(Also, (don't laugh) I've just realised I can create a post title... Not the most IT literate, but who cares!)
So anyway, I decided on my petit fours for the Flour Confectionery assessment, so of course some extensive test baking was called for!
The first recipe I tackled was for Lemon & Poppy Seed Madeleine's (using the Madeleine pan I picked up in France!). I'd recently bought the gorgeous Bouchon Bakery Cookbook, & naturally, they've got a recipe for Madeleine's, albeit plain ones. So, I figured I'd give them a go, & fling in some lemon juice, zest & poppy seeds, & see what happened! (Of course I weighed everything I added, I'm not that much of a cowgirl baker!)
They came out looking quite nice, & tasted lovely, if a little dense in the middle...
So, I played around with the recipe, adjusting to take into account the extra liquid from the lemon juice, & the next batch came out beautifully! =D
They were light, fluffy, & held their shape far better than the first lot. And of course they were scrummy =D
Next up, some Ginger & Chocolate Tartlets. I found a lovely recipe for some chocolate tartlets, so decided to do my usual & amend it with some chopped stem ginger & ginger syrup.
The first lot were lovely, but way too big. The petit four's have to be no more than 40g in weight each; these came out at 55-60g!
So, I made them again using a shallower pan for the tartlet cases, & they came out at a much better weight =) These were 33-35g each, & looked far more delicate & petit four like than the first batch. I just need to up the ginger in the recipe, to really give it a kick, & they'll be sorted =)
I still need to sort out my choux pastry recipe, & decide on a filling for the resulting eclairs, but I feel quite good about the petit fours =) I'd like the opportunity to practise them at School, to make sure the baking times are appropriate for their ovens, & I think there is some free style time built in in the next couple of weeks, so that should be easy to arrange =)
We've been just as busy at School. Monday saw us baking donuts! =D
These were mine & Rose's buns, ready for frying. It was quite fun, if a little long winded. We could only fir two in the fryers at a time, & me & Rose seemed to have gotten stuck with a slow fryer! But eventually they were all fried, tossed in sugars & ready to fill with jam =D
I choose raspberry jam & lemon curd for mine - Lovely! =D
Other buns were baked off in the oven. These we sliced & filled with jam & cream.
Today we had four doughs on the go; bagels, Pane Toscano, Pane Brie, & Panettone!
The bagels were quite simple to shape; we just rolled the dough into a long strip, which we curled round to form a ring. Then we rolled the dough along the join, to seal it before they proved. Then they went into boiling water!
After they had boiled for two minutes wither side, they went onto baking sheets & into the oven to finish baking.
The Pane Toscano is traditionally a salt less bread from Italy. Ours was made using long fermentation & had semi dried tomatoes in to help give it more depth of flavour. The dough started off quite nice, but because there was no salt in it, it eventually became stickier & more difficult to handle! But, with some coaxing, we got them shaped & into banetons.
They do have some flavour, but you can certainly tell there's no salt in the dough. This bread is traditionally eaten with a lot of salted meats, that sort of thing, so the bread doesn't need to be salted =)
The Pane Brie has nothing to do with cheese, despite the name, & is actually a bread sailors would have taken with them on their long sea voyages. In order for the breads to last, they were made with a very tight crumb structure, created by rolling the dough out quite thin, then folding it up again, much like you'd do with croissant dough.
Here's my loaf ready for baking...
And after baking! The oven was rather full, & some of the loaves batched together, hence the lighter colouring on the bottom half of the loaf. It's quite a soft, tasty loaf; full of lovely buttery flavours =)
And finally, the Panettone =)
We've made these before, but it's always a pleasure to make. The dough is so lovely, full of butter & sugar & tasty fruits =D
Once they were proved, they were sprinkled with sugar nibs & cut using scissors, then, into the oven!
And look! They grew a huge amount during baking, proper tasty lovely fruity tasty monsters =D
But for now, I need to go get some sleep. All this test baking & fighting through epic winds on the bicycles has rather worn me out!
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