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.