Saturday, July 14, 2012

Paris in July: Baking a Blueberry Pie with Pâte Brisée






It started with this picture:
It's a blueberry pie.
Look at that beautiful crust.



I got this cookbook at the school bookfair this spring:

That blueberry pie is in this book.




I've been reading The Sweet Life in Paris: 
Delicious Adventures in the World's Most 
Glorious---and Most Perplexing---City. 
It is written by pastry chef David Lebovitz and
 it's full of little stories and recipes 
about all the glorious pastries and desserts and foods in Paris. 




One of the recipes is for Gateau Therese Chocolate Cake.
Here's a picture of the cake from David's website:
The recipe is in the book. 
Butter. Sugar. Eggs. Flour. Salt. Bittersweet chocolate.
Yum.



And I'm reading Paris My Sweet:
A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate).
It's written by food writer Amy Thomas
and it is also full of little stories (though no recipes, sadly) 
about all the glorious pastries and desserts and foods in Paris. 



Amy has lots of great photos of pastries from Paris bakeries
posted on her blog, God, I Love Paris
Here's one:
There are a lot more. You should take a look at all these beautiful pastries.


Reading about cakes and madeleines and muffins 
and pain perdu and bonbons and viennoiseries and 
macarons and chocolates and truffles and baguettes and eclairs....
Well, I had to cook something.


I love to bake. I started looking carefully at that recipe for Lattice-Top Blueberry Pie. 
The recipe said to start with Pâte Brisée,
to make that wonderful pie crust.

Pâte Brisée.

That sent me off to this book:
It's yet another book I'm reading this month.
All about baking.


James Peterson taught me about Pâte Brisée (basic pie dough)
 as well as Pâte Sablée (very buttery sweet pie dough) and 
Pâte Sucrée (sweet and crisp pie dough).


Which is a long, long way of saying 
that I ended up making this beautiful blueberry pie today:

The dough looked exactly like
the dough on the cover of Baking.

Here it is,
right out of the oven!

Am I too old to go to Paris and
study baking at Ecole Lenôtre?




Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

37 comments:

  1. No, head to Paris, right now!

    ...but leave me some of that pie..lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now I want to go to Paris, for the pastries and chocolate gateau! And I really would love a slice of that pie, it looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOVE the kind of cascading way that you structured this post and ended up back where you started. BTW, the pie looks PERFECT!

    This is the second Paris post I have read today - so jealous!!

    The Gateau Therese Chocolate Cake photo renders me speechless ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. No, never too old to go to Paris and chase your dreams. Such a fabulous post Debbie! Your pie looks absolutely fantastic- I hope it was delicious too. I haven't read either of those books, but they sound lovely. I'm especially keen on the David Lebovitz one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look for me in one of those little bakeries. In maybe twenty years.

      Delete
  5. Those cakes look delicious! Thanks for mentioning books. The Sweet life in Paris looks very appealing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a totally delicious post! Your blueberry pie looks amazing. I love all things Paris, too. I've been wanting to read the DL book a long time. Thanks for the reminder. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My dad and I ate almost half of it by ourselves. With coffee.

      Delete
  7. Of course you're not too old - go to Paris and study there!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is one gorgeous looking pie! My sister-in-law loves David Lebovitz too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My mom was a big pie-maker. Last week was a year she passed away. I made the pie in tribute to her.

      Delete
  9. You're not too old. Go for it! Lovely post.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lovely. Paris is just the bomb! Have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm not crazy about blueberry pie, but it looks delicious! I haven't baked since summer started, but your photos are making me think heating up the house would be worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your pie looks fantastic, and loved your journey from one book to the next.

    I read Paris, My Sweet earlier this year and really enjoyed it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wasn't expecting a lot from Paris My Sweet, but it turned out to be very satisfying.

      Delete
  13. That looks fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This post kept making me smile -- all those books, all those desserts, all that Paris.
    "Am I too old to go to Paris and study baking at Ecole Lenôtre?" I'd say you're nowhere near too old. That's a beautiful pie!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow! All of the books in your post look delightful and that Gateau Therese Chocolate Cake...absolutely divine!
    Rebecca @ The Key to the Gate

    ReplyDelete
  16. OH. My goodness. That looks amazing! I've never made a lattice crust before (I'm scared, I'll admit it), but you may have just inspired me. DELICIOUSness, I can tell. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love getting lost in Paris-foodie books...such a great selection you've highlighted. And beautfiul pie - pass me a big slice (warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, please!). :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. That blueberry pie looks lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Deb, that chocolate cake looks so good! And I don't eat chocolate cake! :-D

    ReplyDelete
  20. Never too old! Love all the books and food you highlighted. I want to zip off to Europe *right now*!

    Sorry it took me so long to visit your post. I was out of town and didn't have Internet access.

    ReplyDelete
  21. That pie is a thing of beauty! I wish I had the patience for baking. I love to cook but baking is another story. :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. yum!!! That pie looks amazing!! I want a slice LOL!! If you go to Paris to study baking you have to take me with you haha :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wouldn't it be fun to go to Paris and study baking?!

    ReplyDelete

I hope you will leave a comment so I know you have visited. If you stop by my blog, I will always stop by yours.

Note: Disqus commenting is only available on the web version of the blog. Please switch to the web version if you are using a mobile device.