The art of french pastry phần 6

and cooked them in butter for the savory, thin-crusted tartes à l’oignon d’Alsace that my dad made once a week Sometimes I was required to brush his puff pastry vol au vents with egg wash, a task he was very particular about, as too much egg wash would prevent the puff pastry from rising During the holiday season there were hundreds upon hundreds of Christmas cookies to make and the entire family worked together, listening for hours on end to Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Maurice Chevalier, and other famous French stars of the ’50s and ’60s Today I love that music, but back then I suffered through it When school wasn’t in session and if my father’s assistant didn’t show up, my dad would wake me in the night to assist him in scaling 350-gram pieces of dough for baguettes and batards, whose weights are strictly enforced in France The dough would stick to my inexperienced fingers as if it wanted to be a permanent part of me At the time it was frustrating to deal with this sticky dough while watching my father shape all of the loaves quickly and efficiently But the bakery, which my parents had built with their own sweat and tears, with 250 francs (about $50) in their pocket, was not all drudgery for me I loved to work with my hands from a very young age, and after school if I wasn’t playing soccer or participating in some contest my brother and sisters and I had cooked up, or tending an injured animal I’d rescued from the barn, I’d ask my mom for any dough scraps left over from the morning’s production I was happy to spend hours making sculptures or culinary ... as if it wanted to be a permanent part of me At the time it was frustrating to deal with this sticky dough while watching my father shape all of the loaves quickly and efficiently But the bakery, which my parents had built with... Maurice Chevalier, and other famous French stars of the ’50s and ? ?60 s Today I love that music, but back then I suffered through it When school wasn’t in session and if my father’s assistant didn’t show up,...season there were hundreds upon hundreds of Christmas cookies to make and the entire family worked together, listening for hours on end to Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Maurice Chevalier, and other famous French stars