Practice Makes Better

   A few months ago, I rediscovered the Bon Iver album For Emma, Forever Ago which I had loaded on my computer/ipod but had never listened to in its entirety.  Finally, I listened to it from beginning to end and was absolutely astounded by the painful yet beautiful journey that is the album.  And to think, I almost missed it by only playing songs that pop up on my shuffle rather than albums as they were intended.  It kinda made me yearn for the days when I would drop a record on a turntable and listen to whole thing over and over again. 
   For me, baking from scratch offers the same type of reward.  I actually quite enjoy the process of making pie dough even though at times it seems like a mine field.  When you consider how much can go wrong with four or five ingredients, it is astounding.  Since I am fairly new to pie making, I take every bit of advice I can get.
   At the King Arthur Flour Co. demo today, I learned some very interesting tidbits:

•       A cup of compacted flour directly from the bag weighs quite a bit more than the standard weight used for a cup of flour.  Therefore, you should fluff your flour before measuring and sprinkle into the cup measure rather than scoop it up with the cup.  This should give you a fairly accurate cup/weight measurement. (Who knew? Not me!)
•       A stick of salted butter contains 1/4 tsp of salt.  Most pie dough recipes call for unsalted butter.  You can use salted butter with no problem if you adjust the salt added to the dough. (Alas, working with fractions is required.)
•       When your dough starts to snap back during the rolling out process you need to stop.  Otherwise your pie dough will get tougher and tougher. (Been there, done that.)

   During the demonstration, the pastry chef shared something his master said to him when he was an apprentice: "Practice makes better."  He explained the goal was to improve your technique through practice rather than aim for unattainable perfection.
   It's just like listening to one of your favorite albums or making pie dough over and over.  It will never be a perfect experience, but you will learn something new every time.  If you are paying attention...

Pay attention.

Live version of Re:Stacks. Last track on For Emma, Forever Ago