The French Pastry School-Week Four - Entremet

                                                                  L'Art de la Pâtisserie  Week 4

Pithivier

Monday

Two cakes:

Chocolate biscuit, hazelnut dacquoise, chocolate mousse, hazelnut mousse and caramelized hazelnuts.

Almond dacquoise, hazelnut crunch and raspberry gelée.

Caramelized Hazelnuts (repeat):

• Prepare Silpat on half sheet pan.
• Check temperature of hazelnuts.  Warm in microwave for 20 seconds if necessary.
• Always add water to the pot before the sugar.  
• Start on low heat to dissolve sugar.
• Turn up heat and insert thermometer.
• Cook syrup to 115ºc.
• Dump nuts into hot syrup.
• Stir nuts constantly until they become sandy and dry.
• Slowly remelt the sugar to caramelize.
• No color yet, just melting sugar.
• Sugar crystals on the final product means they were cooked too fast.
• Popping sounds are a good sign.
• Control the stove.
• Smoke?  Too fast.
• Remove the pot from the heat occasionally.  The pot holds residual heat.
• Don't take them too dark.  They will continue to cook during the baking process.
• Stir, correctly, the cocoa butter so that each nut has an even covering.
• Pour on silpat and evenly spread the nuts. 
• Cool and place in airtight container.

Almond Dacquoise (repeat):

• Check the recipe.
• Sift TPT. 
• Check mixing bowl for fat residue.
• Prepare two half sheet trays with lightly buttered parchment paper.
• Have a large mixing bowl ready.
• Whip whites with salt in mixer on medium high.
• Add just a little sugar.
• Add more sugar slowly.
• Whip to soft peak.
• Put all of the meringue into large mixing bowl.
• Fold TPT, in stages, into the meringue.
• Split dacquoise between two half sheet pans.
• Slowly spread from one corner, turn to the next, turn to the next and to the last.
• Batter is very fragile, do not go back and forth with spatula.
• Clean the sides with paper towel.
• Sift 10x over the entire top of the cake. 
• Bake enough.  Chewy if under baked.  Too crunchy if over baked.  Should be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Dacquoise is baked on a higher temperature than meringue for less time.  If TPT is added all at once, it will completely deflate the meringue.

Hazelnut Dacquoise (repeat):

• Read the recipe.
• Have a large mixing bowl ready.
• Chop hazelnuts into quarters by pressing them with a heavy pot.  This is a good size to eat with a fork.
• Food processor the TPT.  Do not process to long or the nuts will get oily.
• Make the meringue soft peak.
• Fold in TPT in stages.
• Split batter between three 180mm flex mold pans.
• Bake at 204ºc.  Check at 7 minutes.  
• Place finished dacquoise in freezer to cool down.

Using aged egg whites helps to create a stronger meringue.  There is less moisture and the are dryer.  To age eggs, put them in a container with cheese cloth over the opening.  Let them sit in a cool environment, 16ºc (60ºf), for a couple of days.  

Hazelnut Crunch:

• Check the recipe.
• Melt 58% chocolate to 30ºc.
• Praline should also be 30ºc.
• Melt butter.
• Place feuittine in large mixing bowl.
• Stir all warmed and melted ingredients in a bowl.  chocolate + praline + butter
• Pour into fuiettine.
• Stir.
• Press hazelnut crunch into cake frame over the almond dacquoise.
• The chocolate will crystalize overnight and make the mixture crunchy.

Hazelnut praline can be substituted for almond praline.  Hazelnut crunch, or royaltine, can be used as a layer in entremet or on its own as a candy. Royaltine stays crunchy whether it is warm, cold or frozen. 

Raspberry Gelée:

• Check recipe.
• Have ready; half sheet pan of almond dacquoise, pan of dacquoise and hazelnut crunch.
• Hydrate the gelatin.
• Warm 25% of raspberry purée in a pot.  Just warm!
• Add sucrose.
• Add lemon juice.
• Add gelatin.
• Add rest of purée.
• Whisk completely.
• Press a cake frame down onto almond dacquoise to create a seal.
• Pour the entire gelée over the dacquoise.
• Spread with an offset spatula.
• Place in freezer.

Do not heat the gelée to hot or the dacquoise will soak up the moisture.  We will build the cake tomorrow by putting the layers of dacquoise/hazelnut crunch and the layers of dacquoise/raspberry gelée together.  Red, yellow, darker yellow and chocolate layers will look pretty together.

Assembly of coconut cake from last week:

• Cover sheet pan with plastic wrap.
• Place cooking rack on plastic covered pan.
• Remove frozen cake from cake frame using a torch.
• Turn over onto cooling rack.
• Tear off acetate like a band aid.
• Spread yellow glaze randomly over cake.
• Spread red glaze between random yellow glaze.
• Wipe long metal spatula across the top of cake.
• Move back and forth to create a pretty design.
• Pour clear glaze over the top of the cake.
• Move cake to cutting board.
• Trim edges of cake with hot, dry knife.

We cut the cake in half, to be donated, and two partners share the remaining half.  This is brought home to photograph, eat and share.

Tuesday

Puff Pastry:

Detrempe or Base Dough:

• Use soft butter
• Place flour in a pile on bread board.
• Push pile of flour into a 16" circular well.
• Combine cold water, salt and vinegar.
• Pour water solution into the well.
• Use left had to pull flour into center of well without creating a break in the wall of the well.
• Keep right hand clean using a plastic bench scraper.
• Make a paste out of the water and flour.  
• Add flour with bench scraper a little at a time.
• Add soft butter.
• Do not knead.
• Use the bench scraper to pull in flour and to cut the dough rather than using the palm of the hand to knead it.
• Mix and cut the dough.
• Use a little flour to clean left hand.
• Make dough in to shaggy ball.
• Score a criss cross design on top of dough with sharp knife.
• Loosely wrap.
• Place in cooler for 2 hours.

Legend has it that a French baker once left the butter out of his dough so he decided to add it afterwards.  The results had a lot of flavor.  Puff pastry has over 1500 layers of dough and butter.  No yeast is used in puff pastry.  Steam, created by water in the dough and the butter, evaporates as the puff pastry is baked, which causes the puff to rise. 

The butter and the dough have to be the same temperature.  If the butter is too soft, it can leak out while being rolled.  If the butter is too hard, it will break off while being rolled out.  Making the puff pastry by hand creates a muscle memory of how thick it should be and how the dough feels.  It is easier to make puff pastry by hand then most people realize.  

Cold water helps to slow the development of gluten.  Tapping the butter with a rolling pin, as opposed to rolling it, doesn't change its temperature and keeps it more pliable and elastic.  Work very quickly to keep the butter cool.  Vinegar keeps the dough from oxidizing, or turning gray, in the refrigerator.  The dough will shrink if the dough is overworked.  Activating gluten causes a tough dough.

There is no other comparable dough to puff pastry dough.

Prepare butter for puff pastry dough (lock-in):

• Half sheet acetate.
• Cut pound of butter in half, length wise.
• Wrap butter, side by side, in acetate.
• Bang with rolling pin until it is a 5x5" square.
• Wrap with the plastic as square as possible.
• Roll the butter to make it as even in size and thickness as possible.
• Label and place in cooler.

Locking butter into the puff pastry:

• Use a silpat dusted with flour to roll puff pastry out.
• Roll puff pastry dough into a 10" square. 
• Remove butter from acetate.
• Place butter at an angle on the 10" square of puff pastry.
• Pull in the corners to make them meet in the center.
• Tap butter with a rolling pin to set the corners of the puff pastry.
• 1st turn.
• Roll the dough into a rectangle 3 times as long as it is wide.  Use the silpat as a guide for the length.
• By turning the dough and using fingers to lift dough, you will create a "feel" or muscle memory of how thick and even the dough is.
• Dust silpat with flour before dough sticks.  
• Once dough has reached it's correct length, fold one half in to the middle and the other half over that. 
• Tap to even it out.
• 2nd turn.
• Turn the dough and roll it out to 3 times as long as it is wide again.
• Turn and roll, turn and roll.
• Once dough has reached it's correct length, fold one half in to the middle and the other half over that. 
• Mark two fingers in the dough (this indicates that two folds are complete).
• Wrap in plastic wrap.
• Place dough in cooler for 2 hours.
• 3rd turn.
• Turn the dough and roll it out to 3 times as long as it is wide again.
• Turn and roll, turn and roll.
• 4th turn.
• Turn the dough and roll it out to 3 times as long as it is wide again.
• Turn and roll, turn and roll.
• Once dough has reached it's correct length, fold one half in to the middle and the other half over that. 
• Mark four fingers in the dough (this indicates that four folds are complete).
• Place in cooler for 1 hour. (we are leaving it in the cooler overnight and will finish the 5th and 6th turns tomorrow).

White Chocolate Diplomat Mousse:

• organize station.
• Check the recipe.
• Slowly whip cream to soft peak.
• Place in cooler.

Begin making pastry cream:

• In a pot, place milk.
• Salt.
• Vanilla bean paste.
• Half the sucrose.
• Gently bring to a boil
• In a bowl, place yolks.
• Whisk other half of sugar into yolks immediately.
• Whisk, well, cornstarch.
• Turn off stove.
• Whisk a little war milk mixture in to yolks.
• Pour the yolks mixture into the pot with the warm milk mixture.
• Turn stove back on.
• Stir until thickens.  This will happen quickly.  
• Put back on heat and stir out the cornstarch for at least a minute at a boil.
• Mixture will become very elastic.
• Take off heat.
• Stir in gelatin until it is completely dissolved and melted.
• Add white chocolate disks.
• Whisk.
• Pour into big bowl.
• Cool to 25ºc, whisking occasionally.
• Fold/whisk a third of the reserved whip cream to the pastry cream.
• Fold/whisk the rest of the whipped cream into the pastry cream.
• Finish with a spatula so there are no stripes of whip or pastry cream.
• Fold well 

Using white chocolate diplomat mousse in assembly of cake:

• Line half sheet pan with patterned acetate sheet.
• Place cake frame on top.
• Pour half of white chocolate mousse into frame.
• Spread corner to corner without deflating the mousse.
• Place frozen raspberry gelée/almond dacquoise layer over mousse.
• Push with push tool.
• Spread the remaining white chocolate mousse over the raspberry gelée/almond dacquoise layer.
• Cover with the hazelnut crunch/almond dacquoise layer with the crunch side down.
• Push with push tool.
• Place in freezer for later.  Will be sprayed with tinted cocoa butter.

White chocolate diplomat mousse is a pastry cream based mousse.

Chocolate glaze (repeat):

• Organize ingredients, keep table organized and clear of dirty dishes. 
• Hydrate gelatin.
• Sift cocoa powder.
• Gather two medium sized pots.
• In one pot: Simmer cream, glucose, trimoline, sucrose, 2 drops of red food coloring and salt.
• In second pot: bring water and sugar to 121ºc.
• Slowly add milk mixture to sugar syrup.
• Whisk a third of sugar syrup/milk mixture to cocoa powder.  Make a thick, smooth paste.
• Pour cocoa paste mixture into pot and bring all the ingredients to a boil.
• Take off heat.
• Whisk/stir in gelatin until completely dissolved.
• Strain.
• Burr mix without incorporating bubbles.
• Lay plastic wrap directly on surface of glaze.
• Place in cooler overnight.

The gelatin in the chocolate glaze needs at least six hours to set.  

Wednesday

Second Stage:

Floriol- 1220 W. Webster Ave, Chicago, Illinois

7:00am - 12:00pm  Owner: Sandra Holl    Baking Manager: Betsy Grzywa

            

Floriol is a bakery cafe in Lincoln Park.  I emailed them last week and received an email detailing their expectations and schedule.  The baking manager, Betsy, and I set up and initial stage to see if I would be a fit.  

When I arrived, I changed into my uniform and met a few of the bakers.  My first task was rinsing blueberries, picking out the stems and soft berries, drying them and layering them on trays for the cooler.  My second task was making almond and chocolate croissants.  They get cut horizontally, dipped in rum simple syrup and filled and topped with almond cream and slivered almonds.  I then helped pick some herbs for the savory scones, which I helped scoop onto trays later.  I buttered muffin tins, scooped sugar filling and sprinkled pecans over the top for Pecan Buns.  My next task consisted of scooping buckwheat scones, washing them with heavy cream, pressing a thumbprint indentation in the middle, sprinkling them with course sugar and filling house made raspberry jam.

Betsy signed my stage sheet and we discussed our schedules and decided that I would come back next week and stage again.  She said, over time, the advantage of repeat stages is that I will be given various tasks and an opportunities to learn new things that require a little more skill and responsibility.

As I left to catch the train to school, the front of house prepared a take-home bag of delicious Vichyssoise and crostini.  The staff is friendly and knowledgeable and the environment is clean and organized.  They have beautiful products ranging from house made soups, salads and sandwiches to unusual pastries such as Gateau Basque, Canelés, Pot de Crème and intricate seasonal galettes and tarts.  They also do artisan breads, croissants, macaron, Kouign-amann and many more.

Class:

Pastry Cream (repeat).

• Cover half sheet tray with plastic wrap for finished hot pastry cream.
• Place in pot; milk, vanilla paste, butter and half the sucrose.
• In a bowl: egg yolks, other half of sugar (whisk immediately) and pastry cream powder.
• Bring milk to a boil.
• Whisk a little hot milk into the yolk mixture.
• Strain the yolk mixture into the pot.
• Whisk with heat off.
• Turn heat on.
• Whisk, whisk while heat is off to get rid of the lumps.
• Pastry cream must cook for at least 4 minutes.  Easy to burn pastry cream at this stage.
• Pour pastry cream into plastic wrap lined sheet pan.
• Cover with plastic so a skin does not develop.
• Cool in freezer for 5 minutes.
• Move pastry cream to cooler.

Chocolate hazelnut cake assembly and ingredients:

Pâte à bombe (repeat).

• Place a strainer over the mixer bowl.
• Double boiler.
• In a bowl that fits on double boiler add; water, milk powder, sugar, vanilla bean paste and yolks.
• Put bowl on heat.
• Stir with a whisk but do not aerate.
• Take off of heat every now and then.
• Take your time.
• Steam rising from mixture means that it is 70ºc.
• Strain into mixer bowl.
• Whisk on medium until pâte à bombe has cooled.
• Use ice bath if it hasn't cooled quickly enough. 

Chocolate Mousse (repeat):

• Read recipe.
• Have cake circles ready on a silpat and lined with acetate.
• Have sliced cakes nearby.
• Scale pâte à bombe.
• Scale whip cream.
• Melt chocolate to 40ºc.
• Add a third of the whip cream to the chocolate.
• Add the rest of the whip cream to the pâte à bombe.
• Fold pâte à bombe with cream.
• Fold pâte à bombe/whip cream to chocolate.
• Whisk/fold.
• Fold with a spatula.
• Mix until their are no stripes.

Chocolate/hazelnut cake assembly (step 1):

• Split mousse between two cake rings.
• Pull mouse up the sides of cake rings.
• Place chocolate biscuit inside mousse.
• Push and turn with push tool.
• Place in freezer.

Hazelnut Mousse (repeat):

• Read recipe.
• Scale whip cream.
• Hydrate gelatin.
• In a bowl, place hazelnut and praline 
• Mix paste well.
• Warm additional cream.
• Gently warm gelatin.
• Pour gelatin into cream.
• Add cream to nut pastes to create an emulsion.  Whisk from the inside of mixture until the edges slowly pull in and emulsify.
• Emulsion should become elastic and super shiny.
• Mix all around the bowl.
• Add a third of the whip cream into nut emulsion.
• Whisk/fold the rest of the whip cream to the pâte à bombe.
• Whisk/fold all of the whip cream/pâte à bombe mixture into the praline emulsion.
• Whisk/fold.
• Finish folding with a spatula so that there are not streaks.

A good emulsion creates a better texture and longer shelf life.  If streaks are left in any mousse, there will be pockets of unstable whip cream which will collapse after the cake is assembled.  When combining three different temperatures and textures, you must incorporate them in very specific and careful way or you risk seizing up your ingredients or deflating the lightness of the final product.

Chocolate/hazelnut cake assembly (step 2):

• Remove chocolate mousse/chocolate biscuit from freezer.
• Divide hazelnut mousse over the top of both cakes.
• Top with frozen hazelnut dacquoise.  Nuts should be on the inside.
• Push and turn with push tool.
• Place in freezer.

Frangipane:

Almond cream + TPT = Frangipane

Almond Cream (repeat):

• Process TPT in food processor.
• Cream butter.  Do not incorporate too much air.
• Add pastry cream powder to TPT.
• Slowly cream TPT with butter. 
• Slowly incorporate eggs into TPT/butter mixture.
• Scrape bottom of bowl.
• Add Rum.  Rum boosts the flavor of the almond.

Frangipane (repeat):

• Scale pastry cream.
• Fold a little almond cream into the pastry cream.
• Put all of it back on the mixer. 
• Paddle mixture on low.  Do not incorporate a lot of air.

Pithivier (Almond Galette):

Classic method:

• Have ready; pastry bag filled with frangipane.  Keep in cooler.
• Have ready; silpat, rolling pin and flour
• Line two half sheep pans with parchment.
• Cut puff pastry dough in half.
• Put one half in cooler.
• Roll/turn, roll/turn just a little at a time.
• Don't stress the dough.
• Add flour before dough sticks to silpat.
• Ideally, roll into an 11" square.
• Keep track of the opening of the original fold.
• Mark the opening on the parchment.
• Turn the dough so that the opening is on the right side of the silpat.
• Push 8" cutter on the puff dough. Do not go all the way through.
• Wash circle impression with water.
• Pipe frangipane in a circular pattern from center of circle.  Do not pipe too close to the edge of the impression.
• Roll out other half of puff pastry into 11" square.
• Place over frangipane/puff pastry with opening of original fold on the top of the silpat.  The original folds should be on the side and on the top.  This is called cross lamination and helps the puff to rise and bake evenly.
• Push 8" cutter over top of frangipane very gently.
• Use small round cutters to make petals around outside of 8" ring.
• Lightly egg wash. This will soak into the puff dough.
• Do not egg wash the sides of the dough or it will not rise.
• Wait 5 minutes.
• Egg wash again.  This is for the shine.
• Cut a hole, using a pastry tip, in the center of the pitisvier.  This allows for steam to escape while being bakes.
• Use an exacto blade or paring knife to cut the classic decorative design into, but not through, the crust.
• Cut lines into the petals.  Cut and turn.  Cut and turn.
• Use the knife to cut 5 actual holes in the preexisting cuts.  This will allow more steam to escape while baking.
• Place uncovered in cooler overnight.
• Bake for at least an hour.
• Wash with rum simple syrup straight from the oven.
• Store and serve at room temperature.

Take your time rolling out the dough.  Do not roll dough too thin or it will get stressed and might shrink while baked.

Thursday

Completing the Raspberry Gelée, Almond Dacquoise and hazelnut crunch cake:

• Place in plastic line box on a raised platform.
• Spray evenly with fat soluble colored cocoa butter spray.
• Place in freezer.  
• When ready to serve, temper in cooler, but with hot knife.
• Serve 30 minutes after removing from cooler.

Sablé Dough:

• Check the recipe.
• Sanding method.
• Put salt, sifted flour and sifted TPT in mixer bowl.
• Use paddle to mix all dry ingredients on low speed.
• Add cold butter.
• Turn to sand.  Do not cream.
• Combine vanilla paste and egg yolks.
• Add eggs to mixer bowl all at once and mix until combined.
• Put the batter onto tabletop.  
• Frasier: Using a bench scraper, press dough flat on the table looking for lumps of butter or sugar. Gently incorporate them.
• Place dough on plastic wrap, shape into a rectangle, wrap tight and place in cooler overnight.

Frasier is a french term for a method of stretching the dough on the table without developing gluten.  Frasier moves the dough without working it.  This could be done in a food processor.  The starch needs time to absorb moisture so that the dough is not too sticky.  A minimum of 6 hours is necessary.  Dough can be frozen after it rests properly but it must be put back into the color prior to rolling it out and baking it.  The dough will not oxidize, turn gray, due to its high butter fat content.

Chaussons aux Pommes (Apple Popover): 

Recycle scraps for future tart module:

• Do not make a ball out of scraps.  Lay scraps side by side and overlapping.
• Using rolling pin, roll, turn, repeat.
• Cut with fluted 4" round cutter.
• Throw scraps away.
• Sprinkle a little flour on the circle and roll into an oval from the center.
• Leave edges alone.
• Brush water on the edges of one side of the oval.
• Put a dollop of cooked filling in the center.
• Press the edges closed.
• Flip.
• Egg wash.  Wait five minutes.
• Egg wash again.
• Cut designs with pairing knife.
• Poke one hole through the top to release steam.
• Place in cooler uncovered.  This removes moisture and prevents shrinkage.
• Bake the next day.

Plein is French for the best part of the puff pastry.  The rest is scrap.  Scrap can only be used once or it becomes tough.  Only put cooked fillings in the puff.  If IQF or fresh fruit is used, the extra moisture will make the puff soggy.  New makeup brushes work very well for an even and thin egg wash.  Chaussons aux Pommes might be served at the four o'clock hour in France or to children as a snack.

Friday

Chef's Choice:

Banana Cake:

• Check recipe.
• Using a pastry brush, grease pan with combination of flour and butter. 
• Paddle on low, banana.
• Add vanilla bean paste and oil next.
• Add salt.
• Add eggs slowly enough that they are fully incorporated. 
• Finish with dry ingredients including sugars.
• Mix, do not overwork the batter.
• Divide equally between the pans.
• Top with streusel.
• Bake at 345ºf.

Use only very ripe bananas.  Always sift baking soda or baking powder in with the flour.  When using the flour/butter mixture, make sure to gill in all the cracks and wrinkles.  This mixture works well for quick breads and pound cakes.  Ginger powder and brown sugar are added to the banana cake for extra flavor and richness.

Glaze Chocolate Hazelnut Cake:

• Do not unmold frozen cake ahead of time.  Condensation will form.
• Cover sheet pan with plastic and place glazing rack on the sheet pan.
• Have ready; offset spatula, pairing knife, long metal spatula and burr mixer.
• Scrape the skin off of the top of the refrigerated chocolate mirror glaze.
• Microwave chocolate mirror glaze until it reaches 35ºc.
• Cut through the glaze, rather than stir, so that no air bubbles are incorporated.
• Burr mix chocolate mirror glaze without incorporating bubbles.
• Remove acetate from top of cakes. 
• Unmold frozen cakes, place on glazing rack and remove acetate rings.
• Pour glaze over cakes in a circular motion.
• Pass long metal spatula over cakes twice.
• Using offset spatula, move cake around over the glazing rack.
• Lift cake with offset spatula and place on cake board or stand.
• Use pairing knife to release the cake.  Make a clean pull with the knife.
• Decorate cake with chocolate decor, cake cut into cubes or macaron.

Chocolate Piping Practice:

Verbal Evaluation:

Chef Patrice did an individual, private verbal evaluation of our performance during the two week entremet module.  He told me that I had a great attitude, worked well as a team, make a good work product but need to be more organized.  This was a hard pill for me to swallow because I consider myself to be a very organized person.  I was alone for six of the ten days and struggled with dishes and time.  I thanked him and plan to be better at all points.  The best scores are hard to attain and are considered God-like, as in, "Pastry God."

We were assigned our new partners and table numbers for the next module.

Deep Clean:

The class worked together much better this week and the deep clean went much faster.

Module Buffet by Chef Patrice Caillot:

Final thoughts:

Like an artist, you can choose ingredients for flavor and color; skins on the nut or no skin.

In pastry, you always have to find a way to recycle product.  Never throw anything away.

Scrape everything.  Scrape, scrape.

If I give you a recipe, you have to have the process.  If you do not have the process, you will not be able to go anywhere with the recipe.

Start to think outside the box.  One minute in one oven is not the same as one minute in another oven.

Simple banana bread with streusel. 

The French Pastry School-Week Three - Entremet

                                                           L'Art de la Pâtisserie  Week 3

Monday

Entremet began in France as a plated, layered pastry between courses, met.  Over the years it went from savory to sweet.  The french love different textures layered together.  Crunch (feuittine), meringue (very dry), caramelized fruits and nuts, dacquoise (crunch on the outside and soft on the inside) and puff pastry.  Soft genoise (sponge cake), which can be soaked in flavoring, different styles of mousse, gelée and glazes as shiny as glass.  Only a small slice is need to satisfy.

6 Minute Meringue:  

• Set timer for 2 minutes.
• Split sugar into three small containers.
• Put whites in mixer with a whisk.
• Add egg white powder to first sugar to help incorporate it.
• Place the egg whites, cream of tartar, egg white powder and the first sugar into the mixing bowl.
• Start the timer and whip on high for 2 minutes.
• Pour in second container of sugar.
• Start the timer and mix on high for 2 minutes.
• Add last container of sugar.
• Start eh timer and mix on high for 2 minutes.
• Add vanilla.
• Fold in sifted 10X in three stages.

Meringue benefits from whites that are stabilized.  Cream of tartar precoagulates the whites to give them a head start.  Aging, or drying, the whites reduces the percentage of moisture and helps stabilize the whites.  Egg whites should be at room temperature before incorporating air.

Pistachio Dacquoise:

• Set oven to 300ºf.
• Roast pistachio flour until fragrant.
• Prepare pan with light coating of butter, parchment, butter.
• Reset oven to 400ºf
• Mix nut flours and 10X in a large bowl.  Pour into sheet pan for later.
• Mix whites on low, add a little sugar.
• Increase speed.
• Add a little more sugar.
• Whip to medium peak.  Do not over mix.
• Move meringue to big bowl.
• Sprinkle nut/10X mixture over meringue in five stages.
• Fold very gently.  Batter is very fragile.
• Pour batter and smooth batter into prepared pan.
• Bake for 5-7 minutes.
• Once the dacquoise is cool, clean edges with a knife.
• Lift out of pan.
• Flip over into clean, parchment lined pan.
• Top with second layer and parchment.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for later use.

Deflating the batter will cause dacquoise to be dense and chewy.  It should be crispy on the outside and moist in the middle.  Toasting the pistachio brings out its flavor so that it is more pronounced than the almond flour.  

Whipped Cream:

• Refrigerate or freeze bowl.
• Use cold cream.
• Whip at medium speed.  This creates many equally sized, small bubbles.  Mixing to fast creates uneven bubbles which are large and unstable.  Big bubbles make a bad texture in mousse.  
• Less volume in the beginning the better.
• It is better to under whip cream than to over whip it.  If it is over whipped it can not be used for pastry.  Continue whipping until it becomes butter.  Use as butter.
• Properly mixed cream is loose around the edges.
• Over whipped cream turns off-white and becomes grainy.  The fat has separated from the water.

Glazing a plaster dummy cake:

• Prepare sheet pan by covering it in plastic wrap.
• Place a cooling rack on covered pan.
• Pour glaze into tall skinny container.
• Heat up glaze to no more than 35ºc.
• Stir glaze gently.  Do not create bubbles.
• Burr mix the glaze.  Tilt the burr mixer at an angle to create fewer bubbles.  Do not lift the burr mixer above the glaze while mixing or it will create many bubbles.  These bubbles will show on the glazed cake.
• Unmold frozen cake and place on cooling rack.Glaze quickly so that it sets up evenly on the top and the sides of the cake.
• Start at center top of the the cake, pour in circles until all sides are covered.
• Place frozen pistachio dacquoise in a parchment lined half sheet pan.
• Press  cake frame firmly down onto cake.

Tuesday

Stage:  Whimsical Candies

9:00am - 12:30pm at the loop kitchen and candy store location.  Owner: Chris

 I boxed and labeled La Dee Dahs, which are handmade swirls of chewy nougat and creamy caramel dipped in premium chocolate.   I was then allowed to help scale and make a batch of caramel.  We used a table top cooker that stirred automatically.  The basic caramel making rules applied.  I added sucrose slowly, butter slowly and finally, the cream.  Slowly.  Chris poured it into prepared, parchment lined pans with caramel bars.  I bought a Wow Bar, which has peanut butter, salty caramel, chocolate nougat, pretzels and is dipped in dark chocolate, to share with my classmates.  It was wonderful.  

     Her business is in the basement of an office building and is very organized and clean.  It's a candy store with handmade, high quality candies.  They are available at the SoHo location of Dean & DeLuca in New York, online and in her store.

Gelatin:  FPS uses sheet gelatin.  This can be ordered on Amazon.  There are different strengths of gelatin. Generally, one sheet weights 2g but it should be scaled and cut for accuracy.  Gelatin can absorb ten times its weight in water.  Scale five times the amount of water to weight of gelatin.  30g of gelatin to 150g water.

Class:

Apricot/Passion Gelée:

• Warm 25% of purée. 
• Add sugar and bring to a simmer.
• Add gelatin.  
• Whisk until even and no lumps of gelatin remain.
• Mix warm mixture into remaining purée.
• Pour the whole thing over the dacquoise.
• Place in freezer.
• Layer second dacquoise over the gelée layer before it is frozen solid or it will not adhere.
• Place back in freezer.

Coconut Dacquoise:

• Preheat oven to 204ºc (400ºf).
• Prepare two half sheet pans with a light coating of butter, parchment, butter.
• Place whites into mixer bow.
• Combine sifted 10X, almond flour, flour and coconut flake in large bowl.  Whisk.
• Pour it into sheet pan.  Reserve.
• Make meringue.
• Place meringue into large bowl.
• Sprinkle flour mixture over meringue in five stages.
• Gently fold.  Do not deflate.
• Divide into two half sheet pans and spread evenly with offset spatula.
• Sprinkle top of batter with sifted 10X or coconut rape.
• Bake 5-6 minutes.  Do not over bake.  

Clear Glaze:

• Mix clear gel, 30 baume, and glucose in pot,  Gently heat, strain, place plastic wrap on surface and allow it to cool with loose lid so steam can escape.  Store in cooler.

This recipe can be used cold.  It does not need to be warmed each time.  It can also be frozen and will not lose its shine.  Don't store it too much or bubbles will be left on the surface of the dessert.  

Apricot glaze is difficult to make and cheaper and easier to buy pre made.

Candied Pineapple:

• Small dice a fresh pineapple.
• Place in airtight container and cover with simple syrup. 
• Leave in cooler overnight.
• On the second day, drain syrup and cover pineapple with Kirshwasser.
• Use between layers of coconut mousse and coconut dacquoise.

By osmosis, sugar replaces water molecules in the structure of fruit.  A small dice is best for entremet that will be cut with a knife. 

Nougat Mousse:

• Whip cream and place in cooler for later.
• Chop and mix together the dried apricots, dried cherries, tasted pistachios and toasted pecans.
• Line half sheet pan with acetate and place frame over acetate.Sprinkle half the fruit and nut mixture over acetate.
• Soak gelatin sheets in water.  Check to make sure they are hydrating. 
• Whisk egg whites in mixer.  When the begin to foam, add the sugar in one shot.
• Heat honey to 125ºc (357ºf).
• Pour honey down the side of the bowl into the mixer.
• Add the gelatin.
• Mix until cool 37ºc (body temperature).
• Fold one third of meringue into whip using a whisk.
• Fold second third of meringue into whip cream using a whisk.
• Fold the final third of meringue into whip cream using a spatula.
• Pour half of mousse over fruit and nut mixtures.  Spread evenly.
• Sprinkle remaining fruit and nut mixture over mousse and cove with remaining mousse.
• Take frozen pistachio dacquoise out of the freezer and place over the top of mousse.
• Push down with hands or push tool to evenly distribute all of the components.  
• Wrap entire cake and frame with plastic wrap.
• Place in freezer.

Wednesday:

Caramelized Hazelnuts:

• Put water in pot first followed by sugar.
• start low and slow. 
• Melt sugar granules and then turn up heat.
• Cook sugar to 115ºc.  Use a probe for accuracy.
• Dump tempered hazelnuts into sugar and stir.
• Stir, stir, stir.  This activates the crystallization.
• Sand the sugar and then caramelize slowly.
• The hazelnuts will start to make a popping sound.
• If using for garnish, go dark, if using in a baked item, go lighter.
• Stir cocoa butter into finished hazelnuts.
• Pour onto silpat to cool.

Caramelized hazelnuts taste wonderful on their own, look beautiful as décor and can be crushed (using a heavy pot) for topping dacquoise and cakes.  Do not use cold hazelnuts.  If straight out of freezer or cooler, warm them briefly in the microwave.  Cocoa butter prevents sogginess.  Extends crispiness.  Praline is made by taking caramelized hazelnuts, crushing or creaming them and adding sugar.  60/40 (caramelized hazelnuts to sugar) is considered the best ratio.  50/50 is okay but anymore than that and the praline will be too fatty.  For expedience, some pralines are made by caramelizing sugar and roasting hazelnuts separately and then crushing or creaming them together.  This would be considered an inferior tasting product with less depth of flavor.

Chocolate Biscuit:

• Double tray two sheet pans.  They work as an insulator.  
• Place 2 cake rings on silpat.
• Sift flour and cocoa powder together.
• In one mixer bowl; make a meringue using egg white, sea salt cream of tartar and sugar.
• In another mixer bowl: make a pate a bomb using yolks, trimoline and sugar.
• gently melt butter and cocoa paste together.  
• Fold half of meringue into pate a bomb.
• Fold melted cocoa into the meringue/pate a bomb mixture.
• Fold in the remaining meringue.
• Sprinkle flour/cocoa powder mixture over meringue mixture in two stages.
• Fold.
• Divide batter into two cake rings.  Do not butter sides of rings.
• Bake 30-35 minutes. 176ºc (350ºf).
• When still warm, unmold and wrap with plastic to keep biscuit warm.

Biscuit is a little dense but very moist cake.  It does not need syrup.  Trimoline emulsifies the yolks and acts as a moisturizer.  If butter is used on the sides of the cake rings, the cake will rise quickly on the edges and without structure, will collapse in the middle.  The cake needs to build structure evenly throughout the baking process.  

Hazelnut Dacquoise:

• Prepare a parchment lined sheet pan for two 8" circles of dacquoise.
• In a mixing bowl; whisk egg white and fleur de sel.
• Slowly add sugar until a medium peak meringue is produced.
• Place meringue into large mixing bowl.  
• Fold TPT into meringue in three stages.
• Pipe or spread batter into circles on parchment.  Do not deflate.
• Sprinkle caramelized hazelnuts over batter.
• Bake at 204ºc/400ºf for 30-35 minutes.

The cake is inverted when it is stacked so the nuts end up on the to of the bottom layer of the finished cake.  This makes it easier to cut through with a fork.

Chocolate Mirror Glaze:

• Hydrate the gelatin.
• Sift cocoa powder.
• In one pot: bring glucose, trimoline, salt and cream to a simmer and remove from heat.
• In second pot: put water in first and then sucrose.  Cook to 121ºc.
• Combine sugar mixture and cream mixture. 
• Stir a little liquid into the cocoa powder to create a nice paste.
• Put the paste into the cream.
• Bring mixture to a boil briefly.
• Stir so cocoa powder doesn't burn.
• Add gelatin.
• Strain final product.
• Burr mix without creating bubbles.
• Put plastic wrap on surface of glaze.
• Place in cooler.

Thursday  

Coconut Mousse:

• Warm, to 40ºc, 25% of coconut puree by bringing to a low simmer.
• Melt gelatin in microwave very gently.
• Put remaining 75% of coconut puree in a large bowl.  Add rum.
• Add gelatin to pot of warm coconut puree.
• Pour gelatin/puree mixture into 75% of the coconut puree.
• Mix half of the whip cream into meringue.
• Whisk/fold a little whip cream into the coconut puree.
• Whisk/fold a little more.
• Whisk/fold the rest of the Italian meringue/whip cream mixture.
• Finish folding with spatula.

This is poured into a cake frame, mold or container, refrigerated and layered with cake, gelée, dacquoise, fruit, etc..  Egg yolks would turn this mousse off white, or yellow, and the flavors would not pair well.

Passion Fruit Mousse:

Prepare a bowl with a strainer and an ice bath in a larger bowl.

• Warm all of the passion fruit on low heat.
• Whisk in milk powder immediately.
• Whisk in sugar.
• Whisk in vanilla paste.
• Whisk in yolks.
• Whisk in milk.
• Stir, stir, stir.
• Cook to 82ºc.
• Pour over strainer.
• Add gelatin to the mixture.
• Place bowl over ice bath.
• Whisk continuously until mixture cools to 22-23ºc.
• Add a little whip cream into the passion fruit mixture.
• Add meringue to the remaining whip cream.
• Add all of the meringue and whip cream to the passion fruit mixture.
• Begin by whisk/folding and finish with a spatula.
• Pour half into cake frame.
• Sprinkle with candied pineapple.
• Pour remaining mousse over pineapple.
• Place in freezer or cooler.

The inclusion of egg yolks in the version of a mousse makes it very creamy and rich.  This must be cooked low and slow.  Cooking yolks quickly dries them out and creates a very "eggy" flavor.

Pâte À Bombe:

egg yolks + sugar = pâte à bombe

• Make sure the water bath is not steaming or boiling.  
• Use a towel in the table for collecting condensation from the bottom of the bowl.   
• Use a thermometer for accuracy.  
• Scrape the edges during whisking to keep the temperature even and the sides of the bowl from cooking the eggs.  
• Steam rising from the crème anglaise means that it is 70ºc.  
• Pâte à bombe gives a really nice texture to a chocolate mousse.  

Chocolate Mousse:

Pâte à bombe + melted chocolate + whip cream = chocolate mousse

Whip cream, scale and reserve in cooler.

Have ready a mixer bowl with strainer.

• In a medium bowl, whisk milk powder into water until completely dissolved.
• Add yolks, vanilla paste and sugar while whisking.
• Place bowl over hot water.
• Whisk until mixture reaches 78ºc 
• Take off heat.
• Pour through strainer over bowl.
• Whisk on medium speed.
• Melt chocolate over water bath or in 50% power microwave  (shouldn't be over 45-50ºc).
• Pâte à bombe has to be completely cool before folding in whip cream.
• Add one third of the whipped cream to chocolate.
• Whisk/fold.
• Add a one third more whip cream.
• Whisk/fold.
• Add the rest of the whip cream to the pate a bombe.
• Fold.
• Fold all of the pâte à bombe/whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.
• Whisk/fold gently.
• Finish folding with spatula.

Chocolate mousse does not need gelatin as a stabilizer because when the chocolate cools it firms up and gives the mousse its structure.  

Hazelnut Mousse:

• Warm cream slightly in microwave.
• Warm gelatin slightly in microwave.
• Mix gelatin and cream together.
• Combine hazelnut paste and praline in a bowl.
• Add warmed cream to the praline mixture by whisking from the middle outward.  It should become shiny and elastic.
• Add a little whip cream to the praline mixture.
• Whisk
• Fold the remaining whip cream into the pâte à bombe.
• Whisk/Fold all of the pate a bombe into the praline mixture. 
• Use spatula to finish folding mixture completely and gently.

Friday

I made the chocolate mousse and hazelnut mousse today.  I assembled it with my chocolate biscuit and glazed it with the chocolate glaze.  I brought this home to eat and to share.

I covered the top of the nougat cake with clear glaze, trimmed the edges, cut it in half and brought a quarter of it home to taste and share.  

I baked a chocolate biscuit, wrapped and froze it for next week.

Fridays are deep clean days and our class did not get high praise from Chef Patrice.  There were many dishes left for the end of class and many simple tasks were not done efficiently.  We are going to work harder on being organized during class and getting the cleaning done much faster.

This week was somewhat of a struggle for me.  Working alone is good for autonomy and and learning all of the recipes independently but it is bad for dish washing and cleaning.  Many people were aware of my situation and helped with dishes and offered to help. 

Saturday

I met two classmates at the Green City Market in Lincoln Park this morning.  I found Michigan peaches, Wisconsin heirloom tomatoes and a jar of spicy kimchi.  We watched a canning demonstration by Eric Mansavage from Farmhouse Chicago. 

Final Thoughts

My partner has been away all week and the entire class has helped me with dishes and my cleaning duties.  I greatly appreciate this and hope to repay them when I'm back up to speed.

Pâte à bombe, Italian meringue and whipped cream can be made in large batches and then scaled to order.  We each made one batch of each, reserved them and executed four different mousses.

If you freeze a cake, put it in the cooler before bringing it to room temperature.

Utensils need to be free of any grease or fats in order to properly aerate egg white.  White vinegar cleans works well to remove invisible residue. 

How you make the recipe and the quality of the ingredients is what makes a difference.

The timer tells you when something is in the oven, not that it is ready.

The timer tells you the time not when something is ready.

Beautiful summer sunset.