Our pastry instructor is Chef Scott, a man who is as chill and laid back as they come. The one strike against him is that he does not like college football, but his other qualities outweigh that negative :) On our first day of pastry, we dove in headfirst with learning the poaching and candying of various fruits that we later used for fillings. My favorite part of that day was at presentation time when we were getting ready for the tasting and Chef Scott pulled out two pints of Haagan-Daz vanilla bean ice cream to accompany the fruit (it was then that I knew I was going to love this module). After fruits, we moved straight into learning how to make the PERFECT tart. We eacgh made 3 small tarts and one big tart. We used a variety of doughs so we could learn the differences between flakey, cakey, and cocoa doughs. I made a poached-pear custard tart with a pate sucree crust. It was really good except for the piece of crust that fell off when I was taking the tart out of the pan (Ooops... something like that ALWAYS happens to me). Despite the slight mess up, I am so happy to have at least seen how to make a perfect tart :)
Next, we moved into the dreaded puff pastry where we spent an entire class just making the dough. Now, I know that butter is a very common ingredient in pastry, but the amount of butter we used to make puff pastry dough is unbelievable. To quickly summarize how to make it, you start by making the "detrempe" dough with flour, butter, salt, etc. Then you make the "beurrage" which is 2 POUNDS of butter and a pinch of flour that you flatten out into a square. You then wrap the detrempe around the beurrage and pound it and roll it into a flat rectangle where all the butter is fully incorporated into the dough. This pounding and rolling process is then repeated 8 more times, taking a total of 4 hours. My arms got quite a workout that day. Once the dough was made, however, the next day was really fun turning this buttery dough into apple strips, herb twists, and palmiers. Even though I would never make this kind of pastry again, it was great to make it once to gain appreciation for the intensive labor and warning for it's nutritional content.
* Apple Strip
* Paillettes (puff pastry with paprika and parmesan cheese)
Yesterday was bagel and pretzel day! Bagels have always been a mystery to me because of it's unique texture. Turns out, that uniqueness is achieved by poaching the dough rings right before baking them. It is so simple but makes all the difference. So, we made the dough, formed it into even sized balls, rolled the dough balls out and connected the ends to form the traditional bagel shape. We then poached them in a sugary water, sprinkled sesame seeds on the wet rings, and baked them until they were a golden brown. So simple. So delicious. Pretzels are done in the exact same poaching/baking method. At the end of class, we busted out the spicy mustard and cream cheese and dove into our freshly baked treats.
* New York-Style Pretzels
* Sesame Seed and Poppy Seed Bagels
Although I only have a few more months in school, there is so much coming up. Tomorrow, we are having a 23 variety cheese tasting in my management class and we will be making fresh brioche rolls and croissants in pastry class. Also, the time has come to start interviewing and trailing at various restaurants and magazine establishments, so wish me luck as I embark on those experiences!
Keep warm and Happy Eating!!!
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