The Bread Block: Week One

Ok, ok.  I know.  I am a total blog slacker.  In my defense, last week was crazy and I was using all of my Jedi powers to ward off the flu and strep throat.  I did end up with a sinus infection, but that's not so bad compared to what it could have been.  We also retained a classmate that we thought would no longer be with us on Monday, so everyone was kind of in a grumpy mood.  I guess we have to wait until the end of the bread block...

So, the week was interesting and very fun!  I love bread, so learning new breads and tips for making bread made for a great series of production days.  We also get to use fresh yeast rather than the dry stuff which is AWESOME.  It activates about twice as fast and has a much better flavor in the bread.  It comes in these weird gray blocks and feels like a strange version of moon sand clay.

Pain Au Lait

On Monday we made Pain Au Lait (bread with milk).  This dough is so soft and lovely and is pretty basic with the addition of a bit of eggs, butter, sugar and malt syrup.  Once the dough come together and went through the fermentation process (we have proof boxes that shorten the fermentation time greatly) we learned how to shape the dough into knots and swirls and other fun shapes.  After the shapes proofed, we brushed on some egg wash so they would come out golden brown.  Let me tell you, that is some tasty deliciousness.

For those of you wondering about my "baby", Doughlton Brown, we combined all the babies in the class together to make one giant baby named Yeast Ledger.  We feed the baby as a class now in this giant tub.  In the beginning it was pretty nasty and smelled like puke, but it is much nicer now and really kind of smells like very yeasty yeast.

Baguette Jedi

Baguettes

On Tuesday we made Baguettes and Pain de Mie (white bread).  The baguettes were very basic, but the rolling and shaping will take some practice.  We used the deck ovens to bake them and they have this cool steam button that gives the baguette it's crispy crust.  I need to work on my scoring for sure.  The baguettes I produced for my test were much nicer.  I decided that the force was with me and attempted to use my baguette as a light saber...

Pain de Mie

The Pain de Mie was also really basic and just made plain with bread.  Not very exciting, but tasty enough straight out of the oven and we did make them in Pullman pans, which are interesting and named after Pullman train cars.
We also made sponges for Pane di Mais (corn bread) and Ciabatta.  A sponge is a head start on the fermentation process.  You pull most of the ingredients together, including the yeast and let it ferment overnight.

  

Whole Wheat Bread

Fougasse

Ciabatta

Wednesday was a pretty busy production day.  We finished the Pane di Mais and the Ciabatta and made Whole Wheat Bread and Fougasse.  To finish the two sponges, we just added flour and salt to the sponges.  The whole wheat bread was pretty similar to the white bread, with the addition of some ingredients and whole wheat flour.  We finished the loaf with a honey glaze straight out of the oven.  The fougasse was filled with olives and sun dried tomatoes.  YUM.  The ciabatta wasn't exactly what I was expecting and wasn't that exciting to eat.  I want to try making it again at home, maybe in a different shape.

Now, the best part of Wednesday was finishing the Pane di Mais.  The corn part of this corn bread was a porridge made with a rosemary, olive oil and polenta.  We shaped the dough in to little balls of deliciousness.  I cannot wait to make these at home.  Chef made some honey butter to go with these and I'm pretty sure I ate about 5 or more.  This was seriously a carb overload day.  I just can't get enough of this version of corn bread.  I also learned how to properly boule (round) the bread.  I felt like a total idiot at first because it is not a natural hand motion, but I think I am getting the hang of it now.

Naan

Focaccia

On Thursday we made Naan, Focaccia and Pizza.  It was another carb overload day for sure.
These are all pretty basic doughs that are shaped in different ways.  The naan was rolled out into little ovals and grilled in a saute pan, then glazed on both sides with ghee (clarified butter) and we covered the focaccia with salt and rosemary before baking.  We made the pizza

Margherita Pizza

dough into traditional Margherita pizza.  Delicious!!

Friday was another test.  I got a perfect score on my practical, even though our (mine and KG's) baguettes were a ruined by She Who Shall Not Be Named.  Luckily Chef witnessed the event and did not take points away from us.  We also presented Pain Au Lait and my shapes turned out pretty good.  This written test was a little trickier and Chef threw me for a loop on one of the questions, but I still got over 100%, so I'm keeping my 4.0 for now.  I get a Spring Break for the first time in I don't know how many years, so I won't be writing again this week.  I hope you all enjoy your week, the weather is supposed to be great here in Austin!  Hopefully I will survive the time off and live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!
-The Queen of Tarts-