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Pastry School Diary: Week 2

October 5, 2014 by Beth Meyer

Week two was a lot more smooth than week one. I think we’ve gotten into our rhythm as a class and are becoming more efficient. We’re also getting to know each other a bit better and thankfully, we all get along really well. Before I started, I was nervous everyone would dislike how much I talk to myself in the kitchen. It turns out a few of them are similar, and most of us sing in the kitchen too. We’re currently on a musical kick; our first week was The Sound of Music and this past week was The Phantom of the Opera.

Day 1: Fruit Tart

To start off week two, we made a fruit tart using a pâte sucrée (sweet pastry crust) and crème patisserie (custard filling). We also went through the principles of blind baking, which bakes the crust without the filling. We lined the inside of the tart with cling film and dried baking beans. This, along with an egg wash, helps to keep the crust from becoming soggy on the bottom. I almost forgot to add the butter to my crème patisserie and had to remix. Oops!

We continued to talk about the differences in various flours. For the sweet pastry, we used a soft flour with 8.5% gluten content. Bread flour is typically 11-12% gluten (all-purpose flour is typically 10-11%). A fun little tip I learned was that a pinch of salt can be measured using your thumb and forefinger; a good pinch is thumb and first two fingers.

Pâte sucrée ingredients

Pâte sucrée ingredients

Creaming sugar & eggs by hand

Creaming sugar & eggs by hand

Shaping the tart

Shaping the tart

Pâte sucrée ready for the oven

Pâte sucrée ready for the oven

Blind baking

Blind baking

Pâte sucrée crust & fruit

Pâte sucrée crust & fruit

Crème patisserie in the tart

Crème patisserie in the tart

Assembling the fruit

Assembling the fruit

Pre-glaze fruit tart

Fruit tart pre-glaze

Fruit & crème patisserie tart

Fruit & crème patisserie tart

Day 2: Bakery

Today we made a wholemeal dough for sesame plaits, poppy seed stars and soda bread. We also performed a gluten experiment where we made a dough of flour and water and rinsed that dough in a strainer under the water, washing away all of the flour and just leaving the gluten. Then we baked our gluten balls. In theory, it should weight 12g, since we were using 12% flour. Ours didn’t, and it tastes gross!

Brown dough ingredients

Brown dough ingredients

Pre-cooked soda bread

Pre-cooked soda bread

Risen dough

Risen dough

Poppy seed star assembly

Poppy seed star assembly

Whole meal rolls & poppy seed stars ready to bake

Whole meal rolls & poppy seed stars ready to bake

Soda Bread

Soda Bread

Making plaits

Making plaits

Bread stash

Bread stash

Bread Loot

Take two – with loaf & plaits

Baked gluten balls

Baked gluten balls

Day 4: Chocolate Lab

We didn’t have science this week, so we spent the whole six hour day in the chocolate lab. We started by working on our chocolate motifs. As you can see, I was pretty bad at the beginning, but improved slightly by my forth sheet. I need much more practice! I can’t talk while I decorate or my designs become shaky, but I can still sing show tunes and it oddly focuses me.

We also talked about cacao butter and it’s uses in decorating. We kept working on our tempering and the importance. This is a subject we’ll discuss in depth over the coming weeks. One of the reason chocolate can have streaks or not set properly is because it’s off temper.

Motif's round one

Motif’s round one

Motif's round four

Motif’s round four

Making designs

Making designs

Making designs

Making designs

Splatter chocolating

Splatter-chocolating

Jackson Pollock-esk cacao butter designs

Jackson Pollock-esk cacao butter designs

Day 4: Theory & Bakery

On Friday, we went over bread theory and went more in depth about each ingredient and its importance. In the afternoon, we were in the bakery making raspberry financiers. The bakery is my favorite kitchen to be in. It’s bright with big windows and wooden and light marble countertops. The raspberry financiers were delicious!

Ingredients for raspberry financiers

Ingredients for raspberry financiers

Beurre noisette (nut brown butter)

Beurre noisette (nut brown butter)

Using the big whisk

Using the big whisk

Dough & egg whites

Dough & egg whites

Mixing in the egg whites

Mixing in the egg whites

Raspberry financiers ready for the oven

Raspberry financiers ready for the oven

Glazed raspberry financiers

Glazed raspberry financiers

Glazed raspberry financiers up close

Glazed raspberry financiers up close

Class Glazed raspberry financiers tray

Class Glazed raspberry financiers tray

Filed Under: Breads, Cakes & Tarts, Food, Pastry School

Beth Meyer

Hi y’all, I’m Beth. Born and raised in Atlanta. Moved to Los Angeles to work in event marketing. Spent 2012-13 traveling around the world for a year with my best friend. Followed by living in London for nearly three years where I attended pastry school. In April 2016, I moved back to the City of Angels, where I am a pastry chef and food stylist... read more...

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