Challah, Challah!

Which sort of sounds like, "holla." Which Chef. Tom would yell out at random, amused with himself, then apologize. It was entertaining, at least.
It's so great to be back on familiar ground. I love love love breads. I love that I know just how the dough should feel as you pull it, knead it. The slight "singing" sound it makes when its done baking. It's a close relationship, it has to be. Bread, with all of its complexities; slight degrees difference in water temperature, egg composition, humidity, all of these factors and many, many more contribute to the result of these dramatic viennoiseries. The kitchen was calm today, there's to be no rushing this process. Careful watch as the yeast proof, and when they'll be ready is anyone's guess. We made whiskey-spiked sticky buns, Sally Lunn Rolls, Cinnamon Swirl Bread, and Challah! All basic techniques involving the direct dough method (everything all at once) as well as the sponge method (proofing yeast alone with water for 15 minutes to give the little fungi time to get started=more complex flavor profile). It was the easiest day by far. For Carla and I anyway, and about half the class. The other half struggled a lot. Unlike other pastries, bread requires many ambiguous sensory evaluations. You have to know what you're looking for, and be confident in your ability to recognize it. There are many "ish" moments in bread. "You just have to know" comes up a lot. Good thing, then, that I do. And I better relish it now, cakes are next, something I know NOTHING about...
Danish tomorrow! I can't wait to tackle this intimidating bread, challah was a breeze, how hard could this be? We'll see...

On another, unrelated note, tensions are running high in the kitchen. By now, most of us are a tight knit group, but there are a few outliers that create a bit of tension for some *luckily, not me.* Two girls got into a screaming match at lunch, over the loaf of bread used communally, it was surprising, though apparently mounting tension between the two for the past month caused it. At least, nothing is ever boring in Pastry Kitchen 1!


Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Sally Lunn Rolls

Spiked Sticky Buns

The inside view.

Exam #3. Check.

Exam number three...DONE! Very excited, and relieved...aside from a few minor issues, the cheese straws were a bit over baked, and I spent (wasted) a good ten minutes trying to hand whip milk (didn't notice I hadn't grabbed heavy cream). Whoops. The day was overall, a breeze. I finished feeling elated, rather than exhausted, with solid A's on both the practical and written to top it off! What a great day, one of the best so far! After a ginger beer bourbon with the girls I decided, why not walk home? The 3.5 miles home. I hadn't done that yet, and felt if I had the energy, why not? And, it wasn't that bad!

And whats next? BREAD!! I'm SO excited, giddy really, I've been waiting an month and a half for this! Granted, it's enriched breads-aka rich, like brioche (we don't do lean breads until level 2), but still! And besides, I've already got the baguette down right? Plus! I get to be partners with Carla, one of my favorite people in our class.This couldn't get much better! Basically, I'm excited if you couldn't tell.

I'm a bit nervous though, its one thing to bake for myself or my instructors, but I'll be packing up the variety of breads (Challah, Sally Lunn, Orange Swirl, and Danish) to bring with me to California this weekend. Cooking for friends and family is the best, but the pressure to deliver a top-notch product (self-imposed pressure) is quite high! Oh well, good motivation!

Au Revoir Feuillete

Apple-Fig Brandy Dartois


Classic Napoleon

The end of Puff Pastry. Despite the anguish it inflicted upon us all, I will in fact, miss it. Puff pastry to me, is one of the highlights of baking. I feel as though with practice, most anyone can make a decent tart. But a perfect puff pastry takes time, skill, and a lot of patience. I would have said, prior to this lesson I was alright at puff pastry. I could get it done, and it would taste pretty good. But now, knowing the subtle importance of a squared edge when rolling, or how a perfect lamination is not only essential, but very difficult to attain. I'm beginning to feel like a professional. Tomorrow we will be tested on our abilities, regardless of weather. I am of course a bit nervous, but confident I'll be fine.

Today was "such a Monday." As I walked to the subway, I realized I've forgotten my ID, not tragic, but annoying since I'll have to wait to gain entry to the locker rooms and hallway, since everything is card accessed. There's enough people usually around, so its not a big deal. As I'm about to change, I remember I've also forgotten pants! I can't very well do without those can I? I could, go upstairs and buy another pair, but I have two perfectly good pairs at home! After asking around, I was lucky to find out Sabrina had an extra pair, thank goodness! Off to a bit of a rocky start, but I quickly recovered. Good thing too, since today's theme was evidently speed. We were asked to complete in three hours what normally took at least 4. I think I'm pretty fast, but asking us to shave an hour off was asking a lot! I felt like for three hours I was flying around the room, barely getting a chance to breath. I made it, in fact, I actually got a bit ahead. Though not unscathed. I burnt myself, again! This time on a bain-marie melting chocolate! Stupid mistake, I knew that bowl was hot. Oh well, lesson learned. Again.

We again got to make an apple compote however we wanted. My brilliant partner Jen suggested adding figs. So we made an apple-fig (and brandy) compote with a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. It was great! And since Chef. Tom is back, we were not hesitant to introduce such a dominant flavor profile. He applauded us on our compote, leaving us feeling finally vindicated after last week's disappointment. The Napoleon is as always, difficult to decorate properly, but I feel like I did fine. A good end to the unit.

Bring on exam #3!

It can only get better.

After a hell-ish week, the temperature decided to give us a break. Though 83 is still not ideal for puff pastry, the ten degree difference was very notable. The dough actually cooperated! Plus, we had a plating day, which always means a bit more relaxed. We make something, plate it, eat it and discuss. A welcome change. From the inverse chocolate puff we made yesterday we made chocolate mille-feuille, with ganach topping. With alternating layers of puff pastry and a chocolate-mousse like filling, then topped with ganach and patterned with white-chocolate chevron. This was probably the most difficult of the day. Many people had quite a bit of difficulty with theirs, and several broke. Plus the topping is very time sensitive, you have to pour the ganach, spread, and decorate in under a minute before it gets too firm. That wasn't so bad for me, but I did get my first serious burn while baking. To ensure the dough doesn't bubble, you have to bake between two sheet pans, then quickly take the top off, brush with a corn syrup and get it back into the oven. While I was taking off the top baking sheet, the side of my thumb touched the hot pan, burning it. Then as I run to put it under water, the sink had just been used to wash dishes so some residual hot water remained in the pipe! I've gotten burns before, but that hot water on a fresh burn has to be one of the more painful experiences of my baking career! I managed to avoid burning myself during caramels, but then just picking up a pan I end up really hurting myself! It's alright though, baking battle wound!!

We also baked off our jalousies from yesterday, which are essentially giant pop tarts with a raspberry/pastry cream filling. It was quite good, though I think it may lend itself better to savory applications (spinach anyone?)


With the remaining dough we made mini banana tarts. Though not super interesting by themselves, they do lend well to plating with other flavors. On top of chocolate puff pastry (which, to be honest isn't that great) we layered bananas, then raw sugar which was torched to create a caramel! Simple, but how can you go wrong with caramelized bananas? And pretty much any chance to use a flame torch, I'm all over.

The finished tart! Plated with fresh-made chocolate ice-cream. I LOVE making ice-cream, we got an early lesson. Normally, we don't get to do this until level three, but because we're pretty fast and had a bit of extra time they gave a demo. We also made brown-butter ice-cream! Which was, amazing. Surprisingly, only a handful of us had any experience with brown butter. Personally, its one of my favorite additions to desserts. Brown butter caramels, for example.

I have to admit that even though I'm quite glad this section is almost over (one more day, then exam). I absolutely love puff pastry, almost as much a breads! So versatile, and such an incredible, warm, flaky texture...whats not to love? For part of the baking/cooking frenzy for the 4th of July, I'm thinking of making mini-banana tarte tatins, using ramekins, paired with a yet to be decided ice-cream. Though the main dessert is still a surprise :)

Don't be Jalousie!

I couldn't resist...Today was again, miserable weather-no surprise there, we started sweating the moment we walked in! Evidently, due to the building structure in order to keep all kitchens cool a multi-hundred thousand dollar upgrade would required. So, essentially we get to "tough it out." And it is tough! Trying to make inverse puff pastry (butter on the OUTSIDE as opposed to inside) in this weather is one of the most frustrating endeavors. Between feeling like your about to faint, the chef yelling at you to hurry up, and patience growing ever slimmer, we all hit a saturation point. Around 1:00pm, it hit, we all lost it. It became so absurd, it was absolutely hilarious. Everything was funny. Furiously trying to trim my pithiviers I hear banging, and then laughter. I look up and a girl at the front is smacking her dough with her rolling pin. This isn't so strange, after a long rest dough gets so hard, it's sometimes necessary, BUT, in this heat? not likely...The chef walks over, eyeing her frozen dough he says "what happened?" She blushes, and says, "oh, lots of things." After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to avoid the topic she pauses (I had thrown my dough back into the fridge at this point, too interested to trim efficiently) and then says, "I'm not going to lie, I froze it." We aren't supposed to freeze things since opening the freezer would result in massive melting eventually. We all wait, the room thick with anticipation of what was about to go down. Is he going to yell at her? The sheer terror in her eyes suggested she was preparing for the worst. However, the chef, realizing this has resulted in a class disturbance, simple says "I know." And walks away. It took every ounce of my (and most everyone's) will power not to burst out laughing. Why was this funny? What was happening to all of us? Conflict avoided, we should all go back to work. And yet, it wasn't so easy. The next hour and a half went as follows-we bake our pithiviers (I'm quite proud of mine), and fall into a chaotic non-productive mode. Nothing could be done. We were done. The chef, surprisingly let it happen, having us wrap up our prepped jalousie's for tomorrow's baking. During the discussion we were asked that if due to the heat, for the plating activity tomorrow if we would rather not use ice-cream. An uproar ensued. Of course everyone wanted ice-cream, what sort of absurd thought was this. One girl shouts "I don't care, I'll eat it out of the ice-cream maker if I have to, I WANT ice-cream." You wouldn't recognize our class as generally sensible adults, we were so tired, so worn to our last nerves many had regressed to a child-like delirium. The chef stands there looking nervous, says, OK! And before a potential mob-like scene took over, he dismissed up early (that NEVER happens). A loud cheer goes up as we spill into the hallways to go home. In the locker room someone says "I need a drink." And who didn't? Even normally reserved and exceptionally responsible students agreed. We all needed a drink. The insanity of the day, the stress of it all easily slipped away as the fourteen of us shared cold drinks at a local bar. The lost energy returned in full force, laughing hysterically recalling the day, I realize just how lucky we are to have each other. I laughed so much my face hurt. It was just what we needed, and decided it ought to be a weekly ritual. I had heard students in the program often became very close, and minus a few who don't seem interested in spending time with us, we've all bonded quite a bit. No wonder. And for me, thats what makes the program worth it. Yes, I'm learning a lot, and throughly enjoying doing what I love, but the relationships have become such an integral part of it all, I now can't imagine class without these people. While none of us are looking forward to the next exam (Tuesday), at least we feel a bit better about it. Knowing you aren't the only one whose dough won't cooperate helps quite a bit!
Despite the epic-ness of the day, the products came out well:
p.s. sorry for the terrible image quality, I keep forgetting my camera, the blackberry is a poor substitute.

My Pithivier!

And, what I consider my favorite recipe to date: Apple Tarte Tatin!

A bit of creative license-gone awry.

Bare with me here.
Normally, I'd like to avoid too much ranting about the less than perfect happenings in school, but then again, that wouldn't be interesting. I suppose "Today we made a lovely pear tart. It was delicious!" doesn't make for very informative posts does it? Though we did make lovely pear tarts (in cages! see below).

Today started out with the solemn announcement that today would be very hard. With the 90+ degree weather, try as we might, our puff pastry dough would be a headache! Oh, was it! Every time we took it out of the fridge, it melted. Working with it was near impossible and extremely frustrating. But we knew that going in. What made this day worse (was that possible) was a deceptive opportunity, granting us creative license. We made apple compote galettes. We've made apple compote before, so this time the chef says, do what you want with it! I was super excited. I grabbed some currants, rum, cardamon, and cinnamon and proceeded to make my compote. I think it turned out wonderfully! Most students (besides a handfull of us) decided to stick with the original recipe, which is fine, but I wasn't about to miss a rare opportunity to try our own method. My partner and I were very satisfied with the results (I even brought my leftover compote home, I don't bring anything home!). While the chef was making his rounds he stops by our station and smells the reducing compote, and asks whats in it. We tell him, and his response was, I can smell all that, but I doubt it tastes like apples anymore. We assured him it tasted very much like apples, we even added very little sugar to ensure it retained the tart flavor of apple, rather than the sweet currant taste. He looked unimpressed and continued down the line without so much as trying ours! Criticism is one thing, but we hadn't justly deserved it (the other chef later reassured us of our success, though she isn't the one grading us). The day continued with snide remarks, such as when my partner having overfilled her conversations (almond tart). He came over and told her, I said not to overfill, it's going to be a mess. She baked it anyway and they ended up being some of the best in the class (better than my "correct" tarts). His response? "You got lucky." How does one "get lucky" in baking? Anytime anyone says anything to contradict his supreme authority he can't take it. Our theory riding on over compensation for having to normally be assistant. Perhaps thats why whenever he lectures it includes name dropping every third sentence. Obnoxious little personality traits normally don't get to me, but on a day when you feel like absolutely nothing is working, it really gets to you. One girl almost cried. BUT, I take solace in the fact that despite all this, my products were good, I stuck to schedule, and didn't totally lose my mind. After all, what good would that have done. Plus, locker-room chatter is significantly more interesting and friendship building with a common enemy, I'm sure we'll think its hilarious in no time.
Tomorrow, we make pithivier, supposedly the hardest item yet. I'm excited though, I love pastry challenges! We'll see what I say tomorrow afternoon of course.

Now for today's makings:

Lovely pear tart, poached pear surrounded by puff pastry cage. AKA we got to use awesome lattice rollers!

Almond tart-super flaky and light (as puff pastry should be), filled with almond cream and baked.

And finally, the famed galette!

Jacques Torres and more Puff

Today, after class I went to my first demo! Held periodically in the school's theater guest chef come and demo a technique (for free!). Last week was Jacques Pepin, this week Jacques Torres, with a demo on working with sugar. Aside from being a good performer (he does TV shows after all), he has that ability to make even the most complicated sugar work seem like nothing. He showed us step by step how to mold and blow sugar. Prior to this, I hadn't been much for sugar work, partly because the risk of injuring myself while attempting to work with it is very high, and because it's purely show, not much in terms of eating. BUT, after his demo I started thinking, I ought to try this! And I will, in class at the very least. Apparently, he isn't only about chocolate (now I want chocolate...).

We also continued working with puff pastry. First, we baked off cheese straws (below), which with a healthy addition of cayenne, are pretty tasty! A good baked snack; light and spicy.

We also made a pineapple bar tart, which is essentially pineapple over almond cream on puff pastry, with toasted almonds. It was good, though we all agreed we aren't the best judges anymore. After your 80th batch of pastry cream, almond cream, or dough, you just can't stand to eat more. The air in the kitchen is so thick with sugar you feel like you've eaten a ton, without having had any at all!

Last, we made Mille-Feuille (Napoleons). Which, again was dough, pastry cream and puff pastry....BUT we got to BRAND it. Sticking skewers in the fire and branding powdered sugar.

It was pretty great, watching the hot steal burn into the sugar, emitting a cloud of smoke as you did so! Though, careful not to inhale as you brand! Most of us ended up coughing pretty hard at one point or another!


My current debate is what to make for dessert over the fourth of July weekend...If anyone has any brilliant ideas let me know!

New York Summers and Puff Pastry do NOT mix

Today we finished our first set of puff pastry. Palmiers! I've made these before, and they tasted very similar. Pretty basic, aside from the obnoxiousness that is trying to work with temperature sensitive dough in the high 80's with humidity! Here's to hoping the weather isn't terrible on the next exam! At home, if I don't feel like the dough is ready I can just leave it in the fridge, but when there's a deadline to make, working with the dough becomes a tense hurried affair.


We also made apple tartlettes (above) and Puff pastry with fresh fruit (below), which were fine, but not terribly exciting!



I realized today that by the end of next week, we'll be done with a quarter of the program! We'll also be in Pastry level two within a matter of weeks. While sometimes I feel like time is creeping by, this reminds me that before I know it, I'll be graduated!
Tomorrow I'm going to a demo by Jaques Torres (of the chocolate empire)-I haven't been to a demo yet, so I'm pretty excited, plus I absolutely love working with chocolate (though, MUCH to be improved upon)!
Last. Got my practical exam score, A again! Hoping I can keep it up! The topics of course are going to get harder, but at the same time more interesting. Given there's only so many french-dough-based-tart-things you can make before losing slight interest!

Puff Pastry

Ok, the above tart is actually not puff pastry, but rather a savory tomato tart we made on Friday. Monday we actually fire some puff pastries, Friday was mostly prep and this tart! I can't express how amazing the kitchen smelled while we all reduced the tomato sauce, the lack of sugar permeating the air was a such a welcome change!

The exam went well. Everyone (or most everyone) was livid at the results of our second performance review. Most of us felt we had improved, but all the evals were about 10% lower than last time, since a different chef was doing them. But, I still did fine, so I'm not personally concerned. There's quite a bit of drama in that school, I forget I am no longer attending a scientific based school, and in fact most people are more into the arts, and all that comes with. High-strung and lots of personality. At least things are never boring! After the exam a group of about ten us went for drinks where rumors of our less-than likable chef were revealed, the truth I can't tell, but as long as I improve in my technique and continue to love baking, I'm not terribly concerned.

Puff pastry, is one of my favorites. I'm not sure why, it's another dough, but something about the methodical predictability of it. I know that if I do exactly what I'm supposed to, it will turn out beautifully. To make classic puff pastry, you make the dough (simple butter-flour mixture). Then make a clover, in the middle place a slab of butter. Yes, a slab. almost the same weight as the dough itself, fold over the flaps and roll it out three times (resting in the fridge in between). I almost got in trouble in fact, due to my insistence of keeping to protocol. The rest is essential. As we were turning the dough (rolling out to create layers of delicious-buttery-flakey-ness), I noticed mine was still too elastic, the gluten too tight. This could ruin the result. On the last turn when class was near over I told the chef I would clean up and then quickly turn mine last minute since it wasn't done resting (everyone else had proceeded to start to roll theirs out). He asked if I had taken too long before, no, I was actually the first one with mine in the fridge. He basically informed me I better be done by the time class ended. I was, and as a result of waiting I believe my dough will reflect positively. I'm convinced he's waiting for me to mess up. But I'm not about to ruin the product because he doesn't trust my time management skills. Good thing he's only temporarily our chef!

My new favorite activity is walking an extra ten blocks to the Times Square subway when going to class. Once I hit 8th ave I start passing the masses of business men and women headed uptown to work. I can't express the simple joy I get out of walking in the opposite direction as them, headed to do something I truly love. I always feel extremely blessed that everyday I wake up I get to go do something I love, its not routine. Everyday is new and exciting. Not to say everyone I pass in a suit isn't happy with what they are doing, but for the first time in my academic career I feel entirely certain that what I'm doing is exactly what I ought to be, I couldn't be happier with my career path, I know how rare that is.

Pate a Choux, Fin.

Today was the last day of section two of level one; pate a choux. While this section has been moderately interesting it falls into the category of very traditional pastries, that for me, are good to know. But I probably won't utilize very much.

Cheese puffs, I was excited about these, thinking they were similar to the cuban pastries Alex and I had tried @ Portos in LA. Not so much, the gruyere is baked into the pastry (its hallow). They taste pretty good, but again, not super exciting!


St. Honre, a very French, very old pastry. Our chef began this with, it tastes alright, its not that exciting. But the techniques are indispensable. True..making the cream involves folding an Italian meringue into pastry cream. To make an Italian meringue, you must bring sugar to the soft ball state at the exact time that you whip the egg whites to a soft peak. At this point, you drizzle the sugar into the egg whites and whip it until smooth, shiny, and stiff. Time and temperature specific, this filling is technical, but fairly easy when you get the timing down.


Today, we finished by making Croquembouche. While I wasn't exactly thrilled, I did finally get better at piping small circles! And I'm getting more comfortable with piping in general.

Tomorrow we start pate feuilletee, more butter intensive dough...But in this section we get to make croissants! Anything bread-related is very exciting, and they are something I would love to master.

So on to studying for another exam! At least this time there's so little information there can't be many surprises.

The Science Behind the Myths

"It is not enough to know the principles, one needs to know how to manipulate"
~Dictionaire de Trevoux, in the first edition of Chemical Manipulation (1827)

For me, there is no baking without science. I cannot imagine being able to bake efficiently without understanding why I am doing these things. Obviously, plenty of the worlds best pastry chefs have minimal knowledge of the precise science of egg protein interactions in creme anglaise; the tempering eggs method that results in a perfectly smooth cream could have been discovered through trial and error, but if you just know the basis of the chemical reactions, it becomes much more simple.

Today in class we finished with a demo on Austrian Dumplings, the base of which is similar to pate a choux. As the chef placed the dumplings in boiling water he asked, and how do we know when they're done? Of course, the generally agreed upon answer was "when they float to the surface." Not true!!
Some background: pate a choux (in this case dumplings) and egg based pastries (such as quiche) puff up due to mechanical leavening. Eggs contain a lot of water (90% in whites, and 50% in yolks), when heated this water turns to steam and is trapped under the coagulated outer layer and pushes it up. The starch contained in the flour is insoluble when cold, but in hot water, it absorbs water (aka swelling). The density of starch is greater than water (why it falls to the bottom), and while throughout cooking the density of the dumpling (or gnocchi, or what have you) decreases, it never becomes lighter than water. So why does it rise? Water vapor forms bubbles that cling to the irregular surface and cause it to rise (take a cooked gnocchi, roll it around on a cutting board to "pop" the bubbles and it will again sink-even though it is fully cooked). Buoyancy occurs regardless of interior temperature, watch a small gnocchi and large both rise around the same time with drastically different temperatures. So, if you make your dumplings at a precise size, in a precise water temperature, these actions may occur at the same time (rising and fully cooked), but if not they may pop up well before they are in fact done. Further, the answer to why they come to the surface in the first place was "steam," in reference to the same steam that causes the dumplings to puff up. Again, not true.
I never know what to do in these situations! So, to be safe I don't say a thing. I'm not about to be known as "that girl" who thinks she knows everything, or insists on correcting less then pertinent information. But, still it bothers me. So to make myself feel a bit better about the mass mis-information relayed in class today, I'm writing up the truth in the hope that for perhaps a few people, this old myth can be dispelled.

More Pate a Choux and Plating

Paris-Brest

Profiterols

Swans

Today we worked again with pate a choux, the most difficult aspect of this dough for me is the pipping. It's an interesting "dough." It actually falls somewhere a dough and a batter. You cook the flour with butter and water, which tenderizes gluten proteins preventing them from developing elasticity, swells, and gelates the starch which turns the original batter to a dough, which you dry out in the pan. Then mixing in a stand mixer (or by hand), eggs are added which thins it to a near batter and allows air pockets to form. This dough is leavened by mechanical mechanisms, aka, steam which is trapped by the firm exterior, resulting in a hollow pastry. The moisture ratios vary depending on how much you dry it out in the pan, the humidity in the air, and the size and amount of eggs added. Once you figure out the best ratio, the dough is easy. Pipping into various shapes however, is not as easy! I'm doing fine, but could most definitely improve.

We also started learning basic plating, something I love! Though it was minimal, it was interesting. I really appreciate strong plating at a restaurant, and it seems like its often overlooked and under-rated so I was glad that attention was given in class not only to large volume situations, but fine dining as well. I'm excited to get into more advanced techniques-pour chocolate in the center of the plate was a bit anti-climatic for me.

I met with a career advisor today about a part time job. Hopefully I can start working soon! I could obviously use the extra cash flow, but more important is developing a resume since mine is not particularly strong in the pastry world. As well as gaining more experience. Right now I'm mostly looking at specialty shops and a few restaurants, while right now it feels like working would be overload, I think I should be able to handle it as I continue to get more comfortable. Then again, it only gets harder from here! We'll see how it all goes...

While I hate to make this claim too early, it would appear our class is getting along really well! The level 2 pastry students are often bickering about other classmates in the locker room, since there are two women's, not everyone is in the same place at the same time. These girls say quite mean things to one another, and I'm surprised by the cruel comments they make about one another. So far, everyone in our class is getting along quite well! I'm hoping it stays this way.

On a last note, I just got my practical exam score: 95%! Not a terrible start at all.

The Dangers of being "Sugar Forward"

Eclairs; vanilla-rum, chocolate, coffee.
Our lead chef has referenced on several occasions how he feels about sugar. He's very for it. In fact, he has even come up with a descriptor; "sugar forward." The amount of sugar that may be consumed during the 300 minutes of class a day is astounding. Personally, I never have more than a bite at the end. This morning when I walked into the locker room a whole group of girls were standing in a circle comparing how much weight they had gained. One said "In two months I've gained 20 pounds, my boyfriend isn't happy!" Others expressed their sympathy, agreeing it was near impossible not to gain weight (excluding an absurd metabolism). The men of course, don't seem to share the problem. Luckily, the more I bake and see what goes into the pastries, the less I want to eat it...Especially when something calls for 500g butter, and 12 eggs. umm, what? We'll see how this goes once we hit bread/chocolate...

I'm excited to get into Pastry 2 (July), since thats when we actually get to be a bit more creative, have more options with how we flavor and decorate things. I'm especially looking forward to the menu planning (dessert tasting), and trying to find ways to incorporate a bit of Molecular Gastronomy into it, if thats allowed of course...

Monday: Paris-Brest, Profiteroles, Cynges. So far so good. Making pate a choux isn't so hard, but the shaping takes some practice! I'm slowly getting it!

Its not REALLY like Top Chef

Today we had our first exam! The written went fine, they graded while we worked on our practical. Got an A-, which I'm fairly happy with, I lost points when I wasn't as explicit as apparently necessary...next time! Then, there was the practical. They told us that the first one should result in finishing early for some. Not so much. The deadline was 1:30pm, about half of us made it, the earliest time being 1:29. We finished at 1:30. Not a second to spare.
Lets start at 9:15, we find out we're making Baked Fruit Tart, Banana Cream, and Gingersnaps. My first thought, was oh! easy! Wrong. The fruit tart, yes, the banana cream, not so much. For both, pastry cream, a starch bound custard as the base is required. Like all custards, this one is a bit tricky. Starch is added as a stabilizer, but because egg contains alpha-amylase you have to vigorously whisk it for two minutes while boiling, otherwise your thick cream more resembles simple syrup and tastes starchy. This is after successfully tempering the eggs. After rolling out my tart doughs (I hate rolling out tart doughs), I made the pastry cream. Due to time restrictions I was also attempting to get my ingredients for ginger snaps prepped. I step away two seconds and my milk is about to boil over! It's supposed to boil, but not that much! I saved it, but not without a bit of spilling and a look from the head chef to indicate he had noticed this. Dangit. Oh well. I finish it, and it looked perfect. RELIEF. For the banana cream the pastry cream is whipped and rum is added. I added too much rum, on purpose. I noticed it helps disguise any mistakes a bit (not that there were any to my knowledge), and I think it tastes much better. The chef agreed, during my evaluation he noted my pastry cream tasted really good! Then, when taking my tartlets out of the tart liners one breaks! There are four, we need to present four. The chef looks at me and says, it happens, move on. So I did. Still, frustrated! Then after pipping decore on my tarts someone slid theirs a bit to close in the fridge and messed them up on one! AH! At least that wasn't my fault! Everything else luckily went smoothly. At the end I was 80% satisfied, though given the time restriction, I don't know that I could have done much better.
Time for the evaluation, I'm nervous. Overall, very strong apparently, just minor decore things and my Brisee was tender, but not quite flaky enough. I hate brisee, it's impossible! You have to cut in the butter and manage to keep small pieces of butter intact so that when you roll they "smear" and when baked melt, create steam and cause the tart to be flaky. All while adding very, very, little water and managing not to overwork! I'm getting better, but I think it's one of the harder things to do. I don't know my score for this, but it seems to have gone well. Other groups didn't finish on time, had under baked products, custards didn't set, and things that are far worse than my errors. I know I can't expect perfection right away, and I'm getting better at being OK with this, I'm working along side people who have been in the field for years, or who already went through culinary school, and I'm generally on par with them, and occasionally better. But, I don't always feel my products are my personal best.
Despite the fact that I haven't eaten all day (had to work through lunch), and my back and feet ache incredibly I feel great! I feel accomplished just getting that done! And now that I know what to expect, I know how I can improve for the next exam (next week!).
So whats up next? Pate a choux! Which I've only ever used to make chicken and dumplings from Keller's Ad Hoc. In the locker room a girl in Pastry 2 just laughed when we said we start that tomorrow, and said "good luck." We'll see what she means...We're also making Eclairs, while interesting I actually don't like them (too sweet!). We also have new partners, hopefully we'll mesh as well as my current partner and I did. My new partner has been through culinary and is incredibly fast, so I'm quite excited to work with her! So now, on to studying leavening mechanisms and previewing recipes (we wouldn't dream we would get the night off would we?!)

The End of Tarts

Today was our last day with Tarts/Cookies! Which means, tomorrow we have our first written and practical exam. The first hour is written, with such questions as, name the three forms of meringues and how you would prepare each. To be followed by four hours to complete three random-issued recipes from the past three weeks. I'm not particularly nervous, it seems pretty straight forward. But of course I'd like to do well! We got our first evaluations, in which I received an A. I was honestly a bit surprised considering I thought I had done well, but I view "A" as perfect, and I most definitely was not! But I also imagine that they will become more particular as time passes. So I'm off to study, or rather memorize. Unfortunately the scientific aspect isn't really tested that much, but that means it should be easy right? We'll see...


Linzer Torte; with creme d'amandes and compote a la framboise


Quiche Lorraine with Lardon and Gruyere


Caramel Walnut Tart


"Quick" apple tarts

The Bakers on Vespas Guild

Saturday night in way-the-hell-out-there Brooklyn a brilliant idea of baking and vespas developed over shared zirh-spiced fish. Essentially the plan entails cute girls on pastel colored vespas delivering baked goods. Brilliant. Now we just need a name. How could this not be a good idea? Plus anything that results in my owning a green pastel vespa is pretty ideal. Perhaps Prospect & Co. has it's first venture?

In other news, I just sent out my application to NYU! I walked it in, and could potentially hear from them as early as two weeks! Though, more likely a month. I'm applying for spring admission, though toying with the idea of delaying until fall and working to gain a bit of experience before hand (plus, then I could be in LA for a bit-not that I don't just LOVE New York winters). Just thoughts at the moment.

In class we baked, shocking, more tarts! and cookies. Below, clockwise from the left: A ganach tart (literally ganach in a tart-VERY rich), Chocolate Bavarian Tart, AKA chocolate flavored creme anglaise in a shell, spritz cookies (I LOVE these), and clafoutis, which Danny, Christina, Alex and I ate after a home-made pizza making party.

Class is going well, routine now. We're almost done with tarts and cookies, we take an exam Thursday, and start puff pastry on Friday! Tomorrow is petit quick apple tarts and bourbon pecan shortbread cookies! Only two out of 24 weeks done and I can already see marked improvement, excited to see how the rest goes! Not so excited to make my own wedding cake...At least I've found another girl who equally dislikes cakes, we may be the only two.

And then...Some more tarts.

The last couple of days were routine. AKA tarts. Getting quite good, only downside being instances such as when the instructor mentions we are to make more Pate Sucree I have to hold back from audibly groaning. Tuesday we did a lot of prep work for the week, and since we have sanitation lessons, only made petit fruit tarts (above). They were a nice break from the huge tarts, I could actually give these away!



Today we shaped and fired some vanilla crescents, which were surprisingly hard to shape! Unfortunately we likely have to do these on our test, so I ought to get a bit better before our first unit exam (next Friday)



We also made a savory onion tart, with blue cheese, walnuts and tomatoes. I didn't like it. Partially, the blue cheese was overwhelming, but because it was tart dough I had textural issues. The flavor was fine (though a bit salty from the cheese), but contrasted with the flaky, buttery texture of the dough, it was slightly unpleasant to chew.

This brought up something interesting. The new chef informed us all that he expected us to eat some of what we made, which makes sense considering how else are we to evaluate it? But, he then said something along the lines of "if we don't want to eat what we made, why are we here?" I didn't mention the fact that for me, its the science and the process of baking I enjoy. Not the finished product. In fact, I want to eat what I make less than if someone else were to make it. It's not that I don't think its good, its just a different experience. When I bake, it's to bake. For others, or for practical purposes (bread usually). When I eat, I want to try something new, something I'm NOT good at (yet), or something I've never thought of. Its a food experience (my favorite!), entirely separate from a baking experience. The exception is group cooking, one of my favorite things is to cook with friends, then enjoy it as a meal, but again, a totally different experience. I also didn't mention that many pastry chefs that are interviewed say they don't particularly care for sweets (can you blame them?). I know I'm the odd one out in the class, the one where baking professionally isn't the goal, so I completely understand the emphasis on commercial baking. Still, it was a bit frustrating feeling as if my professional goals are less relevant. Luckily, while I'm not really a fan of the chefs at the moment (hopefully this will change), I do love everything else!

Probably my favorite product thus far: Homemade fig Newtons! (below)-made with a fig compote...so much better than the store bought variety!



Tomorrow we take our food handlers permit exam. I'm unconcerned regarding my ability to pass, but our raw score is incorporated into our grade, which I realize doesn't need to be great, but is still motivation!