Phase 4, Week 2, Day 6
At first, baking seemed fun, and then we reached the 12 steps of baking. Basically, if you mess up on one of the 12 steps you are screwed. What fun is in that!? And the whole proof box thing (see below)- if you don't have one at home your options are limited, again what fun is that? The bread machine, although making an inferior product is sounding better and better to me....
Step 1- Scaling
Accurately scale ingredients and bring to room temperature (80-85 degrees)
Step 2- Mixing
3 main goals to achieve. 1) evenly distribute yeast. 2) properly develop gluten. 3) create a smooth and uniform dough.
Step 3- Fermentation (Bulk Proof)
Yeast + sugar + starch = carbondioxide and alcohol. To occur dough should be held at 80% humidity and between 85-95 degrees. Typically in a proof box, or small warm enclosed area with a pan of water; ie., water heater closet or bathroom after a shower (ew!). Proofing is accomplished when dough is doubled in size or holds and indent.
Step 4- Folding
Press down the dough, folding sides to the center to squeeze the air bubbles out.
Step 5- Portioning
Determine desired finished shape and knife and scale.
Step 6- Pre Shaping and rounding
This seals cut ends and seams and stretches the gluten to create a smooth skin.
Step 7- Benching
Let rest covered for 10-15 minutes. This also relaxes the gluten.
Step 8- Makeup, Shaping, Panning
Step 9- Proofing (Final Fermentation)
Proof until doubles in size, dough will be softer and slightly sticky. Don't move your product around at this point.
Step 10- Baking
Before putting in the oven determine if you will need to wash or score your product. Also upon putting in the oven you will also need to use steam for your lean doughs during the first part of the baking process, this makes a nice crust.
Lean doughs go in at 400-450 and rich doughs at 350-400. During the baking process ovenspring occurs where you will see a rapid expansion of trapped gas. Gelatinazation of starches, coagulation of proteins, melting of fat, and carmelization of sugars also happens.
Bake based on color not on time.
Step 11-Cooling
Cool at room temperature for up to 8 hours
Step 12- Storing
After 8 hours wrap and store in freezer.
Step 13- Eat!!!
Know you know what I mean, pain in the arse, but worth it if you have the right equipment and don't have t use your shower.
Today I attended the night class again and we got called out early due to weather. So we only made our French Bread dough. We didn't have a chance to proof it and bake it off (Steps 3-10), too bad because it's on our practical later this week. Sabatougie!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Who, me?
Phase 4, Week 1, Day 5
On the first Thursday of each new phase all of the classes gather and the staff distributes President's List (4.0 GPA) and Attendance awards. They also, on occasion, hand out Student Spotlight awards. A Spotlighted student can be selected for various reasons, depending on the Chef who is recognizing the student. It can be for being an awesome cook, a good mentor, a leader, "taking it to the next level", or just simply "getting it." Our class had not had a member be recognized as a Spotlight yet, so when Chef Bruce began to describe a student from his class we all got excited. Most instructors try to describe the student first before announcing the name so everyone can try and guess who it is.
He began by referring to the student as a "she" so that narrowed it down quite a bit. The student was well known on campus, a leader and an Ambassador. Now it was down to two of us. He mentioned how this student was organized & a very good student with a 4.0. Narrowing it down again, to me? I thought it couldn't be me. Jeremy was standing next to me and was nudging me. No way, it couldn't be me. I never get recognized for anything, ever. Chef Bruce then went on to talk about how this individual helped other students, and then I knew, it couldn't be me. I'm the last one to help out. I'll help someone if they ask, but I don't go out of my way. And I definitely don't do other people's jobs for them. I'm kind of conflicted by this fact, but it totally bothers me when classmates don't pull their weight. I understand we are a team, but man we've got some slackers who always have to go to the bathroom during cleanup time, but I digress...back to the description. Chef Bruce announce my name and I was still floored. I am definitely honored by this recognition and now I receive an endless amount of crap for it from Jared. Awesome.
Back in class we used our biroche dough to make three types of products. Nanterre, a tete (picture and how to shape video), and couronne. Unfortunately, I can't find my pictures anywhere. So these links will have to suffice. Enjoy.
On the first Thursday of each new phase all of the classes gather and the staff distributes President's List (4.0 GPA) and Attendance awards. They also, on occasion, hand out Student Spotlight awards. A Spotlighted student can be selected for various reasons, depending on the Chef who is recognizing the student. It can be for being an awesome cook, a good mentor, a leader, "taking it to the next level", or just simply "getting it." Our class had not had a member be recognized as a Spotlight yet, so when Chef Bruce began to describe a student from his class we all got excited. Most instructors try to describe the student first before announcing the name so everyone can try and guess who it is.
He began by referring to the student as a "she" so that narrowed it down quite a bit. The student was well known on campus, a leader and an Ambassador. Now it was down to two of us. He mentioned how this student was organized & a very good student with a 4.0. Narrowing it down again, to me? I thought it couldn't be me. Jeremy was standing next to me and was nudging me. No way, it couldn't be me. I never get recognized for anything, ever. Chef Bruce then went on to talk about how this individual helped other students, and then I knew, it couldn't be me. I'm the last one to help out. I'll help someone if they ask, but I don't go out of my way. And I definitely don't do other people's jobs for them. I'm kind of conflicted by this fact, but it totally bothers me when classmates don't pull their weight. I understand we are a team, but man we've got some slackers who always have to go to the bathroom during cleanup time, but I digress...back to the description. Chef Bruce announce my name and I was still floored. I am definitely honored by this recognition and now I receive an endless amount of crap for it from Jared. Awesome.
Back in class we used our biroche dough to make three types of products. Nanterre, a tete (picture and how to shape video), and couronne. Unfortunately, I can't find my pictures anywhere. So these links will have to suffice. Enjoy.
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| :0) |
Monday, January 31, 2011
I think I might hurl!!!
Phase 4, Week 1, Day 4
Lecture: Bread
Demo./Production: Peanut Butter Cookies and Brioche
Today we covered a lot about dough for bread making. There are 2 basic types, lean and rich dough. Lean doughs are made for breads like French and Italian loaves, pizza dough, and whole wheat breads. They are typically low in fat and sugar, have strong gluten development, and are hard crusted. In comparison, rich doughs contain higher levels of fat and sugar, need less gluten, and are soft crusted. Examples of rich doughs might be challah, brioche, or sweet rolls.
There are also a few different methods to mixing your doughs. The straight dough method is essentially the dump and run method, where the yeast and water are added together to dissolve the yeast and then the flour and salt are added and mix. The modified method for rich doughs is a combination of the creaming method and the straight method. Finally, the sponge method uses a preferment or starter. A starter is added on top of the yeast and a slurry of the other liquids is added. A preferment gives you a head start to the final bread fermentation stage. Pate Ferments, Biga, and Poolish are all types of doughs made from this "old bread." If you are familiar with Amish bread, this is the same concept. But what I didn't realize is that it is a common practice for most bakeries to save a piece of dough from the day before's bread and use it for the next days batch. Cool!
Today we made peanut butter cookies a type of molded cookie, cut our brownies from yesterday, and we also made brioche dough, a rich French dough.
When all was said and done, I had consumed 2.5 brownies and 2 cookies. I felt so sick and had a HUGE sugar rush and felt crappy all day. So much for not gaining any weight back....
Lecture: Bread
Demo./Production: Peanut Butter Cookies and Brioche
Today we covered a lot about dough for bread making. There are 2 basic types, lean and rich dough. Lean doughs are made for breads like French and Italian loaves, pizza dough, and whole wheat breads. They are typically low in fat and sugar, have strong gluten development, and are hard crusted. In comparison, rich doughs contain higher levels of fat and sugar, need less gluten, and are soft crusted. Examples of rich doughs might be challah, brioche, or sweet rolls.
There are also a few different methods to mixing your doughs. The straight dough method is essentially the dump and run method, where the yeast and water are added together to dissolve the yeast and then the flour and salt are added and mix. The modified method for rich doughs is a combination of the creaming method and the straight method. Finally, the sponge method uses a preferment or starter. A starter is added on top of the yeast and a slurry of the other liquids is added. A preferment gives you a head start to the final bread fermentation stage. Pate Ferments, Biga, and Poolish are all types of doughs made from this "old bread." If you are familiar with Amish bread, this is the same concept. But what I didn't realize is that it is a common practice for most bakeries to save a piece of dough from the day before's bread and use it for the next days batch. Cool!
Today we made peanut butter cookies a type of molded cookie, cut our brownies from yesterday, and we also made brioche dough, a rich French dough.
When all was said and done, I had consumed 2.5 brownies and 2 cookies. I felt so sick and had a HUGE sugar rush and felt crappy all day. So much for not gaining any weight back....
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| These brownies were frigging awesome!!! |
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| A decent PB cookie |
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Cookies, biscuits, and brownies oh my!
Phase 4, Week 1, Day 3
Lecture: Cookies
Demo./Production: Cheese Biscuits and Brownies
Did you know there are seven types of cookies? AND that brownies are a type of cookie? Weird! Today we discussed the various types including:
Dropped- chocolate chip
Bagged- spritz
Rolled- sugar
Molded- peanut butter
Icebox-
Bar-biscotti
Sheet- brownies
For you home bakers out there here are some tips for your cookies.
1) Crispier- You want low moisture and high sugar and fat. A longer baking time and a small and thin shape.
2) Softer- More liquid, less sugar and fat. Add an invert sugar like molasses or honey, under bake, and have larger or thicker shapes.
3) Chewier- Higher in sugar and liquid, lower in fat. High proportion of eggs and strong gluten development.
Our production today consisted of Cheese Biscuits using the Cut In or Biscuit method with cold fat and Brownies. Jeremy and I added peanut butter to ours. Yummo!!! The biscuits were fabulous! The brownies will need to chill for a few hours, we'll get to eat them tomorrow.
Lecture: Cookies
Demo./Production: Cheese Biscuits and Brownies
Did you know there are seven types of cookies? AND that brownies are a type of cookie? Weird! Today we discussed the various types including:
Dropped- chocolate chip
Bagged- spritz
Rolled- sugar
Molded- peanut butter
Icebox-
Bar-biscotti
Sheet- brownies
For you home bakers out there here are some tips for your cookies.
1) Crispier- You want low moisture and high sugar and fat. A longer baking time and a small and thin shape.
2) Softer- More liquid, less sugar and fat. Add an invert sugar like molasses or honey, under bake, and have larger or thicker shapes.
3) Chewier- Higher in sugar and liquid, lower in fat. High proportion of eggs and strong gluten development.
Our production today consisted of Cheese Biscuits using the Cut In or Biscuit method with cold fat and Brownies. Jeremy and I added peanut butter to ours. Yummo!!! The biscuits were fabulous! The brownies will need to chill for a few hours, we'll get to eat them tomorrow.
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| Chef Karen performing the biscuit method |
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| Flaky Cheese Biscuits |
Thursday, January 27, 2011
What the heck is a gluten ball?
Phase 4, Week 1, Day 2
Lecture: Quick Breads
Demo: Muffins and gluten ball.
Today we discussed gluten development in breads and it's importance in most and pastry products. In most cases over mixing batters, quick breads and muffins can produce a though and irregular shaped end result. To demonstrate this we made gluten balls. Basically a dough made from flour and water. Once the dough is formed we worked and squeezed the dough in buckets (lexons) of water. The water became very cloudy, which was the result of the starch being squeezed from the dough. We changed the water and repeated the steps, until the water became clear. The dough was then cooked off and the result was a hard, tough, rock like bread with huge long holes running through it. These holes are called tunneling. Cool.
Following the gluten balls we learned about various mixing methods; Cut in or biscuit, creaming, and muffin. I'll run down with the muffin method since we made blueberry muffins. The easiest method, the muffin method is used for pancakes, waffles, quick breads, coffee cakes and muffins. This method uses liquid fats and basically adds the liquid ingredients and dry ingredients together and mixes until moist. The batter should be lumpy. You then pan and bake and you're done!
Finally, some breakfast food for breakfast! Unfortunately, the muffins weren't so great. Sadness. At least they looked good.
Lecture: Quick Breads
Demo: Muffins and gluten ball.
Today we discussed gluten development in breads and it's importance in most and pastry products. In most cases over mixing batters, quick breads and muffins can produce a though and irregular shaped end result. To demonstrate this we made gluten balls. Basically a dough made from flour and water. Once the dough is formed we worked and squeezed the dough in buckets (lexons) of water. The water became very cloudy, which was the result of the starch being squeezed from the dough. We changed the water and repeated the steps, until the water became clear. The dough was then cooked off and the result was a hard, tough, rock like bread with huge long holes running through it. These holes are called tunneling. Cool.
Following the gluten balls we learned about various mixing methods; Cut in or biscuit, creaming, and muffin. I'll run down with the muffin method since we made blueberry muffins. The easiest method, the muffin method is used for pancakes, waffles, quick breads, coffee cakes and muffins. This method uses liquid fats and basically adds the liquid ingredients and dry ingredients together and mixes until moist. The batter should be lumpy. You then pan and bake and you're done!
Finally, some breakfast food for breakfast! Unfortunately, the muffins weren't so great. Sadness. At least they looked good.
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| So, so blueberry muffins |
Baking and Pastry
Phase 4, Week 1, Day 1
Finally, I've caught up on posts- sort of, well at least I'm now in the same class I'm blogging about. LOL. I am very excited about this class and I hope to learn a lot. I'm glad we are given the opportunity to learn a bit about baking and pastry in the industry because it is so important, although it seems as if the pastry Chefs are not always given the same respect at savory Chefs and they defiantly have a different personality type. Besides often being female, they are more precise and detailed orientated. It must be because their craft is less forgiving than savory cooking. I am looking forward to finding out more about it.
In this phase we will learn about the fundamentals of the baking ans pastry arts including terminology, technology, equipment, measurement, and formula conversions.We will be producing a variety of rich and lean doughs, laminated doughs, cakes, icings, cookies, tarts, quick breads, custards, frozen desserts, chocolates, and plated desserts. Man, I hope I don't gain back the weight I've lost so far....
Today we went over the precursory syllabus, expectations, and projects for the phase. We then jumped right in to a lecture about the functions of flour in baked goods. We also discovered the importance of scaling and weight versus volume. All measurement is not created equal. Fun fact for the day. The only ingredients in baking that can be measured out in volume are milk, water, whole eggs, and egg whites. All other ingredients should be scaled. Who knew?
Strap on your seat belts for a ride through Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory......
Finally, I've caught up on posts- sort of, well at least I'm now in the same class I'm blogging about. LOL. I am very excited about this class and I hope to learn a lot. I'm glad we are given the opportunity to learn a bit about baking and pastry in the industry because it is so important, although it seems as if the pastry Chefs are not always given the same respect at savory Chefs and they defiantly have a different personality type. Besides often being female, they are more precise and detailed orientated. It must be because their craft is less forgiving than savory cooking. I am looking forward to finding out more about it.
In this phase we will learn about the fundamentals of the baking ans pastry arts including terminology, technology, equipment, measurement, and formula conversions.We will be producing a variety of rich and lean doughs, laminated doughs, cakes, icings, cookies, tarts, quick breads, custards, frozen desserts, chocolates, and plated desserts. Man, I hope I don't gain back the weight I've lost so far....
Today we went over the precursory syllabus, expectations, and projects for the phase. We then jumped right in to a lecture about the functions of flour in baked goods. We also discovered the importance of scaling and weight versus volume. All measurement is not created equal. Fun fact for the day. The only ingredients in baking that can be measured out in volume are milk, water, whole eggs, and egg whites. All other ingredients should be scaled. Who knew?
Strap on your seat belts for a ride through Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory......
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
DONE!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!
Phase 3, Week 6, Days 27 & 28
Ok- Let's say I'm pretty much done with this phase. Christmas break starts this week and I'm off of work at the club after my shift on Friday night. Needless to say I'm tired and done with having a practical every day. Our last two days, although we've done our final already, we still have regular practicals to do.
Day 27
Plate 1- Seared Bass with Sauce Charon and Quinoa Salad
Plate 2- Bass Pauppiets with Sauce Vin Blanc
Day 28
Plate 3- Lobster- choice of preparation
Plate 4- Oysters- choice of preparation
Both days were conducted the same way with a demo the first half of class and production the second half. The days ran very smoothly, without incidence or anything amazing happening.
Results:
Seared Bass- Good. 98%
Pauppiets- Good, nice presentation. 100%
Lobster Risoto- Risotto a bit under done. 100% (just for showing up....)
Oyster- On the half shell with lobster and white wine sauce. Should have poached the oyster in the sauce prior to service. Who knew? 100% (again, just for showing up)
Overall, I got a 91% in the class. I barley overcame the deficit I received from the two days I missed the first week. Crazy! I can't believe some kids miss a day each week or more and still pass. Amazing.
Ok- Let's say I'm pretty much done with this phase. Christmas break starts this week and I'm off of work at the club after my shift on Friday night. Needless to say I'm tired and done with having a practical every day. Our last two days, although we've done our final already, we still have regular practicals to do.
Day 27
Plate 1- Seared Bass with Sauce Charon and Quinoa Salad
Plate 2- Bass Pauppiets with Sauce Vin Blanc
Day 28
Plate 3- Lobster- choice of preparation
Plate 4- Oysters- choice of preparation
Both days were conducted the same way with a demo the first half of class and production the second half. The days ran very smoothly, without incidence or anything amazing happening.
Results:
Seared Bass- Good. 98%
Pauppiets- Good, nice presentation. 100%
Lobster Risoto- Risotto a bit under done. 100% (just for showing up....)
Oyster- On the half shell with lobster and white wine sauce. Should have poached the oyster in the sauce prior to service. Who knew? 100% (again, just for showing up)
Overall, I got a 91% in the class. I barley overcame the deficit I received from the two days I missed the first week. Crazy! I can't believe some kids miss a day each week or more and still pass. Amazing.
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| Seared Bass, not my favorite.... |
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| Bass Paupiette |
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| George, the lobster, and Jeremy |
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| George and Risotto |
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