Pastry Update #2

Slightly over halfway through the Basic Pastry program, we have moved from making elements of French pastries (just the dough, just the cream, etc.) to assembling and decorating entire things, start to finish.  I recognize many of the pastries’ names from the bakeries in Chambéry, and now my portfolio is starting to look like I belong there!

Leçon 7

Lesson 7 was truly the beginning of making entire large pastries, and paying specific attention to each dish’s iconic French décor.  It was also the demo in which we finally got to use our puff pastry dough, something we had been tweaking slowly in practicals the entire week before.  In the demo, we learned different ways to use puff pastry dough:  Chaussons aux Pommes (apple turnovers), Pithiviers (a large puff pastry filled with almond cream), Palmiers (thin, crunchy puff pastries rolled in granulated sugar), Feuillantine (thin, sweet puff pastries sandwiched with raspberry jam), Millefeuille (Napoléon), Gallettes des Rois (the same as the Pithiviers, but with a different design), and Bichons (puff pastry rolls filled with lemon cream).  Quite the list!

Chef's Bichons (left) and Palmiers (right)

Chef's Millefeuille

From bottom to top: Pithviers, Gallettes de Rois,
Apple Turnovers, Feuillantine

In the practical we tried our hands at Pithiviers (still my favorite-tasting pastry so far) and Apple Turnovers, with the option of filling any extra time with Pamiers. The practical was light-hearted and it went well.  Though I consciously put as little filling as I could imagine into my apple turnovers, it was still too much, causing them to open in the oven (a problem that Chef Jocelyn blamed on me being American, with a smile, of course), but my Pithiviers was fantastic and SO tasty.  Upon arriving back at the apartment, I ate a quarter of it before I remembered that the cream is made solely of butter, sugar, and almond powder. 

My Pithiviers and Apple Turnovers (which
exploded a little)

The tops of my turnovers

Piping Workshop

On our schedules, we had a mysterious workshop scheduled for a day we don’t usually have class.  Most of us knew what that meant: it was our promised piping time with the Chef!  We were correct: in the lab kitchen, Chef Jocelyn taught us the basics of piping.  Much of it was not new to me, but it was good to learn the French version of rosettes and shell borders, and it was a good opportunity to practice piping chocolate. 

For a few hours we piped lines, dots, balls, and shell borders with buttercream, and letters and swirls with chocolate.  We also prepared for Lesson 9, in which we would have to pipe dough for a few different pastries.  The Chef was very pleased with my work, and I got even more excited to try my piping skills on finished pastries in the coming lessons.

Leçon 8

Our first official cake demo had arrived!  Although we learned and practiced genoise (sponge cake) early in our studies, we never truly assembled a French cake.  In this demo, we watched the Chef prepare three favorites:  Gâteau Forêt Noire (Black Forest Cake), Moka (vanilla genoise with coffee-flavored French buttercream, toasted almond slivers, and chocolate-covered espresso beans), and Mexicain (chocolate genoise with dark chocolate ganache and poured fondant).  The cakes were fabulous, though the Mexicain is far too rich for my taste, and we were to recreate the Black Forest in our practical the next day.

Chef's Moka

Chef's Mexicain

Chef's Black Forest

It was a great practical.  Everyone was excited to finally assemble a cake, start to finish, and it was our first opportunity for chocolate work.  We made the genoise first, which involves quite a bit of whipping, then prepared Chantilly cream (more whipping) for filling and icing.  The Chef taught us how to make chocolate shavings for the side of the cake, and we garnished our completed creations with very strong cherries soaked in Kirsch.  I was very happy with my performance, and the Chef was so proud!  He complimented my piping skills, said my tastes and textures were spot on, and that my presentation was fabulous.  Score!

My Black Forest

My Black Forest

It was so tasty, we just kept a spoon next to it at all times!

Leçon 9

Lesson 9 was Pâte à Choux day!  I had been looking forward to this Basic Pastry lesson since I was in France because of one adorable little pastry: Religieuses.  It was so exciting to finally be learning how to make them.

In the demo we learned how to make the Pâte à Choux (also called “Choux Paste”…it doesn’t really have a word in English).  The Chef then showed us how to use the dough to make four different light, fluffy pastries with filling: Éclairs au Chocolate et au Café (chocolate and coffee éclairs), Religieuses au Café (coffee Religieuses, little round cream puffs named after nuns), Cygnes (“Swans,” literally), and Salambô (filled cream puffs dipped in light caramel).  Upon tasting each pastry at the end of the demo, I remembered why I was so excited for this lesson: Religieuses and Éclairs (the same thing in different shapes) are so delicious I could hardly contain myself.

Chef's Chocolate Eclairs

Chef's Religieuses

Swans!

Salambo from the demo

In the practical, we were to make chocolate and coffee éclairs and coffee Religieuses.  The Pâte à Choux is notoriously temperamental, and definitely an exact science, but it went very well for me.  Piping the dough was good, but the “heads” for my Religieuses were a little large.  Crunched for time, the Chef informed us that many would not finish, a fact that he expected.  He said not to be worried and just present what we could finish.  I hurried, quickly preparing fillings and dipping pastries in fondant.  I only truly finished two éclairs and one Religieuse, to my disappointment.  It turned out well, though.  The critique was very positive, aside from my nun’s head being a little large, and fewer finished pastries meant fewer calories for Chad and I back home.

My Religieuse, with a large head

My Eclairs

Leçon 10

At the beginning of Demo 10 we learned that there are five different categories of Petits Fours, and we were about to experience the first:  Dry Petits Fours.  The Chef demoed five French bakery classics: Bâtons de Maréchaux (“Marshals’ Sticks,” crunchy little almond-covered pastries, admittedly one of the Chef’s favorites), Madeleines (the classic French mini-sponge cake shaped like a seashell), Cigarettes et Tulipes (two different shapes of a very delicate little pastry), Palets de Dames (the French take on a raisin cookie), and Tuiles aux Amandes (thin, dainty almond pastries, curled into a half circle).

Chef's Marshals' Sticks

Chef's Madeleines

Tuilles des Amandes

Cigarettes and Tulipes

Chef's Palets de Dames

For the practical, we were to recreate the Madeleines, Palets de Dames, and Cigarettes et Tulipes.  Madeleines were simple, cute, and delicious, just as I had imagined them to be.  The Palets de Dames were also as expected, but were surprisingly, addictively delicious.  I, along with many of my classmates, was afraid of the Cigarettes, as they need to be tightly wrapped around our knife sharpener while still very hot.  Though I feared for my fingertips, they turned out good for the first time, along with the Tulipes.

My work in the practical: Tulipes and Cigarettes are over-baked,
but other than that, everything turned out well!

Leçon 11

Another cake day, Lesson 11 focused on cakes layered with Daçoise, a crispy-outside-soft-inside almond biscuit that is popular in many a French pastry.  The Chef showed us three: Gâteau Russe aux Noix (with coffee buttercream), Succès (with praline buttercream), and Progrès (with chocolate buttercream) and each cake’s signature décor.

Chef's Progres

Chef's Succes (sorry it's sideways: technical
difficulties)

Chef's Russe

Our practical was over the Succès, another pastry I recognized from the windows of the Chambéry bakeries.  It was our first experience actually making the French buttercream, and I was pretty nervous.  Though the process had me a little uneasy, my buttercream turned out very well, my Daçoise was fabulous, and the décor looked nice. 

In my critique with the Chef, he didn’t have enough good things to say.  The buttercream was flavorful and the exact correct consistency.  The Daçoises were piped nicely and were baked just right.  The décor was dainty and cute, though my little sign could be a little larger.  The best compliment of all, though, came when he took a slice to taste.  Usually he takes a small slice, takes one bite, and tosses the rest in the trash (since he has 12 students’ cakes to test).  When it came time to test mine he took his slice, took his bite, and when he turned to toss the rest in the trash, he popped it into his mouth.  He turned back and, when he saw that I noticed, he just smiled with a little shrug as if to say, “What?  It’s a good cake!”

My Succes (Succes indeed!)

Evidently this is how hazelnuts grow in nature

Leçon 12

Christmas came early with Lesson 12!  It was finally time for us to tackle the Bûche de Noël: the ever-famous Christmas Log.  I had seen lots of photos in my French classes at ISU of Christmas Logs, and with the holiday approaching, I was so ready for this lesson.

Chef Jocelyn made two logs for us, one with chocolate buttercream and the other with vanilla, and spent nearly an hour decorating them.  When he was finished, it was like Christmas exploded all over a fallen tree.

Hey, Christmas!

The Chef's log was full of all sorts of decoration!

In the practical today we knew we had to hurry to finish.  The cake itself wasn’t too difficult (though physically demanding), and the buttercream was the same as last lesson.  But, though we were hurrying, most of us were still pretty crunched for time toward the end, decorating our logs with snowmen and gifts and trees and holly.  I didn’t really have time to finish, but I presented a good cake with which the Chef was mostly pleased.

My Christmas Log!  I didn't have time for my chocolate decoration
to set or to finish the log's ends...but it looks pretty good!
Chef Jocelyn wrote his in English, so I wrote mine in French to return the favor,
and I wasn't the only one!

The marzipan decor was great fun

Leslie kindly took a photo of me and my first Christmas Log