Monday 29 October 2012

Today was a fairly. not boring, but less exciting day, certainly compared to the previous weeks.

We started the first of a series of experiments, which will look more closely at the roles of salt, water & yeast content in the baking process.  Today; salt =)

Working in pairs, we made a control loaf, with a fairly standard 2% salt content, a salt free loaf, a loaf with 0.5% salt content, one with 1.3% salt content (which complies with the Food Standards Agencies current guidelines) and a loaf with 4% salt content.

Sara & I were very methodical in our baking; we timed our control loaves entire progress; the amount of time we spent mixing the ingredients, the time spent on each knead, how long for total bulk fermentation & the length of time in the prover. 

While this may seem a little overboard, we figured it made sense.  The point of the experiment was to examine the effect of different percentages of salt content, so the salt needed to be the only variable.  We ensured that each of our loaves followed the same process, in the same time frames =)

I didn't take any pictures of the mixing/fermentation process; all the doughs looked more or less the same, so I thought it might be a bit boring!

Once all the loaves were baked & cooled, we weighed them, measured the height, examined the colour, texture, aroma, everything!


All our loaves.  From left to right: Control, no salt, 0.5% salt, 1.3% salt & 4% salt =)

Appearance wise, there weren't too many differences.  Some were taller (the 0.5% salt), some were much shorter (the 4% salt). 

However, once we cut into them & started our taste test, the differences became quite apparent!  The no salt loaf was awful!  So bland & tasteless, it was a very watery, almost papery flavour, if you can call it that...

The 4% salt wasn't too bad really,  it had a very salty aftertaste, but not unpalatable.  Perhaps a touch too salty for me really.

I preferred the control loaf out of the bunch, with 2% salt.  It had plenty of flavour, a good crust & a soft texture inside =)


Tomorrow, we're looking at water content; one of the loaves will have a 100% water content, so that could be very interesting! 

Thursday 25 October 2012

Another day of Patisserie, and we were looking at choux pastry, flan pastry & Viennese dough =)

I've never made choux pastry before, so I was quite keen to have a go, & actually it's quite easy.   The pastry, once made, has a lovely sheen to it, & is quite tasty!  Then, it was simply a case of piping it out to the desired shape.


We made petite eclairs, & enormous choux buns!  Honestly, I was expecting buns the size of your standard profiteroles; instead, we had these!


We allowed the choux pastries to cool, while we made up the creme patissiere & our flan pastry.  The creme pat wasn't too tricky to make up, especially as we used proper flour, rather then the gluten free stuff we mistakenly used last week!

The flan pastry was extremely short, & very tricky to roll out, but eventually we managed it.  We were making fruit flans, so once the pastry cases had cooled, we filled them with the creme pat, & topped them with lovely fresh fruits =)


There was no set design here, we were given free reign to decorate however we saw fit, with whatever fruits we liked.  I used sliced peach, strawberries, blueberries, & a solitary blackberry =)

We then whipped up some cream & filled the choux pastry, then topped them with fondant icing; we had a choice of coffee or chocolate.  As I'm not a fan of coffee flavoured things, I went for chocolate =D


We also tackled Viennese pastry, which was so tough to pipe out!  I'm think it may have needed to be a little softer really; either that or I just don;t have the strength in my hands to do it!  But eventually we did have a reasonable selection of shapes & sizes!  (I didn't manage to get a picture of those I'm afraid, I got distracted!)

But, I did get a picture of our display tray, showcasing the results of a days labour =)


You can just about see the finished Viennese biscuits on the tray, they looked quite good once they'd been dipped in chocolate & sandwiched with whipped cream =D

Sadly, whilst the fruit flan did make it home in one piece, I had a slight disaster when trying to get it into a container to keep in the fridge!  So now I have a slightly messy, but still tasty, fruit flan! =D

Wednesday 24 October 2012

We had our second freestyle day today; anything we liked so long as it was based on a non-wheat or gluten free dough!

I chose to use the Pugliese & Oatmeal doughs as my bases; I paired the Oatmeal with Fig & Goats Cheese, & the Pugliese with Chilli, Lemon & Corriander =)

We made the Biga & Sponge up yesterday, so we were all ready to go!

The Oatmeal was very well behaved, proving in the estimated times & taking to the inclusions really well.  It was ready to scale & pre-shape right in the middle of lunch though, so not all perfect!


I think I might just have gotten the hang of this scaling thing; I was looking to scale each piece at 100g, & managed to get it to within a few grams of that each time! =D



The Oatmeal rolls rose & batched together really well; they looked great! =D
They went into the oven, & 11 (ish) minutes later, they emerged!

  

They're so light & fluffy!  The Fig works beautifully, but I must admit I couldn't really taste the Goats Cheese; I think next time I need to either increase the percentage of cheese, or use a stronger flavoured variety...

The Pugliese was such a wet dough!  Turns out after we made the Pugliese on Monday,  Wayne adjusted the recipe & dramitcally reduced the water content, but neither me or Sara (who I shared the Pugliese base dough with) heard him say so, so we used the full amount of water!

The dough was still just about workable, but it needed a fold every 20 minutes to get some strength into it, which is quite extreme considering the Oatmeal needed just one fold after an hour!  

Five folds later, the dough was ready for dividing & shaping; I chose to make two baguette shaped loaves rather than round loaves or rolls.

They came out of the oven looking really quite good =)


They were so fragrant, & the taste was awesome!  The lemon is the first thing that hits you, a lovely zesty fruityness & the chilli is just spicy enough =)  I think I might tone down the corriander next time though, it's just a tad too strong...

But all in all a very successful day! =D

I'm really enjoying the freestyle days; it's great to be able to experiment & test what I've learnt over these last few weeks.  Everythings starting to make sense; I'm begining to understand how to tell when the dough's ready to come out of the mixer, & when it's fully proved, so thats quite reassuring =)

It is tiring though; the bike ride home today was so tough!  My legs are killing me & my feet ache, but I know it'll all be worth it in the end! =D

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Phew!  It's been a busy couple of days in the Bakery, with lots of loaves needing an overnight prove before being baked, hence the late update =)

This week we've been looking at non-wheat & gluten free baking.  Yesterday we made Oatmeal Loaves & a Russian Rye bread.

The doughs were mixed in the usual manner, although the Rye wasn't as tricky to handle as previous batches, it was a firmer dough, but we still just popped each portion into the tins without much shaping!

Our group made batched loaves out of the Oatmeal dough, while the other team made standard tin loaves.



And they came out a treat!  I much prefer the batched loaves appearance to the tins, which are lovely, but theres something really nice about the way these came out =)

The Russian Rye didn't look too shabby either.

 

We also made up some Chestnut Levains, Pugliese & Spelt Bread which needed to be retarded overnight in the fridges, ready for baking today!


The Spelt Bread was formed into 12 small rounds, which were retarded 3 to a basket, so when they were turned out, they had batched together.  Once they were cooked they looked a little like a catipillar, but great anyway!


The Pugliese was the favourite of the day; it's made with potatos & has a texture much like a crumpet (or pikelet).



Yestersay we also created starters for Cornmeal & Chilli Loaves, Semolina & Sesame Loaves, Buckwheat & Bramley Apple Bread, & a Barley & Linseed Loaf.

We had a slight disaster with the Barley & Linseed Loaves... The recipe called for the seeds & salt to be soaked together, which we did, but then we mis-read the rest & added the salt again to the dough... =/

We didn't spot the mistake until AFTER we'd divided the dough into the tins & sprinkled extra seeds on top, but oh well!  We were still able to rectify our mistake by popping the dough back into the mixer & adding more flour etc.


They came out looking alright, but needless to say they weren't our favourite loaves!

We made up the dough for the other three breads, but time ran out & the doughs were slower to prove than we'd have liked, so we'll have to bake them off tomorrow.  The other group however, managed to have their Buckwheat & Bramley Apple ready to bake before the end of the day, & they came out looking a treat!


Hopefully ours will look just as good tomorrow =)

They'll be baked off first thing, then we have the rest of the day to freestyle some loaves of our own devising, all within the non-wheat & gluten free range of course =)

I've already made up the songe & biga for my loaves, as they need to ferment overnight, but I'm keeping the rest of the recipes a secret!  You'll have to check back to see if the day's a success or not ;)

Thursday 18 October 2012

We had a glorious cycle into School today; the fields were covered in mist & the sun was just starting to shine =)  It was a little wet in places though; it rained heavily last night & one part of the path was flooded, so it was an interesting ride at times!

When we got to School, we were greeted with the leftover freestyle loaves we baked yesterday!


Considering that tray was full to overflowing, I'd say there were some very well fed staff last night! 

Today though, we had our second Patisserie lesson & set out to tackle puff pastry & sweet crust pastry =)

We worked in pairs to create our batch of puff pastry, which was actually easier than you'd imagine; it's just a case of lots of folding & keeping the pastry cold.

The first things we made were Eccles Cakes!  I LOVE Eccles Cakes, they're so moreish & tasty, so it was really fun to actually get to make them =)  The filling is really simple; it's just currants, golden syrup & lemon juice =)


Next up were Apple Turnovers!  These were a little more tricky, trying to get the edges of the pastry to stick whilst containing all the apple filling was quite frustrating at times! 

We used the leftover trimmings to make layers for Vanilla Slices & combined a small portion with some Stitchelton cheese to make some epic Cheese Twists =D

With the sweet crust pastry we made bases for Egg Custards & Jam Tarts.



We used the above machine to stamp out the pastry into the moulds Clive had bought along.  I had ago, but it's a lot trickier than it looks!  My pastry case came out okay, but I think I'll need some more practise!


This was our display tray!  I was really pleased with how the Apple Turnovers & Eccles Cakes came out, & the Stitchelton Cheese Twists were so moreish it was impossible to eat just one! (Seriously, Sara & I devoured almost a whole tray between us!)  I haven't tried the Jam Tarts or Egg Custards yet, but they looked great too =D

The Vanilla Slices were gorgeous as well, & of course we had to eat those before we left; they'd never have survived the bike ride home!

There were a few loaves left to be baked from yesterdays freestyle; Tory's epic Marmite & Cheese Loaves, & Steph's Pear, Walnut & Ginger Loaves, & Date, Yoghurt & Honey Loaves.




They were all gorgeous!  Even the Marmite & Cheese Loaves were tasty (I'm not a massive marmite fan..) but the crust was lovely, & the taste was amazing.  All in all a very successful day!

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Today we were let loose in the training room for our first freestyle day!

We were given the opportunity to take any recipe, & change or adapt it to our own designs.  I chose to do two flavoured brioches; a chocolate & hazelnut brioche, with vanilla & cinnamon, & a spiced fruit brioche!

There were a few of us working with brioche dough so we ganged up & made a big batch, then we scaled it down to our individual doughs & set to work mixing in our inclusions.

It was so much fun, & so empowering to be able to work semi-independently (Wayne was always on hand to double check percentages etc).  The last three weeks have been sort of a blur, & I haven't been completely sure I've been taking it all in, but I actually have =)

I worked out the percentages for my inclusions, scaled down the brioche dough to an 80g drop weight, rounded them off, then shaped them, & all with confidence.  I think I've got bakers percentages worked out in my head now, which means I can adjust a recipe to scale the yield up or down as required, & to add inclusions to create a flavoured dough, which is brilliant!

My brioche rolls needed a little more time to prove, due to the inclusions in the mix, but eventually they were ready to bake!

So, a final egg-wash & sprinkling of crystallised ginger & white chocolate chips, then into the oven they went!

And here they are!


My Chocolate & Hazelnut Brioche, with Vanilla & Cinnamon, topped with White Chocolate Drops =D

Once they'd just about cooled, we broke into one to see how they tasted, & I'm really quite pleased.  I think if I made these again I would increase the amount of Vanilla & Cinnamon in the mix, as I couldn't really taste the vanilla, & I think the Cinnamon could have been a touch stronger, but Wayne thought they were brilliant! =D


My Spiced Fruit Brioche; Sultanas, Currants & Mango, soaked in Apple & Blackberry Brandy, topped with Crystallised Ginger!

Again I was pleased with how these turned out; they've got quite a subtle fruity flavour, so I think next time I would add more soaked fruit, & increase the amount of mixed spice in the mix.

Everyone else's experiments turned out really well too; there was such a huge range of things baked, it was quite remarkable!

Here are just a few photos of the other students goodies =)


Sara's Brioche rolls, with Figs & Goats Cheese

 Joe's Stichleton & Cranberry Cottage Loaves


Amy's Chelsea Buns


Alex's Beer-guettes! (Baguettes made with an all-beer poolish!)


Clare's Lemon & Orange Brioche


Meg's Goats Cheese, Roasted Shallot & Thyme Loaves

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Apologies for the delay in updating folks, but it's been a busy couple of days, & if I'm honest, I think I'm still recovering from Saturdays shift in the Bakehouse!  Plus, we've had a couple of reports to write, so I've spent some time being a 'proper' student & doing some writing!

This week, we've been looking at classic breads, so first up was, of course, the Baguette!


The baguette is unusual as it uses both poolish & levain starters, both of which had been made in advance of Monday's session, as they need a long fermentation time. 


Once the dough was made & rested, we divided it up & moulded them into mini baguettes =)
They were allowed to rest, then rolled out to approx 50cm in length.  Then, the cutting!


It's surprisingly difficult to get the cuts right; they need a particular angle on the blade, & a very slight angle on the cut.  But we all had a go & they weren't too bad in the end.  I was quite pleased with mine...


It was very tasty, especially with brie & a bit of chilli jam! =D

Next up, we tackled a Rye & Roasted Onion & Black Pepper loaf! 


This wasn't quite as wet a dough as the 100% Rye we baked last week, due to the inclusion of some ordinary wheat flour.




We didn't bother shaping the dough, we just divided it straight into the tins!  Then, we sprinkled them with onion seeds & rye flour, then popped them in the prover.  They rose quite well, but again that's down to the wheat flour.


They smelled fantastic when they came out of the oven.  I'm not a massive fan of onion, but the loaf really did smell so inviting!  They were too hot to take home at the end of the day, so we left them at School overnight.  But that's okay,  they'll be better after a day anyway =)

The third dough we made was for a Walnut Levain loaf, but we wouldn't be able to bake them today as they require an overnight prove in the fridge.


Today, we finished off the Walnut Levain Loaves, with a final shaping & a lovely cut, as shown below! 
 

The dough was much easier to cut than other doughs, like the Baguette, as it had been in the fridge overnight & was quite firm.

It's a lovely cut, & gives a great appearance to the finished loaf, as demonstrated below!  I was very pleased with mine =D


We had quite a busy day today, with two enriched fruited doughs, & a Pain de Campagne to make.

The first dough we tackled was for Apple, Honey & Sultana Hot Cross Buns; there were so many ingredients!  Eventually we got it all mixed in, & I had the task of extracting it from the spiral mixer; no easy task I can tell you!

The dough was allowed to prove, then divided into small rounds, which were lined up in trays & placed into the prover to really bulk up =)

Then we had to apply the crossing paste, to give the buns that distinctive appearance.


They were baked, then glazed, & were so tasty!  Especially still warm!


We also made Chelsea Buns, but I must confess I don't appear to have taken any photos of them... =(

Tomorrow is our first freestyle day, where we get to choose what we want to bake, as individuals!  I'm going for a couple of varieties of brioche, but I'll say no more for now, just in case it goes horribly wrong!