Midnight Madness

So, I get up at 11:20 pm last night and get dressed quickly to head to the bakery to watch and help if I can.  I go downstairs and my housemates are coincidentally arriving home from the six hour drive from Seattle back to Bend.  The interaction was priceless.  They are dragging and area rug into the living room that Papa Nolan's parents sent back for the house and I appear totally dressed and ready to go.  "Did we wake you up?" was the first concern.  When I informed them that I was going out to help at a bakery their eyes got big and I thought that they might need orthodontic procedures to reposition their jaws.  Then one of them said, "At Midnight?"  He got a quick lesson from the other about that is when bakers work.  I am enjoying all of this and thinking that why can't an older guy go out at night.  It is not a privilege reserved only for the young college-aged types.  I then toss on my jacket and run out to my vehicle and drive to the bakery.  Of course, I had to use GPS to find it in the dark.

The time there was amazing.  The young baker was very kind and answered all of my questions.  I tried to stay out of the way mostly, but he did let me help him shape and grill the English muffins.   They make their own and serve them with breakfast at the restaurant every morning.  I also helped shape some brioche rolls for an event that they are catering this weekend, and made two loaves of cinnamon babka.  He also asked me if I wanted to shape the baguettes for the day.  I was a bit nervous because a bakery is judged by the quality of its French bread.  At baking schools in France they start their day by shaping 100 baguettes.  I have not done very many at this point, but he helped me and things went well.  It was a great evening, and suddenly it was 5:30 in the morning...oops that was six hours.  Well, I run home and find that I am the late one in, even though as I left the roomies said something about maybe being up when I got home?  I slept for another hour or so and got up for class.

As I arrived at Marda's house, I was greeted by a lovely view of some late summer crocus that have been blooming all month.  I have never seen anything like them....no leaves...just buds popping out of the ground.

 

Well, back to baking.  I do not have tons of pictures today because everything we made is still in process.  We made Sacher Torte, which is a chocolate almond cake that is soaked in apricot glaze and then glazed with chocolate.  That will happen tomorrow.  I made some chocolate truffle filling for cakes tomorrow and some Italian Meringue butter cream.  One big highlight of the day was that we made New York style cheesecakes in several flavors.  Marda makes a cheesecake base and keeps in in freezer.  She takes it out and then bakes it plain or adds amazing flavors.  I made chocolate with brownie chunks, mocha, raspberry, key lime and plain today.  They are resting in the oven overnight and slowly coming to room temperature and were baked in a water bath.  Here is a picture of them being assembled starting with the biscotti crumb crust.

 

Getting ready to swirl the raspberry in

 

One other very cool thing is that right now, it is mushroom time in Oregon.  Marda has friends who are certified mushroom foragers and bring her back beautiful chantrelle mushrooms that she steeps in warm olive oil and it gradually semi-cooks them and preserves them.  She then uses them on pizzas, salads, and whatever.  I have had some several times and they are amazing.  Today she had two jars sitting there and I thought that they looked great.

 

 

Who knows, maybe they are contributing to the midnight madness.  So in total, I baked 15 hours in the last day....what a trip.

 

 



"Now you're a real baker."

Today was a great day in many ways.  We made some different things that all were firsts for me.  But one other first is that tonight at midnight I am going to work/observe at a local bakery here in town. So this will be a quick post.  The owner of the bakery is one of Marda's former students and is doing very well.  We made a Chocolate cream pie, that had two layers of chocolate filling (a darker one on the bottom and a lighter creamy one on top) and was covered with whipped cream and chocolate curls.  It is a "pie" because it has sloping sides.  It was in the freezer most of the day, so I only have one quick picture of it.  We did have a piece for lunch of the smaller one that we made.  Even the dog Nana was begging for bits from David.

 

We then worked on making Biscotti with almonds and pecans.  This is a great recipe and takes several hours to accomplish and then you let them dry out until they are totally crisp.  Marda likes them a bit smaller than some, so that they are not so huge and they are delicious.  She made up the recipe after eating some biscotti in Italy for years and working to make them taste just like they do there.  She says that they are not so hard and are lighter in Italy.  They are baked in long loaves and then sliced when cool and baked again to dry them out.  Here they are getting ready for the second baking.  There are tons of nuts and a very crisp texture.  You don't have to be a coffee drinker or a dipper of any kind to enjoy these.

 

You can see the nuts in the Biscotti on their sides

We also baked pecan pie squares on top of almond tart dough and they will be cut out  tomorrow.

 

This is chocolate marble pound cake which has a deceiving exterior.

 

The inside when cut.

Fabulous aroma and chocolate chunks in it with orange peel in just the chocolate batter.

 

One of the most exciting things today was that while I was baking, I was also watching a bid item on ebay.  Every bakery who is planning on doing very much pastry work must have a sheeter, which is a motorized rolling pin that can go down to 1/64 of an inch.  This is very important because hand rolling is too unreliable for croissants and Danish pastries.  It also helps to get better results on all pastries because they do not heat up as much as when done by hand.  I had wondered about getting one to use at home to keep baking when I return and eventually move it into the bakery.  Well....I won the bid.  A little later after that, my teacher said " If you own a sheeter, that makes you a real baker."  Or else it makes you very zealous about your hobby...aka Baking Freak.

 

Here he is....it's a boy!

 

 

 

 

"The Queen of Hearts made some tarts..."

The beginning of the third week was no disappointment.  We started getting all of the pastry dough out of the freezer that we made the first week and using it.  We used the almond tart dough for the mini tarts, the long flake for the apple tart, and a combination of the two for the cherry tart.  I was also taught that "we do not make pies, we make tarts."  Tarts have a definite shape difference, with straight sides, and hold up to cutting pieces better and also look better on a plate.  If I sell pies, I have to sell the whole thing intact in a pie tin so that you are not serving a sloppy mess with a crust that falls apart due to the angle of the pie pan.  This definitely gave me food for thought.  Marda also helped me look for a used sheeter that I might be able to procure to start making some of these pastries back in Torrington so that I can keep up the practice.  We will see how it all works out.

Well, on with the rhyme.  "The knave of hearts, he stole those tarts..."  And indeed, at the end of the day we had some tarts all packaged for me to take home tonight.  Suddenly, there was a crash of a cake box and Marda said, "Oh, no!"  The beagle had knocked the box off of the table and was furiously going after one of my strawberry tarts.

That dog is fast.  I pulled her back and saved the two Napoleons that had hit the ground.  (Nothing comes between me and my Napoleons.)  I wanted to throw myself on the ground and lick up the tart, because I had not even eaten one yet.  Needless to say, there were more, but there are two less tarts to the count now.  She has a definite taste for pastry, full of animal fat, but will not eat bologna?  I have to keep an eye on her.

Our day started out baking mini tart shells upside down on a mold so that the gravity pulled them into shape around the mold....very clever.

Before

After

We then made wonderful tarts, which she first paints the shell with white chocolate for flavor and to protect the crust and then fills with pastry cream or a combination, and then fills with the fruit.  Here is a sample of what we made.

 

 

We also then cut up the Napoleons and packaged them.  They turned out quite nicely

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And we had time to make apple tart with a lattice crust, and cherry tarts with almond paste streusel topping.

 

Before baking

After baking with almond topping

 

These are the cherry tarts

 It was great to make the miniature tarts and learn to make them really beautiful.  They are quite delicious.  The fruit sits on a cream filling that is flavored with vanilla and a little bit of almond.  Now that I have tasted them, my favorite is lemon.

After the fresh tarts were assembled and the others all out of the oven, we then made sour cream coffee cake, that can have fruit in it or not and is a common item in New York bakeries.  It has streusel swirled in the middle.  Should be good.  This week is clearly pies and cakes and we will be working on them the rest of the week.  Working on all the things that may normally be found in a pastry case or offered at a bakery.  I am still amazed by the sheer volume of what we are doing and Marda's stamina.  Great fun to be had in the next two weeks.

My housemates went on a road trip this weekend to Seattle, but I came home and found a garbage bag of clothes and personal items sitting in the kitchen on Saturday night.  I think that one of them packed in a hurry and then forgot the makeshift suitcase on the kitchen floor....hmmm.  I wonder what he did all weekend.  This should be a good story.

Vive la Napoleon!

Well, we have spent much time on breads and pastries from France, and one does have to admit that they have a corner on the market when it comes to baking.  But the last two days we have been making Danish pastries that are truly the Denmark way, and not those squishy flat things you find laminated in the supermarket bread aisle.  I did not know that they could be so beautiful and super tasty.  The pastry is constructed similarly to the croissant, but has other elements in the dough that make is crisper and a bit richer.  We made more great shapes today and finished baking off all of the layered dough that I had made this week.  I have totally become a fan of Danish pastries.  They are like fancy turnovers or pies and feature the filling beautifully.

Cherry Danish 

 

Lemon Danish

 

Cream Cheese Danish

 

These were great fun to make and it is always a surprise to see how much they puff in the oven.  There are many chapters in books that I have been browsing from Marda's library about how to shape different kinds of Danish pastries.  On of Marda's former students has a bakery here in Bend, and she came over today to bring some new Macaroons that she had made, and brought cannoli.  She wanted Marda's advice about the texture of the macaroons and Marda was very gracious and nibbled one bite and then started asking questions.  It was like watching Hercule Poroit of the baking world, but it was reassuring to know that she maintains such a strong commitment to her students. Marda made us lunch of Piadina, a Southern Italian flat-bread pizza, out of mozzarella, nicoise olives, and some chantrelle mushrooms that her friend foraged.  I have had no hallucinations yet.  Apparently foraging for mushrooms is widely done here and there are classes taught on it.  The mushrooms were fabulous. 

 

Then after lunch, we made coffeecakes out of the scraps of dough from the last three days.  It is a great thing.  As a baker, you have worked very hard to make these layered pastries, and then you have to cut out very geometric shapes.  Of course all dough has round edges, so you save the scraps.  When you have enough saved, you make something.  We made coffeecake.  Actuallly, we made about 25 cakes.  The dough goes a long way, but that is the scrap from 260-300 pieces of pastries we have made this week.  Many of the cakes are getting delivered in the morning to the community kitchen.  They are constructed with convoluted scraps, apple filling, crumb topping and a bit of pastry cream to bind it all together.

 

 

 

The last culinary stop on our tour today was....you guessed it....France!  We made Napoleons. This was a great thing, because they have long been one of my favorite pastries.  We worked on it step by step together and each made one.  It is filled with custard and whipped cream and topped with chocolate.  This was a great ending to the week.  Here are some progressive photos.

 

 

 

 

They are getting frozen tonight so that on Monday we can cut them in pieces.  It turned out pretty well for a first effort.  A look at the entire days work looks like this

 

 

Of course, I finally had to try one of the brownies for supper.  It is very soft and almost like a truffle sensation in the mouth. It is also made with Callebeaut chocolate, and Bourbon Vanilla.  So, for all of you devoted brownie lovers, here is a big fat close-up.

 

I will be cooking dinner for the missionaries tomorrow after church, and they are going to get brownie bits and ice cream for dessert.  It was a full week, and I cannot believe that the class is half over.  I have much to digest still, but am loving every minute of it.  I am glad, however, that the Lord invented the Sabbath Day.

Pastries-a-Plenty

"Couldn't you get more done today?" was one of the last things that my teacher said to me today.  And then she said, "Look at what you made!"    I stood back and looked at all we had done...and I realized what is possible.  Of course, you need the right equipment and a great freezer.  I have been so focused on working hard, that sometimes I am not absorbing each glorious moment as the product comes out of the oven.  The time away from family is a sacrifice that we have all made so that I can get the schooling that I desired.  I feel a responsibility to make sure that every moment with Marda is valuable.  Here is a panorama of the day today, and we did some interesting things which I hope to feature in my bakery.

 

These are the things we baked up today, and there are three sheets of Danish pastry still to bake tomorrow.  We are going to make lemon, cherry, and cream cheese.

  

 

 

Ham and cheese croissant ready to roll.  You stretch the dough first and it looks like the Eifel Tower.  She had us fill it with a cheddar gruyere mix and smear with Maille mustard. 

 

 

Here they are ready for baking, had one for lunch at 2:45 pm....pretty amazing...sprinkle parmesan cheese on the top and brush with egg wash with mustard in it.

 

We then went on to make Bear Claws, Palmiers, and Raspberry Croissants.  This flavor choice was mine.  We talked about how to make any jam or jelly a possible filling.  They do make some special jams for baking from Switzerland that we used today.  The flavor was great.  Here are a few closeups of today's specials.

 

 

We then made an Apple Danish in which my years doing origami came in handy.  You actually cut and fold up the dough to create a pastry bowl for the filling.  The pastry blows up like a balloon around the filling and the filling cooks down a bit.  It is quite miraculous to see it happen, and she has windows on her oven so you can watch things bake.  We are always pointing a flashlight in it to see all of the goods and whether they are rising well or coloring well or not.  The Danish pastry is a new dough for me and it was very light and flaky.

 

 

I will say that my teacher has been nothing but encouraging and has been a delight to learn from.  It is clear that she loves to teach and this makes all the difference in the world.  I feel that she truly wants me to be successful.  I keep feeling like Grasshopper from the TV show, Kung Fu, and hoping that I will not mess up during my meditation.  Oh, I almost forgot.  The very first thing we made today was brownies that are in the fridge for the night so that we can cut them tomorrow.  I got to have a good discussion with Marda about chocolate and the different kinds and what they are for.  She bakes largely with Callebeaut chocolate.  The brownies smelled great and I will get a taste tomorrow. I am seriously hoping for a ham and cheese croissant for lunch.  Tonight, I had some great barbecue with Bob Sauter and his son, Robert....live music and great salads too...yum!

Croissants, anyone?

Okay,  It finally happened.   After working on the dough for two days in between all the other baking, today we did it.  We made croissants!  I thought that I had died and gone to heaven.  My teacher is somewhat of an expert on croissant technique and I told her the first day that it was like consulting the Oracle at Delphi.  I was thrilled with the results.  I have never made croissants this good, and they are definitely reproducible.  You just need to have an  industrial sheeter and a freezer, preferably a blast freezer.  Marda works with the dough between 36 and 38 degrees F.  If it warms up, it goes back in the freezer to await further cooling before working the dough further.  The croissants baked up with no puddles of butter and incredible layers.  I also made four batches of Danish dough today, to bake up tomorrow.  This is pastry week, and we will be baking sweets and pastries the rest of the week.  Here is a sampling of what the ovens produced today.

 

Croissants in the proof cupboard with egg wash ready for the oven

Plain Croissants after baking

 

David Stoliar poses with the finished pastries

 

 

Almond croissants before rolling and baking

 

Almond Croissant close-up (filled with almond paste, sugar, butter)

A sea of Almond Croissants

 

Chocolate croissants before rolling up

 

 

Chocolate Croissants (Callebaut bittersweet chocolate)

 

Yes, I was in French pastry Nirvana.  I was not really able to say much except repeated "Wows!"  I had croissant detention and stayed late to roll more dough so that it was ready for tomorrow.  I am happy that I am getting more skilled with the sheeter, and able to make the dough pieces have squarer corners.  This leads to more croissants per sheet and less wasted dough.  Peace, love, and baking.