Tuesday With Dorie : Blueberry Nectarine Pie

Here is my first attempt to making an American fruit pie.. Although I had couple of hiccups with the dough, the making of pie was much easier than I thought it would be.. And the result worths the effort, it was a delicious summer pie.. 

I started the process on last Thursday by putting together the dough for flaky pie crust.. This part was very easy.. The crust uses combination of butter and vegetable shortening - to balance the flavor and flakiness.. This was the first time I used vegetable shortening in any recipe, it is such a weird ingredient.. Back to the process, the dough needs to be chilled for minimum 2 hours to as long as 5 days in the fridge.. I opted to leave it in the fridge until the next day.. Because I was going to have dinner guests on Friday and wanted them to have a freshly baked pie rather than 1 day old - which wouldn't be that disastrous either :)

Delicious blueberry
and nectarine filling..

Blueberry Nectarine Pie..

Then on Friday, I started rest of pie making by preparing the blueberry&nectarine filling.. Half of the fruits are cooked with sugar, lemon zest and some flour, and when it resembles a jam, you mix this with the uncooked fruits and lemon juice.. This filling was extremely delicious, like the best tasting jam ever.. Yummm..

Next is my worst nightmare, rolling the dough :) It was as challenging for me as I expected.. For some reason I can not roll dough into circles, my dough goes in weird directions with cracks on the sides.. That is why I could not get a circle in the size that the book asks for, both top and bottom crusts.. Which resulted in not having enough hanging sides - when fitted to pie pan - to crimp.. So, I decided to pinch top and bottom crust together, and then press with fork all over.. It was not that bad looking at the end..

Then comes the baking: I baked mine for 40 minutes.. Towards the end, some of my filling found its way out of the sealed crust to the baking sheet under the pie pan.. Well I had enough filling left inside, so no problem..


I did not taste the baked pie for hours and hours (the book recommends at least 30 minutes wait time before you cut into it), until the end of the dinner with our guests.. I think the pie delivers on everything it promises: a flaky tasty crust and a delicious filling, tangy&sweet.. This recipe was a success.. From my side, I confirmed again that - although I think they are tasty - fruit desserts are not my favourites.. I like creamy pies like coconut cream pie or lemon pie  much better..

For the recipe please visit this week's hosts: Liz and Hilary.. Or buy the book Baking With Julia..

Thanks for stopping by..

Tuesdays With Dorie : Semolina Bread

Here is Semolina Bread from Baking with Julia.. According to Wikipedia, semolina is "the coarse, purified wheat middlings of durum wheat used in making pasta, breakfast cereals, puddings and couscous." In Turkey, we use semolina to make a dessert called Irmik Helvasi, which is one of my favourite desserts in the world.. Especially if it is served warm with vanilla ice cream.. So delicious.. I should post the recipe for it one day.. 

Back to the bread, as the name implies this bread is made with combination of semolina and unbleached all purpose flour.. It is very easy to prepare, but you need patience because there are three of 2 hours rising periods that you should wait for the dough to be ready for baking.. Preparation includes, mixing the yeast, warm water and some of the flour to create the sponge - wait for 2 hours.. Then, mix it with more flour and semolina until you have a smooth dough, it takes only five minutes.. I handled this part with hand mixer with a dough hook.. Put the dough into an oiled bowl - wait for 2 hours.. Then shape the bread and put it on a baking tray with parchment paper - wait 2 more hours.. Then, finally, ready to be baked for 35 minutes.. 

It smells great while baking in the oven, thanks to the yeast.. It has a tender crumb and tastes delicious.. This bread is definitely a keeper for me.. It is a type of bread I would be happy to be served at a nice Italian restaurant.. I ate multiple slices dunking into extra virgin olive oil with crushed chilies in it.. Yummy..

For the recipe, please visit blogs of this week's hosts: Keep It Luce and The Way to My Family's Hearth.. Or buy the book Baking With Julia..

Next recipe will be Blueberry and Nectarine Pie, sounds and looks delicious..

Thanks for stopping by..

Tuesdays With Dorie : Hazelnut Biscotti

Being from the Eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey, where 75% of the world's hazelnuts are produced, I love hazelnuts.. It is the go to nut for desserts at where I am from.. Any dessert with them feels very homey to me, and that is why I was very happy to try these Hazelnut Biscotti from Baking With Julia..

                  

The recipe is very easy to put together.. It may be one of the easiest that are in the Baking With Julia.. The only change I made to these biscotti was using dark rom instead of hazelnut liquor.. For the recipe please visit blogs of this week's hosts: Homemade and Wholesome and Baking and Boys.. Or buy the book Baking With Julia..  You can watch the episode of Julia Child's show in which they baked these biscotti from this link.. 

These hazelnut biscotti taste very good, just sweet enough with an intense hazelnut flavor.. And they are very very crunchy.. Mine turned out a bit harder to bite than I would like them to be, I think it could be because I cut them a bit thicker than recommended 1/2 inch.. They were great dunk into the coffee though :) 

Next recipe will be semolina bread.. Looking forward to trying it..

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day..