I did it, after whining all week about how I missed baking non-fat-reduced treats and delicious traybakes and whatnots, I decided-I love baking too much to care. Seriously, all this no fat this and less fat that and I will get fat things are sucking the fun out of EVERYTHING! And nothing makes me happier really, except a good shopping spree oh and going home.
On another happyhappy note, I got my birthday present (albeit 2 months late) from the girls! 'Breakfast, Lunch, Tea- Rose Bakery' by Rose Carrarini. The book is a striking green with the title in bold right down the middle. No extra fancy schmancy photo or 'melted chocolate dripping down the side of the jar' shot. Just green and black. =) I love the book so much I hugged it to sleep in lecture (SHHH...the video was boring). I was ever so inclined towards this book because it was all about my three favourite meals-breakfast, lunch and tea! No dinner for me, dinner is my least favourite meal-I have issues with it, don't get me started. =) It just goes along the lines of the fact that I really dislike going to bed with a full stomach, makes me feel...heavy.
Back to the tart, I was inspired by the many blogs I have been drooling over and decided that I should bake one myself. I used to have problems with pastry and what's more, this was gluten-free, which made it alot more daunting. Ariana Bundy's book made it simple though and I felt composed and confident which probably helped. Most things go wrong when you're running around the kitchen for ingredients like a headless chicken.
I adapted the recipe a little and instead of using 1/3 cup of margarine, I used 2 tablespoons of Melrose spread, left in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden a little, and 3 tablespoons of expeller pressed coconut oil (from the fridge so it was hard) and blended all the ingredients in a food processor. The flour mix I used was 1 cup white rice flour, 1/8 cup tapioca starch and 1/8 cup potato starch.
The strawberries I got were from Driscolis and being the end of the strawberry season, the strawberries weren't very strawberry-y or sweet but they were big and so I just added a little more glaze to sweeten it up. The crust was pretty good, obviously lacking that rich buttery taste but I'm sure it can be fixed with a butter flavouring (?). It was flaky which could possibly be due to how I rolled it. I rolled it out then folded it in and re-rolled. It was pretty sturdy and didn't crumble too much. OVERALL I say, I'm glad I changed my mind about baking. Else I would be a sad little person. =) Also, I'll be submitting this to Sweetnick's ARF/ 5-a-day roundup so head there to check it out on Tuesday!
5 comments:
Victoria - Your tart looks lovely. It must have been heart-swelling to eat something so pretty. And wow, what ingredients in your tart. The "flour mix" you have is different to any I have tried, so I'll be keen to one day find out how it differs in taste from a regular shortcrust pastry. In order to get flakiness, add 1 tablespoon or lemon or orange juice to bind your flour and butter substitutes. You won't taste the citrus, but it creates steam during the baking process, which allows for air pockets to form, which is where the flakiness comes in. A great looking tart, and I'm glad I'm not the only one to hug cookery books :-)
I know.... all this low fat stuff is taking the fun out of eating.... just go work out instead or atleast try n balance the diet out :p . BTW belated Happy Birthday ! The tart looks fantastic !
I WANT THAT TART.
Victoria - The tart turned out beautifully. I like Ariana Bundy's cook book too.
All my best wishes for a Happy Birthdy!
Sheltie Girl @ Gluten A Go Go
Looks super yummy! I love strawberries. I'm still sad I never managed to make my strawberries & cream tart this year. Ah, well. There's always next year right?
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