This post we're up in the clouds, but first we've got some deliveries to make! Kiki's Delivery Service (
魔女の宅急便) was released in 1989 and was based on the novel of the same name. If you haven't seen it yet, give the soundtrack a listen; I'm especially fond of Rouge no Dengon (listen to it here). So the thing I most remember about this movie, was the bread.
 |
| (source) One day I'll make bread like that... |
My track record with yeast recipes is not great, to be honest, but I've kept at it! I've got a bread-maker somewhere, a long since past gift or impulse buy (I forget), and the household went through a phase of having fresh bread; and let me tell you, there may be a lot of things better than waking up to the smell of freshly baked bread, but it's definitely up there. And man, oh man, eating freshly baked bread? So good. I like my bread crusty but not overly so, with fluffy insides that are perfect for soaking up melted butter or margarine or olive oil with spicy, crunchy dukkah or tart balsamic vinegar or runny honey or warm, gooey peanut butter...sigh.
Back on track, this recipe calls for a lot of kneading (it needs to be kneaded hehe) so don't forget to stretch! True story; when I made this, I ended up pulling my forearm muscles so you've been warned. I've covered the technique before, but a quick refresher: push the dough away with the heel of your palm, fold it over, turn dough 90 degrees, repeat. Unfortunately there aren't that many process photos, because I thought this would be a complete write off. I also found this dough to be quite sticky and ended up adding roughly two extra tablespoons of flour. Science disclaimer! Not a food scientist, not a professional chef, never went to culinary school, recipe books and the internet are my sources of information and I think Play School may have covered this once? Baker's flour has a higher percentage of gluten than your everyday run of the mill plain flour, which gives bread a more elastic dough. This, when combined with the yeast's formation of carbon dioxide, traps the gas in the dough and causes it to rise. It also creates a better crust versus regular flour. Science over.
 |
| The bane of my baking existence. |
 |
| Photo courtesy of dad sloth. |
 |
| Yooooooooooo. Dust them with flour before baking for that artisan look. |
 |
| We love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all, we love each other. |
 |
| It's a pretty dense bun, but it's great sliced and toasted. |
Same deal with the herring and pumpkin pot pie, no process photos. I actually didn't use herring (and I'm not quite sure what kind of fish it is) so technically it's just a fish and pumpkin pot pie. To-may-to, to-mah-to. The fish, I found in the freezer and there were just three, sad, sorry looking fillets that I cut into ten pieces and scattered throughout the pie. Poor dad sloth didn't even realise there was fish in the pie until we told him later.
I used Japanese pumpkin because I find it to be sweeter than other types, but I'm sure butternut or grey pumpkins would work as well. The base of this pie is a white, or bechamel, sauce. It's basically flour, butter or margarine, and milk. I don't actually have a recipe for this; if I want a thicker sauce, I add more flour,less milk and if it's thinner, I add less flour and more milk. You kind of get the hang of it after a while because it's all about proportions, but it's easy pie! Tips: be mindful not to burn the flour and add the milk little by little to make sure you get a nice, smooth consistency! It's a super impressive but low effort sauce that goes well with a lot of dishes, and you can make it richer by adding other stuff like stock or cream or cheese. Don't forget to season it as well; salt and pepper go a long way to making it tasty, and I like to add ground nutmeg for extra flavour. I also used store-bought puff pastry to save time and effort. One day I will make a laminated dough, but that day is not today. Laminated doughs kind of scare me as well; you have to use an entire pat of butter, and that's too much butter for one person.
 |
| (source) The original! I used it as a reference picture for the fish on top. |
|
| Pretty close, if I do say so myself! Mama sloth helped on the crimping of the crust. Can you tell which one's hers? Hint: it's the pretty looking ones. Those weird indents are knife marks (literally made by stabbing the pie) so the insides will cook. |
 |
| The movie version.. |
 |
| And mine! |
 |
| Creamy and delicious and deceptively hearty |
