Baking & Pastry - Day 2

Oh, WOW!  I love this class... probably because I love to bake as well as cook!  The pace of this class is much different from the others.... a little bit slower which is good!  Tonight we made biscuits, muffins and banana bread... Ya know, I have made biscuits a lot.... but this biscuit is by far, the best I have ever made.. like I said before, it's the folding method that causes the layers of flakiness..... it is SO good.... here is the recipe... it's all in pounds and ounces, not cups.... a little bit different than what I am used to!!!

1 lb 4 oz bread flour
1 lb 4 oz pastry flour
.75 oz salt
2 oz sugar
2.5 oz baking powder
14 oz butter
1 lb. 10 oz. milk

Sift together all the dry ingredients.   Put in a large bowl... cut in the butter and mix with your hands until the mixture resembles a coarse cornmeal... Add milk just until a soft dough is formed. Do not over mix.  Put the dough on the table, work into a rectangle, adding flour as necessary.   Form into a rectangle.  Fold in half, flatten out, rotate 90 degrees, flatten out again, then fold in half.  Repeat this about 6 times, incorporating flour as needed. The dough should be soft and slightly elastic but not sticky.  Dough should be almost an inch thick before cutting...  Cut into biscuits.  Put biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Make sure they all touch each other...Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes.

Baking & Pastry - Day 1

Ahhhhh, it's finally here... baking, my favorite!  I LOVE to bake... Now don't get me wrong, I love to cook too, but my real passion is baking!  The first day was pretty much an introduction to the class, tour of the kitchen and supplies, outline of class content and expectations, then the chef demoed and made biscuits... Now, let me tell you, they're not just any biscuits, they are the BEST biscuits.. the trick, my friends, is how you fold over the dough about 6-7 times to get that flaky texture.... pretty amazing if I do say so myself... and, they were DELICIOUS!

Day 24, Foundations III

Whew!  Last day of Foundations III.... A great class.  We learned a LOT!  It was fun and challenging.  We took the final exam, then made omelets (we have to have something to eat!!) then we deep cleaned the kitchen...  And... I got an A... sweet!!!  Here are some pics of my team...

Day 23, Foundations III (One day to go!!!)

Well, fellow classmates, we have almost made it to the end of this class. One day to go!  Tonight's class was easy, fun and a little challenging... First we had to fabricate a chicken - cut 8 way, then fillet a red snapper.   Then we had to prepare two plates... 1st plate was chicken fricassee with tourne purple potatoes, 2nd plate was sauteed red snapper, rice pilaf, spinach concasse and butter sauce.  Sounds easy... but it takes time.  After the chicken and the fish are fabricated, it's cleaning up, then preparing the rest of the dishes!  All in all it went pretty well, but I have to admit I used almost the full two hours!  And, the photos.........

Day 22, Foundations III (only 2 days left!)

Today's class was easy, but time consuming.  Had to cut 2 potatoes - small dice, 2 carrots - part julienne and part battonet; small dice 1/2 onion, brunoise one stalk celery, chop mirepoix with leftovers (celery, carrot and onion rough chop), mince parsely fine, then cut a chicken the airline way.  The dish we had to prepare was for our practice practical (worth 90 points) and consisted of airline chicken breast, mashed potatoes, battonet glazed carrots and sauce supreme.   It was DELICIOUS!  

Day 21, Foundations III

Tonight we made German bratwurst, sweet Italian sausage, Merquez sausage and Harissa sauce.  It was a fun and easy class.  What a way to end the course!  Tomorrow is our practical, Wednesday another practical, Thursday the final and we are done!  Enjoy the pictures from tonight and see how sausages are made... pretty cool!

Day 20, Foundations III

Unfortunately, this is the first class that I missed.  I felt guilty for missing, but was unable to make it to class on time... This class consisted of cleaning mussels, cleaning whole squid, shucking oysters, and fabricating a lobster... boy, I would have had some great pictures to share!  After the chef's demo, individual production involved grilling the lobster and oysters, making mignonette sauce, making calamari, and making moules mariniere.  Only four days to go and this class will be over.... Then it's on to baking and pastry... I'm looking forward to that!