Monday started with a demo lesson, during which the chef made croissant/danish pastry dough, brioche dough and bun dough. The brioche and pastry dough was to be chilled overnight and used the next day. The bun dough was used to make Devonshire splits, hot cross buns (we made these two in the practical) and chelsea buns (demo only). I really like bread, there's something almost majestic about being able to turn a few simple ingredients into amazing looking and tasting breads. This lesson we had the master baker taking the demo, so it was a real privilege to watching him work with the dough. The laminated dough was much like a puff pastry, but with less double turns and yeast added. And the bun and brioche doughs were also similar to the basic bread dough, but with eggs, more sugar, and lots of butter added! The splits, hot cross buns and chelsea buns looked really really nice. They all tasted great as well! The only change I'd have made was in the chelsea buns, there was rum in there somewhere which was completely unnecessary. Inside the chelsea buns the chef had spread some almond cream and cinnamon sugar. Once baked, they were glazed and then nibbled sugar was added to the top. Really really nice! I was very excited for the practical.
Straight after the demo we were in to the practical session. I was one of the two team leaders this week, which means we had to go into class early and help the chef set up. I was on bun wash duty(!) (making a syrup to brush over the buns at the end) and the other team leader was making the mixture for the crosses on the hot cross buns (equal parts flour and water). We had to pair up and work together on the bun dough and brioche dough, however we had to make the laminated dough on our own. My partner and I had issues from the start, to try and save a bit of time I weighed out some of the ingredients and she weighed out the others for our laminated doughs. Unfortunately when we came to bring the dough together it was really dry and difficult to knead. We should have just started again quickly, however we kept adding a dribble of water and kneading, eventually we managed to get the dough soft and elastic but it took much longer than it should and put us behind quite a lot. Whether it was the wrong flour, or not enough liquid weighed out, I'll never know. A good lesson in double checking or taking responsibility for weighing out your own ingredients! I hate getting behind, it really stresses me out and that's when I start to panic and feel useless, chef even commented at the end that I looked really tense at the beginning. However with both of our doughs finally in the fridge resting we rallied together and split the next tasks, I took command of the bun dough, for the Devonshire splits and hot cross buns, and my partner did the brioche dough. I assured the chef we'd be able to catch up, a bit of a wing and a prayer moment!
There was a shortage of bowls to weigh stuff into so I had to hunt down more which felt like it was sapping time as well, however I finally got everything weighed out and into the mixer and that was when things started to turn around and work out better. The dough came together really nicely and we started to catch up with the others. I split it in half and set one lot aside in a bowl to prove and then quickly mixed the mixed spice, currants and candied peel in another. That was then set aside to prove as well, then it was back to the laminated dough, which actually seemed to roll out ok, and took the butter inclusion and first double turn well - there's still hope for it! My partners did as well, so we have fingers firmly crossed! It's quite difficult in the lessons sometimes, working in pairs, because you want to support the other, however you're so busy its not always possible. I looked across and checked she was ok and noticed she was using the paddle and not the dough hook on the mixer. I queried this with her and she said someone had taken ours. This really annoyed me, because at the beginning of the lesson I went and got us both a mixer bowl and dough hook because the set up hadn't been done properly from the last lesson. I accept that in the heat and speed of the kitchen its easy to take stuff from the wrong workstation, especially as they aren't directly behind you, however if it was taken deliberately, out of sheer laziness, then that's totally unacceptable. What I should have done was taken a name and then thrown the culprit out of the window, to rid ourselves of that snake in the grass for the rest of the term...however it wouldn't have done my teamwork points any good! All that said, the brioche dough looked ok (never made it before so can't really judge it against anything!), we'll find out for sure in the next lesson though. Once the bun dough had proved we split it in half and shaped it into rounds each, put the two doughs in the prover and then did the next double turn on our laminated doughs, they looked ok, so fingers doubly crossed we managed to salvage it!
When the dough was ready we piped the crosses on the hot cross buns and got both sets into bake. Once the Devonshire splits were done they had to go into the blast chiller to cool, ready for their jam and whipped cream filling. It was a creme chantilly, so it had to be whipped over an ice bath with vanilla and icing sugar added, I took charge of this to give my partner chance to catch up on a couple of things. Once the buns were cold they were filled, had the cream piped in, and a light dusting of icing sugar applied on top. The hot cross buns were glazed and they were ready then (which I initially forgot to do when I took my buns to chef to be judged!). Good feedback on the buns, which I was happy about, just a little talking to on organisation and preparation, which I totally accept and appreciated. We should have acted quicker the second we thought something was wrong, not left it and keep fannying around with the dough hoping it'd be ok!
The whole class seemed a bit slow in this one, we finished 50 mins late...which, when you have the 6:30pm lesson is not ideal, especially when you have another hour and 40 mins at least on the coach home (I got to bed very late!).
I finished this lesson a bit downhearted and utterly exhausted, which is a shame because I was really looking forward to this one. At least the buns came out well though (and went some way to working as consolation for a bad lesson on the bus ride home!), plus some valuable lessons were learned from it. So not a total loss. There was also a tiny glimmer of hope that we might yet still be ok for the laminated dough and brioche lesson the next day!
Tuesday we had a demo, and the chef used the laminated dough from the day before to make a wide variety of medium sized pastries; croissants, pain au chocolat and Danish pastries. He showed us different shapes and fillings we could do. With the brioche dough, there was a mammoth weighing out session, which culminated in four different loaves being produced. A walnut loaf, a chocolate loaf, a round loaf with a nubbin/head on top and a loaf made out of 8 balls snuggly tucked into a loaf tin. The chef promptly announced we had only 30 minutes to weigh out, shape and get the doughs on a tray ready to prove, or there may not be sufficient time to bake them! I tried a bit of as many as I could in the lesson and the pain au chocolat was my favourite. They were really light and tasted great.
We went straight from the demo into the practical again. This was the moment of truth, had the paddle affected our brioche, and had the laminated doughs buggered up completely!? Fortunately the answer to both was no - massive relief! We quickly got to work on the brioche dough. Luckily having the practical straight after the demo means everything stays fresh in your mind, so after yesterdays debacle I made sure I was clear on how the shaping should be done and set out to prove a point. 30 minutes was the time limit, but I made sure I got it done in 20, I feel far more relaxed if I'm ahead of the game! Then it was straight on to the laminated dough. This had to be rolled out, cut in half, half put in the fridge for later and the other half rolled out thinner. This rolled out half was then cut into two strips, the first strip was used for the pain au chocolat, with which I layer chocolate batons along the middle and folded it, then cut it into 6. The croissants were cut into triangles and rolled up. I made sure I tucked the pointy end sufficiently under the croissant so it didn't burst open and flap up when proving/baking, but not too far that it inhibited the dough from rising nicely. These were then set aside to prove while we got on with the Danish pastries.
Generally we only have to present one or two dishes to the chef for judging and feedback. Today was the exception to that! We had to present the 4 brioche loaves, 3 croissants, 3 pain au chocolat, 3 different types of Danish pastry - of which there had to be 3 of each. That's 19 bakes to be presented in total! This was a lesson in consistency. Moving on to the Danish pastries, I made 4 of each shape to make sure I could pick 3 that looked most consistent. I chose to make windmill, parcel and lattice shapes and filled them with a variety of things; pastry cream, almond cream, chocolate, walnuts, mirabels (little french plums), pear and apricots - most of what was on offer! Trying to balance what would work well flavour-wise. The chef in the demo told us we had to be generous with the filings, proving the point by plonking a giant pear half on top of a lattice Danish, which completely dwarfed it! The reason for this is that the pastry rises and if you don't put enough in, it'll look very stingy once baked...and the dwarfed pear actually looked good proportionally, once he'd finished! He then told us he wouldn't be returning to our patisseries if we were stingy with the fillings! So with that threat looming over us I made sure I was heavy handed with them! They were then egg washed and set aside to prove. Meanwhile it was time to get the brioche out, give them an egg wash and then get them in the oven. They looked like they'd risen really well, although the nubbin was a bit lopsided on one of them! Having said that, once they'd baked I was happy with them, they were very light and had a really nice colour. Next up was the croissants and pain au chocolat. These could have been a total disaster given how the dough was only 24 hours before, however they'd risen beautifully, so I was over the moon. They were egg washed and then baked. I was really happy with how they came out. The Danish pastries were then put in to bake and they also came out well. Fortunately I'd been sufficiently heavy handed with the fillings so they didn't look dwarfed - I'll put the chef down as a returning customer when my patisserie opens! I got good feedback from the chef on everything, good colour, consistency, bake, well filled. Given how bad the lesson could have gone, I was very proud of what I'd produced.
After the difficult lesson the day before, this one really helped to fully restore harmony and happiness. Although the couple of pastries I ate on the bus home may have contributed to that somewhat as well!
Wednesday we had a lecture on purchasing, storage and control. I'm sure it could have been a good subject to learn about, however it was rattled through very quickly, seemed to completely lack any structure and appeared to leave well over half the class confused about what was going on! I'll need to go over the notes again to try and make sense of it. A couple of things I do remember though is that the main aim of a business is to make profit, even if that means skimping on the quality sometimes. However, a great chef can make even mediocre ingredients amazing - so something to strive for at least!
A mixed week all in all, ups, downs, but good lessons learned. The Intermediate term is tough, but an excellent challenge all the same. I'm excited for what next week has to offer.
The Devonshire splits and hot cross buns. Both buns were really light and tasted amazing fresh. I'll definitely be making the Devonshire splits again, they were by far my favourite.
The Danish pastries, croissants, pain au chocolats and brioche loaves. My favourites here were the pain au chocolats and the chocolate brioche loaf (notice the theme there!). Really proud with how these came out, given they were my first attempt at all of them!
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