Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More - Cory Schreiber (Boek)

*****
Review
"It is fate, really. Simply team up two Portland, Oregon, fruit experts--an award-winning chef turned farm-to-school food coordinator, and a baker known for her glorious handcrafted goods--and a must-have new little cookbook appears: Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson. . . . . This cookbook, a true collaboration, is a reflection of the passion they share for Oregon's amazing variety of seasonal fruits and the respect they have for the small growers who farm in a sustainable way. . . . The genius of this work lies in Schreiber's playful fruit combinations and Richardson's mastery of doughs and spices to complement them."

–Gourmet


“Rustic Fruit Desserts embodies the modern wisdom about how to cook delicious food: make it fresh, local, and seasonal. As someone who’s always loved desserts with fruit and, who, like Julie, has New England roots, I also applaud the book’s mouthwatering taxonomy, which distinguishes between grunts, slumps, buckles, crisps, cobblers, and pandowdies.”

–Sara Moulton, host of Sara’s Weeknight Meals and executive chef of Gourmet


“Finally, all of my favorite kinds of dessert in one place! From warm berry buckles and crumbly crisps to boozy bread pudding, Rustic Fruit Desserts will help you bake your way through the best of the bounty.”

–David Lebovitz, author of The Sweet Life in Paris and The Perfect Scoop
From the Publisher
* A collection of simple and satisfying recipes for crisps, slumps, buckles, grunts, and other old-timey desserts by a beloved Portland bakery owner in collaboration with one of the region's top chefs.
* Rustic fruit desserts have broad appeal and come together easily--even for inexperienced bakers.
* Recipes are grouped by season and showcase local fruit.
About the Author
CORY SCHREIBER is the founder of Wildwood Restaurant and winner of the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Pacific Northwest. Schreiber now works with the Oregon Department of Agriculture as the Farm-to-School Food Coordinator and writes, consults, and teaches cooking classes in Portland, Oregon.

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, JULIE RICHARDSON grew up enjoying the flavors that defined the changing seasons of her Vermont childhood. Her lively small-batch bakery, Baker & Spice, evolved from her involvement in the Portland and Hillsdale farmers’ markets. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Cory’s Perspective

I first met Julie Richardson at the Portland Farmers Market in 1998. Back then, she sold handcrafted baked goods at a small booth called Baker & Spice. A farmers market was the natural place for Julie to sell her pastries and pies, as she made them with seasonal, locally grown fruit. Her rustic desserts were deliciously irresistible, and I became far too familiar with almost all of them.

Given the devoted Baker & Spice following that lined up in droves every Saturday morning, rain or shine, (this is Portland, after all) to eat a breakfast pastry or buy a dessert to go, Baker & Spice eventually outgrew its farmers market booth. It now has a home as a retail bakery in the Hillsdale community of southwest Portland. Even though Baker & Spice is no longer at the farmers market, Julie’s seasonal approach is still a mainstay of her baking. The bakery is committed to local foods and seasonal products, and its repertoire of classic fruit desserts, from pies and pandowdies to cobblers and crumbles, changes throughout the year to reflect the freshest fruits available.

In the Pacific Northwest, we are lucky to have a wide variety of seasonal fruits grown by small-scale farmers. This creates an abundance of delicious choices that can be baked into a vast selection of fruit desserts--much like the ones that keep customers queued up at Baker & Spice. No wonder Julie and her family have made Oregon their home! Julie grew up in rural Vermont, where orchards and berry fields were part of the summer landscape of her childhood. Turning fruit into dessert came naturally to her long before she engaged in professional baking.

This book combines Julie’s knowledge of baking and my knowledge of Pacific Northwest fruits. I have cooked professionally for more than three decades, and at least half of my career has involved cooking in the Pacific Northwest. My most formative food memories are from Oregon, and I share Julie’s passion for the quality of our fruit. I conjure up the seasons by thinking about various fruit desserts I have enjoyed: for autumn, it is a cobbler with blackberries bubbling in their juices beneath a golden cream biscuit; in the dead of winter, a comforting pear bread pudding made with brioche and lots of vanilla; for spring, a tart rhubarb compote over a scoop of vanilla ice cream; and for summer, a crunchy oatmeal crisp bursting with midsummer’s sweet nectarines and raspberries.

Deciding what dessert to make on any given day is a wonderful process. You will find the dessert recipes in this book quite versatile, allowing you to take advantage of fruit at the peak of its season. Your decision of what to make could be based on the fruit you see at a local fruit stand or whatever fruit you have available in your kitchen. The ingredients in your pantry may also help dictate what form your dessert takes. And do not forget to consider how much time you have to prepare your dessert, so you can enjoy the process and not feel rushed.

Although I am familiar with the many varieties of fruit that grow in the Pacific Northwest, memorizing the differences between all the playfully named fruit desserts is beyond me. The desserts in this book fall into a number of categories, most of which are described below. Various regions of the United States have slightly different versions of these desserts, so my apologies if what I call a cobbler is what you call a slump, or vice versa.

A pie is a dessert with a filling (in this case, fruit) with a bottom crust and an optional top crust. Pies with both a bottom and a top crust are often referred to as a “double crust.” Hand pies are a signature item at Baker & Spice; these individual pocket pies have pie filling in a flaky crust that is folded over and crimped shut.

Close relatives of the pie include the tart and the galette. A tart is a pie without a top crust; the fruit filling can be either fresh or cooked, and often it is coupled with another sweet, creamy filling. A galette is a rustic, free-form tart that does not require a pan.

A cobbler is a deep-dish fruit pie. It has a dense pastry on top (usually a sweet cream biscuit crust) and a fruit filling, with no crust beneath. In some versions, the crust completely covers the fruit, while other versions have a dropped-biscuit topping that leaves some fruit exposed.

A grunt, or slump, is more common in New England than in the Pacific Northwest. This dessert is similar to a cobbler but is usually cooked on top of the stove. In some parts of New England, it is a steamed pudding with berries.

A crisp or a crumble is a baked fruit dessert with a streusel topping. The crumb topping is traditionally made with butter, brown sugar, flour, and spices. Nuts and oats, and even bread crumbs and crushed cookies, can be added to the topping. The crumb topping is scattered over the fruit and usually melts into it.

A betty features fruit that is layered between or on top of diced bread cubes--anything from basic white bread to brioche to challah to day-old baguette. In some parts of the country, a betty is made like a crisp, only with buttered bread crumbs (and no nuts or oats) as the streusel.

A pandowdy is a deep-dish dessert that can be made with a variety of fruit. The topping is a crumbled biscuit, except the crust is broken up during the baking process and pushed down into the fruit to allow the juices to come through. Sometimes the crust is on the bottom and the dessert is inverted before serving.

A buckle has a cake batter poured in a single layer, with berries added to the batter. It is often made with blueberries because the berries sink yet keep their shape in the batter. Once baked, the cake has a “buckled” appearance. Think of a buckle as halfway between a cake and a fruit crisp. Buckles are great for breakfast!

A teacake is a simple cake akin to a coffee cake. Moist and tender, it can be eaten with one’s fingers at tea time or any other time. Teacake packs well for picnics.

A fool is a simple summer dessert made of fruit at its peak layered with whipped cream.

A trifle is a visually stunning dessert made by layering cake, thick cream, and fresh fruit. Some trifles also contain a small amount of alcohol (such as Cointreau, rum, or kirsch).

Our book offers an informative approach to fruit desserts. Each chapter introduces you to a seasonal selection of fruit, and the recipes include headnotes to help you learn more about the dessert. We have also included kitchen hints to educate you about baking techniques that make baking easier. Near the end of the book you will find a pantry section with recipes we refer to throughout this book, as well as a page of resources.

Happy baking!


Julie’s Philosophy and Baking Tips

I am not a fussy baker. I believe that simple movements and quality ingredients bring desserts to their highest potential. Full-flavored fruits in season need little coaxing from sugar and flavorings to find their place on your dessert table. Here are a few simple guidelines I use.

Weights and Measures

For accuracy, it is important to use the correct vessel to measure ingredients. Or better yet, treat yourself to an electronic scale and weigh your ingredients for the best results. Over time, ingredients like flour, cocoa, and confectioners’ sugar absorb moisture and get packed down, which means that measuring cups are a less-than-accurate tool for measuring these ingredients. Investing in a small digital scale that displays pounds and ounces will help you measure ingredients with the same accuracy as a professional. Here are measurement guidelines for specific ingredients.

Fruit: Because fruit comes in all different colors, shapes, and sizes, I rely on a weight measurement for prepped fruit when determining how much fruit should be used in a recipe. If the recipe calls for a certain weight or cup measurement of fruit, the recipe assumes you have already peeled, cored, trimmed, stemmed, hulled, or otherwise prepped the fruit before weighing or measuring it. Therefore, we suggest you buy a larger weight than the recipe indicates as you will lose some weight or volume in the process of prepping the fruit. The number of apples, pears, etc. is merely an estimate. Plus, you can always snack on any extra fruit as you prepare the dessert.

Dry ingredients: Measuring cups for dry ingredients come in metal or plastic (I prefer metal) and usually come in increments of 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 1 cup. I use the fluff, scoop, and swoop method when I measure dry ingredients: slightly fluff up the ingredient (especially flour), scoop up the ingredient so that it overflows the cup, then use a straight edge, such as the back of a knife, to sweep off (or swoop) the excess. When measuring brown sugar, pack the sugar into the cup, then carefully sweep off any excess. Measuring cups with a pour spout are for measuring liquid ingredients and should never be used to measure dry ingredients.

Wet ingredients: Use a glass measuring cup on a flat surface.

Oven Temperature

I used a conventional gas oven for all of the baked recipes in this book. I suggest buying an inexpensive oven thermometer to keep in your oven at all times because the oven thermostat is not always reliable. A convection oven would be fantastic for the buckles, shortbread cookies, and cakes. If you use one, reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees and keep a close eye on your dessert, as convection ovens bake more quickly. For pies, cobblers, crisps, and pandowdies, it is best to use the conventional heating method and have the heat come from the bottom. You know your oven the best (where the hot spots are and where to put your baked goods to get the best color), so take our baking times as suggestions and focus on the recipe’s telltale doneness cues as the accurate measure of when to take the dessert out of the oven.

Preheated baking stones are great for baking a pie, cobbl...

http://www.amazon.com/Rustic-Fruit-Desserts-Crumbles-Pandowdies/dp/product-description/1580089763/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books