Thursday, August 6, 2009

ALMOND PUFF LOAF

Thirty-five years ago I took several classes at the New School for Social Research. People were signed up for courses that taught them how to start a business or negotiate peace in the world. I was there to learn how to make croissant and brioche. For 3 consecutive Saturdays I woke up at the crack of dawn on the weekend, trekked into Manhattan where it took me as long to find a parking space as it did to make the commute, and paid close attention to the scientifici principles governing puff pastry. In the intervening years, I've made puff pastry and brioche exactly once. All that turning, all that butter, all that worry over room temperature.

But I do love a good piece of danish and, even though I had a box of Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry sheets in the freezer, as I was perusing the King Arthur site the other night, I found this recipe for Almond Puff Loaf and I couldn't rest until I tried it.

The recipe yields 2 loaves. I used Hero raspberry jam on one and a combination of apricot preserves and fig/pear preserves on the other. Yum and yum.

Just one note: I do think I could have baked the loaves a bit longer than 1 hour. There was still some wetness inside (though it tasted divine). If you're a baker, you'll recognize immediately that the second layer is really a cream puff batter.

Try this one. Your friends and family will think you've become a pastry chef.

9 comments:

  1. Oooo, now THAT looks good! I do love some puff pastry!

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  2. Hola Querida. I love puff pastry but I know deep down I don't have the patience to make it from scratch. So bravo to you for doing it. You are so cool. I just saw your Jerk Chicken too. Lovely. My kind of dish. You know, I've got some Pepperidge Farms Puff pastry in the freezer...apple turnovers are sounding pretty good to me right now.

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  3. Sounds lip smackin' good!! I love puff pastry with nuts. I watched Tyler's episode with the jerk chicken and yours looked better than his did!! As I watched the episode I found myself laughing because you totally outdid him : )

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  4. Almond puff loaf sounds delicious. I'm so used to seeing fruity pastries, but it's nice to see a nutty one :)! This one looks exceptionally tasty and flakey.

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  5. They look so delicious! Thanks for sharing your recipe!

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  6. Arlene that looks soooo good! I know what you mean about a slightly raw dough tasting good too! I drool every time I look at the King Arthur baking blog ... they have the best recipes on it. I went to a free King Arthur bread baking demonstration once and had a fabulous time and they gave away so many fun things as door prizes plus everyone got a $10 gift card towards their products!

    I'm going to check out your jerk chicken recipe everyone is talking about.

    Have a great weekend!

    PS: A free parking spot in Manhattan? What's that? LOL!

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  7. Looks divine! I will have to try it sometime.

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  8. Ah... How I love puff pastry. I spend way too much time fighting it at work (nothing like a blazingly hot kitchen and a giant sheet of overly warm puff to frustrate a person) but I still love the way it tastes. My favorite is to just brush scraps with melted butter and sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar.

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