Day 24: Viennoiserie!! Pecan Sticky Buns, Sally Lunn Buns, Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Yessirree, Viennoiserie!!! Here is our intro to breads! This unit is somehow wedged between Puff 1 and Puff 2, but I just don't see why... I'm not complaining though! Anyways, the bread world is quite different from everything else we have learned so far. There's more "waiting" time between steps. It's good, but bad. We really had to learn to manage our time well, because once you start something when something else is proofing, you'd better make sure that you don't forget about that thing that's proofing. And being a baker during this unit is not a happy task. Thumbs up to our bakers for this unit!!!

And now, without further ado, I present the start of our Viennoiserie!

First up is the Pecan Sticky Buns! Move over Cinnabon!!! Oh, this was really, really good. I'm a total sucker for Sticky Buns and I was not disappointed! =)















Sally Lunn, oh Sally Lunn! I loved these buns. So did my little one! It was a good bribing tool while it lasted!















And finally, the Orange Cinnamon Swirl Loaf. This was good, but it would have been great without the raisins. Sorry peeps, I'm just not a raisin fan (you can thank my bro for that)! Though I have to say that letting the raisins soak in rum makes it more tolerable! =)

Day 23: Jalousie, Pithivier

Ahh... This day was one of my favorite puff pastry days! Actually, most of the puff pastry days were my favorites! =) Anyway, the Jalousie and the Pithivier were both uber scrumptious! And both have juicy, scandalous back stories to go along too!

The Jalousie, which supposedly means a slatted blind is named accordingly because it looks like a slatted blind! The story goes that a baker/pastry chef had a suspicion that his wife was cheating on him, so he would try to peek through a slatted blind to see if he could catch her cheating... Well, when you look into our slatted blind pastry you won't find a cheating wife, but you will find almond cream and raspberry jam! The combo was pretty good!















Now for the Pithivier, supposedly there was a king who wanted to go meet with his mistress, so he disguised himself as a commoner. On his way to see his mistress, he was kidnapped by a gang and they brought him back to their town - Pithivier (in Orlean, Fance)! Well, when they got back to the town, they realized that they had the king!!! Oh no! And so, to make the king feel better, they made him this wonderful treat so that he won't throw them in the dungeon (or something like that)... Okay, I don't really remember all the details, but you get the gist of the story. Anyway, this one is also called a "Twelfth Night" cake served on the Epiphany. They can be baked with a whole nut hidden in it and whoever gets the nut gets to be the King/Queen for the day - fun!

Day 22: Conversations, Poire En Cage, Galette de Saison

Alright, I have to say that I am enamoured with the Conversations! Lucious almond cream encased in puff pastry with a layer of royal icing on top, then decorated with more puff pastry, and baked until brown. The traditional design on top should be a simple "x" but we were allowed to get creative to a point (we didn't have any cool cutters so we had to make do with the round ones that we had). I was a little disappointed that some of them cracked and broke, but I certainly was not disappointed with the taste! Absolutely and utterly delicious!!!















The Poire En Cage (literal translation is Pear in a Cage - the glamourous flow of the French name is definitely lost in translation!) was pretty good too and I think they look fabulous. We poached our pears using caramelized sugar, water, white wine, fresh ginger and cinnamon. I think the pears turned out pretty good. Now, with a tiny bit of almond cream on the bottom, this dessert was as yummy as it was attractive.

Our Galette de Saison on the other hand.... Well, we made an apple compote with rhubarb. It was my first time trying rhubarb and apparently, the rhubarb we got was not completely ripe yet and we kind of put a lot and, well, the compote turned out to be kind of sour. At least too sour for my taste. No, I did not throw them out, they were actually finished up by our army of workers! They all seemed to like it, or if they didn't they certainly didn't tell me and they finished them quite quickly! Just not for me...

Day 21: Mille Feulletage, Fruit Bar, Papillion, & Vol Au Vent

So I think I'm going to make a new work-out video called "The Perfect Body - Pastry Way". The only catch is, you make everything, but you can't eat it! Anyway, I'm kind of sore today in the ab area. Yes, the abdomen area. Rolling Pate Feulletage (puff pastry) will give you a work out! Actually, my shoulders and arms are kind of sore as well, though that could be from carrying my back pack around...

The Mille Feulletage is basically a round Napoleon, but it has powdered sugar on top with the burnt on (or rather branded on) Quadrillant design on it. The traditional Napoleon has Fondant and Chocolate on the top.















The Fruit Bar was delicious!!! I guess it helps when the fresh fruit is uber fresh and sweet, PLUS it has almond cream and from past experience, anything with almond cream is yummy!!!















Papillion is French for Butterfly. These are basically made the same way the Palmiers were made, but it was cut and shaped differently. Mine do not necessarily look like butterflies, but again, they sure were fun to make and eat!
















Vol au Vents are basically casing for a filling. These can be used for both savory and sweet fillings. In class, we made savory fillings which were quite delicious! Check out the rise on my puff pastry!!!! Not too shabby, huh? =)

Day 20: Tomato Tart, Fruit Strip, Palmier & Apple Tartlettes

Today we completed a bunch of things! The Tomato Tart I think was more for practicing our knife skills. Currently, my knife skills still need a lot of improvement, though at least I am not as scare of the knife as when I started! Our Chef Knife looked so intimidating to me! But now I have to say that it is my friend. =) Anyway, this savory tart was very good. Strange as the "tomato custard" sounds, which is essentially what it was, it was quite good!!! My mom took a good portion of it home and I had a nice sized slice for lunch the next day!















We also made a Fruit Strip and the Apple Tartlettes - more knife skills cutting up fruit! The Fruit Strip has a little Creme Legere on the bottom and I thought it was really quite tasty! The Apple Tartlettes were also very good since we sprinkled some Vanilla Sugar on top before putting it in the oven. It was a very good combo!





























With our puff pastry scraps, we made Palmier. It is also known as Elephant Ears. This was fun to make and even more fun to eat!

Day 19: Paillettes (Cheese Straws)

Puff the Magic Pastry...

So we just started on Puff Pastry! It's rather interesting, but definitely a labor intensive dough to make! I can see why people charge a lot for Napoleon and things like that... Most of the class we spent just making the dough. The only thing we were able to complete was the Cheese Straws which were quite yummy. Our teacher said that they should be a little spicy so that it will make people drink more. Apparently, it's nice to serve these at the bar of restaurants so that they buy more drinks! =) Anyway, I'm not too much into spice, though I did put some in. Maybe next time we have a party, I'll make some of these for snacks...

Day 17: Croquembouche

Yes! The croquembouche!!! This is the traditional wedding cake in France!!! Ever since I saw this on Desperate House Wives, I have wanted to see one up close and personal. I never imagined that by getting up close and personal, I would be the one making it! It is a lot harder than I thought and since I haven't really seen more, I wasn't too sure about how to decorate it. I made a bunch of decorations, but I made them too thin, so a lot of them broke when I tried to attach them to the croquembouche. Since this is a wedding cake, I went ahead and made me and my husband's initials with the heart. Well, I made lots of hearts, but again, they broke. =( Actually, Mike's "M" broke too, but I just put it on anyway...

Without further ado, I present my very first Croquembouche!




















Here is my partner's croquembouche. I think she did an awesome job! Go Gina!!!
















This one is a picture of the whole classes' croquembouches! I think we all did a pretty good job! Chef Cynthia seemed impressed!