Well, that's it.  Yesterday was the last taught day of Term 2.

Next week we're all off on our second placements; I'm off down to Enfield, to spend four weeks with the guys at Holtwhites Bakery.  I'm feeling kind of nervous about it, but excited at the same time.  Amy had her first placement there, back in December, & I know she had a great time, so I'm sure I will too =)

This last week has been great; we've gotten back to real bread, which, after two weeks of decorative, inedible bread, is such a relief!

We started off with some lovely loaves as well.  First up, Wayne's Olive & Gruyere loaf!

We were all working individually this week, so Wayne could get an idea of where we're all at in terms of skill level etc, before we leave for placement.  This meant a lot of hand mixing!  Thankfully, the Olive & Gruyere loaf has such a lovely dough it was rather a pleasure.  There's a small amount of olive oil that goes into the dough, right at the end, which makes it silky, smooth, & wonderful to work with.

Once the dough had proved, it was stretched out by hand, then liberally scattered with chopped olives & Gruyere cheese, like so...

It was then rolled up, dipped in water & rolled in a sesame seed mix, before being chopped in two, & placed cut-side up in a tin, like so...

They looked & smelt wonderful once they came out of the oven, & they were so tasty, only a few made it home in one piece, if at all!

We also made a Roasted Garlic & Caramelised Onion loaf on Monday, which also came out quite well, although I must admit I was less keen on the flavour, but then I'm not a fan of onion...

The loaf on the left was proved smooth side down in the basket, the other craggy side down, so I could see the difference between a loaf which was scored, & one left to burst naturally.  Not intentional at all, but the cuts look a little like a scary pumpkin!  Something to remember for Halloween perhaps?  =)

Tuesday was a busy day, with four doughs to make & shape; a Caramelised Pecan & Chocolate loaf, a Fig & Walnut, Walnut & Blue Cheese, & finally a Raisin & Orange loaf.

All my doughs progressed as expected, except the Raisin & Orange, whose dough resembled something more like a stringy soup than anything bread related... We think it was either a particularly acidic orange, which denatured the gluten, or perhaps I added the orange too early, before the gluten had developed enough to cope...

But all was not lost, I simply put down another starter, ready to try again on Wednesday!

The only loaves we baked off on Tuesday were the Roasted Garlic & Caramelised Onion, so once we had divided & shaped all the other doughs & put them in the fridge to retard overnight, we were free to do some research for our freestyle loaves, to be made on Wednesday.

I chose to try my fruity Brioche again, so I made the dough up Tuesday afternoon, then popped it into the fridge to rest overnight.  I also put my fruits to soak in raspberry tea, & set about drying some orange segments for my second freestyle loaf.  This one would be an attempt at an Earl Grey & Orange sourdough.  I took the water for the recipe, & stewed some Earl Grey teabags in it overnight.

First thing Wednesday, we baked off the three loaves from the day before.

Left to right are the Walnut & Blue Cheese, then Fig & Walnut, & last but not least, the Chocolate & Caramelised Pecan loaves.  I'm really quite pleased with how they've all turned out.  I only scored the Walnut & Blue Cheese loaves, & one each of the other two.  The remaining loaves were proved craggy side down, & they've actually burst in a similar pattern to the intentional scores  =)

Once the Brioche dough had warmed up to room temperature, I incorporated the soaked fruits & a touch of mixed spice, then left it to prove again.  Then it was divided into 80g rolls, egg washed, & popped in the prover to rise again.

Before they went in the oven, they were egg washed a second time, & sprinkled with sugar nibs  =)

They rose well in the oven, & smelt wonderful.  Here they are, just out of the oven...

These were much improved from the last batch, full of lots of lovely fruity flavours, & actual fruit!  I do think they could have been proved a little longer perhaps, or some more work put into developing the dough strength to improve its volume.  And I think perhaps next time I'll soak the dried figs as well.  I didn't this time as I was worried they'd get a little mushy, but in truth I think they dried the crumb out slightly... Wayne seemed to like them though  =)

My Earl Grey & Orange Sourdough was quite a slow mover, so that went into the fridge to retard overnight, as did the Raisin & Orange loaves.  They were also vastly improved from the previous attempt, this time an actual dough!  With strength!  And structure!  =D

Both those loaves were baked off Thursday morning, & came out looking like so...

These were the Earl Grey & Orange sourdoughs; I'm really pleased with the way the cuts have opened, & with how much they sprung up in the oven.  I was a little worried they wouldn't move at all, especially as I was using my sourdough culture I made when we were taught by Emmanuel a few weeks back.

The Raisin & Orange loaves came out looking alright as well, but I think my cuts needed to be deeper to really have any impact.  They're very tasty though  =)

Yesterday was flour confectionery, finishing off the week on a sweeter note.  We were still looking at types of meringue this time, as well as a ganache & a boiled buttercream.

First thing we did was to make up the chocolate ganache, which used an obscene amount of double cream & chocolate!  Then that went into the fridge to cool & set, so we made up some frangipan & a sweet pastry, to make little tarts.

We put a spoonful of jam, either apricot or blackcurrant, or some lemon curd into the bottom of the pastry cases, before piping on the frangipan.  I was quite pleased with how mine came out in the end  =)

We also made up some Japonaise fancies, a type of meringue that uses ground almonds & hazelnuts to give extra texture & flavour.  These we piped out into discs & shell like shapes, then scattered with nibbed or flaked almonds, or left plain, & baked.

 Clive (our tutor) had piped his Japonaise into three long strips, which he used to create the most epic meringue based dessert any of had ever seen!  There was so much ganache used on this beast, it was crazy!

There was ganache in between each layer, then piped & smoothed down the sides, which were then coated in crushed pistachios.  Then, a final layer piped on top!

Once our Japonaise fancies had cooled, we set about creating little towers & sandwiching them together with the ganache, & the tarts were topped with melted fondant, or with the boiled buttercream.

This was my tray of creations =)

All quite tasty, although I must admit I think the ganache is just a little too heavy for the meringues...

So that's it.  Another term over & done with...  I feel a little melancholic about it all.  The years going so fast, before we know it, it'll be July, & it'll be over.  But I've loved every minute so far, so the thing to do is make the most of my placement, get everything I can from it, then come back & take on Term 3! 

I'll try & update while I'm on placement, but I make no guarantees!  =D