And I always wanted to escape TO Paris not leave it

France and baking sort of go hand in hand. During the Johnson & Wales baking and pastry program, all of the pastry students were required to take Classical French Pastries as one of our labs. 3/4 of the desserts we made in that lab, we remade in other labs because French desserts and breads were a part of almost every genre of baking. I would love to escape to Paris and spend the rest of my life visiting every bakery in the country of France. I don't think I'd ever want to leave. Imagine my shock and surprise while perusing the New York Times website to find out that a French couple actually moved to the country side of New Hampshire to escape the busyness of Parisian life.

The couple arrived in Colebrook, NH in the year 2000 with a story worthy of a novel. I've never been to Colebrook, NH, but I do have friends who live in New Hampshire and by all accounts civilization hardly exists in Lancaster, NH and Colebrook is even further up towards the Canadian border. This french man and woman arrive in the town, go to the Chamber of Commerce, and meet a Frenchman who finds them an apartment, some furniture, and a tip about the town's bank building being auctioned off. The couple bids and buys the dilapidated structure. They turn it into a French bakery.

The reason the New York Times caught on to this story was because the woman's visa was rejected because the US Government saw the business as "marginal" and the town sent letters in and got the decision reversed, BUT all of that is neither here nor there to me. What really caught my eye was all of the talk about french pastries and breads.

The French government has a law about the approximate weight and shape of a baguette. They really do take their food seriously, which is probably why they arguably have the best food in the world at least in the classical sense of cooking. One of my favorite classic French desserts is Apple Tarte Tartin. It is almost an upside down apple pie cooked in caramel with a puff pastry shell. When I worked as a work study at Emerson, my fellow work study and I were talking food and this dessert was one of the first desserts he brought up. Done right this dessert is truly extraordinary. The wonderful thing about classical french desserts is that they are semi-easy to make. The key is real ingredients and butter, the French love butter.

You need a pan without a plastic handle to make this dessert. Another option is to make it in an 8 inch cake pan, but the result really will not be the same. Go to a yardsale and buy an old small frying pan. One person's junk is definitely another person's treasure in this case. To clean this pan wash it up without soap so you get the dirt out and then stick a couple tablespoons of butter in the pan and melt it. Wipe out the pan and you will have a nice clean seasoned pan ready to make the mother of the apple pie.

The first step to the apple tarte tartin is to cut up the apples so they are all ready to go. Peel and core 2 apples and cut them into 1/4 segments(each apple should have 4 pieces). Now set them aside and make a caramel. The way I was taught to make this classic dessert easily results in a burnt caramel, which does not taste very good at all. So put some sugar and a little bit of water in the pan and begin to cook the sugar. You just want enough water to wet the sugar. Boil the mixture stirring frequently with a wooden spoon until the color starts to turn. Once the color starts to change try to just move the mixture without stirring. If certain areas start getting dark quickly remove it from the heat and stir it around. Whenever I would start getting worried about caramel in class my chef would always tell me that I was the one controlling the heat, so I could slow down or stop the process at any time. Remember this and take your time.

When the caramel is done and a medium brown color, take it off the heat and place the apples core side up into the caramel. In class we made our own puff pastry dough. If you want to know that process because you have an excessive amount of time without anything to do let me know and I'll email you the process. The easier option is to buy puff pastry dough. It's in the frozen food section of almost every grocery store. My mom just bought some the other day. Pepridge Farms makes it. Let it thaw and drape a sheet of it over the pan with the apples in it. Trim the edges of the dough so it covers the apples but doesn't drape over. Stick the whole thing in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven until the dough is a nice darker brown. The darker it gets the more flaky the puff dough will be, so don't pull it out when it barely has color on it. Pull it out with a pot holder and grab a plate. This may be the scariest part of the whole process, but flip the whole thing over onto a plate. If an apple sticks in the pan don't fret, just pull it out and place it in its spot.

Don't ever stress about baking. I believe the French couple are living proof that baking is supposed to be a calming thing done to relax and enjoy your life. Of course life will be even more relaxing if you move to Nowheresville, New Hampshire, but not all of us have that luxury. So turn off your phone. Place some music and get immersed in a day of baking. Maybe you will need that recipe for puff dough.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily