In any case (and off topic), thought I'd mention how a few of my friends have mentioned the movie "Julie and Julia" when I told them about this blog. I was confused b/c I didn't understand the connection. I mean, I've read Julia Child's book and I think she's absolutely awesome. For a long while, I had wild dreams of moving to Paris and eating all the wondering pastries, everyday. I dreamt of shopping for fresh cuts of meats, ripened tomatoes, and all the wonderful cheese I could possibly stomach. I imagined myself walking down the cobbled street, carrying my canvas bag, and in there, the omnipresent freshly baked baguette peaking out.
Anyway, these days, I look forward to Saturday mornings so that I can make my daily trip to Haymarket. I plan my entire menu from the deals I find and the freshest ingredients I see. It makes the whole experience so much more fun. I have no recipes to follow and no list of items to check off. I fight through the crowds and make vendors swear by their produce's quality. Okay, not quite, but I question them for at least 45 seconds just to assess their honesty before I pass them my dollar. I still carry a canvas bag and sometimes, there is a baguette sticking out.
So, here it is, French in theme and whole wheat flour pastry to be consistent and bring this post back together. I attempted pâté chaud because I remember falling head over heels for this buttery and flaky crust as a child. And what better time to attempt than when I have an entire bag of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour staring at me and asking to be used? I was determined to turn it into something amazing. However, I recognized that twice the amount of butter would be needed to make ww pastry flour work the same way as ap flour but I refused. Thinking that I could manipulate the recipe based on my meager understanding of flours. Who says I'm not a lawyer?
I don't have a lot of photos but this one looked pretty promising. The crust needed more butter. Lots of butter. About 3 sticks to 1 cup of ww pastry flour.
The baguette sticking out of your canvas bag while walking down street is not quite the reality of it. You'd probably be eating the baguette while walking down the street or be carrying a few heavy bags of groceries while not looking forward to climbing up the stairs in your apt in Paris. Geez...that sounds an awfully like Boston! Except people will speak French to you in the market and you'd be paying in Euros :)
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