Saturday, February 23, 2013

Week 7 - Baking and Pastry Class


Great class today, the presentations were moved to next week because today we had a lot to do, even the quiz we are taking home because we didn't have time.
Chef explained to us about Bavarian, Custard and Mousse. The first demos was chocolate mousse, melt the chocolate  in banio marie, remove from heat add the butter and mix until melted and well blended, make sure the chocolate mixture is not hot before adding the pasteurized egg yolks. In a separated bowl beat the pasteurized egg white with salt when it get a foamy texture, add the sugar and beat until soft peak. Sacrifice the first third whisking it into the chocolate mixture, then with spatula fold in the rest of the egg whites into the chocolate, mix until just incorporate. Make sure your equipment is free of oil before starts beating the heavy cream in soft peak, chef stopped beating before it was done so she could finish beating by hand, this way we don't take the risk of over beating the cream. Fold in the chocolate mixture. Move to a piping bag with a large star tip, she piped the mouse inside a foil pot in a rosette shape.
Then she started with fruit Bavarian (special ingredient in Bavarian is the gelatin, that we used in powder. It was very easy to make, she heat a fruit puree with, lemon juice + sugar remove from the heat and add the blooming gelatin, mix it to dissolve into the hot fruit sauce over a bowl with ice and water to get the sauce colder. Beat the heavy cream on soft peak and fold into the fruit mixture, sacrifice the first third. It was really good with a beautiful color. I didn't try it when set but I had a taste while she was finishing the recipe.

Today my  partner was great to work with, but I am glad I was all the time around while executing our recipes because if I wasn't he would miss some steps and ingredients, but that’s why we all work together to help each other.
We started with a full recipe of crème Brule, while our chocolate for the mousse was melting in Banio Marie.
CrèmeBrule was very easy to make, in a pot we mixed heavy cream, vanilla bean, pinch of salt and 1/2 of our sugar, in a  separated bowl we mixed the egg yolk with other 1/2 of the sugar whisk to have a smooth mixture,
when the milk started to have some steam coming up before boiling point. Starts tempering add a little of the hot milk into the egg yolk bowl, when we had mixed all we used a sieve while we transferring the cream from the pot to a jar, to make it easier to pour in a porcelain dish to bake, in banho Marie, it took about 25 minutes to bake the small pot and about 35 for the large one, which had a lot more cream in. When baked we brought to the refrigerator.
We were the first to finish our recipes, so we did some clean up I helped chef to the inventory which is basically write down in a paper what was left of ingredients we began class with. We cut some fruits to garnish our mousse. I made a fruit salad with what was left from the fruits. Then we started working on the crème Brule with raw sugar crust, using the torch for the first time in class. Everything was delicious, one weird thing happened was that we used only one pinch of salt, in our dishes and it seemed that make all very salty on the mousse, chef notice it and the Crème Brule someone thought it was salty too, I was so sad because I was sure the amount of salt that I had used and I was happy that Nick was by my side and saw that too. After class talking to another student she told me that she had a problem with salt too. I am sure I haven’t overdone it, has to be a salt problem J The salt was with big grains, could have another kind of salt mixed with the Kosher? I don’t know but even that way I though our desserts were delicious, I was happy with the consistency and results with the final product. I am even thinking of change the recipe of chocolate mousse that I have been using for many years after I tried this one in class.
My recipe is very simple with fewer ingredients, basically break the chocolate in pieces in a bowl with a can of crème the leite, bring it to microwave until melt the chocolate and become a smooth consistency. Whip egg whites with a little of sugar in soft peak, fold into the chocolate mixture and let it set in the refrigerator, the final product is soft, light, deep chocolate flavor and color different from the one we made in class, it sets it became harder not so soft and a lighter color probably because of the whipped cream that we folded in.
While we were eating and tasting our desserts, chef showed us how to open a pie dough and plat it so we can make next week for thanksgiving.
I can’t wait for next week J

Class Notes

blend shell- Shell baked 'without filling
Dock- make roles in the dough to the steam come out

In order to be custard you need
                
Eggs (whole, Yolks, or both) - Coagulation of protein tightening
Milk (whole, heavy cream, ½ and ½ or combo)
Can be sweet and savory
Sweet
Stirred Custard (stove top)
Crème anglaise
Pastry cream
Cornstarch pudding-variation of pastry cream (sometime has no eggs)

Savory
Soufflé – spinach, cheese
Quiche – spinach, lardan=unsmoked French bacon/ onion
Broccoli, cheddar
Baked Custard (oven)
To firm texture use whole egg. If you find a recipe with whole egg and egg yolk the extra egg yolk is to give flavor, color, richness
- Flan
- Cream Brulee (pot of cream with caramelized crust)
- pot the crème
- Crème caramel-(French sibling of flan)
- Bread pudding
- Pumpkin pie (felling)/ sweet potato pie
- Pecan pie
- Cheesecake

212°F-water boiling

Custard-
Usually baked in water bath (Bain Marie)
hotel pan and place ramekins, cake pans, or other pan inside and fill half way up with hot water
cover entire hotel pan (steam)
Baked Custards (cooked in oven)
In a pot - dairy (liquid), sugar, pinchof salt and (flavoring)
In a bowl – eggs (yolks), sugar and mix using whisk
Scald e dissolve sugar
- temper all liquid into eggs
 - strain mixture
 Bake 325° the time depends on the size, to check if it is ready, stick a knife in the middle, it has to come out clean, or when you move the dish and the filing doesn't move.
Scale properly
Mousses and Bavarians
Light, fluffy texture created by the addition of whipped cream, whipped egg whites or both.

Chocolate benefits from a little salt- chef uses even m hot chocolate
Mousses (include Bavarians - gelatin)
                        
Chocolate mousse IV
- melt chocolate
- Add butter, stir, then add eggs yolks, stir
- make meringue, gently fold in (add pinch of salt)
- make whipped cream, gently fold in
- Transfer to pastry bag and pipe into aluminum ramekins.
Teacups-to make pate a cream (common in France)
Bavarian (always with gelatin)(Very European, cake using ring to unmold, heat the sides of the ring with touch)
molded desserts
Base (crème anglaise) + gelatin + whipped egg white + whipped cream
1) Heat up the fruit puree, sugar, lemon juice (pinch salt)
2) Bloom gelatin, add to hot puree to dissolve
3) Transfer to a bowl and stir ores iced water bath until thicker like pancake batter
4) Fold in whipped cream.
simple but very trick / watch time and temperature
- measure the water and even sprinkle the gelatin into the water
leaf gelatin-you don't have to measure the water, put the sheetsin and wait to get soft, squeeze and use as you would with the powdered, adding to the hot sauce and mix until dissolve.
Panna cotta-cooked cream (grow up Jell-O)
Flavored cream set with gelatin
Typically with sauce usually little acid (raspberry sauce + fruits)
Me and Nick working together in ½ chocolate mousse recipe and crème Brule. (Culinary institute of America Book)
Chocolate mousse 60% chocolate bittersweet
1) melted chocolate in( bain marie) remember to clean around the bowl edges to not get dirty
2) add the butter, melt it in, always work very gentle with chocolate
check the temperature
3) add the egg yolks (pasteurized, it is safer) make sure the chocolate is not too hot.
The cream should be cold (chilled)
egg white in room temperature.
4) make the meringue- wait to get foamy before add the sugar (more like sea foam) add the sugar, scrap the bowl if need. looking for soft peaks, hold in shape, beat at high speed. We are looking for a glossy mixture and the bubbles are very tiny (like shave cream)- Good when is holding the shape. Use the whisk to fold the meringue in only for the first third , sacrifice the first 1/3, shake the excess from the whisk do not over mix the mixture. Use the whisk to fold only the first 1/3 then use the spatula. Make sure you don't deflate the egg whites.
5) Whip the heavy cream in the same bowl of the egg white, soft peak, do not ones mix, fold gently in the chocolate mixture 1/3  at a time. If over mix the cream won't be easy to fold in the chocolate mixture.
Use a pinch of salt when whipping  the egg whites (chef forgot)
She piped with big star tip in pots.
Fruit Bavarian
Fruit puree into the pot + sugar + pinch salt + little lemon juice ( high the flavor) (temp 18) make sure dissolve the sugar. Then add the gelatin and mix until dissolves,
Get a bowl with ice and water, pour the bowl with the chocolate mixture and keep stirring to cool the mixture. You can whip the cream before and let in the refrigerator.
Remove from water bath and keep stirring.
We want the cream waiting for the sauce not the other way around. This is a critical moment. Touch the mixture to check the temperature, keep moving the mixture to get an even temperature.
Add first 1/3 of the whipped cream in the mixture and mix fast.
Put in a piping bag and pipe in pots and refrigerator. After pipe and sets will keep soft mousse.

garnishing - use odd numbers
if you want to leave the green on the strawberry cut in half and slice.
kiwi - cut in half and slice
symmetry  is not good for food
When open a dough think circles
X movement with the roll
after open duck the dough, in the pie plate
push the dough in and trim the excess, tuck in the side let the dough test, press finger out with finger at the back to make nice and beautiful
blind bake-pie with no filling
custard pie around 20 min.
disc pie can freeze 3 month (dough) blind bake too.
make pie dough then when you need you bake
Brulle-sprinkle sugar raw and use the torch




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