I guess I’m back?
So.
I’m back.
And I won’t lie, it’s been a little weird typing back on this blog again. However, given that I pay to have it hosted, I may as well use it a little bit more.
So what updates have happened to me in the last three years since my last post? Well:
I no longer live in London (yes shock, horror). I now I’m based in Reading with my now fiancé
I’ve now moved jobs to an organisation that I legit do data science for supermarkets. If you get any coupons for flowers, you can probably thank my team and me for that (joking but not joking).
I’m still baking, yes! A few years ago, I started exploring the boundary between sweet and savoury baking. In that time, I’ve probably go into this strange rabbit hole where the boundary is more like a blur, which is fun, I guess.
With this begin a food blog, I will still of course talk about food. With life being a bit more complex these days, I may not necessarily stick to that, because it’s me. That said, I’ll most likely use the next few blog posts to talk about some of my favourite projects that I’ve come up with. In comes Flat Pies 8 Ways.
Flat Pies 8 Ways
To start, you may be asking, what was Flat Pies 8 Ways? For those who know me quite well, you’ll be aware that I’m very pro pie. Unfortunately, pie’s been given a wrap for being tricky, difficult, and inaccessible, things that, as a food creator, I’ve tried to not fall into the trap of. A galette is a way to address these points, in that it uses the same methodology but it’s … flat. Why 8 ways? Well it’s because when I originally planned it to be an 8 part series that would feature the following flavours:
Strawberries and dark brown sugar
Wholemeal, pear and sourdough
Tarragon and plum
Chocolate, cardamom, and pineapple
Beetroot and rhubarb
Activated charcoal, ginger and blood orange
Green Spirulina, black peppercorn, apple
Chilli, turmeric and mango
As I said, the flavours were a mixture of all time classics, some new combos and some flavours that, upon reflection, were just a bit … odd. Given how scattered my brain is, I was surprised to have made all 8 pies. But like everything in my life, I may have bitten off more than I could chew and found I was in this pit of editing all the time. Not only did this mean that some of the footage wasn’t released, but towards the end, I was feeling I guess, fatigued. Which sadly took away from the fun of the project and made it more of a chore if anything.
THAT SAID, not all hope was lost because in this crazy project, I must have come across probably my favourite galette that I made, which was the chilli, turmeric and mango (see below).
It was pretty, it had depth, it was unusual and it was probably one of my favourite things that I made. And I want to revisit it by sharing the recipe for you to all have a go at making (if you do, please tag me cause I love when people make my stuff).
Anyways, that’s it for this week’s ramble. Next time, I may revisit another project, but I promise that I won’t wait 3 years!
Peace and love,
Craig x
Mango, turmeric and chilli flake galette
Ingredients
For the pastry:
180 g white flour
Pinch of salt
40 g sugar
90 g cubed cold butter
15 g ground turmeric
1 teaspoon chilli flake
60 g ice cold water
For the filling:
3 semi ripe mangoes
50 g sugar
1 egg
Instructions:
For the pie crust your dry ingredients and butter into a food processor. Pulse until you have small pieces of butter. Pour the contents into a clean bowl and begin to add the ice cold water. Once the mixture begins to come together, pour the contents into cling film and combine to form a disc of around 20 cm. Allow for the pie crust to chill.
Whilst the pie crust is chilling, prepare the fruit filling. Finely slice the mango and add to a bowl
Remove your chilled pie crust from the fridge. Using your rolling pin, roll out the pie crust from the centre to form a large disc with a thickness of a 1 pound coin. Once rolled out, place on a lined parchment paper baking tray. Spread over your sugar and lay out your mango slices across the galette, ensuring the pieces don’t overlap and you’re left with a 4 cm border. Fold over the border, doing this step in sections to get an overlapping effect. Place the entire galette in a freezer for at least 10 mins.
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius/180 fan. Take your galette out of the freezer and brush over a layer of beaten egg wash around the border of the galette. Bake for 40 mins. And enjoy!