Not one to let custard dump on my karma...

I bought all the ingredients the Tuesday before class and gave myself 3 hours to complete 3 of the 4 items on our assignment list for class. We aren't allowed to bring anything in from home to count towards our competed items, but practicing is ENCOURAGED.

I cranked out pot de creme, bread pudding, and creme anglaise in two hours, taking pictures so that I would be able to show proof that I could actually make the stuff without having issues. Come the next evening in school, I was able to confidently stride into class on Wednesday evening and crank out: Pot de Creme, Creme Brule, Creme Anglaise, Creme Caramel and Bread Pudding! It was amazing and I was really proud of my work.

Vanilla Pot de Creme



Creme Caramel


Creme Brule


Firing Creme Brule


Cracking Creme Brule - my favorite part!




It taught me a huge lesson too about the benefits of practicing beforehand. So, I know what I will be doing on Tuesday and Thursday nights, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!

Sorry for the delay...I was TIRED!

I have kept all 5 readers in suspense and I am sure you are all asking, "What happened on Monday?" Well, the pressure of the kitchen proved to be a little too much for me and I ended up curdling two batches of creme anglaise and not being able to finish the pot de cremes in the oven. As a result, I had to complete all 5 custard elements on Wednesday, and I was in tears during class AND when I got home. It was a disaster. I could not believe that I got so emotional over custard, but I was experiencing bad kitchen karma and felt so disappointed that I couldn't get my custards to work.

Custards are hard to get right because there is a distinct possibility in every batch that the eggs will curdle, leaving you with garbage. And I was so intent on getting it right and completing my tasks, that I was unable to get over my initial failure and move on. We've learned some important lessons in class. 1) Don't kill anyone, 2) Hide your mistakes, and 3) It's just food. You can always start over and you have enough time to get over it.

I am in a Fight with Pastry Cream, Creme Brulee, and Creme Anglaise

Up to this point, I have to say, it's been pretty smooth sailing for the Aspiring Pastry Chef, until this past weekend, when I was tasked with making 1) frittata, 2) banana cream pie, and 3) a bonus item. As a super nerd, I spent at least 5 hours preparing and planning for Saturday's class and studying for our quiz. I had lofty ambitions of making not one, but two bonus items one each of lemon pie and pomegranate frangiapane. I wrote out, step by step, what I needed to do, not accounting for a mishap that screwed up my timing and my groove for the rest of the day.

There is an old cliche, "Don't cry over spilled milk." In pastry school, that more appropriate phrase is "Don't cry over curdled cream." Well I did, at least twice, possibly 3 times, when my pastry cream for the banana cream pie curdled, causing me to make another batch, which didn't have enough corn starch, which means it didn't set the second time, leading to me not being able to make the pie on my own, resulting in tears. (I ended up joining efforts with my classmate Jenn, who had her own disaster with her pie shell, so the two of us turned in 1 item). I have big plans to make another banana cream pie to show the pastry cream who's boss.

That one incident of cream curdling totally set me off and put me over the edge and I was unable to focus after being thrown off. It was really frustrating, and I attempted to get it together to throw in a bonus walnut tart, thanks to the dreamy Bill (the lone male in our class), who helped me get it together. Just when I thought it really couldn't get worse and my bad karma would last only one class came Monday...

Onion and Red Pepper Frittata Tart with Cornmeal Crust

Yolanda and her Eggplant Tarts (Yolanda, thanks for the mini massage on Saturday)

The goods from class, mainly Wendy's who is super awesome at pastry.

Meet Mr. Williams

The highlight of a very frustrating Saturday was meeting THE Mr. Chuck Williams, founder of Williams Sonoma. He is 92, very handsome guy, and we had a great time. He uplifted and inspired us. Please come back to our class, Mr. Williams!

Class Notes Quiz 1 Prep

Initial conversions:
1/2 stick butter = 4 oz, 1 T = 1/2 oz
Pastry pinch = 2 fingers and 1 thumb

Retail Food Safety
Bacteria grows fastest between 40 and 135 degrees, which is also known as the Danger Zone

F - food; high protein content, eggs, dairy, meat
A - acidity; foods with 4.6 or higher pH
T - temperature; danger zone
T - time; 4 hours (food is ok in danger zone for under 4 hours
O - oxygen
M - moisture; bacteria need moisture to grow.

Jams are ok because they have enough salt and sugar to preserve and take the moisture out.

NOTE: Keep Hot foods HOT and Cold foods COLD.

Functions of ingredients in baking:

1) Flour: Strengthens & dries
has starch and gluten (protein) - produce when we need bread dough

fat coats gluten molecules because it prevents them from combining with each other.

2) Sugar: Moisturizes, absorbs water, Honey & Molasses make it creamy.

3) Eggs: whites strengthens and dry; yolks weaken and moisturize because its all fat

4) Salt; strenthens gluten, moderates yeast activity

5) Baking powder, soda: chemical leavening agents, also creaming method also a leavener

Cookies:

9 types:

Piped - spritz
Dropped/Scoop - choc chip
Rolled/Molded rolled out w/cookie cutters (gingerbreads)
Icebox-cylander
Bar-biscotti, fig newton
Sheet-brownie
Stencil - tuile

tenderizers: butter, fat, liquid, SUGAR also cuts gluten

Eclairs and Cream Puffs
Rise - leaveing agent is steam and eggs

add 2 whites for every 4 eggs

To make crispy cookies chewier;
-add eggs, liquid sugars (honey)
- reduce heat, take off heat quickly

Pastry cream = stirred custard sauce. Cornstarch prevents egg proteins from scrambling.

1 egg = 1 2/3 oz 1 oz =white, 2/3 oz = yolk.

Flour:
Flour is responsible for - prevent sticking, providing structure & strength, thickning liquids.

3 parts
bran - fiber
germ - (all fat) low in protein
Endosperm - flour

Glutenin and Gliadin + water = Gluten
Gluetnin + Gliadin + mechanical action (stir or knead) = gluten

To reduce gluten:
-keep it cold
-low gluten flour
-add more of other ingredients

Chemical Leaveners:
Baking Soda + acid = CO2 + water
Baking Powder = mix of base and acid
Baking Ammonia = must be cooked thoroughly, makes cookies ultra crisp

2 types of baking powder- single acting; chemical reaction occurs in bowl, must be baked right away
double action - 2reactions in bowl & out of bowl ( heat causes 2nd reaction)

Per cup of flour, add 1 - 1/14 tsp baking powder. Baking powder = 2T cream of tarter,1T baking soda, 1 1/2 T corn starch

1/4 tsp baking soda per cup of flour

Quick Breads
Types of batter
dropped - muffins
rolled - scones, biscuits
poured-cake/breads


mixing methods: biscuit, creaming, blending (liquid fat)

Sugar = 1 glucose + fructose
Purpose: tenderizes
increases finesse and texture
color (carmelization)
absorbs moisture
creaming agent with eggs

Dough Tutorial

Pate Brisee - Flaky pie dough for non custard pies, mainly fruit pies.

Pate Sablee - Short dough for custard pies (banana cream, pumpkin, etc).

Pate Sucree - Same as pate sablee without the eggs.

Pies and Lots of Dough

Baking pie is more fun (and a lot easier) that I imagined it would be! Above you will see the fruits of last night's labor with the lattice crusted apple cranberry pie, which was the perfect example of looks surpassing taste. The cranberries added such a beautiful color, but the flavor was crazy tart, and I should have added more sugar.

Our assignment for the end of this week is to create a pie (check) and 2 other pies/tarts, 1 savory (think quiche) and 1 sweet (think banana cream) using different dough methods. Here are the steps for making an apple pie.

1) Make a pate brisee dough and divide into a 10 oz portion for the bottom crust and a smaller portion (whatever is left over) for the top crust. Preheat oven to 450.

2) Roll out the 10 oz portion into a circle on a floured board and kind off roll the flattened crust around your rolling pin to place into your 9" pyrex pie pan. Rest the dough into the fold of the pie pan to make sure the sides of the pie have a defined edge. Then, trim the dough, leaving about 1/2 " to 1" of foldover.

3) Wash with egg, and set in the fridge while you are prepping your apples.

4) Peel, core and slice 4-5 apples of different varieties, coat with sugar, flour, and cinnamon (optional).

5) Take the dough out of the fridge and put the apples into the pie pan, piling them on, as they will fall a little bit.

6) Roll out the other piece of dough.

• To make a lattice crust, as pictured above, cut the rolled dough into strips of equal sides. Starting in the center, create a weave. Then crimp the sides.
  
• To make a full top crust, brush the inside with egg wash and place on top of the pie. You can affix the sides by crimping or using a fork. Most importantly though, you don't want to create more than 2 layers of dough on the edges or they won't cook. Cut steam slits in your pie or it will totally explode-NOT COOL!

Now onto the mishap. In an over ambitious moment, I decided to make my dough for Saturday and do a double batch so I would have time for a bonus item. HOWEVER, one batch of short dough yields 2 lbs of dough, and of course 2 batches means 4 lbs of dough. The average tart, with which short dough aka pate sablee is used, uses roughly 11 oz of dough. I had 4 lbs of dough, and 6 rounds to work with, which means I have a lot of bonus to do! OY!

Experimental Pumpkin Galette

I think my transformation to dedicated pastry student is in full effect, as last night, after returning home from a horrific day at work, I baked with the hopes of feeling better, and I did.

I wanted to use the leftover canned pumpkin from the pumpkin muffins I made on Sunday night. The format I chose for my pumpkin mixture was a galette. After making galettes in class, I wanted to practice making pate brisee, and figured I could wing the mixture. I leveraged different pumpkin pie filling recipes and decided to omit the sour cream and eggs that many them called for. (There is seriously enough butter in the dough that a little less eggs and cream is OK for a practice).

I used about 7 oz of dough for my mini galette. I rolled it out on silpat mats, cut the dough into a round using a pizza cutter, brushed the inside with egg wash, and added my filling (7 oz of pumpkin, 1/4 tsp of the following: cloves, nutmeg, allspice, 3.5 oz of brown sugar, and 3/4 tsp of cinnamon. I folded the ends of the dough into galette shape and FORGOT the egg wash on the side - Don't forget the egg wash on the side because I looks MUCH prettier with it.

After 20 mins in a 450 oven, I turned it down to 375 and baked it for about 40 minutes. Then I cut tiny pieces of the galette and served it with vanilla ice cream. It was the perfect treat for my husband and me, as we curled up on the couch and watched Heroes.

Galettes

Pate Brisee *Recipe adapted from Tante Marie Culinary School

10 oz AP flour
8 oz butter
1 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 C ice cold water

Pate Brisee is the basic crust for pies and galettes. It is a beautifully flaky dough that works really well with fruit. I haven't learned this officially yet, but I think pate brisee is good for fruit pies, while short dough works better for cream/chocolate pies. The dough gets the flaky texture from the fat gobules that get incorporated into the dough and layer when baked. I will write a more detailed description later.

We made 2 batches of pate brisee on Monday night, and each person made an apple galette. I love apple galettes and we learned a wonderful technique to make it look amazing. Heating, then straining apricot preserves creates a beautiful glaze to brush on top of the galette.

To make an apple galette, you need to make the pastry dough, slice 3-4 apples, and then dredge the apples in a bit of flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Roll out the pastry dough and cut the dough into a cirle using a pastry cutter. Before adding the apples to the pastry dough, brush with eggwash. Then add the filling and fold the edges over the filling to create a rustic look. Brush the sides with egg wash and bake at 450 for 15 minutes and then turn the heat down to 375 and bake until done - 30 mins - 40 mins, depending on your oven. Jen taught us to bake the galette on an upside down sheet pan with parchment paper on top-brilliant! It looks especially rustic if you present on the parchment, as shown in the image below.

The Dough



Glazing





The Final Product

Homework-All about experimentation

What happens when you add baking soda to a mixture and leave out the acid?

Edit: The mixture tasted kind of soapy, but the texture was fine. I think if I add orange juice I'll be ok.

Actually, my co-worker Alicia and I were the only ones who noticed the off-ness of my pumpkin muffins. Here's what happened. The recipe I used called for 1 tsp of baking soda and 3 oz of orange juice. But the recipe steps said to mix the powder and soda. So, instead of adding 1 tsp of baking soda, I added 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder (which can act as a leavener without acids) like other recipes in my textbook had. However, I forgot to buy orange juice at the store and was too lazy to juice 3 oz. from real oranges, so I left it out. I think that if I had kept the OJ in, then it would have been better.

* Recipe adapted from a Tante Marie recipe.

I also made Butterscotch Browies and shipped them to Mobile, Alabama for my cousin Shoshana who is in college. They were pretty sinful and my husband is sad I only let him keep 3 brownies. Next time I will add chocolate chips to the batter.

Week 2, Day 2: Quick Bread Challenge, cont.

Yesterday was day 2 of our Quick Bread Challenge. Jennifer instructed us to come to class with a game plan, ready to go. On Tuesday night, I wrote out the necessary steps to create each of my quick breads, a sour cream coffee cake and currant tea scones. I also listed out each piece of equipment that I would need to eliminate running around the kitchen like a chicken with her head cut off like Hung ;). All of us were rearing to go, but we first sat down to a review of quick bread types: dropped (like biscuits), poured, and stiff batter. The ratio of liquids to dry ingredients dictates the type of batter that will result from the recipe.

We also learned about sugar (sucrose). Sucrose = Glucose + Fructose. Inverted sugars are liquid sugars like honey or molasses or golden syrup. They are made by heating sugar and adding liquid (water) or an acid (like lemon juice). When you add water to sugar, it breaks down the sugar molecules to separate glucose and fructose molecules. Why do we care? Because inverted sugars prevent crystallization, and if you're making caramel or other candy, it's important.

OK-back to the coffee cake and scones. The coffee cake took a while-there are 3 components to a sour cream coffee cake: 1) filling 2) liquids 3) drys. Therefore, I needed to prep each component and then construct the cake. Tuesday night's pre-work was beneficial because I remembered to toast the pecans and melt the butter first. It came together very nicely and I was really pleased with the results. It was a light, fluffy cake. I would grease the pan better or line the bottom with parchment so I could avoid a potential reconstruction.



I decided to make Currant Tea Scones as my bonus assignment. I followed the recipe to make them smaller, but I think I overworked the dough slightly, so they did not rise as I had hoped. The dough came out nice and flaky however, and they looked pretty. Jennifer said I should have made them bigger, which I will do next time.



Here are shots of my classmates and their work.



Wendy, Tricia, and Yolanda




Kate's Upside Down Apple Cake

Monday kicks off pastry dough week! I am excited to learn how to make pie crust and tart crust.

Week 2, Day 1: The Quick Bread Challenge

Two days, 4 recipes (3 mandatory + 1 bonus). Ready, set, GO!



After Jennifer gave us a lecture and demo of the various mixing methods for quick breads, we were asked to complete a two-day Quick Bread challenge. We were expected to create quick breads that required 3 different types of mixing:

1) The creaming method: Where you cream the butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time, and then add the drys to that stirring until just incorporated (cakes).

2) The biscuit method: Where you combine the drys and cold chunks of butter and incorporate using a bench scraper to get it into a meal and then add liquids (scones, biscuits).

3) The blending method: Preparing the wets and drys separately and then quickly combining them until JUST incorporated (muffins).

I got to work and I felt truly in my groove. I worked with my classmate Kate, and we measured ingredients together and it was a tag-team effort. We really wanted to complete two recipes to present to class on Monday so that on Wednesday we could do a bonus item.

I have to say I rocked it with my biscuits. They looked amazing and I felt great about them. I think my cooking experience really helps me at certain times, especially with organization.

Here are the biscuits I made:




I also made pumpkin muffins, which turned out well. I am not so into eating muffins, but I was thrilled that they turned out edible and delicious, according to my co-workers standards.



Tonight is the final competition. I am making sour cream coffee cake and currant tea scones. I hope they work out!

Week 1, Day 3: Pate a Choux

Pate a choux is the foundation dough for eclairs, cream puffs, and gougeres (yummy cheese puffs). We learned how to make the pate a choux dough, pastry cream, and chocolate glaze.

I LOVE PASTRY CREAM.

Pastry cream is a cooked custard cream that is used to full eclairs and cream puffs. You can mix pastry cream with whipped cream to create a lighter filling. We scalded the milk with a vanilla bean, mixed the eggs and sugar mixture together, sifted in the corn starch into the egg mixture and then stirred the ingredients together, and Voila! Pastry Cream.

We filled our eclairs and cream puffs with the pastry cream and dipped it into Jennifer's delicious chocolate glaze. I plan to practice the pate a choux using gruyere or swiss to make gougeres.

Week 1, Day 2: Brandy Snaps

Day 2 got better. I actually made something that tasted pretty good-Brandy Snaps-and my comfort level maneuvering around the front kitchen was higher.

We also had an opportunity to pipe dough and whipped cream for the first time using a pastry bag and pastry tips. Piping can be very difficult until you get the hang of it, which I have yet to do.

Practicing is an integral part of becoming a competent pastry chef. And I was eager to put my new skills to good use.

Instead of creating Brandy Snaps according to the recipe (which called for ginger), I made them with cinnamon and spiked the whipped cream with a bit of cinnamon and vanilla. Here you can see the fruits of my labor. I have to say, they looked great!

Week 1, Day 1: Cookies, Eclairs and Cream Puffs, Oh My!

Shortbread Tales

Eager and nervous, I walked into Tante Marie and was greeted by my teacher, Jennifer Altman, Pastry Chef of Bay Wolf Restaurant in the Easy Bay. I changed into my new and pressed chef's jacket, checkered pants, and was handed an apron by Mary Risley, Tante Marie's owner and founder. I thanked Mary profusely for allowing me to be in the course, and hoped I made a good impression on her.

Dinner was waiting for us on the counter in the front kitchen, made with the sweat of the Culinary students. I was excited because my friend Jill is in the culinary course and I knew that with her good luck charm of dinner, I'd be ok.

After overviews of Tante Marie by Mary and a course introduction by Jennifer, the 14 of us were asked to introduce ourselves. Many of my classmates had been baking their whole lives, which was intimidating to me because I hadn't even used the mixer I got for my wedding shower! But, I figured, "I can do this. I need to." Most of us were looking to make career changes at some point, but I clearly have the least experience of my classmates.

Our first task was to make cookies, 2 batches each of 7 different cookies, so 2 people were to make the same cookie-I got shortbread, easy enough, I thought, but it was difficult and intimidating! I had a difficult time getting my mise together and organizing my time. These two things worried me because 1) I have great time management skills, and 2) In cooking over the last few years, I always get my mise together before beginning any food project/recipe.

My shortbread got into the oven late, which by Top Chef standards, means disqualification, but hey, I'm learning (though I was extremely disappointed and slightly discouraged).

Pastry 101

This blog will chronicle my journey towards becoming a Pastry Chef at Tante Marie's Professional Pastry Course in San Francisco. My decision to attend pastry school was one by default, but I know that in order to be a great chef, I also want to be a great pastry chef.

I come from a line of extraordinarily talented bakers, especially my grandmother, Angel, and her mother, Nana. Trips to Angel's included pie and pogies (Hungarian butter cookies) and delicious cakes. I can't remember an occasion where Angel was more offended than when I was 5 years old, took a bite of one of her delicious cakes and exclaimed, "This is great, is it a mix?" Unknown to me at the time, it was incredibly rude to ask the question, yet I loved mixes. It was the only thing that I knew, and my mom, who worked full time, did not have the extra time nor energy to bake a cake from scratch.

My experience with baking to this point has been minimal, at best. I've baked cookies for my brother on a few occasions and baked 2 cakes for Rosh Hashana, and one (burnt) berry tart. My thing is cooking. I am a great cook, I love the spontaneity and (mostly) instant gratification that cooking provides. Baking on the other hand is a science, and I barely passed Consumer Chemistry in college. I decided to go to Tante Marie to learn. Here you will read about my journey...