Breakfast Pastries: The Rundown

The good news is I got promoted to student council officer, so for now I'm the student council secretary...for now. :) The bad news is I have a lot less time on my hands between stuco, Eta Sigma Delta (national honor society of hotels and restaurant management schools,) and my beautiful nephew Ronald James Hough IV (James). So here's a quick rundown of my recent weeks in the most fattening class ever to date.

We've made danish, croissants, pain au chocolat, turnovers, strudel, apple tart tartin, and lots of other amazing things. I'm in the middle of a 3 day practical exam on croissants and pain au chocolat, and waiting for my paper in viennoiserie back. Viennoiserie, in case I haven't said anything about it, is a french word for pastry made in the Viennese style, usually a laminated dough.

I signed up to take Chef David Watson's (the culinary student's pastry chef) sugar sculpting class at the end of the mod, and I'm absolutely psyched for that. This weekend I'm driving down to Machen Retreat and Conference Center in VA to cook for the home missions conference with my dad. Next week, I have to bake my baby sister's graduation cake, which I will definitely put up pictures of, but I can't give any details because I want to surprise her! In the middle of my week long summer vacation, I'm going to Creation Festival with my brother, helping with the girls. Then I get to come back to school for my specialty cakes and pies class, and I have a cake order that calls for a sculpted ATV on top of the cake. Well, time to get back to my filing work.

M

Good News & Bad News

     I've pretty much calculated that I'm going to gain about fifty pounds this mod. Because all I do is eat the breakfast pastries that I bake...really I can't help it, they're delicious!!!! On Monday, we made blueberry scones with a lemon curd. Now, before you go thinking about curdled milk, it was AMAZING. It's something like a lemon pie filling. Plus I love lemons, so....I almost just licked the bowl I was using. Tuesday we made orange scented and regular buttermilk biscuits that we made into strawberry shortbread with Chantilly cream. I also forgot my fork and didn't want it to go to waste, so I used my fingers. Chef laughed at me, but it was goooood!!!!

     Today we made miniature pumpkin bread loaves, blueberry muffins, and chocolate crepe batter. The chocolate crepes we will make tomorrow, when we makes Crepes Suzette. I love pumpkin bread, so I wasn't surprised that it was good, because we sprinkled it with sanding sugar. Sanding sugar is about ten times the size of regular table sugar, and about ten times as expensive, so it's only used to garnish. What really surprised me was the blueberry muffins. I don't even like blueberries. Yet I ate three of them. Which is why I'm going to gain a ton of weight this mod...good I joined a gym. I'm also making a wedding cake for Jim Knox, our pastor's son. He and his wife Jenny were married two weeks ago, and our church is converting a potluck dinner into a kind of reception for them. I was super happy when they asked me to make the cake. Pictures will definitely follow. Until tomorrow...

M

This mod....

I feel a little guilty because I haven't actually blogged at all this mod. It's not that I didn't have the time, because I just started as a work study in the education department, where I do very little except answer the phone and do my homework on the computer. Surprisingly, I love my new job; granted it gets a little boring, but its really easy, and I get to do my homework or work on whatever cake sketches I need. I also get to wear normal clothes!

But it is the end of the mod, and I feel like I should give some kind of summary of my newfound knowedge about wine and alcoholic beverages. My teacher, who was a former sommelier, was very passionate about wine and different types of alcohol, and I loved having him as an instructor. We learned a lot about wine and food pairings, and the origin and specific flavors of wines. My three favorite types of wine would probably be shiraz, moscato, and reisling. Shiraz (or syrah) is a red grape that has a peppery flavor, which makes me want to have steak. I love steak. Moscato is made from the muscat grape, which has many different names that depend on the producer of the wine. It's a white wine, served with dessert. Reisling is a popular sweeter white wine, produced most commonly in Germany and Alsace, France. It can be served with a light dessert or a light bodied entree or appetizer. We also learned about different spirits like vodka, which is the number one selling spirit in the US, brandy/cognac, and liqueurs/cordials. So, while I'm by no means an expert, I have an expert's notes. 

I'm super excited for my next two mods, because they are just kitchens: first breakfast pastries, and then  specialty cakes and pies. I also have had some cake orders this mod, so it's nice to make a little extra money on the side. I also made Dean's List and Perfect attendance again. Now I leave you for the weekend, with the promise that I'll be back into my normal blogging habits come Monday.

M

A Mod without Kitchens....Not Terrible After All!

Hope everyone had a nice break, but now it's back to the ol' grindstone. I had a great spring break, just relaxing at my parents' house with my family and a friend or two. The train rides were fun, nothing like spending about 8 hours on a train with a complete stranger. Lucky for me, I make friends easily, so I met some really fun people.But here I am, back to school again. I was initially afraid that I would suffer this mod because I don't have a kitchens class. My only two classes are Wine and Beverages and Culinary Math, at 9:30am and 11:00am. It strikes me as hilarious that I am taking a class where I have to taste and describe wine and other alcoholic beverages at 9:30 in the morning. The math class, which I'd originally thought would be boring and easy, is only easy. The Dean of Students, who is awesome and really fun, is my math teacher and that has worked out really well.  We just took our first math exam, which is really basic math, but applied to the culinary world, for example, how to cost out a recipe or determine how much you need to order and balance your checkbook. So it's not exactly exciting, but it's definitely useful, and Mr. Moran makes it fun. Wines is really exciting, as I thought it would be, but we don't start actually tasting wines until Monday I think. But for now, here are some little tidbits about wine for you.

• The three things that make wine different are the grapes, the climate it was grown/made in, and the winemaking techniques used.
• There are two kinds of wine: "new-world" and "old-world". Pretty self explanatory, new world is wine from newer regions such as Unites States, Chile, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa. Good examples of old world countries would be France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Greece, Austria and Switzerland. The difference is mostly in the winemaking techniques used, as well as the labeling and how long the wine is aged. 
• The old world wines are more focuses on the French term "terroir," meaning "somewhereness." Really vague I know, but it makes sense. Terroir is the idea that wine can tell you where it originated just from a taste, tell you it's story. Which I find really romantic and special. New world wines are mainly focused on the different flavor you can impart into the grape by process, so the credit goes to the winemaker, not the vineyard or region.
• When storing your wine, make sure if its a corked red wine, to store it on it's side, so that the wine comes into constant contact with the cork, keeping it moist and preventing oxidation. Keep it a cool, dark place, about 55 degrees and 75% humidity.
• Serve sparkling wine at 45 degrees, white wine at 55, and red wine at 65.

That's all I got for today folks, see you next week, same bat time. My parents are coming in to town tonight to take an enthusiast class tomorrow morning with me all dressed up in my chef clothes. Yay! Also...I made Perfect Attendance!
M

Finals Week(s) and Spring Break!

Last Day of School!!!! For a week, anyways. I am now finished with the baking of bread for at least two months, but we'll get to that. Firstly: finals week, the reason I didn't blog for two weeks.

After coming back from being sick for a week and a half, I had my practical exam that lasted two days. For that practical, we baked brioche carroune, brioche a tete, and challah bread. I got an 91% on my practical. Just barely an A, but I'll take it. That was Monday and Tuesday, on Wednesday, we started our bread projects. It had to be a bread themed sculpted plaque made from edible modeling dough. We had a total of nine hours to make the entire plaque; six for the raw dough, three for the glazing and edible paint and presentation. It turned out pretty well, overall, I got a 94%. So I was pretty satisfied. That takes care of last week. Monday, we made pain de campagne, onion rye, and old fashioned rye bread dough. All of these are made with rye flour, so they are very sturdy loaves. The pain de campagne was actually really moist when I went to eat it, I really enjoyed it. The rest I froze to take home to the family this weekend on spring break. Tuesday we baked the bread and took our final written exam. Yesterday, we made San Fransisco sourdough and chocolate cherry dough, as well as challah to cover the chocolate cherry dough. And today, on the final day of class, we made sourdough boules and chocolate cherry challah covered hearts. We also got to make breakfast!!! I made hashed browns topped with over easy eggs and bacon and carmelized onions. It was sooooo delicious, I was stuffed. Chef also gave me my final grade for the class: 95.5%. And now, the excitement of my week: I got a bakery job!!! Granted, it won't start for two months, but its the perfect job for me, so I have no problem waiting. the pay will be phenomenal, benefits are good, and the work itself sounds like a lot of fun. God really blessed me with this job. Until April, and my Wines & Beverages course and Math (ick!), See ya!

M

Bedridden

I didn't blog at all this week, but there's a great reason: I spent the week in bed because I was recovering from an upper respiratory virus. I was in the Emergency Room on Saturday and Sunday because I had a fever of 104 and trouble breathing. The second ER visit on Sunday finally yielded some results in the form of some pain medications that would allow me to semi function while I get better. But anyways...kitchens!
In the fantastical world of bread this week: Monday we took our first paper test and mixed brioche dough, which is really buttery!!! We had to mix it in stages, first developing the gluten without the butter, which makes up about half the weight of the dough, and then kneading in the butter without melting it.Tuesday we shaped it into brioche a tete (excuse my lack of French accents, my laptop doesn't have that program), and carroune. A tete meaning with head, because brioche a tete  literally has a small head on top of a cupcake, and brioche carroune is French for crown. Wednesday we shaped more brioche, because it will be on our next practical exam. We also mixed challah bread dough. Challah is a traditionally Jewish bread that is soft and delicious! We shaped it into a five strand braid, as that will also be on our practical exam. Friday we made bagels and pretzels which were hand shaped and everything, as usual. It was really interesting to see after working at Panera how a real baker shapes bagels. What Chef said, is never stretch a bagel by poking a hole in the middle and stretching it out, because it always contracts. The best way to stretch a bagel is to pinch it into a rope, and then wrap the rope around your hand until the ends overlap. Roll the ends together by leaning hard on them as you roll. Another practical exam on Tuesday I think. So far, I've kept my GPA at the 4.0 so let's pray it stays there. Brioche carroune may just be the death of me. Until next week,
M

Bread Practicals and Pizza

TGIF!!! Apparently, this means "Thank God It's Friday" But I saw a church sign the other day that said Thank God I'm Forgiven, so I like that better. But still, I'm glad Friday is finally here, so that I can look forward to a weekend of doing nearly nothing that requires conscious thought.
On Wednesday, we made pizza, which was fantastic. We practiced stretching it three different ways, including the pizza parlor way of throwing it up in the air. You don't really throw it, you really just make a fist with both of your hands and twist your hands while flicking your fingers. Obviously, it's easy. HA! I didn't drop my dough, but I was one of the few. We were given our choice of toppings, so I chose caramelized onions, ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, and fresh basil that I cut chiffonade. In case you're wondering, chiffonade is when you roll up whatever you're cutting, usually some type of leaf, and cut thin strips off of the end. It's similar to shredding using a food processor. At any rate, it was delicious.
Thursday and today, we had practicals, so today we just worked on the practicals, but on Thursday, we made pitas, which were delicious!!! Very complicated to make, but still good. Our practicals today consisted of baguette, epi, and pain au lait, which we tied into single, double knot, figure eight and single braid. Of course, my mind decided to take a break when it was time for the single braid, and I completely forgot. My baguette turned out fine, except for the seam showing on the far side. Overall, Chef gave me a 93%, which isn't terrible, but didn't meet the standards that I'm held to. Hopefully I'll do better next time. For now, I go to work and wish for 4:30 to come faster. Have a nice weekend!
M