This is not a story about croissants.
It started out that way, but the fact is it takes days to bake croissants, and wanting to become a knowledgeable croissant baker is probably one of those life-long pursuits. I typically have Sunday.
I’ve settled on meat pies.
I aimed on Sunday for Cornish Pasties, something I read about somewhere as coal miner food. My first effort, however, was Pirozhki, Russian stuffed buns.
The dough alone is worthy of note. It includes Vermont Cheese Powder, sour cream, two large eggs and soft unsalted butter, in addition to the obvious flour, yeast, salt, sugar and water. The only thing not inside that dough was bacon. So I added bacon fat. The cheese powder created its own problems, so I added fresh grated Vermont Cheddar cheese.
The filling has olive oil, hamburger, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, more cheddar cheese and egg. I added bacon to that also, along with chopped anchovies.
I know essentially nothing about Russia and less about Russian cooking. I suspect the recipe I had wasn’t Russian. I’m sure they’re as likely as the next bakers to get out of the house to buy ingredients, but where do they buy Vermont Cheese Powder? Straight up Whole Foods doesn’t carry it. Williams-Sonoma doesn’t carry it. Your average Russian shopping in Danbury can’t find it.
The recipe came from King Arthur Flour, which by way of coincidence, sells a product called Vermont Cheese Powder. I couldn’t find it in Danbury. Not available. I tried King Arthur Flour online. I got kicked off its site. I’ll deal with that on a day I’m not baking. I grated Vermont Cheddar Cheese in lieu of the powdered variety.
It worked well.
I borrowed an egg from my neighbor Bob to complete the recipe and I won’t say he grudgingly lent it to me. I knocked on his door. He let me in. Curbed his German Sheppard and he thought it over. He finally agreed. A couple of hours later, I brought him a Pirozhki from the oven and he called up immediately.
“Any time you want to borrow an egg, it’s yours. You’re making pancakes, you’re making anything, it’s yours,” Bob Emery said. “I’ve had Cornish Pasties in the midlands of England and they’re not this good, nothing like this good.”
I dropped two Pasties off Sunday night at Brian and Diane’s house for their trip to North Carolina on Wednesday. Brian and I spent Saturday afternoon at his party drinking Jameison’s Irish Whiskey. I was grateful. I told them to put them in the refrigerator and they’re good traveling food. Just eat them in the car. No mess. No fuss. Diane called up a few minutes later. She ate it and said it was fantastic.
I’m making them again on Sunday.