L'Art de la Pâtisserie Week 18
Chef Jonathon Dendauw Practicals
Table 4 Partner: Jaisaira
Monday
Career Services:
We had a job fair at school today from 1:15 - 3:00 pm. There were approximately twenty restaurant, bakeries and catering companies represented. It was a little awkward for me since I will be relocating in December to North Carolina. If I told the people I was moving they were not interested in talking to me and if I did not tell them I felt bad because they thought I was interested. There are many opportunities for students living in Chicago.
Practical Exam Prep:
Chef Jonathon gave us the specifics regarding scheduling, methods and expectations. I have to do the lemon pound cake, coconut richer and beer bread on Day 1 (Wednesday). Financier and toast bread must be complete on Day 2 (Thursday). Chocolate tarts and croissants must be presented on Friday.
I practiced the espresso mix for the chocolate tart and started croissant dough. I plan to finish the croissant tomorrow which includes rolling, shaping, proofing and baking. I also plan on practicing beer bread from start to finish.
I still have to prepare my scaling labels and type and print concise step by step instructions for each of my recipes.
Tuesday
Recurring Stage
Floriol- 1220 W. Webster Ave, Chicago, Illinois
7:00am - 12:00pm Owner: Sandra Holl
I started the day by picking flowers on the rooftop garden. Most of the blooms are gone but small Nasturtium and Marigolds were still available. I also pick the leaves from both plants. Nasturtium have leaves that look like small lily pads. I made Almond Croissants using day old Croissants. I cut them in half horizontally, dipped them in Rum Simple Syrup, scooped Almond Cream for the inside and the top and pressed Almond Slivers into the Almond Cream on top. They go in the freezer to be baked later. I scooped Cranberry Orange Scones, buttered muffin tins and sliced apples for Apple Galettes. I need to learn better knife skills. The results are acceptable but I am always at risk for cutting myself.
On my way out the door, I picked up a Tartine of the day; Roasted brussels sprouts and dried cherries on whipped goat cheese toast. I also had a cup of Spicy Tomato soup.
Chef Coached Practice Day:
I decided to work on Croissants and Beer Bread. I scaled the ingredients for the Beer Bread first. The croissant dough from yesterday was in the cooler overnight. I rolled it out, place the butter book and then did two turns before I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes. While it sat in the freezer, I started the Poolish on the mixer and then let it rest in a bowl, covered, for one hour. Then I went back to my Croissant dough and gave it one more fold. I put it back in the freezer and divided my Beer Bread dough into two rounds. These rested for 15 minutes. I made the Beer Mixture and let it ferment.
When the Croissant dough was cold, I sheeted it on the sheeter to #4 and brought it to my table to cut and shape. Chef stopped me in the middle of cutting to tell me that I should have put it in the freezer and sheeting it to let it firm up. I put the cut pieces in the freezer and forgot to cover them. They dried out in spots and this prevents them from getting a nice rise. When I tried to stretch the dough, it was too cold and resisted. I shaped them, egg washed them put them in the proofer. They rose very slowly. After they came out of the proofer I started egg washing them and Chef stopped me to tell me that they had to dry completely to the touch. I had already egg washed half so I let the other half dry, egg washed them and put them in the convection oven. The properly egg washed Croissants had a better golden color to them.
During the exam, I am going to sheet the dough to #4 and then put that dough covered and into the freezer, then cut and shape them. By the time I cut them they should be pliable enough to pull long enough so that I can get four distinct wraps that show up in the croissant.
After the two Beer Bread rounds rested, I shaped them with Chef's help. I immediately spread the Beer Mixture onto the top of the dough and sprinkled a generous amount of Rye flour onto them. They went into the proofer for 45 minutes. I baked them in the deck oven, with steam, for 30 minutes. 15 minutes with the vent closed and 15 minutes with the vent open. They were very good. Chef said it was an A.
Quiz Prep:
Chef had us sit at the demo table and he asked us various questions. Most of them we knew so we think there will be trick questions on the quiz. We will have two quizzes; 10 questions on Bread and 10 questions on Petit Fours.
First Day of Practical Exams:
I do all my scalings on the first day of exams. Most people scale as they go and begin their recipes right away. I used to get nervous that I was taking too long but now I know I will get them done and the rest of the week will be better because I do not have to go back to the scaling table all day long.
After I scaled I started the poolish for the Beer Bread. I had a lot of scalings so my sheet pan was very full and a little confusing.
I made the Rocher batter and piped it directly into the fleximold. I put it aside to dry for 30 minutes. It ended up taking longer for an oven to become available. This dries out the surface of the cookie, which is good, but does not affect the final product very much. When I removed the Rocher from the fleximold, I popped one in my mouth and then realized that I was supposed to present all 12. I confessed to Chef and hopefully it will not affect my grade.
I made the Croissant dough and placed it in the cooler, wrapped overnight. I plan to do the butter book, folds and shaping tomorrow so that I can bake them off on Friday.
Chef called me after I picked up my Rocher and Lemon Pound Cake. He asked me what happened so I looked inside the Lemon Pound Cake. It looked really weird. He said I probably scaled the sucrose wrong. I asked him if I could do it again and he said no. Maybe he will change his mind.
The Financier recipe I copied and scaled for was the Chocolate Financier recipe. I am glad I realized it in time. After my scaling mistake with the Lemon Pound Cake I was spot scaling ingredients as I worked anyway. I used my partner's recipe to get the scalings and I rescaled the Chocolate Financier ingredients to the correct recipe. I browned the butter, made the batter and placed it in a pastry bag for overnight storage in the cooler.
Toward the end of the day, I made the dough for the Chocolate Tarts, wrapped it and placed it in the cooler overnight.
Thursday
My scalings were completed from the previous day so, while my partner did her scalings, I got on the mixer right away. I mixed the poolish for the Toast Bread. Chocolate Tart shells had to be baked during the first two hours of class at which time, the oven temperature would be changed. I rolled out the dough, placed them over the tart molds, but them and placed them in the cooler to firm up.
While the tart shells chilled, I rolled out the Croissant dough, added the butter book, completed two folds and placed it in the freezer for 20 minutes. I pulled the tart shells from the cooler, but the tops with a paring knife, docked the bottom of the shell and baked them with a light color dough scrap for color testing. There were a couple of air bubble where I did not press the tarts all the way into the molds but several of the shells are worthy of turning in to be graded.
I added the rest of the ingredients to my Toast Bread poolish and mixed it for the correct amount of time. I let the dough rest, covered in a bowl for one hour.
I piped the Financier batter and added a frozen raspberry to every cavity. The oven was full so the I had to wait to go in. During this time, the raspberry sunk to the bottom of the batter. They baked nicely but 2 were a little smaller than the others and 2 stuck a little while I was removing them from the fleximold.
I asked Chef if I could redo my Lemon Pound Cake and he said yes. I rescaled the ingredients and added it to my to-do list. It did not turn out well. Chef's best guess is that I added too much baking powder. The crust was dark and flat and there was a big hole in the middle of the cake when he cut it in half. He asked if I used the baby scale and I think I used the big scale. I actually scaled the baking powder directly into the flour and when it went over a little, I scooped some out. I should have thrown it away and started the scaling over!
I made the Pâte a Choux and piped it over parchment templates I had measured and drawn before class. I scraped up a couple of rows but the finished piping looks pretty even. I baked the Choux, cooled and wrapped them and placed them in the freezer for the next day when I will fill, dip and present them.
I finished the 3rd fold on the Croissant and sheeted them for cutting and shaping. After I sheeted the dough I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes. 20 minutes turned into 40 so I transferred them to the cooler. When I was ready to cut them, I put them on my table, cut, weighed and shaped them. So far, I am really happy with the way they look. I did not let them dry out, they weigh the proper amount, the dough stretched well and I have 4 complete rolls in each Croissant. I froze the shaped dough and will bake it tomorrow.
After dividing, shaping and bench resting the Toast Bread dough for 15 minutes, I shaped and placed the dough into buttered loaf pans for proofing in the proofer. I set my timer but the bread over proofed. I should have checked on them halfway through. The dough was so big that it sagged over the edges of the loaf pan and when it baked it looked ridiculous. The inside of the bread actually looked good, crumb, color. etc., but I am sure I will be graded for my mistake.
I had some time at the end of the day so I made the Chocolate Espresso Mix for the Chocolate Tarts and made the Pastry Cream for the Salambos. I got distracted while making the pastry cream and my cream came to a strong boil. I used it anyway and it looked alright. It was not scorched but I strained the finished product just to be careful.
The entire class finished up a little early and we were complimented for keeping the community table and dish area clean today.
Tomorrow I have to fill and bake the Chocolate Tarts, dip and fill the Salambos and proof and bake the Croissant. It should be a really short quick day.
Friday
Today was by far the easiest exam day of the entire program. I had to fill, bake and glaze my Chocolate Espresso Tarts, proof and bake Croissant and dip in caramel and fill with pastry cream Salambos.
Our Croissants were in the freezer overnight and transferred to the cooler in the morning. They were still pretty firm so I let them sit at room temperature for a little while, egg washed them and put them in the proofer. They were supposed to double in size in approximately 2 hours but they stayed small and tight much longer. I ended up putting them in the oven and the end result was that they were under proofed. There was a lot of butter on the parchment, they did not have much volume and the inside structure was tight and closed.
My Chocolate Espresso Tarts had a few issues. When I put the dough into the tart molds, I did not press all of them into all the corners of the mold and they baked this way. I overfilled the finished shells with a little too much Chocolate Mirror Glaze. They tasted good but would not have looked amazing on a Petits Fours plate.
I was happy with the size of my Salambos and Chouquettes but my Eclairs looked a little like peanuts. I wore gloves for dipping the Salambos in Caramel and it was a good decision. I touched one of my fingers into the hot liquid and was able to rip the glove off before it burned. I cooled each Salambo over an almond sliver and they looked very nice. I filled the Salambos with Pastry Cream and presented my product.
We had a lot of extra time so our intern gave us a lot of extra cleaning duties. We got out of class a little early but I was done presenting around five o'clock. The interns were announced for next semester and there were some happy people and some very sad people.
My partner for the next two weeks is Terri. She is really smart and works very clean and efficiently. It should be a nice module on plated desserts with Chef En Ming Su.
Saturday
Pastry Chicago:
Recurring Stage
Floriol- 1220 W. Webster Ave, Chicago, Illinois
7:00am - 12:00pm Owner: Sandra Holl
I started the day by picking flowers on the rooftop garden. Most of the blooms are gone but small Nasturtium and Marigolds were still available. I also pick the leaves from both plants. Nasturtium have leaves that look like small lily pads. I made Almond Croissants using day old Croissants. I cut them in half horizontally, dipped them in Rum Simple Syrup, scooped Almond Cream for the inside and the top and pressed Almond Slivers into the Almond Cream on top. They go in the freezer to be baked later. I scooped Cranberry Orange Scones, buttered muffin tins and sliced apples for Apple Galettes. I need to learn better knife skills. The results are acceptable but I am always at risk for cutting myself.
On my way out the door, I picked up a Tartine of the day; Roasted brussels sprouts and dried cherries on whipped goat cheese toast. I also had a cup of Spicy Tomato soup.
Chef Coached Practice Day:
I decided to work on Croissants and Beer Bread. I scaled the ingredients for the Beer Bread first. The croissant dough from yesterday was in the cooler overnight. I rolled it out, place the butter book and then did two turns before I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes. While it sat in the freezer, I started the Poolish on the mixer and then let it rest in a bowl, covered, for one hour. Then I went back to my Croissant dough and gave it one more fold. I put it back in the freezer and divided my Beer Bread dough into two rounds. These rested for 15 minutes. I made the Beer Mixture and let it ferment.
When the Croissant dough was cold, I sheeted it on the sheeter to #4 and brought it to my table to cut and shape. Chef stopped me in the middle of cutting to tell me that I should have put it in the freezer and sheeting it to let it firm up. I put the cut pieces in the freezer and forgot to cover them. They dried out in spots and this prevents them from getting a nice rise. When I tried to stretch the dough, it was too cold and resisted. I shaped them, egg washed them put them in the proofer. They rose very slowly. After they came out of the proofer I started egg washing them and Chef stopped me to tell me that they had to dry completely to the touch. I had already egg washed half so I let the other half dry, egg washed them and put them in the convection oven. The properly egg washed Croissants had a better golden color to them.
During the exam, I am going to sheet the dough to #4 and then put that dough covered and into the freezer, then cut and shape them. By the time I cut them they should be pliable enough to pull long enough so that I can get four distinct wraps that show up in the croissant.
After the two Beer Bread rounds rested, I shaped them with Chef's help. I immediately spread the Beer Mixture onto the top of the dough and sprinkled a generous amount of Rye flour onto them. They went into the proofer for 45 minutes. I baked them in the deck oven, with steam, for 30 minutes. 15 minutes with the vent closed and 15 minutes with the vent open. They were very good. Chef said it was an A.
Quiz Prep:
Chef had us sit at the demo table and he asked us various questions. Most of them we knew so we think there will be trick questions on the quiz. We will have two quizzes; 10 questions on Bread and 10 questions on Petit Fours.
Wednesday
First Day of Practical Exams:
I do all my scalings on the first day of exams. Most people scale as they go and begin their recipes right away. I used to get nervous that I was taking too long but now I know I will get them done and the rest of the week will be better because I do not have to go back to the scaling table all day long.
After I scaled I started the poolish for the Beer Bread. I had a lot of scalings so my sheet pan was very full and a little confusing.
I made the Rocher batter and piped it directly into the fleximold. I put it aside to dry for 30 minutes. It ended up taking longer for an oven to become available. This dries out the surface of the cookie, which is good, but does not affect the final product very much. When I removed the Rocher from the fleximold, I popped one in my mouth and then realized that I was supposed to present all 12. I confessed to Chef and hopefully it will not affect my grade.
I made the Croissant dough and placed it in the cooler, wrapped overnight. I plan to do the butter book, folds and shaping tomorrow so that I can bake them off on Friday.
Chef called me after I picked up my Rocher and Lemon Pound Cake. He asked me what happened so I looked inside the Lemon Pound Cake. It looked really weird. He said I probably scaled the sucrose wrong. I asked him if I could do it again and he said no. Maybe he will change his mind.
The Financier recipe I copied and scaled for was the Chocolate Financier recipe. I am glad I realized it in time. After my scaling mistake with the Lemon Pound Cake I was spot scaling ingredients as I worked anyway. I used my partner's recipe to get the scalings and I rescaled the Chocolate Financier ingredients to the correct recipe. I browned the butter, made the batter and placed it in a pastry bag for overnight storage in the cooler.
Toward the end of the day, I made the dough for the Chocolate Tarts, wrapped it and placed it in the cooler overnight.
Thursday
My scalings were completed from the previous day so, while my partner did her scalings, I got on the mixer right away. I mixed the poolish for the Toast Bread. Chocolate Tart shells had to be baked during the first two hours of class at which time, the oven temperature would be changed. I rolled out the dough, placed them over the tart molds, but them and placed them in the cooler to firm up.
While the tart shells chilled, I rolled out the Croissant dough, added the butter book, completed two folds and placed it in the freezer for 20 minutes. I pulled the tart shells from the cooler, but the tops with a paring knife, docked the bottom of the shell and baked them with a light color dough scrap for color testing. There were a couple of air bubble where I did not press the tarts all the way into the molds but several of the shells are worthy of turning in to be graded.
I added the rest of the ingredients to my Toast Bread poolish and mixed it for the correct amount of time. I let the dough rest, covered in a bowl for one hour.
I piped the Financier batter and added a frozen raspberry to every cavity. The oven was full so the I had to wait to go in. During this time, the raspberry sunk to the bottom of the batter. They baked nicely but 2 were a little smaller than the others and 2 stuck a little while I was removing them from the fleximold.
I asked Chef if I could redo my Lemon Pound Cake and he said yes. I rescaled the ingredients and added it to my to-do list. It did not turn out well. Chef's best guess is that I added too much baking powder. The crust was dark and flat and there was a big hole in the middle of the cake when he cut it in half. He asked if I used the baby scale and I think I used the big scale. I actually scaled the baking powder directly into the flour and when it went over a little, I scooped some out. I should have thrown it away and started the scaling over!
I made the Pâte a Choux and piped it over parchment templates I had measured and drawn before class. I scraped up a couple of rows but the finished piping looks pretty even. I baked the Choux, cooled and wrapped them and placed them in the freezer for the next day when I will fill, dip and present them.
I finished the 3rd fold on the Croissant and sheeted them for cutting and shaping. After I sheeted the dough I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes. 20 minutes turned into 40 so I transferred them to the cooler. When I was ready to cut them, I put them on my table, cut, weighed and shaped them. So far, I am really happy with the way they look. I did not let them dry out, they weigh the proper amount, the dough stretched well and I have 4 complete rolls in each Croissant. I froze the shaped dough and will bake it tomorrow.
After dividing, shaping and bench resting the Toast Bread dough for 15 minutes, I shaped and placed the dough into buttered loaf pans for proofing in the proofer. I set my timer but the bread over proofed. I should have checked on them halfway through. The dough was so big that it sagged over the edges of the loaf pan and when it baked it looked ridiculous. The inside of the bread actually looked good, crumb, color. etc., but I am sure I will be graded for my mistake.
I had some time at the end of the day so I made the Chocolate Espresso Mix for the Chocolate Tarts and made the Pastry Cream for the Salambos. I got distracted while making the pastry cream and my cream came to a strong boil. I used it anyway and it looked alright. It was not scorched but I strained the finished product just to be careful.
The entire class finished up a little early and we were complimented for keeping the community table and dish area clean today.
Tomorrow I have to fill and bake the Chocolate Tarts, dip and fill the Salambos and proof and bake the Croissant. It should be a really short quick day.
Friday
Today was by far the easiest exam day of the entire program. I had to fill, bake and glaze my Chocolate Espresso Tarts, proof and bake Croissant and dip in caramel and fill with pastry cream Salambos.
Our Croissants were in the freezer overnight and transferred to the cooler in the morning. They were still pretty firm so I let them sit at room temperature for a little while, egg washed them and put them in the proofer. They were supposed to double in size in approximately 2 hours but they stayed small and tight much longer. I ended up putting them in the oven and the end result was that they were under proofed. There was a lot of butter on the parchment, they did not have much volume and the inside structure was tight and closed.
My Chocolate Espresso Tarts had a few issues. When I put the dough into the tart molds, I did not press all of them into all the corners of the mold and they baked this way. I overfilled the finished shells with a little too much Chocolate Mirror Glaze. They tasted good but would not have looked amazing on a Petits Fours plate.
I was happy with the size of my Salambos and Chouquettes but my Eclairs looked a little like peanuts. I wore gloves for dipping the Salambos in Caramel and it was a good decision. I touched one of my fingers into the hot liquid and was able to rip the glove off before it burned. I cooled each Salambo over an almond sliver and they looked very nice. I filled the Salambos with Pastry Cream and presented my product.
We had a lot of extra time so our intern gave us a lot of extra cleaning duties. We got out of class a little early but I was done presenting around five o'clock. The interns were announced for next semester and there were some happy people and some very sad people.
My partner for the next two weeks is Terri. She is really smart and works very clean and efficiently. It should be a nice module on plated desserts with Chef En Ming Su.
Saturday
Pastry Chicago:
No comments:
Post a Comment