Petit Fours!!!!

Literally translates to "little oven." All I know is, I LOVE petit fours. I'm not a fan so much of tarts/cakes, but if they come in mini form? I'm ecstatic! I still can't quite figure out why I love these so much...But, everything is better in mini-form, wouldn't you agree? Cute, finicky but dangerous. It is difficult to, for instance pipe 100 perfectly circular nickel sized cookies. But oh so worth it! And oh so dangerous to have say 200 mini cookies, that you periodically pop into your mouth, without notice, and all of sudden you've probably consumed 4 whole cookies. Whoops. Overall however, I'm loving this section! When I first was researching the school, when I saw a whole section dedicated to petit fours, I was sold (that and plated desserts). I've been looking forward to this since I began, and so far I haven't been disappointed! Macaroons and passion-fruit curd are in the mix tomorrow...

And, Alex arrives tonight!!! Which means the next 10 days will be full of many food-related adventures (the best kind of course!!!) Up first, Bo Ssam at Momofuku Ssam Bar; essentially, 9 of us are reserving a table for 4 hours and a whole slow cooked pork shoulder (and other things). Been wanting to do this for a long time, I seriously cannot wait!

Rum raisin palets (size of a nickel)

Beurre Noisette (brown butter) Financier, with chocolate

Tuiles-almond decorative item that tastes like a very crisp almond cookie

Perfect size for sending gifts!!

Park Slope

As promised-pictures of my new place (or room rather). So far, I absolutely love living here. Only downside? No longer am I conveniently located next to an express train (though, it actually takes me less time to get to class now). And the plethora of 24 hour (or late-hour) grocery stores are less available. But, overall I much, much, much prefer this new location.

The exam today was...strange. Normally, the written part is ridiculously easy, while the practical is very hard. In this case the opposite was true. Mostly, its just an adjustment to our new chef, and ironically, the sort of questions he asks on exams are what I would have anticipated initially, but have become slightly complacent as result of the ease of level 1. The practical aspect was very easy, slow going (as bread tends to be). We were tested on croissants (plain and chocolate), dinner rolls, and muffins of our choosing. Pretty basic, we even had enough time to throw together a pizza for lunch! Overall, great day. NOW, on to Petit Fours!!!

The neighborhood:



My (smaller) room:

Last day of Bread and New Digs.

I am 100% moved into my new Park Slope apartment. And, I'm in love with it. Though my room is slightly smaller (pictures to come, I promise!) the apartment itself is actually larger. Most importantly, its in a gorgeous area. This morning I walked to the subway by walking through blocks of tree-lined streets and brownstone apartments. Instead of busy streets, honking cabs, ambitious tourists, and lots and lots on concrete. I of course, loved my old apartment, but given how much time I spend in Brooklyn and lower manhattan this is MUCH more practical (and cheaper!). Plus, I forgot how great it is to feel like part of a neighborhood as opposed to a permanent hotel, the vibe is much more relaxed. And not to mention, the Park Slope farmer's market sets up literally across the street from me. I'm glad I lived in Manhattan, but now living in Brooklyn I doubt I'll go back! Now I'm sitting in my just decorated room sipping foret (a belgium beer) and snacking on quite possibly the best english muffin I've ever had (and yes, thats what we made today in class). I'm in such a great mood! And I directly attribute it to how happy living here makes me. However much I love moving around (I really do), I did miss a sense of home and community, I have that now!

In class, we ended bread today. Que triste indeed! But, whats next? PETIT FOURS!!!! I'm, clearly, excited! After tomorrow's exam, we'll start the new subject on Thursday. And friday? Macaroons!!!! Plus, this next exam we design our menu!! A chance at creative license? I can't wait!

Lastly, I have the great pleasure of exploring my new neighborhood and going food shopping at the various speciality purveyors in anticipation of Alex's arrival on Thursday. I absolutely love finding new, local artisan specialty producers. Plus, I consider it research! How am I to consider myself part of the New York food industry unless I know the farms we get our milk from? Or the small batch jams and cheese shops? For example, my new favorite jam comes from anarchy in a jar



The best English Muffins EVER.

Focaccia

Lemon and Poppy-Seed Muffins (prior to the lemoncello glaze)

Almond Croissant

Sweet-potato Brioche a tete!

Baguette Day!

I've been looking forward to this for a while! When it comes to breads, I view the baguette as the ultimate test of baking ability. I requires a great deal of patience, finesse, and intuition. There are few ingredients, no butter or other enrichments or additions to hide behind. The technique is nothing like my own. The product is also, very different. It's still good, I suppose...for fresh made bread :) The starter was "poolish," which is old dough, literally, dough we made before (in this case for the dinner rolls) that is incorporated during dough formation, resulting in a deeper, more complex flavor. In general when it comes to lean breads (flour, water, salt, yeast), the longer the process, the more flavorful. When I make a baguette, it takes a few days as well, but I don't use "old dough." What I LOVE about baguettes is the crunchy crust with a light, airy interior. To achieve this, I don't "punch down," instead, leave as much air as possible to allow holes to form. In class, we did punch down, which gave a tighter crumb. The difference is the ratio of taste, in the later you taste mostly the dough (normally, what you want), but for a baguette, I prefer the contrast and attention to the crust. Still, it did turn out well, and vastly better than any purchased baguette (unless it was made an hour ago!)

The day in general was better. Though, no less hectic. But knowing what to expect from the start helps quite a bit. I payed exceptionally close attention to doing everything a perfectly as possible, as quickly as possible. And...managed to keep up without much difficulty. Of course, after class I felt like I needed a nap. I forget that we "work" 40 hours a week, it is a full time job, energy wise. Essentially, I'll be perfectly fine, as long as I never mess up! If I'm careful, this shouldn't be a problem at all! And I am, very, very careful.

We also got to make a savory dish (very similar to a pizza)-trat flambe!

With caramelized onions, gruyere, lardon, and a creme fraiche based sauce.


Re-visiting croissant doughs (practice makes perfect after all!), plain, chocolate, ad ham and cheese.

ast, we made an oat bread.

It's a Whole New Game Now...

Yesterday began our new adventure in level 2. The kitchen is smaller (but colder), and the chef is a much appreciated change. Everything has changed, no longer are we told exactly what to do. We have to work as a 21-person team to make sure everything goes smoothly. We are entrusted to do what is needed. We're even given more creative license. We start off with more breads (which is great for me!). The chef has been working there for over a decade, soft spoken and although slightly intimidating, extremely nice. The room has a less judgmental vibe, instead of feeling like slightly incompetent students we more feel like trusted colleagues. While making bagels Chef Chris asked us to hold a few back for tomorrow's breakfast. He sent out to have salmon brought up from the restaurant so that we can have it with our bagels while we have our morning meeting/lecture. Not so bad.

Though, with our new freedom comes much more pressure. While yesterday went fine today was another story. I have up until this point been easily able to keep up, and while I've on occasion had off moments, or didn't enjoy the product we were making I never fought to keep up. This morning we were given a huge list of things that needed to get done. With no time to spare we began a hectic attempt to keep up. We have to stop at a moments notice to view demos on new things, which means even if you're in the middle of something, you drop it, and watch. Normally, this is fine. But today when mixing a dough right when I poured water into the kitchen aid he asked us to come to the chefs station. After the demo, I went back to my dough, which of course was ruined-if you don't mix immediately the water will clump the flour, and it's impossible to work with. I had to start over. I was so mad at myself, I should have known better! I should have at least mixed it for a few seconds and risked getting in trouble for not stopping. But, in a rush, I didn't think. I spent the next two hours in a panic. No matter how fast I worked I couldn't catch up. Combine this with a general lack of sleep and stress over other things (such as moving), I hit a wall. While doing dishes that wouldn't clean, I just started crying! I felt so ridiculous! Other people had this much trouble everyday. But for some reason everything just came at once and I broke down. I was mad at myself for getting into the situation in the first place, and beyond frustrated trying to fix it. I'm such a perfectionist, and am extremely hard on myself, it is not my best quality. I felt hot, light-headed, and couldn't do much more than attempt to breathe and not faint. A good friend came over, seeing my distress and told me to go outside for a minute. I did. My partner, Anne was sweet and said not to worry, she would handle it for ten minutes. So Michelle and I walked around the block, and I calmed down. At least, the people in my class are for the most part extremely compassionate people who genuinely care about you. I'm beyond thankful for these people. Even my chef pulled me aside and told me not to be so hard on myself, level 2 is meant to push you to your absolute limits. In fact, most classes can't finish the day (we did, thankfully). I did my best to stay calm and managed to catch up by working through lunch, and even managed to finish early. I know I have to accept that I will make mistakes, and thats fine. After all, this is school. If we were already capable, we wouldn't be here. Today was the hardest I've ever had. But in the end, it turned out to be one of the best in terms of learning. It was the first time I was really pushed, and I know I can still do it. But more, I still want to. Even through all of it, I never was mad at the Chef, never hated baking, and only ended up wanting to get better. I do truly love what I'm doing, and it was a great reminder of why I'm doing this in the first place, and now I can't wait to keep learning and improving. But wow. That was intense.

At the end of the day, we ended up with several great products and doughs set up for tomorrow.

New York Bagels

Olive Bread-one of my favorites

Apricot Danish

Irish Soda Bread

From Yesterday: Dinner Rolls

Jalapeno and raw corn cornbread with honey-butter glaze

Goodbye, Pastry 1.

Last day of Pastry level 1!! We're all getting used to the exams, so it wasn't a big deal, which is relieving!! The chefs ended the day by saying that our class was the most impressive they've seen in the past few years. I'm so glad to be par of this class, most people are not only talented but really dedicated. The class ahead of us is....interesting, mostly all I hear is locker-room related, but they seem to have a lot more issues than we do. But now its on to another challenge. Pastry level 2, where we get more freedom, but of course more responsibility. I'm feeling a bit burnt out, and really in need of a "spring break." But I'm hoping the change will bring a sense of newness, at least we get to start with breads! And soon, I will know how to temper chocolate!

Now. I'm off to bed at the late hour of 9PM for some MUCH needed make-up sleep.

Last Cakes

Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Cake

Flour-less Chocolate Cake with chocolate Meringue.

The Two Month Mark

I've officially been in Pastry School for two months (or 8 weeks), as of today! I'm happy to reflect that I've absolutely loved it. I keep thinking, it's absurd that everyday I get to spend 6 hours doing what I love most! Of course, there have been many frustrating moments, and projects I would care not to repeat, but I would expect that. I can't believe how much I've learned in this short amount of time. My skill set has grown exponentially and I can't wait to learn more. I know the difficulty and level of expectation jumps quite a bit next week in level two, and hearing the level three students who are about to graduate discuss the four day final, and wondering how they'll ever get it done is a bit intimidating. But I know, I'll be fine!
My only current concern is partner related. I have this great fear I'll by chance be paired with the one person who I believe would be detrimental to both my experience and learning. There are a handful of people I would prefer not to work with since our methods are very different. But this one person, who continually will short change her partners in attempt to get ahead herself, I really cannot imagine working with. I imagine for example being partners with her for the petit fours section. We get to design our own themed petit four for our exam. I'm looking forward to this (along with all the independent projects), but having her as a partner could ruin the whole experience. I normally would just "suck it up," after all, learning to work with people you dislike is a valuable skill. But in this case, I don't believe I could. I realize that the probability isn't super great that we'll work together, but I still think about it. And wonder, if the occasion comes in a section such as petit fours, or plated desserts, should I say something? This has happened in level 1, and the chef agreed, but I hate to be "that person." Hopefully, nothing happens, but I sort of want to have a plan in the event that I need to deal with it.

This weekend I'm meeting up with some classmates to work on our piping skills, mine are fine, but could use some work and at least this way its social!

Dobosh, layered chocolate buttercream cake with caramel chips.

The whole cake

Sacher cake; layered cake with apricot jam-easily the hardest thing I've made. The cake itself involves a meringue, a creamed butter, and folding it all together in attempt not to induce too much gluten, followed by an apricot and chocolate glaze (this particular chocolate-fondant glaze is near impossible to get right!).

Cakes, its a Like Hate Sort of Thing.

Cakes continue in Pastry 1. We have two more days and then the exam! And then...on to level 2! I've discovered I like non-french cakes, like today we did coffee, carrot, and chocolate cupcakes. That was fine, I didn't love it, but I liked it! Tomorrow is more French...we'll see how it goes. I was reassured when the vast majority of students agreed, cakes are not their favorite either...But we're almost done, and it's been fine. I'm getting really excited for the next section which involves breads and nutrition lessons!!
It was also great to get to share a few of my pastries with my family who visited over the weekend! I never take anything home, so I was excited I had someone to take a whole cake to!
So here are all (or most) of the cakes from the past couple of days.
From Top to Bottom Left to Right:
Coffee Dacquoise (layers of coffee buttercream and meringue), Pear Charlotte Russe (Ladyfingers, pear bavarian), Chocolate Cupcakes, Carrot Cake (marzipan carrot decore), Coffee Cake, Fruit Miroir (the cake on the cover of our book!), Jaconde (pistachio bavarian, with jelly rolls on the outside), Chocolate Mousse Cake, Marjolaine 7-layer cake, Lemon Cake.

A bit of Insomnia Induced Blogging (and cakes)

I occasionally can't sleep, in New York especially. Usually it has to do with my mind won't stop racing, and I have plenty to think about right now! Though admittedly I also took claritin today to help this head cold thing...one time I took what I thought was 2 12-hours, when in fact I took 2 24-hours. I think I slept for 2 hours that night? whoops...this time though I was sure of the dosage! But I figured, since I'm up, why not blog?!

Cakes are going fine, a bit more stressful because I generally just want to finish, and am not as excited as usual. ALTHOUGH...today we made the most incredible and moist angle food cake. Normally, I'm not a huge fan, it's fine but I generally consider it a vehicle for other things. But in this case, I could have eaten a great portion of it, limiting it to just a bite was tough...Here it is:


Now some "real" cakes:

My first ever "professional" cake! OK, I'm sort of proud...It's a genoise base with raspberry layers (three) and buttercream frosting

And a ganache cake: chocolate genoise, with ganache layers and a chocolate glaze.

I'm really hopping cakes will grow on me, really it's just that they're these huge mounds of pastry that I don't particularly want to eat, have much room for inventiveness in terms of alterations, and often involve the use of unnatural, or terrible tasting additions for aesthetic purposes ingredients, see: fondant/marzipan. There are some exceptions, like angle food! Or potentially a coconut cake, because really, coconut is the best. seriously.

I'm also aching a bit for this section to be over since next is lean breads and the petit fours! Two of my most favorite and anticipated sections!

The epidemic

Maybe epidemic is an over-statement, but a bunch of us are sick with some cold/sinus thing. Which made working in a hot kitchen on cakes even more difficult. Yesterday we finished up enriched breads, which means today we started the dreaded cake section. Which is also the last section in Pastry 1. AND we had to switch partners! Sad, I love Carla, but luckily I'm with a girl (Bella), who I have worked with before-and she's great too! I've been quite lucky in the partner lottery, hopefully it stays that way!

Today the only finished product was the pound cake (or petit pound cake). It's a very traditional, and very french recipe. I've done some research into it, since its one of those "easy to do alright, very difficult to do well" sort of cake. The recipe we use is pretty much the original...The problem is, there have been many updates that I believe improve the cake dramatically. This one, versus the one I made over the 4th was slightly less dense, but significantly less flavorful. Pretty boring actually. Plus we had issues keeping our emulsion during the egg addition (9! eggs get added). In recent recipes they substitute 3 eggs for some milk or cream, and a bit more sugar. I prefer the second method much more, resulting in a deeper flavor, color, and ease of execution. But, I am at the French Culinary Institute, so I suppose I just have to stick to the original! Or modify, but not tell...

We also made Genoise for a layer cake (to be completed tomorrow). I hate Genoise, I'm fine at making them, but I hate them. They taste boring, are very difficult to make properly, and usually result in my burning myself. The "French Issue" came up again. After doing some research I found the general conclusion to be, when heating up the initial sugar-egg combo, heat to about 85-90 degrees, so that while you create the whole egg foam you're around 75 degrees (the best temperature for stabilization-which is KEY). However, our recipe says 110 degrees! Apparently, French kitchens are traditionally very cool, so a higher temperature is needed since it will cool quickly. In our kitchen, I don't think that will be a problem. I'm going to try this next time. There's also a huge debate over starch content. Generally higher starch=lower genoise. BUT it is a flavor enhancer, and tenderizer...I'm not sure where to go on this one, we used a higher starch content flour, so maybe next time, I'll use lower (all purpose vs. cake). And perhaps brown the butter (a suggestion in several recipes I looked at).

Last we made buttercream, and did the first part of the assembly of the cake. This was simply covering the cake (cut into three layers with raspberry filling) in buttercream. This I was scared of. When it comes to cakes, I generally haven't had much luck. Especially related to icing them. Then again, the last time I made a cake was probably High School. The chef gave a demo, and assured us it was OK that ours weren't going to look that great, we've never done it before! His wasn't even perfect, then again he's not much for presentation. A chef from level three was there to offer help as well. He was great, and I can't wait to have him in class. He had several tricks related not only to frosting a cake, but making the genoise itself (that our chef didn't know). When we were sent back to our stations I painstakingly began the assembly. I went really slowly, probably trying to be too perfect. But in the end the chef walked by my cake and said "this is your first time? It's excellent, I'm impressed." Of course I was relieved (and VERY surprised), now the pressure is on to finish strong tomorrow! So while I may not really like cakes all that much, at least I'll manage!

Savoy Scones

Pullman Bread (aka-the white loaf)

Brioche Tart

Brioche Honey Comb

Pannettone (Italian Fruit Cake)

Petit Pound Cake

A Gluttonous 4th of July

After a slightly traumatic flight (oversold, delayed, missed connection, night in Minnesota) I managed to make it to San Francisco! And just in time to start prepping desserts. The weekend in general was surrounded by cooking, baking, and creative cocktail combinations. Essentially, perfect.

Before this however, I stuffed my suitcase with a loaf each of the challah and cinnamon-swirl bread. I also brought danishes and fruit cake straight from Thursday's class.

Rum-raisin with cinnamon sugar danishes. I'm not particularly a fan of danishes, I generally find them too sweet and sort of dense. Not these! Though I did opt out of the fondant/nappage glaze to avoid too much sweetness and a sticky tupperware situation. One of these also saved me the morning in of my Minnesota flight given the dismal choices available through my hotel.


Not your grandmother's fruit cake. I don't think I've actually ever tried fruit cake, or if I had it was clearly an unremarkable experience. But generally steered clear given their poor reputation. BUT these were good! Some loved them, and I liked them (didn't love), but they were for sure not disgusting! Which means, success!


Today, was croissant day! We made traditional and chocolate, with more to come in level 2. I'm glad to have at least started to get an idea how to make these!


Last, we made a quick stollen bread (which contains an absurd amount of fruit). The method of folding is evidently supposed to look like swaddling baby jesus (hmm?). Which we all of course thought was hilarious, not that you can tell with all the sugar topping. Carla and I did however attempt to make the "head" into a face (mine had a moustache), but since it got so covered up with the sugar-butter topping the effort was a bit for nothing, though it was quite amusing.


Mini rum-banana tarte tatin with homemade caramel ice-cream (plated on chocolate)
Back to the weekend, this was Saturday night's dessert (for which most work was done Friday). I of course made the puff pastry from scratch, and it was great! BUT it was much harder outside the professional kitchen, I can't really say why, the equipment (aka kitchenaid and oven) were the same, but it still proved harder to get a perfect result on the tartins.


Deconstructed Trifle. Pound cake with sour-cherry compote and lemon curd whipped cream with homemade raspberry prosecco sorbet.
This was the dessert for the 4th! It seems sort of American? Then again, our dinner was mexican-inspired and contained an entire pork shoulder, and infused butters: not exactly your average BBQ. So, it seemed fitting.

Tomorrow is the last day of enriched breads (lean bread is in a few weeks in level 2). And Wednesday we start cakes, ironically, making pound cake. Not super excited for this, but not dreading either, hopefully it will surprise me!