The French Pastry School-Week Nine - Chocolate

 L'Art de la Pâtisserie  Week 9

Chef En-Ming demonstrates how Beta V crystals line up in chocolate.

Monday

Labor Day.  No School

Tuesday

Chef En-MIng Hsu

Chocolate Candy Module.

Hazelnut Praline Paste:

Making praline paste from scratch allows the cook to control the flavor of the nuts, caramelization and amount of sucrose.  Nut varieties are different from farm to farm.  Taste to assess the flavor profile.  Classic confectionery recipes include almonds (France) and hazelnuts (Italy).  Provence almonds are very good.  Rounded copper bowls are very good conductors of heat and melt sugar evenly but do not work on a induction burner.  The thicker the copper the better.  The flame rises up the sides of the copper bowl and keeps sugar from cooling and crystallizing.  The induction burner only heats on the bottom so a torch needs to be used to occasionally melt the cooled sugar from the insides of the pot.

Hazelnut Praline:

• Check ingredients.
• Check equipment.
• Review recipe steps.
• Split vanilla bean pods in half.
• Scrape vanilla bean seeds into sucrose and work them around evenly.
• Microwave nuts for one minute.
• Water goes in the pot first.
• Pour sucrose into center of pot.
• Melt out the sugar on low heat.
• Cook to 115º - 119ºc to evaporate the water.
• Dump nuts in pot all at once.
• Move nuts around continuously to encourage crystallization.
• Sucrose will get very dry and sugared.
• Turn down the heat to control the cooking.
• Slowly roast the nuts all the way through.
• Cut nut in half to test for toasted color all the way through.
• When nut is thoroughly roasted, turn heat up for one minute and cook the caramel to desired dark color.
• Pour onto silpat.
• Scrape everything out of the pot including the vanilla bean pod.
• Spread out the nuts.
• Allow to cool.
• When cool, crack up the hazelnuts so they fit into a Robot Coupe.
• Process nuts, scraping sides twice.
• Store in chocolate cooler.

A good ratio for praline paste is 50/50.  Half nut and half sucrose.  Sugar content is high so that the sugar thickly covers the nut.  If a stronger nut taste is desired, 60/40 works.  Taking the skins off of the nuts is up to the chef.  The skins add flavor.  If a cleaner look is desired then the skins may be removed.

Roasting the nuts all the way through develops flavor and pulls out most of the moisture, which causes quality degradation.  Roasting the nuts together with the caramelized sugar develops more flavor than combining roasted nuts to caramel.  The proteins in the nuts go through the mallard reaction as they brown and cook.  Complexity of flavor is nice.

a coeur means, "to the heart" in French.  The nuts should be cooked all the way to the center.

25% of sugar to the weight of water is needed to dissolve sucrose.  Most caramelized nut recipes will be 30% water.  

A granular style paste is, "old style" and a smoother paste is new. 

roasted hazelnuts roasted without sucrose = praline paste

roasted hazelnuts roasted with sucrose = Hazelnut Praline

Mix praline, with dry tools, every time to maintain a consistent texture.  Commercial grinding makes commercial praline smoother.  The sugar does not dissolve in the homemade variety because there is not enough moisture in the mixture and the fat content is too high.

Fats can go rancid and smell funny.  Shelf life depends on storage but 3-6 months is a good guideline.  

Whole Caramelized Almonds:

• Microwave almonds for one minute.
• Dissolve sucrose.
• Boil sucrose.
• Cook to 115º - 119ºc.
• Add the almonds to the sugar.
• Agitate the sucrose to recrystallize the sucrose.  This is called the sanding process.
• Turn down the heat.
• Roast the nuts through to the middle.
• Control the heat.
• Cut open a nut to check for doneness.
• Darken the outside caramel.
• Add cocoa butter. 
• Pour onto a silpat.
• Separate with gloved hands.
• Package almonds immediately to keep dry.

These are a base for chocolate covered almond dragees.  They should have a nice, thin, even coating of caramel.  This recipe should only have enough sucrose to lightly sweeten the almonds.  The caramel should be glossy for décor.  Worry first about the inside of the nut and then worry about the outside of the nut.  The focus should be on roasting the almonds evenly.

Chocolate Overview:

Each jar holds 70% cocoa solids in varying ratios.  70% dark chocolate can have different ratios of cocoa fats and cocoa solids.  This is why the same percentage chocolates all taste and act so differently. 

• Up to the point of fermentation = cacao
• After fermentation - cocoa
• When cocoa nibs are ground, cocoa liquor (paste) is formed.  The has a strong, acrid smell and gets separated into cocoa powder and cocoa butter.
• Most cocoa butter goes into manufacturing skin lotions.
• Pâte de cacoa is baker's chocolate.
• cocoa paste + lecithin + sugar + vanilla = dark chocolate
• cocoa paste + lecithin + sugar + vanilla + milk = milk chocolate
• Swiss chocolate has a lot of milk in it.
• milk + sucrose + vanilla + cocoa butter = white chocolate
• 31% cocoa butter + cocoa mass + sucrose + vanilla = couverture 
• Up to 5% of other fats are allowed.
• Couverture means a covering or blanket.
• Couverture is made to enrobe fillings with a thin, protective coating.
• Cocoa butter is the most complicated ingredient.
• If you control the cocoa butter you control the chocolate.
• There is no way to read a chocolate box or wrapper label and know the exact breakdown of fats and cocoa solids.  

Table Tempering (marbling):

• Every chef has their preferred method of tempering.
• Use the chocolate tempering curve.
• We will always be using or talking about dark chocolate.
• French Pastry School used Cocoa Berry - Callebaut chocolate.
• Crystallization depends on the environment.
• Chocolate bloom is a collection of unstable crystals.
• Chocolate has 5 kinds of crystals.
• 1-3 are unstable crystals.
• 4 and 5 are stable.
• The star of the show is 5.
• When chocolate is heated to 45ºc no crystals exist.
• Crystals must be developed or grown.
• Cold granite table will cool the chocolate.
• Take 75% or less and pour it onto the marble table.
• Quickly cool the chocolate but not too fast.
• We do not use thermometers.  Tempering is done by feel and sight.
• Using a long offset spatula and a speckling tool; spread out chocolate and then scrape around the chocolate, pulling it inward, scrape the top and bottom of speckling tool and repeat.
• Chant: one up, scrape the front, scrape the back, spread the chocolate out, repeat.
• When it thickens, get it off the table.
• Channel chocolate evenly into bowl containing remaining 25% of 45ºc chocolate.
• Stir, stir.
• Do a test parchment strip.  
• Wait 3-4 minutes.
• If chocolate sets in 1 minute, it is tempered but too cold.
• If chocolate sets in 2 minutes, it is tempered but still too cold.
• If chocolate sets in 3 minutes it is right on.
• Test strip should be shiny and free of streaks.
• Streaks mean the chocolate should be stirred more (but only if it is in temper).
• Dull means it is not ready.
• Bubbles on the surface means the chocolate has been used too many times.
• If chocolate is too cold, microwave gently for 5 seconds.
• A heat gun can also be used to gently warm chocolate that is in temper but too cold.

Wednesday

Pralinette (for Rocher):

• In a small pot; trimoline, sucrose and water.
• Bring to a boil.
• Dump in all  of the almonds.
• Turn down to medium heat.
• Thoroughly coat the almonds with the sugar mixture.
• Take almonds off of the heat after they are completely covered.
• Pour onto a silpat.
• Press into a rectangle.
• Put into 275ºf convection oven.
• Check every five minutes.
• Using an offset spatula, stir nuts and push them back together.

Pralinette are caramelized almonds that are on the outside of the Susiss Rocher.  Can use slivered almonds or almond bits.  Trimoline protects the almonds, keeps them dryer and helps them to brown a little.  The goal is crunchy almonds.  Almonds must be baked until they are roasted all the way through.  The key to a good Rocher is crunchy almonds.

Marzipan:

• Put blanched almonds in Robot Coupe.
• In a pot; water, sucrose and trimoline.
• Bring to a boil.
• Zip almonds to pulverize them.
• Pour sugar syrup over ground nuts.
• Process nut/sugar mixture.  
• Keep the turn paddle moving.
• Add a little Amaretti oil.
• Process until nut mixture reaches 85ºc.
• Pack into a neat square.
• Wrap in plastic.
• Place in cooler.

The key to really good marzipan is using nice almonds.  Aldrich Almonds have an intense flavor.  Using a 70/30, 60/40 or 50/50 nut to sugar ratio are all acceptable.  The higher ratio may result in the fat splitting from the nut.  60/40 ratio is the best ratio for a good nut flavor.  The friction from the Robot Coupe and the hot syrup pasteurize the nuts which is required by law.  Trimoline helps prevent the marzipan from drying out.  Marzipan will stay fresh in a low humidity cooler for up to a month.

Nougatine:

• Roast almonds in oven until cooked all the way through.
• Set up; cutting board, half sheet pan, 2 silpats, parchment and rolling pin.
• In larger pot; glucose and sorbitol.  
• Add small amount of sucrose avoiding sides of pan.
• Add the rest of the sucrose and melt completely on medium heat.
• Increase heat.
• Bring sugar mixture to a light to medium caramel.
• Leave sugar alone while it comes to color.
• Add the roasted almonds.
• On low heat, stir.
• Add the butter.
• Blend very well.
• Pour onto silpat.
• Cover with another silpat.
• Using a lot of pressure, roll out mixture as thin as you can.
• Peel off silpat.
• Place parchment on nougatine.
• Flip over.
• Peel off other silpat.
• Place parchment/nougatine sheet on cutting board.
• Roll nougatine cutter firmly in both directions.
• Use a kitchen knife to cut scores.
• Break squares apart.
• Cool completely.
• Pack in air tight container immediately.

Caramel and almond mixture is typical in the south of France.  Adding extra nuts to the recipe cuts its sweetness.  Heating up the cutting board and silpats in the oven helps to  keep nougtine warm while rolling it out.  Making nougatine is all about speed.  2 - 1 sucrose to sugar or 1-1 sucrose to nuts for a more pronounced nut flavor.  Glucose gives the nougatine pliability and helps with preventing crystallization during the caramelizing process.  Sorbitol protects against humidity and helps it to dry. Caramel should be strong enough to not be sticky but not too dark.  Butter softens the whole recipe.  How thin you roll out nougatine is dictated by the thickness of the almonds.  Breaking pieces off in opposite directions makes a cleaner break.

Normandy Cream Filling:

• Melt chocolate to 60%.
• Stir in chopped gianduja.
• In a small pot; salt and cream
• Ina small bowl; soft butter and trimoline.
• In a medium size bowl; dark chocolate.  Place onto cake board to keep bowl from cold table.
• Blend butter and trimoline well so there are no lumps.
• Bring cream and salt just up to a boil.
• Pour hot cream over chocolate.  Let it sit for 1 minute.
• Whisk the chocolate and cream mixture from the inside.  Do not incorporate air.
• Whisk continuously moving toward the outside of the bowl.
• Whisk a little chocolate mixture into butter/trimoline mixture.  
• Add butter/trimoline mixture into main bowl of chocolate.
• Whisk until smooth.
• Work quickly at this point to pour chocolate mixture into frame.

Frame Set-up:

• Place plexiglass on table.
• Spray plexiglass with a little water or vegetable oil.
• Place half sheet of acetate over plexiglass.
• Use squeegee to attach acetate and remove water.
• Move squeegee from middle to top corners and then middle to bottom corners.
• Remove any residual water from surface.
• Spread a thin layer of tempered or untempered chocolate onto acetate with offset spatula.
• Press side and bottom bars into chocolate.
• Leave the top bar free.

Filling Frame with Normandy Cream:

• Pour Normandy Cream into closed end of frame.
• Spread toward corners.
• Do not agitate.
• Use ruler to tap while spreading and smoothing toward loose bar.
• Pull top bar toward Normandy Cream.
• Glance at eye level to see that filling is level.
• Hold bars while shaking and tapping frame.
• Pop only the largest bubbles.
• Place in chocolate cooler.
• Needs 24 hours to set before it can be disturbed.

Creamy from Normandy is common in the northwest region of France.  This is a dairy production region.  Gianduja is a tempered chocolate product what developed in Italy during a time when chocolate was very expensive.  Italians grow hazelnuts so they cut the chocolate with sucrose and hazelnuts to make it last longer.  Trimoline helps retain moisture and stabilizes the mixture.  Keeping the top bar unattached is useful for recipes that are not specifically calculated to a specific size frame.

Understanding crystallization of chocolate:

• Understand the principles.
• Practice.
• Polymorphic = the ability to crystallize in different forms.
• 45ºc chocolate contains no crystals.
• Pour 75% of 45ºc dark chocolate onto table.
• Must cool down chocolate to 27ºc to grown crystals.
• At 27ºc there are many types of crystals forming.
• Must build good crystals and get rid of bad crystals by increasing the temperature back to 32ºc.
• By adding back 25% of 45ºc chocolate good crystals grow and the bad crystals melt.
• Good crystals stack neatly, like chairs. 
• Crystals 1, 2 and 3 cannot take a higher heat and they melt out.
• Crystals 1, 2 and 3 bad.  Crystals 4 and 5 good.  Crystal 5 is the best.
• By process of elimination, you learn the signs of temperature.
• Using test strips, small squares of parchment paper, is the only way to know if chocolate is properly tempered.
• Look at the texture of chocolate while moving it around on the table.
• Lumps on the table means that the chocolate is being move around too slowly.
• Microwave chocolate for 3-5 seconds to knock out the lumps.  
• The offset spatula needs to be longer than the spackle tool.
• Using a the right size bowl is important.  If the bowl is too big, the edges will cool too quickly.

Thursday

Understanding Chocolate (continued).

• Gelafied liquors make ganache too elastic.
• Hibiscus is good with chocolate because of its acidity.
• All chocolate solids sold are in temper.
• Packaged chocolate may have a rough exterior appearance due to packaging, handling and shipping.
• Store chocolate away from moisture and odor.
• Cocoa bloom is migrating fat that forms unstable crystals.
• Sugar bloom is sucrose that migrates out of chocolate due to humidity.  Once the water evaporates the sucrose is left on the surface.
• Touching bloom tells what caused it.
• If you touch cocoa bloom with finger it will melt.
• If you touch sugar bloom with finger it will not melt.
• Ideal room temperature for chocolate is 65-68ºf.
• If you set chocolate in a cooler, 43-47ºf, it will crack.

Emulsion:

• Fat + Liquid
• A mix of two ingredients that do not normally bind together.  
• An evenly dispersed emulsion is a strong emulsion.
• Butter (82% fat) + milk solids + water = water in fat emulsion.
• A water in fat emulsion is when fine particle of water are evenly disposed in fat.
• Cream = fat in water emulsion.
• Butter is a water dispersed in fat emulsion.
• Ganache is a fat dispersed in water emulsion.
• Fats are lighter than water.
• Fats float on water.
• The emulsifier helps bring, and keep, the mixture together.
• Egg yolks have lecithin, which is a natural emulsifier.
• A minute amount of lecithin in chocolate only helps with viscosity.
• What emulsifies a ganache?  The lecithin in the chocolate, some of the dairy substances in the cream and the dry particles in the chocolate.
• What makes a ganache separate?  Fat particles bind on to one another and grow bigger and bigger.  They collide and the fat goes to the surface.
• Using too large of a bowl can break a ganache because the cold particles do not like to be agitated.  Or the chocolate has been allowed to fall below 34ºc.
• 38ºc is the perfect time to add butter.
• Caste a ganache filling before it gets down to 34ºc.
• Cooking the liquids (cream) too long (even 10 seconds) can evaporate too many liquids and throw off the ratio.  This can cause the ganache to separate as there is now now enough liquids and too much fat.
• Too much acid in the recipe can cause a ganache to separate.  Check the acidity level in the chocolate to ensure that the acids do not curdle the dairy products.

Rum Truffles:

• Keep lid on scaled rum to keep it from evaporating.
• Melt chocolate half way.
• In small pot; cream and vanilla.
• In small bowl; mix butter and trimoline.
• In medium bowl; egg yolks.
• Bring cream up to a boil.
• Using a whisk, temper ⅓ of hot cream into yolks.
• Pour yolk mixture back into pot of cream.
• On low heat, stir cream and scrape sides of pan.
• Bring cream/yolk mixture to 70ºc.
• Must have a small whisk to get into corners of pan, if not, use rubber spatula.
• Strain cream over chocolate.
• Let sit for 15 seconds.
• Blend with whisk (this is the emulsifying process).
• Whisk evenly from center to outside.  Do not make bubbles.
• Do not overaggitate.
• Using a whisk, temper a small amount of chocolate (38-40ºc) into butter.  Do not aerate.
• Whisk butter mixture into chocolate.
• Blend evenly.
• Add rum.
• Finish by scraping sides with spatula.
• There should not be any streaks.
• Store in bowl, with plastic to touch surface, in chocolate cooler for 30 minutes.
• Consistency should be firm to touch, all the way around, and much like pâte a choux.
• Do not refrigerate.

Growing stable crystals gives a filling that is firmer and easier to handle.  Alcohol is always added last.

The Columbian:

• Build frame for two different fillings.
• Use bars that are 1cm thick.
• Spritz water to stick acetate to plexiglass.
• Squeegy water and dry excess with papery towel.
• Melt chocolate half way.
• In small bowl; blend butter and trimoline well.
• In small pot; bring cream and coffee grounds to a quick boil.
• Strain cream over chocolate onto scale.
• Let it sit for 15 seconds.
• Whisk from center toward the outside of bowl.
• Scrape sides and bottom.
• Temper some of the chocolate/cream mix into butter.
• Whisk butter mixture into chocolate mixture.
• Finish with a rubber spatula.
• Pour into frame.
• Tap and spread mixture with ruler.
• Look at eye level to ensure filling is even.
• Clean sides of bars.
• Holding bars, shake and tap frame.
• Pop only large bubbles.
• Store in chocolate cooler.

Earl Gray Ganache:

• Bring cream to a boil.
• Turn off heat.
• Add loose Earl Gray tea.
• Keep covered with plastic wrap.
• Let six approximately 5 minutes.
• In small bowl; mix butter and trimoline. 
• Melt chocolate to 60%.
• Pour cream over chocolate on a scale.
• Let sit for 15 seconds. 
• Shake hand blender in chocolate to remove air bubbles.
• Hand blend for 10 seconds in 1 spot.
• Work slowly around.
• Do not overmix.  
• Do not lift above mixture or too much air gets incorporated.
• Temper a little chocolate into butter mixture.
• Put butter mixture into chocolate mixture.
• Hand blend for 5 seconds.
• Scrape sides and bottom with rubber spatula to make sure everything is incorporated.
• Pour evenly into frame containing Columbian ganache.
• Put free bar into place.
• Should be fluid enough to spread evenly with a rubblier spatula.

Trimoline helps with moisture retention, stabilization and elasticity.  It helps limit the water activity for a longer shelf life.

Piping Rum Truffles:

• Take rum truffle filling out of chocolate cooler after 40 minutes.
• Using #11 tip, fill pastry bag.
• Fill bag carefully so as not to incorporate air bubbles.
• Attach parchment paper, with dots of ganache, at corners with ganache.
• This ganache is at room temperature and its fat molecules do not like to be disturbed.
• Hold piping bag perpendicular to table.
• Pipe round balls. 
• Let rest in chocolate cooler for 24 hours.

Cutting the Normandy Cream on guitar cutter:

• Have ready; paper towels, gloves and a deli cup for scraps.
• Use small offset spatula to scrape ganache from bars.
• Spread thin layer of chocolate on ganache.
• Allow chocolate to set.
• Peel acetate from back of ganache.
• Center ganache on cutter.
• Hold ganache in place with metal bar.
• Push guitar strings down and through ganache.
• Take trimmings away.
• Pick up ganache, from the corner, with thin metal tray.
• Wipe guitar strings with paper towel.
• Place ganache in other direction.
• Push guitar strings down and through ganache.
• Remove and trim edges.
• Scoop up with metal tray.
• If very firm, separate ganache squares on clean parment.
• Place in chocolate cooler.
• Allow ganache to rest for 24 hours.
• Enrobe after ganache has rested.

The confectionary guitar is helpful in production, is clean and portions evenly.

Friday

Caramelized Hazelnuts:

• Temper hazelnuts in microwave.
• In medium pan; sucrose, water and vanilla bean.
• Cook sugar to 115ºc.
• Dump hazelnuts in and crystallize.
• Roast all the way through.
• Caramelize to a good color.
• Add cocoa butter to protect nuts from humidity.
• Turn hazelnuts onto a silpat in a pile.
• Sort the hazelnuts in groups of three.
• Place in chocolate cooler.

Setting the hazelnuts in groups of three allows for faster finishing.  These nuts will be placed on chocolate circles and later enrobed.  

Peanut Butter Ganache:

• Build a set up with 1cm bars.
• In a small bowl, combine trimoline and peanut butter.
• Melt chocolate half way.
• Temper the chocolate.
• Pour peanut butter mixture into the chocolate.
• Mix peanut butter and chocolate until it is 22ºc.
• Pour into frame.
• Place in chocolate cooler.

Cointreau Caramel:

• Place glucose in small pot.
• Microwave cream close to a boil.
• Add sucrose, on low/medium heat, to glucose.
• Melt the sucrose slowly.
• Melt the chocolate 75% of the way.
• Take sugar to medium caramel.
• Add boiling cream very slowly.
• Scrape the sides of cream and caramel.
• Pour over a strainer into chocolate.
• Whisk from the center to create an emulsion.
• Add cointreau.
• Whisk.
• Cover with plastic wrap to touch.
• Place in chocolate cooler.

Hazelnut Trios:

• Wear gloves.
• On a silpat, pour melted chocolate (does not need to be tempered) on one end of circular template.
• Drag square cake ring over chocolate and filling in circles.
• Lift up the mat.
• Place one hazelnut trio onto each chocolate circle.
• Place in chocolate cooler.

Hazelnut trios may be enrobe or used as decor.

Molding Chocolate Poly Molds:

• Line half sheet tray with parchment.
• Fold some of the parchment over one end of the sheet tray.
• The goal is to evenly coat the mold with chocolate.
• Warm mold with a heat gun or blow dryer.
• Fill each cavity with tempered chocolate.
• Move quickly.
• Gently tap mold against table 10 times.
• Invert mold over parchment lined half sheet pan.
• Tap side of mold.
• Slide spatula across bottom of mold.
• Turn mold upright.
• Clean mold with rubber scraper.
• Place in chocolate cooler.

Verbal Evalutaion:

I received the highest score since beginning the program.  Chef En Ming said that I was attentive and thoughtful.

Chocolate is very messy and labor intensive.  It is also very complex and confusing.  Chef's use of visual aids and detailed explanations of how chocolate and emulsions work were very useful.

My husband Dave visited this weekend.  We went to Eatily, Au Cheval,  and Sunny Side up.  

The French Pastry School-Week Eight - Tart

 L'Art de la Pâtisserie  Week 8

Monday

Tart week with Chef Patrice Caillot

Partner-Julia     Table 5   Kitchen 1

6 minute meringue:

• Add a little sucrose to egg white powder.
• Split sugar into three parts.
• Sift 10x.
• In mixer bowl with whisk attachment; egg white powder, ⅓ sucrose, vanilla paste, egg whites and pastry cream powder.
• Whip on high for two minutes.
• Add ⅓ sucrose.
• Whip on high for two minutes.
• Add remaining sucrose.
• Whip on high for two minutes.
• Add sifted 10x.
• Finish incorporating with rubber spatula.
• Fill pastry bag fitted with #16 tip.
• Attach parchment at corners with meringue.
• Piper large teardrops.
• Sprinkle with sucre grande/almond mixture.
• Bake at 200ºf for more than two hours.

Caramelizing sugar does not change the sweetening power but it does change the flavor.  Finished meringue should have a slightly caramelized color.  All meringues should have a 2 to 1 ratio of sugar to egg whites.

Pâte à Foncer:

Pie dough

• Use the paddle.
• Soften butter.
• Creaming method but do not incorporate too much air.
• Butter first, sucrose, salt and pastry cream powder.
• Add 25% of the flour, lightly mix.
• Add water.
• Add rest of flour.
• Do not give strength to the dough by over mixing it.
• Fraiser the dough by putting it on the table, using a flat scraper.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in cooler overnight.

Pie dough should always be made the day ahead so that the starches can absorb the moisture.  If it is used on the first day the dough will be soggy.  Remove the sugar in a pie dough to make it savory.  Pâte à Foncer makes a nice quiche dough.

Pâte à Sablée:

• Soften butter.
• Sift 10x.
• Cream butter without incorporating too much air.
• Add sifted 10x all at once.
• Add vanilla.
• Add almond flour.
• Add a ⅓ room temperature eggs.
• Add ½ the flour.
• Add the rest of the eggs.
• Add the rest of the flour.
• Frasier the dough.
• Wrap in plastic wrap.
• Store in cooler overnight.

Almond Cream:

• Warm the butter.
• Cream the butter.
• Add salt.
• Add Kirsch.
• Do not over whip or once baked, it will fatty after cooling.
• Add eggs.
• Add pastry cream powder.
• Add almond when ready to use.
• Can be stored directly in pastry bag in cooler.

Nougtine Crisp:

• Warm nuts for 10 seconds in microwave.  Over warming will cause oil to separate from nuts.
• Add a little sucrose to the pectin to help release it from its container.
• In a small pot, add cream, butter, glucose.
• Warm cream mixture on low to 40ºc.  
• Add pectin.
• Bring to a boil.
• Add sugar.
• Cook to 106ºc.  Very important!
• Transfer to a plastic bowl.
• Stir to cool down.
• Add cocoa powder and stir until there are no lumps.
• Add nuts.  Can be any nuts.
• Spread with offset spatula between two sheets of parchment paper.
• Roll with a rolling pin until thin.
• Place in freezer until ready to bake.

Nougatine crisp is very sensitive to humidity.  Should be super thin and crispy when baked.  It makes a nice layer for a cake.

Cocoa Barry Callebaut Movie:

The movie explained the process of hand pollinating the cocoa trees, harvesting and production of chocolate.  They are a sponsor of the school.

We got out of class early and everyone cleaned in an efficient manner.

Tuesday

Rolling Pàte à Foncer:

• Lightly butter tart 180mm tart rings.
• Use 2mm thickness rolling strips.
• Bang dough with rolling pin.
• Work dough a little.
• Roll and turn using bars to achieve 2mm thickness.
• Fold rolled out dough in half and position over tart ring.
• Fold dough inward and push corners with thumb.
• Do not stretch the dough.
• Push dough around top edges.
• Use rolling pin to cut off excess around the top.
• Push dough back up the sides of tart ring.  
• Place in cooler.
• Clean top with knife or crimpers.
• Double check bottom corners for good square angle.

Assembling Apricot tart:

• No egg wash with almond cream filling.
• Pipe almond cream into tart shell.  Do not overfill.
• Sprinkle almond on top of cream.
• Place apricots around in circular pattern.  Be generous.
• Bake on Silpain.  This is a silpat made for baking bread.  It crisps.
• Bake at 350ºf for at least 45 minutes.
• Make sure the bottom is baked thoroughly.
• When cool, glaze with 1 to 1 apricot glaze to clear glaze mixture.

Rolling Sablée Tart Shell:

• Butter rings or dough will collapse.
• Bank with rolling pin.
• Work dough a little.
• Roll and turn.
• Roll to 4mm thickness using rolling bars.
• Fold in half and position over tart ring.
• Press corners.
• Place in cooler.

Baking Sablée Tart Shell:

• Par bake in deck oven for 10 - 15 minutes.
• Cool and remove tart shell from ring.
• Egg wash even layer inside and outside.
• Bake in convection oven until golden brown.
• Cool completely. 
• Use a microplane to smooth out the top edge.

Egg washing the inside of tart shell protects it from moisture.  Egg washing the outside of tart shell makes it look nice.  Lemon tart is best made and eaten on the same day.  It can be frozen but not with the meringue decorations.

Lemon Cream:

• Double boiler.
• Have ready a strainer over a bowl, tall deli cup and hand blender.
• Have a paper towel ready to catch condensation from bottom of bowl.
• Whisk sugar into lemon juice.
• Place eggs, extra sugar and sea salt into top of double boiler.
• Zest lemon directly into bowl to preserve flavor oils.
• Whisk lemon juice into eggs.
• Cook to 80ºc.  Do not cook to fast or cream will have eggy taste.
• Whisk while heating.
• Strain lemon cream.
• Cool to 60ºc.
• Pour into tall deli cup.
• Add butter.
• Hand mix until emulsified.
• Cover surface with plastic wrap.
• Place in cooler.

Assembling Lemon Tart:

• Pour lemon cream into tart shell.
• Use an offset spatula to smooth lemon cream.
• Use meringue drops to decorate tart.  Italian Meringue may be used during baking but will not have the same crispiness as Meringue Delight.

Inverted Puff Pastry:

• Mix butter and flour.
• Roll between acetate into 14 x 9" rectangle.
• Place in cooler.
• Dissolve salt into cold water.
• Use paddle to slowly mix flour and water.  Just bring it together.
• There is no butter in detrempe.
• Roll dough between acetate into a 9 x 8" rectangle.  
• Place in cooler for one hour.

Flour gets mixed into the butter and is wrapped around the detrempe.  This method is less fatty when baked and crisper.  The pieces do not shrink as much as the regular puff pastry when the are rerolled.  When adding at least 10% of flour to butter, it makes it stronger and able to hold up during initial folding.  Invert puff pastry can handle turns a little faster.  An hour between turns is acceptable.

Folding the dough for Inverted Puff Pastry:

• Place the butter onto the counter.
• Place détrempe evenly toward the bottom of the butter.
• Fold butter in half and over the dough.  Turn 1.
• Make sure edges are even.
• Keep opening on the right.
• Roll out to length of silpat.
• Fold into thirds.  Turn 2.
• Place in cooler for one hour.
• Roll length of silpat, fold in thirds.  Turn 3.
• Repeat.  Turn 4.

Wednesday

Inverted Puff Pastry:

• Roll out dough 3 times longer than width.
• Complete turns 5 and 6.

Sablée Tart Shells:

• Lightly butter tart rings.
• Work the dough a little.
• Roll out dough with 4mm bars.
• Turn and roll.
• Fold in half and position over tart ring.
• Fold forward and push in corners.
• Cut with rolling pin.
• Pinch sides and edges.
• Pour onto Silpain.

Nougatine:

• Remove parchment.
• Place onto silpat and large pan.  Nougatine spreads a lot while baked.
• Bake in convection at 340ºf for 12-15 minutes.

Darkened almonds are an indicator of doneness.  Nougatine should be crispy, not chewy, when cooled.

Lemon Curd:

• Have paper towel ready to collect condensation from bowl.
• Put whole eggs, sucrose, lemon juice, lemon zest, butter and sea salt into bowl on a double boiler. 
• Whisk.
• Cook slowly to 78ºc.
• Strain.
• Pour into par baked tart shells.
• Bake for 1-2 minutes to set the curd.  Should jiggle like jello.
• Place in freezer to cool.

Vanilla Crème Légère (Pastry Cream with addition of whipped cream):

• Line a half sheet pan with plastic wrap.
• Place all ingredients, but only half the sucrose, into medium sized pot.
• Whisk egg yolks and remaining half of sucrose in plastic bowl.
• Whisk pastry cream powder into yolk mixture.
• Bring cream to a simmer.
• Temper egg yolks with a little hot cream.
• Strain yolk mixture into pot of cream.
• Turn on the heat and whisk.
• Bring to a boil while whisking.
• Cook for at least one minute or a starchy flavor will remain.
• Using a clean spatula, pour pastry cream into a plastic wrapped pan.
• Cover with plastic wrap.
• Place in freezer for five minutes.
• When cool, place in cooler.

Chocolate Custard Tart:

• Place whole eggs, whole milk and  heavy cream in a pot.
• Place chocolate in a bowl with a strainer.  
• Using a rubber spatula, stir and slowly cook cream/egg mixture to 70ºc.
• Pour 70ºc mixture over strainer and into chocolate.
• Whisk the mixture until chocolate is smooth and completely incorporated.
• Pour into par baked tart shell.
• Bake for 3 minutes to set the custard.  Should shake like jello.

Using a spatula incorporates fewer air bubbles.  Using a strainer is a safety measure. 

Italian Meringue for the Lemon Tart:

• Add water to the pot first.
• Add sucrose and glucose.
• Cook to 125ºc.
• Whisk egg whites to soft peak stage.
• When sugar reaches 111ºc, speed up the mixer on the egg whites.
• At 125ºc, slow down the mixer and pour sugar slowly down the side of the bowl and into the egg whites.
• Feel the bowl with hand.  When it starts to get warmer you can pour sugar faster.
• When meringue is strong and glossy it is ready.
• Place meringue in a pastry bag with pastry tip of choice.
• Pipe design onto lemon tart.
• Bake in hot oven, 450ºf, for 1-2 minutes or torch meringue for color.

Over whipping the egg whites can cause the meringue to be grainy.  Cooking the meringue to a higher temperature makes it stiffer and stronger which is better for piping.  Baking meringue has a better flavor than torching it.  The meringue fluffs up, like a marshmallow, and has a toasty flavor from being in the oven.

Thursday

Puff Pastry for St. Honoré:

• Roll and turn dough.
• Cut 20cm circle with cake ring.
• Dock dough.
• Place in freezer.
• When firm, cover with parchment and cooling rack.  The weight keeps it from puffing.
• Bake at 350ºf for 40 minutes.

Sablée Breton:

• Using a food processor.
• Briefly spin butter to soften.
• Put in all other ingredients.
• Run food processor.
• Scrape once.
• Run food processor and check for lumps.
• Wrap in plastic.
• Place in cooler.

Sablée means crispy and Breton is Brittany in England.  Sablée Breton can be used for tart crust or cookies.

Pâte a Choux:

• Temper eggs.
• Sift flour.
• Put cream, milk, salt and butter into pot.
• Heat milk cream mixture and bring to a light boil.
• Turn off heat.
• Add flour all at once.
• Stir using a rubber spatula.
• When dough is crackling and dry, put it on the paddle mixer.  
• Add eggs slowly to incorporate.
• Batter should make a V shape flowing slowly from the paddle when it is done.  If batter is too dry, add warm milk to achieve proper constancy.
• May freeze raw dough.

Adding too many eggs makes the finished product eggy and tough.

Piping Choux onto Puff for St. Honoré:

• #11 tip.
• Fill pastry bag.
• Piper ring around docked puff pastry dough circle.
• Piper non connecting circular ring on inside of circle.
• Egg wash.
• Place in freezer.
• Pipe rest of dough into puffs.
• Freeze if not baking right away.

Poured Fondant:

• Should not be warmed over 40ºc.
• Add simple syrup to soften.
• Use at 35 - 36ºc.
• May flavor with vanilla, coffee, caramel or chocolate (only use cocoa paste as fondant is already very sweet).

Finishing the Mille-Feulle:

• Sprinkle 10x on large puff.  
• Bake at 450ºf until sugar is melted and caramelized.
• Flip puff over and repeat on other side.
• Cut into thirds while still warm.
• Allow to cool completely.
• Trim edges with a serrated knife.
• Build on overturned sheet pan lined with parchment.
• Refresh pastry cream in mixer with whisk attachment.
• #14 tip, fill pastry bag with vanilla pastry cream.
• Pipe pastry cream onto first puff rectangle.
• Place second puff rectangle on top and pipe more pastry cream
• Place last puff rectangle on top and cover with parchment paper.
• Press evenly down with half sheet pan.
• Pour 35-36ºc poured fondant on top and smooth with offset spatula.
• Place chocolate fondant in paper cone and pipe long, thin lines long ways on the top of poured fondant.
• Drag clean pairing knife vertically every 2 inches.
• Drag clean pairing knife vertically, in the other direction between first lines.
• Trim messy sides with serrated knife after glazing. 

Using confectioners sugar that does not have cornstarch is better but difficult to find.  Overheating poured fondant causes it to loose its shine.  Poured fondant is best commercially purchased.  It is not worth the time involved to make it from scratch and does not result in a superior product.

Friday

Sixth Stage:

Floriol - 1220 W. Webster Ave, Chicago, Illinois

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

I started the day by cutting aged white cheddar batons for the savory croissant.  Floriol uses fresh flowers from their rooftop garden.  We picked nasturtium leaves and violets.  Just a few on a platter looks really nice.  I buttered cannele molds using a soft paintbrush.  Some bakeries use a combination of butter and beeswax.  I generously buttered muffin pans and covered them with saran for later.  

Sandra Holl's friend Zoe Nathan just wrote a book, Huckleberry, and it had arrived in the mail.  Sandra was very excited and the book looks beautiful.  It is still on pre-order and becomes available on September 9th.  Sandra was making meringue bowls for a lemon cream.  I asked her if they were Italian Meringue and she said she likes the ease and speed  of the Suisse Meringue.  She also recommend Harold McGee's book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen and said it should be a cook's bible.  Bien Cuit means cooked well and many people ask about the dark bake on all the croissants, cannele, breads, etc.  This is also called, "French Dark" and many Americans think that things have been burnt.  A good dark color on baked goods brings out more flavor.  Some French bakers say that good color is 30 seconds from being burnt.

I was able to make a fruit crumble on my own today.  The cooler was full of ripe fruit and I chose peaches, plums and raspberries.  6 quarts of large dice fruit, 1 knob of fresh grated ginger, zest and juice of 1 lemon,  ½ a cup of flour and 1 cup of sugar.  I mixed the fruit, put them in jam jars, pushed them down to fill them tight (fruit shrinks a lot during baking) and topped with a sweet, oatmeal crumble topping.  When it was bubbling and oozing over the sides, Sandra took it out of the oven.  I should have taken a photo of the finished product.

Practice  is important in rolling out croissants and many people have different techniques.  I rolled a few trays and egg washed several croissants.  My final job was to scale and make a sweet bun topping by mixing the zest of 16 oranges with brown sugar, sucrose and cinnamon in the mixer.

The savory team made me a sandwich to go.  Thinly sliced, marinated zucchini, fresh buffalo mozzarella, pesto on house made focaccia.  I chose the green bean, corn and potato side salad.  It had a slight kick to it and was very good.

Sablée Breton:

• Bang cold dough with rolling pin.
• Do not overwork dough.
• Roll, turn, roll, turn.
• Roll dough 8mm thick.
• Cut desired size with round cake ring.
• Bake in lightly buttered tart ring.

Vanilla Crème Légère:

• In a pot; vanilla bean, milk, half of the sucrose, butter.
• In plastic bowl; whisk other half of sucrose into egg yolks.
• Whisk pastry cream into yolk mixture.
• Bring milk mixture to light boil briefly.
• Temper yolks with hot milk mixture.
• Pour yolk mixture through a strainer into pot.
• Whisk.
• Boil for at least one minute while whisking vigorously.  
• Mixture should be shiny and elastic.
• Place in freezer until cold to touch.
• Place in cooler when cool to touch.

Pastry cream + whipped cream = Crème Légère

Pastry cream + whipped cream + gelatin = diplomat

Pastry cream + Italian Meringue = Chiboust 

Tahitian vanilla does not take the heat well and should be added at the end of cooking or upon cooling.  Pastry cream powder must be cooked completely or the finished flavor will be starchy and when reworked, the water will separate from the pastry cream.

Saigon cinnamon is very strong.  Ceylon is milder.  French people do not love, or use, cinnamon the way Americans do.

Rustic Apple Tart:

• Peel apples.
• Use melon baller to core ends.
• Cut into slices and use melon baller to clean core.
• Flambé apples in Calvados or lightly sauté in butter and cinnamon sugar mixture.
• Allow to cool on parchment lined pan.
• Place lightly buttered cake ring on larger puff circle.
• Egg wash puff on the outside of cake ring.
• Sprinkle hazelnut flour on inside crust of the cake ring.
• Build apples up on inside of cake ring.  
• Sprinkle to of apples with more hazelnut flour or cinnamon sugar mixture.
• Remove cake ring from puff.  Apples will remain in the middle.
• Bake at 350ºf until bubbly. 
• Outside edges of puff will rise and the inside will remain flat.

May substitute hazelnut flour with almond flour.  Apricots may be substituted for apples.

Assembling St. Honoré:

• Bake puffs and puff/choux base.
• Cool.
• Count how many puffs are needed to go around circumference of base.
• Make a hole in the back of the puffs with a star tip.
• Whip cream to soft peak.
• Soften vanilla pastry cream in mixer bowl with whisk attachment.
• Whisk/fold whip cream into vanilla pastry cream in three stages.
• Finish incorporating whipped cream with a rubber spatula.
• Fill puffs with crème légère.
• Make a dry caramel.
• Dip puffs into caramel.  
• Cool.
• Dip bottoms of caramel puffs into caramel and attach to the outer puff ring on base.
• Fill inside of base with vanilla créme légère.  Top with more créme légère in a decorative pattern.
• Place one caramel puff on top, center of St. Honoré.

St. Honoré is a famous place in Paris and  is made to order in France.  It is very sensitive to humidity.  Color on the caramel is up to the individual.  Dropping, not pressing, just caramel dipped puffs into rounded, silicone molds, makes the caramel very smooth and uniform.

Final Thoughts:

"The power of sweet." Chef Jacquay Pfeiffer

Fraiser is to crush dough with flat table scraper to ensure a smooth texture and even mixing.

Détrempe is the first step in making a puff pastry and means, "water dough."