While many people look forward to spring cleaning, for me this time of year has always been the time for organizing, decluttering and ridding oneself of all that excess stuff you just don’t need.

I’m not sure if it has something to do with readying myself for the new year to come, but I always feel that the days between Christmas and December 31st are the best days to reflect on what I truly need to move forward.

I need a maid.

I don’t need anymore cookbooks.

Since there’s no chance that I’ll be getting a maid anytime soon and since there’s even less chance that I will stop purchasing cookbooks, I feel it’s best that I focus my attention on more attainable goals.

So while I busy myself trying to tidy up my baking area and my Overburdened Bookshelf, I’m also turning my attention to tidying up my blog. As many of you know earlier this year I took a big step with the redesign of my blog. I’m thrilled with how it turned out, however, after having settled into the new design I’m now ready for some other changes. Nothing drastic, mind you, just a few nips and tucks here and there.

Part of the tidying up is going through all the food photos that I keep. In doing this, I realized that I somehow neglected to complete my reports on the baking course I took in the fall. While I summed up Weeks 1 and 2 and Weeks 3 and 4, I never summed up Weeks 5 and 6.

It’s been a couple of months since this course ended so I’m going to keep my explanations brief.

For Week 5 of the course, our focus was the galette and the turnover using apple as a filling. I’ve made galettes and turnovers many times before, but this particular class was very interesting because of the dough that we used. We used a pastry made of pastry flour, unsalted butter and milk. I’ve never made a pastry with milk before and was a bit concerned at first that the pastry would be tough.

To my surprise, we ended up with one of the most flavourful and tender pastries I’ve ever tasted! While the galette and the turnovers were rather ordinary, I did walk alway from the class with the goal of using milk pastry in future.

For our final class, we prepared a French Almond Flan and Pithiviers using a sweet pastry made of butter, sugar, eggs, bread flour, pastry flour and vanilla. Once again I was very impressed with the quality of the pastry we made.

I resisted using pears with the French Almond Flan because I don’t really care for pears, in particular tinned ones which is what they gave us in class. But everyone that tried the tart seemed to really love it.

I much preferred the Pithiviers, which are almond filled pastries. I often buy these little treats at one of my favourite French patisseries in Toronto (surprisingly, Toronto has a number of high quality French-style patisseries). I’m hoping that I’ll have the chance to make these on my own at home.

Overall I enjoyed this course. While it wasn’t a long one (only 6 weeks), we covered a variety of pastries, most of which I enjoyed making. I also enjoyed the atmosphere in the classroom, which was more congenial as opposed to some of the other classes I’ve taken where the feeling in the room has bordered on competitive. The instructor did a fairly good job and her assistant was a great help.

At this point, I’m halfway through the Bakery Arts Certificate requirements. I have another five credits to go, but I’m not sure when I’ll take my next course. Professionally I’m as busy as ever and personally, I find I’m baking more and more at home as well as trying to make time for other important things going on in my life. I do promise, though, that when I finally do sign up for the next course, I’ll fill you in on the details!

Ciao!

I can’t believe I’m already two-thirds of the way through my Art of Pastry course! In Week 3, we completed our look at puff pastry by using the second half of our dough (first batch was used in Week 2) to make what is called a “Napoleon slice”. It’s basically a dessert that consists of layers of baked puff pastry covered in cream and fruit. Often, you’ll see this dessert in pastry shops with the top layer of pastry covered in fondant that has a design on it.

As I mentioned in my Weeks 1 & 2 write-up, I somehow made a mistake while laminating my puff pastry dough. I can’t remember if I either forgot a turn or perhaps completed one turn too many, but my puff pastry did not have the lift and layering that it should have. While it tasted alright, it was far more compact than it should have been.

Our instructor recommended that prior to rolling out the pastry to bake for the Napoleon, I do an additional “book fold”. A book fold means that you roll your puff pastry out to a certain size and then fold each end into the middle. You then take the folded puff pastry and fold it again in half, as though you were closing a book. I completed this step at the beginning of close, all the while hoping it would help my pastry perform better.

The first step in preparing for the Napoleon was to make a pastry cream. We made a very basic cream of eggs, sugar, milk, cornstarch, vanilla extract and butter. Our instructor taught us a very interesting trick in terms of the butter. Whenever I’ve made pastry cream at home, I’ve always incorporated the butter after the cream has thickened and is off the heat. To cool the cream, I’ve put a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream before refrigerating it. The plastic wrap prevents a skin from forming on the cream.

Our instructor taught us that you can avoid using plastic wrap by using the butter as a tool against formation of a skin. Instead of mixing the hot butter into the cream, you let it melt on the surface of the cream, swirling it around to form a layer of melted butter. You then let your cream cool and prior to using it, you simply mix the butter in.

To make the Napoleon slice, we rolled our pastry out into large sheets and then trimmed it to fit a parchment-line baking sheet. We carefully scored the puff pastry to allow steam to escape while it was baking. By scoring the puff pastry, you’re helping it not to puff up too much in the oven. While that may seem strange as usually you want lots of puffiness out of your pastry, in this case you don’t want too much puffiness because you’re going to use the pastry in a layered dessert that will hopefully be somewhat even!

Unfortunately, my pastry didn’t perform very well. It rose a bit and turned a nice golden colour in the oven, but it didn’t rise as much as it should have. However, as our instructor pointed out, slightly imperfect puff pastry is easily camouflaged by lots of pastry cream!

Once our pastry had cooled, we divided it into three pieces and began building our Napoleon by covering one piece of puff pastry with cream and sliced strawberries, and then topping it with a second piece of puff pastry. We repeated the cream and strawberries before topping the Napoleon with the final piece of puff pastry. Instead of finishing off with fondant, we sprinkled our Napoleons with icing sugar that had a bit of pink in it (the pink was added by mixing the icing sugar with food colouring and then sifting it through a fine-mesh sieve). A bit of whipped cream and some fresh strawberries and there you go!

The Napoleon slice certainly looked nice and it tasted alright. The pastry cream was very good but I thought my puff pastry tasted quite tough. I suspect this was due to the additional turn that I gave it, which really didn’t help out at all.

As well, the pastry left a lingering oily taste in your mouth that I know comes from the roll-in fat that we used. Pastry made with butter would have tasted much better.

Still, though, I enjoyed the experience of building my very first Napoleon and look forward to trying it at home.

I was very excited to tell you about my Week 4 class, which was dedicated to chocolate tarts and chocolate pastry, unfortunately I didn’t make it to class. I was feeling under the weather and knew that there was no way I would make it through a four-hour baking seession. I look forward to hearing from my classmates next week about how the tarts turned out.

Ciao!

After taking a break during the spring and summer, I’m happy to announce that I have resumed the baking courses that I’m taking at George Brown College as I work towards a Bakery Arts certificate.

As much as I love the classes, my family and my work (including this blog) come first so facing a very busy spring and summer, I decided it was best not to enrol in any classes. When I last I left you, I had completed the Art of Pies course, which is one of six compulsory credits required for the certificate.

Two weeks ago, I began my fourth compulsory credit. The course is called Art of Pastry and covers various forms of pastry and how to use them. During our first class, we focussed on the often intimidating puff pastry.

Having had some experience with puff pastry before, I was familiar with the process of making it. Puff pastry gets its flakiness during the rolling process. As the butter is worked into the dough through rolling and folding, precious layers are being created. When baked, these layers puff up to create the “puffiness” that is so prized in this type of dough.

For me, butter is crucial for a successful puff pastry. Unfortunately, as is often the case with the baking classes I’m taking, we tend to use ingredients that are either less expensive or that will perform better in a very warm class environment.

Our puff pastry session in class began by forming a dough of flour, water, salt and vegetable shortening. After forming a dough with those ingredients, we let it rest for about 20 minutes before rolling it out and adding the fat. We should have used butter but instead we used a product called “roll-in fat”. I’ve used this product before in baking class and it’s essentially an edible oil The product is imported from Germany and looks like butter but has a much different texture. It almost feels like oily playdough.

We use roll-in fat, I’m assuming, because butter is too expensive and also because of the heat in the classroom. It gets very hot in the class and it would be difficult to work with butter. Reminding myself that I’m in class for the experience and to learn, I gamely went ahead.

There are many different ways to add the butter when making puff pastry. In class we used a method where we rolled our dough out into a large rectangle and then spread the fat over two-thirds of the dough. We then folded the dough into thirds and turned it 90 degrees. We immediately rolled the dough out again into a large rectangle and once again folded it into thirds and turned it 90 degrees. This was our first fold.

At home, when I’ve made puff pastry, I would normally put the pastry into the refrigerator between each of the steps to chill it. However, because of the nature of the fat we used we were able to proceed with several of these steps before having to refrigerate the dough.

As a result, we rolled the dough out again but this time we completed a book fold, which means that we folded the dough into the centre and then folded the two halves together. Once again we turned the dough 90 degrees. At this point we refrigerated the dough for about 30 minutes, after which we removed the dough from the refrigerator and proceeded to roll it again and execute another fold.

We cut our dough in half and portioned it out so that we’d have puff pastry for Week 2 and Week 3. At this point, I realized that I made a mistake in the rolling process. After incorporating the fat and folding the dough, I was supposed to do another fold and then a book turn. But I actually did two folds and a book turn.

When I got to class for Week 2, I was a bit nervous as to how my puff pastry would work out after my error.

Our assignment for class was to roll our out portion of puff pastry and divide it. Half the pastry would be used for an apple strudel and the other half would be used for turnovers. I was a bit disappointed in that I’d expected to use fresh apples for the turnover. Instead, we used apple pie filling (mixed with cinnamon and raisin) and cherry pie filling.

Once again reminding myself that I’m in class to learn as much as I can, I went ahead and prepared the strudel by trimming half the dough into a rectangle and cutting long strips down each side. I placed the filling along the centre of the dough and began crisscrossing the dough strips over the filling. I ended up with a very pretty strudel so I’m looking forward to trying the technique at home.

For the turnovers, I divided the other half of the dough into squares and piled filling into the centre of each. I then folded the dough over to form triangles.

While I’m not thrilled with the fact that we didn’t use butter, the strudel and the turnovers did turn out nicely. My mistake was obvious, however, as my puff pastry did not “puff” as much as that of my classmates. For next week’s class my instructor advised me to roll out the dough and do another book turn before beginning our project.

As for the flavour, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. While the texture was very flaky, there was a very oily aftertaste from the fat in the pastry.

Taste aside, though, I relished the opportunity to make puff pastry again. The rolling and folding and turning was great experience and I can’t wait to try it at home … with butter!

Ciao!

Technorati tags: puff pastry

It’s time to summarize the last two weeks of my Art of Pies course at George Brown’s culinary school. The Week 5 menu featured Key Lime Pie and Sun Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Quiche. Unfortunately, the Cream Puff was under the weather and had to miss that class.

So sad! But not to worry, we shall make quiche another day! In the meantime, Cream Puff recovered and made it to the sixth and final class.

On the menu for Week 6:  Pecan Pie and Butter Tarts.

We began class by preparing the dough that we would use for both our pecan pie and butter tarts. Unlike the other doughs we made in this class that always used bread flour, this particular pie dough also used pastry flour. In addition to the bread and pastry flours, we added butter, cold water, egg and salt.

The addition of the pastry flour made this a slightly more delicate pie dough than the others. It was tender and flaky and had an amazing flavour. I think I liked the pie dough even more than the filling and I will most definitely be trying this dough at home.

The filling for our pecan pie and butter tart was the same. The idea was to create a filling that we could use for many different purposes and we certainly came up with a very versatile filling. It consisted of brown sugar, corn syrup, pure maple syrup, cornstarch, vanilla extract, salt, butter, eggs, pecans and raisins. We made the filling by combining all the ingredients in a mixer except for the eggs. We added the eggs at the end, on low speed, being careful not to over whip. You want a mixture that’s dense and not too fluffy. Beating too much air into the mixture won’t give your baked product the same dense consistency that you expect in a pecan pie or butter tarts.

We baked our pies in standard 9-inch pans but for the butter tarts, we used individual foil tartlet pans, which I loved. I’ve always made butter tarts in muffin tins, but I found that using the tartlet pans allowed me to make larger butter tarts and also to play with the crust decoration. That’s not easy to do when your tarts are in a muffin tin.

While I felt the instructor over baked our pecan pies slightly (unfortunately I don’t have a picture), the butter tarts were incredible. I especially enjoyed the flavour imparted by the pure maple syrup. I’ve never used maple syrup in my butter tart filling and I think I’m definitely going to give it a try at home. The flavourful crust was the perfect compliment to the sweet, gooey filling.

At six weeks, this was a relatively short course compared to some of the others that I’ve taken. While I wasn’t impressed with every pie we made, I did enjoy the time we spent focusing on making dough. I picked up some great variations for pie dough recipes and I’m looking forward to trying them at home. And once again the work in class showed that good pie dough does not have to be an elusive accomplishment. It’s very easy to make excellent pie dough at home with your own two hands!

The course also helped to encourage our creativity when it comes to pie fillings. Don’t get me wrong, I love me my fruit pies. But there are so many things you can do to fill a pie that I’m looking forward to experimenting a bit.

My personal favourite was the Boston Cream Pie (which I don’t even think is a pie at all). I’d have to say the Butter Tarts came in a close second. Our instructor was fantastic and overall, the class environment was a calm one where everyone worked well together. As I’ve mentioned in past posts on baking class, I’ve been in some courses where I felt I was competing in Gordon Ramsey’s kitchen! It was a pleasure to go to class and be able to focus on baking, rather than staking my claim to the flour bin.

I have a month off before I begin my next course, but stay tuned. Cream Puff’s school adventures will continue!

Ciao!

On the menu for Week 3:  Lemon Meringue Pie and Pumpkin Pie

My Art of Pies class at George Brown College has been proceeding quite nicely. Our third class was dedicated to lemon meringue pie and pumpkin pie.

We began with the crusts for both our pies which were a very basic pastry crust made with vegetable shortening. For single crust pies in particular, I prefer to make butter crusts, but overall I thought the crusts turned out nicely. For the lemon meringue pie, we pre-baked the crusts, while for the pumpkin pies we were able to put the filling into the unbaked pie shell.

The lemon meringue pie consisted of two components besides the crust:  the filling and the meringue. For the filling, we began by making a syrup of water, sugar and salt which we brought to a boil. In a separate bowl we combined cornstarch, lemon juice, a bit more water and eggs. We tempered our mixture with a bit of the hot syrup and then poured it into the pan with the remainder of the syrup. We cooked the mixture until it thickened and we had a lovely curd. We finished it off by stirring in a bit of butter.

We put our lemon filling aside to cool and began making the meringue filling. The type of meringue that we used for our pie is called Swiss Meringue. This type of meringue involved cooking sugar, egg whites and cream of tartar until it reaches a certain temperature. The mixture is then put into the bowl of a stand mixer and whipped until very firm. We whipped our meringue for about ten minutes.

To assemble our pies, we poured the filling into the baked crusts and then used piping bags to pipe the meringue onto the filling. We baked the pies in a hot oven for about ten minutes to give the meringue some colour.

Overall, I liked this pie. The filling could have had a bit of a stronger lemon flavour. I would probably have added more lemon zest to accomplish this, but it was still a nice, silky filling. I liked the meringue as well and there’s no question that the pie looked impressive out of the oven. I have an unbelievable lemon meringue pie recipe that I make all the time and I’d have to say that the one we made in class didn’t really measure up, although it was good. I’ll have to share my lemon meringue pie recipe with you one day soon!

The pumpkin pie was a breeze to make and I almost questioned why we were making it in this class. But as the instructor stressed the importance of quality ingredients, I realized that even a pumpkin pie can be messed up. Our instructor recommended making your own pumpkin puree by roasting a pumpkin and then blending the flesh until smooth. In class we used canned pumpkin, but I must say it was an excellent one. It was pure pumpkin puree with no additives and the taste was wonderful.

We mixed our puree with brown sugar, eggs, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, heavy cream and butter. The result was a rich and tasty filling. Our pies baked very quickly and once out of the oven proved that it does not take a lot of effort or time to make a truly beautiful pie.

The flavour was pure pumpkin with a nice hit of spiciness. I loved it!

On the menu for Week 4:  Boston Cream Pie.

Never a fan of the Boston Cream Doughnut, I was a bit hesitant about making this "pie" in class. It actually consists of sponge cake, pastry cream, chocolate ganache and fondant.

We began by making a very basic sponge cake that consisted of eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and flour. We baked our cakes in 9-inch pans. This is the sort of basic recipe that you can use for so many desserts, you can even enjoy just on its own. And believe me I was tempted!

Boston Cream Pie has a pastry cream filling so while our cakes cooled, we set about making the pastry cream. Again we used a very basic recipe that turned out beautifully. Our pastry cream consisted of milk, eggs, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract and butter. We brought milk to a boil in a pan. In a separate bowl we mixed sugar and cornstarch and in a third bowl we whipped our eggs. We added the sugar/cornstarch mixture and some more milk to the eggs. We added a bit of the hot milk to the egg mixture to temper them. We then poured the entire mixture back into the pot and heated it until it had thickened. We brought the mixture back to our work stations and added the vanilla extract and butter. We whisked until smooth and then spread our pastry cream out on a baking sheet to help it cool quickly.

For the chocolate ganache, the instructor prepared that for the entire class. I’m guessing he used a pre-prepared chocolate icing (found at cake supply places). He also provided fondant which is also used in cake decorating.

To assemble our Boston Cream Pie, we spread pastry cream on one layer of sponge cake and then topped it with the second layer. We poured the ganache over the top of the sponge and spread it around making sure to have ganache fall over the sides to coat them nicely. We used fondant to create a nice design on the top of the cakes.

While there were a lot of steps to this particular pie, I have to say I enjoyed the results. The sponge was fresh and moist and the pastry cream was fantastic. I wasn’t too thrilled with the chocolate ganache as I suspect there wasn’t a lot of real chocolate in there. At home I would definitely use the real thing. But I did enjoy decorating with fondant which is an important part of cake decorating.

And I can’t lie. This pie was delicious and there’s no question that it’s the one I’ve enjoyed the most thus far. See you next class! 

Ciao!

A few weeks ago, I began my fourth culinary course at George Brown in Toronto. I’m working my way towards a Bakery Arts Certificate, which requires the completion of ten courses. The course I chose for this session is called Art of Pies. The course explores a variety of different types of pies, including various fillings and crusts.

On the menu for Week 1:  Orange Cream Phyllo Pie with Grand Marnier Glaze

Much like the two courses I took in the last session, this course began with very little introduction. The assumption is that at this point, students are familiar with the basics of baking. As a result, we hit the ground running, scaling our ingredients and preparing for an intricate pie.

We began by preparing the orange custard filling for the pie. The filling consisted of milk, butter, sugar, eggs, orange juice, vanilla extract and a very surprise ingredient - cream of wheat. The instructor indicated that using cream of wheat in a custard filling was uncommon. I think this particular recipe was a way of demonstrating that there a variety of thickeners that can be used in custards and fillings.

We worked with phyllo for our crust and while we did not make the phyllo pastry, we did review some important tips when working with phyllo. The most important tip being that unused phyllo sheets should be covered with a damp cloth to keep them moist while they wait to be used. Phyllo dries up in a flash and a dried up piece of phyllo isn’t going to be of much use.

We used four sheets of phyllo for both the base of the pie and the crust. When building the base, we brushed each sheet of phyllo with melted butter before layering on the next piece. Once we’d prepared our base, we filled it with the custard and then topped it with the phyllo crust. We scored the top of the pie into eight pieces (makes it easier to slice the pie after it’s baked) before baking.

Once baked, we prepared a syrup of sugar, water, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel, lemon peel and Grand Marnier. The syrup was poured over the pie, about ten minute after it came out of the oven. We allowed the syrup to slowly seep into the phyllo crust. The final touch was a sprinkling of icing sugar.

I loved using phyllo to make a pie and the syrup was incredible. I’d have the syrup over ice cream! While the flavour of the filling was good, the texture of the filling, due to the cream of wheat, was a bit strange. While I like cream of wheat, it dominated the filling in terms of texture. I would definitely make this pie again, but I would not use cream of wheat in the filling.

We ended our class by quickly forming a basic pastry crust which we used to make two pie bases each. These were then frozen in preparation for Week 2.

On the menu for Week 2:  Cherry Cream Cheese Pie and Strawberry, Rhubarb and Apple Pie

Having already prepared our pie bases in Week 1, we began by putting together the filling for the Cherry Cream Cheese Pie.

The idea behind this pie is that it’s essentially a cheesecake, except it’s baked in a pastry crust and doesn’t require a water bath, as some cheesecakes do. The cream cheese filling consisted of cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract.

We mixed all the ingredients until we had a smooth, velvety filling. We poured half the filling into the prepared shell, topped the filling with cherry spread, and then topped the cherry with the remainder of the cheese filling. We then topped the pie off with a streusel topping made of butter, sugar, brown sugar and bread flour. Before baking the pies, we sprinkled on cinnamon sugar which would caramelize while baking.

While this pie looked pretty, the main drawback for me was the cherry spread. We used cherry pie filling, which is goopy. Our instructor indicated that at home, a better idea would be to either make your own cherry spread or to use a high quality cherry jam. I did, however, enjoy the cheese filling with the streusel topping. I’d probably try this one again, minus the cherry pie filling of course!

The highlight of this class, for certain, was the Strawberry, Rhubarb and Apple Pie. We used frozen strawberries and rhubarb for the filling. During the summer, when berries and other fruits are at their peak, I freeze loads of them just so that I can make pies like this in the middle of winter! The rest of the filling was made of apples, lemon juice, grated lemon, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, cornstarch and water.

We stewed the fruit in butter, sugar and lemon juice until it softened. We then added a slurry made of water and cornstarch. As soon as it thickened, we spooned our filling into the base and then sprinkled over the same streusel topping as the Cherry Cream Cheese Pie, except we added oats to this streusel topping.

This pie was fantastic! It was proof that when fruit is frozen at its peak, there’s no reason why it can’t be enjoyed when it’s out of season. The only thing missing was a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Ciao!

On Saturday, I will be attending the first class of the fourth course that I am taking as part of my work towards a Bakery Arts Certificate from George Brown College. I have enrolled in my third compulsory course:  Art of Pies. As with my previous baking classes, I look forward to sharing my experiences with you. Prior to beginning that journey into the world of pies, I’m left with the final two classes of my Art of Breads course to recap for you.

On the menu for Week 9:  Raisin Bread and Easter Bread

Our second last class began with a bread that we were all looking forward to. Who doesn’t like raisin bread? By this point in the course, everyone is working together so efficiently. It becomes routine to get to class, scale off your ingredients, gather your equipment and utensils and stake out your favourite stand mixer.

The raisin bread began with a slurry of fresh yeast and water. We added bread flour, eggs, sugar, shortening, whole milk powder, cinnamon and salt.

Once a dough was formed and processed in the mixer until it formed a smooth ball that did not stick to the sides of the bowl, it was time to add the raisins. Unlike other breads where you might add a filling ingredient directly to the dough in the stand mixer, our instructor recommended we add the raisins and knead the bread by hand as the mixer may crush the raisins.

We added the raisins by flattening the dough and sprinkling the raisins on top. We then rolled the dough up, jelly roll style, and made four or five deep slashes to the dough. After making the slashes, we began to knead the dough by pushing it away and then pulling it back in towards the centre. Because of the slashes, the raisins began to fall out but were slowly picked up as we kneaded the dough and, as a result, the raisins were distributed evenly throughout the dough without being squashed.

After forming the dough into a ball, we let it rest for 15 minutes. After the rest period, we returned to the dough and divided it into four pieces. We shaped our pieces into loaves and set them in tins. We applied an egg wash and sent the dough off to the proofer. Once the dough had doubled in size in the proofer, we baked our loaves at 350 degrees F. for about 30 minutes.

The end result was four nicely browned loaves. It was hard to resist the urge to rip right into them in class thanks to the aroma of cinnamon. The loaves were light and flavourful, although I think the flavour would be greatly improved with butter as opposed to shortening. The raisins were also nicely dispersed through the loaves thanks to the technique our instructor showed us. When making breads filled with raisins or other dried fruits, I would definitely try that technique again.

The second bread we made is called Easter Bread. This was a rich, eggy bread that resembled panettone in appearance and in taste. We began by making a sponge of fresh yeast, warm milk and bread flour. We let our sponge rest for about 30 minutes.

While the sponge was resting, we mixed together butter, sugar, vanilla, rum, lemon zest and salt until we had a light and fluffy mixture. One by one, we incorporated eggs into this mixture. Once that was done, we added bread flour. At this point our sponge was ready so we added the sponge to the mixture as well.

We mixed all the ingredients for about 5 minutes, until we had a cohesive dough. We removed a small piece of the dough and set it aside. We removed the rest of the dough and added raisins in the same way that we added them to the raisin bread above. We rounded off the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. After the rest period, we divided our dough into four pieces, which we then placed in cake pans pressing down on the dough so that it covered the bottom of the pans evenly.

We took the dough that had been set aside, and divided it into four smaller pieces. We then further divided each piece into six. We rolled all the pieces into strands and taking three strands at a time, we made braids. We then applied the braids to the tops of the dough in the cake pans in a decorative manner. We applied an egg wash and sent our bread off to the proofer.

Once out of the proofer, we baked the bread for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees F. This bread was incredible! The combination of butter and rum made made for great flavour. It had an eggy depth that made it taste very much like panettone. The bread also looked very pretty. This is another recipe that I’m looking forward to adapting for home baking.

For our final class, the tenth one, the course curriculum directed that we learn how to make a bread basket. This particular project involved making a bread dough and creating a number of long braided strands. The strands are then braided around the base of a large bowl, wrapped in aluminum foil. This is baked until the outside has set and turned golden. The basket is removed and very gingerly flipped off the base of the bowl. It’s then placed inside the bowl and put back into the oven so that the inside of the basket can bake. You can get quite creative with these baskets including adding little feet so that it looks like a pedestal basket or adding handles. The basket is not for consumption, but rather it’s for decorative purposes.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t want to make the basket. While it was interesting to watch the instructor demo the project, for the life of me I couldn’t imagine why in the world you’d want to make a basket out of bread. To me, it bordered on the edge of tacky. Fortunately, our instructor gave us the option of watching the demo and then baking another bread that we’d made in class. My partner and I very happily made cheese bread instead.

When I enrolled in the Art of Breads course, which is compulsory, I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I did. Instead, I greatly enjoyed learning about yeast and how it can be manipulated by adding sugars. The information we learned about flour was also helpful. It finally clicked that all-purpose isn’t necessarily the best flour for everything. In fact, it may be quite the opposite. I was introduced to bread flour, which I’ve begun using at home to great effect.

But without question, the greatest lesson in this course for me, was the lesson on kneading. Prior to this class, I thought I knew how to knead dough but I quickly learned that I was mistaken. Kneading is a gentle art, even though at times it can be quite intensive. Believe me you can work up a sweat kneading. But it’s such a wonderfully calming motion and I’m happy to say that I’m kneading dough more and more all the time.

While I never imagined I’d say this, I can see myself baking a lot bread in my own home.

But now we say goodbye to bread, and hello to pies!

Ciao!

A new year always brings with it a sense of starting fresh. Perhaps this is the reason why I have a tendency to do my "spring cleaning" in January. Apart from recovering from the excesses of December including attempts to regain a waistline, January is the time that I like to clean, sort, organize, alphabetize, plan and declutter. Of course these good intentions don’t last long and I’m usually back to my messy self by February, but a girl can dream. Perhaps this will be the year that I finally fulfill my inner neat freak.

Not likely.

Anyhow, I do feel the need to tie up any loose ends from 2006 and this very need led me to realize that I never completed my recaps of baking class. As many long-time readers know last summer I began taking courses at George Brown’s Culinary School in the hopes of obtaining a Bakery Arts Certificate. Last fall, I enrolled in a Breakfast Breads course and in an Art of Breads course. While I told you about the Breakfast Breads class, I didn’t finish telling you about Art of Breads. Since I’m beginning my fourth course this Saturday (more on that in a post to come), I figured I’d better get my act in gear and complete the bread-baking story of 2006.

On the menu for Week 7:  Rye Bread and Cheese Bread

Week 7 began with instructions for rye bread that involved creating a "sponge." Breads made with a sponge or starter are very flavourful and have great texture. The sponge for our rye bread consisted of rye flour, water and fresh yeast. We mixed the ingredients and let them stand in a bowl for an hour. After the hour had passed, our sponge had grown considerably and had developed bubbles all over the surface. The bubbles represent the gas that the mixture has produced and are an excellent sign as those gases produced are what will help your bread to rise.

Once our sponge was ready, we added rye flour, bread flour, salt, shortening (not too thrilled about the shortening), water and gluten powder, also known as vital wheat gluten. Because rye flour has a lower gluten content, our instructor explained that adding some gluten powder will increase the gluten in the bread which will help you get a loaf that’s light and chewy. On its own, rye flour will produce a denser, darker bread.

After forming a dough, we shaped it into a large round and let it rest for 20 minutes. We then shaped the dough into loaves and sent it off to the proofer. In class, we are able to use large proofers which release steam and allow the loaves to rise at a much faster rate than if we left them covered on a work surface. While it’s unlikely that you’ll ever go out and buy a proofer for your home, our instructors explained that you can recreate the effect by briefly heating your oven and then turning it off. Once it’s cooled a bit, place a pan of hot water on the bottom of the oven. Place your bread in the oven and then close the oven door.

Once out of the proofer, our loaves went into the oven for 30 minutes at the equivalent of 400 degrees F. The end result were nicely browned loaves that had a strong rye flour, but that weren’t hard or too dense. While I wasn’t thrilled about the use of shortening in the bread (shortening will make it a bit more tender), overall I was pleased with the rye loaves.

The second part of Week 7’s class was spent making cheese bread. For this bread we returned to the very basic formula of bread-making. We created a slurry of water and fresh yeast. To the slurry we added bread flour, sugar, shortening, salt, milk powder and malt. After forming a dough, we added grated cheddar cheese and swiss cheese. We removed our dough from the stand mixer, formed it into a ball and let it rest for 15 minutes.

After the rest period, we shaped our dough into four loaves. After a trip to the proofer, the loaves were baked for 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. Of all the breads in class, this had to be one of the ones I enjoyed the most both for the ease of preparation and the flavour. It’s hard to resist a bread full of melted and oozing cheese. However, if I make this at home, I will most certainly replace the shortening with butter.

On the menu for Week 8:  Italian Bread and Focaccia

We began the eighth class with a basic recipe for Italian bread which, our instructor explained, could be used as a standard for both bread and pizza. Most of the Italian bread that I enjoy eating usually begins with a biga or starter, which contributes to great flavour and texture. This bread, however, followed the basic formula that we’d been adhering to all along. We mixed a slurry of fresh yeast and water, added bread flour and a mixture of malt and salt dissolved in more water. We formed a dough, let it rest and then shaped it into loaves. I chose to shape my portion of the bread into rings. The rings were baked at 400 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

They looked nice but to be honest I was unimpressed. There was very little flavour to the bread and you would most certainly have to eat it with a spread or use it as a base for pizza to truly enjoy it. On its own, it was boring. I really can’t see myself using this recipe to make something as sublime as pizza.

The second part of class, however, was far more promising. We prepared focaccia bread which we then transformed into stuffed focaccia. The bread began the same way the Italian bread did with a slurry of fresh yeast and water. To that mixture we added bread flour, salt and olive oil. We formed a dough which we let rest for 15 minutes.

After the rest period, we divided the dough into four parts. We used two parts to line the bottom of greased 9-inch cake pans. We brushed the dough with olive oil and then added the toppings of our choice which included sun dried tomatoes, rosemary, sea salt, Parmigiano Reggiano and olives. We took the remaining two parts of dough and used them to cover the toppings, in effect forming a focaccia pie. With our fingers, we sealed the edges of the dough carefully to ensure that the filling would not leak out into the pan and cause the focaccia to stick. We brushed the tops with more olive oil and sent our little babies off to the proofer. Once out of the proofer, we baked the focaccias at 375 degrees F. for about 40 minutes (until the focaccia tops were golden).

This bread was so flavourful! And I loved the idea of using cake pans to create a stuffed focaccia. While I haven’t had the chance to make this since class, I will definitely try it at home. It was a pleasure to use so many fresh, natural ingredients and clear proof that creating a delicious baked good isn’t rocket science. You need good ingredients, some time and some effort. In the end, the results are so rewarding.

Ciao!

On the menu for Weeks 5 and 6:  Sour Dough Bread and Yeasted Coffee Cakes

I have fallen way behind with my posts on baking class. Here’s my attempt to begin catching up!

The Art of Breads

In my Week 5 post, I should have clarified that for my Art of Breads course, it was actually Week 4. Breakfast Breads began a week before Art of Breads.  For Week 5, we were scheduled to prepare a fruit/nut bread and challah, however, my work schedule prevented me from attending class so I missed the lesson. This was a contributing factor to my desire to try challah at home.

In Week 6, I was thankfully back in class for a lesson that I was eagerly anticipating:  sour dough. After my trip to San Francisco where I ate some truly incredible breads, I was interested in learning about sour dough starter and making a quality bread.

I was a bit disappointed.

While we did make a sour dough bread in class, we made it using a powdered sour dough starter. I missed the first part of the class so I’m not completely sure how this powdered starter comes to be. My understanding is that it’s freeze dried starter that’s used to speed up the process of making this type of bread since you don’t actually have to take the time to start, feed and ferment your own starter. Besides the powdered starter, our dough consisted of bread flour, cold water, and yeast. It certainly was easy to make but the final result was disappointing. The flavour of the bread paled in comparison to the real thing which I remember so vividly from last year’s trip to California. Local bakeries like ACE Bakery also make sour dough breads that are far superior to the taste of the one we made in class.

All was not lost, however, as we did learn about making a proper starter. While I would have preferred to make one in class and actually learn how to do it, I’m assuming that the reason we didn’t is that we would have had to either make it at school one week and hope that it survived to the following week, or we’d have to make it on our own at home. If some of us failed in our attempts to make it at home, it would certainly make for a challenging lesson. Still, though, in a course about making bread it would have been nice to actually make the proper starter. In any event, our instructor did provide us with a lot of background information and numerous recipes to try so I’m thinking I’ll take the initiative and try my own sour dough bread once the holidays come around and I have the time.

Breakfast Breads

Unlike the Art of Breads, Breakfast Breads is an elective course and much shorter in length (only six classes). But don’t get me wrong … those six classes are intense to the core! For our final class, we covered the wonderful and yummy topic of yeasted and filled coffee cakes.

Like many people, my idea of a coffee cake was always a cake baked in a tube pan or bundt pan with butter, flour, eggs and sugar. I’d never tried a yeasted coffee cake, much less one that had a filling.

I was seriously impressed!

We began by making a sponge of warm water, yeast and pastry flour. After letting this rest for about 30 minutes, we made our dough using the sponge, warm milk, more yeast, bread flour, malt, salt, an egg and butter (finally we use butter!). After mixing and rounding up the dough, we let it rest for 30 minutes.

We made two types of filling for our coffee cakes:  poppy seed (poppy seeds, sugar, honey, water, graham crumbs, egg yolk, cinnamon, lemon zest) and almond (almond paste, butter, sugar, eggs, flour).

For the poppy seed filling, we rolled our dough into a rectangle and spread the filling on the dough. We then rolled up the rectangle like a jelly roll being careful to seal the ends. we made a deep slit down the middle of the roll (leaving the ends intact) and then pulled one end under and through the slit creating a twist. We brushed the roll with egg wash and after it was baked, we brushed it with apricot glaze.

For the almond filling, we also rolled the dough into rectangles and spread the filling on the dough. But we added strawberry jam to the almond filling as well. After rolling up the dough, we placed the rolls in loaf pans. We scored the tops of the cakes so that the filling would bubble through when baking. We also brushed these with apricot glaze and topped them with drizzles of fondant.

The cakes were delicious! I even liked the poppy seed one and I’m not the biggest fan of poppy seeds.

While I didn’t get off to the best start in this course, it certainly ended on a very positive note. Our instructor who was with us for four of the six classes was amazing and I look forward to taking more of her courses in future. The first two instructors (who were substituting for our regular teacher) left a bit to be desired. They didn’t set the tone for the class and I think this contributed to the somewhat disorganized and tense atmosphere of the first two weeks, which were at times unpleasant. Happily, things settled down once our regular instructor returned and everyone began to work together in a more organized fashion.

I’m thrilled that I finally tried my hand at making croissants and danish pastry. While I haven’t had time to try them at home yet, I know that I will and I’ll be able to put my experience to good use when I finally do attempt those pastries. I wasn’t crazy about the bagels or the chelsea buns, but the brioche turned out well and again I gained valuable experience making something I hadn’t tried before in my own kitchen.

Overall, I was very satisfied with my experience in this course. Two down and only eight more to go before I earn that certificate!

Ciao!

On the menu for Week 5:  Whole Wheat Bread, Six Grain Bread and Bagels.

The Art of Bread

I was intrigued by this class because we were preparing Whole Wheat Bread and Six Grain Bread, loaves which both require the use of whole wheat flour. To be honest, I’ve hardly ever used whole wheat flour at home. While we eat bread with whole grains on an almost daily basis, we buy them from our favourite bakery. Our instructor explained that whole wheat flour is made of the entire grain (the endosperm, the germ and the bran). While I never imagined that I would be baking and trying to figure out what an endosperm is at the same time, it was interesting to learn about a type of flour that I know very little about.

The other ingredient that was new to me was part of the recipe for the whole wheat bread:  vital wheat gluten. Vital wheat gluten is an all-natural gluten booster. It comes in handy when baking with flours such as rye and whole wheat. Breads made with these flours tend to be denser, without as much gluten as breads made with bread flour. The vital wheat gluten helps these dense breads develop more of that all-important gluten power.

The dough for the Whole Wheat Bread consisted of yeast, water, whole wheat flour, bread flour, sugar, salt, milk powder, molasses, vital wheat gluten and shortening. After mixing and kneading the dough, we let it rest for 20 minutes. We then divided our dough, shaped it and let it rest for another 10 minutes. After putting the bread in tins, it went off to the proofer and then to the oven.

The end result was a nicely browned loaf that was light with a nice nutty flavour. While Whole Wheat Bread isn’t my favourite, I was really pleased with this loaf, in particular with how I shaped it before it went into the tin. I think I’m getting the hang of some of the shaping techniques and it was a pleasure to see how well these loaves turned out.

For me, though, the star of the class was the Six Grain Bread. The dough for these loaves consisted of yeast, water, bread flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, shortening, milk powder, molasses and six grain cereal. Our instructor explained that we could buy any six grain mix from a supermarket or health food store.

After mixing the dough, we let it rest for 20 minutes. We then divided it, shaped it and let it rest for another 10 minutes. Unlike the Whole Wheat Bread, we baked the Six Grain Bread free-form. Once proofed, the bread was baked for about half an hour. Beautiful, round, crusty loaves emerged from the ovens and I was thrilled! I loved the flavour of this bread. I loved the crust and I loved the texture, which was firm enough to use for sandwiches. This is one to definitely try again!

Breakfast Breads

Two weeks ago there was no class due to the Thanksgiving Day weekend. Class resumed last week with a lesson in bagels. Almost everyone I know has an opinion on bagels: who makes the best bagels in Toronto, should you boil them, how much salt should you add … the list goes on and on.

We began by mixing a basic bagel dough, which we let rest for half an hour. As soon as the dough had rested, we divided it into 100 gram portions and began shaping our bagels by first rolling the dough into little balls, flattening them slightly, poking a hole in the middle and then using our fingers to widen the hole. Our instructor demonstrated another method of forming bagels that involved rolling the dough into a rope, joining the rope and then sealing the bagel where the two ends were joined. I found this method challenging so opted for the first method.

We had to work quickly to avoid letting the dough dry out. Once our bagels were formed we dipped them in slightly salted water that was simmering. As soon as the bagels floated to the top, we removed them and then topped them. I dipped some of my bagels in poppy seeds, some in sesame seeds and I topped the rest with cheddar cheese.

The bagels were okay, but I found them to be a bit on the salty side. While it was fun making them, the flavour and texture didn’t come close to the bagels I can buy in some of Toronto’s best bagel shops. I enjoyed the experience, but don’t really see myself making bagels at home.

That’s it for this week!

Ciao!

Technorati tags:  baking class, whole wheat bread, six grain bread, bagels

On the menu for Week 4:  Vienna Rolls, Oatmeal Bread, Croissants and Danish Pastry

The Art of Breads

Now that we’re into our third week of this course, we’re all getting used to the rhythm of scaling ingredients, preparing dough, allowing the dough to rest and rise, preparing the dough for the proofer and finally baking. Bread class has taken on a very comfortable feel and everyone is enjoying the atmosphere. I’m especially enjoying the opportunity to knead dough. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it is one of the most relaxing and pleasurable things you can do!

In class we prepared dough for Vienna Rolls and Oatmeal Bread. The Vienna Roll dough consisted of water, yeast, bread flour, sugar, milk powder, salt, oil and eggs. The dough was easy to make and work with. We used the dough to work on our bread-shaping skills. We formed knots, twists, braids, boules and a few other interesting shapes. I can tell that it must take years of practice to become a skilled bread shaper and bread baker!   

The dough for the Oatmeal bread consisted of yeast, water, bread flour, rolled oats, bran, sugar, salt, shortening, milk powder, honey and molasses. While we didn’t try any fancy shapes with this particular dough, it was good experience in terms of working with stickier bread doughs as this one was definitely sticky. The end result was very good. The bread was sturdy, but not too dense and it was great toasted with a bit of butter and honey. I can see myself trying this one again.

In each class, our instructor has spent significant time talking about ingredients, the most important being yeast. In class we used a type of yeast called "baker’s compressed yeast". It’s also known as fresh yeast. It usually comes in a block, very similar to a block of butter. It has a very strong yeasty smell to it and a crumbly texture. Fresh yeast should be refrigerated and will usually last in the refrigerator for anywhere from 10 to 14 days. Surprisingly, fresh yeast can be frozen. While it won’t have the same leavening power if frozen and thawed, it will still work just fine. I had no idea you could freeze fresh yeast as I thought freezing it would kill the organisms in the yeast.

As I wrote last week, it’s all fascinating stuff!

Breakfast Breads

As much as I’m enjoying this course, it leaves me exhausted! Unlike my other courses where we’re able to take breaks, this is four straight hours of scaling, baking and cleaning.

Two weeks ago, the croissant dough that we had prepared and frozen had to be thrown out after the school’s freezer broke down. As a result, last week we remade the dough and froze it to be rolled, shaped and baked in this week’s class. We followed the same procedure for our danish pastry dough.

Our croissant dough consisted of yeast (baker’s compressed yeast), water, bread flour, salt, sugar, milk powder, butter and … roll-in fat. More on that later.

We made our croissant dough by first making a dough of the yeast, water, flour and other dry ingredients. To this we added a small amount of butter. We rolled this dough out on our work surfaces being sure to roll it into an evenly shaped rectangle. On one half of this rectangle, we placed our roll-in fat, separated into dollops. We folded over the other half of the dough, and began to reshape the dough into a rectangle. We then performed what is called a single fold which means we folded one-third of the dough over and then folded the other third to form an even package. We turned the dough so that the seam faced us. We once again rolled our dough to a certain size and then performed the fold again. In between each fold, we let our dough rest for 15 to 20 minutes. We did this four times before finally freezing our dough.

The dough was thawed for us so when we arrived in class, we were ready to begin rolling our dough to form croissants. We rolled the dough out into an even rectangle and then divided it in half lengthwise. We then cut each dough half into 16 equal triangles using a ruler. We filled some of the triangles with chocolate, and some with almond paste. Starting from the wide end, we rolled our croissant up tightly and then curled the ends inward. We egg washed our croissants before they went into the proofer. Once baked, the croissant were very good. However, after a day, the flavour of the roll-in fat became quite noticeable.

Our danish pastry, which consisted of yeast (baker’s compressed yeast), water, bread flour, milk powder, eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, butter and roll-in fat, was made in the same way as the croissant dough. To form our danish pastry, we divided our dough in half. The first half of the dough was rolled into a rectangle and spread with a poppy seed filling. This was then rolled up into a log and cut into rounds. The second half of the dough was spread with a nut butter filling and cut into strips which were then twisted and formed into rounds. As with the croissants, the danish pastry was great out of the oven, but disappointing after a day or so.

In class, we did not make these doughs using all butter. At a certain point, we used an ingredient called roll-in fat in place of butter. The reasoning is that due to the heat in the class, the butter would be too soft to work with. And since we’re students, most of us making these doughs for the first time, roll-in fat is easier to work with. I briefly considered researching roll-in fat to find out exactly what it is, but then decided against it. I don’t care what roll-in fat is because I plan on NEVER using it. As one of my classmates very accurately noted, the roll-in fat smelled faintly of movie popcorn butter. If I make croissants at home, I will be using all butter! You can be sure of that.

Ciao!

On the menu for Week 3:  Butter Crust Bread, French Sticks and Croissants … well … maybe not.

The Art of Bread

Thursday night’s class got off to a busy start as I was once again without partner. Prior to the first demo, our instructor took some more time to talk about the ingredients of bread baking.

I am completely fascinated with what I’m learning. Last week we learned about the basic relationship between yeast, flour, sugar and salt. We learned that you can use sugar to feed your dough and you can use salt to control fermentation (but never let the salt come into direct contact with the yeast). The instructor reinforced a fact that I am coming across more and more:  all-purpose flour is not necessarily the best flour to bake with. In fact, many baked goods are far superior if you use bread flour.

In the case of bread flour, it’s a type of flour that is high in protein because it has been produced from what that is high in protein. Because it has a higher protein level, bread flour helps increase the level of gluten produced in a recipe. Gluten, as I understand it, is what helps give baked goods that elastic quality and it also helps baked goods to rise.

In this week’s class we were also introduced to malt. Using malt is another way of adding sugar to your dough. We learned that since sugar feeds the yeast in a dough, adding sugar and malt to your yeast mixture will help your dough rise even more.

Fascinating stuff.

We put this knowledge to use with two recipes:  Butter Crust Bread and French Sticks.

The Butter Crust Bread is a very basic sandwich loaf that is brushed with clarified butter and slashed across the top before going into the oven. Once out of the oven, it is brushed with more clarified butter.

The dough for this bread consists of water, yeast, bread flour, salt, sugar, malt and milk powder. The sugar and the malt both help to feed the yeast and this was evident in how well our bread rose while it was proofing (the school has these very cool proofing machines that will proof your dough in a fraction of the time it would take at home).

By contrast, the dough for the French Sticks only contained malt and that dough did not rise nearly as much as the first. This was appropriate as we were using this dough to make baguettes and Vienna rolls which don’t need to rise as high as, say, a sandwich loaf.

In both cases, we got to practice our kneading motion again. I find kneading one of the most relaxing and enjoyable exercises. I just love feeling that raw dough in my hands and the pleasure you receive as you shape it. Granted, my shaping skills are sadly lacking. I need practice. A lot of practice. But just as I learned to make pie dough I know I’ll get the hang of it. If you’ve never tried making bread at home I highly recommend it if only for the experience of kneading dough.

After our doughs were proofed, we sent them off to the ovens to bake. The instructor placed pots of water in the ovens along with the bread. Apparently the steam that rises from the water helps the formation of the bread crust. I’m not completely sure why this is so more investigation is required on my part!

The Butter Crust Bread was unbelievable. Since I had no partner, I took home four loaves of bread and brought two to work the next day. I served them with maple butter and with Nutella. They did not last very long. The bread had a firm enough crumb that you could toast it or spread a topping on it, but it wasn’t too dense either. And the crust was pleasingly buttery.

I was less impressed with the French Sticks dough. Our instructor explained that we could use this dough to make pizza, but I can’t see myself doing that. The bread wasn’t bad. It’s just that it wasn’t particularly flavourful. It was a bit too bland for my tastes.

One thing is certain. Kneading dough is a great upper-body workout. My shoulders and arms were mighty sore the next day!

Breakfast Breads

This was supposed to be all about the lovely croissants that I baked and brought home. But it’s not. In last week’s class we prepared a croissant dough and then sent it off to the freezers to be thawed and baked in yesterday’s class.

Just one problem. The school’s freezers broke. And so we bid adieu to all that lovely dough!

Actually it wasn’t all that bad. Our instructor (who is amazing) had us prepare a new batch of croissant dough and we all welcomed the practice. As soon as that was done we prepared a batch of danish pastry dough. Both of these were frozen and will be baked off next week (barring any further freezer issues!). Because we will have so much work in next week’s class, we’ve been asked to arrive a half hour earlier than usual. But I don’t mind. I’m absolutely loving this class and surprisingly, the scaling of ingredients wasn’t the vicious battleground it’s been in past weeks.

So stay tuned for next week when you’ll get a write up about croissants and danish pastry.

Ciao!

On the menu for Week 2:  Basic white bread and chelsea buns.

The Art of Breads

On Thursday night I began the second course that I am taking this fall, The Art of Breads (the other course is Breakfast Breads which began last week). The goal of the course is to learn how to make a variety of breads and in the process, learn about the components of great bread including flour and yeast.

My evening got off to a wonderful start when a very sweet classmate of mine came up to me and introduced herself by telling me that she reads my blog. She was very nice and said some really positive things about this site, which made me feel great! It’s such a pleasure to know that there are so many avid bakers and cooks out there that I can share my passion with. On that positive note, it was time to start class.

I immediately liked our instructor as she took the time to discuss and define the ingredients that we’re using. We spent considerable time talking about yeast, flour, salt and sugar and what their respective roles are in baking bread. As the course progresses, the instructor explained that we will delve deeper into not only those ingredients, but others as well.

The instructor made up a batch of what was referred to "modelling dough". This dough had no yeast in it but was used to demonstrate the various free-form shapes we could try when we actually got down to baking. It was all a bit of a blur as most of us were still trying to wrap our heads around the basic push-pull kneading motion. Still, it was exciting to see all the possibilities.

Having collected all my ingredients, I started by making a slurry of water and yeast. I added the flour over the slurry, and then all of the other ingredients (sugar and milk powder) over the flour. The dough came together very quickly in the mixer and at that point I turned my dough onto the table and began kneading.

My kneading motion was quite awkward and clumsy at first. Our instructor demonstrated a kneading method where we use one hand to gently guide the dough and the other to pull the dough over itself, push it away, pull it over itself, push away and so on. But after a few minutes, my motion became a bit smoother. I’m definitely looking forward to having an oven again so I can try this at home.

The type of bread that we were making was essentially a basic white bread. After the bread was proofed (the school has proofing machines to do this), I divided my dough into four and made three round loaves with slashed tops called boules, and I attempted to make a Vienna roll. The Vienna roll requires that an indentation is made along the middle of the ball of dough, the two sides are pushed together and the seam is rolled under. My Vienna roll was not so Vienna-like but it was my first try so hopefully I’ll have an easier time in future.

Because I didn’t have to share my bread with a partner, I got to go home with four piping hot loaves of bread. I don’t think my car has ever smelled better!

Breakfast Breads

Just as with last week, this week’s class was a whirlwind of dough and baking. I got to class early so that I could get a head start with scaling my ingredients as we were making two recipes:  chelsea buns and croissant dough. The croissant dough was frozen and will be baked in next week’s class so I’ll discuss that next week.

I got to make chelsea buns with a partner this week, which was nice as we were able to share the baking and clean up duties. The dough for the chelsea buns consisted of yeast, bread flour, sugar, salt, milk powder and shortening (while we are using a bit more butter in this course, we still mainly use shortening for baking). After making the dough and letting it rise for half an hour, we rolled it out into a rectangle and spread a caramel glaze and cinnamon sugar on the dough. We rolled it up, sliced it into pieces and fitted our pieces into round baking pans, the bottoms of which had more caramel glaze and pecans.

After turning out my chelsea buns, I realized that I miscalculated the amount of caramel glaze that I used to spread on the bottom of the pan. I should have used a lot more as my buns were a bit dry. Usually, the glaze should cover the top and drip down the sides. Still though, the buns were quite good and I will try these at home except, of course, I will be using butter NOT shortening!

The best part of the class was when I finally met the Muffin Man in person. The Muffin Man has a great blog called Do You Know the Muffin Man? and as luck would have it, he’s taken many of the George Brown courses. I was thrilled to realize that he was in my class. He’s a real sweetheart and when he found out that I didn’t have a partner, he actually helped me out by cutting out the parchment rounds for me to line my pans with. Muffin Man … I thank you!

Overall, I’m enjoying this class immensely with one exception, that being the scaling of ingredients. Some of my classmates are a bit discourteous when gathering ingredients. I’ve been jostled and even blocked from access to ingredients. This is quite a departure from the cooperative atmosphere that existed in my Basic Baking course. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. But I am a bit surprised at the almost competitive edge to gathering ingredients for baking.

Here’s hoping the remaining four classes will be a bit tamer!

Ciao!

On the menu for Week 1:  Brioche.

When I recently read Melissa of The Traveler’s Lunchbox’s post about successful brioche-making, I thought that perhaps there could be home-made brioche in my future.

You can imagine how pleased I was to learn that the first breakfast bread we would be attempting in the course I am taking would in fact be brioche.

For those of you that have been my little cream puff buddies for some time, you’ll know that this past summer I enrolled in a Basic  Baking course at George Brown College. At the time, I was entertaining the idea of pursuing a Bakery Arts Certificate on a part-time basis. George Brown has an excellent Culinary Arts program that offers part-time courses for those of us that cannot participate in a full-time professional culinary program.

After completing that course, I made the decision that I owed it to myself to pursue and complete the certificate. I have no idea where it will lead, but for once in my life I’m not going to worry about that. I’m going to enjoy the course for what it is:  an opportunity for me to receive some professional training in a subject area that is so near and dear to my heart.

The Bakery Arts Certificate requires the completion of 10 courses. Six of those courses are compulsory and four are elective. The Basic Baking course I took during the summer was the first compulsory credit that I earned.

From September through November, I will be taking my second compulsory course called The Art of Bread. In addition, I have picked up an elective, the aforementioned Breakfast Breads, which I figured would compliment the compulsory bread course that I’m taking. The Art of Bread is on Thursday nights and Breakfast Breads is on Saturday mornings. As I did with my summer course, I’ll be posting a weekly update of my progress so I certainly hope you’ll stick with me as we go back to school!

When I got to class this morning, I was five minutes late and found that the instructor had already delved into the course material. This was very different from the Basic Baking course where the first part of the first class was devoted to an introduction. The atmosphere in today’s class couldn’t have been more different. We hit the ground running! We were expected to know where everything was, to collect our ingredients quickly and to get to work.

It was incredibly fast-paced and I’ll admit, I was a bit rusty. To top it all off I did not have a partner. I’ll be honest when I say that the idea of working alone is sometimes appealing. However, being in a new lab, not knowing where everything was and arriving late made me feel a bit off kilter so it took me awhile to get into the swing of things. A partner would definitely have helped. Fortunately, the instructor has two assistants who will help wherever they can and both of them were extremely helpful. Considering I didn’t have a partner, I think I did pretty well.

We began by mixing compressed baker’s yeast with warm milk and then adding flour. As with the Basic Baking course, we used bread flour as opposed to all-purpose flour. I asked the assistant why bread flour was used as opposed to all-purpose and his response was that bread flour has higher protein content, which results in a better end product. I’m not completely sure what the relationship is between higher protein and a better baked good so this is something that I’ll have to investigate as I pursue these courses.

After mixing our flour/yeast/milk mixture, we let it sit it for 30 minutes to rise. This mixture was called a sponge and our instructor explained that a sponge of this nature can be the basis for many breads. After the sponge had rested (and risen), we added bread flour, sugar, salt, vanilla extract (again with the artificial clear vanilla extract!) and lemon zest. We mixed this into our sponge (using a stand mixer) for almost 10 minutes before adding softened butter, in small pieces. The butter was added gradually so as to allow the butter to be worked into the dough by the mixer.

I’m not sure if I made a mistake when measuring out my ingredients, but my dough was problematic in that it was far too greasy. The instructor suggested I put it back in the stand mixer to beat it longer in order to allow the butter to work itself in fully. But that didn’t help much. I have a feeling that I may not have accurately measured the flour.

In any event, I proceeded with my dough by covering it in plastic and letting it rise for 20 minutes. It wasn’t as smooth as the dough of some of my other classmates, but it rose just fine.

When it came time to form the brioche, we did so by using a very funky machine called a dough separator. It’s basically a large press that operates with a lever. You put your dough in a round pan, place it under the press and pull down the lever. This will score your dough making it easy for you to separate it. You can adjust the separator depending on how many pieces of dough you want.

The class assistants helped me roll out my brioche. The rolling motion that the instructor taught us was new to me and will definitely take practice (guess I’ll have to make more brioche). We baked our brioche in muffin tins and formed them by placing one ball of dough in the muffin tin, making a hole in the centre and attaching a smaller knob of dough to form the head of the brioche. As you can see from the picture above … Cream Puff needs practice!

By the time the brioche came out of the oven, the smell in our baking lab was more than enough to make up for whatever problems I’d experienced in making the dough and forming the brioche. And I’ll admit, being able to take all those brioche home instead of sharing them with a partner was pretty sweet!

Upon arriving home, we sat down and slathered our brioche with either butter and jam or Nutella. The brioche had a nice buttery taste and were not too sweet. Overall, not bad for a first try.

It’s sometimes amazing to me how I can feel so competent baking in my own kitchen and then feel like a baking simpleton when I’m in class. But I think that this is part of the reason why these courses are so good for me. They force me to step out of a comfortable environment and challenge myself.

I hope you’ll stick with me as I taken on this next challenge!

Ciao!

Technorati tag:  brioche, baking class

On the menu for week 12:  Chocolate Truffle Torte.

After 12 classes spread out over 16 weeks, my introductory baking course at George Brown College has come to an end. For the grand finale, our instructor unveiled the method for a show-stopping chocolate truffle torte that could grace your table during the most special of events.

To begin with, I must apologize for my picture. It is smoldering-hot here in Toronto and I knew that if I didn’t photograph my torte in class, it would never make it home. In fact, despite my best efforts to keep the car air-conditioned, by the time I arrived home my rosettes had melted and the torte was swimming in a puddle of chocolate ganache. While I wouldn’t mind swimming in a puddle of ganache one day, I didn’t want to inflict a photo of my sad melted torte on you.

The components of this torte are fairly standard and once you’ve mastered them, you can easily make this dessert. The torte consists of a chocolate sponge, a simply syrup (to moisten the sponge) and a luscious ganache made of heavy cream and the best dark chocolate you can afford. Assembling the cake was complicated by the heat. Despite your best intentions, if it’s too hot, your ganache isn’t going to set up properly. The best course of action, as our instructor explained, is to reserve a cake of this nature for cooler weather.

The torte itself was spectacular. The sponge was moist and not overly sweet and the ganache, which is hot heavy cream poured over chopped dark chocolate, struck the perfect balance between chocolate flavour and a creamy consistency.

When I first enrolled in this course I wasn’t sure what to expect. While I do have some experience baking at home, this was my first time baking in a structured environment. Overall, I’ve found the experience positive and rewarding.

Our instructor was first-class. Humorous and patient, he was there to help at all times and continuously provided me with perhaps the best advice: don’t rush! Take your time! His demonstrations were always organized and his instructions clear.

The subjects that we covered in our course represented a thorough cross-section of baking. We touched on everything from pies to cookies to cakes. For those members of the class that had no experience baking, it was an excellent way to get their feet wet. My only complaint is that we often used ingredients, like shortening, that I would not use at home when baking cakes or cookies.

Looking back at how I felt about my first class, I’m happy that I decided to take this step and enroll in this course. I’ve learned to be more organized when baking by preparing my ingredients ahead of time (not something I always did). I’ve learned to slow down and pay attention to the texture of whatever it is I’m making. And perhaps most enjoyably, I’ve learned to loosen the ties to the Kitchen Aid mixer (somewhat) and use the best tools I have … my hands!

I will most definitely be taking more courses beginning in the fall as I continue to work towards my certificate. In the meantime, I would like to thank all of you for taking this journey with me and providing so much support and advice. In particular I would like to thank Sam of Sweet Pleasure:  Plaisir Sucré and Anita of Dessert First. You’re both a real inspiration!

Well folks … school is out for the rest of the summer. See you in school in September!

Ciao!

On the menu for Week 11:  fruit flan.

After the high of Week 10 and the incredible Swiss Rolls that we made, I wondered if we’d be able to match it in Week 11. Well match it we did with some pretty good fruit flans!

My idea of fruit flan has always been a sponge base with some sort of cream topped by fruit. The flan that we prepared in class was more of a cross between a sponge cake and a fruit tart.

We began by making a lovely sweet pastry that’s a cross between pie dough and shortbread crust. After mixing our dough and refrigerating it, we rolled it out. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with lovelier dough. Supple and soft, it was a dream, although you did have to be careful to not roll it too thin.

Having gotten the dough out of the way, we then made a basic vanilla custard or pastry cream that consisted of milk, sugar, eggs, cornstarch and vanilla extract. I’ve often make custards and prefer to use a vanilla bean for maximum flavour. But the custard worked out just fine and it was quite easy to make. We refrigerated the custard with plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

When it came time to assemble our flan, we began by spreading our cold custard on the base of our tart. And then came the interesting part. In our Week 10 class, we prepared some basic sponge cakes which were then frozen for future use. We got to use them today. Our instructor explained that by slicing a thin layer of sponge and laying it on top of our custard, we were accomplishing two things. For starters, we were creating a layer that would absorb any juice from the fruit that we used to garnish our tart. This would prevent the fruit juice from seeping down into the tart and causing the base to become soggy. Secondly, the layer of sponge would ensure that our fruit would stay in place and not slide about.

We garnished our tarts with fresh strawberries and kiwi slices. The final step was an apricot glaze followed by blanched almonds around the sides of the tart. There’s no question that garnishing these sorts of desserts with fresh fruit  makes a huge difference. I’ve seen too many boring supermarket tarts garnished with canned fruits. The sponge layer was an interesting twist although I’m not sure that I’d repeat that step again.

All in all I was impressed with the flavour of this tart. The separate components came together well, although I don’t know if I’ll repeat the tart/sponge mix again. I think I’ll go for either one or the either. But as my instructor pointed out, the colours of this tart are almost those of the Italian flag, with the red strawberries and green kiwi. In advance of tomorrow’s World Cup final, that has to be a good sign!

Ciao!

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted about my baking course so I’ve decided to combine the last three classes into one post.

On the menu for Week 8:  Spritz Cookies.

Spritz cookies are a type of piped butter cookie common in many European nations, including Sweden and Germany. The main ingredient in the cookie is always butter. While we did use butter in our cookie dough, we also used vegetable shortening. For those of you have read my past posts on the subject of this baking course, you’ll know that we often use vegetable shortening in place of butter. Whether it be a cost-saving measure on the part of the school or simply a reflection of what’s going on in a lot of commercial bakeries, as far as I’m concerned, it’s wrong. I certainly don’t want to sound puritanical. I sometimes make pastry that calls for part butter and part vegetable shortening and I’m fine with that. But a shortbread cookie is supposed to be made of butter.

All butter!

The end result was a cookie that was crumbly and lacking in flavour. While I wasn’t thrilled with the taste of the cookies, I’m glad to say all was not lost. Because spritz cookies are traditionally piped, we got to practice our piping skills again. And this time around it was particularly challenging because the dough we worked with was quite stiff. This meant (thank you Sam for the tip) that it was key not to overfill your pastry bag. We piped logs, rosettes and shells and overall, I don’t think I did too badly. But once again I realized that the key to successful piping is practice … practice … practice!

On the menu for Week 9:  Black Forest Cake.

Who hasn’t walked into a bakery and seen this cake with the maraschino cherries on top? Black Forest Cake, called Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte in German, is a popular cake both in Europe and North America. It is typically made with chocolate cake that has been sliced into layers. Each layer is topped with a cherry filling, cream and, traditionally, kirchwasser or cherry brandy. The cake is believed to have originated in Southern Germany.

Our instructor was very careful to point out that an authentic Black Forest Cake would be one where the layers are soaked in cherry brandy and the filling would be made with sour cherries. While our cakes looked impressive, they didn’t score very high in the authenticity department.

I really love my instructor and am enjoying my time in class immensely, except for one thing:  the ingredients we use. Our chocolate sponge was made with vegetable shortening and it showed. The sponge was dry and completely flavourless. We did not use cherry brandy to wet the sponge layers. Instead, we wet the layers with a simple syrup made of sugar and water. We used whipping cream for the filling and for the frosting we used whipping cream with the addition of a stabilizer so that the cream would hold up to piping.

While my disappointment with some of the ingredients we use continues, I cannot deny that the class has been tremendous in terms of learning and practicing techniques. Once again I got to practice my piping and masking and I find that the more I do it, the more I enjoy it and the more comfortable I become with a piping bag.

Also, we got our first glimpse of the technique of tempering chocolate, a process which involves melting and then cooling chocolate so that it becomes glossy and stable enough to work with either in melted form or in a cooled form. In our case, our instructor melted chocolate and then repeatedly spread it across a large marble slab. As he continuously moved and spread the chocolate, its temperature decreased until it began to solidify. At that point we were able to shave the chocolate, right on the marble slab, using the tip of a large knife. This produced lovely curls which we used to decorate our cake. Later on in the course we will have a lesson dedicated to tempering chocolate and I’m really looking forward to it.

As for the Black Forest Cake, it looked nice but it lacked flavour. If I try it at home, I’ll be doing the Germans proud and making it the old-fashioned way with homemade filling, real cream and lots of that cherry brandy!

On the menu for Week 10:  Swiss Roll.

Next to the class on choux pastry, this was by far my favourite one. We began by preparing a batter that for a simple sponge cake that proves the glory that is an egg. Because we bake in large quantities, our recipe called for 16 eggs … sugar … flour … vanilla and lemon. That’s it! Five simple ingredients that yielded a sponge that was light, airy and flavourful.

We baked our sponge in sheet pans so that we would eventually be able to make Swiss Rolls, which are essentially sponge filled with whatever pleases your fancy and then rolled into logs. The logs are then masked and out come the piping bags to make whatever designs you like. We finished our Swiss Rolls off with sliced blanched almonds and chocolate.

While we had the choice of filling one Swiss Roll with lemon curd and cream and the other with raspberry jam, I chose to fill both of my Swiss Rolls with lemon curd and cream. It being summer I just thought the lemon filling was the right way to go.

The Swiss Rolls were fantastic. I can’t get over how moist the sponge was and how easily it rolled. And the lemon curd and cream were the perfect combination. Our instructor offered different suggestions for decorating the outside of the Swiss Rolls, but I was more than happy with the almonds. They gave a nice crunch to the dessert and contrasted well with the sourness of the filling.

Without a doubt, I will be making this one again!

That’s it for now, folks. There will be no baking class next week as it is a holiday weekend in Canada. Stay tuned for Week 11 in two weeks.

Ciao!

Technorati tags:  spritz cookies, black forest cake, swiss roll

On the menu for Week 7:  choux pastry.

If you’re wondering what happened to Week 6, I was unable to attend and missed a lesson on breads and rolls. While I was disappointed to miss Week 6, Week 7’s class more than made up for it. Is there a greater creation in this world than choux pastry? I certainly don’t think so. Week 7’s class allowed us the opportunity to glory in of the great culinary joys:  the making of choux pastry. We used our choux pastry to make cream puffs and éclairs.

After a detailed demonstration by our instructor, my partner and I got to work. Choux pastry involves heating water, butter and salt until just boiling. As soon as the water beings to boil, flour is added and the entire mixture is stirred vigorously until you have a cohesive batter that doesn’t stick at all to the pot.

Having completed the first step, we placed our mixture in the bowl of an electric mixer and, with the paddle attachment, mixed it on low-speed for several minutes to allow it to cool slightly. Had we added the eggs right away, we would have run the risk of cooking the eggs and ending up with inferior cream puffs and éclairs. Once the batter had cooled enough, we slowly added the eggs and mixed until we had a thick, glossy choux pastry.

The actual formation of our cream puffs and éclairs allowed us to practice our piping skills once again. As our instructor told us during piping class, practice makes perfect and I could certainly use the practice. Trying to pipe the choux pastry wasn’t easy. Because the the batter is stiffer than whipped cream or icing, you really had to concentrate on holding your bag properly and controlling your hand movements. It was tough but I think we did a reasonably good job.

Once our cream puffs and éclairs were baked and cooled, we dipped the tops of the éclairs in chocolate fondant and allowed the chocolate to harden. We then sliced open our goodies and filled them with sweetened whipped cream.

I truly believe that the best teachers are the ones who are most generous with both their expertise and with their own personal experiences. Our instructor scores high marks on both counts. Besides reminding us to take our time and show patience, he recounted several personal anecdotes regarding his own experience in learning from great pastry chefs and this made the class even more enjoyable.

I wish I could show you a photo of my cream puffs and éclairs but they were inhaled shortly after I walked in the door.

And while I dearly wish that I could tell you that the swan pictured above was my doing, it wasn’t. While we busily worked away on our choux pastry, our instructor made swans for everyone. A bumpy car ride through the streets of Toronto meant that my swan was a bit banged up when I finally made it home. I managed to salvage the swan long enough to photograph it. However, shortly after this photo was taken, I ravenously consumed this lovely choux gift without even a twinge of guilt.

What can I say … I’m a Cream Puff after all!

Ciao!

Techonorati tags:  choux pastry, cream puffs, eclairs

On the menu for Week 5:  crème caramel and bavarian cream.

Today’s class was great fun. It was a reminder of all the beautiful things that can happen when milk, cream, sugar and eggs are brought to the table.

Our class began with a demonstration of how to make caramel as the base for the crème caramel. Our instructor reminded us of a very important point when making caramel … always have a bowl of cold water with ice nearby. Its purpose is twofold:  it can help stop the caramel cooking process if you plunge the bottom of the pot into the water and, far more importantly, it’s instant relief in the event that caramel comes into contact with your skin.

After a detailed demonstration of the recipe by our instructor, we got to work. We made the caramel by melting sugar in stages, beginning with a few handfuls of sugar in a pot. We slowly added the remainder of the sugar and kept a careful eye on it to ensure that it didn’t burn. As soon as the caramel was ready we whisked it back to our stations and (carefully) poured it into the waiting foil ramekins in equal amounts. The rest of the crème caramel recipe was a matter of heating milk with a bit of sugar and then adding the  milk to the egg mixture. We tempered the eggs by adding just a few drops of the hot milk and then slowly adding the rest.

Once the crème caramel was ready for the oven, we placed the ramekins in a roasting pan and added hot water to cook the crème caramel in a water bath. Needless to say it was delicious!

The other half of the class was dedicated to making bavarian cream, which I’d never had before. I won’t go into too many details about the bavarian cream because I intend on posting about it at a later date. Suffice to say it was quite yummy.

All in all this was a most enjoyable class and I finally got the opportunity to make crème caramel. While the caramel part of the recipe does require some attention and care, overall it was a straightforward dessert to make. I’m sure it’s one that will be popping up for the dessert course at my house in the years to come.

Ciao!

Technorati tags: baking, caramel, crème caramel

On the menu for Week 4:  cake decorating.

Before I begin my summary of Saturday’s class, I wanted to answer the question that I’ve been asking for the last week (and many of you as well):  Why are we using clear artificial vanilla extract in class?

My instructor explained that we use this product in class because it’s less expensive. He was very careful to point out, however, that pure vanilla extract is by far the superior product and encouraged us to use the pure extract in our baking at home. This has prompted me to send a little note to the course administrators urging them to switch to pure vanilla extract even if it means paying more for the course to offset the higher cost of pure extract.

Saturday’s class was most enjoyable as we learned about and practiced cake decorating. We began by preparing a batch of royal icing, which was to be our "practice material" for the day. The recipe for the icing consists of cold water, high volume meringue powder, icing sugar and glycerine.

Meringue powder is a white powder that’s made of dried egg whites. Unlike powdered egg whites, meringue powder also includes sugar and gum. Glycerine is a thick, clear syrup that helps to keep the icing from drying out. While the resulting icing tasted exceedingly sweet, I must admit it was thick, shiny and definitely easy to work with.

For our piping exercises, we used both a plain tip and a star tip. We spent almost two hours practicing rosettes, shells, hearts, crescents, lady fingers, flat spirals and swans’ necks. As our instructor came around to inspect our work, the very first thing he said to me was, "Slow down!"

In true Cream Puff style, I rushed to begin piping the different shapes and didn’t pay attention to how poorly I was holding my piping bag. Instead of holding the bag with both hands and pressing gently, I was squeezing from the top and making a big mess. Once corrected, I immediately noticed how much easier it was to pipe shapes.

When the piping portion of the class was over, we practiced icing or "masking" cakes. Masking a cake means covering the cake with an even layer of icing that’s as smooth as possible. We used styrofoam cakes to practice on and we also used rotating cake stands. Our instructor recommended using a flat palette knife as opposed to an offset one. I’d always used an offset knife but found the flat palette knife much easier to handle. I felt that I had greater control when spreading the icing.

We started by piling icing on the top of the cake and then spreading it in an even layer across the top with the excess icing pushed to the sides. We then worked the icing down the sides of the cake, adding more icing as needed. While it was tempting to pack on the icing, our instructor warned against this explaining that icing is a compliment to a cake, it shouldn’t be the only thing that people taste.

Once I was happy with the sides of my cake, I used the palette knife to finish off the edges of the top of the cake. Sweeping the knife towards the centre using an upwards motion, I was able to create fairly clean, crisp edges all along the cake and remove any excess icing at the same time. The final touch was the use of a completely new (to me) baking utensil … a cake comb.

A cake comb is an odd-looking utensil that has teeth (not sharp) all along its edges. As the name suggests, you "comb" the utensil around the sides of the cake, in one smooth motion, to smooth out the icing. It took some practice, but overall I was pleased with how my cake looked.

We were able to take our icing home with us to continue practicing. I forgot the icing in my baking kit so it stayed in the car for all of Saturday and most of Sunday. I retrieved the icing from the car and lo and behold … it was still moist! I found it slightly disturbing that an "edible" product could live in the trunk of my car for more than 24 hours and still look the same as it did when it was freshly-made. I guess that’s the meringue powder and glycerine effect for you.

One last note before I go. I’d like to thank Gastrochick for alerting me to the fact that my little blog was mentioned on Epi-log, which is the blog of editor Tanya Wenman Steele on Epicurious. I assure you that I was a blushing Cream Puff for all of Friday … and for the entire weekend for that matter. Epicurious is, and has been for many years, the premiere food website for me. And I’m not just saying that. My thanks to Ms. Steele for the nod!

Ciao!

Hello my friends! Welcome to the month of May and all the good things that lie ahead. There’s much news to discuss so let’s get right to it … enjoy the meal.

Cream Puff Goes to School:  Week 3

Saturday’s class was all about muffins and tea cakes. We continued to focus on one of the aspects of the course that I am enjoying the most:  using our hands. As our instructor emphasized repeatedly, our hands are the best baking tools we have. He encouraged us to continue to feel the dough and the batter. We even mixed the muffin batter by hand which was messy and fun. I will admit that I have become a slave to my Kitchen Aid mixer so learning to rely on my hands has been challenging and rewarding.

While I wish I could talk to you at length about both the muffins and tea cakes, I cannot. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well on Saturday so I had to leave early. However, I was there long enough to witness the use of another questionable product. This week it was clear, artificial vanilla extract.  I have one question:  Why?

WHY???

When there are so many quality vanilla products so readily available to us these days, why would you want to use artificial clear extract? Because I left early I didn’t have the chance to question the instructor on this point. You can be sure I will do so next week! In the meantime, the use of this product brought on such malaise that I had no choice but to visit Jasmine at Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and read her series on vanilla. My faith has been restored. Merci, Jasmine!

Before I left class I did manage to collect my bran muffins. While they were good, they weren’t anything to write home about. (Maybe it’s the clear artificial vanilla extract …) I must admit I’m a bit spoiled when it comes to muffins as I am in possession of what I consider to be the greatest muffin recipe out there. No worries … I will be sharing it with you very soon!

So ends Cream Puff’s account of Week 3. My apologies for the lack of content for this week’s lesson. Stay tuned for Week 4!

The May Eat Local Challenge

I certainly don’t want to beat anyone over the head with this, but as mentioned previously on this blog and countless other, May 1st marked the beginning of the Eat Local Challenge sponsored by Locavores and coordinated by Jen of Life Begins at 30.

For my family and I, eating locally grown food isn’t that much of a challenge since gardening holds a place of great importance in our lives. When my parents and grandparents came to Canada, they brought with them their affinity for growing fruits and vegetables. Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of my grandfather sometimes tucking a sprig of basil in my pocket, or of my father fashioning me my very own "watering can" … which was literally a can wired to the end of a stick! I simply cannot imagine a life without a garden, or at the very least easy access to fruits and vegetables that are grown locally.

This is why I’m taking part in the May Eat Local Challenge. Jen prepared three questions for participants to answer so here are my responses:

1) What is your definition of local for this challenge:

Anything grown in Ontario  … remember … "Good Things Grow in Ontar-ee-oh!" (You have to be an Ontarian to get that one!)

2) What exemption will you claim:

Chocolate!

3) What is your personal goal for the month:

My personal goal goes beyond this month. From now on, I want to pay more attention to the people who are growing and producing great food right here in Ontario.

The Flavour of the Month for May 2006

Because of my participation in the eat local challenge, I had initially chosen Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Vegetables for the May 2006 Flavour of the Month. I had the opportunity to dine at Chez Panisse last June and it was a meal I won’t soon forget. But as I began looking at the recipes, as tempting as they are, I realized that there just aren’t enough locally grown vegetables available in May (here in Ontario) for me to do the cookbook justice. It just didn’t feel right.

Instead, I have returned to my first choice for flavour of the month:  Out to Brunch by Donna Dooher and Claire Stubbs. This lovely book documents the gorgeous brunch dishes served at one of Toronto’s most beloved restaurants … Mildred Pierce. And it celebrates the meal that I think epitomizes the month of May, the brunch. Whether it’s Mother’s Day, a wedding or just a beautiful Sunday morning, May is a great month for brunch. So please come and visit me through the month for an assortment of brunch dishes that are guaranteed to please.

Canadian Blogger by Post

We’ve arrived at the last bit of news for this post. If you’re a Canadian blogger, then you know that Friday May 5th is the day to post your entry for Canadian Blogger by Post. Your entry should be chocolate-related. Don’t forget to e-mail Sam at Sweet Pleasure: Plaisir Sucré who is coordinating this event. Put your blogger package together and Sam will let you know who the recipient is. You can then post your package on May 7.

C’est tout for today, my friends.

Ciao!

On the menu for week 2:  pie dough and apple pie.

The second week of baking class began with a demonstration of pie crust and the preparation for apple pie filling. Having practiced making pie dough in our first class, we were all ready to put our previous lesson to the test.

After a rush to weigh and measure out ingredients, we started by peeling our apples for the filling. I was very impressed with how easily I was able to peel my apples with my brand new peeler. While I’ve always used a paring knife, our instructor suggested using a peeler. His reasoning was that often with a paring knife, too much of the apple flesh is removed along with the peel. This results in the loss of valuable pectin, which is a natural thickener in apples. While the peeler isn’t necessary, I removed far less apple flesh than when I usually use a paring knife. So either I become more skilled with the paring knife or I embrace my new peeler!

Once the apples were peeled and sliced, we mixed them with sugar, cinnamon and a substance I had never encountered before:  modified cornstarch. More on that later.

Because I nicked myself slightly while slicing my apples, I was a bit hampered when it came time to put the dough together. My partner (we’re paired up in baking class) and I both tried to get involved in pulling together the dough but this only resulted in us adding a bit too much liquid and over mixing. That’s the other important tip for that day’s class:  don’t over mix your dough! While our dough had come together, it was too moist.

Our instructor quickly noticed our dilemma and helped us out by throwing in a bit more flour. We were then able to proceed without any other significant problems. But the resulting pie, while tasty, did have a tougher crust than I would have liked. This is a result of over mixing and having to add more flour.

Overall I was pleased with my apple pie. I’m not used to making pie crusts with shortening, but with practice I know I can get better at it. We used Spartan apples for our pies and this was another revelation. At home we’ve always used a combination of Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and McIntosh apples. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the Spartan apple filling was and by how well the apples held together. I missed the hint of nutmeg that we always add to our pies, but that’s a matter of personal taste.

I really enjoyed this class and am looking forward to trying my new pie crust recipe and technique this summer when berry season hits. I was, however, disappointed in one aspect of the class. As I mentioned above, the apple pie filling recipe that we followed required modified cornstarch.

I had no idea what modified cornstarch was so I pulled down my new favourite book in the world, On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, and did some reading. Cornstarch is a type of starch made from the maize grain. It’s often used as a thickener in cooking in the same way that people would use flour. When a starch like cornstarch is modified, it means that it has either been made from corn that has been purposely bred to yield a grain that will result in a more reliable form of cornstarch, or that the cornstarch has been treated, possibly with chemicals, to alter the structure of the starch molecules in order to make it an even better thickener.

Our instructor explained that modified cornstarch is widely used in commercial baking because it’s so reliable and produces a consistent filling every time. When a few students noted that they had used flour in the past, the concern was raised that using flour may result in your filling having a flour-taste, even after the pie is cooked.

While the apple filling tasted good, its consistency was very different from that of the pies that we usually bake at home. My mother has been baking apple pies for 30 years and she’s always used a bit of flour in the filling. And I have never tasted the flour after the pie has been cooked. Never.

With my pie, I found that the modified cornstarch made the pie filling taste a lot like the filling you get from a can. While the apple flavour was enjoyable, the texture was sort of weird. There was a gel-like consistency to it that was slightly unpleasant, especially once the pie cooled. At the risk of sounding immodest, I’ll take my mom’s apple pie filling any day over one made with modified cornstarch.

Now don’t get me wrong. I understand that all sorts of ingredients are used in baking, especially commercial baking, that we wouldn’t necessarily use at home. But having tasted a lovely pie filling where the apples still taste like apples without being suspended in a thick, goopy sauce, why would I ever want to change that?

I’m really happy with the new pie crust recipe that I learned, as well as the mixing and rolling techniques that I’ve practiced over my first two classes. But as for the modified cornstarch … I’ll pass, thanks.

See you next class.

Ciao!

Technorati tag:  apple pie

Today I attended my first Basic Baking class at George Brown College. I’m hoping that this course will be the beginning of my journey towards a Baking Certificate. Classes are every Saturday morning from 8:30 to 12:30. While we don’t have to wear chef apparel, we are expected to wear an apron and to have all of our equipment for that class at the ready. We’re also expected to have all of our ingredients ready and measured out for the beginning of class.

While it certainly isn’t the same setting as a full-time culinary school course for individuals who want to be chefs, I was surprised at how "professional" it did feel. I mean don’t get me wrong. Upon completion of this course it’s not like the famous pastry shops of the world will be lining up to hire any of us. But still … I really felt like a culinary school student. And as such, I quickly decided that I had to put aside everything that I thought I knew about baking, and open my mind to my first experience in formal culinary instruction.

Today’s class was dedicated mostly to introducing us to food safety rules, the equipment we’ll be using in class, the tools we’ll need to buy and the subject matter we’ll be covering. Eventually though, we did begin our first lesson which focussed on pie dough. While we didn’t actually bake a pie, we practiced the techniques of mixing flour and shortening and rolling out dough.

Because this course is part of the Continuing Education program, the assumption is that most individuals are there to improve their skills as home cooks and bakers. As a result, our instructor indicated that every effort is made to accommodate various cultural and religious requirements, including the rule that we do not use any animal fats in class. This means we didn’t make our pie crust with butter, but rather with vegetable shortening. Now I don’t necessarily have a problem using vegetable shortening, but I do have a bit of a problem with not using butter. I’m not completely certain if this will continue throughout the course, but if it does, you’ll be sure to hear back from me about that!

The lesson in the making of pie dough was very interesting. I consider myself very experienced in making pies as I’ve been making them for years. But already I learned that some of my "technique" wasn’t very good. For example, I realized that I wasn’t using my rolling pin properly. The instructor indicated that a rolling pin should be used lightly to roll the dough from the centre out and that the dough should be turned as you go. I’ve never done that at home. In fact, I have a tendency to press down on the rolling pin when I use it. And I now realize that by pressing down, I would often end up with dough that was not evenly rolled out. I never worried about it much, and I still don’t think it’s a huge deal, but now that I know that there’s a better way to use my rolling pin, I will make every effort to do so.

The other issue that came up for me was my ongoing battle with patience. I often tell people that the reason I like to bake so much is that it’s relaxing. And yet, I can be very impatient in the kitchen. When it came time to make the pie dough today, I rushed through the first steps of mixing in the shortening and adding the water. I did this because I’ve done it so many times before, I just figured I knew what I was doing. It’s almost like I felt like I had to get that dough done as soon as possible so that I could show the instructor that I knew how to do it. Because I rushed I didn’t add the right amount of water. While the dough turned out well, it was a bit on the dry side.

I realized that I tend to do that often. I don’t take the time to measure out ingredients properly. Or worse, I don’t always take the time to read a recipe through. I realized that while I may have finished my pie dough before anyone else, it wasn’t the best pie dough that I could have made. I sacrificed the quality of dough simply to appease my own sense of urgency in getting the job done.

I won’t make that mistake again. I am really going to work hard, both in class and at home, at taking the time to get all the steps right. And hopefully that will really improve the quality of the items I bake.

After rolling out our dough and make a practice "rag pie" (a pie filled with tissue paper), it was time to clean up and say goodbye. We won’t actually begin baking until the second class, which is in two weeks as there is no class over Easter weekend. First up on our list of items to bake is an apple pie!

Our teacher for the course is a full-time baking instructor at the George Brown Culinary School. He’s been a pastry chef for 30 years having graduated from George Brown himself. Pleasant and encouraging, I really liked the way he ran the class. After the introductions and explanations were over, he demonstrated every step of the pie dough process, and did so while mixing in valuable information and a lot of humour.

But there are two other reasons why I know I’m really going to enjoy his instruction. The first reason is his introduction to the pie dough making portion of the class. He talked about apple pie and explained that even after 30 years of pastry-making, he would take a well-made apple pie any day over any other fancy dessert. He pointed out that when a baked good is well-made, the level of difficulty of the recipe or the fanciness of the decoration become insignificant. It’s all about the taste.

The second reason is his response to a woman in our class who asked if she could make pie dough with whole wheat flour in order to make "healthier" pie. After he wiped the look of horror from his face, he politely explained that the best way to "make pie low-fat" is to only eat a slice and not the whole pie.

I can tell I’m going to like this guy.

Ciao!