NATAS
a labour of love
What I’m reading: Service, by Sarah Gilmartin. I’m in two minds about this book. I enjoyed it, and it clearly comes from a lot of experience working in hospitality - but I found the writing a bit trite at times. It covers a lot of important themes though: the Me Too movement in hospitality, consent, assault, fine dining, gender roles in kitchens etc.
What I’m listening to: a lot of Ye Vagabonds - seems to fit the mood on Inishbofin
What I’m eating: really wonderful pastries at Lannan, Edinburgh. It’s pretty rare that you can say that a place with so much hype exceeds expectations - but I can honestly say that these are some of the best pastries I’ve ever eaten (below)
These natas (below) are what helped to pull me out of a bit of a rut, baking-wise. I’ve been feeling a bit uninspired for a while now, and have been struggling to come up with new recipes that I feel excited about. I think part of it comes from being “between jobs” for a few weeks now - which has been fun, but I also really love a routine. I’ve also been visiting a lot of new bakeries since I returned to Europe, and (with a few exceptions) I haven’t been blown away. It’s hard to say whether that’s because of my own lack of enthusiasm, or because it’s really hard for bakeries to live up to the extraordinary hype that’s built through social media. It could also be because I’m spoilt rotten, and I’m used to eating croissants hot out of the oven, with good-quality butter and homemade jam.
Whatever it is, I am confident that my appetite for (eating and making) pastries will return. Surely (can someone please confirm) it’s natural to experience ebbs and flows in your passion for work? Bakeries like Lannan restore my faith in the industry: Darcie has created the most beautiful space with a really lovely team and an astounding array of baked goods without compromising on quality.
I also decided that I needed to give myself a proper home-baking project - and natas felt like just the thing. I hadn’t hand-laminated for a long time, and this recipe is relatively forgiving in that you hand-laminate the dough (two single turns), and then roll it up into a sausage shape with a thin layer of soft butter - so you’re almost guaranteed to get some lovely crisp visible layers, even if you haven’t monitored your time and temperatures perfectly.
This is definitely a labour of love, but it is (IMHO) an entirely manageable one. I would recommend breaking up the jobs to make it feel less daunting: for example, you can prep the dough and custard one day, and then assemble and bake the next day, and enjoy them fresh, with a cup of coffee at 11am.
recipe: pastéis de nata
