Big Skye Bakers

04/22/2020

04/18/2020

OK, note to self. Choose carefully what fillings you use in these hand pies. It goes without saying that they all taste delicious but you are professional and can't be having these things spit like this. Tsk tsk.

Also cut down on the amount you try to pack in... 10 Lbs in a 5 LB bag...

07/11/2016

I'm working toward creating the perfect puff pastry. I'm using a flour that I brought back from Walla Walla Wa. from a small family wheat farm. In fact, the name of the farm is Small's Family Farms. There are so many intricacies to flour, taste texture, and handling. This flour has a wonderful nutty taste. Here's a peach/frangipane galette from last week's market. Peach season is here, yea!

01/29/2016

For thousands of years, mesquite pods were the primary food of people who lived on the Sonoran Desert. It's Carolyn here today recalling that when I first started researching and experimenting with...

09/13/2015

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09/02/2015

Thursday's pies for the Sierra Vista Farmers Market. There will be scones, cookies, cupcakes and Galettes.

08/28/2015

Here's what's cooking at Big Skye. Fig Galettes - with a rye puff pastry and almond custard below the figs, lemon zest sprinkled on top. So a galette is the French version of pie. Not as thick as an English pie, no top crust and usually lightly sweetened. The Italians have a similar pastry they call Crostada. Both of these have savory varieties. People are thrown to say Pizza, but No! You risk being slapped soundly for such a gauche mistake.

08/15/2015

You must come by my Bistro for a barely strawberry scones. We'll be at the Rillito Farmers Market tomorrow. Come early, it's going to be really hot. Do you think it is a coincidence that I set up next to Adventure Coffee...? I think not.

08/11/2015

Barley, who knew? Just about everybody in the know. I will be making open faced roasted sweet pepper sandwiches from this bread. It has a nutty taste with notes of citrus from the orange zest. Really a spectacular bread.

08/09/2015

My friend Sara gave me these white nectarines, many about as big as a golf ball. I made them up into galettes and served them at the Big Skye Sidewalk Cafe today at Rillito Farmers Market. Some couldn't get enough.

08/06/2015

I'm making up some...don't know what to call them. I think they are kind of like a blinz. Brie, chocolate & raspberries. Pick them up at the Sierra Vista Market.

07/01/2015

Just love my new bible, Good To The Grain. Thank you Emily Rockey. This oatmeal bread came from there. It makes a huge loaf and owes it's nutty brownness to the molasses in the recipe. Thank you Steve for the wonderful tomatoes and thank you Amber for the lovely eggs from your chickens.

06/23/2015

OK, time to get out and pick mesquite beans.

05/09/2015

Just had one of these Ginger Peach Muffins, MMH. I married my first wife for her Swedish Rye. Ms. Nancy made these muffins and I gotta tell ya, the muffins are better. I'll have them at the Market tomorrow.

05/08/2015

White peaches were not impressive to me when I first encountered them. I've since changed my mind about them although I think the skins are an essential part of the total aroma of the fruit. Check us out on Sunday at the Rillito Farmers Market. I'll have rustic tarts made from these.

05/06/2015

These rustic little galettes reside on the fulcrum of naughty and nice. You can still see the bits of butter in the swarthy rye puff pastry. I'll have these at the Sierra Vista Farmer's Market tomorrow. You do not want to put off happiness.

05/05/2015

I once knew a woman named Opal. She was a close friend of Pearl. Pearl was a great cook. Lived in Walla Walla County. I'm not making this up. Anyway, I just love these Opal apples. Makin' apple pie for Sierra Vista Farmer's Market.

05/02/2015

You can blame it on Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, ya that Cortés. He brought back some cured vanilla bean pods. They are the seed pods of the Vanilla planifolia. A 12-year-old slave by the name of Edmond Albius succeeded at what all the renowned botanists at the time could not, polinate the Vanilla orchid. They had exported the orchid but not the little insect that specialized in pollinating this orchid. The story of Edmond Albius like many of that time, did not turn out well. You wont find a statue in Madagascar of an adolescent Edmond Albius.

05/02/2015

Celebrate the season of the mango. While you're waiting for peaches and apricots there are these show stopping golden yellow Ataulfo mangoes from March to July. What a treat these buttery mangoes. I'll have a bunch of very flirty tarts with Mexican corn flour crust filled with these babies ready for the market tomorrow at Rillito Downs. Come by and see if you can resist them.

04/28/2015

It takes a stupid amount of time to make the puff pastry but...there are no bounds to love. Grinding the rye gives off a toasty smell that some how reminds me of alfalfa drying in the sun. From there I'm starry eyed as I roll out the dough endlessly it seems.

I'm hearing voices. They are telling me to make something savory with the rye puff. "Bodie, make something with asparagus steamed al dente marinated in a champagne vinaigrette with capers and sliced cherry tomatoes. Make it beautiful. They will come." The voice sound husky like maybe Marlon Brando in The Godfather. Not easily ignored. I've given up whole milk, yogurt and cottage cheese but still the voices.

04/25/2015

Making up a batch of poached pears/ white wine, tangerine zest & juice, vanilla bean and lemon juice. I'll put these in corn flour tarts. They'll be at the market tomorrow. Bring money.

04/10/2015

A variety of corn called “Pinole Maiz” historically grown from southern Arizona to Sinaloa, Mexico. It ranges in color from these taffy colors to deep lustrous browns. In the back ground are the Mexican white corn. Note the difference in kernel size. I’m excited by the color and the size of the kernel which makes my grinding job so much easier. I’m going to experiment with this corn and see how it compares to the Mexican white. In this age of microwave ovens it’s stunning to think that I’ll need to wait until next growing season to get more corn from my friend Arron from Arevalos Farm to continue making this tart crust.

I love the flavor of the corn and the crisp little tart crust that one can get from it.

04/08/2015

I made this hibiscus rhubarb tart last week and it was so smashing I'm making it again this minute. That's Edith Beatty's rhubarb from Miller Canyon near Sierra Vista. I'll be bringing this hibiscus rhubarb with white corn flour crust to market tomorrow at the Sierra Vista Farmers Market. See you there!

04/01/2015

These are going to the Sierra Vista Farmers Market tomorrow. Rustic Rye Galettes. The crust is made much like puff pastry with multiple rolling and folding, resting. That's what makes this nutty crust flaky even though it is whole grain. I'm waiting for apricot but am making do with brandied plum.

04/01/2015

Another in the series of "rustics". Poached pears, vanilla bean, tangerine zest, and the raspberry

03/23/2015

I know my new grain mill is not particularly photogenic but what beautiful flour. I'm milling popcorn. yes, popcorn has less starch and I love the color. Then there's the white corn - lovin' it. Nutty spelt and white winter wheat...all 100% whole grain in pie crust, muffins, cupcakes...nothing short of miraculous. Wait 'til you've tried my multi-grain waffles. But here's the thing: all of the flours are ground the same day as I bake. So fresh, it's stunning.

03/20/2015

Thursday was beautiful in the morning then a drenching downpour with intermittent hail. But before the deluge, I photographed these brandied plum tarts in my new re-usable tart pans. Thank you, you lovely customers for graciously paying the deposit and scooping up the tarts. Can't tell you how gratifying it is to use the Mexican white corn that I bought from grower who is just a few stands away at the same market. Lift it up for Aaron Cardona of Arevalos Farm. Love you guys.

03/20/2015

Thursday was beautiful in the morning then a drenching downpour with intermittent hail. But before the deluge, I photographed these brandied plum tarts in my new re-usable tart pans. Thank you, you lovely customers for graciously paying the deposit and scooping up the tarts. Can't tell you how gratifying it is to use the Mexican white corn that I bought from grower who is just a few stands away at the same market. Lift it up for Aaron Cardona of Arevalos Farm. Love you guys.

03/17/2015

We are excited to debut our new line of rustic tarts (also know as galettes). These delectables make use of Arron's white corn called Mexican June (Arevalos Farm) and legendary Sonoran White Wheat. These tarts will be showing up in re-usable mini pie pans which you are welcome to keep or bring back to redeem the $2 value on your next purchase. See us at the Sierra Vista Market on Thursday for Cherry tarts.

03/13/2015

03/13/2015

I admit to a reckless love affair with these rustic tarts.

02/02/2015

My Friend sent me this poem. Who could not love this poem?
Pie
Ice water. Two silver knives to work through the flour and shortening, add salt. It is an old art. Do not work late into the night, with sleep nipping at your sleeves, you will fall off, wake up at three a.m. to a room full of smoke, two black disks in the oven, bad smell. Do not think about business, or the wave of darkness spreading through the Arts, do not think about depression looming on the horizon or the rhetoric and nonsense our leaders toss into its mouth, or the prospect of revolution in America. Zen. Concentrate on the art of pie. It is an old art. Ingredients spread through the house like a layer of snow, later people say: O, Pie. Pie. We love pie. It is a good art. No one will say, Make this pie with only one silver knife, or no ice, or make it with chalk instead of flour. Fill pie with ingredients at hand, cans of things, fresh fruit, cheese. Add it to a feast. Eat leftovers for breakfast the next day, the celebration begins again, pie filling the recesses of the body, exhilaration. Pie, it is an old art. If we lose it, infants will wither in their mothers’ stomachs, writhe at sunken ni***es, men will lose direction, US Steel will manufacture rubber and the pillars of society will flop around like spangles on a half-mast flag. Pie. The planets are lined up—Saturn, Uranus, Mars, Jupiter pull earthquakes, pull poison from beneath the surface. Pie, cut through the mix gently, roll out on a layer of wood and flour, pie. Flute the edges, pour in apples and cinnamon and spices. Pie. Zen. Concentrate on the art of pie. The rites of passage pull us through the gates of depression and war. We shall make pie. Cannot resist. We shall celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July; holidays shall find us traversing the continent in search of heritage. No one makes pie like Mother does. Pie. No one says one pie should represent all pies. Pie is like a thumb print. Some are sour. Pie is silent, making only a light simmering noise as it bakes in the oven. It spreads scent gently into our hearts. There is ceremony as pie is lifted out of the heat. They gather. O, Pie. The clutter is swept away, space around pie is brought to sharp focus. Light pours down on pie. Concentrate. The art of pie is an old one. Try to imagine life without it. Like the unveiling of a great painting, breaking a champagne bottle over the bow of a ship going off to sea, the ceremony as a cornerstone is laid, pie. Do not roll the crust too thick, roll gently or the center will unfurl, rub extra flour on the rolling pin every fourth stroke, remember these things. Create pie often so the art is not lost. Do not forget temperature. Cold is essential, then heat. You must have an oven, cannot make pie over an open fire or in a barbecue pit. Be firm with those who insist pie can be made in a crockpot or on the back window ledge of a Pontiac left out in August sunlight. Respect the rules of pie.

Sing a song of six pence/ A pocket full of rye/ Four and twenty black birds/ Baked in a pie./ When the pie was opened/ The birds began to sing—

©Susan Bright, 1983

12/31/2014

Happy Birthday Laurel!

12/06/2014

The series "Irascible Farmer" continues here with my good man Dennis Moroney and the lovely Vanessa from 47 Ranch, located just north of Bisbee on the northern flanks of the Mule Mountains. He is the answer to "Where's the beef?" The goat chops are the most amazing treat. Dennis is a philosopher poet, well worth the price of his tasty meat is his sage advise and council.

11/17/2014

Here is another of my series of Irascible Farmers. Tatiana from Jeff Scott Farms is not the least bit irascible, though.

11/11/2014

Season of the pumpkin. I'm making lots of pumpkin pies. The pumpkin this week is coming from Sleeping Frog Farms.