Bagels, Brioche, Baguettes, and Baggy Pants

The third day at International School of Baking was the busiest.  We baked for about nine hours and then Marda and David invited me to go to dinner with a friend of theirs from out of town.  We finished baking at 6:15 and the reservation was 6:30....so I went to dinner in my striped baggy chef pants, chef jacket and clogs....I felt like a real foodie.  The wait staff at the restaurant kept wondering what was going on and I am sure the customers thought that I was on the wrong end of the kitchen.  We had a lovely meal and great conversation.  I think that people are still trying to figure out what this big guy from Wyoming is doing at Mara's school, though my teacher completely gets it.  I had some very nice compliments from them about how the bread was turning out and I was pleased.  This gives me more confidence for the remainder of the month, and Marda is just great to work with.  I came home and flopped into bed.  We still had to put off two projects...long flake pastry crust which we will make today, and one more Brioche braid that we will make some time.  The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for a week and baked off as needed....good news for the bakery.

So, for the family and anyone else interested in the products...here they are.

It was my idea to combine sesame seeds and onion...unconventional apparently...but I loved it.

Brioche made into Brioche-a-tete, Schneken (an amazing German-inspired pastry with a wild Amarena cherry on it), and hamburger buns.

 

Then we also baked off Pan Siegle...which is a large impressive loaf of mild rye and great crust.  These large loaves are proofed in willow baskets and are about 3#.  Can also be baked into a loaf with a soft crust as sandwich bread.

And lastly, French baguettes...where Ezdan got his first experience at shaping the inimitable baguette.  Apparently it takes 1,000 to become skilled.  I also had inadvertently taken an optional side step in the formula that was not intended for the day, by putting sourdough in the French bread dough.  This makes the dough much more difficult to handle, because it is so soft, and harder to dock (cut the lines in the top).  Marda says that it will probably have better flavor though.  We are doing baguettes another day as well, and these taste great.  They were coming out of the oven at 6:05 and we were packaging what we had baked earlier in the day when it was time to leave for dinner. 

Today.....chicken pot pies and pie crust and more.  I am to stop at the Cash and Carry on the way to class to get more baker's salt.