Week 9 Lab - :(

Unfortunately, I missed lab tonite. I was sick with a fever at home. I was pretty bummed I couldn't be there. I even got myself a fancy candy thermometer to bring to class. Sucks!

Week 9 - Lecture - Frosting

This week we learned about different types of frosting. Just a small change in preparation can change what kind of frosting it is entirely. Niki and I actually went to Michael's today to pick up some tools for lab on Wednesday. Got some tips and disposable pastry bags along with a baby offset. Ooh, and I got a bunch of food coloring paste!

Week 8 - Cakes - Chiffon and Yellow

Tonite we made some lemon chiffon cake. It was made my making a meringe mixture and a mixture that has the yolks. You fold the meringue mixture into the yolk mixture, but very delicately, so that it is light and fluffy! I got to pour my batter into an angel food pan. It has little "feet" on it so you can turn it upside down when the cake is done. Doing this prevents the cake from falling. Then I made the yellow cake. The batter itself was thick as hell and was pretty difficult to level in the cake pan. Chef later said that the recipe may be incorrect. The one that I had said to add 6 yolks, but he had a few people add 6 whole eggs to the batter to see how it turned out. Mine turned out okay. I didn't think it looked wrong at all and it smelled pretty great. When the chiffon had cooled, I took it out of the pan and drizzled some glaze that I made from powdered sugar, lemon juice and grated lemon peel. My mom took it to work and her co-worker thought it was delicious and ended up taking the entire cake home. I get enough sweets at the bakery and really don't need them hanging around the house.
Forgot my camera, so no pics! Sorry!

Week 8 - Lecture - Cakes!

This week we learned about cakes. We are going to make a chiffon cake and yellow vanilla cake that we will frost next week. We went over the different ingredients in cake and the roles that they play in the structure. Pretty interesting stuff!

Week 7 - Lab - Pocky, Sugar, TuillesI

Lisa and I met up in the library before lab and set up a bit of a game plan. We figured we would get of the ingredients together for each recipe before we began. We started out with the pocky. Lisa pretty much handled the assembly of these and they turned out exactly as they should have. We then got started on the tuille cookies, which were pretty hard to manipulate. I tried to get some nice little "cigarrette" rolls going, but it was pretty hard to do, since the cookie hardens up very fast and it difficult to work with. And it was very hot and I burnt a few fingers in the process. Then we finished with our sugar cookies. We made the dough earlier and by the time we started rolling it out, it was nice and firm. I made mine into little hearts and pumpkins. I decorated the hearts using a glaze made from powdered sugar and egg whites. I made it pink! What we also did in lab this night was test out every groups cookies and discuss them. It was great to see what other people's take is on the same cookie. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics of the cookies. And I even remembered my camera this time!

Week 7 - Lecture - Cookies

This week we learned all about cookies. I am working Lisa this week. We are going to be making pocky, sugar cookies and tuille cookies. I'm a little bit nervous about the pocky. I've seen it before but never tried it, so I'm curious as to how it'll turn out. Gonna bring the few cookie cutters I have for the sugar cookies.

Week 6 Lab! Swans and Eclairs!

So, tonite we made more pastry cream. I am becoming and expert at this as I make it a few times a week at the bakery and this is the second time we have made it in lab. After I finished with the pastry cream, I started on the choux paste. It started out with some butter and flour in a pan that you just keep cooking until it's at the right consistency. Then you add it to the mixer with a paddle attachment and just let it mix for a bit to cool off. Then you add eggs one at a time until it gets to a nice pastey texture. I think I used about 7 eggs. I then piped out little dollops and logs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment. Then I piped out little "2"'s that would serve as the necks for the swans. Then I made the chantilly creme, which consisted of whipping cream, vanilla and sugar. You basically just whip it up all together until stiff peaks form. Now comes the swan assembly! I just cut off the tops if the puffs I made with the pate a choux, cut those in half. Then I coated the bottom part of the puff with a little bit of pastry cream. Then I piped out a layer of chantilly creme. I then put in the neck and covered the bottom part with another piping of chantilly cream. Then I just put the wings on and, wa lah! A Swan! I used the little logs I piped out to make eclairs. I just poked a hole in them and filled them up with pastry cream, then I dipped them in some chocolate ganache that Chef Mark made.

Week 6 - Lecture - Classic Pastries

This week we are learning about puff pastry and pate a choux. We aren't going to be making any puff pastry, but will be using pre-made product since it is very time consuming to make. But, we are going to make napoleans with it! Next we are going to make pate a choux swans and eclairs! I have made pate a choux only once at the bakery and it was on my first week, so I'm not too familiar with it and am very nervous!

Week 5 Lab - Creme Anglaise/Floating Islands/Flan

This week we tacked creme anglaise, flan and creme brulee. The creme anglaise wasn't too hard to make and turned out pretty great. The flan was okay, but the sugar that I put on the bottom of the ramekin was really hard to get out. We had made creme brulee previously in one of our previous courses, so that was pretty simple. The only thing was that I did not put enough sugar on top, so when I torched the sugar, it ended up burning part of the custard. We also made floating island with our creme anglaise. We did this by making some meringue and then added little dollops of it to the creme while it was over the stovetop. I just kinda plopped it on there and cooked it on both sides. I used some sugar that chef laid out on the sil-mat to make a little decoration on the plate. This is it!

Week 5 - Dessert Sauces

This week we took our midterm, which I did horrible on. I had the steps of baking correct the first time, but started second guessing myself and rearranged a few steps. I should have left them alone! We also learned about chocolate tonite! Different types of chocolate and whatnot. Also that white chocolate technically is not chocolate because it doesn't actually contain any cocoa. I actually went to a chocolate exhibit a few years ago at the Field Museum that was pretty interesting. I actually knew quite a bit already, but there is always more to learn! Chef also took some time out of his busy schedule at work to create some special truffles for the class. He made three different types for each student. One had basil in it, one other had cayenne pepper and dried pumpkin and the last one had rosemary and port. I liked the first two, but I was not fond of the rosemary and port. Mainly I just do not like rosemary at all. It's one of my least favorite herbs and I cannot stand the taste of it. I tried to like the truffle but just couldn't do it! It was really great to test out some flavor combinations that I wouldn't go seek out on my own though!

Week 4 - Field Trip to Harvest Bread Co. & Dan McGees!

Instead of lab tonite, we are venturing out to Harvest Bread Company in Orland Park and then to Dan McGee's in Frankfort. First we stopped off at Harvest where we were met by the owner. She sampled many different varieties of bread for us to try. She then gave us a tour of the back and showed us where they mill their own wheat and where they mix the bread. Those mixers are the largest I have ever seen! She showed us where they knead out the dough and she showed us the oven last. It was just one big oven that rotated.
Then we were off to Dan McGee's! He had a menu all set up for us. We could either choose a mushroom soup or salad for our appetizer and then either a pork chop, chicken or salmon. I had the chicken. I didn't realize that it would be covered in tomato sauce. If I knew that, I most likely would've gone with the pork. It was on top of asiago mashed potatoes, which were okay, but were also covered in the sauce. I'm just kind of finicky and like everything to be separate. It was good, but it just wasn't my thing. After the entree several different desserts were brought out, like pumpkin creme brulee, chocolate souflee and panna cotta. They were all delicious!

Week 4 Lecture - Custards and Creams

This week we learned about different types of custards and creams. Most creams are thickened using eggs, except for pastry cream, which uses cornstarch. The more eggs that are added to the mixture, the thicker and richer it will be. There are stirred and baked custards. Stirred custards are cooked over the stovetop, such as pastry cream and creme anglaise. Baked custards are cooked in the oven, usually in a baine marie. Creme brulee and cheesecake are considered baked custards. Also, this week we do not have lab, but instead have a field trip. We are first going to the Harvest Bread Company followed by dinner at Dan McGees!

Lab for Pies and Tarts...

Wednesday we did pies and tarts, which is something I am pretty familiar with since I love making pies and tarts all the time! My apple pie came out pretty awesome and the crust kicked some serious ass. I have a pie crust recipe that I've been pretty devoted to, but that may change. I made a pretty lattice crust which garnered me some extra points, which were needed cause my banana cream pie did not look so pretty. I never heard of using a graham cracker crust for a banana cream pie, so that was a bit odd. Also, never ever heard of using meringue for a topping. When I think of banana cream, usually a whipped cream topping comes to mind. Not a fan of this pie. The filling was good, but I didn't like anything else about it. I would have used a regular pie crust and whipped cream topping. But, my pie looked like crap. I burnt the top the first time I put it under the salamander, so I had to take the burnt part off and try again. This is the result. Gross. Onto the tart! I was quite pleased with how the tart crust came out. My pastry cream came out well, even though Chef said it was a bit thick from what he could recall. (Lies.) It was not too thick. It was perfect. Who wants runny pastry cream? Not I! I decorated it with fruit. Ta-da...

Nervous about lab tonite...

Not sure why. I make pies and tarts all the time. Maybe it's just because they are recipes I've never used before...maybe since I'll only have a tiny are with which to work...not sure. I'm really hoping that we can have our own stations tonite. I don't like being so cramped. I tried to scale the pastry cream recipe, but for some reason it will not work for me. Grrr. I'm most likely going to arrive early and see if I can get it to work at the computers in the library. Or just photocopy from the book and scale it myself. It may be worth the 10 cents to do that. I just hope I don't choke!

Lab for Yeast Breads...

I started off making the rye bread while Niki was working on the pecan sticky buns. Chef Mark started the sponge for us before class began, so while I was waiting for that to ferment I measured out all the ingredients I would need for the rye and foccacia. Once the sponge was ready, I added it all to the mixer. I let it mix with the dough hook for a good 15 minutes and it didn't look like the gluten was developing so well, so Chef Mark said to take it and hand knead it. I then kneaded it by hand for another 10 minutes, but the consistency never got to where it needed to be. Chef then decided to take the dough and throw it in the larger mixer for another 15 minutes, at which point it didn't look any different than it had before. We just decided to then proof it and see what happens. Then I just went ahead and started on the foccacia. I already had my ingredients together, so it went fairly quickly. I added the sugar, yeast and water to the mixer and let that go for a minute or two, until it had a nice consistency. I then slowly added the flour to the yeast mixture. I let it mix for another 5 minutes and then took it out and hand kneaded for a few minutes. Then it went into the proofer! After giving it some time to rise, we took it out and I punched it. Then I spread it out onto a parchment lined half-sheet pan and brushed some olive oil over it, then back into the proofer to rise again. After that we tossed it into the oven, after poking it with my fingers. Halfway thru the baking process, we sprinkled some asiago cheese and baked another 10 minutes. The cheese didn't get the brown color we were hoping for, so after the bread was done we slid it under the salamander for a few minutes to get a nice toasty color. I'm not sure about the process for the sticky buns, as Niki did all of that on her own, but they were quite tasty! The rye bread never actually rose and didn't turn out so well. Chef said it was most likely due to the flour that was used, which was wheat. If we had some actual rye flour it would have turned out better. I wasn't too disappointed since rye bread isn't my favorite.

Yeast Breads - Lecture

I'm a little nervous about Wednesday's lab. I love to bake, but yeast breads were never anything I've tried to tackle. I've wanted to, but felt like I didn't have the time or equipment to get it done. Also, I'm all for the sweet stuff, so if I'm gonna make it, it's gonna be sweet! I have to make sure to read the recipes thoroughly and repeatedly to get it in my head. I'm working with my wonderful and beautiful friend Niki tomorrow, so hopefully all will go well. She seems pretty confident that we'll do okay, so I'm just going to have to lean on her for some support!
We shall see how it all turns out!

First Lab......

I was insanely nervous on our first lab for baking and pastries. This is what I love to do, so I feel like I have to really step it up. We were to share workstations, which we had never done before (and I hope we don't do again....did not like). Becky and I shared a workstation and all went well, but it was a bit cramped. I started out making the lemon tea bread and was sooo nervous I ended up not reading the recipe correctly and added more sugar that was needed. I knew my cake would end up a bit flat, but I didn't feel like starting over, so I just popped it in the oven anyway. Next were the blueberry muffins. Those went a little bit better and I really had no issue with those. Then we made the biscuits, which I was confident would turn out well. I make scones regularly, and biscuits are made by the same process. My biscuits actually did turn out well and I got all the points for those! Chef said there was minimal tunneling on the muffins and the tea bread turned out exactly as I thought would. I ended up doing quite well in spite of the tea bread issue.

I have also attached a picture of some mini-tarts that I made for my best friend's wedding rehearsal dinner. They turned out wonderfully and everyone loved them! They were a hit! I made fruit tarts, coconut cream and banana cream. It was the first time I had made pastry cream in my own kitchen and I was very happy that I didn't screw it up! I made everything from scratch...even whipped my own whipped cream.

Hello!

Will be blogging soon!