Chef Faith Drobbin, who also teaches about cakes and chocolate, rocks as a knowledgeable teacher. I had no idea how to do the most basic of things dealing with dough. She had great hints ("Do not roll over the outer edges of the dough." High altitude? Eliminate the baking powder.) She was very specific. She demoed each step very slowly and specifically. We also had one of my favorite assistants, Lee Henderson. He always has great tips (today's had to do with a broken saran wrap box ... "arm technique" ... where you use your whole arm to tear the sheet. He also gave a great hint on a pizza place, which I tried out and loved.)
We started with a "forgiving" (because of eggs in it) dough, pate sucree. We could make the dough in a Kitchen Aide or a Robocoupe or by hand. Since we have a Kitchen Aide in Colorado, I did my doughs in that machine. We kneaded the dough briefly, then shaped it into two discs, wrapped them in plastic and refrigerated them. Then we moved on to the fillings for the doughs.
We did a frangipani, a frangipani with fruit, a lemon cheese tart with strawberries, a chocolate hazelnut tart, a coconut custard pie, pecan pie, a cherry pie and a blueberry crumble pie. The pies were done in either a pyrex pie pan or a tin pie pan. The tarts were done in a tart pan with the removable bottom or a tiny,tart pan.
After these baked we cleaned up and made another king of dough for tomorrow ... a pate brisee. This dough is more difficult to deal with, says chef. We measured carefully and mixed lightly so that the butter is visible. Then shaped it, cut it in half, made it into discs and refrigerated them.
As usual I have more pictures than you see. If you want to see more go
here
