Frangipane!

Bonjour mes amis!!

Baking and Pastry has begun and we are in the full swing of class! In fact, hard to believe, but we are half way through already! This experience is flying by much too quickly. There are so many things still to learn!!!

FRANGIPANE (fraun-gee-pawn) is an almond and rum flavored cream. It is used in tarts & pithiviers (pit-tiv-ee-a). You make it by mixing butter, almond flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch, eggs, rum & pastry cream together. It can then be piped into the above listed items and baked off. It has a wonderfully rich flavor!

The biggest thing about baking and pastry is that you have to scale the ingredients correctly. Different from hot food, if you make a mistake with your sauce you can quickly add some roux or a cornstarch slurry to tighten it up. Or if the vegetables need more salt you can add it at the end. This is not a luxury in the Bakeshop!! If it goes into the oven wrong, it comes out wrong. There is a TON of science in baking. I believe that is why it is very intimidating and somewhat discouraging for those of us who have had some baking disasters!!! If you add the wrong amount of salt to your French bread dough it won't be as crisp and it will not brown as it should. No fixing that after you spent HOURS preparing it!!! So, again, scaling.... by weight is critical!!! This is a lesson my team learned in our first practical. Now we are like a carpentry shop.... measure twice.... mix once!

Up until now, any major grades for my classes have been based on individual work. This class we are in teams.... the same team for the entire rotation. No choosing of partners, no chance for change. Sarge, Chick-fil-a & Bride2B are no longer working with me. Darn!! The good news is that we are all in the same general area. Bride2B is on the bench across from me and the others next to us and across from each other. Shouting distance for sure!!

This rotation we added 6 new students who transferred from an evening class. We also lost 5-6 students for various reasons. That being said, there are still MANY students in the class and the groups are 3-man teams. At first I was concerned that 3 to a team would be too many. I have found that it is likely a good thing. So, meet my team mates. DoughBoy & All American.

I have referred to DoughBoy in previous posts but not given him a name. He sat at the end of the row in my first class and did not understand the concept of pushing in a chair or moving in so you could step behind. He also had a verbal altercation with Sarge in my second class and dropped the F-bomb several times. He strikes me as an individual who doesn't understand the concept of observation. If it is not happening in front of his face he is unaware. To this end he is solely focused on only what he is doing and lacks the perceptive capabilities to realize (when working in limited space) you MUST be aware of others. Sarge experienced it last rotation with the scalding hot water spilled down his front from a hot pan and I just recently ended up wearing 200g of bread flour rather than having it end up in the bowl on the bench!

Perhaps he is an only child. I say this because he really doesn't get the whole sharing concept. I am the ONLY one every morning who gets out the needed tools of the bake shoppe. My spatula, my bench scraper, my whisk, my pastry tips, my scissors..... All American will get them out as he needs them or when he realizes they are needed. Not Dough Boy, he has to be TOLD. "Hey, I am in the weeds here, could use a clean spatula"!! Then we wait for him to dig out his tools. Last Friday we were working with Pastry Cream and Frangipane and we needed to use a certain pastry tip, a 824 star to be exact. For some reason, the tips in my kit are different than those of my classmates.... again with the different kit because I am a Certificate Student? Anyway, we had to use DoughBoy's tip. We complete the task and I ask if I can work with it a bit longer to get the technique down and that I'll wash it with the balance of the dishes and return it in short order. Reluctantly he agrees. I finish up my practice, gather up all the tools to be washed (my whisk, my spatula, my bench knife, one of my tips, his 824 star tip, the mixer paddle) into the mixing bowl & head back to the dish pit. Just as I get there Chef is hollering for us to come to the front of the class for a Demo. So, I bring the dirty bowl full of "stuff" back to our bench and head up front for the Demo. After Chef finishes I return to the bench to grab the dirty bowl of items and see that DoughBoy is in the pit washing ONE item. Yep! You guessed it, he took the time to DIG his 824 star tip out of the bowl and simply left the other dirty items there. OMG!!! By this time I am seeing RED! I head over there and side right up to him and say "are you kidding me? you took the time to dig that out and left the rest? what's wrong with you?" His answer.... "I didn't want it to get lost." I finish washing the rest of the items and return to the bench. When I get there I look at him and ask him if he understands what being a team means? Blank stare.... I quickly share that being a team means we help each other, we don't just take care of ourselves. If we are going to get through this we have to work together. I am not going to take his stuff and that in the time he took to dig that specific item out of the bowl he could have washed 2-3 of the other items in there. But again... those were MY tools, not his responsibility. UGH!!

He does have some redeeming qualities, he is a good student. I believe his grades are good and he is a perfectionist. This part if funny because if he makes a mistake, no matter how large or small, "shit" is the automatic response. It's not quite to the level of Tourette Syndrome but close & very funny!

All American transferred to our rotation from the night class. He is very quiet and very polite. I think that he gets bored sometime with this class. It can move slowly but that is also indicative of the bake shoppe. You can't be in a rush, patience is the key to good and proper results. During our down time his is often weighing things, mixing bowls, spatulas, his notebook.... I suppose in life knowing that your spiral notebook weighs 300 grams is important!!! In preparation for our first practical exam he indicated his reluctance to being in our group. I asked why and he said because DB & I were older and both in the Honor Society (we wear pins). I laughed and agreed that I was older but the Honor Society thing... not since High School so not to be too thrown by that one!! He's a good kid and I am enjoying him as a team member.

Have I shared that the only text book I kept from my under-grad experience at Purdue was called "Professional Cooking" by Wayne Gisslen (first edition). Low and behold, I arrive to Le Cordon Bleu and pick up my books and discover "Professional Cooking" by Wayne Gisslen (sixth edition) is my main resource for this educational event. For some reason I am finding that really ironic. Returning to where I started.... The funny thing is that I don't remember that there were SO many kinds of flour in the 1980's! So, I pulled that book out and well, there they were, all the same ones I am learning about now. For some reason I think I'll remember them this time!

There is Bread Flour, Cake Flour, Pastry Flour, All Purpose, Whole Wheat & Rye. Other things can be milled into "flour" too. Like the Almond Flour mentioned earlier.... finely ground almonds. Nearly any of the nuts can be ground into a flour or meal to use in baking. It is critical to use the flour called for in a recipe. The textures and properties of a baked item are indicative of the gluten content in the flours. Too strong or too weak a gluten content and the end result will not be as anticipated. Also, be sure to work the doughs only as long as they need to be or are directed to be. Overworking gluten will tighten the strands and make the end result tougher than planned. Biscuits are a perfect example of this. I have made biscuits before and have turned out like hockey pucks! Mixed too long and worked too much flour into the dough during the roll-out process. Below is a great basic biscuit recipe. I have converted it to cups/tablespoons but also list the grams of each item. As mentioned earlier, weighing is the preferred method!

Hearty Biscuits

2 1/3 Cup (550 grams) All Purpose Flour

3 T (34 grams) Baking Powder

1/4 Cup (46 grams) Granulated Sugar

1 T + 2 t (23 grams) Salt

3/4 Cup (183 grams) Shortening

2 large (101 grams) Whole eggs

1 5/8 Cup (380 grams) Buttermilk

5/8 Cup (129 grams) Shredded Cheddar Cheese (or choose another!)

1 1/2 T (12 grams) Jalapeno (or herbs)

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt & sugar together. Using a pie dough whisk or bench knife cut in the shortening into the dry ingredients. You want to ultimately end with a mealy mix the size of peas.

Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the mixed eggs and buttermilk in. Start combining all the ingredients, just until combined. Do this by hand, if you use a mixer you will over mix the dough!!!

Add the cheese and chopped jalapeno. Once the dough is combined, on a lightly floured surface, gently fold the dough over. Pat the dough down and fold again, Fold and pat two more times. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Once the dough has rested the 30 minutes, gently roll it out on a dusted surface to 1/2" thick. Using a dusted biscuit cutter cut out your biscuits. Don't twist the cutter, just punch it into the dough and remove it. Place the biscuits on an UN-greased pan or piece of parchment paper. Let them touch each other, this helps the biscuits rise.

Brush them with an egg wash to promote color and sheen.

Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown & spring back in the middle. Approximately 20-25 minutes.

Yield is 18-24 biscuits.

I have also divided the dough BEFORE adding the flavorings and made two different kinds of biscuits. Roughly a dozen of each. If you do this then use 1/2 cup of cheese and 1 T of herbs for each batch. Optional flavor combinations are below...

Swiss Cheese & Chive

Swiss Cheese & Sun-dried tomatoes

Cheddar & Pimento

ENJOY!!!