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!