Week 5

 

Choux, Choux and more Choux!

This was our last week of pastries and we finished off with choux pastry - my favourite!! This is a very easy pastry to prepare, great to pipe, versatile and it tastes amazing!!

A few people had some issues with their dough, with adding too much egg - therefore the dough is too wet and doesn't hold its shape or rise - the trick is to add small amounts of egg so you can control the consistency and stop when no more is needed.  I didn't have any troubles, luckily!

We started the week with Chocolate Éclairs (my favourite) and Paris Brest (my new favourite!)

We piped 9cm long éclairs and the Paris Brest were 8-9cm piped circles.  Both were baked at 220 on a greased and lightly floured tray (I find this the best method as if you use silicon paper - the items get a 'foot' and don't sit very well). 

Once cooked and cooled, we topped the Éclairs with hot apricot jam (required to help with fondant keeping its shine and shelf life) and then with a chocolate fondant mixture.  They were then halved and filled with a  chocolate custard. 

The Paris Brest were topped with apricot jam and roasted almonds and then halved and filled with a hazelnut praline cream.  I had never tasted hazelnut praline paste and am so happy I have now - it is unbelievable!

Chocolate Éclairs and Paris Brest 

Next up was a Gateaux Pithivier and a Gateaux St Honore.  The Pithivier was made of puff pastry and filled with a frangipane mix and apricot jam.  The top of the Gateaux was lightly scored to create a pretty effect.  The Gateaux St Honore consisted of a puff pastry base which was docked, then we piped a ring of choux on the outer edge of the puff circle and another choux ring was piped in the centre.  This was baked and then filled with custard and then topped with custard filled and toffee dipped profiteroles.

 

 

Gateaux Pithivier before baking

Gateaux Pithivier after baking

Gateaux St Honore after being baked with choux and puff layers



Gateaux St Honore finished with custard and profiteroles (I apologise for weird shape profiteroles...)

On our third day of making choux pastry came the masterpiece... The Croquembouche!! Everyone was really excited for this as it is one of those desserts which looks absolutely stunning and there are all of the horror stories and classic scary episodes on masterchef that everyone thinks about.  Toffee is also something I was very worried about, due to all of the severe burns you hear about.  I wore a cotton glove with a latex glove on top and didn't have any issues.  I would recommend this!

We did ours by building the layers of profiteroles on the outside of a cardboard and aluminium foil covered cone and by using toffee to connect each profiterole.  The profiteroles were filled with a custard.  The cone was removed before the top few layers were assembled and the rest was done freehand.  We spun some sugar for decoration and finished with some handmade chocolate butterflies.  I was extremely happy with the finished product and would definitely make this again.

Here it is!


The Croquembouche before adding the chocolate butterflies
 



The finished product!

Next week, we start on our cakes!! We have some amazing cakes coming up and I cant wait to get started! Keep an eye on the blog for what products we complete next week!



 



Week 3 and Week 4

 

And 10 Kilos heavier...

 

The last two weeks have been quite full on, however we have produced some amazing products and I feel I am getting more and more comfortable being in the kitchen and with various methods we are regularly using.

 

Week three was one day shorter in the kitchen than we usually have (4) due to a day of first aid which was required and another day in the kitchen was a practical test where we made a couple of the things we had done in our previous week (Crème Anglaise with poached pears, some piped shapes and some chocolate piped Filigrees).

Chocolate piped Filigrees

 

We did however make a larger fruit tart along with some smaller ones again and these are something we are all feeling quite confident in - especially the Crème Patisserie which we have made four times now!



Large Fruit Tart filled with Crème Patisserie

 

Small fruit tarts filled with Crème Patisserie
 

 

We also made some Jam Berliners as a group, they turned out looking very delicious and were filled with soft strawberry jam.  Not being a big fan of jam - I didn't try one of these but everyone else said they were gorgeous.

Jam Berliners

 

Week 4 was definitely a lot busier and we produced a lot more.  We are currently focusing on Pastries, whereas the last section (Weeks 1-3) was methods of cookery - so getting to know the basics. 

 

This week we made sweet pastry, Linzer pastry, 3/4 puff pastry and a rough puff pastry and made some impressive items out of them.  When doing our puff pastry, we have been mostly using the French method to combine the fat into the dough and we have been doing four full book turns (I will put a diagram explaining this on the blog later).

 

We started the week with making some absolutely amazing passionfruit curd meringue tarts.  I have never tasted something so delicious in my life!! The tartness of the passionfruit with the creaminess of the meringue and the crisp, short sweet pastry were matches made in heaven!! I will definitely be making this again!  We piped the Swiss meringue onto the filled tart cases and then blow torched them to finish.



Passionfruit curd meringue tarts prior to blow torching



Passionfruit curd meringue tarts after blow torching

We also used our sweet short pastry to make an apple pie and an apple crumble.  The crumble was made by simple grating some refrigerated sweet pastry and then topping the apple filling with it.  Unfortunately the pastry didn't set the best on the apple pie, and the detail I did on the pies just seemed to sink and disappear.

Apple Crumble and Apple Pie

A Linzer torte was next - an Austrian dessert which is named after the city of Linz in Austria.  The dough consisted of hazelnut meal, a small amount of flour, butter, egg yolks, ground cinnamon and cloves and lemon zest.   The dough was very short and quite difficult to work with but we still managed to add a lattice design top to it after filling it with the traditional filling of raspberry jam. 

Linzer Torte prior to baking

Linzer Torte after baking

We made Viennese biscuits which turned out beautifully buttery and crumbly.  We topped some of these with piped chocolate or dipped them in or simply left them as is.  This mixture was quite thick and proved to be difficult to pipe but once the mixture softened, we were able to pipe rosettes and swirls with the dough.

Viennese Biscuits

We used our 3/4 puff pastry next and made some Vol Au Vents, Windmills and Palmiers. 

The Vol Au Vents unfortunately didn't turn out the best (they were toppling over slightly) but with practice, I hope to get these right. 

Vol Au Vents

The windmills looked very impressive and were filled with a little bit of Crème Patisserie and topped with half an apricot.  Once baked, we glazed with melted apricot jam and then some fondant. 

Windmills prior to baking

Windmills after baking and glazing with jam and fondant

The Palmiers are a favourite in our class and something we can whip up if we have any left over puff pastry left.  They are such an impressive little pastry and just look so cute, especially when the sugar caramelises.  Did I mention that they taste amazing too?



Palmiers


On our last day of week 4, we made Mille Feuille and a Jalouise using our rough puff pastry.  This was quite a stressful day and we have since determined that we do not enjoy working with fondant when making a Mille Feuille...

A Mille Feuille is a French pastry which means 'a thousand layers' and is very much the same as a vanilla slice.  Ours was filled with Crème Légère (a crème patisserie combined with whipped cream and gelatin) and then topped with liquid fondant and we finished with a feathering technique.  This is where the problem was as the fondant sets very quickly and you need a very steady hand to do the feathering... Overall the Mille Feuille came out OK considering it was my first time!

Mille Feuille

The last dish of the week was a Jalouise which is a puff pastry case, filled with a frangipane mixture and apricots.  The Jalouise is baked and then glazed with softened apricot jam for shine and extra sweetness.  We halved these for serving.

Frangipane and Apricot Jalouise

Next week we are focusing on Choux pastry which I am really looking forward to as I not only LOVE eating choux pastry products, but I find it is quite a nice pastry to make and work with.  We will be making éclairs, Paris Brest, Gateaux Pithivier, Gateaux St Honore and wait for it.... A Croquembouche!!!

I cant wait to put another post on here at the end of next week and showcase the amazing creations!! What I am not looking forward to, is working with toffee for the Croquembouche. :)

What a week! Week 2 - finished!

 

Productive or what??

 

People dream of baking delicious things on a daily basis... I am doing that!

 

This past week has been great and I feel like we have produced a lot of amazing stuff and I am getting a lot more confident in the kitchen.

 

Along with cooking amazing delicacies, we have theory lessons in the afternoon which flow into what we do in our practical classes in the kitchens.  We have been working on methods of cookery which included information on poaching, boiling, frying, simmering and blanching.  This past week we have been working on hygiene and will be tested on what we have learnt next week!

 

Onto the important stuff...

Day 1 of week 2:

We used our fantastic puff pastry we made in the first week and made pasties and lamb shank pies!

 

My bench partner and I decided to make our pasties vegetarian as she is vegetarian and they were delicious! We simply omitted the beef and used seasonings and the vegetables for flavour. 

 

The lamb shanks for the pies were seared in a hot pan and then cooked low and slow in the oven, covered in red wine, beef stock, shallots, garlic, rosemary and marjoram.  They were falling off the bone and smelt amazing!  We filled them into pies ready to bake!

Pre-cooked lamb shank pies



 

We baked the lamb shank pies and the pasties until lovely and golden and the outcome was amazing!   The puff pastry was flaky, buttery and delicious - I have never had homemade puff pastry before and will definitely be making this at home in future - shop bought puff doesn't even compare!

The finished products!  Lamb shank pies and vegetarian pasties.

Day 2 of week 2:

 

We used the sweet pastry we made the week before and shaped them into gorgeous little tartlet cases.  We blind baked 6 of these to make Crème Pâtissière filled fruit tartlets and the remaining 10 we used for frangipane tartlets. 

 

Prepared tartlet cases for Frangipane tartlets and Crème Pâtissière filled fruit tartlets.

 

We prepared the fillings for the tartlets - the Crème Pâtissière and the Frangipane mixture.  The Crème Pâtissière was fairly easy and we had no issues with the mixture not thickening/eggs scrambling etc.  We filled the blind baked tart cases with Crème Pâtissière after brushing the tartlet case with melted white chocolate to stop them going soggy.  Once filled, we decorated with fruit and glazed with a sugar/pectin mixture which was cooked until dissolved.  These tartlets looked absolutely stunning once finished and I was very pleased with the finished product.  (They tasted amazing too!)

Crème Pâtissière filled fruit tartlets

The frangipane mixture for our frangipane tarts was made with an almond paste instead of almond meal and was creamy, almondy and super delicious.  We lined the tartlet cases with apricot jam using a piping bag and then followed with the frangipane mixture also using a piping bag and then smoothing down with a palette knife.  These were baked and topped with more warmed apricot jam and then with roasted sliced almonds, fondant and a glace cherry.  Super cute!

Frangipane Tartlets

Day 3 of week 2:

We had a busy day, making two delicious desserts and also worrying at the same time as one of these dishes will be in a practical test next week...

 

First, we made poached pears which were poached in a lovely spiced syrup including lemon, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla.  Next was the Crème Anglaise... This was definitely a little trickier than the Crème Pâtissière.  Warmed milk is slowly added to a sugar/egg yolk mixture and then cooked over a double boiler very slowly.  There is a fine line between the mixture being under or over cooked and sadly - mine went over!  Luckily our lecturer was able to fix it with a bamix - but unfortunately this isn't good enough for next time when we make Crème Anglaise for our practical test... Crème Anglaise is on the menu this weekend for breakfast, lunch and dinner...



Poached pears with Crème Anglaise

 



Our last dish of the day was crepes with apple compote.  It took a while to get the hang of making the crepes and keeping them even and thin, but they turned out well.  The apple compote consisted of diced apples which were sautéed in butter and then we added sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and finished by glazing the pan with calvados (an apple liqueur) and thickening with corn flour.  The compote was rich and sweet and is a great accompaniment to crepes.

Crepes with apple compote

Day 4 of week 2:


This was a busy day and resulted in a delicious dessert which was served in a cup.  We first started by making a Swiss Meringue mixture and baked these as gorgeous little rosettes, pyramids and what ever other shapes we fancied. 




The Swiss Meringues baking in the oven



The finished Meringues!

The next step to our dessert was a pineapple jelly which we made from scratch.  This was fairly easy and has given me lots of ideas for other fresh fruit jellies. 

While this was setting, we prepared some pineapple which we roasted in honey, rum, cardamom and vanilla.  The result was gorgeous, sticky and sweet pineapple which would top the dessert.

The last step to the dessert was a beautifully rich and silky mousse which we made with coconut milk, Malibu and cream.  This was layered above the jelly and then topped with roasted pineapple and meringue.  Delicious!

The finished products!

This week was full of information, important methods and delicious desserts!  I thoroughly enjoyed this week and look forward to what's to come! 

Next week we have a practical test in which we have to make Crème Anglaise, a poached pear, chocolate piping and Chantilly crème piping.  We also have a theory test on hygiene and a full day on first aid so next weeks blog definitely isn't going to be as interesting or mouth watering as this one!!

The recipes for what we made this week are listed below.  Enjoy!


Recipes

Lamb shank filling (Makes 8 small pies)
3 lamb shanks
200ml red wine
600ml beef stock
2 Bay leaves
2 Garlic cloves
5 Baby onions
Sprig rosemary
Sprig Marjoram
Pepper to taste
40g cornflour

Brown lamb shanks in frypan over high heat.
Place lamb in baking dish and add wine, stock, bay leaves, garlic, baby onions, rosemary, marjoram and pepper.
Cover and baker for 3-4 hours at 160° or until the meat comes away from the bone.
Remove and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
Cut lamb from the bone and set aside onions, garlic and herbs.
Bring remaining juices back to the boil and thicken with cornflour slurry.
Add lamb to the thickened mixture and stir to combine.
Mixture is ready to fill into pie cases.

Pasty Filling (Makes 15 pasties)
350g Potato
100g Carrot
45g Turnip
80g Peas
80g Corn
150g soaked bread or bread crumbs
350g minced beef
30g onion flakes
20g beef stock/booster
100g Water
Salt and pepper to taste
Egg to egg wash

Wash and prepare vegetables into small dice or desired size and place into a bowl.
Mix through minced beef.
Add flavourings and soaked bread/bread crumbs and water and mix well.
Place filling onto prepared pastry pieces (circles)
Completely seal filling within pastry and brush with egg wash.
Bake in 220°oven for 20 minutes or until golden.


Crème Pâtissière (Makes 1kg)
60g Corn flour
40g Caster Sugar
6 Egg yolks
150ml Milk
600ml Milk (additional)
40g Caster Sugar (additional)

Blend cornflour and 40g sugar and stir in cleanly separated egg yolks. 
Dilute with 150ml milk.
Boil 600ml milk and 40g sugar in a separate pan.
Slowly add blended mix to the boiling milk and sugar, then whisk constantly until the custard is smooth and thick. 
Remove from the head and pour into clean bowl to cool and then cover to prevent a skin forming.

Poached Pears (Makes 1 poached pear)
1 pear
75ml white wine
500ml water
275g sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
1/2 cinnamon stick
1-2 cloves
1/4 rind of a lemon (zested)

Heat the water, wine, cinnamon cloves, lemon and sugar in a small pan and bring to the boil.
Peel the pear and leave the stem in tact - cut in half and core or leave whole.
Place into prepared syrup and cover with a cartouche, reduce to a simmer.
Poach until tender and store syrup to use when serving.

Crème Anglaise (Serves 6)
600ml Milk
1/4 vanilla pod
100g sugar
6 egg yolks

Bring milk to boil with vanilla bean.
Set double boiler to boil and whisk egg yolks and sugar in bowl of double boiler.
Once milk has boiled, temper sugar and egg yolks by adding a small amount of boiling milk to the mixture, mixing while slowly adding the entire contents.
Heat over water bath until mixture coats the back of a spoon and thickens, or reaches 80°.
Put into ice bath to stop cooking if required.
Pass through a fine strainer and transfer into a container and refrigerate until use.


Apple Compote (Serves 4)
2 Granny smith apples
100g Caster Sugar
5g Cinnamon
1/2 Vanilla bean
50g unsalted butter
50g Calvados
15g Cornflour

Peel Apples and dice or slice into required pieces.
Heat butter in a small pan and sauté apples until tender.
Add cinnamon, sugar and vanilla bean and cook for a further minute.
Deglaze with calvados, leaving a little liquid in the pan.
Add cornflour and stir in well.
Cook until sauce thickens.

Crepes (Serves 2)
2 Eggs
10g caster sugar
70g Flour
180ml milk

Whisk eggs and sugar together.
Whisk in flour.
Gradually whisk in milk.
Pass through fine strainer.
Use mixture straight away or store in refrigerator.  Add more milk if mixture is too thick.

Swiss Meringue (makes around 30 small meringues)
2 Egg whites (30g each)
125g Caster sugar

Warm and whisk egg whites and sugar over double boiler until sugar has dissolved (45-50° approx).
Whisk until stiff peaks and mixture has cooled using electric mixer or by hand.
Prepare baking sheet with silicone paper and pipe meringue mixture into required shapes.


Pineapple Jelly (makes 12 serving cups)
400ml pineapple juice
10g caster sugar
10g gelatine
1/4 vanilla bean

Warm juice, sugar and vanilla bean until almost boiling.
Bloom gelatine in 5 x its amount of water, eg 10g gelatine for 50g water, until water dissolved.
Add softened gelatine to juice mixture.
Strain mixture and pour into 12 x 100ml cups.


Roasted Pineapple
6 pineapple slices
1 vanilla bean
250ml honey
5 cardamom pods
20ml white rum

Cut pineapple into 6 1cm thick slices and then cut in half and place in a single layer in shallow oven proof dish.
Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into honey, bruise cardamom pods and add to the mix with the white rum and heat over low heat to soften.
Pour mixture over pineapple and roast at 200° for 15 minutes.
Turn slices over and roast for a further 15 minutes or until soft and cooked.

Coconut Mousse (makes 12 serving cups)
6 Egg yolks
200g caster sugar
200ml coconut milk
12g gelatine
50g Malibu
500g Cream

Warm the egg yolks and sugar over heat and whisk until creamy - do not cook.
Bloom gelatine and then heat over flame.  Once liquefied, add coconut milk and Malibu and bring to around body temperature (37°). 
Add gelatine mix into egg and sugar mix and whisk to combine.
Semi whip cream and fold into egg mix until combined and no lumps are visible.
Pour into prepared cups and chill.




Week 1... DOWN!

 

Well, week 1 is done and dusted!! 

 

 

The first week has absolutely flown by and I am really enjoying it so far.  I can definitely see myself enjoying working in the industry and cant wait for what's to come!

 

 

Like starting work or study anywhere - the first two days were boring and consisted of paperwork, policies, paperwork, more paperwork etc.  On our third and fourth days, we got stuck right in and began working in the kitchen.

 

 

We made three types of pastry (Full Puff, Short and Sweet) on our first day in the kitchen and then the next day, we used the short pastry to make something delicious!

 

 

I will go into more detail about the Puff pastry and Sweet pastry on my next blog post but would just like to say - I have a strong appreciation for anyone who makes their own Puff pastry!!

 

 

The Short pastry was quite simple to make and was left in the fridge overnight.  I will put the recipe for this at the bottom of this post.

 

 

We made two fillings for the short pastry and combined these with a 'Royale Mixture' to make two types of Quiche!  Quiche Lorraine and a sundried tomato, spinach and feta quiche.  Both were very easy to make and consist of everyday ingredients so anyone can bake and enjoy these.  The recipe for these will also be at the bottom of this post.

 

 

I took photos along the way to capture the steps and the finished product!!

I hope you all enjoyed my first proper blog post and are looking forward to the next, which I will hopefully post at the end of week 2 and will include everything we have done!

 

Don't forget to have a look over the recipes for the short pastry, quiche Lorraine filling, Sundried tomato, spinach and feta filling and the Royale mixture. 

 

Have an amazing week - I am eating quiche for dinner!! :)

 

 

Recipes

(makes 4 large quiches and 4 small quiches, adjust if necessary!)

 

Short Pastry

1000g Bakers Flour

500g Butter

250g Water

10g Salt

 

Combine flour and butter using mixer until mixture resembles large breadcrumbs. 

Add in the water and mix until mixture forms a ball.

Shape into a disc and refrigerate until ready for use.

Prepare into tins of choice if making into quiches and dock prior to baking.

 

Quiche Lorraine Filling

100g Cheddar Cheese (grated)

100g Diced Bacon (fried then mixed with cheese once cooled)

10g Butter (use to fry the bacon in a pan)

 

Sundried tomato, spinach and feta filling

300g Baby spinach (blanched and then finely chopped)

80g Sundried tomatos (Chopped into small pieces)

80g Feta (Chopped into small pieces and combined with other two ingredients)

 

Royale Mixture

9 Large Eggs (whisked)

250ml Water (add in and whisk)

700ml thick cream (add in and whisk)

Salt, pepper and optional nutmeg to taste (add in and whisk)

 

 

Simply fill docked (dock and then turn docked side down to avoid leakage/soggy pastry) pastry lined tins with the fillings and then pour over Royale Mixture until the fillings are covered and pastry is filled approx 0.5cm from the top to avoid the mixture rising and overflowing. 

 

 

*This recipe makes four big quiches and four small quiches - adjust if necessary!

Why now? My first post!!

 

Chocolate Éclairs, Petit four, Crème brûlée, Fresh bread, Macarons, Brownies, Quiche, Tarts, Cookies, Meringue, Cupcakes, Baklava, Pasta, Künefe, Dulce De Lece, Pastel de nata, Pizza, Gelato, Salted Caramel...

 

These are a few of my favourite things!!!!

 

I have always loved to bake, cook, create and enjoy amazing food.  Ever since I was a little girl I would either help out or take over the kitchen, making my mam my 'silent helper'.  From super impressive desserts, to simple old favourites, a gourmet meal or a weeknight meal, party food to birthday cakes - I love making them!!

It has taken me 7 long years to finally follow my dream and begin my journey in becoming a pâtissière!

Why now? 

I have been to university to study teaching which I just wasn't passionate about.  Why put all of that time and effort into something I am not going to put my heart and soul into?  Why spend thousands of dollars on a degree I wasn't excited about?

I have worked in various 9-5 office jobs which were just so routine, boring and draining.  I definitely could not see myself working in places like these for the rest of my working life.  I hated coming home at the end of the day dreading going back again the next. 

In 2015 my now fiancée and I followed one of our joint dreams and travelled the world for 10 months.  We had the time of our lives and look back with only fond memories.  At first we were sceptical and worried it wasn't the right thing to do but we took a risk and I quit my job, he was able to get a sabbatical/extended leave from work, we put everything we had in storage and gave up our rental property.  We both agree it was the best thing we have ever done!

It was this life changing experience that pushed me to follow my dreams and do something that I have been passionate about since I was a little girl and still get excited about.  At 25 years old I am following my dream and doing what I love to do.  I cant wait to start a career I have dreamed of and I want to share the journey with you all on this blog!

I start my course on Monday the 2nd February and will be studying a Certificate IV in Patisserie at TAFE.  I will add blogs as often as I can and will hopefully inspire people around the world to follow their dreams and live their lives to the absolute fullest!!!

 

Enjoy!