TWD: French Apple Tart

I had kind of made up my mind that I wasn't going to make this recipe for whatever reason. Then today I started reading the posts. I read on one how someone had found it really educational in that they tried several different techniques and it was very good. I then decided I should try it. I did not have a tart pan or apples so off to the store to make purchases before I could get started.
The nice thing about baking in a group is that if you wait till the last minute you can see how it went for everyone else. Like the crust doesn't look all the way cooked on the bottom on the first bake. Two (and I should of paid closer attention too) that it took a while from start to finish. But give it a go I did.

 Things I learned...I need more pie weights then I have. The crust shrinks and my tart pan was 10" which meant my crust didn't have much of an edge. The recipe for the crust is great - light and crisp.

 I also learned that I am not good at making apple rosettes but it still looked okay.

 Does it get any better then vanilla bean ice cream with hot apple tart. A celebration of a good day at work and this made it feel like a party.

This is just a picture of how good this crust recipe is. I feel much more capable of making a crust with this recipe. The recipe can be found at our hosts website if you don't have the book. Thanks for hosting Laws of the Kitchen.

TWD: Pizza With Onion Confit

Today I decided to actually bake on Tuesday. We are making pizza. I have never actually made pizza dough and this recipe makes it very simple. The dough recipe is from Steve Sullivan of Acme Bread company so it had to be good.
This is the sponge. That was new to me. It gets the dough started. I found out that my oven has a proof setting so even though it was very cold I could pop it in the oven for the first rise at a steady 85 degrees.

 While the dough was rising I got to work on the onion confit. Real simple slice 2-1/2 pounds of onion and have a good cry. Then let it cook down on the stove for 1-1/2 hours. While this was cooking I also used up 2 lbs of broccoli making a broccoli soup to go with the pizza.

Everything was mixed and I had done the second rise. I wasn't going to bake the pizza till dinner so I wrapped the dough in saran wrap and popped it in the frig. When Tom got home and was looking for something to eat he yelled that my dough was leaking. I thought the dough had risen completely but in the frig it had grown more. The dough balls looked like sausages. This dough feels wonderful too.

 I took a tip from another TWD baker and put the pizza rounds on parchment paper. I had a pizza stone but after the kitchen remodel it cannot be found.  I may have overloaded on the confit but it was very good. I would use the sweet onions next time.

 I get a box of produce delivered weekly and weekly it is my goal to eat all the vegetables. This pizza was the perfect showcase for the last butternut squash. The goat cheese, butternut squash and the onion confit were delicious.

 I started with a sponge and ended with a glass of wine. Except for the mountain of dishes it was a successful bake. I will use this pizza recipe again.

If you are interested in the recipe you can find it in "Baking with Julia" or on our host's blog The Boy Can Bake.