Humph!

Well, I am no PW.

This morning I had decided to make a somewhat decadent breakfast--a pear tart using pie dough that I had frozen a couple weeks ago. It's PW's (Pioneer Woman, aka, Ree Drummond) recipe and she claims that if you freeze it in a nice disk shape, you can take it out of the freezer, allow it to rest on your counter top and then roll it out.

Mine did not go that way.

It did not go that way at all.

The dough was hard, even after sitting out for two hours.

When I attempted to roll it, it was more like mushing and pushing and then I had several large chunks of pie crust sitting there.

I sort of pressed them all together...

kinda like putting the pieces of pangea back together again.

Then I tried to roll again.

More breaking apart.

Then I sprinkled on some water, hoping that would make the dough stick together.

It did, a bit.

But it also stuck more mightily to my rolling pin.

Add flour.

In the end, I just sorta pinched all these pieces together and scraped up the crust and slapped it onto my parchment-lined baking tray.

Before attacking rolling my dough, I had sliced up my pears and stirred in some lemon juice, light brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch. If I hadn't already made the filling, I think I would have given it up as a bad job and tossed the dough into the chicken bucket.

So, then I poured the pear mixture into the middle of my dough. Then I (gently) folded over the edges of the dough...

but the dough cracked and split and all the juice poured all over the pan.

Great.

So I threw it into the oven, set the timer and drowned my sorrows in the shower.

No photos, because my fingers were essentially glue.

People who bake always make it look so easy.

*sigh*





Note: Despite my frustrations with my frozen pie dough,  I do enjoy PW's cookbook--she's not afraid of butter. And the "fresh" dough I made was easier to roll, though I still have to pinch parts together. 

I think I have a mental block when it comes to baking.