Baking 113

Yesterday we made chocolate souffles (no pictures =/ ) and molten lava cakes. So easy and delish!

Molten lava cake

For our practical today we had to produce one Charlotte Russe. (Ladyfingers around the side, filled with chocolate mousse, vanilla bavarian cream, and topped with a chocolate glaze.)

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Baking 113 Day 6

I love this little cake! It is so cute and it makes the perfect little personal dessert.

Ribbon (or stencil) Sponge Cake

filled with pomegranate mousse and topped with passion fruit mousse.

Decor paste.

Butter 3.5 oz

Powdered Sugar 3.5 oz

Egg whites 3.5 oz

Cake flour 3.8

Food coloring (as needed)

1. Cream together butter and p. sugar. Slowly beat in egg whites. Beat in flour and food coloring.

using a stencil, or your fingers, make a design on a silpat using the decor paste. (it needs to be thin.)

put in freezer.

Sponge Cake

Powdered Almonds 3.5 oz

Powdered Sugar 3 oz

Cake flour 1 oz

Whole eggs 4.75 oz

Egg whites 3.25 oz

Sugar .4 oz (2 & 1/2 tsp)

Butter, melted 1.25 oz

1. Sift together the p. almonds, p. sugar, and cake fl. Whip with the whole eggs until light and fluffy.

Make a meringue with the egg whites and sugar. Gently fold the meringue into the other mixture. Stir a little of the batter into the melted butter then add back to batter.

2. Pour onto frozen stencil paste and gently spread to cover the paste. Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes. The cake should have no color on it when it is done.

Mousse.

Gelatin 5 g

Sugar 25 g

Water 15 g

Fruit Puree 150 g

Heavy Whipping Cream 135 g

*Make twice using two different fruit purees.

Soak Gelatin sheets in cold water. Stir sugar and water in a pot over heat until sugar dissolves. Squeeze the water out of the gelatin and add gelatin to the sugar/water. Stir until gelatin melts. Add the fruit puree.

Whip HWC. Slowly fold the fruit puree into the whipped cream and refrigerate until firm.

Cut strips of the sponge cake and put in a silicone circle or oval mold (fill the molds with an acetate strip first) so the stencil is facing outward. Put a layer of sponge cake on the bottom. Make sure everything is fit in tight. Fill the cake with one fruit mousse (halfway up the acetate strip). Using the other fruit mousse, fill the mold all the way to the top of the acetate strip. Freeze until mousse is solid. Enjoy!

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Baking 113 Day 2

We are learning about set custards this week. I tried creme brulee for the first time today. O my goodness. I thought to myself, "WHY in the world have I never had this before?!" It was amazing.

We also made Chocolate Pots du Creme (not pictured) and Creme caramel.

Creme Caramel

Creme caramel

We learned to brulee three different ways. The first is what you will typically see in a restaurant. It is the "american" creme brulee. The second is a "french" brulee. The sugar is bruleed until it is really dark. The third is a mixture of brown sugar and sugar. It gives the creme brulee a maple taste. Personally, I liked the "french" brulee the best. The bitterness from the overdone sugar goes really well with the custard. It takes away some of the richness, making it easier to eat the whole thing! =)

1)"American" creme brulee. 2)"French" creme brulee. 3)"Maple" creme brulee

Not a great picture. But it shows the different types of creme brulee.

Creme Caramel:

For the caramel, boil 8 oz of sugar and 1 oz of water until the sugar turns to an amber or light honey color. Pour into 4 oz aluminum tins. Let harden.

Eggs 4 oz

Sugar 2 oz

Salt 1/8

Vanilla .125 oz

Milk 10 oz

(this is a 1/4 of a batch. it makes about three)

Heat sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk in a pot. Slowly temper the steaming milk mixture into beaten eggs. Pour onto hard caramel. Bake in a hot water bath in a 300 degree oven. The custard is done when it slightly juggles from side to side. Let it sit in a cooler overnight.

To serve, turn out onto plate.

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Baking 113 Day 1

I missed Monday because I had a doctors appointment. I went in early today and made this St. Honore Cake. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. This is the only thing that will be on the practical Friday. Let's hope I don't burn my caramel Friday like so many other students did!

One thing I learned while making this cake-boiling sugar BURNS. It pretty much sucks when it gets stuck on your fingers. That is something I am not looking forward to on Friday!

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Baking 112 Practical #3

For our last practical we had to make 1 Pithivier, Palmiers, and Mille Feuille (Napoleans)

Pithivier

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Baking 112 Day 12

Pictures of products from the puff pastry I made this week.

Yummy Parmesan cheese straws!

Palmiers. (Elephant Ears)

Baked Brie

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Laminating puff pastry

This is the third week of the class Viennoiserie and Laminated Doughs. With the danish and croissant dough (the 1st and 2nd weeks) we used English lamination. We learned French lamination by laminating puff pastry.

Puff Pastry

Bread flour 12 oz

Cake flour 4 oz

Butter 2 oz

Salt .25 oz

Water 9 oz

Butter Block

Butter 1 lb

Bread flour 2 oz

Prepare the butter block by mixing the flour and butter together. Fold a piece of parchment paper in half and place the butter mixture in between the paper. Using a bowl scraper, form into a square. Place in cooler until it hardens.

For the dough:

On work bench, mix together both flours and salt. Cut the butter into pieces. Cut the butter into the flour until the flour resembles cornmeal. Make sure there are no big pieces of butter left in the flour. Make a well in the center of flour pile. Pour water into well, and stir slowly until the flour and water become a paste. Knead the paste and the rest of the flour together until it looks like a shaggy mass. Wrap and refrigerate for thirty minutes.

1)After the dough has rested, make an "x" in the dough.

2)Roll out each hump one at a time. Do not flatten the center. Each arm should be thinner than the center.

3)Place the butter block in the center.

4) Fold each arm over the butter block one at a time. Make sure each arm of dough completely covers the block.

5)Roll out the dough. For the 1st bookfold, fold the ends in, so they meet in the middle.

6)Fold one half of the dough, over the other to complete the bookfold.

Repeat this process (of rolling and folding) 3 more times, for a total of four bookfolds. Let dough rest for 10 minutes in the cooler between each bookfold.

The dough is ready to use after four complete bookfolds.

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Baking 112 Practical #2

For our practical we had to present six brioche a tetes, and as many croissants, almond croissants, and pain au chocolate that we could get out of our croissant dough.

I received a 96%. Points were taken off because my brioche were slightly misshapen and my classic croissants were inconsistent (in size). But, my pain au chocolates were the best in the class. =)

practical platter

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Baking 112 Day 9

More Croissant dough products. So buttery and yummy!!

Bottom-pineapple twists. Top-apple croissants

Bottom-almond blackberry butterflies. Top-Coconut cream croissant.

(it is filled with coconut pastry cream)

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Croissant dough lamination.

I've had to laminate croissant dough three times this week. I think I have it down now. At least I hope I do, because our practical on it is tomorrow.

Croissant dough

Bread flour 2# 10 oz

Sugar 2.25 oz

Salt .75 oz

Instant Yeast .75 oz

Butter 4 oz

Milk 1# 12 0z

Mix all ingredients together with a dough hook on speed one for 3 minutes.

Proof dough for 15 minutes then refrigerate for 15 minutes.

For the butter packet

Bread flour 2 oz

Butter 1# 12 0z

so much butter!

Mix both ingredients together with a paddle until pliable.

Roll out dough to the size of a 1/2 sheet pan. Spread the butter on 2/3 of the dough.

Fold the unbuttered third over 1/3 of the butter.

Fold the last 1/3 of butter over the top and lock in the butter.

Let dough rest in the cooler for 15 minutes.

Roll the dough back out to the size of a 1/2 sheet pan. Fold 1/3 of the dough over. Fold the last 1/3 over the top. (Letter fold).

Let the dough rest in the cooler 15 minutes. Complete the letterfold process two more times, for a total of three letterfolds.

We let our dough rest in the cooler over night, and the next day we started our croissant shapes.

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Baking112 Day 7

Yesterday we made and laminated croissant and brioche dough. Today, we made different products out of each dough.

Brioche A Tete

Traditional croissants

left-Pain Au Chocolate. middle-croissants. right-Ham and cheese croissants. (yum!)

Fruit brioche (with pastry cream and dried cherries)

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Baking 112 Day 4

Today was a very light production day. We laminated our danish dough for our practical tomorrow. We also baked off Baklava and Spanikopita.

Baklava is layered phyllo sheets with a nut filling. Warm syrup is poured over the top after it is finished baking.

Spanikopita is a savory triangle bite. It is also made with layered phyllo sheets. Our Spanikopita was filled with sauted spinach, feta cheese, and pine nuts. A very welcome treat after eating so many sweets!

Baklava

Spanikopita

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