Pastry Crust and Apple Pie

Today was my first day, of my last class for my Chef Certificate.  Baking 1....... I LOVE my pastry instructor!!!!  Great teaching methods and a very warm and kind person as well.  Had a blast in class today!

I must admit I was a teeny bit anxious about Baking 1, since cooking is my field of expertise, and baking..... not so much.  And I was worried about all the metric vs U.S. weight conversions..... but I need not worry.... we are allowed to use either method of measurements of our choice, which is going to make this class MUCH easier!  Math just isn't my thing, especially the metric system.

We started out learning how to make pastry crust, how it should feel, how it should look, how to roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper instead of dusting with flour.  That was really cool...... soooo much easier and less messy!  Then we made the apple filling, but instead of putting the cold raw ingredients into the crust, we cooked the filling first and after filling the crust with the apple mixture, we then took the scraps of crust and made a lattice work covering.

I am very proud to say I received an 'Excellent' in the remarks and an A for my grade.  One class down and only 8 more to go!  On the way home from school, I just had to text my daughters and husband to proclaim my proud A..... and of course..... my husband's remark back was...... "I want one for tonight!".... so I stopped by Kroger on the way home to purchase the correct apples.  If I don't make it for dinner tonight, I will definitely make it for tomorrow night.  It's really hard to come home from a 6 hour cooking class and start cooking again.

My Aunt is well known for her DELISH pies and she can whip out a pastry crust quicker than you can sneeze, and my Mom is known for her many cakes she bakes.... I think they would both be proud that I can now make a really good pie too.  Pastry crust/dough has ALWAYS intimidated me.... and actually.... it just ain't that hard!  LOL  Yes...... I used the word 'ain't' on purpose!  

I'm already looking forward to class next week and whatever delicious goodies we will be baking.  And I hope we get into bread making..... I would love to conquer french bread.... and there is nothing that smells better or tastes better than fresh baked bread!!!

Now it's time to go do my on-line homework and start reading the chapters for next week's class.