So this quarter I am taking centerpieces, confections, and chocolates. We spent the first week just learning the three ways to temper chocolate. My favorite ways are seeding or tabling. Seeding is using a double boiler to melt untempered chocolate and then once it is up to 50degrees C, take it off the heat and wipe the bottom down to make sure no water gets into the chocolate. Then you add tempered chocolates to the melted chocolate while stirring to add air and cool down the chocolate to 30 degrees C. Once that is done you have to heat the chocolate to 31 degrees C which is 20 seconds back on your hot water of the double boiler. This can be slow but its clean which is nice when you need things to do.
Tabling on the other hand is different because you pour the melted chocolate on a cold table like metal or marble and then you move with bench knifes to keep the chocolate moving and to bring the temperature down.
We have learned how to make molded chocolates and noncrystalline sugar confections. It has been fun this quarter!
we are working on chocolate sculptures for our final projects and that will be shown as I get working on it!
Have a great Sunday!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Bread Maker
Okay so I know that I am a Baking student and I have to take artisan breads next quarter. I love homemade bread but sometimes especially in Indiana it can be a little impractical to try and find a warm place to proof and rest your bread.
I absolutely adore my bread-maker. Today we decided we wanted pizza instead of picking up the phone we made our own. I did break down and use a prepared box of bread mix but they are pre-measured for bread-makers. This makes things nice and they come with yeast already. So I used a sourdough bread and set my bread-maker to dough and it did all the mixing and proofing and kneading. It is a beautiful thing for home made dough. 1hr and 35mins later I had this beautiful dough for pizza.
The next little thing I did do I learned from my baking class. When I heated up the oven I put a Iron cast pan on the bottom rack and let it heat up with the oven. Then when the oven was hot and I put my pizza in I put about a 1 &1/2 cups of water into the pan this allowed for steam to move through the oven. This process we used in the ovens at school. Though the stone ovens at school had a steam button and didnt need the skillet. This steaming allows the crust to stay moist for a bit and then grow hard so the inside of your bread is nice and fluffy while the outside is nice and crisp.
This worked great for the pizza giving it just that nice hard crust but the nice inside that was light and fluffy!! I Highly recommend making your own pizza even if you do the dough by hand try out steaming your oven! Make sure you don't open the oven more then needed, maybe just when the pizza is done! It will help keep the moisture and heat trapped in the oven and help the pizza or bread cook evenly and much better!
I absolutely adore my bread-maker. Today we decided we wanted pizza instead of picking up the phone we made our own. I did break down and use a prepared box of bread mix but they are pre-measured for bread-makers. This makes things nice and they come with yeast already. So I used a sourdough bread and set my bread-maker to dough and it did all the mixing and proofing and kneading. It is a beautiful thing for home made dough. 1hr and 35mins later I had this beautiful dough for pizza.
The next little thing I did do I learned from my baking class. When I heated up the oven I put a Iron cast pan on the bottom rack and let it heat up with the oven. Then when the oven was hot and I put my pizza in I put about a 1 &1/2 cups of water into the pan this allowed for steam to move through the oven. This process we used in the ovens at school. Though the stone ovens at school had a steam button and didnt need the skillet. This steaming allows the crust to stay moist for a bit and then grow hard so the inside of your bread is nice and fluffy while the outside is nice and crisp.
This worked great for the pizza giving it just that nice hard crust but the nice inside that was light and fluffy!! I Highly recommend making your own pizza even if you do the dough by hand try out steaming your oven! Make sure you don't open the oven more then needed, maybe just when the pizza is done! It will help keep the moisture and heat trapped in the oven and help the pizza or bread cook evenly and much better!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Health Nut
So its the new year and I have totally been on a health kick. Right your thinking but your a baker and a pastry student how can you be on a health kick? Well I can!
I am so not a Oatmeal and raisin cookie person but my dad is and I make them just for him all the time.
But about a year ago I decided to make them with Blueberries for him and even I would rather eat them that way.
Today I was in a baking mood.. and I was thinking of making something thats sweet but healthy and could eventually be something I sell at my bakery.
What I came up with was a twist on my Oatmeal cookies. So what did I make?
I made Oatmeal snack bars! They have the best of both a granola bar and an oatmeal cookie!
They have the wonderful fiber and nutrients of the eggs walnuts and oatmeal and the beautiful antioxidants and vitamins in the blueberries. I am so in love with these and how they turned out!
So I will share with you the Recipe I made up!
Oatmeal Snack Bars
1/2lb (2 sticks) butter (or margarine if you prefer) at room temp
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of granulated sugar (you could change the honey to a half a cup and leave this out! Honey has wonderful health qualities as well as is a natural preservative!)
2 eggs at room temp (oh so great for your health!)
1 tsp vanilla (I use a Mexican organic vanilla)
1 & 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp pumpkin spice (you can just use cinnamon if you want but I love the flavor the nutmeg and all spice gives)
1/2 tsp salt (optional I tend to use unsalted butter when I cook so I can control the salt but its always ok to add this little to enhance the flavor)
3 cups Quaker oats (quick or stone I use the quick because we have it and oats are good for fiber and for your heart it doesn't matter if they are stone ground or quick)
6 oz (2-3oz bags) of dried blueberries (you could use cranberries or raisins but I love the antioxidants and extra boost of vitamins in the blueberries)
6 oz of walnut pieces
1. preheat the oven to 350F
2. Beat together butter, sugar, and honey until creamy
3. add eggs (one at a time) and vanilla and beat till well combined it might be a little lumpy
4. in a separate bowl, use a fork and fluffy together flour, soda, spices, and salt
5. add the dry slowly to the wet and combine
6. stir in the oats and then add the berries and nuts
7. press into an ungreased 13x9 inch cookie sheet making sure that all the dough is about the same thickness
8. bake 30-35 minutes
9. cool and then cut
10. I love to wrap them up and then freeze them and eat them frozen!
Hope you make these and ENJOY! Happy Wednesday!
I am so not a Oatmeal and raisin cookie person but my dad is and I make them just for him all the time.
But about a year ago I decided to make them with Blueberries for him and even I would rather eat them that way.
Today I was in a baking mood.. and I was thinking of making something thats sweet but healthy and could eventually be something I sell at my bakery.
What I came up with was a twist on my Oatmeal cookies. So what did I make?
I made Oatmeal snack bars! They have the best of both a granola bar and an oatmeal cookie!
They have the wonderful fiber and nutrients of the eggs walnuts and oatmeal and the beautiful antioxidants and vitamins in the blueberries. I am so in love with these and how they turned out!
So I will share with you the Recipe I made up!
Oatmeal Snack Bars
1/2lb (2 sticks) butter (or margarine if you prefer) at room temp
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of granulated sugar (you could change the honey to a half a cup and leave this out! Honey has wonderful health qualities as well as is a natural preservative!)
2 eggs at room temp (oh so great for your health!)
1 tsp vanilla (I use a Mexican organic vanilla)
1 & 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp pumpkin spice (you can just use cinnamon if you want but I love the flavor the nutmeg and all spice gives)
1/2 tsp salt (optional I tend to use unsalted butter when I cook so I can control the salt but its always ok to add this little to enhance the flavor)
3 cups Quaker oats (quick or stone I use the quick because we have it and oats are good for fiber and for your heart it doesn't matter if they are stone ground or quick)
6 oz (2-3oz bags) of dried blueberries (you could use cranberries or raisins but I love the antioxidants and extra boost of vitamins in the blueberries)
6 oz of walnut pieces
1. preheat the oven to 350F
2. Beat together butter, sugar, and honey until creamy
3. add eggs (one at a time) and vanilla and beat till well combined it might be a little lumpy
4. in a separate bowl, use a fork and fluffy together flour, soda, spices, and salt
5. add the dry slowly to the wet and combine
6. stir in the oats and then add the berries and nuts
7. press into an ungreased 13x9 inch cookie sheet making sure that all the dough is about the same thickness
8. bake 30-35 minutes
9. cool and then cut
10. I love to wrap them up and then freeze them and eat them frozen!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
New Year new Chef
Its been a very long quarter of time with everything going on. I had finals and passed with flying colors! Had so much fun making the buffet table and all the food.
We made paramagnet macrons, peppermint chocolate cake, croissants plain and chocolate, swans, New York cheese cake and Blueberry ice cream.
We had to plate 2 items we chose the cheesecake and the ice cream.
the cheesecake is our first plated. Our crust was too soggy so we decided to make a deconstructed cheese cake with a strawberry sauce.
for the blueberry ice cream we made a pofiterroll with a chocolate ganache and strawberry bluberry salad.
I can't wait to start the next set of classes which include centerpieces and chocolates!
We had to plate 2 items we chose the cheesecake and the ice cream.
I can't wait to start the next set of classes which include centerpieces and chocolates!
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