Baking and Pastry - Croissants, Danish, Focaccia, Sourdough Starter

My partner Dennis and I were off to a slow start this morning. Seems that we somehow missed the fact that we were to make the starter for the sourdough bread yesterday along with a sponge for the focaccia bread to be baked today. Oh well. We went ahead and made the focaccia sponge first thing and will bake it tomorrow. This could work to our advantage because tomorrow Chef Thomas is having the whole class come to his bakery at Half Moon Bay (Moon Side Bakery and Cafe) to bake our sourdough bread and croissants in his commercial ovens. How fun is this? A field trip! We will just pop our focaccia bread in there along with the sourdough and croissants.
Maybe it will turn out as beautiful as Glenn's pictured above. One of the day's few high points.

After our performance in the kitchen this morning I am surprised Chef didn't cancel the trip. We were a mess. After a demo on making focaccia bread he set us loose in the kitchen to make one focaccia recipe per team, put together our croissant dough, feed our sour dough starter and finish our final roll on the danish then form and bake them. Seemed easy enough.

What could I say. Dennis and I couldn't make our focaccia bread because we didn't have a starter to work with. We went ahead and put our croissant dough together and that was a disaster. There was some scaling trouble - seems we were missing about a pound of flour.
It's a good thing it came out well the second time around or I think Chef Thomas would have kicked us out of class.
He told everyone to make sure to use the dough hooks for the focaccia and maybe one person did. One team used their Blitz pastry for the danish and their danish dough for their focaccia bread. If there was a way to blow it someone did. Poor Chef. He was trying to be patient as he gave his demo on forming the danishes.



Dennis and I redeemed ourselves with some beautiful danishes (left) and a wonderful croissant dough (below) that we added our butter block to and managed to give it three turns before the day ended. You can see the three imprints for each turn.
I somehow managed to become "keeper of the doughs." I brought them home, all seven double batches of croissant dough and 16 quarts of sourdough starter to store, and will take them to Half Moon Bay in the morning. I was somehow reminded of when my kids brought home the silkworms from their classrooms to take care of for the weekend. At least I don't have to go hunting for Mulberry leaves!

Goodnight

Baking and Pastry - Muffins, Danish Dough, Puff Pastry and Chef Bruno Neveu

Today was another fast paced, dough making day. I kinda got my doughs mixed up. Not a pun. I really did get then mixed up! After beginning the morning with a lecture on puff pastry and a demonstration on muffins we then went into the kitchen to make a Blitz pastry, which is a quick method of puff pastry, a Danish pastry, which I think is a type of puff pastry but I need to confirm that tomorrow, and a "sponge " or starter for our bread on Thursday. The one thing that is confusing is that we have these doughs for different recipes at various stages. Some need double turns, some need single turns, some need to be in the refrigerator and some need to be in the freezer. I was a little mixed up for awhile. All I know is that these doughs are working tonight while I'm sleeping, and if I was a real Pastry Chef I would never sleep.


Dennis and my muffins came out nice. (above picture) Too nice. When I went to leave today they were gone! Maybe it's because we chose to use real muffins tins instead of the "flexi-pans" they had in the kitchen, I couldn't believe the difference in the browning.


It is very interesting how puff pastry works. There is no yeast at all, The only leavening agent is butter. It is all in the technique on how you incorporate the butter into the dough that will give it it's rise. For the Blitz, the butter is mixed in with the flour briefly so the butter is in fairly big pieces. You chill the dough first then roll it out in a rectangle then give it a double turn as shown in the picture sequence.













The Danish Pastry is a bit different because you make a butter "block" with butter and flour then add that to your dough separately. You proceed the same with rolling, then a single turn. I think.
Like I said, I got confused. We finished all our turns. Three for the Danish and two for the Blitz.
We made our sponge, which is yeast water and flour, that will work overnight and be ready to use in the morning for our bread dough.



At 11:00 a guest chef began a demonstration.
I was so enthralled but unfortunately had to tear myself away at 1:00 because I had to leave for an appointment. I could have watched him cook and listened to his accent all day. A French Chef, named Bruno Neveu. He prepared some contemporary dishes that you would see in France today. He began with a carrot soup that looked like it was going to be better than wonderful. Then he moved on to a sole that was stuffed with a salmon mousse and cray fish. I had to leave before the whole dish came together so I'm hoping that my classmate stayed to get some final shots. I know that this final dish involved a crayfish fricassee and a parsley emulsion. I hated to leave. I got a few pictures before I tore myself away.
I love the way that PCI brings in these Master Chefs for us to experience. I need to start keeping my afternoons open! Thank you PCI and Thank you Chef Bruno.


Goodnight.

Baking and Pastry - Apple Pie, Bisquits, Quiches and Scones

We were baking fools today. Flour was flying. We made four different types of dough. One bonus was you can keep making the doughs in the same bowl, which made for minimal dishes, the other was that you experienced the taste of unbelievable biscuits (above) and scones, (below) fresh from the oven. The biscuit melted in my mouth and transported me right back in time to my grandmother's kitchen.

We began this morning with a flaky pie crust for an apple pie. Very different from the more crumbly short dough we made on Friday. This dough was made with cold butter and cold water. The key is to make sure you have pieces of butter (about the size of peas) incorporated in your dough that will melt and create steam that lifts the dough up to make little air pockets and creates the flakiness. That went right in the refrigerator to chill and we moved on to scones. This dough, made with flour, sugar, baking powder, fruit, heavy cream and honey came together very quickly. You shaped the dough into a round then cut it in wedges. A dryer dough than the biscuits and very easy to work with. The biscuit dough was a bit wetter but still fairly manageable to roll and cut.














We made a pate brisee which is not a very common dough anymore. It is made with room temperature butter and has eggs and a little lemon juice in the dough. We used this for our Quiche.

Lastly, we finished our apple pie. Chef Doug came from the kitchen next door to give us the demo on All American Apple Pie. I guess Chef Thomas felt that a true American Apple Pie needs to be taught by an American.
Chef Doug teaches the morning pastry class in the kitchen next to ours so I see him daily and have talked to him on occasion. He very nice and has quite the sense of humor. He looks stern but you see him laughing behind his eyes. We baked our pies in his revolving oven and he was giving me a bad time about the height of my pie and my hesitancy to operate the oven. These kitchens feel so territorial to me and I get so shy about over stepping boundaries. Plus there's the whole intimidating Chef thing. I turn into a bobbling fool.
Anyway, I made my pie, cooked it and brought home my wares to feast on. It resembled the Matterhorn. Maybe I was subconsciously offering tribute to my European Chef, Thomas. Or maybe I'm a loser pie maker.


Jim and Ginna came over to sample the whole lot. Biscuits, Quiche and Apple Pie.

How lucky are they?
Goodnight.

Baking and Pastry - Short Dough, Pastry Cream and Fruit Tarts

Meet Chef Thomas Grauke. An easy going, funny, down to earth guy who was inspiring and eager to pass on his knowledge. A certified Master Baking and Pastry Chef for 35 years, he owns and operates his own bakery, The Moonside Bakery, in Half Moon Bay, and teaches part time here at PCI.
What a lucky class class we are to have him as a teacher.
He is taking us to his bakery (a real field trip!) in a week so we can experience some baking in an actual commercial bakery kitchen.
We began our first lesson with a demonstration on pastry cream ( or custard), making a short dough and assembling a fresh fruit tart. A short dough differs from a pie or flaky pastry. It is a more crumbly dough in texture and contains sugar.


After slowly mixing the ingredients together until it was just beginning to come together, Chef Thomas poured the dough out on a board and kneaded it together gently and quickly. After letting it chill in the in the refrigerator for a bit he rolled it out and formed it into the tart pan. This was also done very quickly as to not let the dough soften too much. He laid a piece of saran over the shell and filled it with a good amount of beans so the shell would hold it's shape while it baked. After about 15 minutes, he removed the beans, then continued baking it until it was a beautiful golden brown.


We all were set loose to make our own tarts. I moved very slowly and measured out everything carefully. The pictures to follow show the evolution of my tart.
After baking it and very carefully removing it from the pan and placing it on the cardboard round, I began to assemble.

Uh oh. Dennis, my new partner forgot his cardboard round, that won't happen again.











I had so much fun. I was a little afraid of this unit because I don't have much experience with baking. I was so excited after today's class. If my mother lived closer I would have driven to her house to show off my creation.

I think I'm going to like Baking and Pastry.

Goodnight.

Nutrition and Healthy Cuisine - The Final

I am so happy that this unit is over. It has been a intense three weeks and I am so ready for a change. I decided to stay up and watch Top Chef even though I planned to be in the kitchen by 6. I got completely hooked when I found out one of the teams was doing a orange and asparagus salad! That's what I was doing for my salad. (A bit different caliber though.) Well, their salad was not received too well by the judges. Was this an omen? Should I make a last minute recipe change? I almost called my friend Jackie, who is a die hard Top Chef fan for a consult.
"Go to bed" I heard my inner voice of reason say. I listened. Besides I wasn't planning on having my salad become a sexual experience like the Top Chefs did.

Despite all my angst, the final went well. I was pleased with my Asparagus and Orange salad which was very well received by Chef.
I blanched the asparagus then chilled them in the dressing until they were nice and cold. The dressing consisted of reduced orange juice, thickened with an arrow root slurry, a mixture of balsamic and sherry wine vinegar, shallots and just a little olive oil.
I had to watch those calories!
It was refreshing and flavorful.

My main course was a simple saute of chicken scallops with sauteed mushrooms and a wine, shallot and stock reduction. I would have liked just a little butter in there but with a rich chicken stock and a splash of lemon, the flavor was great. Very clean. I attempted to tourne ( a cut that makes a seven equal sided football shape) new potatoes. They looked pretty darn good until I sauteed them in the glace de volaille and they lost their sharp edges. Oh well live and learn. Chef liked my flavors, appreciated my attempt at tourneing a potato and loved my salad.
I kept the calorie count at just over 500. (If Ryan's calculations are correct.)

Tomorrow we say good bye to Chef Parker for a couple weeks and began our unit in Baking and Pastry with Chef Thomas.
I'm so excited...in just a few short weeks I'll be a pastry angel! I hope.

Goodnight

Nutrition and Healthy Cuisine- More Barley, Falafels and Tahini Sauce

This was our last day of Nutritional and Healthy Cuisine. It has been nice to learn a few techniques to create flavorable dishes with less fat and calories. We made a stir fried Barley pilaf that was quite tasty.
We also made a Jerk chicken and Falafels with a
yogurt Tahini Sauce. It was a mellow day with
plenty of time to begin our mise en place for tomorrow's final. It's like a weekly routine now.

Our mission, if we choose to take it, is to create a dish, complete with starch, vegetable and a side salad that is under 550 calories.
I have been playing around with a few different menus and let me tell you, it is not an easy task to keep a complete meal at this caloric level that is worth eating.

We get a ingredient box that doesn't make me jump for joy. Maybe a jumping jack at best.
Chicken, again! Cabbage, again!
Another report with recipes and caloric breakdowns.
Help. Ryan.
Is it cheating that you help me? I helped you for years.
What would Doug say? (WWDS)

Goodnight

Nurition and Healthy Cuisine - Mental Health Day

I was absent today. This was the first time since I started school in January that I missed a class. I couldn't make up a class in the afternoon because Chef Udo's class in doing garde manger now. The night class is behind us so I just had to miss. It's not in my nature so it was a little unnerving but at the same time, rejuvenating. I really needed a break. I had some appointments that I couldn't change and to tell you the truth I was getting a little burnt out. Changing up the routine was what I needed. I had a great day.

Do I need to bring this note tomorrow?

Goodnight

Nutrition and Healthy Cuisine

More healthy cooking. I'm starting to feel like I did when we were in essential skills two. Too many vegetables. The boys in the class are getting a little rambunctious. They were starting to wear on me today. Having had four daughters, I'm not used to this boyishness. They are great when Chef is around but as soon as he leaves they're back to food fights and towel snapping. Some of them are so young. I suppose it's a good balance to my intensity. Keeps me from being too serious.
I forgot my camera today so hopefully Nick will come through and send his shots. If not, you'll never see how the Wild Rice Succotash looked. Or how my roasted ratatouille didn't looked roasted. Or how a Potato Rosti with Celeriac doesn't look that much different from a regular potato Rosti.

(Nick just came through with some picts but this is the only non blurry one)

I thought I would really like nutritional cooking but I don't. You have to worry too much about all the fats and oils.
In moderation is my motto.

I miss butter.

Goodnight

Nutriton and Healthy Cuisine - Barley, Soba and Hearty Greens

Chef took away our butter today. We are now, after months of sauteing in oils and finishing our sauces with butter, having to develop flavor with out too much fat. We will rely on reduced stocks, wine, juices, herbs and spices.
We began without as much as a reflection on fusion and jumped right into Nutritional Cooking.
We arrived this morning to a wonderful vegetable stock that Chef had made for us to work with. We began with a barley salad. (above) Cooking this grain in the stock helped to give it some flavor. We roasted some cipollini onions to add to the barley along with some leeks. We steeped some currants, chili's and orange juice together then added it to some curry, lemon juice and honey. All this was tossed with the barley and left to marinate for awhile.
The next dish we made was a soba noodle salad. We used an arrowroot slurry with stock to thicken this dressing. This enabled us to cut back on much of the oils normally used. This Asian flavored dressing (soy, ginger, lime, garlic) was tossed with the noodles, a scattering of sauteed shitakes and blanched snow peas to create a very nice chilled salad.
The last recipe we prepared was a warm salad using beet greens, radicchio, arugula and spinach. The dressing again was thickened with an arrowroot slurry incorporated with orange and pomegranate juice to from vinaigrette. Only one tablespoon of oil was used. Flavorful and healthy!
What a concept. It does take more planning and prep to use this stock and slurry method. Especially if you want to have a cold salad like the soba noodles. A good a flavorful stock takes time, but once you have some on hand, the possibilities are endless. Thanks Chef.

Goodnight.

Current Topics- Sous Vide Cooking

I finally recovered enough to go back and fill in the blanks of last week for those who were wondering. It was a fast moving intense class. My first attempt at being a short order cook under pressure. I never want to see an egg again!

We continued this unit on Current Topics. We focused on recipe and menu items that utilized a slow cooking method that is popular in today's restaurants.
Sous vide is a cooking technique - which literally means "under the vacuum" and was originally utilized in the early 1970's to minimize product loss when cooking foie gras . This cooking method was started in France and is being embraced by chefs worldwide for the preparation of an ever-widening array of dishes. With this technique, food is vacuumed sealed in a polymer pouch and then slowly cooked at a low precise temperature. As a result, foods become tender without loosing their original color, nutrients, or texture. (This is the method that we used to cook the pork bellies for the Garde Manger Banquet we had two weeks ago.)
We also used a marinater that created a vacuum to pull the marinate into the meat then tumbled it. This machine took 20 minutes to fully marinate 2 pounds of meat that would normally have taken 12 to 24 hours. That doesn't account for the time that it took to figure out how to operate it. Thank goodness for instructions.
We vacuumed packed all the various recipes we made today and will complete the final cooking tomorrow "sous vide".


Goodnight

Current Topics-Food Costs,Trends

I'm not used to drinking beer and tequila in the afternoons. I came home and went to bed. I could have slept for three days.
I woke up, stumbled around the house doing laundry and feeding my orchids,(poor things are starving), read my new syllabus on current topics then went back to bed.

Chef began with a lecture on Food Cost. I felt like I had been transported back to a high school math class. Here was the story problem. You are a chef that purchased veal from a distributor for $10.00 a lb. How much do you need to sell your veal dish, sides included, on the menu in order to make a 30%o profit?
I didn't sign up for this.
Actual price, edible portions. Do I really need to know all this?
I suppose so if I want to make money on this food someday. I snapped a picture of his lecture board instead of taking notes and mentally wrote an add for a food cost manager..

Chef then demonstrated some various recipes that exemplified current trends in todays'
market place such as fusion cooking, low carbohydrate verses high carbohydrate menus, alongside of some popular new grains. We made a roasted chicken with sage butter and mushrooms. Chef had some fresh morels that we used instead of shitake mushrooms that were so delicious. We served the chicken with some baked millet croquettes, a grain that was new to me. Very nutty. We made a minestrone stir (a little Asian/Italian fusion) and pork tenderloin with prosciutto and sun dried tomatoes.

Chef talked about design and food styling when it comes to plating dishes and then gave us the outline for the next final.
What! Already?
I have to create a fusion dish, type up the recipes and procedures along with a 3 page essay on the dish, have a cost analysis of the complete dish, and a equipment list and time line typed up as a full report.
This is the first time I thought seriously about quitting.
I was going to have fun playing with menus, but not with the report part.
It's a good thing that my oldest daughter is back living at home for awhile, is an editor, and needs some extra cash.

So much for a weekend filled with long bike rides, movies and going out to dinner.

Goodnight.