There’s a wonderful scene in one of the later Little House books, in which Laura is making her own wedding cake. To do so, she must beat the egg whites with a fork until they are stiff, which to my mind is a feat of strength and endurance not often found today. I’ve been returning to these hands-on methods in my own baking recently (but not with egg whites, mind you — my whisking arm only holds out long enough to make whipped cream), and I find a certain satisfaction in working together a meatloaf mix or — on rare occasions — a hollandaise sauce.
It’s pastry dough that truly has my hand and heart, however, and though you can make it much more quickly in a food processor, I prefer the slower method. (Also, I own a very small and wildly noisy food processor, and since much of my baking is done at night, it’s often useless.) Last summer, I set myself a goal of becoming proficient at pastry dough, and since then I’ve made a small but successful range of pies and tarts. The most delicious? The peach pie I made for my cousin’s birthday. The most unique? A carrot, onion, and goat-cheese tart.
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