Day 21 - Baking

Today started out with the Chef demonstrating how to make a pecan pie filling and a cherry pie filling.

I used the mealy dough to make a small pie in a 3" ring. It was partially baked before putting filling in it. While baking I made the pecan filling which was fairly typical as far as pecan fillings go. Then added it to my little pie shells. Then popped it back in the oven. It was very good. I liked the mealy dough because it was softer than tart dough, yet it still did a good job retaining it's shape outside the ring.

Next I made the cherry pie. I started out making the bottom crust using mealy dough in a 6" ring. The cherry pie filling was made using canned cherries. We used juice left over from when we poached the pears in red wine the other day. Using this juice we added sugar, cornstarch, and then cooked it. After we added the cherries and Triple sec. The cherry filling tasted very good. I made the lattice on the table and then moved it to the pie in order to keep it clean. The pie came out good. The downside was the filling bubbling out around the edges of the pie. The cherry filling was thick before putting it in the pie, so I guess it was just the volume of filling I put in the pie.

Day 20 - Tart Day

Today I found out that my grade on last Friday's practical was a 96. Yesterday I feared I may have received a lower score based on the review the Chef gave me. I'm guessing that the review was to push me to strive for perfection.

The grade of 96 is an overall grade on the practical test. We were graded on three areas:

A) Sanitation/General (grade: 20 out of 20)

1. Organization / Work flow
2. Hygiene and Safety Practices
3. Timing
4. Professionalism

B) Brysselkex (grade: 39 out of 40)

1. Texture
2. Flavor
3. Checkerboard (-1 point)
4. Color
5. Cuts

C) Chocolate Chip Cookies (grade: 37.5 out of 40)

1. # of chips
2. Texture (- 2 points for being domed versus being flat)
3. Color (-.5 points, just a bit overcooked, maybe)
4. Taste
5. Richness

Today I started by making two fillings. One filling was Almond Cream and the other Pastry Cream.

Then, the first tarts I made were Pear Frangipane Tartlets. I used the Pâte Sucrée dough I made yesterday. Then I mixed Almond Cream and Pastry Cream to make Frangipane. I put the raw tart dough into a 3" ring, then added the Frangipane into the shell. Then I cut the poached pears (which were poached yesterday) into slices, but kept the pear half mostly assembled. The pear half was placed on top of the Frangipane. Then it was baked at 375 degrees. Afterwards I brushed on an apricot glaze on top of the pear then sprinkled some crushed almonds around the top.


The second tart was a Fresh Fruit Tart. I used the pâte sucrée dough placed in a 3" ring. This was baked first before assembling the tart. While baking I made a Diplomat Cream which is Pastry Cream and Whipped Cream mixed together. This was then put into the baked tart shell. Then I put the fresh fruit on top of the Diplomat Cream, then brushed some apricot glaze on top. Fresh fruit was a little scarce in the class today so I didn't have much to work with. So I had to slice what I could get and stretch it.

The tart shells were no better than what I had made at home. I still don't like how hard they are. I guess I would like it better if it was more like a flaky pie shell. The Frangipane didn't really have a lot of flavor. The Diplomat cream tasted better to me. The poached pear wasn't that great. At Christmas I had fresh pears that tasted much better. The poached pears were poached in red wine yesterday by the Chef. I would imagine the red wine wasn't a great wine, but regardless, I don't think I like pear poached in red wine. To me it didn't do anything for the pear.

Day 19 - Dough Day

I didn't get a score on my practical test but I did get some feedback from the Chef. First he said I needed to be more consistent in the thickness of my Brysselkex cookies. Funny thing is he never showed the class anything about working with knives. But I'll take this criticism to heart. He also thought they were too golden, that maybe they needed to be cooked a little less. (Hmm! They looked just right to me). The critique of the Chocolate Chip cookies was that they were not spread out enough (meaning they were puffed up too high). The Chef said that four or five people did the same thing and that maybe someone was passing around a jar of baking powder instead of baking soda. Next time I'll make sure that I check what others are passing my way. Funny thing about it, these Chocolate Chip cookies tasted better this time than my batch before, even my family thought so. Oh well, it's a learning experience. I should find out my grade tomorrow.

Today we made four types of dough.

1) Flaky Pie Dough
2) Mealy Pie Dough
3) Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Pastry) - we'll use this to make tarts.
4) Rugelach (Jewish Pastry)

We just rolled each dough into a 2" diameter log. We'll use this another day.

Saturday Baking - Mardi Gras King Cake

At Christmas I received a cookbook from my Aunt Carol. It is "Dam Good Sweet" by David Guas & Raquel Palzel. It's influenced by cooking in New Orleans. Today I used a recipe from the book to make a King Cake. For those who aren't from New Orleans, a King Cake isn't really a cake as much as a sweet bread. I had a good time making it and it was relatively easy to make. Usually we get our King Cakes from Randazzo's Camellia City Bakery in Slidell, LA.


So I'm comparing what I made today to what I'm used to eating in the past. I braided the dough and was real pleased with the appearance. The recipe called for a combination of bread flour and cake flour. It came out a little more dense than I would like. Next time I would probably just use cake flour and hope that it was a little more airy. I think the dough should be just a little sweeter also. But, the family still enjoyed eating this tonight.

Day 18 - First Practical

Today was the practical test. I made the Brysselkex cookies and the Chocolate Chip cookies in the allotted time. They came out fine. In fact, the Chocolate Chip cookies came out even better this time. I won't find out my grade till next week.

So far I've received the following grades:
93 on the ServSafe Certification test
A - in the ServSafe class
A - in the Hospitality Career Mgmt