Viennoiserie Ends On A High Note

Hey everyone,
Well, sadly, this was my last class of the Viennoiserie unit, definitely my favorite so far. Our next class begins our first unit on cakes, though.which I'm super excited about. Ok, on with the show.

Speaking of cakes, tonight we got our first taste at cake decorating, with our ruches, or beehives. I had never seen this dessert before, which is suprising because I feel like they'd be very popular. They're really cute and super sweet. It's a brioche that has been slice into three layers, soaked with a honey lavender syrup, filled with pastry cream, and covered in an Italian meringue. And to top it off, a decorative marzipan bee or two! It's pretty good, if a bit too sweet for my tastes.

Ok, so mine isn't the prettiest. Stop judging!

Next up, we have one of my all-time favorites: the pannetone. What can I say about this one, except that I hope mine tastes better than the ones you get in the grocery store around Christmas?

Also tonight, we made a pain de mie, or pullman loaf. I can't wait to try this one with some jam tomorrow with breakfast. What I never realized about this bread is that it's baked in a loaf pan with a cover (hence the pullman reference, I guess) which forces the bread to bake in a perfect square, perfect for sandwiches. I thought it was interesting, anyway.

What else, what else...OH! We made yet another fruit tart. This time we used brioche dough, which was baked with pastry cream and apricots. I actually ended up giving this one to a woman on the train going home from school. She had jokingly asked me for it (something that happens quite a bit...you can't believe the looks and stares you can get walking around with tons of pastry) and it was one less thing to carry home tonight in the snow and ice. Anyway, she was really appreciative.

The last item we made tonight were the croissants aux amandes, almond croissants. We had saved some croissants from last class, and we brushed them with a grand marnier syrup, piped some almond cream on them and sliced almonds, and re-baked them for a little bit. Not bad, eh?

Well that's it! Wish me luck as I begin the cake unit...I'm gonna need it!

Viennoiserie Is Pure Awesomeness

Hey everyone,
So, it's been a while since I last posted. I've been really busy with the holidays and all, baking and traveling to see family and whatnot, but I wanted to give you a quick update on all the awesome stuff we've been making in class. First off, I have to say that as expected, I'm really loving the Viennoiserie unit. I'm totally enjoying making all the sweet breads and working with yeast doughs. I won't go into too much detail about it, but I did want to give you some pictures to drool over.

First we have cinnamon swirl bread. It has some orange zest in it, which I wasn't so sure about, but it really added to the overall flavor. I wish I had taken a picture of it sliced open, so you could see the delicious swirl, but you'll just have to imagine it!

 Next up, we have pecan sticky buns. Yes, they were drool-worthy and delicious! These were actually made with the same dough as the cinnamon swirl bread, but this has a whiskey pecan sticky topping. Yes, you read that right!

 These are some Sally Lunn rolls. Basically, they're dinner rolls, and no one was really able to tell us why they're called Sally Lunns. They were pretty good. Basic, but good.

Ok, this was one of my favorites so far and one that I know I need to perfect, for the sake of staying in my parents' wills...challah. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of it baked, but I was so excited to learn how to make challah. And my family loved it at our belated Chanukah dinner. It was perfect!

Ok, so these are mini fruitcakes. Now, I had never had a fruitcake in my life, but I certainly knew of their bad reputation, but I have to say, I really enjoyed these. They were brushed with brandy, and while they were dense, they weren't THAT dense, and they were filled with lots of dry fruit. Really tasty.

Next up, we bade some brioche. These brioche are in a loaf. They were pretty good, although I honestly think they could have used a little bit more butter, if you can imagine that! We also made the individual brioches, the brioches a tete, but again, I dropped the ball and didn't take any pictures. It's ok, though, because I'm not so proud of how they looked. I'll get a lot more practice on them, though, so I have no worries.

KUGELHOPF!!! Yes, it's a very fun word to say, and it's also a really nice bread that goes great with a cup of coffee!

And now the main event: CROISSANTS! I was so excited to get to make croissants and pains au chocolat. It really is such a basic French pastry. I don't think you can call yourself a pastry chef, if you don't know how to make these. I know I need practice on shaping them, but for my first time, I think I did pretty well.

Lastly, we made scones. These were actually my favorite. I even liked them better than the croissants, if you can believe it.

Well, that's it. Sorry it took so long to get these up, but it's the holidays, so cut me some slack. Next up, panetonne, pullman loaf, and beehive cake!

I have run out of puff pastry related puns

Ok, guys, I was too busy to post on Friday, so I’m going to combine two classes into one post. I know you’re just here for the pictures, anyway.

So Thursday night was chocolate puff pastry night. To be honest, I wasn’t crazy about the chocolate puff pastry. To me, it was very dry and brittle, and it tasted a bit bitter to me. That being said, people seemed to love the chocolate napoleons we made.  The filling of the chocolate napoleon, or mille-feuille au chocolat if you prefer, is crème d’or, or “golden cream,” which was whipped cream and dark chocolate…essentially a whipped ganache. Very, very rich. The mille-feuille was topped with ganache and a little melted white chocolate for decoration. This was a very dense, very rich dessert.

The other item we made on Thursday was the Chocolate Banana Tart, which we made individually to plate. We put a layer of ganache on the puff pastry, layered sliced banana on it, and then bruléed sugar over it. Fun stuff. We served homemade peanut butter ice cream on the side. I think my plating needs some work, but the tart was very good.

On Saturday, we worked with classic puff pastry again. We made several items…a Dartois aux Pommes, a classic Napoleon, and “speedy” vol-au-vents, which were not very speedy. The dartois is very similar to the apple tart we made earlier in the unit, although this time we filled it with apple compote, and we covered it with a lattice crust. Keeping the crust cold this time definitely helped me make a nice lattice, as opposed to the pear tart I made which was kind of messy. Anyway, the dartois was good, especially with coffee this morning.

We also made the speedy vol-au-vents, which were almost more complicated than regular vol-au-vents. However, I really like the way these turned out…they look great! While last time, we made a savory filling of spinach and mushrooms, this time we filled them with crème légère and topped with raspberries. Just goes to show you could put just about anything in puff pastry, and it would be great.

Finally, we made the classic napoleon. This is the one everyone thinks of when they think of a napoleon. It is layered with plenty of crème légère and topped with fondant and melted chocolate for decoration. It’s fantastic!

Well, that’s it for puff pastry! Our exam is on Tuesday, so wish me luck. I can’t say I’m sorry to be done with this unit…I think I make it well and all, but it’s really tedious to prepare, and all the stuff we made got a little repetitive. It also doesn’t help that we start Viennoisserie on Thursday, and that’s one of the units I’ve been looking forward to the most. Mmmm, croissants and brioche…drooool.

Hey, Jalousie

Ok, in last night’s class we got to do one of my favorite activities…making caramel. Honestly, it’s really fun! But I’ll get to that later. On with the show.

Well, we’re still working with puff pastry, and it’s starting to wear on me, especially since our next unit is the one I’ve been waiting for, Viennoiserie. In our last class, though, we made gâteau Pithiviers, jalousie, and a tarte tatin.

The Pithiviers is puff pastry filled with frangipane, which is almond cream mixed with pastry cream. There’s also a cockamamie story behind this dessert about a the king of France and his mistress, but something tells me that story was invented to sell more Pithiviers. However, the cake is also known as a “king cake,” and it’s supposed to look like a carriage wheel, although I think it looks more like a sunflower. In any case, it’s delicious. Take a look, but please don’t judge that part of it got damaged when it was removed from the oven!

Next up is the jalousie, which French for “jealousy,” in case you couldn’t tell. This one also has a ridiculous story behind it about a jealous lover peeking through the blinds, which is a pretty creepy reason to make a tart. Still, though, if you squint really hard, it looks like you’re looking through blinds into the filling, which in this case is raspberry jam and more almond cream. The French really love almonds, it seems.

Our last dish of the evening is the tarte tatin, which we also previously made in the tart and cookie section. Tarte tatin is a traditional, yet rustic upside down tart. This one is interesting, because you cook the filling in a sauce pan, cover that with puff pastry, and then bake the whole thing in the oven. The traditional filling for the tarte tatin is caramel apple. This time, we learned to make the caramel using a dry technique instead of wet. This means that instead of dissolving the sugar in water when cooking it, we just put the dry sugar in a pan and melted it. It’s much more testy and fast, so you really have to keep an eye on it. Anyway, it’s bubbly, caramelly goodness. Take a look!

It's a mess, but a tasty one! Oh, and here I am with my caramel apple mixture.

That’s all for today. Next class, we’ll be using chocolate puff pastry, which should be interesting!

A Little More Conversation

Ok, we made so much great stuff yesterday! It was really fun and interesting, not to mention tasty. After rolling out our dough for the day’s projects, we got to work making our “classique” dough which will be used next class. With all that out of the way, we got to work on the individual desserts. We made tartes aux poires en cage, conversations, and galettes aux fruits de saison.

Much of the preparations yesterday involved group volunteer assignments. Some people volunteered to make almond cream, some fruit compote, but I volunteered to poach pears. Everyone had to peel and core their own pears, and then we put them into these enormous pots with the poaching liquid. My teammates and I decided to poach them in white wine, cinnamon, ginger, clove, cardamom, and black peppercorns. Yeah, it was perfect for the season. Once all the components were completed we got to work assembling our various pastries.

First up was the tarte au poire en cage, a puff pastry pear tart, filled with almond cream and covered with a lattice (cage) crust. We cut our dough in the shape of a pear and placed a whole pear half on top. We then took a tool that looks similar to a pizza cutter that cut the lattice design into the dough. This dessert was really good, and I think the pears were cooked really well, if I do say so myself.

Next is probably my favorite, the Conversation. This is simply puff pastry filled with almond cream, covered with a little royal icing. I think I was overly zealous with the almond cream, because it kind of rose too high, but man, did it taste good!

Finally, we made the fruit galettes. These are just free-form tarts that were filled with cherry compote and apple/cranberry compote. They were very good.

So, that’s everything we made in yesterday’s class. It worked out really well, too, because Adam and I had a couple of friends over for dinner, and we were able to provide them with a nice dessert tasting menu!

HR Puff N Stuff

Wow! Last class went really well! We got so much done, and although puff pastry is still kind of tedious to make, I really think we’re all getting the hang of this dough. Not only does it taste great, but it’s so versatile, allowing both sweet and savory fillings that just go so well together. Last night, we made palmiers, vols-au-vents, a round napoleon, and an almond-pineapple bar tart.

First up is the napoleon. Now, I’m used to seeing napoleons in strips, with a fondant icing on top, but here we made round napoleons, and the top was covered in powdered sugar and crushed puff pastry was pressed around the side. The fun part really came when we took red-hot skewers and pressed them on the sugar to caramelize it, a technique called “quadrillage.” The entire classroom smelled like roasted marshmallows! Sadly, for one reason or another, my dough only allowed for two discs of pastry, not three, so mine was a little short. I told the chef that the dessert’s lack of height was my homage to its namesake, but I don't think he bought it. Whatever...it was delicious, no matter what.

We also made an almond pineapple bar tart. For this, we took strips of puffed pastry, spread some almond cream on down the middle, and layered pineapple slices on top, which then baked in the oven to caramelize. The decoration is chopped pistachios.

To be honest, I had my doubts about this one, but I have to say, I really enjoyed it. So did Adam’s office, from what I hear…those folks have been reaping most of the benefits of this class, as Adam and I usually only take a little taste for ourselves.

Next up are the vols-au-vents, which are little cups of puff pastry. We made our savory, with spinach, shallot, and goat cheese and also mushroom and shallot. These were amazing. Like, eat in the dark while crying amazing.

Finally, we sliced and baked our palmiers. These were kind of everyone’s favorite. They’re just puff pastry with granulated sugar on them, but that combination really works. Here they are sliced and ready to go into the oven.

And here’s one fresh out of the oven…yum.

Well, that’s all for the stuff we made in class. Just an addition, Chef Ron Ben-Israel was around doing a demo on his amazing wedding cakes, and my class got the leftovers.

It’s a spice cake with apple butter cream. Adam and I haven’t tried it yet, but there's a slice in the fridge waiting. This is possibly a once-in-a-lifetime slice of cake from one of the masters, so I know I’m going to savor it and look forward to having him teach us when we get to our wedding cake section!

Puff The Magic Pastry

Hi all…sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but we had a test, and it was Thanksgiving, so I kinda lost track. Anyway, as mentioned, we had our pâte à choux test, which I did well on, even if it was rough getting there.

Our next unit is pâte feuilletté, or puff pastry. In our class just before Thanksgiving, we made two versions of this versatile dough, rapide and classique, and in last night’s class we made the inverse version. They’re all very similar in that it requires making a dough similar to pâte brisée, rolling it out, and then rolling butter into it. After that, you have to fold it up, roll it out again, fold it up again, before chilling it for a while. You repeat this step several times to get many layers incorporated into the dough.

Essentially, they’re almost interchangeable, and the rapide is not much more “rapide” than the other two, so I’m not exactly sure why we need three kinds. Not to mention that we were basically told that most commercial kitchens use store-bought puff pastry, because puff pastry is very labor intensive and store-bought is just as good. Sigh…I guess this is like Algebra for pastry—you need to learn it, but there’s no real world application for it. In any case, it’s buttery, flaky deliciousness.

Last night we made several items. The first thing we did was to roll out some of our rapide dough to make palmiers. Palmiers are very similar to elephant ears, and they’re really delicious. They are just puff pastry which has been coated in sugar and rolled up to form a cookie, of sorts. We’ll be baking those on Thursday.

Next, we rolled out our classique dough to make a fresh fruit “bar” tart and mini apple tartlettes. These are both versions of tarts we made earlier in the course, but now we’re using the puff pastry instead of the traditional tart doughs. Here are my pictures!

The other item we baked was a tomato tart. Now, I have no idea why they included this in the puff pastry unit, but the tomato tart is great…super easy and tasty, and it makes a great lunch! We started by making tomato sauce…which included a little knife-skills lesson. We then mixed in some egg to make a custard and a little parmesan cheese. When baked, it smelled like pizza and had the consistency of a quiche. Really delicious, and not completely terrible for you, if you can look past the butter in the pâte brisée!

Well I think you’re all caught up. I’ll be focusing on puff pastry for the next few weeks, so be prepared for pictures of vols-au-vents, napoleons, and much more!