Enriched Doughs, aka The Ones That Make Us Fat

Bread Block:  Week #2.  This week was all about enriched doughs, meaning bread dough that is "enriched" by butter, eggs, milk... - all the tasty things.  It was a nice, slow paced week and we learned both of our test items on Monday and Tuesday, so Wednesday and Thursday were pretty relaxed.  We did, however, have to learn more math.  Baker's percentages.  It's not that difficult, you just have to remember the formula and not get percents mixed up with ounces.  Chef has a very simple way of teaching it, hopefully we don't all blank on test day.

Sticky Bun

Iced Cinnamon Rolls

Pre-Icing

 On Monday we started Brioche dough which has about a million eggs and a billion pounds of butter.  There is so much butter in this dough that you have to mix all the ingredients and bring the dough together then slowly add the butter bit by bit so that it all incorporates.  It is so soft that it had to be bagged and refrigerated for production the next day.  We also made Sweet Roll dough.  All I can say is YUM.  I think if you learn this one you will never be able to eat the pop-n-bake grocery store cinnamon rolls.  We made Cinnamon Rolls and Sticky Buns and they were tasty.  One batch of dough made a big batch of each.

Challah, no toppings

Challah ready for the oven

Tuesday we shaped and baked the Brioche and made Challah.  We didn't just make and bake Challah dough, we learned how to braid it into a Star of David shape.  Very interesting.  It was fun but we did it in groups and will have to do it alone on test day, so I made one at home.  Normally you sprinkle the top with salt, poppy seeds and sesame seeds, but I just made it plain.  It is pretty good.  I think manfriend ate half the start fresh from the oven.  The Brioche shapes are kind of weird and silly, but we have to make these little heads on top to represent Marie Antoinette getting her head chopped off.  Strange and historical.  They are delicious either way.

Tray of Brioche, large and small

 We are also continuously feeding baby Yeast Ledger.  It's getting pretty strong and I can't wait to make delicious Sourdough bread out of him next week.  MMM....

On Wednesday we made cakey breads - items that are bread but they have so much sugar and butter and added ingredients that they were considered cake in the old days and still are in Europe, but they are technically breads.

Kugelhopf

Stollen and Kugelhopf are tasty but contain dried fruit - like raisins - so, I wasn't super hopeful regarding how much I would like them.  The Stollen has a small roll of marzipan running through the bottom that is supposed to represent Baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes (you can see it in the top of the slice to the left - it looks like an almond).  He's a little sweet for my taste, but the dough had a nice texture and flavor from the subtle cinnamon.  It is also buried in powdered or granulated sugar after being brushed with melted butter.  Who wouldn't like that?  The Kugelhopf is named for the turban worn by 17th century Turkish invaders of Austria.  Traditionally it is baked in a dome shape, but we just used small angel food pans.  It is baked with a coating of almond slices and topped with powdered sugar.  It really tasted like cake and would be delicious with a fruit other than raisins.
     We also made Babas/Savarins dough.  Two different products, same dough.  They are baked one day, left to harden overnight and then soaked in rum sauce the next day.

Savarin

Savarin

So, Thursday we mixed our Brioche dough for tomorrow's test.  I really worked my butter in and my dough was so light and fluffy that I could barely bag it.  I hope it turns out ok tomorrow.  We also soaked our Babas and Savarins in a simple syrup flavored with orange, lemon, cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves and finished with dark rum.  We soaked all of the little cakes and then decorated them with creme chantilly and berries.  The syrup is a little sweet for me, but most people like it.  They were fun to make.

Chef gives this Brioche a thumbs up

Babas

This week we also found out that one of our classmates has dropped the class and withdrawn from school.  I hate to say it (not really), but we are quite glad that this person made this particular decision.  I don't think they they were all that serious and committed to the class and they were certainly not a team player.  We do wish her luck in future endeavors.

Tomorrow we take another test with baker's percentages and measurement math.  We also have to make the Brioche and the Challah star, so it will be a busy day.  Hopefully I will survive and live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-

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-

Exam #2 and Happy Hour

Friday was our second exam.  The day fit right in with the rest of the strange week.  I practiced making muffins and a sponge roll on Thursday night and was a little nervous about the sponge roll coming out ok.  The written test was straightforward and similar to the first one, but I was so concerned about the sponge, that I didn't double check my math (Mrs. Flora would be appalled).  I turned out a nice batch of muffins pretty quickly and moved on the the dreaded sponge.  Over baking the sponge by just 30 seconds can make it difficult to roll, so I ended up taking it out about 2 minutes too soon.  I also used the wonky oven against my better judgement.  Let's just say it's a good thing that I finished my written exam so early and made the muffins fast.  I had to remake the sponge as the first on was totally unacceptable.  I was a in a bit of a panic, mostly because I was kind of embarrassed that I had to make something again.  Luckily, I had plenty of time and my second sponge turned out perfectly.  I can't even believe how tight I was able to roll it.  I scored 100% on the practical but lost a few points on the written exam, but still got a 101.  Not a perfect score, but still the highest in the class by 1 point.  My friend KG got a 100.  Thank goodness for extra credit!  So, my final grade for Block 1 is a 4.0 and that makes me happy.  I will need all the points I can get moving forward.  We start the Bread Block on Monday and I am really excited about it.  We also have to write a paper on a bread that holds memories for us or that we are interested in.  I'm not sure what I will write about yet as we can't use cornbread, which is the most meaningful bread to me.  It's a quick bread and we have to stick to yeast breads.  Any suggestions?

Friday after class a few of us (those over 21) went to "Happy Hour" at noon.  It was fun to hang outside of class and in normal clothes.  We ended up staying out until about 8:30, so you could say we had fun.  I kept meaning to take some pictures, but it just didn't happen. We also ended up meeting my friend Kate out, so she got to meet KG.  I'm just glad the week is over and I'm looking forward to bread and a fresh start on Monday.  I'm off to my niece's birthday and to see the family.  Hopefully I will survive and live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-

The End is Near: Cakes and Double Dipping

you know you want me to make you one

Today really should have been a better day.  We didn't bake, so there was no scaling ingredients or lengthy lecture.  All we had to do was decorate our cakes.  I don't know why I was such a stress ball about this particular adventure, but I was.  I'm telling you - there is something wonky going on with the planets or the moon or maybe I just need another cocktail.  Who knows.  Either way, everyone has been in a funk this week.  I can't cut straight layers for a cake to save my life.  Seriously, did I fail cutting in kindergarten or something?  Needless to say, I was nervous about this whole thing.  Sure enough, my cake had extremely uneven layers.  I survived the cutting only to find out that the giant million pound bucket of ganache I made yesterday for my partner and I had too much chocolate in it.  Now, I know you are thinking, too much chocolate?  How can that possibly be a bad thing?  Let me tell you - ganache with too much chocolate is basically just chocolate - hard chocolate.  This is perfectly acceptable for eating, making truffles, whatever.  Not so much for spreading.  I don't know what happened when I was scaling the 5 pounds of chocolate yesterday, but it was too much and our ganache was ruined and unusable.  I actually had to throw it all in the trash.  So, I was feeling like a giant, nervous stress ball and a failure.  Fortunately, we had plenty of ganache in the class, especially because 2 people didn't show up for class - again.  Anyway - the whole layering the cake and spreading a crumb coat wasn't so bad except Chef kept yelling at us to stop being OCD and just leave the cake alone.  After that we glazed the cake with warm and melty ganache.  That part was actually kind of fun.  Then we had to write on the cakes.  I hate writing on cakes.  I have really nice handwriting that DOES NOT translate into beautiful writing in ganache on cakes.  We also made a border that looked suspiciously like something you might find on a bachelorette cake....
I was not at all happy with my writing, but chef said it was fine and that you can read my letters, which is important.  She also said we did this to learn the technique AND so that we could look back one day and realize how far we've come.  I think she's right.

I didn't have faith in my layers and even though they actually turned out pretty good, chef frowned for the picture.  The cake did taste delicious, so that's a good thing.  It was the orange chocolate chiffon cake from the other day, yesterday?  I can't remember that far back.  Nice.  P, the boy and KG (previously know as my organized friend) had very nice letters.  I was a little jealous, so I'm sure I will be practicing and practicing.

We also received our ServSafe certificates today.  That is the 3 out of 11 of us that passed did.  One person took it 2 years ago and already has a certificate.  My friend KG and I were SHOCKED that only 3 of us passed.  Not expecting that.  We got a certificate, which I promptly framed and put on the wall and will get a food manager's card in the next few weeks.  Awesome.  Everyone else will take a class and a quiz for a food handlers card, but we are managers.  Yay us.

I also need to add a little blurb about double dipping in honor of my friend KG and P, the boy*.  On what planet or in what country is double dipping ok???  Today we traded cakes for fried food.  YUM.  That was an excellent trade.  Fried mushrooms with horseradish sauce, calamari and onion rings.  Only, I didn't get to taste the onion rings because Crazy Lady decided to take her lip smacking self over to the onion rings and pig out while double and triple dipping.  TOTAL GROSSNESS.  Anyway, that's enough about that.  I don't want to putt you off your dinner.

Well, I'm writing this, really, to procrastinate just a little more.  I should be studying for Exam #2 which is tomorrow.  I just really don't want to.  I feel like my brain didn't absorb any information this week and that it just doesn't want to.  I blame the planets or the moon or whatever.  Oh well, hopefully I will survive the test and live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-

p.s. *P, the boy, will be referred to as P, the man from now on.

The Moon is in Retrograde and Mars is Spinning or Something Like That

I think school is starting to wear on everyone just a little bit.  The honeymoon is over, but we aren't quite settled in.  This is not stacking up to be a good week, so good thing it's only 4 days.  As Chef predicted, the class is starting to split into 2 factions:  the OCD work horses and the Slackers.  There are still a handful of people that are in the middle, but leaning more toward the non-slacking side of the room.  We have all been together just long enough that people are starting to make comments about and to the said slackers.  While the work horses run around the kitchen at the end of class cleaning and scrubbing, the slackers just, well, slack.  I don't know how else to say it.  They stand around, look lost or even better, look bored.  I don't really know how, in a class of 12 people, you could possibly be bored when we have an entire huge kitchen to clean.  Crazy Pants is all I can say.  Yesterday my friend and I had it.  We were going to say something to Chef and by some miracle she read our minds and talked to the class about it.  We'll see what happens in the weeks to come.

Yesterday we worked on quick breads and made blueberry muffins, banana bread and a horrible pound cake.  Really, it is just a bad recipe, but we learned the method and that is the point.   The muffins turned out pretty good and will be part of the practical on Friday.  My partner and I did well on the tasks at hand, so that's good.

I'm glad these recipes are just for us to learn method and technique and are not the recipes we are supposed to aspire to.  They aren't that tasty.  The pound cake was made in true old school pound cake fashion:  equal parts butter, sugar, egg and flour.  We did get to add a splash of vanilla for fun.  Yay.  This cake is really dense and good for carving sculpture cakes.  Good to know.


Today we made chocolate ganache, chocolate orange chiffon cake and sponge (or jelly) rolls.  The cakes and ganache are for tomorrow, but the cake took forever to make and has about a thousand ingredients in it.  We made the sponge rolls alone since they will also be on Friday's practical.  Great.  It was an interesting item to make.  First, spread the batter about a quarter of an inch thick across a half sheet pan and baked it for about 7 minutes.  Then lay the thin cake out on parchment paper covered with powdered sugar and spread a thin coating of jam over the top.  Next the cake has to be rolled.  This can be as challenging it sounds.  Using the paper to tighten it and a ruler to hold the side down, the cake has to be shaped into a very tight circle.  I guess I pulled to hard because before I knew it, I was making the catch of a lifetime as my roll came spinning off the table and into my abdomen.  I'm really not sure how I saved it, but I did.  My friend just said, Not THAT tight!  Uh huh.  This jelly roll was not pleasant tasting in any way.  We are evidently going to be making sponges for other blocks, so I may try the cake again with different fillings.  The jam we used was just too sweet.

I was also the sanitor today - the person in charge of the cleaning.  I don't like being the sanitor.  For the most part, my classmates asked what they could do and almost everyone pitched in to help anywhere they could (work horses).  Then there are those who kind of just stand around (Slackers) and you have to remind one billion times that their job is to wash dishes until there are no more dishes because they have to drain and clean the sinks.  This is not rocket science people.  I'm pretty sure I sounded like a bossy beeatch.  Hopefully my classmates don't hate me now, but the kitchen should never be a den of slack.  I'm just sayin'.  Cleaning time always makes me wonder what some people's houses look like.  No judgement, just pure curiosity.  I am actually wondering how some people have made it this far in life.  Aren't we all grown ups?  Well, that's enough about that.  Hopefully the next 2 days will be better, though we are decorating cakes tomorrow - not really my favorite thing.  Better things to come for sure.  Hopefully I will survive tomorrow and live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-