bakery shift.

I have finally had to the chance to work in the bakery! 

Although the hours (7 PM to 3 AM) are hard, I have really enjoyed it. I've baked all kinds of great smelling breads! (LOVE the smell of fresh bread.)

Products ready to be delivered:

sheet pans of focaccia bread. (rosemary, parmesan, and pepper)

baguettes, demi baguettes, and multi-grain boules. 

par-baked ciabatta loaves and pillows. 

pastries. (muffins, brownies, biscotti, danishes, cookies, trailmix bars, croissants, and pan au chocolates.) 

hoagie rolls, kaiser rolls, and crackers. bagged and ready to go! 

olive boules, parm and garlic boules, and semolina boules. 

We usually make things like sliders, dinner rolls, and burger buns too. We had a pretty light night last night. I really enjoy it though! 

Read more...

Baking 220 Day 1& 2

On day one of Baking 220, Chef started us out making three different truffles. Orange truffles (hand rolled), Casis-black current-truffles (piped), and Rocher truffles (clusters).


orange truffles waiting to be dipped in chocolate


Casis truffles


Rocher (has a macadamia nut in the middle)

Today, we finished them off using tempered chocolate. The orange truffle and rocher got dipped in dark chocolate, and the casis got white chocolate.

Orange truffle ("haystack" style), Casis, & Rocher

These were so good!!!

After we finished those, we learned to make poly-carbonate molded truffles.

To do this, we have to use tempered chocolate. If the chocolate isn't tempered correctly, there is no way to save the truffles. You have to start completely over. It is so frustrating. But when the truffles pop perfectly out of the molds, the satisfaction is worth the frustration!

Mimosa truffles-half filled.

White Chocolate Mimosa truffles.

I was so happy when these came out perfect!! =D

Tomorrow=peanut butter fudge and caramels!!

Read more...

Baking 211 Day 8

There was only one thing wrong with class today. It was freezing.

Other than that, today was a great day! I got a 5 out of 5 on my frozen plated dessert! =D

I made a orange white chocolate parfait with cardamom macaroons. 

When Kyle was in Foundations 1, he had to learn and memorize different spices and herbs. He use to tell me that cardamom smells like fruit loops. I remebered this while looking for a way to flavor my macaroons. So, I gave it a try.

The macaroons tasted just like fruit loops. No lie. Everyone who tried it agreed. They were so tasty! I might make a batch here at home just for myself.  =)

Monday's plate requirements-the plate must have a cold component along with a hot component.
My key ingredient-bacon!

Tomorrow, I am participating in a gingerbread house competition. So excited! Wish me luck ;)

Read more...

Baking 211 Day7

I can not express how much I love this class. This class tends to stress people out, yet I have not stressed one bit. I am the stress queen! I stress about everything. It is unbelievable how I am relaxed and just having fun. It is amazing.

So, for my peanut butter cup plated dessert, I made a baked alaska.

We had chocolate ice cream in the freezer, which worked out great since our ice cream machine is broken.
I used the chocolate ice cream and a peanut butter cake. I melted chocolate and peanut butter together and put a thin layer of that between the cake and ice cream. It froze overnight and this morning, I went to class early and made a swiss meringue. I piped the meringue around the frozen icecream/cake, torched it (almost overdid it!), and then plated the dessert with a creme anglaise sauce.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that our plates were getting graded today. If I had remembered, I would have done something more complex, like a bavarian cream.

I received a 4 out of 5 for the overall plate. Hopefully, I will do better next time.

The requirements for tomorrows plate are simple-the dessert must be frozen, and it must have a secondary component on the side.

What I came up with, in my opinion, was really tasty!

Tune in tomorrow to read about a "fruit loop" macaroon!! =)

Read more...

Baking 211 Day 6

Today was loads of fun. Before I get to the fun part....I'll post my plate. I did not like this plate at all today. But, I ran out of time, and couldn't change anything. I made a raspberry chiboust and froze it overnight. For some reason, it did not set up all the way, so it was partially melted. I plated it with lemon madelines, and a blackberry compote sauce. The sauce thickened up way more than I expected it too. It didn't work for me like I wanted, which was part of the reason I don't like this plate. Even though I was frustrated with it, I recieved a lot of complements on the plate.

After plating, Chef passed around a bowl full of little pieces of paper. On each paper was written a different candy bar name. Chef told us that we had to take the flavors from that candy bar and make a dessert. She gave us all day to work on it, and we will have an hour tomorrow to finish it off and plate it.

I received Peanut Butter Cup!!! I was so excited when I saw that. I had a lot of fun with it. So many different ideas banged around inside my head, but I finally chose one.

Come back tomorrow to see what I made! =D

Read more...

Baking 211 Day 6

I absolutely love this class. It is my favorite so far. Chef said that a lot of people dread this class. I can not imagine why! It is amazing!

We started our day by making more garnishes for our upcoming plates.
Yesterday, we made a frozen dessert named Julianna. It is made of praline cream and vanilla cream with layers of Genoise (sponge cake) on the inside. We finished the desserts today with a glaze before plating them.
After each student presented her plate, we worked on a dessert for tomorrow. I got done early, so I tempered chocolate to make chocolate garnishes. I managed to get chocolate everywhere. It is so messy. I hate tempering chocolate, but it is something I need to get used too.

One thing I really do not like about this class, is that the school only provides round plates. There are no square, rectangle, or triangle plates. This morning, I convinced Kyle to let me borrow his square plate, just for one day.

I got loads of complements on my plated dessert. Everyone, including Chef, loved it. I am happy with the way it came out. =)

Yesterday, my partner and I made chocolate squares with a woodgrain pattern. I shingled those against the base of the cake. I used caramel and chocolate for the sauce. For garnish I used a poppyseed wafer, whipped cream, and a blackberry.

Read more...

Baking 211 Day 5

Today, each student plated a Monte Carlo. It is a frozen dessert made of almond cream, a meringue disk, a chocolate almond sponge cake, and apricot compote.

Here is my plate

While I was waiting on the other students to finish, I played around with some garnishes I had made.

The rest of the day, we made another frozen dessert we will be plating tomorrow. 

Read more...

Baking 211 Day 4

We didn't have time yesterday to make chocolate garnishes, so that is how we started our day today. I usually hate tempering chocolate, but I didn't mind it today. I had fun with it! After we finished making chocolate, sugar, and cookie garnishes, we plated the cakes we made for our practical last Monday. Chef critiqued each plate, and then we made a small dessert named Monte Carlo. It is a frozen almond cream cake with a meringue disk, an almond chocolate sponge disk, and an apricot compote on the inside. We are going to plate it Monday.

Chef is doing a candy cane workshop tomorrow. Both Kyle and I signed up. I can't wait! I love candy canes and we are going to have a blast learning how to make them!

plated dessert from today

Read more...

Baking 211 Day 1 Advanced Patisserie Techniques (Plated Desserts)

Today was possibly the best day of class so far. It was our first day of the plated dessert rotation. Each student got a "mystery basket". Each "basket" (it was really a half sheet pan) had three different flavors in it. Each student was instructed to come up with one plated dessert using all of the flavors.

My basket contained almonds, strawberries, and dark chocolate. Today showed me just how much I have actually learned. At first, I was a little stressed about the whole mystery basket thing, but I had a blast! It really surprised me.

I chose to make a Chocolate Genoise (Chocolate Sponge Cake) with Almond Mousseline (kind of like almond whip cream). I maseraded the strawberries in a bit of almond extract and sugar. I used the juice the strawberries made to soak each layer of chocolate Genoise.

It turned out pretty good. It was very almondy.

Even though it needs a lot of work, I got a lot of compliments on the plate.
Tomorrow we are working with chocolate! We are learning more sauces and garnishes. =)

Read more...

Baking 114 Day 11

We finished our L'exotique today. We got to spray paint with chocolate! This is what we have to do next Monday for our practical. It is a almond sponge cake surrounding layers of coconut sponge cake, passion fruit mousse, and caramelized bananas. It also has a mango jellied center.

L'exotique

Read more...

Baking 114 Day 3

On Monday we made devil's food cake, and today we used it to make black forest cake.

This cake is filled with cherries and swiss meringue butter cream. It is topped with chocolate ganache, cherries and butter cream. It is absolutely DELICIOUS!

Devil's food cake:

1) Sift together

• cake flour 6 oz
• Cocoa 1 oz
• Salt .125 oz
• baking powder .165 oz

2)Add 3.5 oz of nutex (hi ratio shortening) to dry ingredients and mix (with paddle attachment) on speed 1 for 2 minutes.

3)Add

• sugar 8 oz
• milk 4 oz
• vanilla 1/2 tsp

4)Mix on speed 1 for 4 minutes. Add

• milk 3 oz
• eggs 4 oz (beat with milk before adding to bowl)

5 ) continue to beat batter for 5 minutes on speed 1.

Fill an 8" cake pan 1/3 of the way full. (do not spray pan)

Bake in 350 degree oven until the cake springs back when touched.

After the cake has cooled, cut it in half. Pipe a border of buttercream around the edge. Fill the center with one layer of canned cherries. Put the second layer of cake on top. Apply a thin layer of buttercream (a crumb coat) and put cake in cooler until the buttercream firms up.

6) boil 6 oz of heavy whipping cream pour over 8 oz of chocolate. Let the cream sit on top for a minute or so to melt the chocolate. Stir together. Pour ganache over cake. Decorate as desired.

Enjoy!

For the buttercream:

warm 5 oz of egg whites and 10 oz of sugar over a double boiler until the sugar is dissolved. Whip on speed 3 until the meringue comes to room temp (or body temp). On speed two add chunks of butter (12 oz). Whip until it comes to the right consistency.

Read more...

Baking 113 Day 11

Yesterday we started making a triple chocolate Bavarian. We finished it today. The bottom layer is melted semi-sweet chocolate Bavarian cream. The middle is milk chocolate and the top is white chocolate. After freezing, it is stopped with a chocolate glaze. "Bavarois" is written on top in white chocolate.

Read more...

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.)

Read more...

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

Read more...

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)

Read more...

Petit four practical

For our practical last friday, we had to present five petit fours. This is my petit four platter.

top-madeleines. right-fresh fruit tartlets with lemon curd. bottom-macaroons with raspberry filling. left-cats's tongue. middle-mini feulle d' automne

I made a 96%!

Read more...