Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Culinary School #3-Baking
So the class on Monday was all about baking. And let me just say it was a little overwhelming for me. We did break into groups again and I was designated "scone girl." And sure I had made scones before, but these scones took my skill set and knowledge to a whole new level. I have always thought of myself as a pretty damn good cook, but I am quickly learning that my technique leaves something to be desired, my culinary vocabulary is rudimentary at best and my knowledge of cooking accouterments is very minimal.
For example, do you know what a lame is? I have always thought that lame was a term used to describe something that was kind of boring or ridiculous or disabled. I learned this past week that in cooking lame is a tool that is used to score bread...kind of like a razor blade on a stick.
I also learned that when making French baguettes you need to create steam in the oven so that the baguette gets that crisp exterior and chewy interior.
There are all sorts of methods that can be used to get steam. Obviously large bakeries use steam injectors but for the home cooks I learned of two fairly simple ways to create steam. The first one involves putting a wet towel on a cookie sheet in the oven while you bake the bread and as it heats up it will emit steam. The other option which I saw the other night reminded me of creating a sauna in your oven. You take a baking pan, add rocks and chains, yes I said rocks and chains, adding water to them and as they heat up they release steam.
We made pie dough and as many of you know if you have been reading my blog for awhile, pie crust is one of my nemesis. It always tends to fall apart on me and just turns out a bit on the ugly side. Well one of the biggest tricks I learned is that if dough gets warm it becomes harder to work with. So the easiest way to remedy that is to put it in the fridge for a bit and then take it out and roll it out.
This tart dough was sticking to everything when I was trying to roll it out...my hands, my rolling pan, the counter, any random person who walked by...yes very embarrassing. Well I put it in the fridge for 20 minutes and it was like new dough. Rolled out perfectly. I also learned a cool trick...if you roll the dough out on parchment paper it is easier to get in the pan. Just pick up the parchment paper and flop it in.
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| My fruit tart-lemon curd w/assorted fruit |
I also learned that when making pie crust you should always keep the fat and liquid cold. One of the other fatal pie crust mistakes involves over handling it. This is a hard lesson for me because I really like to touch everything. When I am clothes shopping I touch all of the material. When I was a kid playing in the tide pools I loved to touch the starfish and put my little fingers in the sea anemones. So being told I shouldn't touch something as much was kind of a challenge.
Now let me share with you some of my new cooking vocabulary words:
- Crumb-texture of bread or cake
- Couche-perforated baguette pan that allows for a brown surface and chewy interior
- Proofing-Combining yeast with warm liquid and a small amount of flour or sugar. Let it rest at room temperature and if it foams the yeast is alive and if there is no foam the yeast is dead.
- Docking-perforating dough
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| Foccacia w/caramelized onions, peppers and Parmesan cheese |
As I mentioned the scones were my responsibility. So I made the scones with candied lemon peel. To candy a lemon peel you cook it in a simple syrup and then allow it to harden on a pan, chop it up and add it to the scones. We served the scones with a strawberry sauce and whipped cream that was flavored with the lemon simple syrup. Let me just say this was pretty much a slice of heaven!
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| Strawberry Sauce |
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| Candied lemon peel |
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| Scones w/Whipped Cream & Strawberries |
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| Yes, I touched every single one of these flours!! |
Now for a few just random baking tips that I picked up:
- Weight is the most accurate and consistent way to measure so we should all have a kitchen scale. I do not own one currently, but I will be buying one today.
- Never pre-measure vanilla because it evaporates due to the alcohol content as it sits out and causes the measurement to be off.
- Yeast should be kept in the freezer. Not on the counter where mine is right now
- Yeast should be brought to room temperature before preparing the dough
- Salt is added to yeast breads to develop flavor and control the yeast action.
- Never put a pizza stone in a hot oven. Put it in a cold oven and let it warm up with the oven.
I also had to turn in my chicken stock...which took me all day Sunday to make...and the feedback I received was that it was a little watery, but that it had a good chicken flavor. Let me just say homemade chicken stock is very time consuming. I probably spent a good 8 hours making my stock when you consider, shopping for the ingredients, going to the grocery store twice if you are me and you forget to buy the chicken, boiling the chicken, simmering it for 3-4 hours and cooling it for 2-4 hours. It was a great experience, but I still honestly think I am a fan of the canned chicken stock. Cheers!
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