Summer...is hot. With summer, however, comes a lot of recipes that have berries featured as the star of a dish. As I was browsing the internet, I happened to stumble across one such recipe on the Baker's Banter, by King Arthur Flour.Now, what did I find? A recipe for Raspberry Turnovers! They looked so good I just had to try making some. First hurdle? Make some puff pastry; I didn't want to go and buy any and I had all the ingredients to make it (Wtf? The heat! Why do that to yourself?). So after a few days of researching around online for recipes and instructions regarding this intimidating foe, I rolled up my sleeves and set out to make it! Didn't take any pictures of the ordeal though because I was a bit preoccupied with it and forgot~ Yeah, sadness.
I guess it was super humid 'cause I had a lot of trouble with the dough sticking when I was trying to roll it out and it ate the flour on the rolling surface like a demon. In the end, I finally made it, wrapped it up, and left it to chill in the fridge for 1.5 days ('cause I didn't really want to think about it or do anything with it after the experience of making it). I can confess that I was super worried about how it would turn out. I thought it was gonna just be one flat piece of dough when I finally baked it off.
Anyway, I didn't really have any frozen berries in the fridge 'cause I neglected to buy any...but I did have 2 medium/small sweet onions that I needed to use up. SO, "if like gives you lemons, make lemonade" right? I sauteed the onions til they were soft and caramelized, seasoned with oregano, smoked paprika, salt, coarse black pepper, garlic, and balsamic vinegar. Finished that and stuck it in the fridge too.
Ugh. Okay, in the end, I did manage to make it! Talk about scary experience. Rolling the dough out at the end to prep for the stuffing and baking was a nightmare. Was getting soft fast, and sticking to boot. I ended up just getting it rolled out, not trimmed it, cut to enough divisions, stuffed, not sealed properly, egg washed, and into the oven. I watched as the butter in the dough started to melt, transforming it into a soft, melted looking pile of stuff. Checked back later after much brooding and I saw it had some layers! Hurray! Some kind of success!!!
Results!:
Moral of this scary story? That there is hope and you too can make your own puff pastry! I mean, did you read what I went through to make this? I even cut out some more drama to make this entry pithy. I would say try it, just because experiences always add to our understanding of things.
Look at those beautiful buttery flakes!
