Intro to Baking Recap: Week 6

The first thing I baked after the Purchasing final project was the Panettone...Mostly because we needed to do something about the bagful of fossilized dried fruits discovered in the nether-regions of the pantry. That, and this recipe was the quickbread version of the authentic one.


Authentic Panettones are fermented over the course of a day or two, sort of like the Brioche. Light and fluffy; enriched with eggs and butter; studded with nuts, raisins, and other dried fruits, it's a traditional Christmas treat in Italy. Well, why not have Christmas in August? Since this recipe, being the quickbread version, required no yeast, I can whip it up in a few hours.


I mixed the batter and poured it into a 32-oz. empty coffee can. These are usually baked in a special cylindrical mold, but the coffe can would suffice.


The end result? ...Hm. Pretty dense and crumbly, more like a heavy poundcake. Alas, this is the limit of the quickbread method; it is not designed to achieve the fluffy, airy texture of its yeast-leavened counterpart.

Other than that, it was actually good, similar to a fruitcake. But since it was kinda dry/crumbly, I brushed the entire thing with rum syrup. It's "curing" in the freezer right now, and I'm hoping it'll make a good bread pudding someday.

Then it's Intro to Baking Week 6: Soft yeast rolls, Creme Brulee, Almond Bread Pudding, Churros

Another girl and I got started on the rolls, while the two guys in my group started the Bread Pudding. One of the guys had gotten into a car accident last week and had mild but noticeable short-term memory loss--I had to tell him twice that the Bread Pudding is baked in a waterbath. He still managed to forget it.

But here is our Almond Bread Pudding, topped with sugar and sliced almonds. It turned out very sweet and tasty, but the bread cubes were kinda dry and the custard a little watery. I don't know if that's due to the lack of waterbath or the recipe itself*(see Note).
Then our rolls....

Beeeeautiful! The egg wash did its job well. The guys in the group couldn't wait for them to cool down for a sampling and tore one open. They stood there mesmerized at the steam rising from the broken roll. After stuffing that in their mouths, they proceeded to wolf down about seven of them. I didn't mind; we only needed one roll to show the Instructor for critiquing.

Our Creme Brulee turned out great also. We got them out of the oven at just the right time--not underdone, nor overdone. The Instructor showed us how to use the propane torch to brulee them....

Creme Brulee, being torched....

...Torched to perfection!

The last thing we made was Churros, since they're best eaten fresh out of the fryer. Every group's Churros turned out a bit doughy. The fryer should've been at a lower temperature, so the inside can get cooked before the outside gets burned.

But this was a good day. Our stuff turned out pretty well, and we got done with the cleanup fairly quickly.

*Note: The recipe instructed us to "Make Creme Anglaise with listed ingredients (i.e. cream, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and almond extracts)", pour that over the toasted bread cubes, then bake it in waterbath. In other words, we're supposed to make a stirred custard by cooking it on stovetop, then cook that even further by baking it?? That can be why the Bread Pudding looked awatery (the custard had curdled from overcooking).

Intro to Baking Recap: Week 5

The entire five days of last weekend (the 12th ~ 17th) were devoted to the final project for the online Purchasing class. We had to create a Purchasing Manual that will serve as a guidebook on how to buy products for any foodservice operation. Mine ended up being 25 pages or so (with graphs and tables)...it was fun, but grueling. But I am officially done with the online class at last! I can now concentrate on the Intro to Baking class and bake to my heart's content at home!


I looked over the syllabus for the Intro to Baking class. One of the projects for Week 5 said Brioche. Yes...that rich, buttery, eggy slightly sweet bread, traditionally molded with that signature "topknot" or "head", then baked in a fluted pan.


This bread requires fermentation in the fridge overnight. I wasn't sure how we were gonna pull this off with a 5-hour class. But I decided to give the recipe a try at home, just so I know what to expect.
I let the dough ferment in the fridge...unfortunately, the dough got partially frozen, but I continued with it anyway. I molded it, poked a hole in the middle, secured (or so I thought) the topknot on it, let it proof--then in the oven they went.

When they came out.....

....Darn. This is a prime example of what happens when the topknot isn't secured. Yep. It rolls of to the side. But the resulting shape was so comical, I couldn't resist drawing a face on it with chocolate. They tasted great--rich, buttery, eggy, although it could use more sugar.

I went to class, hoping that I can do better in class.
The project for Intro to Baking Week 5: Brioche, Apple Pie, Cream Pie, and German Chocolate Brownies.

For the Brioche, the Instructor told us to mix the dough, bench (let it rest for 20~30 minutes), punch down, portion/round/shape, proof, then bake it. No overnight fermentation?? The texture will be totally different from the one I made at home then... I thought to myself as I started on the Brioche. The other people in the group started on the Pies.

But goodness...although the batch produced three loaves, the recipe called for 12 eggs and 1 1/2 lbs of butter! ...Wow. That's 4 eggs and 8 oz. of butter per loaf. According to our recipe, this bread contains 475 calories per 4-oz. serving (about the size of a medium roll?). Yikes. I am now officially scared of Brioche.

As I continued to add the butter, I noticed that the dough is really wet. The dough was so sticky it was borderline 'batter' consistency; there was no way I could've taken it out of the mixer and kneaded it by hand.
While proofing the dough, I started on the Brownies. Another gal in my group made the coconut topping for the Brownies...and I almost messed us up by putting the Brownie in the oven too soon. The topping is supposed to go on the brownie batter before being baked. Good thing she rescued the brownies out of the oven....

So far, so good. The Brioche got baked, and came out....

...Nice and golden. The egg wash definitely did its job well. The bread was....crumbly. It was more like cake, not like bread at all. It was rich and buttery, and the Instructor said this is the way it should be, but I'm skeptical. It probably needs the overnight fermentation to achieve that bread-like texture.

Our apple pie was a bit underbaked; the bottom crust was still a bit doughy. But it tasted pretty good, and hey, at least it looked pretty. We brushed it with apricot glaze and sprinkled sanding sugar on top.

Cream Pie. The crust was a little overbaked and was crispy. We got to choose our own variation on the cream--we did coconut, topped it with whipped cream and toasted coconuts.

Alas. German Chocolate Brownies. None of the other groups got done on time, and we just barely managed to get ours done. It was gooey and chewy, and pretty good. Sorry, I'm not a big coconut fan...

We were really late in cleaning and finishing up--the Instructor was not happy. Lesson learned: time management is sometimes the key to making the recipe work.

Intro to Baking Recap: Week 4

It's Week 4 at Intro to Baking!

Now for the fun stuff--Yeast Breads. We talked about the basics of yeast bread production, various fermentation methods, and washes for the bread. Washes are coatings of eggs, milk, and/or water & starch mixture applied to the bread (or any baked goods) before baking. It's what gives butter rolls their glossy golden crust.

Our project for the day: French Bread, Jumbo Cinnamon Buns, Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins, and Zucchini Bread.

The French Bread and Cinnamon Buns had to be started right away, due to their fermentation time. Technically the first fermentation should be about 1 hour, then proofing (last fermentation before baking) another hour. But due to the time constraints, the instructor told us to let the dough rest for 20 ~ 30 minutes (called bench rest) after kneading, then punch it down, shape it, then proof it--for a total of 1 1/2 hours fermentation.

Two people in my group got started on the Cinnamon buns while I and another person got started on the French Bread. The instruction said to combine the yeast, the flour, and the warm water all together, but I decided to rehydrate the yeast in warm water first, letting it stand for 5 minutes before mixing everything together. Mixed it for a while, but the dough was still sticky. But I figured that, because it's a soft bread (i.e. soft on the inside, crispy on the outside), I shouldn't add too much flour. I kneaded it for, oh maybe 5 minutes in the mixer, then let it rest for 25 minutes. The dough was divided in half, shaped into loaves, and proofed.

In the meantime, we made Jalapeno Muffins and the Zucchini Bread...

Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins--we left out the seeds of the jalapenos (that's where all the capsaicin is) and just used the flesh. Turned out very well, not too spicy, cheesy, tender and good cornmeal flavor.

Our Zucchini Bread also turned out very well. Crispy crust, warm spice, and tender.

Then it was time to bake the yeast breads... the loaves looked awfully flat. Did I overproof them? Well, there really wasn't a whole lot I can do about it at this point. I did an egg wash on one loaf and sprayed the other one with water for the crispy crust effect, and put them in the oven while I crossed my fingers. The other people in my group also put the Cinnamon Buns in the oven.

After about 30 minutes....

Our French Bread. Ick. The one on the left was the water spray, the one on the right was the egg wash. Don't know what happened here, but the egg wash mottled the surface of the bread. It had a good flavor though, but the texture was too dense.

All of our stuff. The Cinnamon Bun is shown far left on the plate. It was soft, but the dry yeast wasn't dissolved all the way--there were specks of them still left in the dough.

Then back at home, here is the cross-section of the bread. This texture would've been good for a regular white bread, but notice that the amount and the size of air pockets aren't quite enough for it to be considered a French bread (for comparison, just Google Image "French Bread").

Don't know if it was because I rehydrated the yeast instead of mixing everything together all at once. Or maybe it needed more flour. Or maybe it needed more kneading. Either way, so far, I've decided that baking has a way of humbling us all. Before, I thought I was a pretty good baker; but taking this class made me realize that I still have a long, long way to go.

Last week's Intro to Baking recap

It's Week 3 in Intro to Baking Science & Theory!
The Projects for the day: Soft & Chewy Sugar Cookies, Moist Peanutbutter Cookies, Sour Cream Coffeecake, and Cream Biscuits.

There were three people in our group, so each of us divided the task. I did the Sour Cream Coffeecake, since I've made coffeecakes before...started creaming the butter with the sugar...and noticed that the mixture was a bit "buttery". "Hmmm..." I thought. The recipe called for 12 Tablespoons of butter....I had put in 12 oz., thinking that 12 T = 12 oz. of butter. At this point, I didn't think much of it. After all, it was 7 AM-ish, and I was tired from the online 2-page-paper-due-every-other-day class. But the batter came out nice and creamy, so I spooned it into the 10" tube pan and put it in the oven.
The other two were working on the cookies. Their doughs were also a bit "buttery" and gooey. It didn't help that the girl doing the sugar cookies kept overworking the dough either.

While our products baked, Chef K, our substitute (our Instructor was out of town), did the demo on Cream Biscuits.

Here, she is rubbing the cold butter into the flour and baking powder mixture....

....until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, or "the size of small peas".

Then knead gently 4 ~ 5 times (try not to overwork the dough). Wrap and chill at least 30 minutes.

By this time, the cake was ready to come out of the oven.

Turned out beeeeeeeauuuuuutifuuuuul! That's brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecan streusel on top. The cake was perfect. I left it out to cool, then started working on the Cream Biscuits. The other two checked on their cookies....

...Well, it's hard to tell from the photo, but the "Soft & Chewy Sugar Cookies" turned out soft and crispy, "Moist Peanutbutter Cookies" were cake-like. The standards for peanutbutter cookies are that they are chewy, gooey, with a "greasy-looking" middle. The cake was very moist and soft, and very delicious though.

As for the Cream Biscuits....

....Oi. Not good. I followed the direction on the baking time, but it was still underdone. It had formed a lovely, flaky top layer with a gooey, undercooked bottom layer. Chef explained that it's better to separate out the pieces instead of keeping it together family-style (I baked it in a round cake pan). I hate wasting food, but had no choice but to throw it in the garbage. I took the rest of the goods (the cookies were still pretty tasty), and gave them to my friends at Biomat. They were delighted with the unexpected treats and appreciated the morale boost that they provided.

Back at home, I was typing up my notes....when all of a sudden I realized that...12 oz of butter DOES NOT EQUAL 12 TABLESPOONS!!!! 12 Tablespoons of butter is 6 oz....I used the wrong amount of butter in both the cake and the biscuits (although the cake came out extra moist)!! That totally explained why the the biscuits turned out gooey. And then I also realized that I probably gave the wrong amount to the two people in my group as well (They always ask me to do the conversions and the amount to use. Technically they should be able to figure it out on their own....)

Ah well. One lesson learned...double check the portions listed, and yes, it's probably OK to bake the biscuits in the cake pan as long as the correct amount of butter is used.