baking techniques, week one

Chef Brown demonstrating dough division and pre-shaping.

My feet ache slightly and my body constantly craves sleep, but I couldn't be happier since we are finally in the kitchen. I have just wrapped up my first week in the kitchen although it feels a lot longer since we have made an already enormous array of things. The class, baking techniques, acquaints us with basic baking and pastry methods, but more importantly it allows us to get a feel for the commercial kitchen, and the volume and pace of production. Each day of class begins with an hour lecture, which covers the basic principles underlying the methods employed in our recipes and the details of the recipe itself. Immediately after lecture, we scurry to the kitchens and head to our stations, where our (hopefully) completed mis en place awaits.

(left to right) Crumuri with Sesame Seeds, Russian Tea Cookies, two preparations of Almond Spritz, and Crumiri with a dusting of confectioner's sugar.

Section 63 of Baking and Pastry has 19 students that are divided into randomly selected teams of three's and four's. My team consists of Brynna, Chris, and moi. The teams have two day rotations on breads, cookies, cakes, etc for the three week duration of the class. Piped cookies was our first rotation and required us to produce Almond Spritz, Crumuri, and Russian Tea Cookies. I'm not sure whether it was first day nerves or my crazed search for ingredients and tools, but we nearly didn't finish our cookies. We fared better with day two of cookies, which focused on bar cookies: Fudge Brownies, Seven Layer Bars, and Pecan Diamonds. The successful execution of day two was I think in large part, not just having all our ingredients ready, but also taking the time to work on what Chef Brown calls our "mental mis en place". After my shaky first day, I decided to closely look at the recipes to get a sense of the methods, equipment, and timing necessary to complete the tasks. The "mental mis en place" seemed to work, our second day proved to less harried and the products were not only ready for dinner, but were also avidly devoured by our fellow students.

2, 3, and 4 strand Challah sprinkled with Sesame seeds(symbolizing Manna) and Poppy seeds, Sunflower Seed Batard and Pullman loaf.

Days three and four were on lean straight doughs and enriched doughs. I LOVE bread, but the production of bread admittedly was intimidating. It continually amazes me that with a few ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt, a whole universe of bread is borne. The addition of eggs and fats, requisite for enriched doughs, further adds to the endless possibilities. On day one of breads we were to make Baguettes, Boules, Fougasse, and Batards(which, literally means "bastard" in French). The shape of Batards is somewhere in between a Baguette and a Boule, making it a "bastard" child of the two. I walked into the kitchen with a sense of trepidation and this showed in the way I (mis)handled the dough. Surprisingly, our breads looked better than I thought they would(I'm certain no thanks to me). Day two of breads fared better with my hands developing an uncanny confidence in handling the Challah dough. Chef Brown's repeated demo's and entreaties on proper treatment of the dough had finally begun to stick. I enjoyed making the Challah and even managed to crack a few bad bread pun jokes(Holla' for Challah!) in the interim.

I hope that my rants about baking have not scared you and instead have inspired you to go into the kitchen to bake. I'm still figuring out how to link to the recipes for each thing I mentioned, but still no dice. Check back later!