie crust; growing up, my mom never made pie-crust. We always bought the pre-made crusts, which are chewy and rubbery. For flaky, delicious crust (vegan or not), you need a few things: patience, cold ingredients, and a willingness to improvise just a little bit.
The first time I ever made crust by myself was last Thanksgiving. It was an all-butter recipe, so no shortening and when I say butter, I mean real butter. This was pre-vegan. I was scared, and thus ruined the first batch. The second batch finally turned out, but was dry and difficult to work with. I also accidentally covered my entire kitchen with flour; my roommate was slightly displeased.
This time, I had had such a crappy day that I was determined to spend enough time on this pie to make it virtually perfect. The only really tricky part is adding the water. When mixing the dough, you want to incorporate all your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients, but not over-mix the flour or ruin the "butter" pieces (which make the crust flaky). You want to add enough water to make the dough stick together, but not too much otherwise it becomes a globby mess. Put it in the fridge, and if you can roll it out after 30 minutes or so, you are golden! If not, you can probably try to save it, but I suggest starting over.
Pie is fun. I like making things that take me a long time and are challenging. Sometime soon I am going to make bagels and sourdough bread. But for my Farmer's Market adventure I think I will stick with cookies.
Requests? Ideas? Let me know! I'm bored and I love to feed people!
